BACKGROUND:The field of environmental health sciences increasingly demands comprehensive and diverse data sets, particularly in response to emerging research areas such as climate change, mixtures, and exposomics. The data needed to address the complexity of environmental health research questions often extend beyond the boundaries of a single study or data resource. Traditional data management approaches struggle to harmonize the ever-expanding and heterogeneous data sources needed for research in the environmental health sciences. Harmonization may help address this issue as it involves aligning and standardizing various elements of data to allow comprehensive analysis, data pooling, and interpretation across studies. OBJECTIVES:The primary objective is to inform researchers about the transformative potential of embracing harmonization methodologies and to motivate contributions to ongoing efforts, thereby fostering advancements. METHODS:Using the Environmental Health Language Collaborative's Data Harmonization Use Case, we provide a practical illustration of existing data harmonization approaches, identify gaps, and emphasize future research and application directions. We selected two publicly available environmental epidemiology studies on the topic of childhood asthma and three studies on the topic of biomarkers of metals exposure during pregnancy and birth outcomes and applied several existing harmonization approaches to assess interoperability. DISCUSSION:Our process revealed the potential limitations of many existing harmonization approaches, with notable failures to identify common variables across independent data sets and lack of agreement between human and computer-based approaches. This use case identified various challenges with existing approaches, including reliance on often incomplete data documentation and large amounts of manual effort. To address these challenges, we recommend the continued advancement and dissemination of community data standards, the development of software and tools to facilitate harmonization through automation, and strategic efforts to promote engagement in data harmonization within the environmental health sciences community. Collaborative science is needed to advance our understanding of environmental contributors to health, and realizing the harmonization potential of our scientific data is a step toward improved collaboration.

Various silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exist with different sizes, coatings, and shapes. AgNPs have unique physical and chemical properties, such as high surface-to-volume ratio and antimicrobial properties, which allow them to be used in a wide array of applications in consumer products and medical applications, including clothing, cosmetics, food packaging, medical devices, and wound dressings. They are also one of the most studied engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). Though the liver and lung have been identified as the primary targets of AgNP exposures, an increasing number of studies have reported accumulations of AgNPs in the brains of AgNP-exposed animals. These findings have raised concerns because the brain plays a critical function in our body and may have difficulty clearing AgNPs, unlike the liver and lung. Studies have been conducted to investigate potential neurotoxicity effects of AgNP exposures, but they use various types of AgNPs and routes of administration, which makes it difficult to compare across studies. Therefore, the goal of this review was to (1) assess factors that may affect AgNP-induced neurotoxicity, (2) identify potential mechanisms of neurotoxicity exerted by AgNPs, (3) review existing in vitro dose-response and in vivo exposure-response AgNP-induced neurotoxicity studies, and (4) provide an example application of benchmark doses (BMDs) in comparing across different studies. A combination of aggregate exposure pathway (AEP) and adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework was utilized to link AgNP exposure sources and routes to molecular initiating events (MIEs) and then to adverse neurotoxicity outcomes at the cellular, organ, organism, and population levels. This review is the first to propose an AEP/AOP specific to AgNP-induced neurotoxicity, which may contribute toward identifying plausible key event relationships between MIEs and adverse neurotoxicity outcomes and improving the current risk assessment of AgNPs.

There is a paucity of in vitro models to study the male reproductive system. Proper function of the reproductive system is critical for endocrine function, growth and development, and fertility. Without practical in vitro screening models, reproductive toxicities can be missed in early drug development or standard toxicological batteries. Successful in vitro models of the male reproductive system need to recapitulate the dynamic nature of the testis, considering the formation of the testicular niches from gonadal differentiation through puberty and the post-pubertal activity of the paracrine and endocrine signals that support spermatogenesis. In vitro approaches are reviewed that model primordial germ cell differentiation, gonadal morphogenesis, fetal steroidogenesis, neonatal reproductive development, and adult testicular niche dynamics to present opportunities for inclusion of male reproductive toxicity screening within a toxicological battery. The utility of cells derived from model organisms, differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells, and obtained from donated human tissue is discussed. The field of reproductive and developmental toxicology is primed for expansion in in-vitro model availability as complex in-vitro model development continues to accelerate, and fit-for-purpose model approaches are adopted in toxicological and drug development pipelines. This review highlights the current limitations and emerging opportunities in male reproductive in vitro models, providing a roadmap for integrating these systems into toxicology testing and drug development workflows. It highlights the need for developmentally benchmarked, physiologically relevant, and multicellular models to fill existing gaps and improve translatability.

