Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Impact Of Hydraulic Fracturing On Ground And Surface Water Resources, Reyna Schenck

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The following study examines hydraulic fracturing operations in the United States in relation to groundwater contamination, withdrawals of freshwater resources, and jurisdictional authority over the activity with the purpose of producing objective analysis of research findings. With a growing population and increasing energy needs, hydraulic fracturing is expanding across the nation, as is public concern over the risks to freshwater resources. Because of the difficulty in identifying non-point sources of water pollution, a lack of legitimate water samples representing baseline conditions, and incomplete lists of chemical additives used, study results are often inconclusive as to the correlation between hydraulic fracturing ...

Estudios Científicos En El Estado De Hidalgo Y Zonas Aledañas, Volumen Ii, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks

Zea E-Books

Los 16 capítulos que conforman este libro son una contribución al conocimiento de la biodiversidad y conservación de los recursos naturales en el estado de Hidalgo, México.

Se aborda el derecho de propiedad intelectual en la biodiversidad, citando algunos ejemplos de México. Así mismo, se presenta un estudio de la biodiversidad y distribución de la herpetofauna en cuatro tipos de vegetación. Desde el punto de vista de la helmintología se presentan dos estudios de los helmintos parásitos de vertebrados silvestres; con nuevos registros de hospederos y localidades de algunas especies de helmintos para Hidalgo. También, se aborda el uso de ...

Conflicting Discourses Of Participatory Postdevelopment In Community-Led Total Sanitation, Shaina M. Pomerantz Kasper

Honors Projects

The development community perceives the current “sanitation crisis” to be remedied with water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives. While the participatory process of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) incorporates community involvement, it still imposes globalized sanitation norms and a dominant external worldview. Using discourse analysis of the CLTS handbook, I argue that CLTS structurally advocates for continuing local hierarchies, promotes external technologies, enforces the power of outside development facilitation, and creates a new sanitation paradigm. Communities continue to resist sanitation development such as CLTS because of its top-down structure. I conclude by offering policy recommendations to improve the CLTS process.

Exploring The Sulfide Tolerance Of Ectosymbiotic Niphargus Amphipods From The Frasassi Caves, Central Italy, Jan Bauermeister, Karoline Assig, Sharmishtha Dattagupta

International Journal of Speleology

Two species of the crustacean amphipod genus Niphargus inhabit the sulfidic groundwaters of the Frasassi caves in central Italy, and both harbor filamentous, sulfide-oxidizing Thiothrix ectosymbionts. As sulfide is toxic to most aerobic organisms, it appeared possible that the ectosymbionts could help their Niphargus hosts with detoxification processes. In this study, mortality due to sulfide was compared between Niphargus individuals with ectosymbionts and individuals whose ectosymbionts had been killed by antibiotic treatment. Both Frasassi-dwelling Niphargus species revealed exceptionally high tolerances to sulfide compared to other amphipod species studied so far. Niphargus individuals without viable ectosymbionts tolerated sulfide levels exceeding those ...

Sp605-B Preventing Lead Poisioning, Martha Keel, Janice Mccoy

Environment (Indoor & Outdoor)

No abstract provided.

Sp605-A What Do You Know About Lead Poisoning? Common Myths, Misunderstandings And The Facts, Martha Keel, Janice Mccoy

Environment (Indoor & Outdoor)

No abstract provided.

Sp605-P Lead Poisoning Can Hurt Your Child Bookmark, Martha Keel

Environment (Indoor & Outdoor)

No abstract provided.

Mechanism Of Ascorbate Protection Against Sepsis-Induced Capillary Blood Flow Impairment, Dan Secor

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to an infection. The overwhelming inflammation has many deleterious effects, including cessation of capillary blood flow. This cessation may lead to organ failure and subsequent death, but the cause of cessation during sepsis is not fully understood. Ascorbate (reduced vitamin C) has been shown to restore capillary blood flow by an unknown mechanism. I hypothesized that activation of both platelets and the coagulation pathway in sepsis contributes to the cessation of capillary blood flow and that ascorbate protects against cessation by reducing platelet activation.

Using intravital microscopy in the mouse hindlimb skeletal muscle in ...

A Need For Green: An Approach For Motivating Environmentally Sustainable Practices At The University Of Rhode Island, Alyssa Mason, Mary Vidal

Senior Honors Projects

“Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Meade

Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man details his yearlong experiment to live without creating any environmental impact. As sophomores we were inspired by Beavan’s journey but also skeptical of living a completely no-impact lifestyle as college-students. Although we were motivated to try to live sustainably, our efforts were dormant until our junior year. That year we decided that we would attempt to live up to the standards set forth by Beavan--understanding that some practices would ...

