AI Networking Cookbook: Practical recipes for AI-assisted network automation and development
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The findings suggest that aromatic VOCs, particularly toluene, were consistently associated with the observed health outcomes and may be associated with a measurable ecological burden of pediatric AD and asthma at the population level.
Current evidence supports respiratory relevance of several SVOC classes but is insufficient to establish SVOCs as causal drivers of COPD progression, and future longitudinal COPD cohorts should integrate repeated environmental sampling, human biomonitoring, source attribution, mixture modeling and targeted metabolomics to clarify preventable exposure-progression pathways.
Children are vulnerable to indoor environmental exposures, yet evidence from direct measurements in residential environments remains limited. This study included 115 observations from 74 children in Shenzhen during 2023–2024, with 111 observations available for regression-based analyses. Indoor environmental indicators were evaluated using single-indicator generalized estimating equation (GEE) models, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses, and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression. The primary fully adjusted GEE models included age, sex, body mass index, family history of allergy, indoor temperature, district, and survey year. Asthma-related and allergic rhinitis-related symptoms were reported in 35.7% and 47.8% of the 115 observations, respectively. In the fully adjusted models, illuminance was nominally positively associated with both outcomes, whereas NO2 was nominally inversely associated with asthma-related symptoms. For allergic rhinitis-related symptoms, NH3 showed a nominal positive association, whereas O3 and total volatile organic compounds showed nominal inverse associations. However, none of these associations remained statistically significant after false discovery rate correction. Exploratory RCS analyses suggested potential nonlinear associations for several indicators. Exploratory WQS regression did not identify a significant overall mixture association. Overall, the associations were sensitive to adjustment and multiple-testing correction and should be considered exploratory. Longitudinal studies with repeated exposure measurements are needed to confirm these findings.
Objectives This study examined associations between indoor total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations and urinary volatile organic compound (VOC) metabolites in Korean adults, focusing on potential sex-specific differences. We hypothesized that higher indoor TVOC exposure would be associated with higher urinary VOC metabolite concentrations and that these associations would differ by sex. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2020-2021 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included the Republic of Korea's first population-based indoor air quality survey. The analysis included 1,859 adults aged ≥19 years who participated in the indoor air quality survey from July 2020 to August 2021. Indoor TVOC concentrations (µg/m³) were measured using standardized protocols. Nine urinary VOC metabolites were quantified, creatinine-adjusted, and log-transformed. Multivariable linear regression, sex-stratified analyses, and subgroup analyses among unemployed adults were performed to reduce potential confounding from occupational exposure. Results Indoor TVOC concentrations were positively associated with urinary 2-methylhippuric acid (2-MHA; β=0.041; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.029-0.052) and 3,4-MHA (β=0.040; 95% CI, 0.027-0.052), with no evident sex difference in the overall sample. However, among unemployed adults, sex-by-TVOC interaction terms were statistically significant for both metabolites, and associations were stronger in males for both 2-MHA (β=0.110 vs. 0.024) and 3,4-MHA (β=0.130 vs. 0.031) than in females. Conclusion Indoor TVOC concentrations were associated with urinary VOC metabolites, particularly 2-MHA and 3,4-MHA. These findings support considering sex-specific patterns in VOC-related risk assessment and indoor air quality surveillance, interventions, and management.
Allostatic load (AL) represents the cumulative physiological burden from activation of adaptive response systems. High AL, resulting from multisystemic dysregulation after chronic activation of response systems, is associated with chronic disease risk. Volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure may contribute to this dysregulation, but the impact on AL is unclear. In this study, we evaluated the association between urinary VOC metabolites and AL in 959 adult participants of the Green Heart Louisville Project across four visits (2018 or 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). We quantified AL using a Mahalanobis Distance-based index (AL-MD) derived from 15 biomarkers spanning cardiovascular, metabolic, immunoinflammatory, and neuroendocrine systems. In spot urine samples, we assessed seven metabolites of six parent VOCs (acrolein (3HPMA), 1,3-butadiene (34HBMA), N,N-dimethylformamide (MCaMA), ethylbenzene/styrene (PGA; MADA), and xylene (2MHA; 3MHA+4MHA)). Quantile-based g-computation was used to estimate the mixture effects on AL adjusting for covariates. A one quartile increase in this VOC metabolite mixture was associated with a 0.10 [0.02, 0.19] standard deviation higher AL-MD score. Effects were more pronounced in middle-aged (40–64 y/o; 0.15 [0.03, 0.26]) and older adults (65+ y/o; 0.14 [−0.06, 0.35]) compared with young adults (25–39 y/o; <0.01 [−0.13, 0.13]). This association was also stronger in males (0.15 [0.01, 0.29]) than females (0.07 [−0.04, 0.18]). Metabolites of acrolein, ethylbenzene/styrene, and xylene were consistent key drivers of physiological dysregulation. These findings suggest that VOC exposure could be a contributor to multisystemic dysregulation, as reflected by higher AL, providing a framework to detect environmental exposure-related subclinical effects linked to higher cardiovascular disease risk.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are prevalent environmental pollutants posing significant risks to human health. However, their impact on thyroid function and the latent mechanism remain largely uncharted. This study utilized data of 1201 participants aged ≥20 years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2012. Weighted generalized linear model (for single-analyte analysis) and quantile g-computation (QgComp) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) (for mixture analysis) were employed to capture the individual and mixed effects of 16 VOCs metabolites (derived from 13 VOCs) on 10 thyroid function indicators. Network toxicology was employed to probe the underlying mechanism. In single-analyte effect analysis, we found several VOCs metabolites (e.g., N-Acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-L-cysteine [AMCC] and N-Acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)-L-cysteine [CYMA]) were positively associated with thyroglobulin (hTg), negatively associated with free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyrotrophic thyroxine resistance index (TT4RI), TSH index, and thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab), while nae associated with total triiodothyronine (TT3), free triiodothyronine (FT3), total thyroxine (TT4), or thyroglobulin antibodies (anti-hTg). Both mixture models (BKMR and QgComp) discovered that the mixture of 16 VOCs metabolites was positively related to TT3 (β=0.0161; 95% CI: 0.0056∼0.0265) and FT3 (0.0077; 0.0020∼0.0134) while negatively related to FT4 (-0.0158; -0.0248∼-0.0067), TSH (-0.0395; -0.0726∼-0.0065), TT4RI (-0.0552; -0.0883∼-0.0221), TSH index (-0.0336; -0.0556∼-0.0117), and TPO-Ab (-0.1001; -0.2066∼-0.0056). Hypothesis-generating network toxicology showed a significant enrichment in interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathway linking VOCs exposure and thyroid dysfunction. Conclusively, exposure of general adults to single VOC and particularly multiple VOCs mixture was associated with thyroid function alteration, and the possible (hypothesis-generating) mechanism may involve IL-17 signaling pathway.
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