Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Identifying Phytoremediation Performing Plant Species That Can Be Utilized In The Improvement Of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils, Ashley Clark*, Samuel Mutiti

Graduate Research Showcase

Heavy metal pollution is a problem associated with industrialization and development. Two major metals that are commonly mined and can enter the environment, which can jeopardize communities’ health, are copper (Cu) and lead (Pb). There are different options for reducing heavy metal pollution in the environment via remediation efforts, including physical, chemical, and biological methods. However, physical and chemical remediation can be costly and labor-intensive, making them unsuitable for regions that do not have the funds to utilize these practices. Biological remediation is a more cost-conservative practice that has been shown in many studies to be effective in the gradual …

Lead Bioaccessibility And Commonly Measured Soil Characteristics (Detroit, Mi, Usa) – Phase 1, Sabrina R. Good, Allison R. Harris, Patrick Crouch, Conor T. Gowan, William D. Shuster, Shawn P. Mcelmurry

Open Data at Wayne State

Contaminated urban soil is one of the major contributors to child Pb exposure. To gain a better understanding of Pb risk in urban areas, composite samples were collected from 142 residential, privately owned, parcels in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, Michigan, with approval from the property owners. The proximity of soil sampling and former smelter locations were also reported. Sample were collected from areas covered with turf grass. Four samples were collected, one from each cardinal direction (north, south, east, and west), 20 cm from an aluminum tent stake driven into the center of the sampling site. Soils were collected …

Predictive Power Of Wastewater For Nowcasting Infectious Disease Transmission: A Retrospective Case Study Of Five Sewershed Areas In Louisville, Kentucky, Fayette Klaassen, Rochelle H. Holm, Ted Smith, Ted Cohen, Aruni Bhatnagar, Nicolas A. Menzies

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Epidemiological nowcasting traditionally relies on count surveillance data. The availability and quality of such count data may vary over time, limiting representation of true infections. Wastewater data correlates with traditional surveillance data and may provide additional value for nowcasting disease trends. Methods: We obtained SARS-CoV-2 case, death, wastewater, and serosurvey data for Jefferson County, Kentucky (USA), between August 2020 and March 2021, and parameterized an existing nowcasting model using combinations of these data. We assessed the predictive performance and variability at the sewershed level and compared the effects of adding or replacing wastewater data to case and death reports. …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Use Of Silica Dust And Lunar Simulants For Assessing Lunar Regolith Exposure, Layzamarie Irizarry-Colon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of the lunar regolith holds immense potential for future space exploration, but the potential health risks associated with lunar regolith are a significant concern. This literature review seeks to critically assess the use of silica and lunar simulants standards and permissible exposure limits (PELs) to evaluate the adverse health effects of lunar regolith. The literature review covers an extensive analysis of existing research, health risks, toxicological properties, and physical and chemical composition associated with silica, lunar simulants, and lunar regolith by using three main sources: regulations, scholarly articles, and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) discussion. This comprehensive analysis forms …

Self-Reported Consumption Of Bottled Water V. Tap Water In Appalachian And Non-Appalachian Kentucky, Jason W. Marion

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Quantitative studies on drinking water perceptions in Appalachia are limited. High-profile water infrastructure failures in the U.S. and Eastern Kentucky, coupled with human-made and natural disasters in the Appalachian Region, have likely impacted opinions regarding tap water.

Purpose: To use existing unexplored data to describe baseline tap water v. bottled water consumption in Kentucky.

Methods: Telephone-based cross-sectional data were obtained from the 2013 Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP) directed by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Among many items in KHIP, self-reported consumption of bottled water over tap water, reasons for bottled water use, and demographic data were obtained. …

Preliminary Evidence Of Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure In American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius) In The Western United States, Evan R. Buechley, Dave Oleyar, Jesse L. Watson, Jennifer Bridgeman, Steven Volker, David A. Goldade, Catherine E. Swift, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Although there is extensive evidence of declines in the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) population across North America, the cause of such declines remains a mystery. One hypothesized driver of decline is anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) exposure, which could potentially cause mortality or reduced fitness. We investigated AR exposure in wild American Kestrels in Utah, USA. We collected and tested for AR residues in liver samples (n = 8) from kestrels opportunistically encountered dead and in blood samples (n = 71) from live wild kestrels, both nestlings and adults. We found high detection rates in both tissues. Adult …

Assessing Boil Water Notices As Health-Risk Communication: Risk Perceptions, Efficacy, And Compliance During Winter Storm Uri, Ashleigh M. Day, Sydney O'Shay, Khairul Islam, Matthew W. Seeger, Shawn P. Mcelmurry

