Environmental Health I. Introduction Shu-Chi Chang, Ph.D., P.E., P.A. Assistant Professor1 and Division Chief2 1Department of Environmental Engineering 2Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Center for Environmental Protection and Occupational Safety and Health National Chung Hsing University

Outline Instructor’s background Course overview and grading policy Overview of this course Grading policy References Introduction of Environmental Health

Instructor’s background Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, U.S.A. (among the top 5 graduate programs in U.S. News ranking) Award Government Scholarship: Sole grantee in Environmental Engineering in year 2000. Professional qualification PE, Environmental Engineering (1989) PE, Industrial Safety Engineering (1997) CPA, ISO 14000 (1996, Naville & Clark) CPA, ISO 9000 (1997, Mercedes-Benz) Professional Expertise Environmental microbiology and nanobiotechnology (8 years) Bioremediation of contaminated soils and groundwater (6 years) Integrated quality, environmental, safety, and health management ( 5 year)

Dissertational Research Rapid detection and enumeration of mycobacteria in metalworking fluids: technology development and validation Tools Flow cytometry Fluorescent antibody and nucleic acid dyes Functionalized magnetic nanoparticle Statistical data analysis Contributions Shortened test time by more than 95% Single colony-forming-unit sensitivity ~98% specificity Good correlation over 4 orders of magnitude Can effectively reduce health hazards and environmental burdens In the past five years, I spent most of my time on my dissertation, “Rapid detection and enumeration of mycobacteria in metalworking fluids: technology development and validation”. The goal of this study is to prove that it is feasible to use flow cytometer to rapidly detect and enumerate mycobacteria in cloudy metalworking fluids samples. Metalworking fluids are used to cool working zones, lubricate cutting tools, and remove metals in metalworking processes, such as forming, drilling, cutting, etc. It is estimated that the annual US consumption is more than 2 billion gallons. The most popular ones are oil-in-water emulsions like milk. Therefore, they are very good growth media for microorganisms. In the past decade, more than twenty mycobacteria-linked outbreaks have been reported. Due to the fear of health impact on workers, once mycobacteria were found in the metalworking system, the whole batch of fluid, with the volume of a small swimming pool, has to be discharged to wastewater treatment. This caused treatment difficulty and environmental burdens. Mycobacteria are very hard to be accurately quantified due to they are very clumpy and grow very slowly. It usually takes 1 to 2 weeks to see the colony formation on a petri dish. The major tools I used are Flow cytometry, Fluorescent antibody and nucleic acid dyes, Functionalized nanoparticles, and Statistical data analysis. The major contributions are (1) the assay time is shortened by more than 95%, form 1-2 weeks down to less than 4 hours, (2) the detection limit is down to single colony forming unit, (3) the specificity is around 98%, which is comparable to commercially available diagnostic methods for medical samples, (4) good correlation over 4 orders of magnitudes, from 1000 to 10 million cells per ml. This technology can effectively reduce health hazards and environmental burdens.

Extended Research Nano-emulsion: novel industrial fluid formulations, groundwater remediation enhancer, etc. Ultrafine magnetic nanoparticles (~1 nm) Flow-Genomics™: an ultrasensitive and high-throughput single molecule detection platform Instantaneous characterization of microbial ecosystems: simultaneous identification of structural and functional roles of numerous microorganisms in a microbial ecosystem Peptide Nucleic Acid Probes In parallel with my dissertational research, I have extended my research to other areas. First, it is the peptide nucleic acid probes. Peptide nucleic acids are artificial nucleic acids. They are especially good for certain types of microbial detection schemes. Due to its molecular structure, it has at least several distinct characteristics: (1) about 1000 fold faster kinetics than oligo-DNA in hybridization reactions, which is very good for biosensor application, (2) longer shelf-life because naturally existing enzymes cannot break them down, and (3) higher melting temperature, which means PNA:DNA duplex is more stable than DNA:DNA duplex. I have designed four PNA probes for species-specific detection for the most hazardous mycobacterium. Nano-emulsion has been reported to be a very effective biocidal agent toward bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores, but has not been applied to industrial fluid formulations yet. Interestingly, the killing effects is due to its physical structure instead of the toxic effect of individual component. That is, if you apply individual component, you will see no or very minor effects. After you mixed them in the right way, the killing power is very high. Another interesting fact is that the emulsion structure can be destabilized at different concentration ranges. This leads to the possibility of formulating an in-process biostable and off-process biodegradable industrial fluid. I have designed three formulations which are ready to be tested. Flow genomics is based on the three invention disclosures I filed with my advisor at University of Michigan. Briefly, it integrates three dimensional-micro and nanofluidics, genetic probes and high-resolution flow cytometry to facilitate ultrasensitive and high throughput single molecule detection. This device has the potential to replace microarray, which is currently widely used in genomic research. The fourth one is an instantaneous characterization of microbial ecosystems. This is a extension from flow genomics and it is focused on microorganisms. I have identified unique opportunity to detect and enumerate numerous bacteria in microbial ecosystems and can define their functional roles at the same time.

