Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Parent Perspectives On Barriers And Facilitators To Optimal Healthcare And Medical Screenings For Children With Down Syndrome In South Carolina, Vinita Oberoi Leedom

Theses and Dissertations

Children with Down syndrome (DS) often have co-occurring conditions affecting vision, hearing, sleeping, and more. Screenings, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), can help prevent secondary disability, and allow children to thrive. Studies have evaluated the receipt of recommended screenings, but barriers and facilitators surrounding access to screenings and care have not been described.

Parents of 24 children with DS in SC were recruited through schools and family support groups. One-hour long interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Information was collected on health, healthcare quality, respiratory concerns, pandemic effects, access to care, and knowledge about AAP …

The Evergreen Challenges Of Healing: An Evaluation Of Urban Green Space In Harambee, Kacee Ochalek

Theses and Dissertations

Urban green space initiatives have emerged in low- and middle-income cities as a solution to disinvestment, the production of more positive public health metrics, and a tool of community engagement. While the production of urban greening provides ample room for applause, The City of Milwaukee’s Healing Spaces Initiative model regarding the ongoing construction of green space and the implementation of maintenance creates challenges that perpetuate racist capitalistic notions of the neoliberal project. This paper presents reports from participant observation, document analysis, and 17 qualitative interviews with representatives of the City of Milwaukee, community partners, garden leaders, and residents. The data …

Coastal Stormwater Pond Pollutants And The Potential For Development Of Antimicrobial Resistance In Vibrio And Enterococcus Bacteria, Cassandra L. Horton

Theses and Dissertations

The Southeastern coastal plain is the most rapidly urbanizing region in the United States. Associated landscape changes which increase imperviousness lead to hydrological cycle alterations, increasing runoff of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution. Urban and agricultural NPS runoff is generally discharged into stormwater ponds, which sequester chemical contaminants, nutrients, and microbes to reduce loading into coastal ecosystems. Studies of these ponds have indicated elevated levels of trace metals, antimicrobial compounds, and bacterial contamination (SCSGC 2018).

Interactions of aquatic pathogens Vibrio vulnificus and Enterococcus faecium with trace metals (arsenic, copper, zinc) and clinically relevant antimicrobials (triclosan, ciprofloxacin, oxytetracycline) commonly found in coastal …

Monitoring Titanium Dioxide Engineered Particles In Rural And Urban Surface Waters, Md Mahmudun Nabi

Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying and characterizing engineered particles in environmental systems is key for assessing their risk but remains challenging and requires the distinction between natural and engineered particles. The Ph.D. dissertation research described in this thesis contributes to the current attempts to improve environmental nanoparticle analysis and better understand nanoparticle behavior in natural systems, with the focus being on natural streams, and the application of single particle inductively coupled plasma-time of flight-mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-TOF-MS) for distinguishing and tracing the origins of environmental nanoparticles. The objective of this dissertation is to characterize and quantify the concentrations of titanium dioxide engineered particles in urban …

Evaluating Soil Health Changes Following Cover Crop And No-Till Integration Into A Soybean (Glycine Max) Cropping System In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Alexandra Gwin Firth

Theses and Dissertations

The transition of natural landscapes to intensive agricultural uses has resulted in severe loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), increased CO₂ emissions, river depletion, and groundwater overdraft. Despite negative documented effects of agricultural land use (i.e., soil erosion, nutrient runoff) on critical natural resources (i.e., water, soil), food production must increase to meet the demands of a rising human population. Given the environmental and agricultural productivity concerns of intensely managed soils, it is critical to implement conservation practices that mitigate the negative effects of crop production and enhance environmental integrity. In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) region of Mississippi, USA, …

Improving Nutrition And Food Safety Knowledge Of Small-Scale Fish Processors In Delta State, Nigeria, Grace Adeola Adegoye

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Fish is an affordable animal source food that provides nutrition and serves as a source of income for many people especially women in Nigeria. Smoking and sun drying are the processing methods in practice that expose the fish products to possible contaminants which may consequentially negate their nutritive value.

Aim: To improve the knowledge of fish processors on nutrition and safe fish handling.

