1. 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

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

3. 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 (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)

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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 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”.

7. 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.

8. 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

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

10. 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. )

11. 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

12. 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

13. Textbook and references
Textbook (not required):
Moeller, D.W., 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, New York. (Electronic resource, NCHU Library)
Worthington, David. Dictionary of environmental health; Spon Press, New York. (Electronic resource, NCHU Library)
For lecturing slides, please refer to

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

15. 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

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

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

18. 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

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

20. 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

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

22. 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

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

24. 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