Open Data at Wayne State

Winter Storm Uri was an extreme disaster that impacted much of the United States during February of 2021. Texas and Oklahoma were generally not prepared for such an event and experienced massive power grid failures. This led to cascading risks including water system disruptions and many boil water notices (BWNs). The breakdown of some communication channels and the inability to enact protective actions due to power outages, as well as travel limitations on public roads, complicated both dissemination and implementation. Under these conditions, a non-representative, cross-sectional, survey was collected to assess individuals experience BWNs and how perceived efficacy impacts compliance. …

The Threat Of Hospital Wastewater: An Evidence-Based Call To Action, Ann P. Nguyen

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Introduction: Hospital wastewater carries a unique composition of pollutants, a burden that includes high chemical and biological residuals. These pollutants are discharged into sewage treatment plants and natural environments where they contaminate human water sources and larger ecosystems. Water treatment plants are not designed to treat the high loads of biomedical waste and persistent organic compounds found in hospital wastewater and therefore pollutants survive in conventionally treated water. Evidence of contaminated soil, municipal wastewater, surface water, ground water, and even drinking water have been demonstrated in studies conducted around the world highlighting the ubiquity of the problem. Hospital effluent as …

Online Dashboards For Sars-Cov-2 Wastewater Data Need Standard Best Practices: An Environmental Health Communication Agenda, Colleen C. Naughton, Rochelle H. Holm, Nancy J. Lin, Brooklyn P. James, Ted Smith

Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of wastewater surveillance to supplement clinical data. Numerous online information dashboards have been rapidly, and typically independently, developed to communicate environmental surveillance data to public health officials and the public. In this study, we review dashboards presenting SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data and propose a path toward harmonization and improved risk communication. A list of 127 dashboards representing 27 countries was compiled. The variability was high and encompassed aspects including the graphics used for data presentation (e.g., line/bar graphs, maps, and tables), log versus linear scale, and 96 separate ways of labeling SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations. …

The Effects Of Cloth & Surgical Masks On The Environment, Dana Jurgielewicz

Honors Projects in Science and Technology

The objective of this study is to assess the environmental effects of different types of face masks (surgical and cloth). A comparison between different mask components is analyzed and an environmental impact is produced through the OpenLCA Software. The research question for this study is: What are the effects of different types of face masks on the environment? The expected result was that surgical masks would be worse for the environment because of the high consumption usage. The results of this study suggest that cloth masks have a worse environmental impact because of their level of usage.

Nutrient Pollution And Chlorophyll-A As A Precursor To Harmful Algal Blooms And Cyanotoxins In Rehabilitated Machado Lake, California, Michael E. Shiang

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Algal blooms result in the formation of cyanotoxic conditions in a freshwater lake causing severe detrimental impacts to community and public health. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and ammonia stimulate the growth of phytoplankton biomass and algae, as measured by chlorophyll. This retrospective quantitative research study, grounded in the socioecological model, examined the relationship between nutrient pollutants and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) that forecast harmful algal blooms, a precursor to cyanotoxins. A former impaired lake, Machado Lake in California, provided an ideal setting to assess relationships among nutrient indicators and Chl-a post-lake rehabilitation. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine if a relationship …

Occupational Risk Perceptions Among Foreign-Born Construction Workers In Central Florida, Matthew Edison Law

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hispanic and Latino foreign-born construction workers in the United States experience higher rates of serious injuries and fatalities in the workplace than their native-born peers. Previous research has pointed to specific vulnerabilities among this population, including birthplace, age of the worker, language barriers, and education level, but little to no research has examined addressable risk factors, such as occupational risk perceptions, among this population. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the relationship between birthplace, number of years working in the United States, and occupational risk perceptions while controlling for age of the worker, language barriers, and education …

Sun Exposure And Protective Behaviors Among U.S. Hispanic Farmworkers, Claudia Marie Delgado Cebollero

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sun exposure increases the risk of sun-related illnesses and skin cancer among U.S. Hispanic farmworkers. Reinforced by the health belief model, the purpose of this study was to determine the association between socio-demographic factors (i.e., age, educational attainment, gender, income, and marital status) and skin cancer with the level of sun exposure (sun’s effect on skin, sunburn reported) and protective behaviors (use of cap/visor, use of sunscreen) among adult Hispanic farmworkers in the United States. The study included Hispanic farmworkers aged 21 or older (N = 112) who responded to the 2015 National Health Interview Survey. Ordinal logistic regression showed …

Occupational Risk Perceptions Among Foreign-Born Construction Workers In Central Florida, Matthew Edison Law

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hispanic and Latino foreign-born construction workers in the United States experience higher rates of serious injuries and fatalities in the workplace than their native-born peers. Previous research has pointed to specific vulnerabilities among this population, including birthplace, age of the worker, language barriers, and education level, but little to no research has examined addressable risk factors, such as occupational risk perceptions, among this population. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the relationship between birthplace, number of years working in the United States, and occupational risk perceptions while controlling for age of the worker, language barriers, and education …