The accessibility of water resource, encompassing both water quantity and quality, is pivotal for public health and aquatic ecosystem. It has been recognized by water related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as life on land and below water. This study underscores the importance of integrating these goals in the context of water resource accessibility. We develop water scarcity assessment that accounts for water demands of human activities by further introducing water quantity and quality requirements for different aquatic life uses. This is applied in a case study for Nooksack watershed that featured diverse anadromous fish habitats. In this study, local data including hydrological flows modelled using regional records, local water quality data, and water withdrawal reports are applied for enhancing the geographical specificity of our analysis. Using different geographical scales including management areas, drainages, and NHD stream reaches, along with annual and monthly temporal scales, this study presents a comprehensive view of water scarcity. Our findings reveal different levels of water scarcity across tributaries with residential distributions and the downstream region of the Nooksack River, with the most severe level observed in agriculture intensified area (Lower Nooksack) and moderately to highly developed urban coastal region (Lummi Bay Watershed). Impaired water quality contributes to exacerbated scarcity, especially during summer, peaking in August. The detailed water scarcity examination at stream reach level specifically identifies the border streams located in the Fishtrap drainage of Lower Nooksack as critically affected by both quantity and quality induced water scarcity. It highlights the need of effective management of border watersheds. It is noteworthy that water quality induced deficiencies of instream flow required by aquatic life uses distribute at mostly first level tributaries overlapping with those most affected drainages, but do not surge at some specific locations. The This study offers a novel framework for assessing water resources accessibility at watershed scale, advocating the downscaled application of water scarcity assessment results to the NHD reach level, thereby providing more intuitive and granular insights.

Accelerating development of complex in vitro models (CIVMs) drives a need for additional methods to characterize these systems for use in toxicology and drug development. Relative to traditional cell culture, CIVMs can use a lower number of cells, are cultured for longer periods of time, and typically involve engineered 3-D cell organization. Standard single-cell assessment tools are not conducive to these types of complex models due to cell isolation stress, cell loss, and high cost. In this report, we benchmark RNA-seq deconvolution, which utilizes publicly available scRNA-seq datasets to predict cell proportions from bulk RNA-seq data derived from two CIVMs: a stem-cell-based human intestinal organoid CIVM and a neonatal rodent testis CIVM. We consider the impact of multiple imputation methods for scRNA-seq to restore the gene distribution of the original tissue and benchmark multiple deconvolution methods. The accuracy of deconvolution methods varied significantly in our analyses but provided valuable information on the emergence of an enterocyte cell population from the LGR5+ crypt stem cells following differentiation in the intestinal organoid CIVM. In the testis CIVM, deconvolution indicated that a small population of germ cells were retained over time, peritubular myoid cells proliferated over time, and that Leydig cell estimates remained stable with physiologically relevant hormone stimulation. In our analysis, using imputed single-cell references improved deconvolution accuracy. Deconvolution can be a useful tool for novel CIVM characterization, especially with rapidly growing libraries of single-cell data across tissues and developmental time.

