Papers by Catherine Zeman
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Dec 8, 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
contaminated sites located in each school district. Previous studies showed that various environm... more contaminated sites located in each school district. Previous studies showed that various environmental factors, such as exposure to toxic substances negatively impacts human health depending on their concentration and occurrence. Therefore, the study aims to use Geographical Information System (GIS) technology and secondary data on IEP numbers of each school district, chemical occurrence in contaminated sites, and demographic data to conduct a correlational analysis. The secondary data obtained from school districts and contaminated sites from Iowa Department of Natural Resources Facility Explorer were populated in ArcMap 10.5 (a GIS software) for generating maps and data to conduct statistical analysis. The contaminants were categorized into metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and solvents with weighing factors as 1, 0.5, and 0.25. A total of 1 Superfund site and 39 CERCLA sites were identified as contaminated sites for this study. The majority of contaminants were heavy metal...
International Journal of Public Health Science (IJPHS)
Most healthcare workers are not meeting the American heart association’s recommended 150 minutes ... more Most healthcare workers are not meeting the American heart association’s recommended 150 minutes of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in healthcare workers' stress on their stages of distribution for physical activity using the stages of change model. A volunteer sample of 122 healthcare workers was asked to complete an online 3-page questionnaire measuring their perceived stress and stages of change distribution for their physical activity. The result revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the level of stress and stage of change distribution for the recommended level of physical activity as determined by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) F(4, 118)=3.36, p=.012.
In the Fall of 2018, the Recycling and Reuse Technology Transfer Center partnered with Helping Ha... more In the Fall of 2018, the Recycling and Reuse Technology Transfer Center partnered with Helping Hands International to host a fundraising dinner in an effort to support the construction of a new hall in a rural school in Pakistan. The event featured guest speakers Dr. Catherine Zeman, Professor of Environmental Health; Ms. Dema Kazkaz, President of Masjid Al Noor Islamic Center in Waterloo, Iowa; Mr. Shamir Butt, PIEER student intern and president of Helping Hands International, University of Northern Iowa Chapter. Dr. Zeman . Dr. Zeman spoke about the importance of children having healthy environmental conditions to support learning and growth. Ms. Kazkaz spoke on the influence students have in spreading awareness to support primary school students in Pakistan. Mr. Butt gave the audience a background of Helping Hands International’s work in Pakistan and presented a short documentary. More than sixty people attended the dinner and helped raise more than $3,000, enough money to cover ...
UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2017
Human Migration and Environmental Degradation: The Toll on Vulnerable Women and Children" Overvie... more Human Migration and Environmental Degradation: The Toll on Vulnerable Women and Children" Overview: 1. The early years of the 21st Century have seen major changes in the world's demographic profile. The world's total population is currently just over seven billion. Middle-range projections by the United Nations Population Fund suggest the world's population will grow to ten billion by about 2050 and about eleven billion at the end of the century. Higher and lower projections for the end of the 21st century are 16.5 billion and 7 billion respectively depending on trends in fertility rates, which in general are projected to decline. Global average fertility rates have also dropped from 4.5 children in 1970 to about 2.5 children in 2014. However, although fertility rates are falling, the world's total population will continue to grow due to the fact that people are living longer. The average global life span in the early 1990s was 64.8 years, but today the average lifespan is 70.0 years. Expectations are for this upward trend to continue.[1] The total size of the world's human population will therefore present challenges, but perhaps even more difficult to address will be the size and dynamic nature of global human migration and the four major trends occurring related to population shifts.
Journal of ethnographic and qualitative research, 2018
Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2019
Cross-References ▶ Knowledge Sharing and Sustainable Development ▶ School Actions Plans for Susta... more Cross-References ▶ Knowledge Sharing and Sustainable Development ▶ School Actions Plans for Sustainable Development ▶ Sustainability Barriers O health concerns are best approached through a systems analysis lens, the same approach that environmental sustainability issues are best understood through (Meadows 2008). Consequently, occupational health concerns and sustainability challenges share many intersectional ties (Boileau 2016; Hartwell 2012).
Dr. Diane Depken and Dr. Catherine Zeman University of Northern Iowa This article is a case study... more Dr. Diane Depken and Dr. Catherine Zeman University of Northern Iowa This article is a case study of conducting field -based epidemiological work in a former communist country. A brief background of Romanian history and culture is fol lowed by discussion of the challenges of doing epidemiological science in a culture experiencing socio-political flux . In this former communist country where a common understanding of specific methods of epidemiological science and research ethics is not necessarily shared by both visiting and indigenous scientists, successful fieldwork depends on a high degree of understanding, sensitivity, and patience. The United States Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, OMH provides guidelines for culturally competent care that, while originally designed for use in patient-provider care settings, can provide insight and direction in the practice of epidemiological fieldwork. The OMH guidelines are provided, and they are discuss...
Biocycle, 2001
Composters have a key role in helping to find solutions to concerns about greenhouse gases, globa... more Composters have a key role in helping to find solutions to concerns about greenhouse gases, global warming and solid waste management impacts.
