Contact Rose Branstrom with any items that should be included in next month's M-LEEaD newsletter.
We hope you were able to join us for some of our amazing in-person events so far this semester, including: - The Integrated Health Sciences Core hosted our 2022 Environmental Statistics Day on October 24, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Corwin Zigler from the University of Texas. Dr. Zigler presented on “Causal Inference in Air Quality Regulation: an Overview and Topics in Statistical Methodology,” and the event included an expert panel discussion with SPH faculty Sara Adar, Tim Dvonch, and Roderick Little. Watch a recording of the presentation, panel discussion, and Lighting Talks by current students and postdocs working on environmental health using statistical methods here. - The tour of the Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB) on October 22. This event included a community conversation about health impacts related to the GHIB as well as community organizing efforts related to environmental and health actions associated with the bridge. M-LEEaD's Community Engagement Core is very thankful for the partnerships with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments, Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, Community Health And Social Services Center, and the Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering that made this event possible. If any interested researchers missed this event and want more information, please reach out to Alison Walding at walison@umich.edu. - Our kickoff event on September 29, which celebrated our center's renewal and helped members reconnect with the M-LEEaD mission, learn more about M-LEEaD’s core services, and introduced to our reimagined Translational Research Team framework. View the recording of the meeting here, including a special presentation from Simone Charles: “On The Road to Scientific Workforce Diversity: Many Paths, One Destination.”
Neurologists Stephen Goutman and Eva Feldman found that workers exposed to hazardous chemicals in manufacturing, welding and chemical operations face a higher risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. “Some of these workers … may have been exposed to mixtures of metals and other chemicals without their knowledge,” said Goutman, director of the Pranger ALS Clinic. Feldman, director of the ALS Center of Excellence, says their research is “critical in identifying modifiable disease factors and populations at risk, so that we can prevent ALS from occurring in the first place.” Read the news coverage here: US News and World Report, U of M Health Lab, Detroit Free Press
MI-CARES, or Michigan Cancer and Research on the Environment Study, is working to describe and quantify the impact of known and suspected environmental exposures on cancer risk. U of M’s Rogel Cancer Center and the School of Public Health are currently recruiting 100,000 men and women between the ages of 25 and 44 to participate remotely, with some mailing in test kits to the lab for the large study. Several Michigan news outlets have helped spread the word about the study, including: WEMU Issues of the Environment, Great Lakes Echo, Midland Daily News
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s (DWSD) recently proposed Lifeline Plan contains elements consistent with recommendations developed by representatives from communities struggling with unaffordable water and those by Detroit’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Water Affordability. This new plan is important in addressing racial and economic inequities in water access, but continued momentum, broader changes, and longer-term strategies are needed to create regional solutions that reverse longstanding failures to invest in water infrastructure in Michigan and to fully address inequitable access to clean water for Detroit residents. Read the full article here.
Jalonne White-Newsome was appointed this year as the Council on Environmental Quality’s senior director for environmental justice, advising on policy and coordinating efforts of the Biden Administration to advance environmental causes nationwide. White-Newsome received her PhD in environmental health sciences from the University of Michigan and researched heat exposure for vulnerable residents in Detroit. “Her publications from that work, and other work around climate change, health and environmental justice, have been important contributions to the field,” said Marie O’Neill, a professor of environmental health and epidemiology at UM’s School of Public Health. Read the article in BridgeDetroit here.
Obesity has been a major global health issue in recent decades as more people eat unhealthy diets and fail to exercise regularly. A new University of Michigan study, co-authored by Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences professor Sung Kyun Park, suggests there is another factor that tips the scale in women's weight, body mass index, waist circumference and body fat -- air pollution. Exposure to air pollution was linked with higher body fat, higher proportion fat, and lower lean mass among midlife women. Read the piece published by the ScienceDaily here.
A new State of Michigan grant will allow U-M pain researchers to test whether cannabidiol (CBD) and medical cannabis products—therapies with few existing treatment guidelines—are effective for managing chronic pain among US Veterans. It is led in part by Rachel Bergmans, PhD, a research investigator in the department of anesthesiology and the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, who states that “our educational clinical trial will be the first to empirically test guidance proposed by experts on appropriate use of cannabis products for chronic pain.” Read more on Precision Health here.
The Michigan Farmworker Project (MFP) is a community-based participatory research initiative aimed at improving the social and environmental health of Michigan’s farmworker population, who play a critical role in the state’s food supply chain. In May 2020, researchers shared novel findings that provided evidence-based approaches to better protecting Michigan’s farmworkers from COVID-19 while providing essential work during the pandemic. Read a Q&A with the University of Michigan School of Public Health here.
