| 1. |
- Merid, Simon Kebede, et al.
(författare)
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Integration of gene expression and DNA methylation identifies epigenetically controlled modules related to PM2.5 exposure
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - Stockholm : Karolinska Institutet, Dept of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Air pollution has been associated with adverse health effects across the life-course. Although underlying mechanisms are unclear, several studies suggested pollutant-induced changes in transcriptomic profiles. In this meta-analysis of transcriptome-wide association studies of 656 children and adolescents from three European cohorts participating in the MeDALL Consortium, we found two differentially expressed transcript clusters (FDR p < 0.05) associated with exposure to particulate matter < 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) at birth, one of them mapping to the MIR1296 gene. Further, by integrating gene expression with DNA methylation using Functional Epigenetic Modules algorithms, we identified 9 and 6 modules in relation to PM2.5 exposure at birth and at current address, respectively (including NR1I2, MAPK6, TAF8 and SCARA3). In conclusion, PM2.5 exposure at birth was linked to differential gene expression in children and adolescents. Importantly, we identified several significant interactome hotspots of gene modules of relevance for complex diseases in relation to PM2.5 exposure.
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| 2. |
- Abramova, Anna, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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A global baseline for qPCR-determined antimicrobial resistance gene prevalence across environments
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environment International. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 178
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The environment is an important component in the emergence and transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Despite that, little effort has been made to monitor AMR outside of clinical and veterinary settings. Partially, this is caused by a lack of comprehensive reference data for the vast majority of environments. To enable monitoring to detect deviations from the normal background resistance levels in the environment, it is necessary to establish a baseline of AMR in a variety of settings. In an attempt to establish this baseline level, we here performed a comprehensive literature survey, identifying 150 scientific papers containing relevant qPCR data on antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in environments associated with potential routes for AMR dissemination. The collected data included 1594 samples distributed across 30 different countries and 12 sample types, in a time span from 2001 to 2020. We found that for most ARGs, the typically reported abundances in human impacted environments fell in an interval from 10-5 to 10-3 copies per 16S rRNA, roughly corresponding to one ARG copy in a thousand bacteria. Altogether these data represent a comprehensive overview of the occurrence and levels of ARGs in different environments, providing background data for risk assessment models within current and future AMR monitoring frameworks.
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| 3. |
- Ahmad, Arslan, et al.
(författare)
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Arsenic reduction to < 1 mu g/L in Dutch drinking water
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 134
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arsenic (As) is a highly toxic element which naturally occurs in drinking water. In spite of substantial evidence on the association between many illnesses and chronic consumption of As, there is still a considerable uncertainty about the health risks due to low As concentrations in drinking water. In the Netherlands, drinking water companies aim to supply water with As concentration of < 1 mu g/L - a water quality goal which is tenfold more stringent than the current WHO guideline. This paper provides (i) an account on the assessed lung cancer risk for the Dutch population due to pertinent low-level As in drinking water and cost-comparison between health care provision and As removal from water, (ii) an overview of As occurrence and mobility in drinking water sources and water treatment systems in the Netherlands and (iii) insights into As removal methods that have been employed or under investigation to achieve As reduction to < 1 mu g/L at Dutch water treatment plants. Lowering of the average As concentration to < 1 mu g/L in the Netherlands is shown to result in an annual benefit of 7.2-14 M(sic). This study has a global significance for setting drinking water As limits and provision of safe drinking water.
