Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Association with in Uterine Exposure and Asthma :: Medical, Health, Medicine

Scientists have studied the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in regards to many health defects in humans, one of them being asthma. Asthma is a chronic condition regarding the respiratory system. Muscles in the respiratory system, specifically the lungs and the trachea, tighten causing a narrowing of the passageways in which air flows through. The constrictions of the respiratory organs can cause many symptoms that include strained breathing and tension of the chest (Friis, 2012). In the United States alone, asthma is considered to be the most common long-term disease that affects particularly and most frequently children (Al-Daghri et al. 2013). According to Kyung Jung, asthma in children has multiplied since 1980, when it was a low 3.6 percent to a now high 9.6 percent (Jung et al. 2013). The causative agents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are precarious material created from the partial burning of petroleum-based chemicals that have been known to be one of the collaborators for asthma (Friis 2012). Additionally, PAHs can be made by the incomplete burning of organic compounds, such as wood, coal, and especially tobacco (Al-Daghri et al. 2013). There have been studies conducted to demonstrate the affects and higher prevalence of asthma in children who are exposed to PAHs in an in utero state. Children exposed in the womb, along with asthma and the known causative agent, PAHs, will be the principle course of study. Four studies have been conducted to analyze the serious effects of PAHs. The research consists of work performed by Sophie Chu, Nasser Al-Daghri, Dr. Mathew Perzanowski, and Wan-yee Tang and each of their colleagues; all of which directed their own studies and research in regards to pollution exposed to children and asthma. For instance, Nasser Al-Daghri directed research on children in Saudi Arabia and found that nearly 3 million children experience the hardships of asthma (2013). For this reason and many others, PAHs and its ef fects in growing fetuses have been investigated worldwide. There is evidence from the findings of the previously mentioned researchers that in uterine exposure to PAHs are associated with childhood asthma. Sophie Chu and her colleagues postulated that exposures to PAH before birth and after birth would cause an intensification of airway hyperreactivity, thus showing signs of asthma. Chu collected mice for her research and acquired a mixture containing the same quantity of PAHs a pregnant woman would regularly consume. She also acquired a vaporized control solution made of almost entirely of decontaminated water (99.