Nova Quarterly: The University of Texas at El Paso

A breath of fresh air Asthma research to help border children by Laura CruzOn windy days when ozone levels are at their peak, it's not uncommon to see more than a handful of coughing, wheezing and fatigued students in school nurse Michelle Fernandez's office."I' ll know when the ozone or pollution is high because the kids with asthma will come in complaining that they can't breathe," says the Alta Vista Elementary School nurse."I think there's a lot of under diagnoses of children with asthma.There needs to be more research.More can be done for children with asthma."The University of Texas at El Paso and the University ofNew Mexico Health Sciences Center are collaborating to help children throughout the U.S.-Mexico border, like Fernandez's young patients, thanks to a five-year, $5 million study from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health.The program, known as ARCH, is officially named the UTEP-UNM Health Sciences Center Advanced Research Cooperation in Environmental Health Program on Border Asthma.It will examine the relationship between air, soil, household environment and asthma in El Paso children."El Paso is an extremely understudied, underfunded area," says Maria Amaya, a UTEP health sciences professor and the principal investigator for the research project.The ARCH program is supported by five pilot projects that will feed into the core research effort.The research includes household health surveys and environmental assessments, innovative testing of lung function in children and indepth analysis of the area's air.Other studies include the effects oflocal pollutants on cells, and geographic analysis of environmental quality and asthma occurrence.UTEP faculty from three colleges and seven departments will work on the project. "In the core project, we are studying a representative sample of children between the ages of 5 and 17, in order to identify the prevalence of asthma," Amaya says."In previous studies, the prevalence was thought to be between 5 and 12 percent or higher."Amaya says earlier studies might not have an accurate count of asthma patients, especially because many El Paso children are treated in Juarez or with over-thecounter medications."The advantage our research will have is that we are going into random homes to ask questions and assessing the children," she says."Once the surveying Mike Price football campsThis summer, Head Coach Mike Price is hosting high school football camps across Texas and in Arizona.The camps are an excellent opportunity for high school athletes to improve their skills while having fun and getting to know the Miner coaching staff.For more information, call 9151747-5142. One-Day Evaluation CampsFor students who will be high school juniors and seniors.Coaches evaluate your skills and help prepare you for the future.$25.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.