Methodology: A 3-day participatory training was organized to train 122 fish processors, 95 women, and 25 men. The training was conducted in the three senatorial districts in Delta State, Nigeria. Knowledge was assessed using the pre …

Towards Environmental Sustainability Of Nanotechnology Through Improved Evaluations Of Impact And Risk To Aquatic Species: Cross-Species Comparisons From The Laboratory And Environmentally Realistic Exposure Scenarios In The Field, Becky J. Curtis

Theses and Dissertations

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are utilized in a wide variety of applications and products, including everything from toothpaste and personal care products to industries such as aerospace, defense, medicine, electronics, and agriculture. Depending on the application, release of ENMs to the environment may occur through both unintentional and deliberate routes. High surface-area-to-volume ratios make ENMs more volatile than bulk counterparts, and their small size allows translocation within biological systems that would not be possible with larger materials. These and other characteristics make ENM-biological system interactions unpredictable, creating uncertainty about their potential risks to environmental health. The purpose of this research is …

Describing The Impact Of The Sales Of Antibiotics On The Environment And In Population Health, Andrés Gaviria-Figueroa

Theses and Dissertations

The role of antibiotics in human health is of significant importance in the advancement of the medical field. It has contributed to an improvement of the quality of life and the age expectancy of the population. Antibiotic resistance is an expected consequence of the use of antibiotics. Bacteria have developed biological mechanisms that would help them become resistant to antibiotics. The uncontrolled use of antibiotics is significantly contributing to the ability of bacteria to become resistant to those antibiotics. This study, using the model of the Socio-Ecological Coupling of Antibiotic Resistance, explains how social and environmental factors interact and impact …

Comparative Assessment Of The Fate And Toxicity Of Chemically And Biologically Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Toward Juvenile Clams, Mercenaria Mercenaria, Amar Yasser Al-Rshim

Theses and Dissertations

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) with unique nanoscale properties, including novel optical behavior and superparamagnetic, are continually being developed for biomedical and industrial applications. In specific biomedical applications, ENMs are surface-functionalized using polymers, proteins, and other stabilizing agents to facilitate their resistance to salt-induced aggregation. Since their colloidal stability in high ionic-strength matrices, functionalized ENMs are anticipated to be persistent aquatic contaminants. Despite their potential environmental significance, the persistence of surface-functionalized ENMs as individually stabilized nanoparticles in marine environments is largely unknown. Further, few studies have investigated the fundamental factors that influence ENMs uptake and fate/transport processes in ecologically susceptible aquatic biota, …

Behavioral And Physiological Effects Of Heavy Metals On Fish: A Review And Preliminary Results, Diana V. Morales

Theses and Dissertations

Pollution, specifically heavy metal pollution, in various bodies of water has been a significant issue for decades. Research has been conducted on heavy metals and their effects on the environment, larger fish species, and humans since the 1970s (Skidmore, 1964; Adeniyi et al., 2007; Adeosun et al., 2015; Bawuro et al., 2018). It is known that zinc is a neurotoxin in some species and causes harm to the environment. It is also known that it causes harm to people if it is ingested or if they are exposed to it for long periods of time (Mahurpawar, 2015; Mizuno and Kawahara, …

Assessing Stakeholder Needs And Preferences For Coastal Swimming Advisories In Charleston, South Carolina, Zachary Haynes Hart

Theses and Dissertations

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act was established in 2000 to reduce the risk of illness among recreational users of beaches in the United States. Specifically, the Act provides coastal states and territories with annual grants to conduct routine water quality monitoring at beaches and to notify the public when pathogen levels exceed safe thresholds. Many coastal states use beach signs, agency websites, and press releases to notify the public, but a 2011 evaluation of the public notification component of the BEACH Act found that few states are choosing methods based on target audience characteristics and interests. …

Partitioning Of Volatile Organic Compounds Into The Multiple Environmental Compartments, Jeonghyeon Ahn

