Disorders of Environmental Origin Commons^™

Of Rats And Men, Thomas S. Walsh

Capstones

This capstone is a data-driven investigation into New York City's rat problem. By using publicly available government data to map rat activity in NYC, I identified several socio-economic variables that correlate with rat populations at the community district, borough, and city-scale. I used these findings (mainly that rat problems are linked to lower incomes) as the basis of an investigation, which includes interviews with residents, experts, and city officials. Prof. Bobby Corrigan, urban rodentologist and formerly with the NYC Department of Health criticizes the city's efforts for the first time on the record.

https://thomasseiyawalsh.wixsite.com/ratstone

Monitoring Lead Screening Within A Milwaukee Family Medicine Residency Clinic, Kristin E. Dement, Jessica J.F. Kram, Dennis J. Baumgardner, Bonnie Bobot, Alonzo Jalan

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Background: Lead screenings, as part of a child’s preventive examinations, are offered by many Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in the Milwaukee area. Previously, the Family Care Center (FCC) at Aurora Sinai Medical Center (Milwaukee, WI) did not have access to lead screenings performed by WIC clinics and later recorded in the Wisconsin Blood Lead Registry (WBLR). Therefore, unnecessary duplicate screenings may have occurred on children seen at FCC for their preventive exams.

Purpose: To determine if children were undergoing unnecessary duplicate lead screenings at FCC.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of lead screenings performed at well-child ...

Investigating Smoke Exposure And Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Copd) With A Calibrated Agent Based Model (Abm) Of In Vitro Fibroblast Wound Healing., J Alex Ratti, Angela Reynolds, Rebecca L. Heise

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim ...

High Maternal Dietary Glycemic Index And Sugar Consumption And Their Association With Birth Defects And Pregnancy Complications, Nicole Thornton

Carroll College Student Undergraduate Research Festival

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to look at existing peer reviewed articles regarding high maternal dietary glycemic index (DGI) and/or sugar consumption (including glucose, fructose, and sucrose) and the risk for birth defects or pregnancy complications.

Methods: PubMed was the primary database used to search for relevant articles. Other related articles were found in the reference sections of the articles screened in the original search.

Results: Nine case-control and cohort studies were used in this review. Five of the six case-control studies found a significant risk between high maternal DGI and/or sugar intake and birth ...

Antibiotic Residues In Milk From Three Popular Kenyan Milk Vending Machines, Amos Kosgey, Anakalo Shitandi, Jason W. Marion

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Milk vending machines (MVMs) are growing in popularity in Kenya and worldwide. Milk vending machines dispense varying quantities of locally sourced, pasteurized milk. The Kenya Dairy Board has a regulatory framework, but surveillance is weak because of several factors. Milk vending machines’ milk is not routinely screened for antibiotics, thereby increasing potential for antibiotic misuse. To investigate, a total of 80 milk samples from four commercial providers (N = 25), street vendors (N = 21), and three MVMs (N = 34) were collected and screened in Eldoret, Kenya. Antibiotic residue surveillance occurred during December 2016 and January 2017 using Idexx SNAP tests for ...

Assessment Of Temperature And Ultraviolet Radiation Effects On Sunburn At An Inland U.S. Beach: A Cohort Study, Jason W. Marion, Jiyoung Lee, James Rosenblum, Timothy J. Buckley

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Background

Increases in outdoor temperature may lead to increases in sunburn, outdoor exposure, and skin cancer in human populations.

Objective

This study aimed to quantify sunburn incidence and risk for Ohio beachgoers exposed to varying outdoor conditions.

Methods

Sunburn incidence data were obtained through a prospective cohort study at East Fork Lake (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA). Recruitment occurred over 26 weekend days. Beach interviews and follow-up telephone interviews obtained exposure and health information. New sunburns were self-reported 8–9 days post-enrollment. Survey data were paired with ultraviolet radiation (UVR) index and temperature data for statistical analysis.

Results

Among 947 beachgoers, new ...

