scholarly journals Fungal Signature of Moisture Damage in Buildings: Identification by Targeted and Untargeted Approaches with Mycobiome Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel I. Adams ◽  
Iman Sylvain ◽  
Michal P. Spilak ◽  
John W. Taylor ◽  
Michael S. Waring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Moisture Damage ◽  
Microbiological Analysis ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Damage Indicators

ABSTRACT Identifying microbial indicators of damp and moldy buildings remains a challenge at the intersection of microbiology, building science, and public health. Sixty homes in New York City were assessed for moisture-related damage, and three types of dust samples were collected for microbiological analysis. We applied four approaches for detecting fungal signatures of moisture damage in these buildings. Two novel targeted approaches selected specific taxa, identified by a priori hypotheses, from the broad mycobiome as detected with amplicon sequencing. We investigated whether (i) hydrophilic fungi (i.e., requiring high moisture) or (ii) fungi previously reported as indicating damp homes would be more abundant in water-damaged rooms/homes than in nondamaged rooms/homes. Two untargeted approaches compared water-damaged to non-water-damaged homes for (i) differences between indoor and outdoor fungal populations or (ii) differences in the presence or relative abundance of particular fungal taxa. Strong relationships with damage indicators were found for some targeted fungal groups in some sampling types, although not always in the hypothesized direction. For example, for vacuum samples, hydrophilic fungi had significantly higher relative abundance in water-damaged homes, but mesophilic fungi, unexpectedly, had significantly lower relative abundance in homes with visible mold. Untargeted approaches identified no microbial community metrics correlated with water damage variables but did identify specific taxa with at least weak positive links to water-damaged homes. These results, although showing a complex relationship between moisture damage and microbial communities, suggest that targeting particular fungi offers a potential route toward identifying a fungal signature of moisture damage in buildings. IMPORTANCE Living or working in damp or moldy buildings increases the risk of many adverse health effects, including asthma and other respiratory diseases. To date, however, the particular environmental exposure(s) from water-damaged buildings that causes the health effects have not been identified. Likewise, a consistent quantitative measurement that would indicate whether a building is water damaged or poses a health risk to occupants has not been found. In this work, we tried to develop analytical tools that would find a microbial signal of moisture damage amid the noisy background of microorganisms in buildings. The most successful approach taken here focused on particular groups of fungi—those considered likely to grow in damp indoor environments—and their associations with observed moisture damage. With further replication and refinement, this hypothesis-based strategy may be effective in finding still-elusive relationships between building damage and microbiomes.

Reports of adverse health effects related to synthetic cannabinoid use in New York State

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 772-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni A. Papadopoulos ◽  
Karen R. Cummings ◽  
Jeanna M. Marraffa ◽  
Kenneth M. Aldous ◽  
Lingyun Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
New York State ◽  
Synthetic Cannabinoid ◽  
York State ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health

scholarly journals Source of bias in sugar-sweetened beverage research: a systematic review

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 2345-2350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan A Litman ◽  
Steven L Gortmaker ◽  
Cara B Ebbeling ◽  
David S Ludwig
Keyword(s):  
Health Effects ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Food Product ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Public Health Action ◽  
Sugar Sweetened Beverage ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Pubmed Search

AbstractObjectiveFinancial conflicts of interest involving the food industry have been reported to bias nutrition studies. However, some have hypothesized that independently funded studies may be biased if the authors have strong a priori beliefs about the healthfulness of a food product (‘white hat bias’). The extent to which each source of bias may affect the scientific literature has not been examined. We aimed to explore this question with research involving sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) as a test case, focusing on a period during which scientific consensus about the adverse health effects of SSB emerged from uncertainty.DesignPubMed search of worldwide literature was used to identify articles related to SSB and health risks published between 2001 and 2013. Financial relationships and article conclusions were classified by independent groups of co-investigators. Associations were explored by Fischer’s exact tests and regression analyses, controlling for covariates.ResultsA total of 133 articles published in English met inclusion criteria. The proportion of industry-related scientific studies decreased significantly with time, from approximately 30 % at the beginning of the study period to <5 % towards the end (P=0·003). A ‘strong’ or ‘qualified’ scientific conclusion was reached in 82 % of independent v. 7 % of industry-related SSB studies (P<0·001). Industry-related studies were overwhelmingly more likely to reach ‘weak/null’ conclusions compared with independent studies regarding the adverse effects of SSB consumption on health (OR=57·30, 95 % CI 7·12, 461·56).ConclusionIndustry-related research during a critical period appears biased to underestimate the adverse health effects of SSB, potentially delaying corrective public health action.

