| 1. |
- Diamond, Miriam, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the planetary boundary for chemical pollution
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 78, s. 8-15
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rockström et al. (2009a, 2009b) have warned that humanity must reduce anthropogenic impacts defined by nine planetary boundaries if “unacceptable global change” is to be avoided. Chemical pollution was identified as one of those boundaries for which continued impacts could erode the resilience of ecosystems and humanity. The central concept of the planetary boundary (or boundaries) for chemical pollution (PBCP or PBCPs) is that the Earth has a finite assimilative capacity for chemical pollution, which includes persistent, as well as readily degradable chemicals released at local to regional scales, which in aggregate threaten ecosystem and human viability. The PBCP allows humanity to explicitly address the increasingly global aspects of chemical pollution throughout a chemical's life cycle and the need for a global response of internationally coordinated control measures. We submit that sufficient evidence shows stresses on ecosystem and human health at local to global scales, suggesting that conditions are transgressing the safe operating space delimited by a PBCP. As such, current local to global pollution control measures are insufficient. However, while the PBCP is an important conceptual step forward, at this point single or multiple PBCPs are challenging to operationalize due to the extremely large number of commercial chemicals or mixtures of chemicals that cause myriad adverse effects to innumerable species and ecosystems, and the complex linkages between emissions, environmental concentrations, exposures and adverse effects. As well, the normative nature of a PBCP presents challenges of negotiating pollution limits amongst societal groups with differing viewpoints. Thus, a combination of approaches is recommended as follows: develop indicators of chemical pollution, for both control and response variables, that will aid in quantifying a PBCP(s) and gauging progress towards reducing chemical pollution; develop new technologies and technical and social approaches to mitigate global chemical pollution that emphasize a preventative approach; coordinate pollution control and sustainability efforts; and facilitate implementation of multiple (and potentially decentralized) control efforts involving scientists, civil society, government, non-governmental organizations and international bodies.
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| 2. |
- Hedblom, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Reduction of physiological stress by urban green space in a multisensory virtual experiment
- 2019
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although stress is an increasing global health problem in cities, urban green spaces can provide health benefits. There is, however, a lack of understanding of the link between physiological mechanisms and qualities of urban green spaces. Here, we compare the effects of visual stimuli (360 degree virtual photos of an urban environment, forest, and park) to the effects of congruent olfactory stimuli (nature and city odours) and auditory stimuli (bird songs and noise) on physiological stress recovery. Participants (N = 154) were pseudo-randomised into participating in one of the three environments and subsequently exposed to stress (operationalised by skin conductance levels). The park and forest, but not the urban area, provided significant stress reduction. High pleasantness ratings of the environment were linked to low physiological stress responses for olfactory and to some extent for auditory, but not for visual stimuli. This result indicates that olfactory stimuli may be better at facilitating stress reduction than visual stimuli. Currently, urban planners prioritise visual stimuli when planning open green spaces, but urban planners should also consider multisensory qualities.
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| 3. |
- Caporale, N., et al.
(författare)
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From cohorts to molecules: Adverse impacts of endocrine disrupting mixtures
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 375:6582
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Convergent evidence associates exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with major human diseases, even at regulation-compliant concentrations. This might be because humans are exposed to EDC mixtures, whereas chemical regulation is based on a risk assessment of individual compounds. Here, we developed a mixture-centered risk assessment strategy that integrates epidemiological and experimental evidence. We identified that exposure to an EDC mixture in early pregnancy is associated with language delay in offspring. At human-relevant concentrations, this mixture disrupted hormone-regulated and disease-relevant regulatory networks in human brain organoids and in the model organisms Xenopus leavis and Danio rerio, as well as behavioral responses. Reinterrogating epidemiological data, we found that up to 54% of the children had prenatal exposures above experimentally derived levels of concern, reaching, for the upper decile compared with the lowest decile of exposure, a 3.3 times higher risk of language delay. © 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Balk, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Widespread episodic thiamine deficiency in Northern Hemisphere wildlife
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many wildlife populations are declining at rates higher than can be explained by known threats to biodiversity. Recently, thiamine (vitamin B-1) deficiency has emerged as a possible contributing cause. Here, thiamine status was systematically investigated in three animal classes: bivalves, ray-finned fishes, and birds. Thiamine diphosphate is required as a cofactor in at least five life-sustaining enzymes that are required for basic cellular metabolism. Analysis of different phosphorylated forms of thiamine, as well as of activities and amount of holoenzyme and apoenzyme forms of thiaminedependent enzymes, revealed episodically occurring thiamine deficiency in all three animal classes. These biochemical effects were also linked to secondary effects on growth, condition, liver size, blood chemistry and composition, histopathology, swimming behaviour and endurance, parasite infestation, and reproduction. It is unlikely that the thiamine deficiency is caused by impaired phosphorylation within the cells. Rather, the results point towards insufficient amounts of thiamine in the food. By investigating a large geographic area, by extending the focus from lethal to sublethal thiamine deficiency, and by linking biochemical alterations to secondary effects, we demonstrate that the problem of thiamine deficiency is considerably more widespread and severe than previously reported.
