Publications by authors named "Brink N"

Climate Change has severe and wide-ranging health impacts, especially for vulnerable groups. Despite growing evidence of heat-associated adverse maternal and neonatal health outcomes, there remains a lack of synthesis quantifying associations and identifying specific risk periods. We systematically reviewed the literature on heat impacts on maternal, fetal, and neonatal health, and quantified impacts through meta-analyses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Trace metal contamination, especially from mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), can harm wildlife health, particularly affecting young birds' immune systems.
  • This study focused on how these metals influence immune responses in Pekin ducklings following a viral challenge, revealing that Hg (II) increased pro-inflammatory gene expression while Pb (II) resulted in lower natural antibodies and reduced white blood cells.
  • Overall, both metals negatively impacted immune competence in ducklings, leading to inflammation and impaired immune function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Marine and freshwater mammalian predators and fish samples, retrieved from environmental specimen banks (ESBs), natural history museum (NHMs) and other scientific collections, were analysed by LIFE APEX partners for a wide range of legacy and emerging contaminants (2545 in total). Network analysis was used to visualize the chemical occurrence data and reveal the predominant chemical mixtures for the freshwater and marine environments. For this purpose, a web tool was created to explore these chemical mixtures in predator-prey pairs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Climate Change has wide-ranging and severe health impacts, especially for vulnerable groups. We systematically reviewed the literature (n=198 studies) on heat impacts on maternal, fetal, and neonatal health, conducted meta-analyses to quantify impacts, analysed periods of susceptibility, and graded certainty. Studies covered 66 countries and 23 outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The environmental effects of pharmaceuticals like fluoxetine, an antidepressant, have raised concerns, particularly regarding non-monotonic dose-response curves (NMDRs), which complicate risk assessments at low exposure levels.
  • A framework by the European Food Safety Authority provides six checkpoints for evaluating NMDR datasets, helping to systematize their assessment.
  • In analyzing 53 datasets, the study found that while some supported NMDR relationships for fluoxetine, many studies lacked strong evidence or did not meet critical assessment criteria, highlighting the need for better understanding of NMDRs in ecotoxicology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Environmental ambient temperature significantly impacts the metabolic activities of aquatic ectotherm organisms and influences the fate of various chemicals. Although numerous studies have shown that the acute lethal toxicity of most chemicals increases with increasing temperature, the impact of temperature on chronic effects - encompassing both lethal and sublethal endpoints - has received limited attention. Furthermore, the mechanisms linking temperature and toxicity, potentially unveiled by toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic models (TKTD), remains inadequately explored.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Climate change, particularly global warming, is amongst the greatest threats to human health. While short-term effects of heat exposure in pregnancy, such as preterm birth, are well documented, long-term effects have received less attention. This review aims to systematically assess evidence on the long-term impacts on the foetus of heat exposure in utero.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Three-dimensional human epidermal equivalents (HEEs) are a state-of-the-art organotypic culture model in preclinical investigative dermatology and regulatory toxicology. In this study, we investigated the utility of electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for noninvasive measurement of HEE epidermal barrier function. Our setup comprised a custom-made lid fit with 12 electrode pairs aligned on the standard 24-transwell cell culture system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

3 D human epidermal equivalents (HEEs) are a state-of-the-art organotypic culture model in pre-clinical investigative dermatology and regulatory toxicology. Here, we investigated the utility of electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for non-invasive measurement of HEE epidermal barrier function. Our setup comprised a custom-made lid fit with 12 electrode pairs aligned on the standard 24-transwell cell culture system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many jurisdictions require ecological risk assessments for terrestrial wildlife (i.e., terrestrial vertebrates) to assess potential adverse effects from exposure to anthropogenic chemicals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is crucial for maintaining skin cell homeostasis and function as an environmental sensor.
  • Upon activation by ligands, AHR influences gene expression by binding to open chromatin, which leads to the swift activation of transcription factors like TFAP2A.