This ex vivo pilot study examined the effect of low dose nitrite exposure on peripheral blood mon... more This ex vivo pilot study examined the effect of low dose nitrite exposure on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) proliferation and nitric oxide (NO) generation among people with osteoarthritis (cases) and without osteoarthritis (controls). The hypothesis was that nitrite exposure produced different effects on proliferation and NO generation between the cases and controls. Human PBMC, composed of lymphocytes and monocytes, were isolated from the whole blood of 31 participants (15 cases and 16 controls) using density gradient centrifugation, then exposed to five different nitrite concentrations: 0 (negative controls), 1 mg/l (0.02 mM), 5 mg/l (0.10 mM), 10 mg/l (0.21 mM), and 15 mg/l (0.32 mM). PBMC proliferation and NO generation were determined after 96-hours and 48-hours, respectively, using a Muse Unit (Cell Analyzer/Flow Cytometer). Increasing nitrite exposure significantly suppressed the non-stimulated PBMC proliferation (F = 7.07, p<.0001). The study also showed PBMC p...
This poster overviews the Panther Initiative for Environmental Equity and Resilience, PIEER inter... more This poster overviews the Panther Initiative for Environmental Equity and Resilience, PIEER internship program. Defining the PIEER experience and its pedagogical underpinnings, its structure and place in the curriculum, the depth and breadth of student involvement to date as well as detailing some of the community engagement efforts that PIEER interns have been involved in.
Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 2019
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2021
Purpose Environmental health disparities case studies are explored through a combination of lens ... more Purpose Environmental health disparities case studies are explored through a combination of lens including the naturome/nurturome, exposome [nature vs nurture] and multiple exposure-zone [place as predictor of health and wellbeing] concepts. This work places the educational program and experience within a theoretical framework using all these grounding theories. This provides an approach to experiential and transformative education in environmental equity/sustainability that we are calling transformative, trans-theoretical equity education, T2E2. This paper aims to describe this model, its grounding theories and provide real-world examples of this model in action through PIEER. Design/methodology/approach The University of Northern Iowa’s environmental equity internship, Panther Initiative for Environmental Equity and Resilience, PIEER, engages students on multiple levels to view sustainability from an equity perspective. The experience seeks to immerse the student in an understandi...
Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 2002
Aims: The primary focus of this exposure assessment work involved developing an exposure model an... more Aims: The primary focus of this exposure assessment work involved developing an exposure model and determining a numerical point estimate of the amount of biologically relevant nitrate / nitrite exposure that occurred for each child in the study. This assessment was done in support of two epidemiological studies. The first study was an epidemiological cohort study (three cohorts based on nitrate / nitrite exposure) that explored the relationship between high nitrate / nitrite exposure and neuropsychological development. The second study was a nested case / control study (cases of methemoglobinemia versus disease-free controls) that sought to explore the relationship between MHG and various risk factors for the disease. Methods: This work uses both dietary survey and environmental sampling and modeling in order to develop two point estimates of nitrate exposure in milligrams per kilogram per day of nitrite (the biologically active form of the hemoglobin-oxidizing agent) for the first 6 months of the child's life (2-months-of-age and 6-months-of-age point estimates). Methodologies included proxy interviews of primary caregivers, review of existing medical and environmental sampling and analysis. Results: Exposure to nitrate-nitrogen (with final calculations converted to the biologically active form of the toxin, nitrite) was categorized as high, medium, and low as determined from the distribution of the data derived from final exposure calculations at both the 2-months-of-age point estimate and at the 6-months-of-age point estimate. These tertiles correspond to !1.5 mg / kg / day nitrite-nitrogen for high-exposure individuals, < 1.5-!0.1 mg / kg / day for medium-exposure individuals, and < 0.1 mg / kg / day for low-exposure individuals. Analyses illustrate that over 90% of the nitrate exposure occurred through the consumption of liquids (water) at the 2months-of-age point estimate while at the 6-months-of-age point estimate, a 10-fold change in the amount of solid consumables occurred. Conclusions: Final exposure calculations were well differentiated into three tertiles based on a point estimate of average daily intake of nitrite in milligrams per kilogram body weight per day at roughly 2 and 6 months of age. These categories of exposure, based on the exposure model point estimate, correspond well with the exposure estimates as estimated only on the basis of cohort status and their corresponding nitrate / nitrite well water levels. Comparisons of these two sets of data illustrate that following the MHG incident, Cohort II shifted places with Cohort I to become the high-exposure cohort. Further, the predictive ability of the exposure assessment in regard to the outcome of MHG was estimated using a Likelihood Ratio and Pearson's Crosstab analysis. This was performed on the 2month-of-age point estimate. Likelihood Ratio and Pearson's chi-square were 39.40 and 33.74, respectively, with a probability of achieving these fits by chance alone of < 0.0001. This indicates clearly that the children who experienced MHG were also the children at the 2-month-of-age point estimate who had received the highest exposure to nitrate / nitrite through their diet.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2000