Existing evidence suggests that high levels of exposure to PFAS – which have contaminated drinking water sources nationwide – may lead to increased cholesterol levels, decreased vaccine responses in children, higher risk of preeclampsia in pregnant people and increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer, and other outcomes, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. In other words, limited research so far suggests that these chemicals can affect multiple systems in the body, said M-LEEaD Member Courtney Carignan, an environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor at Michigan State University. Read further on PBS here.
Tuesday, November 15 2022 • 12:00 PM — 01:00 PM EST on Zoom M-LEEaD’s Environmental Research Seminar featuring Sara Adar Sc.D., M.H.S
Registration required here
Tuesday, December 6 2022 • 12:00 PM — 01:00 PM EST on Zoom M-LEEaD’s Environmental Research Seminar featuring Bek Petroff, PhD, MS
Registration required here
The Center for Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases (MAC-EPID) and the Integrated Training in Microbial Systems (ITiMS) at the University of Michigan are holding a series of guest speakers on November 11, 2022. Topics include understanding ecosystems in a global change context, antibiotics in a warming world, and environmental determinants of antibiotic resistance in semi-rural Ecuadorian children. Date: Friday, November 11, 2022, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm EST
Location: Rackham Amphitheatre (4th floor)
Info and registration here
The webinar series A Sense of Place: Pacific Northwest - Indigenous Perspectives on Earth, Water, and Sky invites guests to their upcoming webinar on November 17, 2022 via Zoom featuring Roberta (Bobbie) Connor. Bobbie is the director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, which serves three goals: providing the most accurate history of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples, perpetuation of tribal knowledges, and improving the Tribal economy. This event is sponsored by the Oregon State University Superfund Research Program. Date: Thursday, November 17, 2022, 3:00 pm EST
Info and virtual registration here
A new, self-paced online course called "Structural Racism: Causes of Health Inequities in the U.S." is now available free of charge for members of the University of Michigan Community. This courses seeks to examines how our socio-political institutions have racial inequities embedded within their policies and practice and how state violence is selectively used to reinforce racial inequities, as well as re-examine history to learn how and why race was created. The course lasts for three weeks and takes approximately 18 hours to complete. Duration: 3 weeks
Info and virtual registration here
Recent Publications citing M-LEEaD:
GoodrichJM, Jung AM, Furlong MA, Beitel S, Littau S, Gulotta J, Wallentine D, Burgess JL. Repeat measures of DNA methylation in an inception cohort of firefighters. Occup Environ Med. 2022 Oct;79(10):656-663. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2021-108153. Epub 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35332072; PMCID: PMC9484361.
Puttabyatappa M, Saadat N, Elangovan VR, Dou J, BakulskiK, PadmanabhanV. Developmental programming: Impact of prenatal bisphenol-A exposure on liver and muscle transcriptome of female sheep. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2022 Sep 15;451:116161. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2022.116161. Epub 2022 Jul 8. PMID: 35817127.
PereraBPU, Morgan RK, Polemi KM, Sala-Hamrick KE, SvobodaLK, DolinoyDC. PIWI-Interacting RNA (piRNA) and Epigenetic Editing in Environmental Health Sciences. Curr Environ Health Rep. 2022 Aug 2. doi: 10.1007/s40572-022-00372-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35917009.
Ding N, Karvonen-Gutierrez CA, Mukherjee B, Calafat AM, Harlow SD, Park SK. Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Incident Hypertension in Multi-Racial/Ethnic Women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation. Hypertension. 2022 Aug;79(8):1876-1886. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.18809. Epub 2022 Jun 13. PMID: 35695012; PMCID: PMC9308661.
Zamora AN, Peterson KE, Téllez-Rojo MM, Cantoral A, Song PXK, Mercado-García A, Solano-González M, Fossee E, Jansen EC. Third-Trimester Maternal Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Sleep Health among Adolescent Offspring in a Mexico City Cohort. J Nutr. 2022 Jun 9;152(6):1487-1495. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac045. PMID: 35218195; PMCID: PMC9178955.
Goodman CV, Bashash M, Green R, Song P, Peterson KE, Schnaas L, Mercado-García A, Martínez-Medina S, Hernández-Avila M, Martinez-Mier A, Téllez-Rojo MM, Hu H, Till C. Domain-specific effects of prenatal fluoride exposure on child IQ at 4, 5, and 6-12 years in the ELEMENT cohort. Environ Res. 2022 Aug;211:112993. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.112993. Epub 2022 Mar 9. PMID: 35276192.
Click here for a PDF with useful information about NIH Public Access Policy regarding citing the center grant.
Per NIH grants policy, all publications, press releases, and other documents relevant to research funded by the center must include a specific acknowledgement of support. For the EHS Core Center, this statement may read:
“Support for this research was provided by grant P30ES017885 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”