Dioxin Study University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study (UMDES) Soil, blood, dust, and questionnaire Data analysis Modeling Pattern analysis Exposure pathway modeling Conclusion Age, sex, and BMI account for 50% of the variation in serum dioxins Fish and game consumption, river activity, and specific occupation account for 1-6 % of the variation in serum dioxins Living on the contaminated lands, living within Midland and Saginaw counties account for 0.2~1.0% of the variation in serum dioxins Currently, I am working on three major areas. University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study, Flow Genomics, and Microbial Fuel Cell related research. For UMDES, it is a 15 million-US-dollar research project, which is about half of a billion New Taiwan dollars. I joined the engineering team to collect soil samples in 2004. Here is a picture showing how we collected a top-6-inch soil sample from a front yard of a residence. Totally, we collected more than 11,000 samples. Starting from September last year, I am in charge of statistical data analysis of soil samples and exposure pathway modeling. For flow genomics, I just finished a quantum project grant proposal to National Institutes of Health with 4 other faculty members from three different schools in the University of Michigan based on the three invention disclosures I filed with my advisor. Fuel cell has been applied to automotives and a lot of chemists are trying to find good chemical structure for better hydrogen storage. In environmental engineering, we are trying to extract energy from waste by using microorganisms. Currently, I am advising a US EPA STAR fellow to conduct some basic characterization of potential microorganisms and the possibility of coupling magnetic nanoparticles with microbial fuel cell. Unexpectedly, we found that nanoparticles have negative impact on microbial activity and this implies that there is negative impact of nano-mateirals on environments. Therefore, in the next decade, we may have to face “nano-pollution”.

Overview of this course (1) Teaching goals To equip students with fundamental knowledge in environmental health and enhance their comprehension of current environmental health issues. To help students be familiar with the links between environmental pollution sources and their endpoints.

Overview of this course (2) Main topics Chemical and toxicology Biological agents and epidemiology Workplace hazards Environmental hazards Law and policy Risk assessment Others: Energy and disaster response

Overview of this course (3) Style Fact and Engineering oriented Understanding and memorization Quantification and calculation Group learning Finish a group term project together

Grading policy 1. All lectures, assignments and tests will be given in English. However, questions, term paper, and homework are allowed to be finished in Chinese or English. 2. Homework will be handed out every 2 to 3 weeks and a term paper will be assigned to each group of students, usually 2 students in a group. Late homework or term paper submission is not acceptable. Discussion is allowed but no copying (will get significant loss of points). 3. Composition of final score Midterm (30%, close-book, 90 minutes); Final (35%, open-book, 90 minutes) Homework (20%); Term paper (15%) Participation (5%) 4. Term paper requirements: Font in size 12 and double space. 7 pages minimum and 10 pages maximum, not including references. References should be no less than 7 citations as journal articles, preferably in English. (Again, no copying or plagiarism. )

Group Term Paper Why Promotion of group learning and interaction Chance to investigate the topic you are most interested in within environmental health realm Getting familiar with the format of typical journal article writing Environmental professionals need better communication skills than any other engineering professionals

Schedule Week Topic 1 Introduction and scope 2 Basic toxicology 3 Epidemiology and workplace 4 Ambient air quality and air pollution 5 Food 6 Drinking water 7 Liquid waste 8 Solid waste 9 Midterm 10 Rodents and insects 11 Injury Control 12 Electromagnetic radiation 13 Environmental law 14 Monitoring and auditing 15 Risk assessment and management system 16 Energy 17 Disaster response 18 Final examination

Textbook and references Textbook (not required): Moeller, D.W., 2005. Environmental Health. Harvard University Press, 3rd edition (A copy will be available on reserve desk in NCHU library). References: Bassett, W.H. Clay’s handbook of environmental health. 19th ed.; Spon Press, 2004. New York. (Electronic resource, NCHU Library) Worthington, David. Dictionary of environmental health; Spon Press, 2003. New York. (Electronic resource, NCHU Library) For lecturing slides, please refer to http://web.nchu.edu.tw/pweb/users/shucc

Office hours and others Wednesday: 11AM (noon) ~ 12PM Other time: by appointment Guest speakers (TBA)

Introduction Definition “In its broader sense, environmental health (EH) is the segment of public health that is concerned with assessing, understanding, and controlling the impacts of people on their environment and the impacts of environment on them.” –Moeller, D.W., 1997. For human well-being, interactions are important Defined more by the problems than by the approaches Subtle differences between EH professionals and Public health professionals

Defining the environment (I) Inner versus outer environment Principle protective barriers Skin Gastrointestinal tract Lung membrane

Defining the environment (II) Personal versus ambient environment Personal environment: have control ambient environment: have no control

Defining the environment (III) Gaseous, liquid, and solid environments Gaseous: particulates and gases Liquid: discharged into water Solid: solid wastes, esp. plastics and toxic chemicals

Defining the environment (IV) Four aspects that affect people’s health Chemical Biological Physical Socioeconomic

Assessing the problems Population growth and urban environments Steps to assess the problems Determining the sources of contaminants and nature of them How and pathway of contact Measuring the effects Applying controls Need an interdisciplinary team Need to recognize technological advent in analytical instrumentation

Cancer and the personal environment Tobacco use Physical activity Weight maintenance Healthy diet Alcohol

Systems approach Pollution may only change into different forms Examples Incineration Air-cleaning systems Chemical treatment of liquid waste Discharge of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides Discharge of chlorofluorocarbons Discharge of carbon dioxides

Intervention and control Three different intervention models Clinical Public health Environmental stewardship

Outlook Recognition of the problems and capability to control them. However, “greatest good” is important. Take system approach and avoid exchange of problems Sustainable development makes sense