Cancer in agricultural populations

2020 ◽  
pp. 837-837
Author(s):  
K. . Togawa
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
General Population ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Cancer Incidence ◽  
Lower Prevalence ◽  
International Consortium ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Specific Cancer ◽  
Cancer Types

Agricultural workers can be exposed to a wide variety of agents (e.g. pesticides), some of which may have adverse health effects, such as cancer. To study the health effects of agricultural exposures, an international consortium of agricultural cohort studies, AGRICOH, was established. The present analysis compared cancer incidence between the AGRICOH cohorts and the general population and found lower overall cancer incidence in the AGRICOH cohorts, with some variation across cohorts for specific cancer types. The observed lower cancer incidence may be due to healthy worker bias or lower prevalence of risk factors in the agricultural populations. Further analysis is underway.

scholarly journals Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of blood and plasma donation on serum perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) levels in firefighters

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e044833
Author(s):  
Gabriel Silver ◽  
Yordanka Krastev ◽  
Miriam K Forbes ◽  
Brenton Hamdorf ◽  
Barry Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Sulfonic Acid ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Plasma Donation ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Randomised Controlled

IntroductionPerfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of compounds that have been used in hundreds of industrial applications and consumer products including aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) for many years. Multiple national and international health and environmental agencies have accepted that PFAS exposures are associated with numerous adverse health effects. Australian firefighters have been shown to have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood, specifically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), due to the historical use of AFFF. While PFAS concentrations decline over time once the source of exposure has been removed, their potential adverse health effects are such that it would be prudent to develop an intervention to lower levels at a faster rate than occurs via natural elimination rates.Methods and analysisThis is a randomised controlled trial of current and former Australian firefighters in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade/Fire Rescue Victoria, and contractors, with previous occupational exposure to PFAS and baseline elevated PFOS levels. The study is investigating whether whole blood donation every 12 weeks or plasma donation every 6 weeks will significantly reduce PFAS levels, compared with a control group. We have used covariate-adaptive randomisation to balance participants’ sex and blood PFAS levels between the three groups and would consider a 25% reduction in serum PFOS and PFHxS levels to be potentially clinically significant after 12 months of whole blood or plasma donation. A secondary analysis of health biomarkers is being made of changes between screening and week 52 in all three groups.Ethics and disseminationThis trial has been approved by Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3855), final protocol V.2 dated 12 June 2019. Study results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences.Trial registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619000204145).

scholarly journals Laying ghosts to rest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donnchadh O’Conaill
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
A Priori ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Rule Out

AbstractOne of the most widely-discussed arguments against physcialism appeals to the conceivability of zombies, being which are physically or functionally identical to humans but which have no conscious experiences. Philip Goff (Philos Phenomenol Res 81(1): 119–139, 2010; Consci Cognit 21(2): 742–746, 2012a; in Sprevak M, Kallestrup J (eds) New waves in philosophy of mind. Palgrave, 2014) has recently presented a number of different anti-physicalist arguments appealing to the conceivability of ghosts, entities whose nature is exhausted by their being conscious. If ghosts are conceivable, this would rule out a priori physicalism. If the conceivability of ghosts entails that they are metaphysically possible, then this forms the basis for arguments against a posteriori physicalism. Drawing on work on conceivability by Peter Kung (Philos Phenomenol Res 81(3):620–663, 2010, Noûs 50(1): 90–120, 2016) and my own discussion of arguments which appeal to the conceivability of zombies (O’Conaill in Mihretu P Guta (ed) Consciousness and the ontology of properties. Routledge, New York, 2019), I shall argue that ghosts are conceivable, but that what allows us to conceive of them (our ability to make certain stipulations about the scenarios we conceive) undermines the belief that conceivability is a reliable guide to possibility. While this does not undermine Goff’s argument against a priori phyiscalism, it suggests that a posteriori physicalists need not be haunted by ghosts.

