Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Pharmacy Student's Guide, Christian Egly, Yaman Kaakeh

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Christian Egly is a fourth-year (P4) pharmacy student in the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. During his years at Purdue, he worked in labs performing bench research in clinical pharmacology and biochemistry. He plans to work in the pharmaceutical industry after graduation. During his fourth year, he completed rotations in business development at Kashiv Pharma, LLC, and was hired there for an internship in 2017. In the article, Christian describes his personal experiences at Kashiv Pharma, LLC, and how industry can positively affect patient communities.

Investigating Sociodemographic Disparities In Cancer Risk Using Web-Based Informatics, Hong-Jun Yoon, Georgia Tourassi

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

Cancer health disparities due to demographic and socioeconomic factors are an area of great interest in the epidemiological community. Adjusting for such factors is important when developing cancer risk models. However, for digital epidemiology studies relying on online sources such information is not readily available. This paper presents a novel method for extracting demographic and socioeconomic information from openly available online obituaries. The method relies on tailored language processing rules and a probabilistic scheme to map subjects’ occupation history to the occupation classification codes and related earnings provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Using this information, a case-control study is …

Full-Water Column Turbulence Parameterization Of Stratified Waters In Southern Lake Michigan, Kyla A. Prendergast, Cary D. Troy, David Cannon

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Full water column mean flow and turbulence structure was characterized at two stratified locations in Lake Michigan (a. Muskegon, MI; b. Michigan City, IN) in order to better understand the filtration potential of invasive quagga mussels. Invasive quagga mussels in Lake Michigan are filter feeders and can dramatically alter clarity as well as the biological/chemical characteristics of the water column. This filtering capacity is highly contingent on turbulence characteristics throughout the water column, which is poorly understood in the Great Lakes. Using velocity, temperature, and turbulence data collected from these locations, the structure of the water column turbulence was modeled …

Mobility Characteristics Of Azithromycin In Soil, Ryan Minter, Jihyun Kim, Linda Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The presence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment has become a widespread problem in recent decades. Azithromycin, a macrolide antibiotic commonly prescribed for infections in humans, has been detected in waste treatment plant discharge and surface waters across the world. Data on the mobility characteristics of azithromycin in soil is scarce, and further studies must be performed to explore the potential for azithromycin leaching to groundwater or becoming available for plant uptake. In this study, azithromycin sorption isotherms were measured on eight soils varying in pH, organic carbon content, and clay content. Soil was equilibrated with …

Nanoparticle Toxicity And Molecular Mechanisms In Fish: A Case Study With Silver Nanoparticles, Jiejun Gao

Open Access Dissertations

Nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in a myriad of commercial and industrial products making their entry to the environment a likely event. NPs have unique physical-chemical properties that result from their small size and high surface area to volume ratio, making them highly reactive and potentially toxic. In Chapter 1, we summarize the effects and mechanisms of metal-based NPs on the vascular system. In vitro studies have shown that NPs are anti-angiogenic because they cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis of endothelial cells resulting in increased permeability and decreased proliferation and migration. Whole animal studies examining the effects of NPs …

Gonadal Intersex In Teleosts: Mechanisms, Molecular Biomarkers And Diagnostic Assays, Ahmed M.E. Abdel-Moneim Mohamed

Open Access Dissertations

Natural and synthetic estrogenic and androgenic compounds are continuously released into aquatic ecosystems. Exposure of teleost fishes to these contaminants can negatively impact sex differentiation and reproductive output. Specifically, development of gonadal intersex in gonochoristic (fixed sex) fish species has been studied extensively in relation to exposure to this class of compounds. The main objectives of this dissertation were to: 1) conduct field and laboratory studies to investigate the molecular signaling pathways behind the development of gonadal intersex; and 2) establish molecular biomarkers and assays for testing the ability of environmental pollutants to develop this condition using a battery of …

Implementation Of Universal Hplc Analysis For Counterfeit Medication: A Partnership Of Purdue University And The Kilimanjaro School Of Pharmacy, Jordyn Mccord, Michael Mavity, David Wintczak

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Jordyn McCord and Michael Mavity are 2016 graduates of both biological engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. David Wintczak is a third-year pharmacy doctoral candidate. Here, in their second article published in PJSL, they describe a weeklong study abroad course at the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy in Tanzania, designed to engage students in the implementation of methods for detecting counterfeit medications.