Theses and Dissertations

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) dominate the class of pollutants that accumulate in the atmosphere and indoors. Partitioning coefficient is a measure of a compound’s ability to distribute between two phases. Assessing the partitioning of VOCs is essential to determine their transport, fate, behavior, and adverse environmental and health impacts across multiple environmental compartments. Studies on VOC partitioning have been limited because discriminating the small mass fraction of VOCs in aerosol particles is difficult to quantify. The partitioning of VOCs into soil, air, and aerosol particle phases was investigated under dynamic laboratory conditions. A bench-scale system that precisely controlled the relative …

Uptake, Acuumulation, And Toixicity Of Silver Nanoparticles To Juvenile Bivalve Mollusc’S Hard Clam Mercenaria Mercenaria, Hanaa Radhi Jolan Al Hameed

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoscience and nanotechnology have gained attention in the last 20 - 30 years. Manufactured nanoparticles (NPs), which are defined as having at least one dimension between 1 and 100 nm, are the main products of nanotechnology. Nanoscale materials often have novel properties due to their size and this has made them so attractive for a range of processes and sectors. These attractive properties have enhanced their use in a wide range of consumer products and applications including electronic, biomedical, and pharmaceutical. The overall objective of this dissertation was: 1) to investigate the transformation of well-characterized AgNPs, at environmentally relevant concentrations …

Health Communication Blindspot: A Case Study Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The South (Habits), Jaron Hoani King

Theses and Dissertations

A Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) is a complex natural event that occurs when algae is in its growth stage and creates a harmful toxin as waste. HABs create both ecologic and public health challenges. The hypothesis of this thesis is that state and federal governments have different readability scores when compared side-by-side as measured by Simple Measures of Gobbledygook (SMOG). Because governments are the entity that most often claims responsibility for shared resources, this case study represents a snapshot of current governmental messaging about HABs in the South Atlantic states. These states have a long history of HAB events in …

The Interactive Effects Of Nontoxic Levels Of Microplastics - Textile Microfibers And Tire Wear Particles, On The Acute Toxicity Of Bifenthrin In The Estuarine Grass Shrimp, Palaemonetes Pugio, Xiaoxuan Fan

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary pollution issues are primarily focused on Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) which may include Brominated and Fluorinated flame retardants, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs), Contemporary Use Pesticides (CUPs), nanomaterials and microplastics (Muraya et al., 2014). Tire wear particles and textile microfibers are examples of CECs which may gradually increase in the environment and may cause adverse effect on the health of some aquatic species (Marwood et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2016). Microplastic particles are so small that they can be ingested by many marine species such as filter feeders and small particle feeders including mollusk and crustaceans, …

Identifying Seasonal And Daily Variations In Arg-Containing Bioaerosols Generated During The Wastewater Treatment Process, Mirza Isanovic

Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem with the current global death count topping 700,000. In the United States alone there are 2.8 million antibiotic resistant bacterial (ARB) infections each year and approximately 35,000 deaths. If current trends continue the global ARB death count will reach 10 million surpassing current chronic disease deaths. Wastewater treatment plants play a vital role in protecting both the environment as well as local communities. The WWTP process allows for the removal of chemicals and contaminants from water that eventually makes its way back into the environment as well as into drinking water plants. Despite the …

Temporal Differences In The Emission And Atmospheric Dispersion Of Particulate Matter From Waste And Drinking Water Treatment Facilities, Abdulmalik Alsaif

Theses and Dissertations

Many countries encounter a growing shortage of water, and the reuse of treated or untreated wastewater is their main source. Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) are mainly designed to remove organic nutrients, large solids, and chemical substances. There are some possible issues regarding WWTPs that are close to residential areas around the world. One of the environmental effects from WWTP that might cause air pollution would be the emission of toxic chemical gases and microorganisms via aerosols that transport bacteria as well as viruses and fungal spores which can be harmful to human health. Therefore, particulate matters (PM) and metrological parameters …

Mechanistic Insight On Vibrio Gazogenes Mediated Intervention Of Aflatoxin Biosynthesis In Aspergillus Flavus, Rubaiya Jesmin