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| 5. |
- Johanson, G., et al.
(författare)
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Quantitative relationships of perfluoroalkyl acids in drinking water associated with serum concentrations above background in adults living near contamination hotspots in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contaminated drinking water (DW) is a major source of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at locations around PFAS production/use facilities and military airports. This study aimed to investigate quantitative relationships between concentrations in DW and serum of nine perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in Swedish adult populations living near contamination hotspots. Short-chained (PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, and PFBS) and long-chained PFAAs (PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, PFHxS and PFOS) were measured in DW and serum. We matched DW and serum concentrations for a total of 398 subjects living or working in areas receiving contaminated DW and in one non-contaminated area. Thereafter, linear regression analysis with and without adjustments for co-variates was conducted. This enabled to derive (i) serum concentrations at background exposure (CB) from sources other than local DW exposure (i.e. food, dust and textiles) at 0 ng/L DW concentration, (ii) population-mean PFAA serum:water ratios (SWR) and (iii) PFAA concentrations in DW causing observable elevated serum PFAA concentrations above background variability. Median concentrations of the sum of nine PFAAs ranged between 2.8 and 1790 ng/L in DW and between 7.6 and 96.9 ng/mL in serum. DW concentration was the strongest predictor, resulting in similar unadjusted and adjusted regression coefficients. Mean CB ranged from <0.1 (PFPeA, PFHpA, PFBS) to 5.1 ng/mL (PFOS). Serum concentrations increased significantly with increasing DW concentrations for all PFAAs except for PFPeA with SWRs ranging from <10 (PFHxA, PFHpA and PFBS) to 111 (PFHxS). Observed elevated serum concentrations above background variability were reached at DW concentrations between 24 (PFOA) and 357 ng/L (PFHxA). The unadjusted linear regression predictions agreed well with serum concentrations previously reported in various populations exposed to low and high DW levels of PFOA, PFHxS and PFOS. The quantitative relationships derived herein should be helpful to translate PFAA concentrations in DW to concentrations in serum at the population level.
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| 6. |
- Weiss, Jana M., et al.
(författare)
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Daily intake of phthalates, MEHP, and DINCH by ingestion and inhalation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 208, s. 40-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phthalate esters, suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals, are used in a wide range of applications. Because phthalate esters are not covalently bound, they can easily leach into the indoor environment and associate to dust particles. Thus, exposure may occur through inhalation, ingestion, or contact with the skin. However, it is unclear to what degree indoor dust contributes to the daily intake of phthalate esters.This study investigates household dust as an exposure pathway for seven phthalate esters, the monoester MEHP, and the plasticizer DINCH. Household dust collected from children's sleeping rooms and from living rooms were analysed using gas and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. To compare two exposure pathways, different dust particle sizes were generated: a respirable fraction (<5 mu m) and an ingested particle fraction in the anticipated size range of skin adherence (<75 mu m). Modelling of dust inhalation and ingestion showed that the daily intake of dust-bound phthalate esters was likely to be 2 times (inhalation) to 12 times (ingestion) higher for 21-month-old children than for adults. These children's daily uptake of phthalate esters was 40-140 times higher through ingestion than inhalation. Furthermore, dust may be an exposure pathway for phthalate esters as well as for MEHP. Therefore, phthalate monoesters could be environmental contaminants of their own and need to be considered in health risk assessments. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 7. |
- Lind, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Uppsala Consensus Statement on Environmental Contaminants and the Global Obesity Epidemic
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. - : Environmental Health Perspectives. - 0091-6765 .- 1552-9924. ; 124:5, s. A81-A83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From the lectures presented at the 2nd International Workshop on Obesity and Environmental Contaminants, which was held in Uppsala, Sweden, on 8–9 October 2015, it became evident that the findings from numerous animal and epidemiological studies are consistent with the hypothesis that environmental contaminants could contribute to the global obesity epidemic. To increase awareness of this important issue among scientists, regulatory agencies, politicians, chemical industry management, and the general public, the authors summarize compelling scientific evidence that supports the hypothesis and discuss actions that could restrict the possible harmful effects of environmental contaminants on obesity.