Manufacturer Perspectives On Content Transparency And Material Health In The Us Building Products Industry, Alexandra A. Muller

Open Access Theses

Flawed U.S. federal regulation of chemicals has resulted in a materials market that undervalues human and environmental health in favor of the more traditional attributes of price, performance and aesthetics. In the building products industry, global, dynamic supply chains and proprietary information concerns further complicate the task of assessing the material health of products.

Voluntary material health programs in the green building industry are intended to incentivize the manufacture and selection of safer products by getting companies to gather and assess ingredient, hazard and risk information from their supply chain. Building product manufacturers considered early adopters of the main material …

The Interactive Effects Of Pesticide Exposure And Infectious Disease On Amphibian Hosts, Katherine M. Pochini

Open Access Theses

Natural systems are home to a multitude of natural and anthropogenic stressors, which draw an array of effects on ecological communities. While these effects have been investigated individually, it is important, given the routine co-occurrence of these stressors, to understand their interactive effects. Pesticide exposure and infectious disease are two common, co-occurring stressors that each have documented detrimental effects on species and, as evidence suggests, may have interactive effects. Moreover, existing research suggests that these interactive effects are highly context dependent, eliciting different results based on species, disease agent, toxin, and environment. Given the variability with which species may experience …

X-Ray Fluorescence For Quantification Of Lead And Strontium In Vivo, Aaron James Specht

Open Access Dissertations

Lead (Pb) is a toxicant well known for its effects on almost every organ system in the body. Pb use in industry has declined since removal of Pb from gasoline, but many developing countries still have significant use of Pb. Exposure to Pb has been linked with diseases causing neurodegeneration and thus have lasting effects long after the initial exposure. Another metal, strontium (Sr), has been linked with bone disease in particular situations and shown to have uses in treating osteoporosis as a supplement. However, there are no studies of the effects of Sr using a meaningful biomarker. The most …

Unique Behavioral And Neurochemical Effects Induced By Repeated Adolescent Consumption Of Caffeine-Mixed Alcohol In C57bl/6 Mice., Meridith T. Robins, Julie Lu, Richard M. Van Rijn

Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Faculty Publications

The number of highly caffeinated products has increased dramatically in the past few years. Among these products, highly caffeinated energy drinks are the most heavily advertised and purchased, which has resulted in increased incidences of co-consumption of energy drinks with alcohol. Despite the growing number of adolescents and young adults reporting caffeine-mixed alcohol use, knowledge of the potential consequences associated with co-consumption has been limited to survey-based results and in-laboratory human behavioral testing. Here, we investigate the effect of repeated adolescent (post-natal days P35-61) exposure to caffeine-mixed alcohol in C57BL/6 mice on common drug-related behaviors such as locomotor sensitivity, drug …

Macrophage Uptake And Cytotoxicity Of Paclitaxel Nanocrystals, Deborah Lee, Emeri Zhang, Wei Gao, Tonglei Li

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Effective drug delivery remains one of the most challenging tasks in combatting cancer cells. Anti-cancer drugs such as Paclitaxel (PTX) often struggle in having a high drug effect because they are often phagocytized by macrophages in Reticuloendothelial System (RES) before reaching the cancer cells. To combat this problem, PTX was inserted in a nanocrystal, coated with non-ionic surfactant F68; it is speculated that this formulation will minimize the particle aggregation and decrease the cellular uptake in the RES, which will increase the overall efficacy of the drug in the target areas. The aim of this project was to compare the …

The Impact Of Stress History Of Deformable Dry Granules On The Mechanical Properties Of Tablets, Biplob K Mitra

