Prenatal and early childhood exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE)-contaminated drinking water and sleep quality in adulthood: a retrospective cohort study

Background Communities in Cape Cod, Massachusetts were exposed to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) through contaminated drinking water from 1969 to 1983. PCE exposure during adulthood has well-established neurotoxic effects; however, long-term impacts stemming from early life exposure, especially adverse effects on sleep quality, are not well understood. Methods The present analysis was based on data from the Cape Cod Health Study, a retrospective cohort study of the long-term neurotoxic impacts of early-life exposure to PCE-contaminated drinking water. Exposure to PCE-contaminated water was estimated using a validated leaching and transport model. Measures of sleep quality were obtained from self-administered questionnaires. Generalized estimating equations were used to generate risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals to estimate the association between early-life PCE exposure and sleep quality among 604 participants. Results Compared to unexposed participants, any PCE exposure during early life was associated with 1.57 times the risk of reporting breathing pauses during sleep (95% CI 0.92–2.68). Low-level exposure to PCE was associated with 1.50 times the risk of reporting sleep apnea or other sleep disorders (95% CI 0.78–2.89), while high levels of exposure had comparable risk compared to no exposure (RR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.50–1.79). Weak or no associations were observed for other sleep quality outcomes. In stratified analyses participants with mental illness and/or substance use disorder had increased risk ratios for short sleep duration associated with PCE exposure. Conclusion These findings suggest that early-life exposure to PCE may be associated with a moderate increase in the risk of reporting breathing pauses during sleep in adulthood and that a history of mental illness and/or substance use disorder may exacerbate the risk of short sleep duration.

Thoughts on Making Films with Barbara Hammer

This personal essay articulates filmmaker Lynne Sachs's experiences working with experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer. Sachs conveys the journey of her relationship with Hammer when they were both artists living in San Francisco in the late 1980s and 1990s and then later in New York City. Sachs initially discusses her experiences making Carolee, Barbara and Gunvor (US, 2018), which includes Hammer, the conceptual and performance artist Carolee Schneemann, and the experimental filmmaker Gunvor Nelson. She then discusses her 2019 film, A Month of Single Frames, which uses material from Hammer's 1998 artist residency in a Cape Cod shack without running water or electricity. While there, she shot film, recorded sounds, and kept a journal. In 2018, Hammer began her process of dying by revisiting her personal archive. She gave all of her images, sounds, and writing from the residency to Sachs and invited her to make a film with the material. Through her own filmmaking, Sachs explores Hammer's experience of solitude. She places text on the screen as a way to be in dialogue with both Hammer and her audience. This essay provides context for the intentions and challenges that grew out of both of these film collaborations.