Theses and Dissertations

Aflatoxin is a liver carcinogen, mycotoxin, and a secondary metabolite that is produced by some plant pathogens within the genus Aspergillus when they infect crops such as corn, peanuts, and cotton. Given the significant adverse health and economic impacts of aflatoxin and a predicted rise of crop contamination with mycotoxins caused by a changing climate, there is a pressing need for exploring new aflatoxin mitigation methods. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that metabolites from Vibrio gazogenes, an estuarine non-pathogenic bacterium, can inhibit aflatoxin synthesis. However, a direct interaction study between V. gazogenes and aflatoxin producing strains has …

Using A 3d In Vitro Ovarian Tissue Culture Model To Screen For The Female Reproductive Toxicity Of Pharmaceutical Compounds, Jingshan Xu

Theses and Dissertations

Ovarian toxicity (ovotoxicity) is one of the major side effects of pharmaceutical compounds for women at or before reproductive age. The current gold standard for screening of compounds for ovotoxicity largely relies on preclinical investigations using whole animals. However, in vivo models are time-consuming, costly, and harmful to animals. Here, we developed a three-tiered ovotoxicity screening approach starting from encapsulated in vitro follicle growth (eIVFG) and screened for the potential ovotoxicity of 8 preclinical compounds from AstraZeneca (AZ). Results from Tier 1 and 2 screenings using eIVFG showed that the first 7 tested AZ compounds, AZ-A, -B, -C, -D, -E, …

Bacterial Water Quality Monitoring As Citizen Science In Congaree National Park, South Carolina, Shea Mccarthy

Theses and Dissertations

Congaree National Park aims to preserve its natural and cultural resources while protecting these benefits for current and future enjoyment. Hydrologic features make up a large portion of the park and attract visitor recreation. There are several known sources of pollution that enter these waterways, mainly from upstream sources of waste discharge. The national park and its surrounding areas hold great ecological significance, however, there are many threats to the surface water quality in this area. Water quality degradation can impact the ecosystem, wildlife, and visitor experience. This project specifically considers exposure to fecal contamination in surface waters from upstream …

Development, Validation, And Application Of A Novel Method To Separate And Quantify Silver Intracellular Uptake In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Mohammed A. Othman

Theses and Dissertations

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have attracted tremendous attention as a potential broadspectrum antimicrobial agent to overcome multidrug resistant (MDR) infections. However, a comprehensive understanding to AgNPs bactericidal mechanism of action and the relative role of particulate versus ionic Ag in AgNPs antibacterial activity is lacking but essential for their optimization for potential medical applications. Therefore, a novel method to separate and quantify Ag internalization in P. aeruginosa was developed and validated through multimethod approach. The methods used were optical density at 600 nm (OD600), LIVE/DEAD staining, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and sorbed Ag liberation assays. After optimizing the method, it was …

The Use Of Polymer-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles For Amelioration Oil Toxicity And Enhancement Microbial Remediation, Amjed Alabresm

Theses and Dissertations

Oil spills from different sources such as natural seeps, waste waters, runoffs and accidental oil spills can have serious effects on the environment while also resulting in potentially major economic damage. Due to the harmful effects of crude oil components on ecosystems, a rapid response to sequestrate oil is required to minimize any resulting environmental impact. Currently used oil removal methods, in addition to their advantages, also have severe limitations. New techniques have been developed including nanotechnology to address these limitations. A new type of nanoparticle (NP), composed of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coated iron oxide (magnetite), has been successfully used to …

Microbiome Targeted Therapies In Gulf War Illness, Diana Agnes Kimono

Theses and Dissertations

Gulf war illness (GWI) is a chronic multisymptomatic disorder affecting about 30% of veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf war. Affected veterans complain of chronic symptoms which begun during or shortly after the war and persist 30 years later. This dissertation is a report of three studies which use a murine model to investigate the microbiome as a therapeutic target in GWI. Mice were exposed to pesticides and the prophylactic drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and studied these chemical’s impact on the microbiome in both an acute and persistence model of GWI.

