Environmental Health Commons^™

Considerations For The Analysis Of Urinary Environmental Chemical Concentrations During Pregnancy, Danielle R. Stevens, Kaleigh Hinton, Katie M. O'Brien, Jessie P. Buckley, Barrett M. Welch, Jason A. Watts, Antonia M. Calafat, Julianne C. Botelho, Elena Sinkovskaya, Ann Przybylska, George Saade, Alfred Abuhamad, Kelly K. Ferguson

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Faculty Publications

Background:

Pregnancy physiology may impact indicators of hydration, affecting exposure assessment in gestational studies with urinary chemical biomarkers.

Methods:

We aimed to characterize hydration and demonstrate the impact of different methods for standardizing urinary chemical biomarker concentrations on exposure descriptives in the Human Placenta and Phthalates Study (n = 303, 2017-2020), a prospective pregnancy cohort with eight study visits between 12 and 38 weeks of gestation. We assessed trajectories and predictors of hydration using urine flow rate (UFR) and specific gravity (SG). Likewise, we examined trajectories and predictors of mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP), for which concentrations were unstandardized or standardized via …

Visualizing Parcel-Level Lead Risk Using An Exterior Housing-Based Index., Neal J. Wilson, Ryan Allenbrand, Elizabeth Friedman, Kevin Kennedy, Amy Roberts, Stephen Simon

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Pediatric lead poisoning remains a persistent public health problem. Children in the US spend the preponderance of their time at home; thus, housing is an important social determinant of health. Improving health outcomes derived from housing-based sources involves differentiating the risks posed by the existing housing stock. In this paper, we developed a parcel-level lead risk index (LRI) based on external housing conditions and the year of home construction. The purpose of this study was to introduce a housing-based lead risk index (LRI), developed using retrospective data, to estimate parcel-by-parcel variation in housing-based lead risk. We described how the LRI …

Adsorbents From Rice Husk And Shrimp Shell For Effective Removal Of Heavy Metals And Reactive Dyes In Water, Md Ibrahim H Mondal, Shovra Chandra Chakraborty, Md Saifur Rahman, Shaik Merkatur Hakim Marjuban, Firoz Ahmed, John L Zhou, Mohammad Boshir Ahmed, Masoumeh Zargar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Widespread contamination by heavy metals (HMs) and dyes poses a major health risk to people and ecosystems requiring effective treatment. In this work, rice husk (RH) and shrimp shells were extracted to obtain amorphous silica and chitosan, respectively, which were utilized to produce nano-chitosan-coated silica (NCCS). To ensure the stability of the nanoparticles, silica was freeze-dried after being coated with nano-chitosan. Functional groups (-NH

Protecting Human And Animal Health: The Road From Animal Models To New Approach Methods, Barbara L F Kaplan, Alan M Hoberman, William Slikker, Mary Alice Smith, Emanuela Corsini, Thomas B Knudsen, M Sue Marty, Sonya K Sobrian, Suzanne C Fitzpatrick, Marcia H Ratner, Donna L Mendrick

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Animals and animal models have been invaluable for our current understanding of human and animal biology, including physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and disease pathology. However, there are increasing concerns with continued use of animals in basic biomedical, pharmacological, and regulatory research to provide safety assessments for drugs and chemicals. There are concerns that animals do not provide sufficient information on toxicity and/or efficacy to protect the target population, so scientists are utilizing the principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement (the 3Rs) and increasing the development and application of new approach methods (NAMs). NAMs are any technology, methodology, approach, or assay used …

