Anna K Harding

Oregon State University | OSU · School of Biological and Population Health Sciences

Fish provide a valuable source of beneficial nutrients and are an excellent source of low fat protein. However, fish are also the primary source of methylmercury exposure in humans. Selenium often co-occurs with mercury and there is some evidence that selenium can protect against mercury toxicity yet States issue fish consumption advisories based s...

Background: The primary route of exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), a known developmental neurotoxicant, isf rom ingestion of seafood. Since 2004, women of reproductive age in the U.S. have been urged to eat fish and shellfish as part of a healthy diet while selecting species that contain lower levels MeHg. Yet few studies have examined trends in Me...

One expectation of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is participant access to study results. However, reporting experimental data produced by studies involving biological measurements in the absence of clinical relevance can be challenging to scientists and participants. We applied best practices in data sharing to report the results of...

Driven by major scientific advances in analytical methods, biomonitoring, computational tools, and a newly articulated vision for a greater impact in public health, the field of exposure science is undergoing a rapid transition from a field of observation to a field of prediction. Deployment of an organizational and predictive framework for exposur...

The relative influences of trans-Pacific and regional atmospheric transport on measured concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), PAH derivatives (nitro- (NPAH) and oxy-(OPAH)), organic carbon (OC), and particulate matter (PM) less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) were investigated in the Pacific Northwest, U.S. in 2010-2011. Ambien...

Few studies have been published on the excretion rates of parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and hydroxy-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) following oral exposure. This study investigated the metabolism and excretion rates of 4 parent PAHs and 10 OH-PAHs after the consumption of smoked salmon. Nine members of the Confederated T...

Although surfers have high incidental exposure to marine waters, no studies have investigated if surfer risk behaviors (such as surfing during advisories, near an outfall, during a rain event, or use of personal protective equipment) increase or decrease the risk of acquiring waterborne illnesses. We used a web-based survey to assess the associatio...

Background Poorly ventilated combustion stoves and pollutants emitted from combustion stoves increase the risk of acute lower respiratory illnesses (ALRI) in children living in developing countries but few studies have examined these issues in developed countries. Our objective is to investigate behaviors related to gas stove use, namely using them...

Researchers from NIEHS-funded Superfund Research Programs at Oregon State University (OSU) and Louisiana State University (LSU) convened a diverse gathering of leaders of Gulf Coast regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs), regulatory agencies, residents and researchers to examine events following recent environmental disasters. The objective...

A method was developed for the measurement of 19 parent PAHs (PAHs) and 34 hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs) in urine and personal air samples of particulate matter less than 2.5μm in diameter (PM2.5) using GC-MS and validated using NIST SRM 3672 (Organic Contaminants in Smoker's Urine) and SRM 3673 (Organic Contaminants in Nonsmoker's Urine). The method...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine perceived experiences of racial discrimination (perceived discrimination) in health care and its associations with completing standards of care for diabetes management and diabetes control. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 200 adult American Indian (AI) women with type 2 diabetes from...

Gas stoves emit pollutants that are respiratory irritants. U.S. children under age 6 who live in homes where gas stoves are used for cooking or heating have an increased risk of asthma, wheeze and reduced lung function. Yet few studies have examined whether using ventilation when operating gas stoves is associated with a decrease in the prevalence...

Indigenous cultures perceive the natural environment as an essential link between traditional cultural practices, social connectedness, identity, and health. Many tribal communities face substantial health disparities related to exposure to environmental hazards. Our study used qualitative methods to better understand the Confederated Tribes of the...

Breast and cervical cancer-mortality disparities are prominent among American Indian women. These disparities, in part, may result from patients perceived experiences of discrimination in health care. This report evaluates the impact of perceived discrimination on screening for breast and cervical cancer in a sample of 200 American Indian women wit...

Introduction: Naphthalene is an important contaminant in indoor and outdoor air. Acute overexposure can have toxic effects, resulting in hemolysis. We examined 1- and 2-hydroxynaphthalene urinary metabolites (NAP1 and NAP2) in White, Black and Hispanic U.S. adults, and their relationship with hemoglobin (HGB) and hematocrit (HCT). Methods: Using th...