A lithium-ion battery is a rechargeable battery that uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy and is the predominant battery type in many industrial and consumer electronics. The lithium-ion batteries are essential to ensure they operate safely. We conducted an exposure assessment five days after a fire in a battery-testing facility. We assessed some of the potentially hazardous materials after a lithium-ion battery fire. We sampled total suspended particles, hydrogen fluoride, and lithium with real-time monitoring of particulate matter (PM) 1, 2.5, and 10 micrometers (μm). The area sampling results indicated that primary potential hazardous materials such as dust, hydrogen fluoride, and lithium were below the recommended limits suggested by the Korean Ministry of Labor and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit Values. Based on our assessment, workers were allowed to return to work.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

One of the authors, Bruce Duncan, has had key involvement with IBERA's role to promote the field of environmental risk assessment through the development of a rigorous international certification program. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEViewpointNEXTA Call to Include Plastics in the Global Environment in the Class of Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic (PBT) PollutantsJuan José Alava*Juan José AlavaOcean Pollution Research Unit & Nippon Foundation-Ocean Litter Project, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaSchool of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, Canada*[email protected]More by Juan José AlavaView Biographyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6312-7776, Annika JahnkeAnnika JahnkeDepartment of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research−UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, Leipzig DE-04318, GermanyInstitute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen DE-52074, GermanyMore by Annika Jahnke, Melanie BergmannMelanie BergmannAlfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven DE-16227570, GermanyMore by Melanie Bergmannhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5212-9808, Gabriela V. Aguirre-MartínezGabriela V. Aguirre-MartínezQuímica y Farmacia. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Avenida Arturo Prat Chacón, Iquique 2120, ChileMore by Gabriela V. Aguirre-Martínez, Leah BendellLeah BendellDepartment of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, CanadaMore by Leah Bendell, Paola CallePaola CalleFacultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil 00000, EcuadorMore by Paola Calle, Gustavo A. DomínguezGustavo A. DomínguezFacultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil 00000, EcuadorMore by Gustavo A. Domínguez, Elaine M. FaustmanElaine M. FaustmanInstitute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite #100, Seattle 98105, Washington, United StatesMore by Elaine M. Faustman, Jill FalmanJill FalmanInstitute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite #100, Seattle 98105, Washington, United StatesMore by Jill Falman, Tamara N. KazmirukTamara N. KazmirukDepartment of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, CanadaMore by Tamara N. Kazmiruk, Natasha KlasiosNatasha KlasiosDepartment of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaMore by Natasha Klasioshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7527-6090, Maria T. MaldonadoMaria T. MaldonadoEarth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaMore by Maria T. Maldonado, Karly McMullenKarly McMullenOcean Pollution Research Unit & Nippon Foundation-Ocean Litter Project, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaMore by Karly McMullen, Marcia Moreno-BáezMarcia Moreno-BáezThe Fletcher School/Tufts Technology Services, Tufts University, 35 Lower Campus Rd, Medford 02155, Massachusetts, United StatesMore by Marcia Moreno-Báez, Gunilla ÖbergGunilla ÖbergInstitute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaMore by Gunilla Öberg, Yoshitaka OtaYoshitaka OtaNippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs EarthLab, University of Washington, Box 355674, Seattle 98195-5674, Washington, United StatesMore by Yoshitaka Ota, Dana PriceDana PriceOcean Pollution Research Unit & Nippon Foundation-Ocean Litter Project, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaMore by Dana Price, Won Joon ShimWon Joon ShimKorea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), Geoje 53201, Republic of KoreaUniversity of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34113, South KoreaMore by Won Joon Shim, Ana TirapéAna TirapéFacultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil 00000, EcuadorMore by Ana Tirapé, Jessica M. VandenbergJessica M. VandenbergNippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs EarthLab, University of Washington, Box 355674, Seattle 98195-5674, Washington, United StatesMore by Jessica M. Vandenberg, Zeinab ZoveidadianpourZeinab ZoveidadianpourOcean Pollution Research Unit & Nippon Foundation-Ocean Litter Project, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, BC, CanadaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, BC, CanadaMore by Zeinab Zoveidadianpour, and Judith WeisJudith WeisDepartment of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark 07102, New Jersey, United StatesMore by Judith WeisCite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2023, 57, 22, 8185–8188Publication Date (Web):May 22, 2023Publication History Received6 April 2023Published online22 May 2023Published inissue 6 June 2023https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c02476Copyright © 2023 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views1709Altmetric-Citations-LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (2 MB) Get e-AlertscloseSUBJECTS:Environmental pollution,Nanoparticles,Organic compounds,Plastics,Toxicity Get e-Alerts