Open Access Dissertations

A mechanistic understanding of the relationship among the granule composition, individual granule property, downstream robust processing, and the final tablet attributes is critical for rational development of a quality tablet. However, in the dry granulation literature, milled granules that are polydisperse in solid fraction, size, and shape are extensively used for compaction studies. Thus, the effect of an individual granule property or an individual component on the compaction properties of dry granules was not adequately separated. To advance the mechanistic understanding of the effect of dry granulation on tensile strength of tablets, individual granule properties such as size, solid fraction, …

Beta-Lactam Antimicrobial Dosing Optimization In Obese Patients Compared To Non-Obese Patients Using Population Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Approach, Eun Kyoung Chung

Open Access Dissertations

Obesity is a significant global health problem and has been associated with altered pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs. However, little is known regarding the effect of obesity on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many broad-spectrum, beta-lactam antibiotics such as piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem, and cefepime. The objective of this study is to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem, and cefepime in hospitalized obese patients in order to determine dosing regimens that provide similar exposures between obese and non-obese patients. ^ For piperacillin/tazobactam, a retrospective analysis was conducted using prospectively collected serum concentration-time data from two previous studies (Study …

Elucidation Of Pharmacologically Manipulated Responding In The Delay Discounting Task In High Alcohol Preferring Mice, Meredith Halcomb

Open Access Dissertations

Impulsive behavior is the hallmark of many psychopathologies. Uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms driving impulsivity is paramount in the development of through the delay discounting (DD) task in both human and animal models. The present study is an examination of the predictive validity of the two primary types of DD procedures in animals, the Adjusting Amounts (AA) and within session Increasing Delays (ID) tasks. Methods:Subjects were administered either1.25 mg/kg d-amphetamine (AMP), 1.5 g/kg ethanol (EtOH) or saline and tested in either the AA or ID method for 15 days to evaluate drug effects on impulsive behavior. Results: Stimulant administration resulted …

In Vivo Analysis Of A Salt Bridge At The External Gate Of The Drosophila Melanogaster Serotonin Transporter In Response To Amphetamines, Timothy J. Beenen

Open Access Theses

Monoamine neurotransmitter transporters are membrane proteins responsible for the clearing of biogenic amines from a synapse. These transporters are targets for many important pharmaceuticals including antidepressants, as well as psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. Amphetamines are believed to elicit their psychostimulant activity primarily by inducing a reversal of the transport cycle and increasing neurotransmitter release into the synapse, though the mechanism of this activity is incompletely understood. Previous in vitro research has suggested functional significance of a conserved salt bridge in the serotonin transporter (SERT) in amphetamine-induced 5-HT efflux. This salt bridge is disrupted in the Drosophila melanogaster …

Role Of Group Ii Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 2 (Mglur2) In Appetitive And Consummatory Aspects Of Ethanol Reinforcement, Kyle Allyson Windisch

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR2/3) are predominately presynaptically located G_i/o coupled receptors that are highly expressed in the cortex, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampus. Previous studies suggest that group II mGluRs are involved in regulating ethanol (EtOH) consumption and seeking following extinction (Backstrom and Hyytia, 2005; Kufahl, et al., 2011). The sipper tube model, which allows for procedural separation of seeking and consumption, was used to further clarify the role of mGluR2/3 in EtOH-seeking and consumption. The non-selective group II mGluR agonist LY379268 (LY37) and selective mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) BINA were used to determine the …

Tissue Engineering: Applications In Developmental Toxicology, Stephanie N. Thiede, Nimisha Bajaj, Kevin Buno, Sherry L. Voytik-Harbin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In vivo toxicology assays are expensive, low-throughput, and often not predictive of a human response. Three-dimensional in vitro human cell-based tissue systems incorporating cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions have promise to provide high-throughput, physiologically-relevant information on the mechanism of the toxin and a more accurate assessment of the toxicity of a chemical before progression to human trials. Quantification of the disruption of vasculogenesis, the de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial progenitor cells, can serve as an appropriate indicator of developmental toxicity since vasculogenesis is critical to the early development of the circulatory system. The current routinely used in vitro …

The Combined Effects Of Anthropogenic And Environmental Stressors On Fundulus Grandis Development, Christopher Jacob Klinkhamer