Presentation of a case study describing a community-based participatory research project between Oregon State University and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) in Oregon to investigate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposures from consumption of traditionally smoked foods and from the practice of traditional s...

Naphthalene is an important contaminant in indoor and outdoor air. Acute overexposure can have toxic effects, resulting in hemolysis. There have been no studies evaluating the impact of environmental exposure on red blood cell indices. We examined 1- and 2-hydroxynaphthalene urinary metabolites (NAP1 and NAP2) in non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Bl...

The paper provides an overview of methods that can be used to develop exposure scenarios for unique tribal natural resource usage patterns. Exposure scenarios are used to evaluate the degree of environmental contact experienced by people with different patterns of lifestyle activities, such as residence, recreation, or work. In 1994, Executive Orde...

Although it is known that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be found in smoked meats, little is known about their prevalence in Native American smoked fish. In this work, the effect of traditional Native American fish smoking methods on dietary exposure to PAHs and possible risks to human health has been assessed. Smoking methods consider...

When conducting research with American Indian tribes, informed consent beyond conventional institutional review board (IRB) review is needed because of the potential for adverse consequences at a community or governmental level that are unrecognized by academic researchers. In this article, we review sovereignty, research ethics, and data-sharing c...

The Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, both enacted in 2008, were intended to protect children from exposure to lead by setting federal limits on lead content. Neither of these federal actions, however, addresses a newly recognized pathway of exposure to lead from the use of used consumer pro...

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and other tribes in the United States may be at increased risk of disease due to cumulative PAH exposures from traditionally smoked foods, air exposure from traditional smoking of foods, and ambient air pollution. This community-based participatory research project with the Oregon...

Health disparities have been well documented in American Indian populations and are partially explained by persistent under-utilization of preventive and medical services. Medical mistrust and perceived racism may play important roles in these disparities, particularly when medical recommendations conflict with cultural beliefs, traditional knowled...

Background: The majority of research on medical discrimination may not be generalizable to diverse racial and ethnic groups, such as American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). There are currently no validated instruments to accurately measure medical discrimination in AI/AN populations. Objectives: Our objectives were to validate measures of medic...

Benzene is a widespread urban pollutant emitted by industrial sources and transportation vehicles. Nationally and in Oregon, benzene is the largest contributor to total cancer risk from air pollutants. This study sought to determine if the incidence of acute myeloid leukemia in Portland, Oregon during the period 1995-2004, varied with ambient airbo...

The presence of contaminants in ambient air is a global problem which poses significant health risks to humans, but chronic exposure is difficult to determine due to long latency periods and a paucity of appropriate epidemiologic studies. Pet dogs may be useful sentinels for potential environmental health exposures because they share our environmen...

Surfing is a unique recreational activity with the possibility of elevated risk for contracting gastrointestinal (GI) illness through ingestion of contaminated water. No prior studies have assessed exposure from ingestion among surfing populations. This study estimated the magnitude and frequency of incidental water ingestion using a Web-based surv...

Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a global issue with national implications. Chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water has been linked to both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a spatial relationship between groundwater arsenic concentrations and cancer incidences wit...

Food handler focus groups in two Oregon counties discussed knowledge, practices, and barriers related to handwashing in the restaurant environment. Current knowledge-based handwashing training programs do not address the internal and external barriers that affect handwashing practice. According to the focus groups, important barriers were time pres...

We collected four measures of viable bacterial concentration (heterotrophic plate count, total coliform, fecal coliform, and Escherichia coli) and three measures of well color development in Biolog GN2 microtiter plates from water samples that were collected on two or three separate occasions from a fixed site on 19 different streams throughout Ore...

A total of 3086 samples, both marine (2916) and freshwater creeks/outfall samples (170) were collected and analyzed for enterococci during October 2002-April 2005, from 52 designated beaches in Oregon. A total of 3.2% (99/3086) of the samples at 21 beaches exceeded 158 most probable number (MPN)/100 milliliters (mL). The average enterococci levels...

At the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development, a subcommittee of the Board of Scientific Counselors Executive Committee conducted an independent and open peer review of the Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Research Program (EDC Research Program) of the U.S. EPA. The subcommittee was charged with r...

