Environmental Health Commons^™

There Must Be Something In The Water: Understanding Pfas Contamination Of Groundwater As A National Security Issue, Kylie N. Ford

Student Theses 2015-Present

This report addresses the widespread pollution of domestic groundwater resources with Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) caused by firefighting activities performed at military installations across the United States. Two former military bases in Southeastern Pennsylvania are used as a single case study: the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NASJRB) in Horsham. Chapter 1 gives a history of domestic military bases from the perspective of the infrastructure buildup and downsizing that occurred over the 20th Century, along with the environmental degradation revealed during brownfield redevelopment. The chapter then gives specifics about …

Screening The Cultivable Cave Microbial Mats For The Production Of Antimicrobial Compounds And Antibiotic Resistance, Jerneja Ambrožič Avguštin, Patricia Petrič, Lejla Pašić

International Journal of Speleology

The current work extends the phenotypic characterization of a bacterial culture collection obtained from white, yellow, grey or pink microbial cave wall colonies that are common in the caves of Slovenian Karst. We have determined antibiotic resistance to 22 natural and synthetic antibiotics in 69 isolates from the microbial mats. Thirty-eight isolates (52%) were resistant to 1-5 antibiotics; another 27 isolates (37%) were resistant to 6-10 antibiotics; and 7 isolates (0.1%) were resistant to 11-17 antibiotics. We screened for production of antimicrobial compounds by growing cave isolates on five different media and overlaying individual cultures with ten Gram-positive and Gram …

Cytotoxicity And Mutagenicity Of Disinfection Byproduct Mixtures Formulated Using Free Chlorine And Monochloramine, Yonas Ghebremedhin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bioassays have been used extensively to assess various toxicity endpoints of drinking water disinfection byproducts (DBPs), but an emphasis on single compounds prevails. In this research, DBP mixtures were assessed using a cytotoxicity test with Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and an Ames fluctuation test with Salmonella typhimurium TA-98 and TA-100 with and without S9 rat liver homogenate. Seven whole mixture DBP concentrates were formulated using reconstituted natural organic matter (NOM) extracts from the Upper Mississippi River using scaled disinfectant dosing protocols with free chlorine and monochloramine in the presence and absence of added bromide. DBPs were identified by gas …

The Effects Of Ship Wakes In The Venice Lagoon And Implications For The Sustainability Of Shipping In Coastal Waters, Gian Marco Scarpa, Luca Zaggia, Giorgia Manfe, Giuliano Lorenzetti, Kevin E. Parnell, Tarmo Soomere, John Rapaglia, Emanuela Molinaroli

Biology Faculty Publications

We analyse the impact of ship traffic in the vicinity of navigation channels in a wide shallow waterbody. The crucial hydrodynamic driver in this situation is the depression (Bernoulli) wake that may be transferred into a long-living solitary wave of depression over the shoals. The analysis considers navigation channels in the Venice Lagoon using a new large dataset of approximately 600 measured wake events associated to specific ships whose data are provided by the AIS system. Since the development of the modern industrial port and the opening of the Malamocco–Marghera channel in the late 1960s, growing pressure on the lagoon …

The Role Of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids In Blood Pressure Regulation And Secondhand Smoke-Induced Vascular Dysfunction, Emily Anna Wheeler

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) may lower cardiovascular disease risk by reducing blood pressure (BP). We hypothesized that fat-1 transgenic mice, which convert n-6 PUFAs to n-3 PUFAs, would have improved vascular function in BP regulation and following secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, compared to wild type (WT) mice.

BP was recorded in mice fed an n-6 PUFA, or standard chow diet. On the n-6 PUFA diet fat-1 mice had a lower mean arterial pressure and a greater decrease in diastolic BP when treated with an ACE inhibitor, compared to WT mice. No differences were observed on the chow diet. …

Sustainable Solutions, Fall/Winter 2020, Issue 41

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Biosurfactant And Biochar On Ecosystem Functions And Oil Remediation In Crude Oil Contaminated Wetland Soils, Zhuo Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Decontamination of oil spill from coastal wetland soils requires a delicate approach. Remediation strategies using biochar, biosurfactant, and nutrient additions have been proposed. However, there is little information on application of these with combination for treatment of crude oil-contaminated wetland soil. Therefore, incubation studies were carried out to investigate the impact of biochar and rhamnolipid (RL) biosurfactant along with nitrogen (N) application on petroleum hydrocarbon degradation in a Louisiana coastal saline marsh and their impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Additionally, the toxicity of crude oil as well as remediation materials on coastal wetland ecosystem were assessed at three levels: …