Data are vital for and creating knowledge-based solutions to development challenges facing Africa. As a result of gaps in government-funded data collection, and in the interest of promoting community engagement, there is a global movement towards consideration of nontraditional sources of data, including citizen science (CS) data. These data are particularly valuable when collected at a high resolution over large spatial extents and long time periods. CS projects and infrastructure are abundant and well documented in the Global North, while needs for participatory projects to fill environmental monitoring gaps may be greater in the Global South. The paper explores the contributions of citizen science projects originating in Africa for two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDG 6, and SDG 11 which are particularly important to the millions of low-income residents of cities across Africa. Using a mixed methods approach that involves online surveys, interviews, expert conference panels, and a desk review, we analyze a total of 53 CS projects focusing on water, sanitation, and urban planning. The paper addresses CS in Africa and CS for SDGs, and documents evidence for participatory and CS data collection in Africa. It also describes the survey methods, including approaches to training of volunteers, sources of funding, data collection methods, and objectives of the tools and projects. Finally, it provides reflections on the challenges of integrating CS into official statistics in Africa, and some lessons learnt from CS projects in Africa. This paper recommends the establishment of an open-source database, creation of a network of CS projects for communication and collaboration, the uptake of citizen-generated data, and continuous funding for such projects in Africa.

To better define appropriate applications of our 3-dimensional testicular co-culture as a model for reproductive toxicology, we evaluated the ability of the model to capture structural and functional elements that can be targeted by reproductive toxicants. Testicular co-cultures were prepared from postnatal day 5 male rats and cultured with a Matrigel overlay. Following a 2-day acclimation period, we characterized functional pathway dynamics by evaluating morphology, protein expression, testosterone concentrations, and global gene expression at a range of timepoints from experimental days 0-21. Western blotting confirmed expression of Sertoli cell, Leydig cell, and spermatogonial cell-specific protein markers. Testosterone detected in cell culture media indicates active testosterone production. Quantitative pathway analysis identified Gene Ontology biological processes enriched among genes significantly changing over the course of 21 days. Processes enriched among genes significantly increasing through time include general developmental processes (morphogenesis, tissue remodeling, etc.), steroid regulation, Sertoli cell development, immune response, and stress and apoptosis. Processes enriched among genes significantly decreasing over time include several related to male reproductive development (seminiferous tubule development, male gonad development, Leydig cell differentiation, Sertoli cell differentiation), all of which appear to peak in expression between days 1 and 5 before decreasing at later timepoints. This analysis provides a temporal roadmap for specific biological process of interest for reproductive toxicology in the model and anchors the model to sensitive phases of in vivo development, helping to define the relevance of the model for in vivo processes.

Plastics and plastic waste have emerged as one of the major challenges of the Anthropence, a so-called “wicked problem” complicated by a myriad of political, economic, cultural, and historical factors. The ubiquity of plastic waste has garnered increased attention from governments, non-profit organizations and the media, in turn expanding mitigative efforts. Yet much of this action has been ineffective, or in some cases, even harmful. Governance and management actions often neglect to understand the lived realities of those most burdened by plastic waste and thus solutions are not designed to address the complexity of human plastics entanglements. The human dimensions of plastic pollution are often narrowly focused on livelihood and physical human health, however, assessing human-plastics entanglements for equitable evaluation and decision-making requires a multidisciplinary One Health well-being approach that considers factors such as connections to natural systems, culture, social relationships, freedom, health, security, and livelihood. In this article, we highlight the value of adopting such an approach in understanding the local complexities of human-plastics entanglements. Drawing on the results from semi-structured surveys and focus group interviews implemented in two coastal communities in Ghana, we demonstrate the multitude of ways that local people are impacted by plastic waste. The survey used in this case study employed a framework to assess well-being and plastic waste via a grounded approach where well-being is defined by respondents based on their lived experience. Across these communities, respondents illustrated how plastic waste has influenced individual well-being including their livelihoods, environmental quality, cultural practices, physical and mental health. Overall, we argue that more holistic approaches of assessment are necessary for understanding the complex burdens of plastic waste and for informing more equitable governance solutions.