Approximately 4.5 million people in the United States who rely on well water are exposed to nitrate-N concentrations exceeding the 10 mg/l standard. In this study in the Southern Willamette Valley in Oregon we reassessed nitrate-N in rural wells sampled in 2000–2001, compared nitrate-N concentrations among geological units, and surveyed residents a...

This research examines the acceptability of solar disinfection of drinking water (SODIS) in a village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, using constructs from the Health Belief Model as a framework to identify local understandings of water, sanitation and health issues. There has been no published research on the acceptability of SODIS in household testin...

The study examined pH, turbidity and fecal contamination of drinking water from household water storage containers, wells and taps, and the Godawari River, and tested the effectiveness of solar disinfection (SODIS) in reducing levels of fecal contamination from household containers. The research was conducted in 40 households in a village 6 km outs...

Traditional bacterial indicators used in public health to assess water quality and the Biolog system were evaluated to compare their response to biological, chemical, and physical habitat indicators of stream condition both within the state of Oregon and among ecoregion aggregates (Coast Range, Willamette Valley, Cascades, and eastern Oregon). Fort...

The Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC) program is a unique university-based community outreach and "hybrid" technical assistance program designed to assist communities affected by hazardous waste problems. A distinct feature of the TOSC program is that it provides an alternate, independent source of technical assistance on demand, t...

This paper discusses a study of four communities in Oregon that were divided into two control groups and surveyed according to water contamination problems and how their perceptions of risk affected their use of tap water versus bottled water. Results indicated that risk perception about drinking water appears to be affected by three factors: the c...

This primer is a tool to help prepare scientists for meetings with stakeholders. It was prepared for staff involved with the Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. It discusses why some efforts in science communication may succeed while others fail, provides methods of approachin...

A recent study offers utilities information that may help increase the effectiveness of their public notification programs. Residents of four Oregon communities were surveyed about their responses to public notification. In the two towns that had issued public notification in response to a water problem, most residents were aware of the notices and...

The purpose of the study was to determine the knowledge level of undergraduate students of a Nigerian university about HIV/AIDS, their perception of risk of contracting HIV/AIDS based on their sexual behaviour, and to assess how students acquire information about HIV/AIDS. The sample consisted of 380 students from five faculties of the university w...

Since 1988, the Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE) Program at Oregon State University (OSU) has provided science and math enrichment to over 2,400 precollege minority and low-income school children in Oregon. In 1996, OSU received a four-year grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to impr...

This study investigated medical waste practices used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which includes the majority of hospitals in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 10. During the fall of 1993, 225 hospitals were surveyed with a response rate of 72.5%. The results reported here focus on infectious waste segregatio...

This study evaluated the health risks for a rural northeastern Oregon population which is exposed to high nitrate levels in well water. The study also identified possible sources of nitrate contamination, and investigated measures the residents had taken to reduce their nitrate exposure from well water. Three data sets were used in the study, inclu...

This study evaluated the health risks for a rural northeastern Oregon population which is exposed to high nitrate levels in well water. The study also identified possible sources of nitrate contamination, and investigated measures the resident had taken to reduce their nitrate exposure from well water. Three data sets were used in the study, includ...

There is increasing public concern about health effects resulting from ingestion of food containing toxic metals such as Cd and Pb. For example, a wide range of metabolic disorders and neuropsychological deficits in children have been noted, and chronic exposure to Cd has been linked to kidney failure and bone disease. The potential harm posed by t...

Highlights the ethical issues regarding HIV and AIDS and reviews ethical and legal guidelines concerning HIV and AIDS and confidentiality. HIV and AIDS confidentiality policies of the major helping professional organizations are summarized, and questions that contribute to the confidentiality dilemmas are articulated. The American Counseling Associ...

Limits of confidentiality have not been defined for the life‐threatening dilemma of a client who has the AIDS virus and who continues to be sexually active without informing her or his partners. The authors review the medical background of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, legal limits, and ethical tenets of confidentiality. A position supporting...

Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1990. Includes bibliographical references. Microfiche. s