< EOHSI/CEED members Brian Buckley, Ph.D. and Nancy Fiedler, Ph.D. awarded complementary funds for cross-center research - EOHSI | EOHSI

Brian Buckley (Rutgers CEED) & Dana Barr  (Emory HERCULES)

Dr. Dana Barr, Director of the HERCULES Targeted Exposure Analysis Laboratory, was awarded a supplement to collaborate with Dr. Brian Buckley at the CEED Center of Rutgers University in a project to better understand the utility and the limitations of passive samplers for examining environmental exposures.  These samplers, which can be a silicone wristband worn by a person in their environment or a small tube placed within an area to sample the air, have not been fully evaluated to understand the breadth of contaminant classes captured by the samplers and their sampling efficiencies. The combined expertise of Dr. Barr’s HERCULES Core Laboratory and Dr. Buckley’s CEED analytical facility will address these shortcomings. The results of this study will allow investigators to be fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of using these types of exposure monitors and allow a better understanding of the contaminants that an individual may be exposed to in various environments.

Nancy Fielder (Rutgers CEED) & Melissa Smarr (Emory HERCULES)

The proposed supplement will add AGD (anogenital distance) measurements at birth and throughout the first two years of childhood to the protocol for study nurses during follow-up visits.  In collaboration with members of our interdisciplinary research team, Dr. Smarr will evaluate exposure to organophosphates (OP), non-persistent endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDC) relevant to the Thai population, across sensitive windows of growth and development in relation to the AGD. The cohort will enroll 300 pregnant women with suspected exposures to various pesticides and insecticides as participants are tangerine farm workers.

Nancy Fiedler (Rutgers CEED) & Dana Barr (Emory HERCULES)

We propose to enroll 50 rice farmworkers from our existing northern Thai birth cohort (into which we are currently also enrolling fathers) to evaluate pregnant female and male predictors of chronic kidney disease (CKD).  In addition, we will enroll 50 additional male and non-pregnant female farmworkers in central Thailand with a more moderate temperature who are a part of a heat-related risk cohort of Co-I Siriwong.

We plan to follow the farmworkers over one growing season.  Data collection will include elements specified at the 2nd International Workshop on Mesoamerican Nephropathy (2nd IWMN). We will collect questionnaire, physical examination data, biological samples (blood plasma, blood serum, whole blood, and urine) and environmental samples (water/soil) prior to the season beginning, mid-season and post season.  We will collect information on demographics, kidney disease, diabetes (exclusion criteria) and other relevant health data, heat stress and dysuria, fluid and food intake, source and physical exertion the day prior to data collection.  We will also collect information on specific crops grown in addition to rice, hectares farmed, pesticides used during the season including application times and application amount, farming activities (e.g., when and how the soil is prepared and how the crops are maintained during growth and harvest), season, climatic variables such as rainfall and heat, and religious customs that may affect their work.

Physical examination data include blood pressure, pulse rate, height, weight, hydration balance, weight change during the work day, and internal temperature using telemetric pills.

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