Qualitative Approach To Comparative Exposure In Alternatives Assessment, William Greggs, Thomas Burns, Peter Egeghy, Michelle R. Embry, Peter Fantke, Bonnie Gaborek, Lauren Heine, Olivier Jolliet, Carolyn Lee, Derek Muir, Kathy Plotzke, Joseph Rinkevich, Neha Sunger, Jennifer Y. Tanir, Margaret Whittaker

Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Most alternatives assessments (AAs) published to date are largely hazard-based rankings, thereby ignoring potential differences in human and/or ecosystem exposures; as such, they may not represent a fully informed consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of possible alternatives. Building on the 2014 US National Academy of Sciences recommendations to improve AA decisions by including comparative exposure assessment into AAs, the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute's (HESI) Sustainable Chemical Alternatives Technical Committee, which comprises scientists from academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations, developed a qualitative comparative exposure approach. Conducting such a comparison can screen for alternatives that are expected to have …

Drinking Water Quality And Human Dimensions Of Cholera Patients To Inform Evidence-Based Prevention Investment In Karonga District, Malawi., Prince Kaponda, Suresh Muthukrishnan, Rory Barber, Rochelle H. Holm

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Cholera remains a problem in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Malawi. Our aim was to investigate drinking water source quality compared with water treatment, risk perception and cholera knowledge for patients who had reported to a health center for treatment in the 2017-2018 outbreak in Karonga District, Malawi. The study analyzed 120 drinking water samples linked to 236 cholera patients. Nearly 82% of the samples met the national criteria for thermotolerant coliforms of 50 cfu/100 ml, while 50% met the more stringent World Health Organization criteria of 0 cfu/100 ml. In terms of the human dimensions, 68% of survey respondents reported …

Chlorophyll A And Primary Productivity Dynamics In Kentucky Lake Mainstem And Embayment Habitats., Morgan Franklin

Scholars Week

Chlorophyll α (Chl α) has been used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, while primary productivity (PP), the rate at which carbon is fixed into phytoplankton cells, is an indicator of how quickly carbon is turned over within the phytoplankton community. The purpose of this research was to examine the spatial distribution of and the relationship between Chl α and PP seasonally in the main channel of Kentucky Lake reservoir and two embayments of contrasting land use. Correlation coefficients (r) for Chl α versus PP were 0.45 in Ledbetter embayment, 0.55 in Panther embayment, and 0.57 in the main …

Gut Dna Virome Diversity And Its Association With Host Bacteria Regulate Inflammatory Phenotype And Neuronal Immunotoxicity In Experimental Gulf War Illness, Ratanesh K. Seth, Rabia Maqsood, Ayan Mondal, Dipro Bose, Diana Kimono, Larinda A. Holland, Patricia Janulewicz Lloyd, Nancy Klimas, Ronnie Horner, Kimberly Sullivan, Efrem S. Lim, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Gulf War illness (GWI) is characterized by the persistence of inflammatory bowel disease, chronic fatigue, neuroinflammation, headache, cognitive impairment, and other medically unexplained conditions. Results using a murine model show that enteric viral populations especially bacteriophages were altered in GWI. The increased viral richness and alpha diversity correlated positively with gut bacterial dysbiosis and proinflammatory cytokines. Altered virome signature in GWI mice also had a concomitant weakening of intestinal epithelial tight junctions with a significant increase in Claudin-2 protein expression and decrease in ZO1 and Occludin mRNA expression. The altered virome signature in GWI, decreased tight junction protein level was …

Changes In Pm2.5 Peat Combustion Source Profiles With Atmospheric Aging In An Oxidation Flow Reactor, Judith C. Chow, Junji Cao, Lung-Wen Anthony Chen, Xiaoliang Wang, Qiyuan Wang, Jie Tian, Steven Sai Hang Ho, Adam C. Watts, Tessa B. Carlson, Steven D. Kohl, John G. Watson

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Smoke from laboratory chamber burning of peat fuels from Russia, Siberia, the USA (Alaska and Florida), and Malaysia representing boreal, temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions was sampled before and after passing through a potential-aerosol-mass oxidation flow reactor (PAM-OFR) to simulate intermediately aged (∼2 d) and well-aged (∼7 d) source profiles. Species abundances in PM2.5 between aged and fresh profiles varied by several orders of magnitude with two distinguishable clusters, centered around 0.1 % for reactive and ionic species and centered around 10 % for carbon. Organic carbon (OC) accounted for 58 %–85 % of PM2.5 mass in fresh profiles with …

