Ralph J. DelfinoAssociate Professor, Epidemiology Vice Chair, Research and Graduate Studies, Epidemiology Associate Director, Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute
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Research Interests |
Environmental epidemiology; air pollution health effects; chronic disease epidemiology; gene-environment interactions | |
| URLs | Dept. of Epidemiology - School of Medicine | |
| UC Irvine Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute (GERI), Assoc. Director | ||
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Academic Distinctions | Dr. Delfino currently serves on several external scientific advisory committees for environmental health research centers at major universities, and was invited by the Office of Research at the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), to serve on the California Air Resources Board's Air Quality Advisory Committee during 2004-2006. He has served on the Environmental and Occupational Program Committee, American Thoracic Society International Conferences, serves as a reviewer for prestigious journals, is a member of Editorial Review Board, Environmental Health Perspectives, and has served as a proposal reviewer for several NIH study panels. | |
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Research Abstract |
Dr Delfino's epidemiologic studies evaluate multiple clinical, biological and genetic factors to understand the effects of air pollutants on respiratory health, cardiovascular function, oxidative stress, and pulmonary and systemic inflammation. This is being accomplished with longitudinal studies in human subjects involving repeated measures of exposures and outcomes to obtain precise estimates of exposure-response relationships. Each subject serves as his or her own control. This has involved following cohorts of asthmatics (panels) with daily repeated measures for several months using spirometers, exhaled NO as a marker of airway inflammation, and electronic diaries and data loggers to measure medication use, spatial location, physical activity, and asthma symptoms. Similarly, for cardiovascular panels this has involved ambulatory Holter ECG and hourly blood pressure data, exhaled NO, and repeated blood draws for circulating biomarkers of inflammation, thrombosis, oxidative stress, and antioxidant capacity. He is also evaluating whether polymorphisms in genes involved in oxidative stress responses modify associations between repeated measures of air pollutants and health outcomes. The panel studies involve detailed exposure assessments with personal air monitoring systems that subjects carry with them during their daily activities, and indoor and outdoor home air monitors. The main goal is to understand the chemical composition, size factions and properties of particles that lead to observed health effects, and to trace these characteristics back to their sources. Chemical assays (some in real time) and in vitro assays of the redox and electrophilic activity of particles are among the methods being use in collaboration with colleagues at the EPA-funded Southern California Particle Center. He is also interested in the health impact of mobile pollutant sources such as freeways and in-vehicle exposure that are of growing concern. Ongoing work has focused on acute effects using panel study data. Other work involves evaluating the risk of repeated hospitalization for asthma from exposure to local traffic near the subject’s home. Future work is planned to look at disease development such as pediatric asthma onset using a cohort design combined with a nested panel in subjects who have developed the disease or intermediate endpoints. |
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| Publications | Delfino RJ, Becklake MR, Hanley J. The relationship of urgent hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses to photochemical air pollution levels in Montreal. Environ Res, 1994; 67:1-19. | |
| Delfino RJ, Coate B, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, Koutrakis P. Daily asthma severity in relation to personal ozone exposure and outdoor fungal spores. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 1996; 154:633-41. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Murphy AM, Burnett RT, Brook JR, Becklake MR. Effects of ozone and particulate air pollution on emergency room visits for respiratory illnesses in Montreal. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 1997; 155:568-576. | ||
| Liu L-J S, Delfino RJ, Koutrakis P. Ozone exposure assessment in a southern California community. Environ Health Perspect, 1997; 105:58-65. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, Matteucci RM, Anderson PR, Koutrakis P. The effect of outdoor fungal spore concentrations on asthma severity. Environ Health Perspect 1997; 105:622-35. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Murphy-Moulton AM, Becklake MR. Emergency room visits for respiratory illnesses among the elderly in Montreal: Association with low level ozone exposure. Environ Res, 1998; 76:67-77. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH. Symptoms in pediatric asthmatics and air pollution: Differences in effects by symptom severity, anti-inflammatory medication use, and particulate averaging time. Environ Health Perspect, 1998; 106: 751-61. | ||
| Quintana PJE, Valenzia JR, Delfino, RJ, Liu L?J S. Monitoring of 1-minute personal particulate matter exposures in relation to voice-recorded time-activity data. Environmental Research, 2001; 87:199-213. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, McLaren, C. Association of asthma symptoms with peak particulate air pollution and effect modification by anti-inflammatory medication use. Environ Health Perspect, 2002; 110:A607-A617. | ||