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| 8. |
- Hedblom, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Sounds of Nature in the City: No Evidence of Bird Song Improving Stress Recovery
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1660-4601 .- 1661-7827. ; 16:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Noise from city traffic is one of the most significant environmental stressors. Natural soundscapes, such as bird songs, have been suggested to potentially mitigate or mask noise. All previous studies on masking noise use self-evaluation data rather than physiological data. In this study, while respondents (n = 117) watched a 360 degrees virtual reality (VR) photograph of a park, they were exposed to different soundscapes and mild electrical shocks. The soundscapesbird song, bird song and traffic noise, and traffic noisewere played during a 10 min recovery period while their skin conductance levels were assessed as a measure of arousal/stress. No significant difference in stress recovery was found between the soundscapes although a tendency for less stress in bird song and more stress in traffic noise was noted. All three soundscapes, however, significantly reduced stress. This result could be attributed to the stress-reducing effect of the visual VR environment, to the noise levels being higher than 47 dBA (a level known to make masking ineffective), or to the respondents finding bird songs stressful. Reduction of stress in cities using masking with natural sounds requires further studies with not only larger samples but also sufficient methods to detect potential sex differences.
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| 9. |
- Gennings, Chris, et al.
(författare)
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Incorporating regulatory guideline values in analysis of epidemiology data
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 120, s. 535-543
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fundamental to regulatory guidelines is to identify chemicals that are implicated with adverse human health effects and inform public health risk assessors about “acceptable ranges” of such environmental exposures (e.g., from consumer products and pesticides). The process is made more difficult when accounting for complex human exposures to multiple environmental chemicals. Herein we propose a new class of nonlinear statistical models for human data that incorporate and evaluate regulatory guideline values into analyses of health effects of exposure to chemical mixtures using so-called ‘desirability functions’ (DFs). The DFs are incorporated into nonlinear regression models to allow for the simultaneous estimation of points of departure for risk assessment of combinations of individual substances that are parts of chemical mixtures detected in humans. These are, in contrast to published so-called biomonitoring equivalent (BE) values and human biomonitoring (HBM) values that link regulatory guideline values from in vivo studies of single chemicals to internal concentrations monitored in humans. We illustrate the strategy through the analysis of prenatal concentrations of mixtures of 11 chemicals with suspected endocrine disrupting properties and two health effects: birth weight and language delay at 2.5 years. The strategy allows for the creation of a Mixture Desirability Function i.e., MDF, which is a uni-dimensional construct of the set of single chemical DFs; thus, it focuses the resulting inference to a single dimension for a more powerful one degree-of-freedom test of significance. Based on the application of this new method we conclude that the guideline values need to be lower than those for single chemicals when the chemicals are observed in combination to achieve a similar level of protection as was aimed for the individual chemicals. The proposed modeling may thus suggest data-driven uncertainty factors for single chemical risk assessment that takes environmental mixtures into account.
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| 10. |
- Zhang, Pei, et al.
(författare)
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Defining the Scope of Exposome Studies and Research Needs from a Multidisciplinary Perspective
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2328-8930. ; 8:10, s. 839-852
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept of the exposome was introduced over 15 years ago to reflect the important role that the environment exerts on health and disease. While originally viewed as a call-to-arms to develop more comprehensive exposure assessment methods applicable at the individual level and throughout the life course, the scope of the exposome has now expanded to include the associated biological response. In order to explore these concepts, a workshop was hosted by the Gunma University Initiative for Advanced Research (GIAR, Japan) to discuss the scope of exposomics from an international and multidisciplinary perspective. This Global Perspective is a summary of the discussions with emphasis on (1) top-down, bottom-up, and functional approaches to exposomics, (2) the need for integration and standardization of LC- and GC-based high-resolution mass spectrometry methods for untargeted exposome analyses, (3) the design of an exposomics study, (4) the requirement for open science workflows including mass spectral libraries and public databases, (5) the necessity for large investments in mass spectrometry infrastructure in order to sequence the exposome, and (6) the role of the exposome in precision medicine and nutrition to create personalized environmental exposure profiles. Recommendations are made on key issues to encourage continued advancement and cooperation in exposomics.
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