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City University of New York (CUNY)

2017

Theses/Dissertations

Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Identification And Quantification Of Cyanide And Its Metabolites In Lemur Urine, Jeremy Peralta Dec 2017

Identification And Quantification Of Cyanide And Its Metabolites In Lemur Urine, Jeremy Peralta

Student Theses

Cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the monovalent groups of carbon and nitrogen. This substance is considered a rapidly acting deadly chemical. However, some animals such as lemurs consume food products that are known to contain elevated levels of cyanide without major consequences. The mechanism by which the lemur can handle this high exposure to cyanide is unknown. In this study, we developed and validated two analytical methods for the determination of cyanide and two metabolites, thiocyanate and 2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA) in lemur urine. The method was applied to 47 authentic lemur urine samples collected from 4 different species …

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A Validation Of The Detection Of Barbiturates In Hair By Elisa, Alisa M. Valentino Jun 2017

A Validation Of The Detection Of Barbiturates In Hair By Elisa, Alisa M. Valentino

Student Theses

An original method to extract and detect barbiturates, specifically secobarbital, in hair by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), has been developed. Drug-free hair specimens were fortified with an exaggerated amount of secobarbital to produce a homogeneous, true positive sample to be utilized to test the drug extraction efficiency from hair. Drug extraction using hair extraction buffer (HEB) from Immunalysis was compared to a base digestion using 1M NaOH. After LCMS/MS analysis, HEB extraction was deemed a successful method for extracting barbiturates from hair. Using this method, the Barbiturates Direct ELISA Kit from Immunalysis was evaluated for its potential use in the …

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Characterizing The Impacts Of Contaminants On Fish Embryogenesis And Revealing An Alternate Molecular Mechanism Of Ahr Mediated Cardiac Defects, Corinna Singleman Jun 2017

Characterizing The Impacts Of Contaminants On Fish Embryogenesis And Revealing An Alternate Molecular Mechanism Of Ahr Mediated Cardiac Defects, Corinna Singleman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a long history of damage to natural ecosystems from environmental pollution. Many environmental contaminants are man-made and have been released with abandon over the last 100 years including dioxins, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These chemicals act on similar cellular processes and cause skin lesions, cancer, learning disabilities and reproductive problems in many vertebrates. There are many studies exploring various aspects of TCDD and PCB exposure on model and wild organisms. Few studies however, have compared effects of PCB mixtures on ecosystems to effects of individual PCBs in the lab. The first aim of this thesis is …

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Quantitative Analysis Of Opioids And Cannabinoids In Wastewater Samples, Alethea Jacox May 2017

Quantitative Analysis Of Opioids And Cannabinoids In Wastewater Samples, Alethea Jacox

Student Theses

Wastewater-based epidemiology is an innovative approach that uses the analysis of human excretion products in wastewater to obtain information about exposure to drugs in defined population groups. We developed and validated an analytical method for the detection and quantification of opioids (morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone and hydromorphone), and cannabinoids (9-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-nor 9-carboxy- tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH) and THCCOOH-glucuronide) in raw influent wastewater samples by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Method validation included linearity (5–1 000 ng/L for opioids, 10–1 000 ng/L for cannabinoids), imprecision (<21.2%), accuracy (83%–131%), matrix effect (from –35.1% to –14.7%) and extraction efficiency (25%–84%), limit of detection (1–5 ng/L) and quantification (5–10 ng/L) and auto-sampler stability (no loss detected). River, sewage overflow and wastewater samples were collected in triplicate from different locations in New York City and stored at -20 C until analysis. River water samples were negative for all the compounds. Water from sewage overflow location tested positive for morphine (10.7 ng/L), oxycodone (4.2–23.5 ng/L), oxymorphone (4.8 ng/L) and hydromorphone (4.2 ng/L). Wastewater samples tested positive for morphine (133.0– 258.3 ng/L), oxycodone (31.1– 63.6 ng/L), oxymorphone (16.0–56.8 ng/L), hydromorphone (6.8–18.0 ng/L), hydrocodone (4.0– 12.8 ng/L) and THCCOOH (168.2– 772.0 ng/L). This method is sensitive and specific for opioids and marijuana determination in wastewater samples.

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Impact Of Urbanization On Temperature Variation In Big Cities: Measuring Health Risk While Targeting Vulnerable Population, Maryam E. Karimi Feb 2017

Impact Of Urbanization On Temperature Variation In Big Cities: Measuring Health Risk While Targeting Vulnerable Population, Maryam E. Karimi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Densely populated cities are experiencing Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects and localized hotspots. Cities, such as New York can form heat islands all year round. This is primarily due to land surface modifications, radiative trapping in urban canyons and lack of cooling through evapotranspiration caused by displaced trees and vegetation. UHI refers to an increase in air and surface temperature in cities compared to surrounding suburban and rural areas. Large scale environmental forcing can cause subdivisions of UHI throughout a city. The combined of environmental forcing effects lead to the formation of hot pockets within the cities at micro-scale. The …

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