The first study looks at the effect of altered …

Computational Tools For Analyzing Correlations Between Microbial Biological Diversity And Ecosystems, Behzad Torkian

Theses and Dissertations

Metagenomics has developed into a reliable mechanism to analyze microbial diversity of microbial communities in the recent years. Through the use of next-generation sequencing, metagenomic studies can generate billions of short sequencing reads that are processed by computational tools. However, with the rapid adoption of metagenomics, a large amount of data has been produced. This high level of data production requires the development of computational tools and pipelines to manage data scalability and performance. In this thesis, we developed several tools that will aid in the exploration of the large amount of DNA sequence data, and we further developed a …

The Connection Between Indoor Air Quality And Mental Health Outcomes, William L. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health among United States citizens, military members, and veterans warrant research into factors not fully considered for their effects on mental health. The built environment is increasingly recognized as a potential influence on the mental health of occupants. Specifically, indoor air quality is theorized to contribute to mental illness. Through the development of a literature review, specific air pollutants common in the built environment were identified, and the mechanisms behind their effect on mental health were explored. A model framework is outlined, estimating the number of cases of major depressive disorder attributable to indoor exposure to particulate matter. The …

Environmental Governance For Whom? Examining The Political, Institutional, Fiscal, And Legal Determinants Of State Environmental Agency Budget Policy In The Us, Andrew R. Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

Budgets are a prospective tool of governance, and appropriations are a planning vehicle reflecting: bureaucracies’ values, complex interactions, collective preferences, political influences, and available resources. Research spanning 30 years finds that environmental pollution is a key determinant of environmental budgets in the US, though myriad factors, actors, and subsystems are important to consider. Due to federalism and devolution of responsibilities and authorities, environmental governance falls largely to the states. While the dynamics that shape state environmental budget policy have received scholarly interest, theoretically-driven examinations of environmental appropriations remain limited within the public budgeting and environmental policy literature.

Using panel data …

Functional Characterization Of Lt-Hsc Metabolic Activity Dependent On Ahr Activity, Everett Tate

Theses and Dissertations

The cells of the immune system are descended from multipotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that emerge during development. Multipotency means that a single progenitor HSC can differentiate into any cell of the immune system. HSCs are required to do this for the lifetime of the organism through a process called self-renewal, and as such, any perturbation during development or in the bone marrow can have a trickle-down effect, affecting the self-renewal capacity or ability to terminally differentiate. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a known regulator of HSCs. The AHR is a transcription factor required for the detoxification of numerous …

Study Of The Inflammatory And Fibrotic Pathology In The Gut Following Microcystin Exposure Under Conditions Of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease., Sutapa Sarkar

Theses and Dissertations

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a global pandemic with increased risks of chronic inflammation in obese and elderly population. It has become a major public health concern due to the unavailability of proper therapeutic approaches. NAFLD is a condition of the liver involving wide spectrum of events including accumulation of fat in the liver and inflammation, which can progress to a fibrotic and cirrhotic phenotype, often termed as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In this backdrop, exposure to environmental toxins from harmful algal blooms could prove detrimental to the overweight, obese or elderly population. NAFLD not only affects the liver …

Investigating The Relationship Of Copd, Lung Cancer, And Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons From Ambient Air Pollution, Daniel John Kilpatrick

Theses and Dissertations

Polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemically-related compounds with a well-established body of evidence of adverse human health impacts. Additionally, there is a growing area of research on the health outcomes following PAH exposure via air pollution, specifically with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and lung cancer. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the strength of associations among PAHs, COPD, and lung cancer from ambient (outdoor) air pollution. The first objective was to determine if there is a potential environmental link among PAHs, COPD, and lung cancer occurrence among nonsmokers using data from the National Health …

Revisiting The Standard Soil Test: The Potential Of Macro- And Microbiological Measures To Improve Agricultural Health And Productivity, Gabriel Jacob Kenne

Theses and Dissertations

The agricultural ecosystem has become the largest non-ice-covered terrestrial ecosystem on the planet and has significant direct and indirect impacts on the global health of both the environment and humanity. Recent shifts in modern agriculture are beginning to focus on the health of soil versus a focus traditionally on crop health and yield at any cost. By managing farmland regeneratively, systems are able to reverse many of the problems created by conventional land management such as erosion and unwanted nutrient runoff, and simultaneously create opportunities to move C from the atmosphere back into the soil. While the ways in which …