| 21. |
|
|
| 22. |
- Barouki, Robert, et al.
(författare)
-
The COVID-19 pandemic and global environmental change : Emerging research needs
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 146
-
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.
|
|
| 23. |
- Bengtsson-Palme, Johan, 1985, et al.
(författare)
-
Concentrations of antibiotics predicted to select for resistant bacteria: Proposed limits for environmental regulation
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 86, s. 140-149
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are concerns that selection pressure from antibiotics in the environment may accelerate the evolution and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Nevertheless, there is currently no regulatory system that takes such risks into account. In part, this is due to limited knowledge of environmental concentrations that might exert selection for resistant bacteria. To experimentally determine minimal selective concentrations in complex microbial ecosystems for all antibiotics would involve considerable effort. In this work, our aim was to estimate upper boundaries for selective concentrations for all common antibiotics, based on the assumption that selective concentrations a priori need to be lower than those completely inhibiting growth. Data on Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) were obtained for 111 antibiotics from the public EUCAST database. The 1% lowest observed MICs were identified, and to compensate for limited species coverage, predicted lowest MICs adjusted for the number of tested species were extrapolated through modeling. Predicted No Effect Concentrations (PNECs) for resistance selection were then assessed using an assessment factor of 10 to account for differences between MICs and minimal selective concentrations. The resulting PNECs ranged from 8 ng/L to 64 μg/L. Furthermore, the link between taxonomic similarity between species and lowest MIC was weak. This work provides estimated upper boundaries for selective concentrations (lowest MICs) and PNECs for resistance selection for all common antibiotics. In most cases, PNECs for selection of resistance were below available PNECs for ecotoxicological effects. The generated PNECs can guide implementation of compound-specific emission limits that take into account risks for resistance promotion.
|
|
| 24. |
- Bengtsson-Palme, Johan, 1985, et al.
(författare)
-
Protection goals must guide risk assessment for antibiotics
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Environment international. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6750 .- 0160-4120. ; 111, s. 352-353
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a recent paper published in Environment International, Le Page et al. (2017) stress that discharge limits for antibiotics need to consider their potency to affect both environmental and human health, a very sound standpoint also from our point of view. It is reasoned that predicted no-effect concentrations for resistance selection (PNECs) derived from the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the most sensitive studied human-associated bacteria (Bengtsson-Palme and Larsson, 2016a), may not be sufficiently protective as environmental cyanobacteria in many cases appear to be more sensitive, according to the authors. The antibiotic resistance health crisis, and the growing understanding of the contribution of the environment in this development, indicates an urgent need for discharge limits for antibiotics, particularly for industrial sources (Bengtsson-Palme and Larsson, 2016b). Such limits would have tremendous value in regulation efforts (Government of India, 2017), for initiatives from the industry themselves (IFPMA, 2016), and for development of environmental criteria within public procurement and generic exchange programs (Bengtsson-Palme et al., 2018; Laurell et al., 2014; SPHS Secreteriat, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, 2015). However, somewhat in contrast to what the authors conclude, we do not think there is evidence that cyanobacteria would often be more sensitive to antibiotics than the most sensitive human-associated bacteria. Importantly, we also think that it is a bit unclear from the paper which protection goals are considered (protecting microbial diversity in ecosystems, protecting ecosystem functions and services, or protecting from risks for resistance selection) and particularly in what ways ecotoxicological test data could inform each of these targets.
|
|
| 25. |
- Bengtsson-Palme, Johan, 1985, et al.
(författare)
-
Towards monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in the environment: For what reasons, how to implement it, and what are the data needs?
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Environment International. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 178
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to human and animal health and well-being. To understand AMR dynamics, it is important to monitor resistant bacteria and resistance genes in all relevant settings. How-ever, while monitoring of AMR has been implemented in clinical and veterinary settings, comprehensive monitoring of AMR in the environment is almost completely lacking. Yet, the environmental dimension of AMR is critical for understanding the dissemination routes and selection of resistant microorganisms, as well as the human health risks related to environmental AMR. Here, we outline important knowledge gaps that impede implementation of environmental AMR monitoring. These include lack of knowledge of the 'normal' background levels of environmental AMR, definition of high-risk environments for transmission, and a poor understanding of the concentrations of antibiotics and other chemical agents that promote resistance selection. Furthermore, there is a lack of methods to detect resistance genes that are not already circulating among pathogens. We conclude that these knowledge gaps need to be addressed before routine monitoring for AMR in the environment can be implemented on a large scale. Yet, AMR monitoring data bridging different sectors is needed in order to fill these knowledge gaps, which means that some level of national, regional and global AMR surveillance in the envi-ronment must happen even without all scientific questions answered. With the possibilities opened up by rapidly advancing technologies, it is time to fill these knowledge gaps. Doing so will allow for specific actions against environmental AMR development and spread to pathogens and thereby safeguard the health and wellbeing of humans and animals.
