ECU Department of Public Health

DPH faculty Dr. Sinan Sousan co-authored a new paper titled “Comparison between WBGT app prototype and WBGT monitor to assess heat stress risk in an eastern North Carolina outdoor setting” in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH). This work was supervised by Environmental Health faculty Dr. Jo Anne Balanay and was part of alumna Ms. Bridget Angol’s thesis. The article investigated the reliability of a WBGT app prototype in heat stress assessment for outdoor workers. The paper can be accessed directly from this link: https://lnkd.in/eXZaHeYQ

The Department of Public Health (DPH) celebrated its Fall 2024 MPH and DrPH graduates today. Brody School of Medicine Dean Dr. Michael Waldrum and the Graduate School Dean Debra L. Jackson attended the ceremony, along with DPH’s very own distinguished speaker Dr. Kevin O'brien, in honor of his service at ECU and retirement. Congratulations to all the students for their hard work, efforts and achievements, and big thanks to the DPH faculty for their teaching, supervision, and mentorship.

DPH faculty Drs. Qiang Wu, Stephanie Pitts, and MPH Alum Cheryl Cherry published a paper titled “A reflection-spectroscopy measured skin carotenoid score strongly correlates with plasma concentrations of all major dietary carotenoid species except for lycopene” in the Journal of Nutrition Research. Using data from two prior studies, the authors examined correlations between reflection spectroscopy-assessed skin carotenoid scores and individual plasma carotenoids. Skin carotenoid scores were strongly correlated with all individual plasma carotenoids except for lycopene. Thus, lycopene-rich food intake may not be detected well if using the reflection spectroscopy-device to assess dietary interventions. Congratulations! The paper can be accessed directly from this link: https://lnkd.in/eCaia_tt

Dr. Lok Pokhrel’s research advisee, Lauren Garcia, has been awarded an Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) award by East Carolina University’s Honors College for her grant proposal titled, “Evaluating Treatment Efficacy of a Novel Nano-Antibiotic against Drug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Planktonic and Biofilm Forms in COPD Model”. The central objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of a novel nano-antibiotic NH2-AgNPs in inhibiting P. aeruginosa planktonic and biofilm growth under low and high mucin environments, mimicking the airway milieu of patients with early and chronic stages of muco-obstructive lung diseases. Congratulations Lauren!

Dr. Lok Pokhrel and collaborators have a research article published in a prestigious Nature journal, Scientific Reports, entitled “Drought stress mitigation and improved yield in Glycine max through foliar application of zinc oxide nanoparticles”. The paper documents that foliar application of novel nano-fertilizer of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) could increase soybean seed yield by 39% under drought conditions and by over 79% under non-drought conditions. The findings suggest that ZnO-NPs could promote seed yield in soybean under drought stress via increased antioxidant activities, increased relative water content, decreased stress-related proline content, and increased photosynthetic pigments. The authors recommend that foliar application of 200 mg Zn/L as ZnO-NPs could serve as an effective drought stress management strategy to improve soybean yield. Congratulations Dr. Pokhrel and team! Full article can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/ehG3s9-f

DPH faculty Dr. Kavita Mosalpuria was recognized yesterday by Laupus Library for her dedication and scholarly contributions to education and research. Congratulations!

Dr. Stephanie Richards and DPH faculty Dr. Sinan Sousan were recognized by the ECU Office of Licensing and Commercialization as “Innovators of the Month” for October 2024 for their wind tunnel invention for insecticide exposure and testing. Congratulations for this recognition!

Emma Rush (BS Environmental Health student) and Paul Jones (BS Public Health student) were recently notified that they will receive the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) award for their project that compares different exposure methods used to evaluate insecticide resistance in mosquitoes. They will compare mortality rates for several mosquito populations and formulated insecticide products between exposures conducted via bottle bioassay, wind tunnel, and field trial. Each student will be paid about $700 for stipend and $500 for supplies, with a total award of $1895. Dr. Stephanie Richards serves as the mentor, and DPH faculty Dr. Sinan Sousan as the co-mentor.

DPH joint faculty Dr. Eric Bailey and DPH faculty Dr. Suzanne Lea hosted a DPH table for the “ECU Study Abroad” event. The following are some videos from the event: • https://lnkd.in/e_gw_rVP - ECU Study Abroad table • https://lnkd.in/exFRbsS8 - Dr. Lea at our ECU Study Abroad table • https://lnkd.in/e9nNizuR - Dr. Bailey explaining our ECU Study Abroad trip to England and France.

MPH graduate Nicole Bertges published her ProPaper project titled “Examination of factors that impact mask or respirator purchase and usage during the COVID-19 pandemic” in the journal PLOS ONE. The study was made possible in the laboratory of DPH faculty Dr. Sinan Sousan and in collaboration with communication professor Dr. Sachiyo Shearman, DPH researcher staff Dr. Satomi Imai, and Environmental Health Science faculty Dr. Jo Anne Balanay. This is Nicole’s third and first lead-author publication from Dr. Sousan’s lab. The study investigates the socioeconomic factors that impacted household COVID-19 N95 respirator purchases. The open-source publication can be found directly at this link https://lnkd.in/egED3kPv