837. Performance of Blood (1- >3)-β-D-Glucan in People with AIDS Presenting with Respiratory Symptoms

Background The gold standard for diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is direct visualization of the microorganism in respiratory samples, usually obtained via bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Blood β-D-glucan (BDG) is used as a non-invasive adjunctive diagnostic test for PCP, but specificity is only modest, in part because other opportunistic fungal infections cause high BDG. We previously showed BDG-positivity in 94% of people with AIDS (PWA), progressive disseminated histoplasmosis (PDH), and respiratory symptoms in our hospital. In this study, we aim to assess the performance of BDG as a diagnostic test for PCP in PWA who have respiratory symptoms. Methods We retrospectively identified PWA who had a BDG result between 2014 and 2019. AIDS was defined as past or current absolute CD4 count < 200 cells/µL, or a past or current AIDS-defining condition. Positive cytological or histological evidence of P. jirovecii in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid or lung biopsy, or positive Pneumocystis PCR on sputum or BAL confirmed PCP. The Fungitell Assay (Associates of Cape Cod, East Falmouth, MA) determined BDG levels as follows: negative, < 60 pg/mL; indeterminate, 60-79 pg/mL, and positive, ≥ 80 pg/mL. Values < 31 pg/mL and those >500 pg/mL were censored at 30 pg/mL and 500 pg/mL, respectively. Respiratory symptoms were defined as cough, dyspnea, chest pain, or hypoxia. We compared BDG results for participants with proven PCP and participants without proven PCP. Results We identified 260 PWA with a BDG result, of whom 183 had at least one respiratory symptom. 84 (45.9%) of these participants had a positive BDG. BDG results among participants with and without PCP are shown in Table 1. Of the 44 participants with a positive BDG who did not have PCP, 29 (65.9%) had PDH. Other diagnoses included cryptococcosis and candidemia. The test performance of BDG for the diagnosis of PCP is shown in Table 2. Exclusion of participants with PDH increased the specificity of BDG for PCP to 86.4%. Table 1. Results of (1->3)-β-D-glucan Testing by Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia Diagnosis Among Participants with AIDS and Respiratory Symptoms Table 2. Test Performance of (1->3)-β-D-glucan for the Diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia* Conclusion At our center where histoplasmosis is endemic, a positive BDG should not be attributed to PCP among PWA with respiratory symptoms because of low specificity and low positive predictive value. However, a negative BDG can exclude PCP in this population. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

ANTIFOULING WITH CHLORIDE ION ELECTROLYTIC RECYCLING THROUGH A MOMENTUM BOUNDARY LAYER

SeaLite Engineering, after a 10-year R & D program, has produced an operational antifouling system for ocean sensors and instruments designed for low power consumption and long, greater than 1 year deployments. The important innovation is the replacement of pumps by gravity and external motion to significantly reduce energy consumption. Also, a prototype system for AUV control surfaces is now undergoing laboratory testing. The effectiveness of SeaLite’s technology has been demonstrated year-round in northern estuaries and in the Gulf of Mexico, the latter by an independent agency.The process leading to this result was, first starting in 2010, an extensive laboratory evaluation of electrode alloys, calibration of chlorine production vs electric power input and the location for attaching electrodes to various objects requiring protection from fouling. After 2015 the experimentation moved to the ocean, first in a Cape Cod estuary and then to the Gulf of Mexico.Comparisons with a mechanical antifouling system were done insitu, and with an UV antifouling system from ONC Canada by comparing the data.Finally, starting in 2019, the development of biofilms, from their initial deposition through the Extra Polysaccharide Substance (EPS) stage, were experimentally investigated by taking samples from an estuary near SeaLite’s laboratory. Biofilms on microscope slides and water column samples were collected. This was done in different seasons, from spring bloom, summer doldrums, fall temperature decline and the winter freeze. The objective was to determine the level of biofilm growth that would require antifouling, and its’ seasonal, temperature and solar radiation dependence, and thus conserve power.

Neidium petersiveri sp. nov. (Bacillariophyceae) — description of a new diatom species with emphasis on variability of frustule morphology in a population from Lake Superior

Light and scanning electron microscopy were used to describe Neidium petersiveri sp. nov., a previously unnamed diatom found in the Canadian waters of Lake Superior. It had been reported previously as single cells of an unidentified Neidium species from four widely separated regions in North America: Michipicoten Island (Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada), Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States), a Quebec river (Quebec, Canada), and the Back River (Nunavut, Canada). There are superficial resemblances to Neidium mirum Krasske and Neidium calvum Østrup, but there are significant differences in frustule size and shape as well as the pattern of striae on the valve face that render N. petersiveri unique. There was not a significant correlation between frustule lengths and widths in N. petersiveri, owing to a relatively small range within the width data that resulted in much higher width-to-length ratios among shorter cells than for longer cells (74 cells measured). Other significant aspects of morphologic variation include various shapes and configurations of the lacinial fissures and of the proximal raphe fissures, and the sporadic occurrence of pit-like depressions in the axial and central regions of the valves, which suggest that variations in these characters likely have limited value as discriminating characters at the species or subspecies levels.