A groundbreaking study confirms what we knew about pollution and lung problems: In the first long-term study of the effects of air pollution on children, researchers reported Wednesday that children and teenagers in Southern California communities with higher levels of air pollution were more likely to have diminished lung function. . . The investigators found that 7.9 percent of the 18-year-olds in the highest pollution areas had lung capacities that were less than 80 percent of what they should have been. Among those subjected to the least-polluted air, 1.6 percent had underperforming lungs. This is why the demands of folks in New Haven's Hill neighborhood, facing a further expansion by Yale - New Haven Hospital, include an increased commitment from the hospital to studying urban diseases like athsma and diabetes and a promise to deconstruct buildings and a manner which doesn't send debris into the local atmosphere.