Pitt Environmental and Occupational Health

01/26/2023

The American Lung Association has released their 2023 report on Pennsylvania’s failing grades in to***co control/smoking cessation: http://ow.ly/9fai50MB4zS

American Lung Association State of To***co Control

05/20/2022

Congratulations to our very own "Cover Scientist" Professor Valerian Kagan! Dr. Kagan was featured in the May 2022 Anti-Oxidants and Redox Signaling Journal. http://ow.ly/GBy350JeuIN # FreeRadicals

03/07/2022

Congratulations to our 2021-2022 Research Collaborative Grant Winners:

Winning Proposal:
Air Pollution and Fibrotic Lung Disease: Drs. Fabisiak (EOH), Nouraie (PACCM/SOM), Goobie, MD (HUGEN PhD candidate), and Degenholtz (HPM)

Runners-Up:
Prenatal smoking and birth outcomes: the influence of environmental factors on children’s health in Western Pennsylvania: Drs. Bortey-Sam, Sanders, and Tang (EOH)

Identification of new regulators of ferroptosis: An epigenetics approach: Drs. Dar and Tang

03/07/2022

Our EOH Student Seminars were a great success!

12/16/2021

EOH's own Sally Wenzel and Valerian Kagan are High Cited Researchers 2021 awardees by Clarivate. Congratulations!

11/05/2021

EOH's Dr. Wenzel featured in a Physiological Review Podcast
http://ow.ly/tM3u50GHblJ

Commentary and discussion on featured articles in Physiological Reviews...

10/11/2021

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day here are a few resources to learn more about the history of the native people of our area:
http://ow.ly/7J9d50Gpy8h

ON CAMPUS TODAY - An informal activity at the Global Hub (1st Floor Posvar) for Indigenous Peoples' Day! http://ow.ly/bBAL50Gpy8e

10/08/2021

On behalf of the EOH chair: The Air We Breathe: A Regional Summit on Air Pollution and Asthma in Our Community | UPMC - Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences - November 5th, 2021 http://ow.ly/khH450GooS4

09/29/2021

Shell cracker plant confirms a sweet-smelling odor came from its Beaver County facility “Factual identification of the actual agents responsible for or released in association with the reported smells should be a high priority, in the absence of which assigning any potential health risk becomes very problematic,” says University of Pittsburgh environmental and occupational health professor and Breathe Project member James Fabisiak. He also pointed the reporter toward CDC facts to help explain that the rumors that the smell was due to ethylene glycol were likely incorrect, keeping the focus on the bigger issue of the release, rather than false speculation. http://ow.ly/tcvw50GiROT

Residents throughout Beaver County have reported a maple-syrup-like odor over the weekend. Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals responded on Facebook on Sun., Sept. 26, confirming the odor...

07/06/2021

EOH's Schuyler and Wenzel link life in “redlined” neighborhoods with lower lung function: http://ow.ly/pajU50FqhZM

Adults with asthma living in neighborhoods that were deprioritized for mortgage investments in the 1930s, or redlined, had worse lung function than those living in non-redlined areas, researchers reported.Redlining is a form of institutional racism and discriminatory mortgage lending practice enacte...

06/22/2021

PITT EOH Article: Elucidating the contribution of mitochondrial glutathione to ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34102574/

Ferroptosis is a programmed iron-dependent cell death associated with peroxidation of lipids particularly, phospholipids. Several studies suggested a possible contribution of mitochondria to ferroptosis although the mechanisms underlying mitochondria-mediated ferroptotic pathways remain elusive. Red...

06/21/2021

PITT EOH Article: Phospholipids of APOE lipoproteins activate microglia in an isoform-specific manner in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease http://ow.ly/t9FQ50FeRu0

APOE and Trem2 are major genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but how they affect microglia response to Aβ remains unclear. Here we report an APOE isoform-specific phospholipid signature with correlation between human APOEε3/3 and APOEε4/4 AD brain and lipoproteins from astrocyte co...

06/11/2021

PITT EOH Article: Polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells limit antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cells in cancer http://ow.ly/3HMz50F6PdA

DCs are a critical component of immune responses in cancer primarily due to their ability to cross-present tumor-associated antigens. Cross-presentation by DCs in cancer is impaired, which may represent one of the obstacles for the success of cancer immunotherapies. Here, we report that polymorphonu...

06/10/2021

PITT EOH Article - Activation of Cytochrome C Peroxidase Function Through Coordinated Foldon Loop Dynamics upon Interaction with Anionic Lipids http://ow.ly/3mxj50F6Pbw

Cardiolipin (CL) is a mitochondrial anionic lipid that plays important roles in the regulation and signaling of mitochondrial apoptosis. CL peroxidation catalyzed by the assembly of CL-cytochrome c (cyt c) complexes at the inner mitochondrial membrane is a critical checkpoint. The structural changes...

06/09/2021

PITT EOH Article: Successive High-Resolution (H 2 O) n-GCIB and C 60-SIMS Imaging Integrates Multi-Omics in Different Cell Types in Breast Cancer Tissue - http://ow.ly/WDlr50F6PiX

The temporo-spatial organization of different cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is the key to understanding their complex communication networks and the immune landscape that exists within compromised tissues. Multi-omics profiling of single-interacting cells in the native TME is critical fo...

06/09/2021

PITT EOH Article: NO ● Represses the Oxygenation of Arachidonoyl PE by 15LOX/PEBP1: Mechanism and Role in Ferroptosis http://ow.ly/OZu550F6PgY

We recently discovered an anti-ferroptotic mechanism inherent to M1 macrophages whereby high levels of NO● suppressed ferroptosis via inhibition of hydroperoxy-eicosatetraenoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (HpETE-PE) production by 15-lipoxygenase (15LOX) complexed with PE-binding protein 1 ...