Open Access Theses

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in the release of ~ 5 million barrels of crude oil from the Macondo wellhead into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil from the spill was documented on 1,772km of shoreline with 847km of shoreline remaining oiled a year after the spill, and 687km of shoreline remaining oiled two years after the spill. Currently, there are few data available concerning long-term, sublethal effects associated with chronic exposure to crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the anthropogenic-induced stress of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, aquatic organisms living in estuarial areas of …

Investigation Into The Control Of Melittin Secondary Structure And Antimicrobial Activity, Zachary B. Molinets

Open Access Theses

Antimicrobial resistance has been an exponentially growing problem since the discovery of antibiotics. Antibiotics have been misused for many years and this misuse has grown into a real problem for the medical community. While there are countless safeguards to prevent infection by a resistant strain of bacteria, there are still many plagued by it and must be treated with sometimes dangerous antibiotics. Melittin, along with many other peptides, contain potent antimicrobial properties, but are also toxic toward enthrocytes. The control of the secondary structure of peptides provides the key to adjusting their activity.

Efficacy Of Cleaning Method For Removal Of Exogenous Welding Fume Contamination From Nail Tissue Prior To Use As A Biomarker For Welding Fume Manganese Exposure, Jeffrey Corral Bainter

Open Access Theses

Nail tissue has been proposed as a biomarker for body burden of occupational exposure to manganese from welding fumes. Though recent studies have shown correlation between manganese exposure and both nail tissue concentration as well as concentrations in dopaminergic regions of the brain, concerns of the validity of nail tissue as a biomarker have arisen due to the potential for exogenous contamination of Mn to undermine the quantization of endogenous Mn in nail. Previous studies have used a cleaning method of 1% Triton X-100 surfactant plus sonication in order to attempt to remove exogenous welding fume contamination. Determination of the …

Fatty Acids And Mercury In Seventy Seven Species Of Commercially Available Finfish In The United States, Dennis P. Cladis

Open Access Theses

Finfish are consumed across the United States and constitute an important part of the American diet. However, seafood consumption can be a tenuous topic, with supporters highlighting the health benefits of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6n3) and opponents emphasizing the neurotoxicity of methylmercury. Because all fish contain varying amounts of EPA, DHA, and methylmercury, the need for clear and unbiased information is essential to alleviate the confusion experienced by many consumers and empower them to make informed decisions regarding seafood consumption. As the market changes and more fish originate from aquaculture sources, where diets are controlled, …

Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products: Emerging Contaminants In Aquatic Ecosystems, Jenny E. Zenobio

Open Access Theses

In recent years, the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in aquatic systems has led to research on their fate and effects. PPCPs have been found in mixture in wastewater effluents, surface, ground, and drinking water at low concentrations from areas of intense urbanization. Although adverse effects to human health from the current environmental concentrations are unlikely, the impacts to ecological receptors are not clear. We performed field and laboratory studies to quantify and evaluate effects of PPCPs on fish. First, a field study was conducted at the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado (2010-2012) because a portion of …

Dj-1 And Atp13a2: Two Proteins Involved In Parkinson’S Disease, Josephat M Asiago

Open Access Dissertations

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease, affecting approximately 0.3% of the total U.S. population, and its prevalence increases with age. Two neuropathological hallmarks of PD are the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, a region in the midbrain involved in initiating and sustaining movement, and the presence of cytosolic inclusions called Lewy bodies (LBs) in various brain regions. LBs are enriched with fibrillar forms of the presynaptic protein &agr;-synuclein (aSyn). Two autosomal recessive genes implicated in familial PD are PARK9, encoding the P-type ATPase ATP13A2, a lysosomal ATPase; and …

Non-Mass Transfer Limited Crystal Growth, Ryan J. Smyth, Caitlin Schram, Stephen P. Beaudoin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There are many different active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that have been discovered in research labs all around the world that can be used to treat and cure patients with a variety of different ailments. The challenge with these APIs in treatments is that they are not soluble in water, thus they low absorption into the blood stream (bio-availability). The key to making these APIs more bio-available is to understand how they grow as crystals and drop out of the aqueous solutions. One of the ways these APIs were made more bio-available is to render them amorphous and suspend them in …