Disrupting the Flow of Perception-Action through Design

2021 ◽  
pp. 105971232198909
Author(s):  
Harry Heft
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Good Design ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Perception Action

It is usually a mark of good design when technologies and tools that mediate goal-directed action are such that the user’s attentional focus is maintained on the intended ends of action rather than on the technologies and tools themselves. When the mediators become the focus, the continuity of goal-directed action is disrupted, and the flow of action can be re-directed. What then is the purpose of the projects designed by the RAAAF studio, as described by Rietveld, which seem to be intended to do both? Disruption of the continuity of goal-directed perception-action may prompt reflection about the circumstances at work, and in so doing provoke a transformation in habitual patterns of action and of thought. The project “The End of Sitting” is intended to remediate the adverse health effects of standard chair-dominated offices through an unconventional office landscape that prompts intermittent postural readjustments, boosting the levels of activity common in such settings. The project “Bunker 599” demonstrates that seemingly unremarkable features of the landscape can sometimes conceal aspects of culture’s history, and that design can function to draw attention to a hidden and even vanishing history. Design can enrich an individual’s sense of place in a stream of cultural history.

scholarly journals Conventional myelosuppressive chemotherapy for non-haematological malignancy disrupts the intestinal microbiome

BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lito E. Papanicolas ◽  
Sarah K. Sims ◽  
Steven L. Taylor ◽  
Sophie J. Miller ◽  
Christos S. Karapetis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Haematological Malignancy ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Intestinal Microbiome ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Conventional Chemotherapy ◽  
Myelosuppressive Chemotherapy ◽  
Gram Positive Bacteria ◽  
Faecal Samples

Abstract Background The gut microbiota influences many aspects of host physiology, including immune regulation, and is predictive of outcomes in cancer patients. However, whether conventional myelosuppressive chemotherapy affects the gut microbiota in humans with non-haematological malignancy, independent of antibiotic exposure, is unknown. Methods Faecal samples from 19 participants with non-haematological malignancy, who were receiving conventional chemotherapy regimens but not antibiotics, were examined prior to chemotherapy, 7–12 days after chemotherapy, and at the end of the first cycle of treatment. Gut microbiota diversity and composition was determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results Compared to pre-chemotherapy samples, samples collected 7–12 days following chemotherapy exhibited increased richness (mean 120 observed species ± SD 38 vs 134 ± 40; p = 0.007) and diversity (Shannon diversity: mean 6.4 ± 0.43 vs 6.6 ± 0.41; p = 0.02). Composition was significantly altered, with a significant decrease in the relative abundance of gram-positive bacteria in the phylum Firmicutes (pre-chemotherapy median relative abundance [IQR] 0.78 [0.11] vs 0.75 [0.11]; p = 0.003), and an increase in the relative abundance of gram-negative bacteria (Bacteroidetes: median [IQR] 0.16 [0.13] vs 0.21 [0.13]; p = 0.01 and Proteobacteria: 0.015 [0.018] vs 0.03 [0.03]; p = 0.02). Differences in microbiota characteristics from baseline were no longer significant at the end of the chemotherapy cycle. Conclusions Conventional chemotherapy results in significant changes in gut microbiota characteristics during the period of predicted myelosuppression post-chemotherapy. Further study is indicated to link microbiome changes during chemotherapy to clinical outcomes.

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