|
|
| 26. |
|
|
| 27. |
|
|
| 28. |
- Bergkvist, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
-
Dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and risk of myocardial infarction in men - A population-based prospective cohort study
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Environment International. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 88, s. 9-14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Major food contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are proposed to play a role in the etiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but to date the impact of PCBs on cardiovascular health need to be explored. Methods and results: We assessed the association between validated food frequency questionnaire-based estimates of dietary PCB exposure and risk of myocardial infarction, ascertained through register-linkage, among 36,759 men from the population-based Swedish Cohort of Men, free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer at baseline (1997). Relative risks were adjusted for known cardiovascular risk factors, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids) and methyl mercury exposure. During 12 years of follow-up (433,243 person-years), we ascertained 3005 incident cases of myocardial infarction (654 fatal). Compared with the lowest quintile of dietary PCB exposure (median 113 ng/day), men in the highest quintile (median 436 ng/day) had multivariable-adjusted relative risks of 1.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-2.33; p-trend < 0.001) for total and 1.97 (95% C11.42-2.75; p-trend < 0.001) for non-fatal myocardial infarction. In mutually adjusted models, dietary PCB exposure was associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, while the intake of long-chain omega-3 fish fatty acids was associated with a decreased risk. We also observed an effect modification by adiposity on the association between of dietary PCB exposure and myocardial infarction, with higher risk among lean men (p value for interaction = 0.03). Conclusions: Exposure to PCBs via diet was associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction in men. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 29. |
- Berglund, Fanny, et al.
(författare)
-
The resistome and microbiome of wastewater treatment plant workers - The AWARE study.
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Environment international. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 180
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urban wastewater treatment plants harbor a large collection of antibiotic resistant enteric bacteria. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that workers at such plants would possess a more diverse set of resistant enteric bacteria, compared to the general population. To address this hypothesis, we have compared the fecal microbiome and resistome of 87 workers at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from Romania and the Netherlands to those of 87 control individuals, using shotgun metagenomics. Controlling for potential confounders, neither the total antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) abundance, nor the overall bacterial composition were significantly different between the two groups. If anything, the ARG richness was slightly lower in WWTP workers, and in a stratified analysis the total ARG abundance was significantly lower in Dutch workers compared to Dutch control participants. We identified country of residence, together with recent antibiotic intake in the Dutch population, as the largest contributing factors to the total abundance of ARGs. A striking side-finding was that sex was associated with carriage of disinfectant resistance genes, with women in both Romania and the Netherlands having significantly higher abundance compared to men. A follow up investigation including an additional 313 publicly available samples from healthy individuals from three additional countries showed that the difference was significant for three genes conferring resistance to chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and cleaning products. We therefore hypothesize that the use of cosmetics and, possibly, cleaning products leads to higher abundance of disinfectant resistance genes in the microbiome of the users. Altogether, this study shows that working at a WWTP does not lead to a higher abundance or diversity of ARGs and no large shifts in the overall gut microbial composition in comparison to participants not working at a WWTP. Instead, other factors such as country of residence, recent antibiotic intake and sex seem to play a larger role.
|
|
| 30. |
- Bergman, Åke, et al.
(författare)
-
A novel abbreviation standard for organobromine, organochlorine and organophosphorus flame retardants and some characteristics of the chemicals
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 49, s. 57-82
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ever since the interest in organic environmental contaminants first emerged 50 years ago, there has been a need to present discussion of such chemicals and their transformation products using simple abbreviations so as to avoid the repetitive use of long chemical names. As the number of chemicals of concern has increased, the number of abbreviations has also increased dramatically, sometimes resulting in the use of different abbreviations for the same chemical. In this article, we propose abbreviations for flame retardants (FRs) substituted with bromine or chlorine atoms or including a functional group containing phosphorus, i.e. BFRs, CFRs and PFRs, respectively. Due to the large number of halogenated and organophosphorus FRs, it has become increasingly important to develop a strategy for abbreviating the chemical names of FRs. In this paper, a two step procedure is proposed for deriving practical abbreviations (PRABs) for the chemicals discussed. In the first step, structural abbreviations (STABs) are developed using specific STAB criteria based on the FR structure. However, since several of the derived STABs are complicated and long, we propose instead the use of PRABs. These are, commonly, an extract of the most essential part of the STAB, while also considering abbreviations previously used in the literature. We indicate how these can be used to develop an abbreviation that can be generally accepted by scientists and other professionals involved in FR related work. Tables with PRABs and STABs for BFRs, CFRs and PERs are presented, including CAS (Chemical Abstract Service) numbers, notes of abbreviations that have been used previously, CA (Chemical Abstract) name, common names and trade names, as well as some fundamental physicochemical constants.
|
|
