Environmental Public Health Commons^™

Differential Toxicity Of Pm2.5 Components And Modified Health Effects Modeling: A Case Study In Nepal, Jeremy Brownholtz

Masters Theses

During the latter part of the 20^th century, a transition away from coal as a major energy source in developed countries was accompanied by a notable decrease in air pollution-related deaths in those countries. Currently the same phenomenon is being observed in developing nations like China and India. However, many areas that do still rely on coal for their energy production or industrial needs also reflect a gap in research on the effects of those specific processes on local populations. Located in Nepal at the foot of the Himalayan Plateau, Kathmandu represents one such location. The local economy of …

Interplay Of Environmental Pollutants And Folate In The Etiology Of Autistic Traits Analysis Using Multipollutant Approaches, Michael T. Mascari

Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a spectrum of communication deficits and repetitive behaviors. The challenges in learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can be debilitating. There is currently no cure for ASD. Many environmental pollutants are suspected to contribute to the etiology of ASD and its associated traits, whereas folate and folate supplements have been shown to exhibit both protective and adjuvant roles. Little is known about the interplay of multiple environmental pollutants and folate in the etiology of ASD. Additionally, statistical approaches that consider the effects of pollutant mixtures instead …

The Relationship Between Pm2.5 And Chronic Respiratory Disease In Senegal, Bailey Glenn

Masters Theses

Chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis have significantly increased in prevalence in Africa over the past 10 years. Recent studies have demonstrated that exposure to air pollution may be associated with an increased risk of chronic respiratory diseases. However, such studies have predominantly been conducted in western societies or often used urbanicity as a proxy for exposure to air pollution. Therefore, we evaluated the association between PM_2.5 exposure and asthma/chronic bronchitis in Senegal. A cross-sectional study was conducted for the time period of 3 October 2010 to 28 April 2011 using annual concentrations of PM_{2.5 …}

Restorative Streetscapes: Promoting Positive Mental Health Outcomes Through Urban Landscape Design In Winooski, Vermont, Sean R. Fitzsimmons

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The global health burden of mental health disorders is immense. The World Health Organization ranks depression as the single largest contributor to global disability; anxiety disorders alone rank sixth. One in four people will have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime and mental health conditions are increasing worldwide, rising 13% in the last decade. The economic implications are also immense, costing the global economy US $1 trillion each year. Mental health is more than the absence of disorders or disabilities, however. It is defined by the WHO as “a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or …

Sperm Epigenetics Mediates The Effects Of Paternal Preconception Phthalate Exposures And Aging On Reproductive Outcomes And Embryonic Programming, Oladele Amos Oluwayiose

Doctoral Dissertations

Infertility, which is the inability to achieve clinical pregnancy within 12 months of unprotected sexual intercourse, affects 15% of all couples globally. Emerging evidence shows, just as females, males are equally likely to contribute to couple infertility, suggesting the relevance of male factor in couple reproductive success. The potential factors thought to drive male infertility include male preconception environment and aging. Thus, this dissertation focused on two (DNA methylation and small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs)) of the three major potential epigenetic mediators that occur during spermatogenesis and sperm maturation prior to conception using human and mice model. First, to explore the …

Oxybenzone And The Mammary Gland: Impact Of An Environmental Pollutant On Health, Disease & Ethical Decision-Making, Klara Matouskova

Doctoral Dissertations

The environmental pollutant and common sunscreen compound oxybenzone is a benzophenone type UV light chemical filter used in industrial and consumer goods. This chemical widely contaminates human tissues, non-human species, and environmental matrices. In this dissertation, oxybenzone is investigated for its effects on the mouse mammary gland in the offspring following perinatal exposure; after perinatal and prepubertal exposures as a dual environmental insult during two sensitive times of development; and in adults after exposure during pregnancy & lactation as an environmental factor potentially increasing the tissue susceptibility to mammary tumors. Chapter 1 introduces the mammary gland. Chapter 2 reviews UV …

Investigating The Developmental Impacts Of 3,3’-Dichlorobiphenyl (Pcb-11) In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Monika A. Roy

