Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2004. / Title from document title page (viewed Jan. 7, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 141p. : ill. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-139).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 229 p. : maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1997. / Bibliography: leaves [122]-131. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Youngstown State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-31). Also available via the World Wide Web in PDF format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Sc. (Nanoscience) / Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and are harmful to humans and the environment. These PCBs are grouped under chlorinated organic compounds (COCs). The PCBs find their way to the environment through human activity such as industrialization and farming. Such activity produces wastes and runoffs that eventually end up in the water we use for drinking, farming and sanitation. It has then become necessary for researchers to find viable methods to remove these compounds from the environment. This is because current water treatment methods are not effective in the removal of the PCBs from water. The stages in the conventional treatment methods may include sand filtration, advanced oxidative processes and coagulation among others. These methods need to be energetically eco-friendly to drive the PCB dechlorination processes. Researchers have used a variety of metallic nanoparticles including bimetallic nanoparticles for the removal of COCs from water. However, nanoparticles tend to agglomerate when not supported - leading to a decrease in their activity. Hence it has become necessary to stabilize or immobilize these nanoparticles on suitable support materials, such as, polymer solutions or solid substrates. Solid substrates including metal oxides, carbon and membranes, are currently being explored. Poly(vinylidene difluoride) microfiltration membranes are especially suitable for this function given the high porosity, chemical inertness and other outstanding physical properties. In this work, the objective was to modify commercially hydrophilized poly(vinylidine)difluoride (PVDF) membranes with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). PEG is a bidentate polymer with two –OH groups found on either side of the molecule. The -OH groups allows PEG binding to the PVDF polymer backbone and hence high ability to capture or chelate the metal ions followed by their reduction. Nano-zerovalent metal nanoparticles were formed from these metal ions and chelated into the PEG grafted PVDF membrane to give the composite PVDF-PEG-Fe0. Post addition of the secondary metal was then followed by the introduction of the precomposite to a Pd solution to give the final catalytic membrane (PVDF-PEG-Fe0/Pd0). The use of PEG in this system allows for an even dispersion of the nanoparticles in the composite. The resulting nanocomposite membrane was used for the dechlorination of a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB 77). Attenuated total reflection- Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) showed that PEG was successfully grafted onto the PVDF backbone. Optical contact angle measurements (OCA) were taken to determine the change in hydrophilicity of the membrane upon modification. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) proved that the Pd and Fe nanoparticles immobilized on the system were indeed zerovalent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and contact angle measurements suggested a less porous membrane and slightly decreased hydrophilicity after modification. On the SEM micrographs the nanoparticles were observed to be quite evenly distributed in the membrane. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the nanoparticles were in the range 20-30 nm in diameter, confirming the particle size values as determined by SEM. For the preliminary dechlorination studies done under ambient conditions, two dimensional column gas chromatography- time of flight- mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOF-MS) results showed a complete dechlorination of PCB 77. A comparative study of the bare PVDF and catalytic membranes showed a slight difference in adsorption of the total PCB 77 concentrations. The catalytic membrane maintained its activity towards the dechlorination of PCB 77 after multiple regeneration cycles.

No description available.

In recent years, lower-chlorinated, airborne congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have evolved as an emerging class of potentially hazardous environmental contaminants. Previous work has demonstrated that sulfation is a major metabolic pathway for these PCBs in vitro and in vivo; however, their metabolic fate and toxicities have not been explored. Hypothyroxinemia is among the most prevalent adverse health effects associated with PCB exposure in human populations and is an assumed cause of a variety of neurodevelopmental effects observed in infants following prenatal PCB exposure. The displacement of L-thyroxine (T4) from binding sites on transthyretin (TTR), a major T4 transport protein and trans-placental carrier of thyroid hormones, is thought to be a significant contributing factor in PCB-induced hypothyroxinemia. Structural similarities between sulfated metabolites of PCBs and T4 led to the central hypothesis that PCB sulfates are bioactive metabolites that exhibit high affinity binding to T4 binding sites on human TTR. An examination of the ability of six lower-chlorinated PCB sulfates to bind to human TTR in vitro, as well as subsequent computational modeling, revealed that these compounds interact with the high-affinity binding site in a non-covalent manner and with affinities comparable to T4. Corroborating evidence for the binding of PCB sulfates stems from their ability to inhibit the formation of TTR amyloid fibrils through stabilization of the protein's native conformation. Fibrillar TTR aggregates are the cause of amyloidoses like senile systemic amyloidosis, familial amyloid polyneuropathy and familial amyloid cardiomyopathy. All PCB sulfates examined were effective inhibitors of TTR fibrillogenesis with equal or higher efficiencies than some of the best previously described inhibitors. In vivo exposure of male Sprague-Dawley rats to a model PCB sulfate, 4-PCB 11 sulfate, resulted in rapid and widespread distribution of the metabolite to various organs, including the brain. Consequently, there is a strong indication for a potential role of PCB sulfates in thyroid disruption and inter-tissue transport of PCBs, and the binding of PCB sulfates to TTR may also provide structural information for improved design of anti-amyloid therapeutics. To date there are no analytical procedures for the quantification of PCB sulfates available, and exposure levels in human populations remain unknown. This study provides, for the first time, evidence that PCB sulfates, if present in human serum samples, are not extracted by current standard protocols for the analysis of PCBs and their metabolites. Consequently, PCB sulfates may have been overlooked in the past decades resulting in potential underestimation of total PCB exposure levels in exposed populations. Based on this finding, an efficient approach for the quantitative extraction of PCB sulfates from a variety of biological samples was developed. This procedure, coupled with quantitative mass spectrometry, has been validated for the future screening of human serum samples, and it was successfully applied to determine the tissue distribution and elimination profile of 4-PCB 11 sulfate in male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are chlorinated organic compounds, which belong to persistent organic pollutants and exhibit various modes of toxic action, including mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and endocrine disruption. PCBs were manufactured during the 20th century in many countries and extensively used due to their advantageous physicochemical properties. PCBs mostly served as insulating liquids in electrical equipment; however, they were also utilized in many open applications. Despite the worldwide ban on PCB manufacture imposed at the end of the 20th century, the contamination of the environment persists to this day as a result of their recalcitrance. Moreover, PCBs are still being inadvertently produced during many industrial activities. Because of their stability, the breakdown of PCBs in nature is extremely slow. This dissertation thesis focuses on the study of PCB biodegradation by ligninolytic fungi. This group of microorganisms belongs to the most promising, especially in regard to the degradation of organic pollutants. The biodegradation mechanism of PCBs was studied in vitro, including the identification of degradation intermediates. Laccase, an enzyme expressed by the oyster mushroom (strain Pleurotus ostreatus 3004), was able to degrade hydroxylated PCBs. In addition, chlorinated...