| Delfino RJ. Epidemiological evidence for asthma and exposure to air toxics: linkages between occupational, indoor, and community air pollution research. Environ Health Perspect, 2002 110(Suppl 4):573-589. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Gong H Jr, Hu Y, Pellizzari ED, Linn WS, Avila M. Relationship of symptoms and peak expiratory flow in asthmatic children to exhaled breath and ambient VOCs in a Hispanic community with high traffic density. J Expo Analysis Environ Epidemiol 2003; 13:348-63. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Gong H Jr, Hu Y, Pellizzari ED, Linn WS, Avila M. Effects of ambient VOCs and criteria gases on symptoms in asthmatic children living in a Hispanic community with high traffic density. Environ Health Perspect 2003; 111:647-656. | ||
| Chakrabarti B, Fine PM, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C. Performance evaluation of the active-flow personal DataRAM PM2.5 mass monitor (Thermo Anderson pDR-1200) designed for continuous personal exposure measurements. Atmos Environ 2004; 38:3329-40. | ||
| Quintana PJE, Delfino RJ, Korrick S, Ziogas A, Kutz FW, Jones EL, Laden F, Garshick E. Adipose tissue levels of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs and risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Environ Health Perspect 2004; 112:854-61. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Quintana PJE, Floro J, Gastañaga VM, Samimi BS, Kleinman MT, Liu L-JS, Bufalino C, Wu C-F, McLaren CE. Association of FEV1 in asthmatic children with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter. Environ Health Perspect 2004; 112:932-41. | ||
| Wu CF, Delfino RJ, Floro JN, Samimi BS, Quintana PJE, Kleinman MT, Liu L-JS. Evaluation and quality control of personal nephelometers in indoor, outdoor and personal environments. J Expo Analysis Environ Epidemiol 2005;15:99-110. | ||
| Wu CF, Delfino RJ, Floro JN, Quintana PJE, Samimi BS, Kleinman MT, Allen RW, Liu L-JS. Exposure assessment and modeling of particulate matter for asthmatic children using personal nephelometers. Atmos Environ 2005; 39:3457-69. | ||
| Staimer N, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C, Bufalino C, Fine PM, Meacher D, Tjoa T, Kleinman MT. Evaluation of an active personal exposure monitor for NO2. Anal Bioanal Chem 2005; 383:955-62. | ||
| Sioutas C, Delfino RJ, Singh M. Exposure assessment for atmospheric ultrafine particles (UFP) and implications in epidemiological research. Environ Health Perspect, 2005; 113: 947-55. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Sioutas C, Malik S, Potential role of ultrafine particles in associations between airborne particle mass and cardiovascular health. Environ Health Perspect, 2005; 113: 934-946. | ||
| Arhami M, Kuhn T, Fine PM, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C. Effects of sampling artifacts and operating parameters on the performance of a semi-continuous particulate EC/OC monitor. Environ Sci Technol 2006; 40:945-53. | ||
| Delfino RD. Who are the children most susceptible to air pollution? Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 2006 15;173:1054-5. | ||
| Wu J, Winer A, Delfino R. Exposure assessment of particulate matter air pollution before, during, and after the 2003 southern California wildfires. Atmos Environ, 2006; 40: 3333-3348. | ||
| Thompson R, Delfino RJ, Tjoa T, Nussbaum E, Cooper D. Evaluation of daily home spirometry for school children with asthma: new insights. Pediatr Pulmonol, 2006; 41:819-28. | ||
| Delfino RJ. Think globally, breath locally: Why the worldwide health impact of air pollution on young children begins in our neighborhoods. Thorax, 2006; 61:184-185. | ||
| Schwindt CD, Tjoa T, Floro J, McLaren CM, Delfino RJ. Association of atopy to asthma severity and medication use in children. J Asthma, 2006; 43:439–446. | ||
| Gastañaga VM, McLaren CE, Delfino RJ. Power calculations for generalized linear models in observational longitudinal studies: A simulation approach in SAS. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 2006; 84:27-33. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Gillen D, Tjoa T, Sioutas C, Fung K, George S, Kleinman MT. Personal and ambient air pollution is associated with increased exhaled NO in children with asthma. Environ Health Perspect, 2006;114:1736–1743. | ||
| Polidori A, Arhami M, Delfino RJ, Allen R, Sioutas C. Indoor-outdoor relationships, trends and carbonaceous content of fine particulate matter in retirement communities of the Los Angeles basin. J Air Waste Manage Assoc, 2007; 57:366-379. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Tjoa T, Gillen D, Kleinman MT, Sioutas C, Cooper D. Personal and ambient air pollution exposures and lung function decrements in children with asthma. Environ Health Perspect 2008;116:550-55. | ||
| Shinyashiki M, Rodriguez CR, Di Stefano EM, Sioutas C, Delfino RJ, Kumagai Y, Froines JR and Cho AK. On the interaction between glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and airborne particles: Evidence for electrophilic species. Atmos Environ, 2008;42:517-529. | ||
| Polidori A, Hu S, Biswas S, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C. Real-time characterization of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air and from motor-vehicle exhaust. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2008 8:1277-91. | ||
