Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michihito Sasaki, Mai Kishimoto, Yukari Itakura, Koshiro Tabata, Kittiya Intaruck, Kentaro Uemura, Shinsuke Toba, Takao Sanaki, Akihiko Sato, William W. Hall, Yasuko Orba, Hirofumi Sawa
Summary: A549 cells, normally resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to low ACE2 expression levels, become susceptible to the virus after adaptation to air-liquid interface (ALI) culture, which upregulates ACE2 and TMPRSS2. This change in phenotype allows for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the cells under ALI culture conditions.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
A. Torres-Agullo, A. Karanasiou, T. Moreno, S. Lacorte
Summary: Airborne microplastics have become a concern in recent years due to their potential risks to human health. This study evaluated the concentrations of microplastics in indoor environments and found that public transport had the highest levels. The most common polymers identified were polyamide, polyester, and polypropylene, which are commonly used in personal care products and synthetic textiles.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Rachel L. Davey, Erick J. Mattson, J. Alex Huffman
Summary: The study demonstrates that gas-phase ozone and nitrogen dioxide can react with proteins in the atmosphere to form nitrotyrosine, potentially impacting human health. Bovine serum albumin samples exposed to urban air in Denver, Colorado were used to investigate protein modification under ambient conditions, highlighting the formation of nitrotyrosine and its relevance to atmospheric exposure studies.
ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Daniel A. Malashock, Marissa N. DeLang, Jacob S. Becker, Marc L. Serre, J. Jason West, Kai-Lan Chang, Owen R. Cooper, Susan C. Anenberg
Summary: City-level estimates of ambient ozone concentrations and associated disease burdens show significant variations worldwide. Asian and African cities have the highest levels of ozone and ozone-attributable mortality, while cities in higher-income regions also face high ozone concentrations and mortality rates. Reducing ozone precursor emissions in areas that influence peri-urban concentrations can yield substantial health benefits.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Merin Jose, Muraleedharapai Mayarani, Madivala G. Basavaraj, Dillip K. Satapathy
Summary: Experimental studies have shown that binary mixtures of soft colloids in monolayer deposits exhibit good ordering properties, regardless of the size difference or mixing ratio of the particles. The unique characteristics of soft colloids allow them to deform at the interface to preserve the crystalline lattice structure.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Miao Yu, Weiqi Zhou, Xiujuan Zhao, Xudong Liang, Yonghong Wang, Guiqian Tang
Summary: Urban greening can improve environmental comfort but may also deteriorate air quality. This study used a model to test the impact of urban greening on climate and air quality and found that it can lower temperature but increased biogenic emissions offset this effect and led to the concentration of fine particulate matter in specific areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Han Han, Lin Zhang, Zehui Liu, Xu Yue, Lei Shu, Xiaolin Wang, Yuanhang Zhang
Summary: Over the past decades, the differences in urban vs nonurban ozone have decreased significantly in North America, Europe, South Korea, and Japan. This can be mainly attributed to the reduction of anthropogenic nitrogen oxide emissions, which has resulted in closer ozone formation regimes between urban and nonurban areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Brian C. McDonald, Jessica B. Gilman, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Nader Abuhassan, Kenneth C. Aikin, Mark F. Arend, Timothy A. Berkoff, Steven S. Brown, Teresa L. Campos, Russell R. Dickerson, Guillaume Gronoff, James F. Hurley, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Abigail R. Koss, Meng Li, Stuart A. McKeen, Fred Moshary, Jeff Peischl, Veronika Pospisilova, Xinrong Ren, Anna Wilson, Yonghua Wu, Michael Trainer, Carsten Warneke
Summary: Decades of air quality improvements have reduced motor vehicle emissions, with VCPs now responsible for half of petrochemical VOCs in major urban areas. VCP emissions are widespread in US and European cities, impacting air quality, as illustrated by significant emissions in New York City. The study shows that VCP emissions, especially fragranced VCPs, have a significant impact on ozone levels in urban areas.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Matthias Hufnagel, Nadine May, Johanna Wall, Nadja Wingert, Manuel Garcia-Kaeufer, Ali Arif, Christof Huebner, Markus Berger, Sonja Muelhopt, Werner Baumann, Frederik Weis, Tobias Krebs, Wolfgang Becker, Richard Gminski, Dieter Stapf, Andrea Hartwig
Summary: This study demonstrates that exposure to combustion aerosols from PE-based materials induces cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and transcriptional alterations in cell models, while exposure to combustion aerosols from nano-scaled fillers leads to a more pronounced inflammatory response.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Justus C. Horstmann, Chelsea R. Thorn, Patrick Carius, Florian Graef, Xabier Murgia, Cristiane de Souza Carvalho-Wodarz, Claus-Michael Lehr