Modeling Geographic Factors And Assessing Their Accuracy In Identifying Health Disparities In Fayette County, Ian Jones

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The purpose of this capstone is to conduct a review of existing literature to determine the effects of a variety of geographic variables on health and wellness. The student will use their findings to create a visual aid to displaying these geographic factors and their distributions within Fayette County. Furthermore, the student will analyze the intersection of these variables to predict potential pockets of discrepancy within Fayette County. Based on this analysis, the student will propose possible interventions with a basis in current literature. This project will provide the student with the opportunity to conduct a study of existing literature ...

Behavioral Ecology And Associated Virology Of Mosquito-Host Interactions In Southern California, Oliver Eshun

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Elucidating characteristics of mosquito-host interactions are critical for understanding the ecology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. In this dissertation, I conducted three studies to explore potential mosquito-host interactions and associated virus infection rates. I first demonstrated that mosquito captures at CO2-baited traps decreased most markedly with height above ground, and also decreased with distance from water at a riparian area but not at an open water source lacking a vegetated border. Birds might therefore prefer elevated nests or roosts to avoid mosquitoes. The second study examined the anti-mosquito behaviors of budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) in a laboratory study. The birds defended ...

Spinal Cord Injury Disrupts Circadian Rhythms In Rats, Emily M. Bateman

Psychology and Neuroscience Undergraduate Contributions

Traumatic spinal cord injury affects 282,000 people in the United States alone. Individuals often suffer from partial paralysis and chronic pain along with physiological impairments, such as abnormal thermoregulation, decreased motor function, and poor sleep quality. Current clinical therapies focus on symptomatic treatments. Despite extensive research, all of the physiologic effects and the molecular mechanism underlying spinal cord injury, and how they affect each other, remains elusive. Here, we tested whether spinal cord injury disrupted circadian rhythms, which could prolong the recovery process. We used implanted transmitters in male and female rats to measure a marker, body temperature, and ...

Brace Yourselves, Winter Is Coming: A Pilot Study Of The Effects Of Brief, Infrequent Cold Water Immersion Upon Body Composition In Young Adult Males, Kieran Wash Ba (Hons), Scott Burnet Msc, James Steele Ph.D

Journal of Evolution and Health

Background: The existence of functioning brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans has brought into question the possibility of utilising the BAT mechanism as an obesity tackling strategy. This pilot study examined the effects of a short-term (6wk) cold water immersion (CWI) programme on the body composition of (n=10) healthy male adults. It was hypothesized that the thermal stresses would produce reductions in fat mass (FM) and body fat percentage (BFp) as a result of thermogenic activation of the BAT mechanism. Methods: Using a single arm prospective trial design, participants were subjected to singular acute (18min) cold water exposures ...

Quercetin Inhibits Cr(Vi)-Induced Malignant Cell Transformation By Targeting Mir-21-Pdcd4 Signaling Pathway, Poyil Pratheeshkumar, Young-Ok Son, Sasidharan Padmaja Divya, Lei Wang, Lilia Turcios, Ram Vinod Roy, John Andrew Hitron, Donghern Kim, Jin Dai, Padmaja Asha, Zhuo Zhang, Xianglin Shi

Center for Research on Environmental Disease Faculty Publications

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is an important human carcinogen associated with pulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Inhibition of Cr(VI)-induced carcinogenesis by a dietary antioxidant is a novel approach. Quercetin is one of the most abundant dietary flavonoids widely present in many fruits and vegetables, possesses potent antioxidant and anticancer properties. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is a key oncomiR significantly elevated in the majority of human cancers that exerts its oncogenic activity by targeting the tumor suppressor gene programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). The present study examined the effect of quercetin on the inhibition of Cr(VI)-induced malignant cell transformation ...

Determining The Protective Effects Of Quercetin Against Cadmium Toxicity In Human Embryonic Kidney Cells, Caroline N. Smith

Undergraduate Theses

Cadmium is a toxic industrial and environmental pollutant found in groundwater, air, soils, food and cigarettes. Chronic intake of low levels of cadmium has been shown to result in renal dysfunction due to cell death which can occur via apoptosis as well as necrosis. Previous studies have shown that plant extracts containing quercetin, a flavonoid found in many fruits and vegetables, protect against cadmium toxicity in rat liver hepatocytes. To determine if quercetin may have a protective effect in a cadmium-treated human embryonic kidney cell line, HEK-293 cells were treated using concentrations of cadmium chloride from 10 to 50 μM ...