Nutrient Pollution And Chlorophyll-A As A Precursor To Harmful Algal Blooms And Cyanotoxins In Rehabilitated Machado Lake, California, Michael E. Shiang

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Algal blooms result in the formation of cyanotoxic conditions in a freshwater lake causing severe detrimental impacts to community and public health. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and ammonia stimulate the growth of phytoplankton biomass and algae, as measured by chlorophyll. This retrospective quantitative research study, grounded in the socioecological model, examined the relationship between nutrient pollutants and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) that forecast harmful algal blooms, a precursor to cyanotoxins. A former impaired lake, Machado Lake in California, provided an ideal setting to assess relationships among nutrient indicators and Chl-a post-lake rehabilitation. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine if a relationship …

Forest Bathing Increases Adolescent Mental Well-Being And Connection To Nature: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study, Jennifer Keller

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Previous research has demonstrated that practicing forest bathing has significant positive effects on well-being. However, few studies have investigated whether forest bathing increases adolescent well-being despite the growing adolescent mental health crisis in the United States. Similarly, few studies have explored forest bathing’s impacts on connectedness to nature. Considering the ongoing environmental crisis, determining if forest bathing increases connectedness to nature is a critical expansion of forest bathing research, as connectedness to nature is linked to environmental care and concern. This study investigated the possibility that forest bathing, a nature-based mindfulness practice, could increase adolescent mental well-being and connectedness to …

Crisisready's Novel Framework For Transdisciplinary Translation: Case-Studies In Wildfire And Hurricane Response, Andrew Schroeder, Caleb Dresser, Akash Yadav, Jennifer Chan, Shenyue Jia, Caroline Buckee, Satchit Balsari

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

Extreme weather events including wildfires and hurricanes are becoming increasingly hazardous due to climate change, and often result in transient or permanent population displacements. Disaster-related disruptions in infrastructure, workforce, wages, and social networks can combine with population displacements to result in interruptions in health care access and prolonged impacts on morbidity and mortality. The data needed to make health systems and emergency management approaches more resilient to these hazards, and more responsive to the needs of affected populations, are sequestered in silos across private corporations and public agencies. In two case studies, we describe how our research team at CrisisReady …

Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, And Sustainable Development: Resource Document, Wellbeing International

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes.

The Detection Of Periodic Reemergence Events Of Sars-Cov-2 Delta Strain In Communities Dominated By Omicron, Claire E. Westcott, Kevin J. Sokoloski, Eric C. Rouchka, Julia H. Chariker, Rochelle H. Holm, Ray A. Yeager, Joseph B. Moore Iv, Erin M. Elliott, Daymond Talley, Aruni Bhatnagar

Faculty Scholarship

Despite entering an endemic phase, SARS-CoV-2 remains a significant burden to public health across the global community. Wastewater sampling has consistently proven utility to understanding SARS-CoV-2 prevalence trends and genetic variation as it represents a less biased assessment of the corresponding communities. Here, we report that ongoing monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genetic variation in samples obtained from the wastewatersheds of the city of Louisville in Jefferson county Kentucky has revealed the periodic reemergence of the Delta strain in the presence of the presumed dominant Omicron strain. Unlike previous SARS-CoV-2 waves/emergence events, the Delta reemergence events were geographically restricted in the community …

Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook

Sustain Magazine

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly spread from country to country and continent to continent in 2020, governments and scientists needed a way to track COVID-19 through populations in order to position public health interventions in the most impactful locations. Having a decision-based risk framework may help to guide policy creation that could minimize or prevent possible outbreaks and surges of infection within communities. The University of Louisville in partnership with Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness tested this strategy in 2021 and 2022. This Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook describes the decisions and actions of that academic and public …

Quantifying The Relationship Between Sub-Population Wastewater Samples And Community-Wide Sars-Cov-2 Seroprevalence, Ted Smith, Rochelle H. Holm, Rachel J. Keith, Alok R. Amraotkar, Chance R. Alvarado, Krzysztof Banecki, Boseung Choi, Ian Santisteban, Adrienne M. Bushau-Sprinkle, Kathleen T. Kitterman, Joshua Fuqua, Krystal T. Hamorsky, Kenneth E. Palmer, J. Michael Brick, Aruni Bhatnagar, Grzegorz A. Rempala

Faculty Scholarship

Robust epidemiological models relating wastewater to community disease prevalence are lacking. Assessments of SARS-CoV-2 infection rates have relied primarily on convenience sampling, which does not provide reliable estimates of community disease prevalence due to inherent biases. This study conducted serial stratified randomized samplings to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 3717 participants and obtained weekly samples of community wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in Jefferson County, KY (USA) from August 2020 to February 2021. Using an expanded Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model, the longitudinal estimates of the disease prevalence were obtained and compared with the wastewater concentrations using regression analysis. The model analysis …