Summary: The device described in the study allows precise and reproducible deposition of pre-metered aerosolized drugs at the air-liquid interface of pulmonary cell cultures. It is straightforward to use, enables control of the deposited dose, and has a quick and spatially homogenous operation without negative effects on cell viability and barrier properties.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Javad Eshraghi, Zhongwang Dou, Jean-Christophe Veilleux, Galen Shi, David Collins, Arezoo M. Ardekani, Pavlos P. Vlachos
Summary: Understanding the interface motion and hydrodynamic shear induced by liquid sloshing during the insertion stage of an autoinjector is important for improving drug product administration. The experiments showed that reducing the air gap volume and syringe acceleration/deceleration can decrease the interface area and effective shear.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Imre Salma, Arpad Farkas, Tamas Weidinger, Miklos Balogh
Summary: Particle number concentrations and size distributions were studied during firework displays in Budapest, Hungary over a period of seven years. The concentrations in the diameter range of 100-1000 nm were elevated by a factor of 20-25 and an extra particle size mode at 203 nm was observed. The smoke had a short atmospheric residence time of 25 min and dispersion simulations showed substantial concentration gradients in the plume.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yuqing Dai, Xiaoming Cai, Jian Zhong, A. Rob MacKenzie
Summary: A multi-box model is proposed to simulate the transportation and distribution of chemical species in street canyons, showing good agreement with LES simulations, especially for deep canyons. The model performs well in capturing patterns and is more suitable for sensitivity testing compared to LES.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jing He, Hong Zhang, Yingxue Ma, Yuwei He, Zhuo Liu, Junyu Liu, Sheng Wang, Yaqi Liu, Kai Yu, Jie Jiang
Summary: This paper investigates the impact of salt cations in sea spray aerosols (SSAs) on the ozonolysis of model lung phospholipids at the air-water interface. The results show that salt cations facilitate the interfacial ozonolysis of phospholipids, and this facilitation is dependent on the concentration, charge number, and ion radius of the salt cations. The mechanism study reveals that the electrostatic interaction between the phospholipids and the salt cations disrupts the packing of the phospholipids, making the oleyl chains more susceptible to ozone. The aerosolization of salt-dominated artificial seawater and real seawater also demonstrates a significant increase in the ozonolysis of phospholipids intervened by salt cations.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Hui Wang, Andrea Adamcakova-Dodd, Hans-Joachim Lehmler, Keri C. Hornbuckle, Peter S. Thorne
Summary: Indoor air in schools contaminated with PCBs may pose health risks to children, teachers, and staff. Our study found that long-term inhalation exposure to PCBs impaired memory, induced anxiety-like behavior, reduced white blood cell counts, and influenced metabolism and gene transcription.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nan-Hung Hsieh, Zunwei Chen, Ivan Rusyn, Weihsueh A. Chiu
Summary: The study evaluated the validity of traditional mixture risk assessment paradigms IA and CA with NAMs data. Results showed that CA is more accurate in predicting mixture effects compared to IA, but in some cases, mixture bioactivity appeared to be greater than that of individual components.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
(2021)
Letter
Environmental Sciences
Skylar W. Marvel, John S. House, Matthew Wheeler, Kuncheng Song, Yi-Hui Zhou, Fred A. Wright, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn, Alison Motsinger-Reif, David M. Reif
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alina T. Roman-Hubers, Thomas J. McDonald, Erin S. Baker, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: This study examined the potential of IMS-MS as a high-throughput method for the chemical characterization of crude oils, finding it to be either equal or better than GC-MS in classifying the origins of crude oils and greatly increasing sample analysis throughput. The study demonstrated the utility of IMS-MS for rapid fingerprinting of complex samples and showed its advantages over traditional GC-MS-based analyses in emergency decision-making situations.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Courtney Sakolish, Celeste E. Reese, Yu-Syuan Luo, Alan Valdiviezo, Mark E. Schurdak, Albert Gough, D. Lansing Taylor, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Lawrence A. Vernetti, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: The human microfluidic liver acinus microphysiology system (LAMPS) was evaluated for drug pharmacokinetics and toxicology, showing robustness and reproducibility when seeded with primary human hepatocytes or iPSC-derived hepatocytes, and demonstrating more physiologically and clinically relevant effects compared to 2D cultures.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Yu-Syuan Luo, Zunwei Chen, Alexander D. Blanchette, Yi-Hui Zhou, Fred A. Wright, Erin S. Baker, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: This study characterized the chemical profiles and effects of energy drinks and their ingredients on human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, identifying potential active ingredients contributing to adverse effects. The analysis revealed that some ingredients in energy drinks, such as theophylline, adenine, and azelate, may be responsible for QT prolongation in cardiomyocytes. Additionally, adverse effects on cardiomyocytes were observed, including increased beat rate and QT prolongation, particularly at lower concentrations.
FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY
(2021)
Editorial Material
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Ivan Rusyn, Adrian Roth
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Meichen Wang, Zunwei Chen, Ivan Rusyn, Timothy D. Phillips
Summary: This study demonstrated that broad-acting sorbents can effectively prevent toxic effects of various chemical mixtures, with activated carbon showing the highest efficacy in mitigating pesticides, plasticizers, PAHs, and mycotoxins.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Sarah D. Burnett, Alexander D. Blanchette, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: This study used iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes from 5 donors to conduct concentration-response testing of 1029 chemicals, finding that many environmental chemicals pose a hazard to human cardiomyocytes in vitro. However, most of the tested environmental chemicals had wide margins of exposure and do not appear to pose a significant human health risk in a general population.
CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN TOXICOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sarah D. Burnett, Moumita Karmakar, William J. Murphy, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: Inter-species and inter-individual variability contribute to sensitivity differences in cell death, with the magnitude of these differences being chemical-dependent. This study suggests a shift in risk assessment towards higher-throughput in vitro or alternative methods to replace default adjustment factors and address toxicodynamic inter-individual and inter-species variability through experimental characterization.
JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH-PART A-CURRENT ISSUES
(2021)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Samantha Goodman, Grace Chappell, Kathryn Z. Guyton, Igor P. Pogribny, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: This study systematically reviewed the epigenetic alterations induced by occupational and environmental human carcinogens. The evidence of epigenetic effects varied across different agents, with DNA methylation being the most studied area and histone modifications/chromatin state alterations being less investigated. Future studies should consider comprehensive study designs and investigate the persistence of effects following cessation of exposure.
MUTATION RESEARCH-REVIEWS IN MUTATION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alan Valdiviezo, Noor A. Aly, Yu-Syuan Luo, Alexandra Cordova, Gaston Casillas, MaKayla Foster, Erin S. Baker, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: PFAS are widely present in water and require analytical methods for rapid comprehensive assessment and fingerprinting. After a fire incident, PFAS-containing firefighting foams were released into water, raising concerns about the contamination level. Untargeted LC-IMS-MS analysis revealed additional PFAS in the water samples, improving our understanding of PFAS presence in complex environmental samples.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
William Vizuete, John Nielsen-Gammon, Judy Dickey, Evan Couzo, Charles Blanchard, Peter Breitenbach, Quazi Z. Rasool, Daewon Byun
Summary: This study identified meteorological-based parameters that coincided with observed exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone across the state of Texas. These parameters can be used in support of regulatory model performance evaluations to assure accuracy in predicting ozone conducive conditions. However, in Houston, the majority of meteorological ozone conducive days did not produce an exceedance, suggesting the presence of other as yet unidentified necessary conditions.
JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Kaitlin Urso, William Vizuete, Ryan Moravec, Andrey Khlystov, Alicia Frazier, Glenn Morrison
Summary: In 2019, a study conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Air Pollution Control Division found that biogenic VOC emissions in cannabis cultivation facilities vary widely, with the highest emissions occurring during post-harvest activities such as trimming. The dominant terpenes measured in all facilities were beta-myrcene, terpinolene, and D-limonene.
JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Oladayo Oladeji, Mariana Saitas, Toriq Mustapha, Natalie M. M. Johnson, Weihsueh A. A. Chiu, Ivan Rusyn, Allen L. L. Robinson, Albert A. A. Presto
Summary: On February 3, 2023, a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, OH, leading to temporary evacuation and controlled burn of some of the hazardous cargo. Residents reported health symptoms, and initial data from air monitoring indicated potential concern for air toxics. Mobile air monitoring conducted later showed that the levels of some chemicals were below risk levels, but acrolein levels were high and additional unique compounds were found, suggesting the need for further monitoring to characterize long-term exposure and risk levels.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Toxicology
Zunwei Chen, Dillon Lloyd, Yi-Hui Zhou, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Fred A. Wright, Ivan Rusyn
Summary: This study analyzed surface soil samples in a residential area in Texas inundated with PAH contaminants using in vitro bioactivity measurements. The results showed significant spatial correlation between PAH contaminants and cell-based phenotypes, demonstrating the predictive capability of cell-based bioactivity data for environmental concentrations of PAH and cancer risk.
TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)