Developing A National-Scale Exposure Index For Combined Environmental Hazards And Social Stressors And Applications To The Environmental Influences On Child Health Outcomes (Echo) Cohort., Sheena E. Martenies, Mingyu Zhang, Anne E. Corrigan, Anton Kvit, Timothy Shields, William Wheaton, Deana Around Him, Judy Aschner, Maria M. Talavera-Barber, Emily S. Barrett, Theresa M. Bastain, Casper Bendixsen, Carrie V. Breton, Nicole R. Bush, Ferdinand Cacho, Carlos A. Camargo, Kecia N. Carroll, Brian S. Carter, Andrea E. Cassidy-Bushrow, Whitney Cowell, Lisa A. Croen, Dana Dabelea, Cristiane S. Duarte, Anne L. Dunlop, Todd M. Everson, Rima Habre, Tina V. Hartert, Jennifer B. Helderman, Alison E. Hipwell, Margaret R. Karagas, Barry M. Lester, Kaja Z. Lewinn, Sheryl Magzamen, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Thomas G. O'Connor, Amy M. Padula, Michael Petriello, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Joseph B. Stanford, Tracey J. Woodruff, Rosalind J. Wright, Amii M. Kress, Program Collaborators For Environmental Influences On Child Health Outcomes

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Tools for assessing multiple exposures across several domains (e.g., physical, chemical, and social) are of growing importance in social and environmental epidemiology because of their value in uncovering disparities and their impact on health outcomes. Here we describe work done within the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-wide Cohort Study to build a combined exposure index. Our index considered both environmental hazards and social stressors simultaneously with national coverage for a 10-year period. Our goal was to build this index and demonstrate its utility for assessing differences in exposure for pregnancies enrolled in the ECHO-wide Cohort Study. Our unitless …

Climate Change Imperils Pediatric Health: Child Advocacy Through Fossil Fuel Divestment., Sandra H. Jee, Elizabeth Friedman, Ruth A. Etzel, Vi T. Nguyen, Todd L. Sack, Kathi J. Kemper

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Climate change poses an existential threat to children's health. Divestment of ownership stakes in fossil fuel companies is one tool available to pediatricians to address climate change. Pediatricians are trusted messengers regarding children's health and therefore bear a unique responsibility to advocate for climate and health policies that affect children. Among the impacts of climate change on pediatric patients are allergic rhinitis and asthma; heat-related illnesses; premature birth; injuries from severe storms and fires; vector-borne diseases; and mental illnesses. Children are disproportionately affected as well by climate-related displacement of populations, drought, water shortages, and famine. The human-generated burning of fossil …

Associations Between Physiological Biomarkers And Psychosocial Measures Of Pregnancy-Specific Anxiety And Depression With Support Intervention, Karen L Weis, Tony T Yuan, Katherine C Walker, Thomas F Gibbons, Wenyaw Chan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stress and anxiety significantly impact the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, and in pregnancy, the subsequent maternal-fetal response can lead to poor outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the association between psychosocial measures of pregnancy-specific anxiety and physiologic inflammatory responses. Specifically, to determine the effectiveness of the Mentors Offering Maternal Support (M-O-M-S

The Gut-Microbiome In Gulf War Veterans: A Preliminary Report, Patricia A. Janulewicz, Ratanesh K. Seth, Jeffrey M. Carlson, Joy Ajama, Emily Quinn, Timothy Heeren, Nancy Klimas, Steven M. Lasley, Ronnie Horner, Kimberly Sullivan, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom disorder affecting the central nervous system (CNS), immune and gastrointestinal (GI) systems of Gulf War veterans (GWV). We assessed the relationships between GWI, GI symptoms, gut microbiome and inflammatory markers in GWV from the Boston Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC). Three groups of GWIC veterans were recruited in this pilot study; GWV without GWI and no gastrointestinal symptoms (controls), GWV with GWI and no gastrointestinal symptoms (GWI-GI), GWV with GWI who reported gastrointestinal symptoms (GW+GI). Here we report on a subset of the first thirteen stool samples analyzed. Results showed significantly different …

Resveratrol Attenuates Allergic Asthma And Associated Inflammation In The Lungs Through Regulation Of Mirna-34a That Targets Foxp3 In Mice, Esraah Alharris, Hasan Alghetaa, Ratanesh K. Seth, Saurabh Chatterjee, Narendra P. Singh, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti

