Office of Research and Development Publications

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Diesel and biodiesel particulates have been demonstrated to reduced vascular responsiveness in vivo and in vitro, but the components of PM responsible for this effect are poorly understood. Fatty acids represent a significant fraction of the compounds that make up organic combust...

2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP, CAS No. 118-79-6) is widely used as a brominated flame retardant and wood antifungal agent. TBP is frequently detected in environmental matrices, biota, and humans. In female SD rats, systemically available TBP (10 µmol/kg, IV) was rapidly excrete...

Graphene is a two-dimensional nanomaterial with unique mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties. With increasing applications of graphene-family nanomaterials (GFNs) in numerous fields such as electronics, biomedicine, and surface coatings, concern for their impact...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of fluorinated substances of interest to researchers, regulators, and the public due to their widespread presence in the environment. Some PFAS have comparatively extensive amounts of human epidemiological, exposure, and expe...

Chemicals that disrupt androgen receptor function during sexual differentiation in utero induce a cascade of adverse effects on F1 male reproductive development including reduced AGD, retained nipples, agenesis of androgen-dependent organs and reproductive tract malformations. ...

In July 2001, dichlor (anhydrous sodium dichloroisocyanurate or sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate) and trichlor (trichloroisocyanuric acid) use for the routine treatment of drinking water in the United States (US) was first approved. Their use is equivalent to adding free ch...

This paper presents a greedy optimization algorithm for sensor placement to calibrate a water distribution system (WDS) hydraulic model more efficiently. The proposed approach improves the calibration accuracy by optimizing sensor placement. An optimally located sensor not only o...

Background: Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), an ambient air pollutant with mass-based standards promulgated under the Clean Air Act, and black carbon (BC), a common component of PM2.5, are both associated with cardiovascular health effects. Objectives: To elucidate wh...

Geographically Isolated Wetlands (GIWs) are unique geological features that provide habitat for endemic, endangered, and threatened animal and plant species and ecosystem services (ES). GIWs are threatened by a range of chemical contaminants that vary by geographic region and ass...

A constructed, variable-flow treatment wetland was evaluated for its ability to reduce microbial loads from the Banklick Creek, an impacted recreational waterway in Northern Kentucky. For this study, levels of traditional (Escherichia coli and enterococci measured by culture and ...

The last decade has seen a proliferation of studies describing the benefits people accrue from natural processes by translation of remotely sensed land use and / or land cover (LULC) data to ecosystem service provision. Yet, critical assessment of systemic errors resulting from r...

Factor VII (FVII) is an important component of the coagulation cascade. Few genetic loci regulating FVII activity and/or levels have been discovered to date. We conducted a meta-analysis of nine genome-wide association studies of plasma FVII levels (seven FVII activity and two F...

Regional-scale air quality models and observations at routine air quality monitoring sites are used to determine attainment/non-attainment of the ozone air quality standard in the United States. In current regulatory applications, a regional-scale air quality model is applied for...

Cortical heterotopias are characterized as clusters of ectopic neurons in the brain, and are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders like epilepsy and learning disabilities in patients. We have previously characterized the robust penetrance of a heterotopia in a rat model, i...

Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) reduce non-point source pollution from cropland. Goals for BMP adoption and expected pollutant load reductions are often specified in water quality management plans to protect and restore waterbodies; however, estimates of needed load...

Background: Epidemiological studies report fairly consistent associations between various air pollution metrics and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with some elevated risks reported for different prenatal and postnatal periods. Objective: To examine associations between ASD and ...

Purpose: The objectives were to use National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to: 1) estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk factors (elevated blood pressure, triglycerides, blood glucose, and low HDL cholesterol); 2) estimate the prevalence...

ABSTRACT Background: GenX (CAS: 62037-80-3) is a member of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemical class and a high-profile contaminant of emerging concern. Recent environmental monitoring efforts have identified elevated levels of GenX in surface water, air, and...

Air pollution is a complex mixture of particulates, gases, and aldehydes. As such, attributing health effects to specific air pollutants in a given ambient air shed and identifying plausible biological mechanisms can be difficult when pollutants are studied in isolation. Here, we...

Given the intensity and frequency of environmental change, the linked and cross-scale nature of social-ecological systems, and the proliferation of big data, methods that can help synthesize complex system behavior over a geographical area are of great value. Fisher information e...

Atmospheric oxidation of natural and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) leads to secondary organic aerosol (SOA), which constitutes a major and often dominant component of atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Recent work demonstrates that rapid autoxidation o...

Prenatal exposure to ozone has been linked to low birth weight in people and fetal growth restriction in rats. Clinical recommendations suggest use of low dose aspirin to lower risk of preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction in high-risk pregnancies, yet its utility in m...

The ToxCast program has generated a broad range of in vitro screening data on over a thousand chemicals to assess potential disruption of important biological processes for hazard identification and chemical testing prioritization. To help interpret and contextualize the ToxCast ...

Coastal tidal wetlands are well recognized for the key ecosystem services they provide such as flood protection, water quality improvement, and carbon sequestration. In the southeastern United States, some communities are relying on coastal wetlands for the management of secondar...

Gene expression signatures of DNA damage-inducing (DDI) agents can be used as mechanistic markers of genotoxicity for in vitro hazard identification. Indeed, the TGx-DDI transcriptomic biomarker can accurately distinguish DDI from non-DDI exposures based on changes in the express...