Low volatile organic compound solvents for use with low volatility soy based lithographic printin... more Low volatile organic compound solvents for use with low volatility soy based lithographic printing inks are evaluated for several criteria related to performance and environmental health and safety (EHS) impact. Solvents encompassed the chemical categories of hydrocarbon alcohol mixtures, fatty acid derivatives, hydrocarbon distillates including fatty acids and alkyl benzene sulfonate mixtures, hydrocarbon distillate mixtures (long-chain), and hydrocarbon distillates including alkoxylated alcohols and proplyene glycol ethers. Five different captive printing operations served as on-press evaluation sites and one University teaching laboratory, all running small-frame sheet fed lithographic presses. A two-color negative was used with a standard image, allowing for testing with both red and black soy ink. Solvents were randomly assigned to each of the six presses. On-press evaluations included the Likert ranking of ease of cleaning and wipeability.. Wipeability was evaluated for the black ink only. A total of 120 data measures were evaluated via a Likert scale ranking process, with solvents serving as their own controls. Frequency distributions were calculated on the performance scales. While individual solvents varied somewhat in performance ranking, an analysis of all solvents indicated that 88% of solvents performed at a 3 (scale of 1-5) or better ranking for cleaning effort and 87% of the samples performed at a 3 or better level in terms of wipeability. Subsequent analysis for significance using the Friedman Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance on Ranks underscored the overall good performance of the solvents as significant differences were not found for cleaning effort (p=0.6) and wipeability (p=0.2). Performance findings with the on-press evaluations underscored the importance of the subjective health and safety evaluations. These were based on current state of knowledge, were conducted on each of the ten different solvent formulations, and resulted in the categorization of these solvents according to risk to employee health. This ranking was performed according to what is known concerning the major chemical constituents of the solvent mixtures and their health effects. Results from these evaluations are presented in concert with the performance data to provide a final EHS ranking for the solvents. This work will aide technical assistance providers and small scale press operators in reducing dissipative losses to the environment through intelligent product substitution choices.
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2003
... Exposure methodology and findings for dietary nitrate exposures in children of Transylvania,R... more ... Exposure methodology and findings for dietary nitrate exposures in children of Transylvania,Romania. ... User Agreements | Questia School | About Us | Advertise with Us | Contact | Tools for Webmasters | Requirements | FREE BOOKS | Questia Library for iPhone/iPod Touch ...
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2005
We read with interest the recent study titled "Neurologic Symptoms in Licensed Private Pesticide ... more We read with interest the recent study titled "Neurologic Symptoms in Licensed Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study" (Kamel et al. 2005). Although this was a hypothesis-generating study, the authors speculated regarding moderate exposure and associations with neurologic symptoms. Substantiation of hypotheses requires meaningful metrics of exposure and effect, and depends on exclusion and analysis of competing hypotheses for the observations. In our opinion, the article by Kamel et al. falls seriously short in several regards and requires additional data in order to provide credible and defensible conclusions. Kamel et al. (2005) analyzed a number of symptoms in those "ever" experiencing one of 23 self-reported symptoms in the preceding 12 months. The biologic significance of the outcome "symptom count" is unknown; also, "multiple symptoms" is not a definable disease or illness. The fact that private applicators report headache, nausea, and fatigue does not establish that each is of neurologic origin, particularly given the physical requirements of farming. Indeed, results of the questions used by Kamel et al. (2005) have been shown to agree poorly with objective tests of neurologic function (Lundberg et al. 1997). Further, Kamel et al. limited the analyses to a single episode rather than symptoms that were reported more than once per year (Kamel et al. (2005); Table 2). As a crosssectional analysis, the data do not permit assessment of the temporal relationship between exposure and symptom onset, and no consideration was given to the transient nature of the reported symptoms. Thus, although the nature of the analysis implies some sort of persistent neurologic condition underlying the reporting of symptoms, no such condition can be established from intermittent symptoms of indeterminate etiology. In addition to other potential causes for these symptoms, researchers have warned about the role of psychosocial factors in the reporting of non-specific symptoms. According to Spurgeon et al. (1996), Many occupational and environmental health hazards present as an increased reporting of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, backache, eye and respiratory irritation, tiredness, memory problems, and poor concentration. The pattern and number of such symptoms is surprisingly constant from hazard to hazard suggesting that common psychological and social factors, not directly related to the exposure may be involved.
Field and ethnographic data are utilized to illustrate that significant contamination of rural we... more Field and ethnographic data are utilized to illustrate that significant contamination of rural wells with nitrates, bacteria and protozoa both currently and in the past are fertile ground for the development of myths surrounding spirit and blood stealing mythical creatures. The very real problem of methemoglobinemia, an environmentally induced hypoxia, in rural Transylvania is an ideal situation for physiological confirmation of and, perhaps, cultural etiology determination of the myth of vampirism. Ethnographic accounts of vampire and werewolf myths are correlated with the field data . Since Bram Stoker's 1897 publication of Dracula, the vampire myth has haunted the imagination of the West. The relatively modern literary tale of the stealthy Count Dracula who lies in lifeless stupor by day and preys on the living by night has risen to a level of modern myth itself. Many of the truths that gave life to the tale have been lost in the passing of time and obstructed by the difficul...
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Papers by Catherine Zeman