Faculty Publications

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airways mediated by T-helper 2 (Th2) cells involving complex signaling pathways. Although resveratrol has previously been shown to attenuate allergic asthma, the role of miRNA in this process has not been studied. We investigated the effect of resveratrol on ovalbumin-induced experimental allergic asthma in mice. To that end, BALB/c mice were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) intraperitoneally followed by oral gavage of vehicle (OVA-veh) or resveratrol (100 mg/kg body) (OVA-res). On day 7, the experimental groups received intranasal challenge of OVA followed by 7 days of additional oral gavage of vehicle or resveratrol. At …

Rationale, Design And Methods Of "Set The Rules": A Tailored Peer-To-Peer Health Information Intervention, Jennifer R. Warren, Brandi M. White

Health and Clinical Sciences Faculty Publications

Ensuring equitable access to health information is one strategy to promote health equity for underserved communities, especially for low-income African Americans (AAs). Childcare centers are one viable site to deliver health information to address this disparity. This paper describes the methods used in a community-based participatory research project with a childcare facility that aimed to reduce environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure among low-income AA children. Through collaboration and multiple data collection methods, partners identified communication strategies to overcome informational barriers. These initial findings indicated a peer-to-peer health information intervention, entitled “Set the Rules”, as the best strategy to increase awareness. …

High Circulatory Leptin Mediated Nox-2-Peroxynitrite-Mir21 Axis Activate Mesangial Cells And Promotes Renal Inflammatory Pathology In Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Firas Alhasson, Ratanesh K. Seth, Sutapa Sarkar, Diana A. Kimono, Muayad S. Albadrani, Diptadip Dattaroy, Varun Chandrashekaran, Geoffry Scott, Samir Raychoudhury, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti, Anna Mae Diehl, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

High circulatory insulin and leptin followed by underlying inflammation are often ascribed to the ectopic manifestations in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but the exact molecular pathways remain unclear. We have shown previously that CYP2E1-mediated oxidative stress and circulating leptin in NAFLD is associated with renal disease severity. Extending the studies, we hypothesized that high circulatory leptin in NAFLD causes renal mesangial cell activation and tubular inflammation via a NOX2 dependent pathway that upregulates proinflammatory miR21. High-fat diet (60% kcal) was used to induce fatty liver phenotype with parallel insulin and leptin resistance. The kidneys were probed for mesangial cell …

Accommodations For Patients With Disabilities In Primary Care: A Mixed Methods Study Of Practice Administrators, Jennifer Renee Pharr

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Structural barriers that limit access to health care services for people with disabilities have been identified through qualitative studies; however, little is known about how patients with disabilities are accommodated in the clinical setting when a structural barrier is encountered. The purpose of this study was to identify how primary care medical practices in the United States accommodated people with disabilities when a barrier to service is encountered. Primary care practice administrators from the medical management organization were identified through the organization’s website. Sixty-three administrators from across the US participated in this study. Practice administrators reported that patients were examined …

Predicting Barriers To Primary Care For Patients With Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Study Of Practice Administrators, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Michelle Chino

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background. People with disabilities continue to be identified as a group who experience disparate health/health care. They are less likely to engage in some health care services. Structural barriers are often identified as one of the reasons for the underutilization of some health care services by people with disabilities. However, to date no study has been conducted to understand why structural barriers persist twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law.

Objectives. We examined the relationship between primary care practice administrators’ knowledge of the ADA and the number of accessibility barriers that patients with mobility disabilities might …

Health Disparities Experienced By People With Disabilities In The Us: A Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Study, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Timothy J. Bungum

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990; since then research has shown that people with disabilities continue to experience barriers to health care. The purpose of this study was to compare utilization of preventive services, chronic disease rates, and engagement in health risk behaviors of participants with differing severities of disabilities to those without disabilities. This study was a secondary analysis of 2010 data collected in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System national survey in the United States. Rao Chi square test and logistic regression were employed. Participants with disabilities had significantly higher adjusted odds ratios for all …