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| 4. |
- Alijagic, Andi, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Immunotoxic, genotoxic, and endocrine disrupting impacts of polyamide microplastic particles and chemicals
- 2024
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 183
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to their exceptional properties and cost effectiveness, polyamides or nylons have emerged as widely used materials, revolutionizing diverse industries, including industrial 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM). Powder-based AM technologies employ tonnes of polyamide microplastics to produce complex components every year. However, the lack of comprehensive toxicity assessment of particulate polyamides and polyamide-associated chemicals, especially in the light of the global microplastics crisis, calls for urgent action. This study investigated the physicochemical properties of polyamide-12 microplastics used in AM, and assessed a number of toxicity endpoints focusing on inflammation, immunometabolism, genotoxicity, aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation, endocrine disruption, and cell morphology. Specifically, microplastics examination by means of field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that work flow reuse of material created a fraction of smaller particles with an average size of 1-5 µm, a size range readily available for uptake by human cells. Moreover, chemical analysis by means of gas chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry detected several polyamide-associated chemicals including starting material, plasticizer, thermal stabilizer/antioxidant, and migrating slip additive. Even if polyamide particles and chemicals did not induce an acute inflammatory response, repeated and prolonged exposure of human primary macrophages disclosed a steady increase in the levels of proinflammatory chemokine Interleukin-8 (IL-8/CXCL-8). Moreover, targeted metabolomics disclosed that polyamide particles modulated the kynurenine pathway and some of its key metabolites. The p53-responsive luciferase reporter gene assay showed that particles per se were able to activate p53, being indicative of a genotoxic stress. Polyamide-associated chemicals triggered moderate activation of AhR and elicited anti-androgenic activity. Finally, a high-throughput and non-targeted morphological profiling by Cell Painting assay outlined major sites of bioactivity of polyamide-associated chemicals and indicated putative mechanisms of toxicity in the cells. These findings reveal that the increasing use of polyamide microplastics may pose a potential health risk for the exposed individuals, and it merits more attention.
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| 5. |
- Alijagic, Andi, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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The triple exposure nexus of microplastic particles, plastic-associated chemicals, and environmental pollutants from a human health perspective
- 2024
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 188
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of microplastics (MPs) is increasing at a dramatic rate globally, posing risks for exposure and subsequent potential adverse effects on human health. Apart from being physical objects, MP particles contain thousands of plastic-associated chemicals (i.e., monomers, chemical additives, and non-intentionally added substances) captured within the polymer matrix. These chemicals are often migrating from MPs and can be found in various environmental matrices and human food chains; increasing the risks for exposure and health effects. In addition to the physical and chemical attributes of MPs, plastic surfaces effectively bind exogenous chemicals, including environmental pollutants (e.g., heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants). Therefore, MPs can act as vectors of environmental pollution across air, drinking water, and food, further amplifying health risks posed by MP exposure. Critically, fragmentation of plastics in the environment increases the risk for interactions with cells, increases the presence of available surfaces to leach plastic-associated chemicals, and adsorb and transfer environmental pollutants. Hence, this review proposes the so-called triple exposure nexus approach to comprehensively map existing knowledge on interconnected health effects of MP particles, plastic-associated chemicals, and environmental pollutants. Based on the available data, there is a large knowledge gap in regard to the interactions and cumulative health effects of the triple exposure nexus. Each component of the triple nexus is known to induce genotoxicity, inflammation, and endocrine disruption, but knowledge about long-term and inter-individual health effects is lacking. Furthermore, MPs are not readily excreted from organisms after ingestion and they have been found accumulated in human blood, cardiac tissue, placenta, etc. Even though the number of studies on MPs-associated health impacts is increasing rapidly, this review underscores that there is a pressing necessity to achieve an integrated assessment of MPs’ effects on human health in order to address existing and future knowledge gaps.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Aro, Rudolf, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Extractable organofluorine analysis: A way to screen for elevated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination in humans?