Doctoral Dissertations

The environmental pollutant 3,3’-dichlorobiphenyl (PCB-11) is a lower-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener present in air and water samples. Both PCB-11 and its metabolite, 4-PCB-11-Sulfate, are detected in humans, including in pregnant women. The work conducted for this dissertation takes a developmental toxicology approach and uses zebrafish (Danio rerio) to investigate PCB-11’s potential impacts to the liver and pancreas. Chapter 1 introduces PCBs and the current knowledge gaps. Chapter 2 investigates PCB-11 interactions in short-term 4-day exposures with the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) pathway in both 0-20 mM individual and mixture exposures with other Ahr agonists. In Chapter 3, …

High-Dimensional Feature Selection And Multi-Level Causal Mediation Analysis With Applications To Human Aging And Cluster-Based Intervention Studies, Hachem Saddiki

Doctoral Dissertations

Many questions in public health and medicine are fundamentally causal in that our objective is to learn the effect of some exposure, randomized or not, on an outcome of interest. As a result, causal inference frameworks and methodologies have gained interest as a promising tool to reliably answer scientific questions. However, the tasks of identifying and efficiently estimating causal effects from observed data still pose significant challenges under complex data generating scenarios. We focus on (1) high-dimensional settings where the number of variables is orders of magnitude higher than the number of observations; and (2) multi-level settings, where study participants …

Subnational Analysis Of Birth Weight In Ghana Using Bayesian Spatial Regression Models, Barbara E. Mottey

Masters Theses

Child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa is reducing but the levels remain high with subnational within-country variations. Birth weight is a key predictor of child survival and monitoring birth weight outcomes, in particular, prevalence of low birth weights, is important for resource allocation to improve child survival outcomes.

Past research in sub-Saharan Africa has found that different individual-level factors are associated with birth weight including BMI of mother, sex of baby, educational level of mother, and wealth index of household. Some environmental factors are found to be associated with birth outcomes. However, past findings regarding the association of birth weight with …

Hospital Assessment And Response To Environmental Pollution As A Population Health Need: Identifying Prevalence And Predictors In Community Benefit Practices, Sarah Valentine

Doctoral Dissertations

Hospitals have a growing role in improving population health. Environmental pollution is an important determinant of health with disproportionate effects on Communities of Color. This warrants hospital action. To advance such action, it is important to take stock of current hospital engagement with environmental pollution and to identify factors associated with such engagement. I investigated the following. To what extent do New York State (NYS) non-profit hospitals assess, identify, and respond to environmental pollutants as part of community benefit practices? Do factors previously reported as associated with hospital engagement of social determinants predict engagement with environmental pollution as a community …

Barriers And Facilitators To Implementation Of Value-Based Care Models In New Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations In Massachusetts: A Study Protocol, Sarah L. Goff, Deborah Gurewich, Matthew Alcusky, Aparna G. Kachoria, Joanne Nicholson, Jay Himmelstein

Health Promotion and Policy Faculty Publication Series

Introduction: Massachusetts established 17 new Medicaid accountable care organizations (ACOs) and 24 affiliated Community Partners (CPs) in 2018 as part of a large-scale healthcare reform effort to improve care value. The new ACOs will receive $1.8 billion dollars in state and federal funding over 5 years through the Delivery System Reform Incentive Program (DSRIP). The multi-faceted study described in this protocol aims to address gaps in knowledge about Medicaid ACOs' impact on healthcare value by identifying barriers and facilitators to implementation and sustainment of the DSRIP-funded programs. Methods and analysis: The study's four components are: (1) Document Review to characterize …

Projecting Sex Imbalances At Birth At Global, Regional And National Levels From 2021 To 2100: Scenario-Based Bayesian Probabilistic Projections Of The Sex Ratio At Birth And Missing Female Births Based On 3.26 Billion Birth Records, Fengqing Chao, Patrick Gerland, Alex Richard Cook, Christophe Z. Guilmoto, Leontine Alkema

Biostatistics and Epidemiology Faculty Publications Series

Introduction Skewed levels of the sex ratio at birth (SRB) due to sex-selective abortions have been observed in several countries since the 1970s. They will lead to long-term sex imbalances in more than one-third of the world's population with yet unknown social and economic impacts on affected countries. Understanding the potential evolution of sex imbalances at birth is therefore essential for anticipating and planning for changing sex structures across the world. Methods We produced probabilistic SRB projections from 2021 to 2100 based on different scenarios of sex ratio transition and assessed their implications in terms of missing female births at …

Community Perspectives On The Creation Of A Hospital-Based Doula Program, Laura B. Attanasio, Marisa Decosta, Reva Kleppel, Tiki Govantes, Heather Z. Sankey, Sarah L. Goff

Health Promotion and Policy Faculty Publication Series

Objective: Racial and ethnic inequities in perinatal health outcomes are pervasive. Doula support is an evidence-based practice for improving maternal outcomes. However, women in lower-income populations often do not have access to doulas. This study explored community perspectives on doula care to inform the development of a hospital-based doula program to serve primarily low-income women of color.