The Effectiveness Of Best Management Practices Implemented At Lake Gregory, Crestline, Ca, Devin Darrow

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Water quality deterioration of recreational surface waters from excess pollution inputs is a significant concern for the health of the public and aquatic ecosystem. This study will examine the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in reducing pollution inputs into Lake Gregory, Crestline, CA. The effectiveness of the BMPs was examined by testing for water quality parameters including dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, conductivity, turbidity, nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+), total coliform, and Escherichia coli on weekly to bi-weekly basis for a period of 1 year. A statistical analysis involving descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, the Efficient Ratios (ER) and Percent Removal Rates …

The Next Small Step, Samiya Henry

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

As of right now, NASA and other space programs are estimating that by 2026, there will be people living in Space. Whether it be the Moon or Mars, one cannot have a functional society without a proper source of laws, especially since no one country has ownership over space. "One Small Step" will produce this source of laws, called the “Space Bill of Rights,” that will outline important matters like the trade of resources, medical care, government officials, and will ensure the preservation of our physical and figurative footsteps in space. This Space Bill of Rights is made up of …

Making Forests, Making Communities: An Ethnography Of Reforestation In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Megan Brown

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Reforestation is not just planting trees in the ground. More than net increase in forest cover, reforestation is a complex political endeavor undertaken by both humans and non-humans and a popular climate change mitigation tactic. However, little research has examined the dynamics between selection of specific reforestation strategies, health, and community resilience, particularly with attention to entanglements between the lives of both human and non-human forest dwellers. This ethnographic work, based on six months of in-person fieldwork and six months of digital ethnography, examines reforestation and forest relations in Costa Rica’s Monte Verde zone, a region which experienced widespread deforestation, …

Superfund And Society Benumbed: An In-Depth Look At Environmental Justice In South Carolina, Sydney A. Hampton

Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between superfund sites in minority communities and their public health through the lens of social vulnerability. Various demographic parameters were used to assess the risk associated with minority communities and exposure to hazardous waste. After investigating the history of the Environmental Justice movement, three superfund sites of interest in South Carolina, and demographic and public health data; each community was analyzed to determine association between exposure to hazardous waste and minority status. Each examined community exhibited characteristics contributing to heightened social vulnerability, potentially causing increased susceptibility to negative health outcomes from exposure to hazardous waste.

Sars-Cov-2 Rna Abundance In Wastewater As A Function Of Distinct Urban Sewershed Size, Rochelle H. Holm, Anish Mukherjee, Jayesh P. Rai, Ray A. Yeager, Daymond Talley, Shesh N. Rai, Aruni Bhatnagar, Ted Smith

Faculty Scholarship

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising approach for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 prevalence on a community-level. Despite much being known about the utility of making these measurements in large wastewater treatment plants, little is known about the correlation with finer geographic resolution, such as those obtained through sewershed sub-area catchments. This study aims to identify community wastewater surveillance characteristics between sewershed areas that affect the strength of the association of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in a metropolitan area. For this, wastewater from 17 sewershed areas were sampled in Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky (USA), from August 2020 to April 2021 …

Environmental Racism In Baltimore: A Geographical Study Into The Connections Between Environmental Toxins And Public Health, Genevieve Block

Honors Theses

An investigation into the relationship between environmental toxins and environmental racism in Baltimore City, Maryland.

Can Environmental Law Solve The "Forever Chemical" Problem?, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Articles

Although federal environmental law purports to provide the public with comprehensive protection against chemical risks, the U.S. chemical industry is characterized by self­ regulation. This self-regulation is exemplified by the dangers posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (''PFAS'')­ broad classes of persistent toxic substances that have now entered nearly every American's bloodstream and hundreds of public drinking water systems. Despite data linking exposure to these "forever chemicals" to cancer, infertility, and a host of other public health harms, environmental law has failed to safeguard the American people from PFAS' toxic legacy. How did this occur? And what should be done …

Effects Of Indoor Air Pollutants On Childhood Asthma: African American Parents’ Perspective, Marcia Maureen Haughton Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIndoor air pollution has been implicated in many chronic health conditions, including childhood asthma, which is more prevalent among African American children. Children are more susceptible than adults to the effects of exposure to indoor air pollution; however, many parents may not be aware of the polluting impacts of products in their homes and are inadvertently placing their families at risk for adverse health outcomes. Understanding parents’ perceptions and experiences is essential for planning and developing educational programs and interventions for improving indoor environment management as part of asthma management in children. This descriptive phenomenological study aimed to explore parents’ …