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ubiquitous occurrence of a few per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in humans and the environment has been previously reported. However, the number of PFAS humans and the environment are potentially exposed to is much higher, making it difficult to investigate every sample in detail. More importantly, recent studies have shown an increasing fraction of potentially unknown PFAS in human samples. A screening tool for identifying samples of concern that may contain high PFAS levels, to be studied more thoroughly, is needed. This study presents a simplified workflow to detect elevated PFAS levels using extractable organofluorine (EOF) analysis. A fluorine mass balance analysis on samples with high EOF, targeting 63 PFAS, can then confirm the PFAS contamination. Whole blood samples from a cohort of individuals with historical drinking water contamination from firefighting foams (n = 20) in Ronneby (Sweden) and a control group (n = 9) with background exposure were used as a case study. The average EOF concentration in the Ronneby group was 234 ng/ mL F (<107-592 ng/mL F) vs 24.8 ng/mL F (17.6-37.8 ng/mL F) in the control group. The large difference (statistically significant, p < 0.05) in the EOF levels between the exposed and control groups would have made it possible to identify samples with high PFAS exposure only using EOF data. This was confirmed by target analysis, which found an average n-ary sumation PFAS concentration of 346 ng/mL in the exposed group and 7.9 ng/mL in the control group. The limit of quantification for EOF analysis (up to 107 ng/mL F using 0.5 mL whole blood) did not allow for the detection of PFAS levels in low or sub parts per billion (ng/mL) concentrations, but the results indicate that EOF analysis is a suitable screening method sensitive enough to detect elevated/significant/exposure above background levels by known or unknown PFAS.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Bahram, Mohammad
(författare)
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A global overview of the trophic structure within microbiomes across ecosystems
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The colossal project of mapping the microbiome on Earth is rapidly advancing, with a focus on individual microbial groups. However, a global assessment of the associations between predatory protists and their bacterial prey is still missing at a cross-ecosystem level. This knowledge is critical to better understand the importance of top-down links in structuring microbiomes. Here, we examined 38 sequence-based datasets of paired bacterial and protistan taxa, covering 3,178 samples from diverse habitats including freshwater, marine and soils. We show that community profiles of protists and bacteria strongly correlated across and within habitats, with trophic microbiome structures fundamentally differing across habitats. Soils hosted the most heterogenous and diverse microbiomes. Protist communities were dominated by predators in soils and phototrophs in aquatic environments. This led to changes in the ratio of total protists to bacteria richness, which was highest in marine, while that of predatory protists to bacteria was highest in soils. Taxon richness and relative abundance of predatory protists positively correlated with bacterial richness in marine habitats. These links differed between soils, predatory protist richness and the relative abundance of predatory protists positively correlated with bacterial richness in forest and grassland soils, but not in agricultural soils. Our results suggested that anthropogenic pressure affects higher trophic levels more than lower ones leading to a decoupled trophic structure in micro biomes. Together, our cumulative overview of microbiome patterns of bacteria and protists at the global scale revealed major patterns and differences of the trophic structure of microbiomes across Earth?s habitats, and show that anthropogenic factors might have negative effects on the trophic structure within microbiomes. Furthermore, the increased impact of anthropogenic factors on especially higher trophic levels suggests that often observed reduced ecosystem functions in anthropogenic systems might be partly attributed to a reduction of trophic complexity.
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| 10. |
- Barouki, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The COVID-19 pandemic and global environmental change : Emerging research needs
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The outbreak of COVID-19 raised numerous questions on the interactions between the occurrence of new infections, the environment, climate and health. The European Union requested the H2020 HERA project which aims at setting priorities in research on environment, climate and health, to identify relevant research needs regarding Covid-19. The emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be related to urbanization, habitat destruction, live animal trade, intensive livestock farming and global travel. The contribution of climate and air pollution requires additional studies. Importantly, the severity of COVID-19 depends on the interactions between the viral infection, ageing and chronic diseases such as metabolic, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and obesity which are themselves influenced by environmental stressors. The mechanisms of these interactions deserve additional scrutiny. Both the pandemic and the social response to the disease have elicited an array of behavioural and societal changes that may remain long after the pandemic and that may have long term health effects including on mental health. Recovery plans are currently being discussed or implemented and the environmental and health impacts of those plans are not clearly foreseen. Clearly, COVID-19 will have a longlasting impact on the environmental health field and will open new research perspectives and policy needs.
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