Dysbiosis-Associated Enteric Glial Cell Immune-Activation And Redox Imbalance Modulate Tight Junction Protein Expression In Gulf War Illness Pathology, Diana Kimono, Sutapa Sarkar, Muayad Albadrani, Ratanesh K. Seth, Dipro Bose, Ayan Mondal, Yuxi Li, Amar N. Kar, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti, Kimberly Sullivan, Patricia Janulewicz, Stephen Lasley, Ronnie Horner, Nancy Klimas, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

About 14% of veterans who suffer from Gulf war illness (GWI) complain of some form of gastrointestinal disorder but with no significant markers of clinical pathology. Our previous studies have shown that exposure to GW chemicals resulted in altered microbiome which was associated with damage associated molecular pattern (DAMP) release followed by neuro and gastrointestinal inflammation with loss of gut barrier integrity. Enteric glial cells (EGC) are emerging as important regulators of the gastrointestinal tract and have been observed to change to a reactive phenotype in several functional gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS and IBD. This study is aimed at …

Réduire L’Exposition Des Travailleurs Aux Gaz, Odeurs, Poussières Et Agents Pathogènes Humains Présents Dans Les Bâtiments Porcins, Matthieu Girard, Caroline Duchaine, Stéphane Godbout, Ariane Lévesque, Valérie Létourneau, Stéphane P. Lemay

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les éleveurs de porcs du Québec sont quotidiennement exposés à d’importantes quantités de gaz, d’odeurs, de poussières et de bioaérosols. Par conséquent, ils sont à risque de développer des problèmes respiratoires (ex. asthme) ainsi que des maladies infectieuses telles qu’une méningite à Streptococcus suis. Le risque de développer un problème de santé est lié au nombre d’heures passées à l’intérieur des bâtiments d’élevage ainsi qu’aux concentrations des différents contaminants. De plus, les travailleurs peuvent être en contact avec des bactéries résistantes aux antibiotiques soit des bactéries sélectionnées par l’emploi d’agents antimicrobiens utilisés lors de l’engraissement des animaux. Finalement, de …

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 …

Microcystin Exposure And Liver Injury Outcomes In Nafld, Muayad Albadrani

Theses and Dissertations

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging worldwide pandemic which is highly prevalent among obese individuals including children and adults. In a NAFLD condition, exposure to environmental contaminants or toxins can act as a second/ multiple hit, which leads to the progression of simple steatosis to NASH and ultimately may result in liver cirrhosis. With climate change today, elevated levels of microcystins are an emerging problem in fresh water bodies, which are a source of drinking water. Individuals are therefore at risk of exposure to microcystin through consuming contaminated water. In the progression of NAFLD from one clinical stage …

Revisiting The Standard Soil Test: The Potential Of Macro- And Microbiological Measures To Improve Agricultural Health And Productivity, Gabriel Jacob Kenne

Theses and Dissertations

The agricultural ecosystem has become the largest non-ice-covered terrestrial ecosystem on the planet and has significant direct and indirect impacts on the global health of both the environment and humanity. Recent shifts in modern agriculture are beginning to focus on the health of soil versus a focus traditionally on crop health and yield at any cost. By managing farmland regeneratively, systems are able to reverse many of the problems created by conventional land management such as erosion and unwanted nutrient runoff, and simultaneously create opportunities to move C from the atmosphere back into the soil. While the ways in which …

Study Of The Inflammatory And Fibrotic Pathology In The Gut Following Microcystin Exposure Under Conditions Of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease., Sutapa Sarkar

Theses and Dissertations

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a global pandemic with increased risks of chronic inflammation in obese and elderly population. It has become a major public health concern due to the unavailability of proper therapeutic approaches. NAFLD is a condition of the liver involving wide spectrum of events including accumulation of fat in the liver and inflammation, which can progress to a fibrotic and cirrhotic phenotype, often termed as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In this backdrop, exposure to environmental toxins from harmful algal blooms could prove detrimental to the overweight, obese or elderly population. NAFLD not only affects the liver …

Investigating The Relationship Of Copd, Lung Cancer, And Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons From Ambient Air Pollution, Daniel John Kilpatrick

Theses and Dissertations

Polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemically-related compounds with a well-established body of evidence of adverse human health impacts. Additionally, there is a growing area of research on the health outcomes following PAH exposure via air pollution, specifically with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and lung cancer. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the strength of associations among PAHs, COPD, and lung cancer from ambient (outdoor) air pollution. The first objective was to determine if there is a potential environmental link among PAHs, COPD, and lung cancer occurrence among nonsmokers using data from the National Health …

Environmentally Responsible Land Use, Spring/Summer 2010, Issue 22

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.