Fetal and neonatal exposures to perinatal oxidative stress (OS) are key mediators of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). To characterize these exposures, adductomics is an exposure science approach that captures electrophilic addition products (adducts) in blood protein. Adducts are bound to the nucleophilic cysteine loci of human serum albumin (HSA), which has a prolonged half-life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMycotoxins are a heterogeneous group of toxins produced by fungi that can grow in staple crops (e.g., maize, cereals), resulting in health risks due to widespread exposure from human consumption and inhalation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElucidation of the aggregation behaviors of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in water systems is crucial to understanding their environmental fate and transport as well as human health effects. We investigated the early-stage aggregation kinetics of AuNPs coated by human serum albumin (HSA) protein corona (PC) in NaCl and CaCl through time-resolved dynamic light scattering. We found that the aggregation of PC-AuNPs depended on the concerted effects of electrolyte concentration, valence, and HSA concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling is a simple, cost-effective, and minimally invasive alternative to venipuncture for measuring exposure biomarkers in public health and epidemiological research. DBS sampling provides advantages in field-based studies conducted in low-resource settings and in studies involving infants and children. In addition, DBS samples are routinely collected from newborns after birth (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior work has demonstrated that murine ovarian explants and isolated ovarian follicles can recapitulate human-like 28-day cycles in vitro with normal patterns of estradiol and progesterone secretion in response to gonadotropin stimulation. The objective of this study was to manipulate the gonadotropin stimulation protocol to mimic polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and assess the resulting changes in ovarian steroidogenesis. A secondary aim of the study was to develop a high-throughput, sensitive, and specific liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay to measure seven steroid hormones (estrone, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone, and dihydrotestosterone) in conditioned culture media.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRemoving dissolved selenium (i.e., selenate and selenite) from wastewater is a challenging issue for a range of industries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing evidence suggests that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, biomarkers associated with air pollution exposure are widely lacking and often transient. In addition, ascertaining biospecimens during pregnacy to assess the prenatal environment remains largely infeasible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe occurrence of aluminum in scales on lead pipes is common. This study aimed to identify factors that influence Al accumulation on oxidized lead surfaces and to determine whether the presence of Al impacts Pb release from corrosion products to water. Al accumulation and Pb release were monitored both with and without the addition of phosphate as a corrosion inhibitor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study explored the ability of orthophosphate addition to limit lead release from lead service lines delivering high pH, low alkalinity water. We built pipe loop reactors with lead pipes harvested from Providence, RI, and we operated them with high pH and low alkalinity water of a composition similar to that in Providence. Orthophosphate addition decreased the release of both dissolved and particulate lead to the water.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor lead pipes that contain PbO as a major component of their scales, a change in the residual disinfectant from free chlorine to monochloramine can destabilize the PbO and result in dramatic increases in aqueous lead concentrations. Such a scenario occurred in Washington, D.C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPb(II) carbonate solids are corrosion products that form on the inner surfaces of lead service lines (LSLs) and can be oxidized by free chlorine to form Pb(IV) oxide (PbO). The formation of PbO can maintain low dissolved lead concentrations in drinking water, but PbO can dissolve if a free chlorine residual is not maintained. Experiments demonstrated that the oxidation of Pb(II) carbonate by free chlorine was faster with manganese (Mn).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphate is commonly added to drinking water to inhibit lead release from lead service lines and lead-containing materials in premise plumbing. Phosphate addition promotes the formation of lead phosphate particles, and their aggregation behaviors may affect their transport in pipes. Here, lead phosphate formation and aggregation were studied under varied aqueous conditions typical of water supply systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this research, we conducted trichloroethylene (TCE) reduction in a column filled with iron and iron-reducing bacteria (IRB) and developed a mathematical model to investigate the critical reactions between active species in iron/IRB/contaminant systems. The formation of ferrous iron (Fe(II)) in this system with IRB and zero-valent iron (ZVI, Fe(0)) coated with a ferric iron (Fe(III)) crust significantly affected TCE reduction and IRB respiration in various ways. This study presents a new framework for transformation property and reducing ability of both dissolved (Fe(II)(dissolved)) and solid form ferrous iron (Fe(II)(solid)).
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