Methods: Four focus groups and four individual interviews were conducted with: (1) women who were pregnant or parenting a child under age 2 (n=20); (2) people who had provided support during a birth in the previous 2 years (n=5); …

Global, Regional, And National Mortality Trends In Youth Aged 15-24 Years Between 1990 And 2019: A Systemic Analysis, Bruno Masquelier, Lucia Hug, David Sharrow, Danzhen You, Colin Mathers, Patrick Gerland, Leontine Alkema

Biostatistics and Epidemiology Faculty Publications Series

Background The global health community is devoting considerable attention to adolescents and young people, but risk of death in this population is poorly measured. We aimed to reconstruct global, regional, and national mortality trends for youths aged 15-24 years between 1990 and 2019. Methods In this systematic analysis, we used all publicly available data on mortality in the age group 15-24 years for 195 countries, as compiled by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. We used nationally representative vital registration data, estimated the completeness of death registration, and extracted mortality rates from surveys with sibling histories, household deaths …

Modeling Of Future Covid-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, And Deaths, By Vaccination Rates And Nonpharmaceutical Intervention Scenarios — United States, April–September 2021, Rebecca K. Borchering Phd, Cécile Viboud Phd, Emily Howerton, Claire P. Smith, Shaun Truelove Phd, Michael C. Runge Phd, Nicholas G. Reich Phd, Lucie Contamin Ms, John Levander, Jessica Salerno Mph

Biostatistics and Epidemiology Faculty Publications Series

No abstract provided.

The Science Of Spin: Targeted Strategies To Manufacture Doubt With Detrimental Effects On Environmental And Public Health, Rebecca F. Goldberg, Laura N. Vandenberg

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Background Numerous groups, such as the tobacco industry, have deliberately altered and misrepresented knowable facts and empirical evidence to promote an agenda, often for monetary benefit, with consequences for environmental and public health. Previous research has explored cases individually, but none have conducted an in-depth comparison between cases. The purpose of this study was to compile a comprehensive list of tactics used by disparate groups and provide a framework for identifying further instances of manufactured doubt. Methods We examined scholarly books, peer-reviewed articles, well-researched journalism pieces, and legal evidence related to five disparate industries and organizations selected for their destructive …

Implementing The Physical Activity Vital Sign In An Academic Preventative Cardiology Clinic, Margaret M. Mccarthy, Jason Fletcher, Sean Heffron, Adam Szerencsy, Devin Mann, Allison Vorderstrasse

Elaine Marieb College of Nursing Faculty Publication Series

The aims were to implement physical activity (PA) screening as part of the electronic kiosk check-in process in an adult preventive cardiology clinic and assess factors related to patients’ self-reported PA. The 3-question physical activity vital sign (PAVS) was embedded in the Epic electronic medical record and included how many days, minutes and intensity (light, moderate, vigorous) of PA patients conducted on average. This is a data analysis of PAVS data over a 60-day period. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with not meeting current PA recommendations. Over 60 days, a total of 1322 patients checked into …

Older Adults' Daily Step Counts And Time In Sedentary Behavior And Different Intensities Of Physical Activity, Shiho Amagasa, Noritoshi Fukushima, Hiroyuki Kikuchi, Koichiro Oka, Sebastien Chastin, Catrine Tudor-Locke, Neville Owen, Shigeru Inoue

Kinesiology Department Faculty Publication Series

Background: Daily step count is the simplest measure of physical activity. However, little is known about how daily step count related to time spent in different intensities of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). Methods: These cross-sectional data were derived from 450 older Japanese adults (56.7% men; mean age, 74.3 years) who were randomly selected from three communities and responded a survey. Daily step count and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), light-intensity PA (LPA), and SB were measured using a validated wearable technology (HJA-350IT). Associations of daily step count with time spent in measured behaviors were examined using …

Mitigation Of Teratogenic Agents: Is There Promise In Ion Modulating Drugs?, Aastha Pokharel

