{"id":3224,"date":"2016-06-07T13:14:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T20:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/?p=3224"},"modified":"2016-06-07T13:17:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T20:17:13","slug":"healthcare-meets-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/2016\/06\/07\/healthcare-meets-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare meets the Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi There!<\/p>\n

Welcome to the convergence between medicine and the environment!\u00a0 I am a new Oregon Sea Grant scholar (actually, I started in late March, but who\u2019s counting?) that was given the wonderfully unique opportunity to attend the Institute of Environmental Health at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, OR, under the sage direction of Dr. Tawnya Peterson and Dr. Joseph Needoba.\u00a0 What\u2019s that?\u00a0 Marine scientists at a school of medicine?\u00a0 Life is certainly full of the unexpected!<\/p>\n

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The Columbia River view from Munra Point, OR.<\/p><\/div>\n

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OHSU campus and tram from the South Waterfront District in Portland, OR (photo courtesy of OHSU Transportation & Parking website http:\/\/www.ohsu.edu\/xd\/about\/services\/transportation-and-parking\/tram\/)<\/p><\/div>\n

The principle behind the OHSU Institute of Environmental Health actually reflects that of my research.\u00a0 OHSU believes preventive medicine starts with a healthy environment.\u00a0 The concept is simple: when your environment is healthier, people are healthier.\u00a0 For example, think of the impact of river water quality on drinking water, and the impact of contaminants on fish and the people who consume them.\u00a0 My research is based on the reverse principle: our environment becomes unhealthy with unhealthy people living in it.\u00a0 Specifically, I am trying to characterize the distribution, breakdown, and phytoplankton effects of the Type II diabetes medication, metformin (and its breakdown products) in the lower Columbia River, within a public health outreach focus.<\/p>\n

Type II diabetes is on the rise in the modern world.\u00a0 In fact, by 2030, it is expected that over 350 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with Type II diabetes (http:\/\/www.whocc.no\/atcddd\/<\/a>)!\u00a0 The most commonly prescribed drug for Type II diabetes (by mass) is metformin (http:\/\/www.whocc.no\/atcddd\/<\/a>).\u00a0 Metformin (also known as Glucophage) is a dimethyl-biguanide with the unique ability to lower glucose levels in the blood without breaking down in the body (more on this in my next post!).\u00a0 The drug simply does its job and passes straight through the human system.\u00a0 Metformin is so amazing that the molecular underpinnings of its pharmaceutical action remain an area of active investigation.\u00a0 There are even potential links between metformin and improved physiology, including\u00a0anti-cancer and anti-aging properties!<\/p>\n

\"An

An amazing little drug!<\/p><\/div>\n

With such a high rate of metformin usage in combination with its largely unaltered excretion into wastewater, metformin has become one of the most abundant pharmaceuticals being introduced into the environment and has been labeled as a Contaminant of Emerging Concern (CEC).\u00a0 Very little is known about the effects of metformin or its breakdown products in the environment, but endocrine disrupting effects have been observed in fathead minnows (Niemuth and Klaper 2015<\/a>, Crago et al 2016<\/a>), in addition to possible effects on Chinook salmon survival (Meador 2014<\/a>).\u00a0 In fact, a 2016 study in the Puget Sound listed metformin as the highest CEC in wastewater treatment plant effluent water (Meador et al 2016<\/a>).\u00a0 The total combined CEC output of only TWO tested wastewater treatment plants (out of 106!) was on the order of kilograms per day (Meador et al 2016<\/a>).\u00a0 To give you a frame of reference, picture the total amount of synthetic drugs, chemicals, and other chemicals of concern approaching natural levels of nitrogen input!\u00a0 Being one of the highest CEC\u2019s in wastewater treatment plant effluent, metformin is a large part of this picture.<\/p>\n

A similar situation may be true down here in Oregon, which is why I am looking at metformin in the Columbia River.\u00a0 The Columbia River is the second largest river (by flow) in the\u00a0United States and the largest source of freshwater to the northeast Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 With such a high flow rate along areas of dense population, metformin is a detectable CEC in the Columbia River (unpublished data).\u00a0\u00a0 I hope to characterize the distribution of metformin and its breakdown product, guanylurea, along the lower river.\u00a0 I have already started taking samples with the help of Columbia River Keeper (CRK) and our wonderful lab assistant, and I hope to start analyzing metformin and guanylurea concentrations soon.<\/p>\n

\"Columbia<\/a>

Map compiled and designed by Kirstyn Alex.<\/p><\/div>\n

This project is particularly motivating due to the potential for a positive change in both humans and our environment \u2013 two passions which I find impossible to separate.\u00a0 In a clinical trial, the National Institutes of Health \u201cfound a lifestyle intervention (modest weight loss of 5 to 7 percent of body weight and 30 minutes of exercise 5 times weekly) reduced the risk of getting Type II diabetes by 58 percent in a diverse population of over 3000 adults at high risk for diabetes\u201d (https:\/\/report.nih.gov\/nihfactsheets\/viewfactsheet.aspx?csid=121<\/a>).\u00a0 Obviously, Type II diabetes is often largely preventable with relatively simple changes in lifestyle.\u00a0 Or, in words more pertinent to my study, metformin input and associated toxicological impacts on the Columbia River watershed is largely preventable with relatively simple changes in human lifestyle.<\/p>\n

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Sampling kits for Columbia River Keeper.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Successful first round of cleaning sample vials.<\/p><\/div>\n

How great is it that I can encourage human health while encouraging environmental health?!\u00a0 I love my job.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for my next entry: Metformin, the Miracle Contaminant…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crago J, Bui C, Grewal S, Schlenk D. 2016. Age-dependent effects in fathead minnows from the anti-diabetic drug metformin. General and Comparative Endocrinology 232: 185-190. doi:10.1016\/j.ygcen.2015.12.030<\/p>\n

Meador JP. 2014. Do chemically contaminated river estuaries in Puget Sound (Washington, USA) affect the survival rate of hatchery-reared Chinook salmon? Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71(1): 162-180. doi:10.1139\/cjfas-2013-0130<\/p>\n

Meador JP, Yeh A, Young G, Gallagher EP. 2016. Contaminants of emerging concern in a large temperate estuary. Environmental Pollution 213: 254-267. doi:10.1016\/j.envpol.2016.01.088<\/p>\n

National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2010. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: NIH; [updated October 2010; accessed May 2016]. https:\/\/report.nih.gov\/nihfactsheets\/viewfactsheet.aspx?csid=121<\/a><\/p>\n

Niemuth NJ, Klaper RD. 2015. Emerging wastewater contaminant metformin causes intersex and reduced fecundity in fish. Chemosphere 135:38-45. doi:10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2015.03.060<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.whocc.no\/atcddd\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi There! Welcome to the convergence between medicine and the environment!\u00a0 I am a new Oregon Sea Grant scholar (actually, I started in late March, but who\u2019s counting?) that was given the wonderfully unique opportunity to attend the Institute of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7761,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[215957],"tags":[197045,2051,205512,341839,917010,1068754,2608,1068434,492358,320],"class_list":["post-3224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brittany-cummings","tag-cec","tag-columbia-river","tag-contaminants","tag-diabetes","tag-drugs","tag-endocrine-disruptor","tag-environmental-health","tag-metformin","tag-ohsu","tag-salmon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7761"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3224"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seagrantscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}