Smell of Diesel in the Morning

What happens when you put sixteen men in a house after asking them not to have drank alcohol for the last 24 hours and no smoking or caffeine in the last 4 hours. No this isn't the next reality TV show. One at a time and every two weeks subjects underwent two hours of testing with a stationary bike in a chamber that may or may not have been pumping diesel engine exhaust fumes into the room with them. 10% of the exhaust gas from a 2.2L diesel engine was diluted with air and fed into the room in such a way that there was a 300 μg/m^3 concentration which is supposedly similar to high traffic areas or especially congested and polluted cities. In another configuration they passed this concentration through a teflon filter and in another they had a concentration of carbon nanoparticles.

It's no secret diesel technology is of great interest to me. Over at Engineer Blogs one of my earliest posts was on the Military's Love Affair with Diesel. I also just talked a few days about how the Chevy Cruze might have a diesel version coming to America. So it's interesting to see where we go forward as we worry about emissions and cardiovascular health. Also what kind of technology might move us forward in the direction we want.

When the research team filtered the exhaust gas they ended up with a much lower concentration. Their exhaust gas averaged 348 μg/m^3 and regular, filtered air was less than 1 but the filtered exhaust averaged 6.

So what's the end result? Well a lot of things were, perhaps surprisingly, not affected by the fumes. No difference in resting heart rate or blood flow. Systolic blood pressure took a hit up, but diastolic did not. What their carbon-only concentration was useful for is that it could be it's not the parts of diesel exhaust that we need be concerned about but something about the whole. Something that's happening in combustion might be making these nanoparticles more harmful.

Their conclusion is this: diesel exhaust fumes in the concentration tested impaired vasomotor vascular function. Filtered exhaust and the carbon nanoparticles did not affect vascular function. What they showed is a filter than can reduce concentration effectively can make a big difference. But they admit at the end that these kinds of filters are pricey and not applicable to a lot of commercial applications where those filters would have to be tested separately. Being an engineer, I keep thinking about the engine sitting in another room idling for two hours. Still the implications for design work on reducing the environmental impact of diesel exhaust is there. And there's the lesson that individual pollutants can't always be used to draw conclusions from as it's important to test the whole system and see what a difference that makes. The combustion was obviously a key factor in making this combination of elements dangerous, and possibly more dangerous than the sum of its parts.

Mills, N., Miller, M., Lucking, A., Beveridge, J., Flint, L., Boere, A., Fokkens, P., Boon, N., Sandstrom, T., Blomberg, A., Duffin, R., Donaldson, K., Hadoke, P., Cassee, F., & Newby, D. (2011). Combustion-derived nanoparticulate induces the adverse vascular effects of diesel exhaust inhalation European Heart Journal DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehr195

Time to Reassess

The end of the year is a good time to look at the person you have been and try to figure out where you want to go. Of course it's only an arbitrary time marker some pope put into place five hundred years ago. It was also time for a doctor to take a look at me, or more specifically in my ear. And it's never a good thing when your doctor is surprised and rushes away to give you a prescription in vicodin.

So I'm on the stuff for the first time in my life and watching more television than should be natural while I wait for my health to return and the inevitable demands of work and school to come back. I've had a very nice holiday season and got to spend some great time with my family. My sister gave me this book: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same.

 

I think she got it for me because she knows I like the adorable little chickens that grace its pages. But really, the title could be me. And then there's all this reality television with people who have gone through genuinely tough times and keeping their positive attitudes throughout it all and making the best. I've been watching Undercover Boss, which is largely about spoiled bosses coming down and seeing how hard the entry level work at their companies really is. But you know what? I'd struggle to do that work too. I don't work on the front lines, and I don't have a sob story like many of the people they highlight. And yet these people do their best to help others and around them and touch lives where they can.

So maybe it's the drugs talking, but maybe 2011 is a year where I can leave some of my baggage behind and look to the future. I don't have a physically difficult job and I don't have personal circumstances to cry about. I have it pretty easy. And it's time I looked around me and started to use my advantages and my experience to give back and help others along the way. I need to stop waiting for someone to pick me up out of my whining and dissatisfaction and pick myself up and get it done. I have so much to offer if I can get my past my own selfishness and pettiness. So here's to hoping 2011 is the year for that for me.

December 1st: World AIDs Day

For personal reasons the plight of AIDs victims, both locally and worldwide, means a lot to me. It's not as easy to discuss at the office as is many other good causes or at least not at my current office. But in the past I worked alongside HIV positive survivors. And they were as normal as you and me. Outwardly they were healthy but I know many struggled with health problems. I attended the 50th birthday of somebody who had been diagnosed 10 years before and thought it was a death sentence. I held back tears when he quietly said he was happy to reach age 50 because when he was diagnosed he didn't think he would live that long.

 

Antiretrovirals in treating AIDs have come a long way. Early drugs had horrible side effects so those with the disease suffered both from immune deficiency related problems as well as terrible side effects just to keep themselves alive. The drugs have improved a lot since then. And maybe that's why people start to forget. It's no longer an immediate death sentence. But neither is it something that doesn't cut back the invaluable lifespans of people just like you and me. So we can not forget. We have to hope for a cure. And more importantly, a wider availability of treatment for the people who need it. The drugs are very expensive and as we all know there is a healthcare crisis in this country. Many people do not have health insurance to afford the drugs and neither can they afford the regular care and treatment they need to keep living with the disease. We need to keep pressing so that we don't leave behind the people in this country who could be so easily treated. And of course it is imperative that becomes a worldwide mandate where lifesaving drugs and medical care continue to be made available to the people who need it everywhere.

 

I don't ask you to donate to an AIDs charity today, but if you can I hope you do. You can stop by AIDS.gov to read more about efforts and events going on today (and year round). Read the statement from the Whitehouse and from our secretary of state as well as many of the international sites promoting this event. You can stop by GiveWell.org and Keep a Child Alive. I hope you will at least take today to become aware of the events in your community and be not afraid to discuss this with your friends and colleagues.

What else is biofuel good for?

Seems like everyone is getting in on the energy from algae phenomenon. Which is great, because I know some people with a pool who know how easy that stuff grows and are ready for all you venture capitalists to make them millionaires.

 

Given how "hot" this whole "green jobs" and sustainability BS is, it's no surprise there's now algae in my "healthy" drinks (enough quotes for you?). Not just any algae, but blue green algae. I guess like yellow dye that differentiates it from any other kinds of ridiculous colors of algae I don't want in my drink. Along with odorless garlic. Which is good, because I want my breath to smell like algae, ok? Not garlic.

 

Algae is the new biofuel of the future. So much so that bio-orgs like myself (borgs?) can consume it and be trendy in both a health way and a saving the environment way.