Agricultural Development In The Northern Savannah Of Ghana, Tara N. Wood

Doctoral Documents from Doctor of Plant Health Program

Since declaring independence in 1957, the Republic of Ghana has become a stable constitutional democracy. Ghana’s economy has grown substantially over the past decade, yet remains primarily agrarian, accounting for 50% of the total employment and 25% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Smallholder rain-fed farming using rudimentary technologies dominates the agricultural sector accounting for 80% of total agricultural production. Approximately 90% of smallholder farms are less than two hectares in size, and produce a diversity of crops. The major crops cultivated in Ghana include numerous cereal, root and tuber, leguminous, fruit, vegetable and industrial crops. Maize is ...

Hippocampal Ca1 Transcriptional Profile Of Sleep Deprivation: Relation To Aging And Stress, Nada M. Porter, Julia H. Bohannon, Meredith Curran-Rauhut, Heather M. Buechel, Amy L.S. Dowling, Lawrence D. Brewer, Jelena Popovic, Veronique Thibault, Susan D. Kraner, Kuey-Chu Chen, Eric M. Blalock

Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Many aging changes seem similar to those elicited by sleep-deprivation and psychosocial stress. Further, sleep architecture changes with age suggest an age-related loss of sleep. Here, we hypothesized that sleep deprivation in young subjects would elicit both stress and aging-like transcriptional responses.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: F344 rats were divided into control and sleep deprivation groups. Body weight, adrenal weight, corticosterone level and hippocampal CA1 transcriptional profiles were measured. A second group of animals was exposed to novel environment stress (NES), and their hippocampal transcriptional profiles measured. A third cohort exposed to control or SD was used to validate transcriptional ...

Imatinib Reverses Doxorubicin Resistance By Affecting Activation Of Stat3-Dependent Nf-Κb And Hsp27/P38/Akt Pathways And By Inhibiting Abcb1, Jonathan T. Sims, Sourik S. Ganguly, Holly Bennett, J. Woodrow Friend, Jessica Tepe, Rina Plattner

Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology Faculty Publications

Despite advances in cancer detection and prevention, a diagnosis of metastatic disease remains a death sentence due to the fact that many cancers are either resistant to chemotherapy (conventional or targeted) or develop resistance during treatment, and residual chemoresistant cells are highly metastatic. Metastatic cancer cells resist the effects of chemotherapeutic agents by upregulating drug transporters, which efflux the drugs, and by activating proliferation and survival signaling pathways. Previously, we found that c-Abl and Arg non-receptor tyrosine kinases are activated in breast cancer, melanoma, and glioblastoma cells, and promote cancer progression. In this report, we demonstrate that the c-Abl/Arg ...

Gene Expression Response In Early Developmental Stages Of Rainbow Trout Exposed To Ecologically Relevant Concentrations Of Malathion, Susan Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the early life stage toxic effects of environmental organophosphate exposure on organism health is crucial to identifying biomarkers that can be used for preventative care. Malathion, a potent organophosphate, is one of the most widely used organophosphates in agriculture and pest eradication. Due to its widespread use, pesticide runoff into area bodies of water poses a great threat to aquatic life and human inhabitants. Acute exposure to high concentrations of malathion causes neurological abnormalities and can result in respiratory failure, muscle spasms, and mental confusion in humans.

In the present study, the effects of malathion are observed following acute ...

Application Of Cytotoxicity Assays For Detection Of Potentially Harmful Bioactive Compounds Produced By Freshwater Bloom-Forming Algae, Jace Thomas Mclaughlin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Detection of harmful bioactive compounds produced by bloom-forming pelagic algae is important to assess the potential risks to communities. We applied two cell-based assays, an erythrocyte lysis assay (ELA) that assesses membrane integrity, and a RTgill-W1 cytotoxicity assay (RCA) that detects changes in cell metabolism, to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of: (1) individual toxins and noxious compounds; and (2) complex mixtures of compounds produced by cyanobacteria and chrysophyte isolates. ELA was insensitive to toxins and noxious compounds except at exceptionally high concentrations (EC₅₀≥10⁶ nM). RCA was sensitive to noxious compounds only, at concentrations greater than reported environmental ...

Non-Cytotoxic Antibacterial Silver–Coumarin Complex Doped Sol–Gel Coatings, Swarna Jaiswal, Brendan Duffy, Patrick Mchale

Articles

Microbial colonisation on clinical and industrial surfaces is currently of global concern and silane based sol–gel coatings are being proposed as potential solutions. Sol–gels are chemically inert, stable and homogeneous and can be designed to act as a reservoir for releasing antimicrobial agents over extended time periods. In the present study, silver nitrate (AgN) and a series of silver coumarin complexes based on coumarin-3-carboxylatosilver (AgC) and it is 6,7 and 8 hydroxylated analogues (Ag6, Ag7, Ag8) were incorporated into sol–gel coatings. The comparative antibacterial activity of the coatings was determined against meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA ...