| Floro JN, Dunton GF, Delfino RD. Assessing physical activity in asthmatic children: accelerometer and electronic diary data. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sports, 2009;80:153-63. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Tjoa T, Polidori A, Arhami M, Gillen D, Kleinman MT, Vaziri N, Zaldivar F, Longhurst J, Sioutas C. Circulating biomarkers of inflammation, antioxidant activity, and platelet activation are associated with urban air pollution in elderly subjects with a history of coronary artery disease. Env Health Perspect, 2008;116:898–906. | ||
| Chang J, Delfino RJ, Gillen D, Tjoa T, Nickerson B, Cooper D. Repeated respiratory hospital encounters among children with asthma and residential proximity to traffic. Occup Environ Med, 2009;66;90-98. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Brummell S, Wu J, Stern H Ostro B, Lipsett M, Winer A, Street DH, Zhang L, Tjoa T, Gillen D. The relationship of respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions to the southern California wildfires of 2003. Occup Environ Med, 2009;66:189-97. | ||
| Gorham KA, Sulbaek Andersen MP, Meinardi S, Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Tjoa T, Rowland FS, Blake DR. Ethane and n-pentane in exhaled breath are biomarkers of exposure not effect, Biomarkers 2009;14:17-25. | ||
| DiStefano E, Eiguren-Fernandez A, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C, Froines JR, Cho AK. Determination of metal-based hydroxyl radical generating capacity of ambient and diesel exhaust particles. Inhalation Toxicol, 2009;21:731-8. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Chang J, Wu J, Ren C, Tjoa T, Nickerson B, Cooper D, Gillen DL. Repeated hospital encounters for asthma in children and exposure to traffic-related air pollution near the home. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, 2009;102:138-144. | ||
| Arhami M, Polidori A, Delfino RJ, Tjoa T, Sioutas C. Associations between personal, indoor, and residential outdoor pollutant concentrations: Implications for exposure assessment to size fractionated PM. J Air Waste Manage Assoc 2009;59:392–404. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Tjoa T, Gillen D, Polidori A, Arhami M, Kleinman MT, Vaziri N, Longhurst J, Sioutas C. Air pollution exposures and circulating biomarkers of effect in a susceptible population: clues to potential causal component mixtures and mechanisms. Environ Health Perspect, 2009;117:1232–1238. | ||
| Polidori A, Cheung KL, Arhami M, Delfino RJ, Schauer JJ, Sioutas C. Relationships between size-fractionated indoor and outdoor trace elements at four retirement communities in southern California. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2009;9:4521-36. | ||
| Wu J, Ren C, Delfino RJ, Chung J, Wilhelm M, Ritz B. Association between local traffic-generated air pollution and preterm delivery and preeclampsia in the South Coast Air Basin of California. Environ Health Perspect, in press, online: http://www.ehponline.org. | ||
| Arhami M, Minguillón MC, Polidori A, Schauer JJ, Delfino RJ, Sioutas C. Organic compound characterization and source apportionment of indoor and outdoor quasi-ultrafine PM in retirement homes of the Los Angeles basin. Indoor Air, in press. | ||
| Von Behren J, Lipsett M, Horn-Ross PL, Delfino RJ, Gilliland F, McConnell R, Bernstein L, Clarke CA, Reynolds P. Body weight, waist size, and risk of current asthma in the California Teachers Study Cohort. Thorax, in press. | ||
| Delfino RJ, Tjoa T, Gillen D, Staimer N, Polidori A, Arhami M, Jamner L, Sioutas C, Longhurst J. Ambulatory blood pressure, time-activity patterns, and exposure to traffic-related residential air pollution in elderly subjects with coronary artery disease. Epidemiology, in press. | ||
| Delfino RJ. Do endotoxin and air pollution have a synergistic relationship to asthma onset or exacerbation? Am J Respir Crit Care Med, in press 8/2009. | ||
| Grants | NIH/NIEHS, R01 ES11615, Pediatric Asthma, Particulate Air Pollution and NO2. | |
| NIH/NIEHS R01 ES012243, Ultrafine Particulate Matter & Cardiorespiratory Health. | ||
| Environmental Protection Agency, Southern California Particle Center Award No. UCLA-36488, Prime award No. RD83241301 (Froines; Project 4: Oxidative Stress Responses to PM Exposure in Elderly Individuals with Coronary Heart Disease – Ralph Delfino, Lead Investigator | ||
| State of California Air Resources Board, Contract No. 03-329. Determination of Reactive Oxygen Species Activity in PM and Enhanced Exposure Assessment for the NIH, NIEHS Study Entitled: Ultrafine Particulate Matter and Cardiorespiratory Health. | ||
| NIH, NIEHS, 1 R21 ES-016420, Air Pollution and Peripheral Blood Gene Expression in Subjects with Coronary Artery Disease. | ||
| State of California Air Resources Board, Contract no 07310, In-Vehicle Air Pollution Exposure Measurement and Modeling. | ||
| State of California Air Resources Board, Contract No. 07325, Personal Endotoxin Exposure in School Children with Asthma. | ||
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Professional Societies |
American Thoracic Society International Society for Environmental Epidemiology |
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| Other Experience |
Air Quality Advisory Committee Member of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2004—2006 |
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| Graduate Programs |
Epidemiology |
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| Research Center | UC Irvine Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute (GERI), Assoc. Director | |
| Link to this profile | http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5070 | |
| Last updated | 10/20/2009 | |