Masters Theses

As reported by the CDC, birth defects remain a common occurrence in the United States, with malformations originating in many places in the developing organism. Furthermore, the etiology of many of these defects remain unknown, with some factors consisting of genetics, environmental pollutants and teratogens. In our study, we examined whether insults by teratogenic agents, ethanol in particular, can be mitigated by hyperpolarizing agents acting to restore the cell’s potential. We first evaluated whether three hyperpolarizing drugs (Lamotrigine, Gabapentin, and Ivermectin) induced teratogenic effects on CD-1 mice and found that Ivermectin induced craniofacial malformations, and exposure to Lamotrigine and Gabpentin …

Evaluating The Toxicity And Formation Of Halobenzoquinones In Point-Of-Use Chlorinated Drinking Water, Stephanie Hung

Masters Theses

Chlorine has effectively reduced the prevalence of waterborne diseases, however there are secondary consequences to this public health advancement. Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are chemicals formed when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter (NOM) in water. A new class of DBPs, halobenzoquinones (HBQs), has recently been identified and data suggests it could be potentially carcinogenic and up to 1000 times more toxic than some regulated DBPs. So far, in vitro studies have assessed HBQ toxicity without taking into account its transformation in cell media into potentially less toxic compounds. This study evaluated the toxic effects of one HBQ, 2,6-DCBQ, and its …

Phthalates, Embryo Development, And Sperm Dna Methylation, Haotian Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

Infertility affects 15% of all couples and presents a major public health issue. Animal and human data indicate that epigenetic dysregulation in sperm is associated with poor male reproductive health and extensive epigenetic reprogramming during spermatogenesis presents a window of vulnerability for environmentally-induced epigenetic dysregulation. Phthalates is a class of ubiquitous environmental contaminant and global health concern. Phthalate exposure in humans has been associated with diminished male fertility, adverse birth outcomes, and altered offspring development. In order to facilitate additional research on this topic, we aimed to developing a higher throughput method of sperm nucleic acid extraction. In addition, this …

Developmental Exposure To Xenoestrogens: Effects On The Mouse Mammary Gland Development And Response To Estrogen, Durga Kolla

Masters Theses

Humans experience ubiquitous exposures to estrogenic environmental chemicals from food, personal care products, and other industrial and consumer goods. Bisphenol A (BPA), a well-studied xenoestrogen, is known to alter development of estrogen-sensitive organs including the brain, reproductive tract, and mammary gland. Bisphenol S (BPS), which has a similar chemical structure to BPA, is also used in many consumer products, but its effects on estrogen-sensitive organs in mammals has not been thoroughly examined. In our study, pregnant CD-1 mice were orally exposed to BPS or ethinyl estradiol (EE2, a positive control for estrogenicity) from gestational day 9 through postnatal day (PND) …

Variability Of Anthropogenic Gases: Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone And Ammonia In Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Filimon Kiros

Masters Theses

Background: Kathmandu Valley is one of the largest and most polluted metropolitan regions in the Himalayan foothills. Rapidly expanding urban sprawl and growing fleet of vehicles, and industrial facilities such as brick factories across the valley have led to conditions where ambient concentrations of key gaseous air pollutants are expected to exceed Nepal’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards and World Health Organization guidelines.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to quantify the distribution of gaseous pollutants across the valley characterized by different emission sources, and also assess influence of meteorology in the region on the temporal variability and spatial …

Total Organic Iodine Quantification And Occurrence In Drinking Water, And Toxicity Assessment Of Iodinated Disinfection By-Products, Rassil El Sayess

Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this work has been placed is on iodinated DBPs (I-DBPs), measured using total organic iodine (TOI), a surrogate measure of iodinated organics. This is due to the growing toxicity literature that places I-DBPs among the most toxic of all DBPs. To measure TOI in water, a new method was developed. This method combines adsorption, combustion, and trapping of combustion products, with an offline inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) for iodide detection. Three factors were varied across two levels each in order to optimize the method. The chosen method used a sample pH of less than 1 prior …

A Comparative Sustainability Study For Treatment Of Domestic Wastewater: Conventional Concrete And Steel Technology Vs. Vegetated Sand Beds (Vsb’S) And Their Relative Differences In Co2 Production, Alicia M. Milch