Diet, Kidney Stones And Kidney Failure, Lynda Frassetto

Journal of Evolution and Health

No abstract provided.

P35. Investigating The Effect Of Maternal Immune Activation On Sensory Filtering, Social Behaviour And Attention, Faraj Haddad

Western Research Forum

Background

Altered brain development is associated with many neuropsychiatric disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. Environmental insults can interfere with neurodevelopment, and a prominent example is maternal infection during pregnancy. Epidemiological studies show that children born to mothers who were infected during pregnancy display a higher risk of developing ASD and schizophrenia, and this effect is mainly due to the maternal immune response. Polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid (Poly I:C) is a double stranded RNA molecule that mimics viral markers and elicits an immune response. When injected in pregnant rodents, this model produces offspring that exhibit core symptoms of ASD ...

Ukraine : Papillary Thyroid Cancer, Elizabeth Paris

Global Public Health

Ukraine is a middle- to low- income country run by a semi-presidential republic, after the banning of the Communist party in the early 1990's. While the nation faces various internal and external challenges, including unemployment rates and war with Russia, Ukraine also continues to face a major public health issue that originated in the 1980's. In 1986, an explosion was triggered at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The explosion released radioactive iodine into the ground, water, and air, and it was discovered soon after that this had a long-lasting effect on health. It has been observed ...

The [E]Motionless Body No Longer: Tracing The Historical Intersections Of Mental Illness And Movement In The American Asylum, Holly Adele Herzfeld

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

Oncogenic Transformation Of Human Lung Bronchial Epithelial Cells Induced By Arsenic Involves Ros-Dependent Activation Of Stat3-Mir-21-Pdcd4 Mechanism, Poyil Pratheeshkumar, Young-Ok Son, Sasidharan Padmaja Divya, Lei Wang, Zhuo Zhang, Xianglin Shi

Center for Research on Environmental Disease Faculty Publications

Arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen. The present study explored the role of the onco-miR, miR-21 and its target protein, programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) in arsenic induced malignant cell transformation and tumorigenesis. Our results showed that treatment of human bronchial epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells with arsenic induces ROS through p47^phox, one of the NOX subunits that is the key source of arsenic-induced ROS. Arsenic exposure induced an upregulation of miR-21 expression associated with inhibition of PDCD4, and caused malignant cell transformation and tumorigenesis of BEAS-2B cells. Indispensably, STAT3 transcriptional activation by IL-6 is crucial for the arsenic induced miR-21 ...

Longitudinal Changes In Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Between 18 And 36 Months In Children With Prenatal Triptan Exposure: Findings From The Norwegian Mother And Child Cohort Study, Mollie E. Wood, Jean A. Frazier, Hedvig M.E. Nordeng, Kate L. Lapane

Open Access Articles

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine whether changes in neurodevelopmental outcomes between 18 and 36 months of age were associated with prenatal exposure to triptan medications, a class of 5-HT receptor agonists used in the treatment of migraine.

METHOD: Using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, a prospective birth cohort that includes nearly 40% of all pregnancies in Norway from 1999 to 2008, we identified 50 469 mother-child dyads who met inclusion criteria and were present for at least one follow-up assessment at 18 or 36 months postpartum. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist, the ...

Fecal Transplant Vs Vancomycin For Recurrent Clostridium Diffile, Lauren M. Taylor, Todd E. Edwards

Physician Assistant Capstones

Objective: To compare fecal transplant and vancomycin in the treatment of recurrent clostridium difficile to determine which has the higher cure rate. Design: Systematic literature review. Methods: Pubmed, Google Scholar, and TRIP database using the search terms “recurrent clostridium difficile.” Filters were implemented in the Pubmed database including: randomized control trials, English, and published in the past 5 years. Records were screened for RCT with fecal transplant and full-text. Results: van Nood et al. revealed an initial cure rate of 81% for the infusion group, and a re-treated cure rate of 94%, compared to the vancomycin alone group of 31 ...