Guanajuato, Gto., February 13, 2016.- With the purpose to determine the factors of the environment that influence in the presence of illnesses in human beings, the professors from the Division of Health Sciences from Campus Leon (DCSCL) from the University of Guanajuato (UG), Dr. Benigno Linares Segovia, performs research focused in Ecotoxicology and environmental health.

Dr. Benigno –due to his formation as pediatrician—is focused on the relation about the pollutants in the air with the pulmonary function, the respiratory symptoms and the presence of allergies in children.

Currently, DCSCL's professor is about to conclude two projects in which he has actively participated, the first titled "Cinco Ciudades" (Five Cities) that has the participation of 2 students from the Master in Clinical Research, a student from the Nutrition degree and a student from the Biology degree.

This project began as an initiative of the Secretary of Health, with the purpose to know the impact of the air contamination on children's respiratory health in the five cities of the industrial corridor of Guanajuato: Celaya, Salamanca, Irapuato, Silao and Leon.

To know the influence of the pollution they measured respiratory symptoms, allergies and pulmonary function (a study that allows to know the size and state of the lungs) of children with and without a diagnosis of a respiratory illness. A second line of research worked with undiagnosed children who also have respiratory alterations and got to the conclusion that the swelling of the airway is the cause of these symptoms.

After the beginning of the second project "Búsqueda de biomarcadores de inflamación pulmonary" (Search for pulmonary swelling biomarkers) in which they worked with children with and without asthma, exposed to different levels of contamination in the air. This study included an innovative, non-invasive technique that allows measuring swelling chemical mediators in the exhaled condensed air (CAE). This technique was developed for students from the Master of Clinical Research.

These researches have an important repercussion, the measurement of swelling chemical mediators in CAE implemented by Dr. Linares and the postgraduate students is seen as a useful tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of the swelling in the airway. Their findings on air contamination and respiratory health have been used as reference in the designing of programs for the quality of air (PROAIRE) in the cities of Salamanca and Leon and have been referred in the Mexican Official Norm that regulates the air contaminants in large cities in the country.