Item 28 - Public Hearing - Amendment Application for the Village Santa Ana Specific Plan

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The Village Santa Ana Specific Plan Project Research at USC Footnote 4 above refers to research done at USC_ The Science Advisor's title is "Brain pollution: Evidence builds that dirty air causes Alzheimer's, demential_ The microscopic particles sifting from freeways and power plants don't just harm your heart and lungs. They may also attack your bra in_'° This study builds on an earlier one at USC3 that stated Tiny particles that pollute the air — the kind that come mainly from power plants and automobiles — may greatly increase the chance of dementia, including dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, according to USC- led research_ Scientists and engineers found that older women who live in places with fine particulate matter exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's'°_ Finding that "Cells in the brain treat these particles as invaders and react with inflammatory responses, which over the course of time, appear to exacerbate and promote Alzheimer's disease_ Effects were stronger for those with the APOE4 gene that increases the risk for Alzheimer's. Our (2017) study — the first of its kind conducted in the U.S. — provides the inaugural evidence of a critical Alzheimer's risk gene possibly interacting with air particles to accelerate brain aging," 15-2 oont. Back to foe#note 4_ 'What they're finding is critical, including who is most at risk_ "The aging brain is vulnerable to air pollution," says Caleb Finch, a USC gerontologist and expert on the biology of aging and also co -principal investigator in the AirPoll Brain Group_ "Far too long, the role of environmental neurotoxins in Alzheimer's disease has been neglected_' Within a few years of joining forces, Chen and Finch reported the first evidence that a critical Alzheimer's risk gene — APO E4— speed s brain aging when it interacts with fine air particles_ In 2011, the colleagues received the first -ever National Institutes of Health grant to study the connections between air pollution and Alzheimer's_ Since then, about one-fourth of the 220 NIH-funded research grants focused on air pollution and dementia have come to USC_" 'Finch and Chen have also succeeded in attracting more than two dozen USC scientists to the AirPollBrain Group, crossing disci piines and schools to unite neuroscientists, environmental health experts, engineers, gerontologists, physicians, sociologists and more_ The result: In 2 01 8, the National Institute on Aging awarded USC researchers a five-year $11.5 million grant to examine how urban air pollution contributes to an increased risk of dementia_'° Air pollution wreaks havoc primarily through systemic inflammation, Finch says, and that exposure can lead to the formation of amyloid plaques, the proteins that form between the brain's nerve cells that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's. Researchers have fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5, in their sights- 2 Mine flwww_:cienap_ora_/cont@rea tMgltirain-pollution-ewidenc&-duild,-dirt"r-cauE;ee 31zrralmer-s-dern.@Nma 3 Mi Ie'tOday_usc.edLVair-pollution-may-Igad-to-dementia-in-older-womgrlr The need for better ;mall particle modeling City of Santa Ana Page 3 August 2025 14