Diet-Induced Obesity: Dopaminergic And Behavioral Mechanisms As Outcomes And Predictors, Vidya Narayanaswami

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Obesity and drug abuse share common neural circuitries including the mesocoticolimbic and striatal dopamine reward system. In the current study, a rat model of diet-induced obesity (DIO) was used to determine striatal dopamine function, impulsivity and motivation as neurobehavioral outcomes and predictors of obesity. For the outcome study, rats were randomly assigned a high-fat (HF) or a low-fat (LF) diet for 8 wk. Following the 8-wk HF-diet exposure, rats were segregated into obesity-prone and obesity-resistant groups based on maximum and minimum body weight gain, respectively, and neurobehavioral outcomes were evaluated. For the predictor study, neurobehavioral antecedents were evaluated prior to ...

Microrna Markers Of Acetaminophen Toxicity: A Master's Thesis, Jeanine Ward

GSBS Dissertations and Theses

Background
To investigate plasma microRNA (miRNA) profiles indicative of hepatotoxicity in the setting of lethal acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity in mice.

Methods
Using plasma from APAP poisoned mice, either lethally (500 mg/kg) or sublethally (150 mg/kg) dosed, we screened commercially available murine microRNA libraries (SABiosciences, Qiagen Sciences, MD) to evaluate for unique miRNA profiles between these two dosing parameters.

Results
We distinguished numerous, unique plasma miRNAs both up- and down-regulated in lethally compared to sublethally dosed mice. Of note, many of the greatest up- and down-regulated miRNAs, included, but were not limited to, 574-5p, 466g, 466f-3p, 375, 29c, and ...

Reactive Oxygen Species Mediated Dna Damage In Human Lung Alveolar Epithelial (A549) Cells From Exposure To Non-Cytotoxic Mfi-Type Zeolite Nanoparticles, Kunal Bhattacharya, Pratap Naha, Izabela Naydenova, Svetlana Mintova, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Increasing utilization of engineered nanoparticles in the field of electronics and biomedical applications demands an assessment of risk associated with deliberate or accidental exposure. Metal based nanoparticles are potentially most important of all the nanoparticles in terms of health risks. Microporousalumino-silicates and pure silicates named as zeolites and zeo-type materials with variety of structures, chemical compositions, particle sizes and morphologies have a significant number of industrial uses such as in catalysis, sorption and ion-exchange processes. In particular, the nanosized particles due to their unique properties are used in hybrid organic-inorganic materials for photography, photonics, electronics, labeling, imaging, and sensing. The ...

Effects Of Salinity On The Toxicity Of Ionic Silver And Ag-Pvp Nanoparticles To Tisbe Battagliai And Ceramium Tenuicorne, Ailbhe Macken, Hugh Byrne, Kevin V. Thomas

Articles

The toxic effects of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coated silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP_PVP) and ionic Ag, to Tisbe battagliai (Tb) and Ceramium tenuicorne (Ct) were investigated and the usefulness of standardised marine guidelines for ENP risk assessment were assessed. The toxicity of Ag-NP_PVP [CtEC₅₀ = 26.6 µg/L, TbEC₅₀ = 7.9 µg/L] and Ag⁺ [CtEC₅₀ = 2312.2µg/L, Tb EC₅₀ = 90.9 µg/L] to both test species differed, with the silver ENPs being more toxic. In contrast to Ag⁺ the toxicity of Ag-NP_PVP increased significantly with increasing salinity, however, after thorough characterisation it was ...

Targeting Astrocytes Ameliorates Neurologic Changes In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Jennifer L. Furman, Diana M. Sama, John C. Gant, Tina L. Beckett, M. Paul Murphy, Adam D. Bachstetter, Linda J. Van Eldik, Christopher M. Norris

Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology Faculty Publications

Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the brain and play a critical role in maintaining healthy nervous tissue. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and most other neurodegenerative disorders, many astrocytes convert to a chronically "activated" phenotype characterized by morphologic and biochemical changes that appear to compromise protective properties and/or promote harmful neuroinflammatory processes. Activated astrocytes emerge early in the course of AD and become increasingly prominent as clinical and pathological symptoms progress, but few studies have tested the potential of astrocyte-targeted therapeutics in an intact animal model of AD. Here, we used adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors containing ...