Masters Theses

Conventional wastewater treatment in the U.S. is an energy dependent and carbon dioxide emitting process. Typical mechanical systems consume copious amounts of energy, which is most commonly produced from fossil fuel combustion that results in the production of CO₂. The associated organic load is also metabolized by microorganisms into CO₂ and H₂O. As the desire to reduce CO₂ output becomes more prominent, it is logical to assess the costs of conventional treatment methods and to compare them to alternative, more sustainable technology. Vegetated Sand Bed (VSB) and Reed Bed (RB) systems are green technologies …

Urinary Phthalate Metabolite Concentrations And Cancer Mortality In Nhanes, 1999-2006, A B. Kaiser

Masters Theses

Four in ten people in the US will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. Environmental exposures are important determinants of cancer risk, causing as many as 19% of cancers worldwide. Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to increase the flexibility of plastics and vinyl in household materials such as food packaging, plastic toys, wood finishes and adhesives. Some phthalates may act as endocrine disruptors with hypothesized links to endometriosis, breast cancer, and reproductive outcomes. However, no research yet exists on phthalate exposure and all-cancer mortality. We investigated the relationship between seven urinary phthalate metabolites among 5,205 adults in …

The Characterization Of Chitin Microparticle Preparations: Degree Of Acetylation And Its Effect On Immunologic Response, Julianne R. Zimmerman

Masters Theses

Studies examining the immune response upon exposure to chitin microparticles in living models have reached drastically differing conclusions, and the reason remains unclear. One notable issue between the experiments is that they have not characterized their chitin preparations for degree of acetylation. They all use different chitin processing methods prior to administration, which could potentially be the source of the variance between studies. Chitin and chitosan preparations specified in the literature and several novel preparations were analyzed for degree acetylation (DA) using High Performance Anion-Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection (HPAEC-PAD). It was found that autoclaving and sonication processing steps …

Rapid Method Of Processing Sperm For Nucleic Acid Extraction In Clinical Research, Matthew K. De Gannes

Masters Theses

Background: Sperm contain highly compact nuclei, inhibiting DNA extraction using traditional techniques. Current methods extracting sperm DNA involve lengthy lysis and no means of stabilizing DNA, hindering clinical research.

Objective: We sought to optimize an efficient method of extracting high quality human sperm DNA.

Methods: Sperm from three volunteers were isolated using PureCeption. We tested 1) proteinase K with DNA/RNA Shield, 2) DTT and TCEP as reducing agents, 3) QIAshredder homogenization, and 4) stability of sperm DNA fresh (baseline) or after 4 weeks of storage at 4^OC in DNA/RNA Shield using modified Quick-gDNA MiniPrep. DNA was PCR amplified …

Investigation Of The Correlation Between Odd Oxygen And Secondary Organic Aerosol In Mexico City And Houston, Ezra Wood, M. Canagaratna, S. Herndon, J. Kroll, T. Onasch, C. Kolb, D. Worsnop, W. Knighton, R. Seila, M. Zavala, L. Molina, P. Decarlo, J. Jimenez, A. Weinheimer, D. Knapp, B. Jobson, J. Stutz, W. Kuster, E. Williams

Public Health Department Faculty Publication Series

Many recent models underpredict secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particulate matter (PM) concentrations in polluted regions, indicating serious deficiencies in the models' chemical mechanisms and/or missing SOA precursors. Since tropospheric photochemical ozone production is much better understood, we investigate the correlation of odd-oxygen ([Ox]≡[O3]+[NO2]) and the oxygenated component of organic aerosol (OOA), which is interpreted as a surrogate for SOA. OOA and Ox measured in Mexico City in 2006 and Houston in 2000 were well correlated in air masses where both species were formed on similar timescales (less than 8 h) and not well correlated when their formation timescales or location …

Application Of Quantum Cascade Lasers To High-Precision Atmospheric Trace Gas Measurements, Ezra Wood, J. Barry Mcmanus, Mark Zahniser, David Nelson, Joanne Shorter, Scott Herndon, Rick Wehr

Public Health Department Faculty Publication Series

We review our recent results in development of high-precision laser spectroscopic instrumentation using midinfrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Some of these instruments have been directed at measurements of atmospheric trace gases where a fractional precision of 10−3 or better of ambient concentration may be required. Such high precision is needed in measurements of fluxes of stable atmospheric gases and measurements of isotopic ratios. Instruments that are based on thermoelectrically cooled midinfrared QCLs and thermoelectrically cooled detectors have been demonstrated that meet the requirements of high-precision atmospheric measurements, without the need for cryogens. We also describe the design of and results …