Calls to address social equity in ocean governance are expanding. Yet ‘equity’ is seldom clearly defined. Here we present a framework to support contextually-informed assessment of equity in ocean governance. Guiding questions include: (1) Where and (2) Why is equity being examined? (3) Equity for or amongst Whom? (4) What is being distributed? (5) When is equity considered? And (6) How do governance structures impact equity? The framework supports consistent operationalization of equity, challenges oversimplification, and allows evaluation of progress. It is a step toward securing the equitable ocean governance already reflected in national and international commitments.

Climate change is already impacting the North American Great Lakes ecosystem and understanding the relationship between climate events and public health, such as waterborne acute gastrointestinal illnesses (AGIs), can help inform needed adaptive capacity for drinking water systems (DWSs). In this study, we assessed a harmonized binational dataset for the effects of extreme precipitation events (≥90th percentile) and preceding dry periods, source water turbidity, total coliforms, and protozoan AGIs - cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis - in the populations served by four DWSs that source surface water from Lake Ontario (Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Lake Michigan (Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) from January 2009 through August 2014. We used distributed lag non-linear Poisson regression models adjusted for seasonality and found extreme precipitation weeks preceded by dry periods increased the relative risk of protozoan AGI after 1 and 3-5 weeks in three of the four cities, although only statistically significant in two. Our results suggest that the risk of protozoan AGI increases with extreme precipitation preceded by a dry period. As extreme precipitation patterns become more frequent with climate change, the ability to detect changes in water quality and effectively treat source water of varying quality is increasingly important for adaptive capacity and protection of public health.

Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) are widespread environmental pollutants for which human exposure has been documented. PFCAs at high doses are known to regulate xenobiotic transporters partly through peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) in rodent models. Less is known regarding how various PFCAs at a lower concentration modulate transporters for endogenous substrates, such as amino acids in human hepatocytes. Such studies are of particular importance because amino acids are involved in chemical detoxification, and their transport system may serve as a promising therapeutic target for structurally similar xenobiotics. The focus of this study was to further elucidate how PFCAs modulate transporters involved in intermediary metabolism and xenobiotic biotransformation. We tested the hepatic transcriptomic response of HepaRG cells exposed to 45 μM of perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, or perfluorodecanoic acid in triplicates for 24 hours (vehicle: 0.1% DMSO), as well as the prototypical ligands for PPARα (WY-14643, 45 μM) and CAR (6-(4-chlorophenyl)imidazo[2,1-b][1,3]thiazole-5-carbaldehyde O-(3,4-dichlorobenzyl)oxime [CITCO], 2 μM). PFCAs with increasing carbon chain lengths (C8-C10) regulated more liver genes, with amino acid metabolism and transport ranked among the top enriched pathways and PFDA ranked as the most potent PFCA tested. Genes encoding amino acid transporters, which are essential for protein synthesis, were novel inducible targets by all three PFCAs, suggesting a potentially protective mechanism to reduce further toxic insults. None of the transporter regulations appeared to be through PPARα or CAR but potential involvement of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 is noted for all 3 PFCAs. In conclusion, PFCAs with increasing carbon chain lengths up-regulate amino acid transporters and modulate xenobiotic transporters to limit further toxic exposures in HepaRG cells. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Little is known regarding how various perfluorinated carboxylic acids modulate the transporters for endogenous substrates in human liver cells. Using HepaRG cells, this study is among the first to show that perfluorinated carboxylic acids with increasing carbon chain lengths upregulate amino acid transporters, which are essential for protein synthesis, and modulate xenobiotic transporters to limit further toxic exposures at concentrations lower than what was used in the literature.