  • This study reveals the AHR-TFAP2A pathway's role in promoting keratinocyte differentiation and skin barrier formation, offering new insights for treating skin barrier-related conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The nematode is a valuable model for ecotoxicological research, yet limited attention has been given to understanding how it absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes chemicals. This is crucial for because the organism is known to have strong uptake barriers that are known to be susceptible to potential confounding effects of the presence of as a food source. One frequently studied compound in is the antidepressant fluoxetine, which has an active metabolite norfluoxetine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Climate change, driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, is among the greatest threats to human health. The World Health Organisation (WHO), has led global efforts to respond to emerging public health threats including the control of hazardous substances such as tobacco, alcohol, lead and asbestos, with remarkable health gains. BODY: Despite WHO's clear messaging on the enormous and growing health risks of climate change, greenhouse gases are not yet classified as hazardous substances, requiring control through a global strategy or framework.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) are known to enhance immune cell damages and to decrease cellular immunity, promoting higher susceptibility to infectious diseases. Selenium (Se) is an essential element involved in immunity and reactive oxygen species scavenging. This study aimed at evaluating how Cd and Pb and low nutritional (Se) quality modulate immune response to a bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an evolutionary conserved environmental sensor identified as indispensable regulator of epithelial homeostasis and barrier organ function. Molecular signaling cascade and target genes upon AHR activation and their contribution to cell and tissue function are however not fully understood. Multi-omics analyses using human skin keratinocytes revealed that, upon ligand activation, AHR binds open chromatin to induce expression of transcription factors (TFs), e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Self-collection of blood for diagnostic purposes by blood collection assist devices (BCAD) has gained a lot of momentum. Nonetheless, there are a lack of studies demonstrating the feasibility and reliability of self-collecting capillary blood for routine (immuno)chemistry testing. In this study we describe the topper technology together with pediatric tubes to enable self-collection of blood and investigated its feasibility for PSA testing by prostate cancer patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nowadays the prediction and change of waste-related behaviors represent a key topic for scholars and policy makers. The theoretical mainstays applied to waste separation behavior, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Norm Activation Model and the Value Belief Norm, do not include the construct of goal in their formulation. Other goal-focused theories, such as the Goal Systems Theory (GST), lack applications on separation behavior.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Historical mining activities in Svalbard (79°N/12°E) have caused local mercury (Hg) contamination. To address the potential immunomodulatory effects of environmental Hg on Arctic organisms, we collected newborn barnacle goslings () and herded them in either a control or mining site, differing in Hg levels. An additional group at the mining site was exposed to extra inorganic Hg(II) via supplementary feed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ever since the association between FLG loss-of-function variants and ichthyosis vulgaris and atopic dermatitis disease onset was identified, FLGs function has been under investigation. Intraindividual genomic predisposition, immunological confounders, and environmental interactions complicate the comparison between FLG genotypes and related causal effects. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated human FLG-knockout (ΔFLG) N/TERT-2G keratinocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Dutch breeding population of the black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa limosa has declined substantially over recent decades; the role of contaminants is unknown. We analysed liver samples from 11 adult birds found dead on their breeding grounds in SW Friesland 2016-2020, six from extensive, herb-rich grasslands, five from intensive grasslands. We carried out LC and GC wide-scope target analysis of more than 2400 substances, LC suspect screening for more than 60,000 substances, target analysis for Cd, Hg, Ni and Pb, organo-phosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), dechlorane plus compounds and selected polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs), and bioassay for polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDDs/PDBFs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Determining the potential for accumulation of Ag from AgS NPs as an environmentally relevant form of AgNPs in different terrestrial organisms is an essential component of a realistic risk assessment of AgNP emissions to soils. The objectives of this study were first to determine the uptake kinetics of Ag in mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) and woodlice (Porcellio scaber) exposed to AgS NPs in a mesocosm test, and second, to check if the obtained toxicokinetics could be predicted by single-species bioaccumulation tests. In the mesocosms, mealworms and woodlice were exposed together with plants and earthworms in soil columns spiked with 10 μg Ag g dry soil as AgS NPs or AgNO.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mesocosms allow the simulation of environmentally relevant conditions and can be used to establish more realistic scenarios of organism exposure to nanoparticles. An indoor mesocosm experiment simulating an aquatic stream ecosystem was conducted to assess the toxicokinetics and bioaccumulation of silver sulfide nanoparticles (AgS NPs) and AgNO in the freshwater invertebrates Girardia tigrina, Physa acuta and Chironomus riparius, and determine if previous single-species tests can predict bioaccumulation in the mesocosm. Water was daily spiked at 10 μg Ag L.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The exposure assessment component of a Wildlife Ecological Risk Assessment aims to estimate the magnitude, frequency, and duration of exposure to a chemical or environmental contaminant, along with characteristics of the exposed population. This can be challenging in wildlife as there is often high uncertainty and error caused by broad-based, interspecific extrapolation and assumptions often because of a lack of data. Both the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have broadly directed exposure assessments to include estimates of the quantity (dose or concentration), frequency, and duration of exposure to a contaminant of interest while considering "all relevant factors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF