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Background: Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide in global agriculture. Glyphosate and its primary environmental degradate, aminomethyl phosphonic acid (AMPA), have been shown to disrupt endocrine function and induce oxidative stress in in vitro and animal studies. To our knowledge, these relationships have not been previously characterized in epidemiological settings. Elevated urinary levels of glyphosate and AMPA may be indicative of health effects caused by previous exposure via multiple mechanisms including oxidative stress. Methods: Glyphosate and AMPA were measured in 347 urine samples collected between 16 and 20 weeks gestation and 24–28 weeks gestation from pregnant women in the PROTECT birth cohort. Urinary biomarkers of oxidative stress, comprising 8-isoprostane-prostaglandin-F2α (8-iso-PGF2α), its metabolite 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-15-F2 t-isoprostane (8-isoprostane metabolite) and prostaglandin-F2α (PGF2α), were also measured. Linear mixed effect models assessed the association between exposures and oxidative stress adjusting for maternal age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, household income and specific gravity. Potential nonlinear trends were also assessed using tertiles of glyphosate and AMPA exposure levels. Results: No significant differences in exposure or oxidative stress biomarker concentrations were observed between study visits. An interquartile range (IQR) increase in AMPA was associated with 9.5% (95% CI: 0.5–19.3%) higher 8-iso-PGF2α metabolite concentrations. Significant linear trends were also identified when examining tertiles of exposure variables. Compared to the lowest exposure group, the second and third tertiles of AMPA were significantly associated with 12.8% (0.6–26.5%) and 15.2% (1.8–30.3%) higher 8-isoprostane metabolite, respectively. An IQR increase in glyphosate was suggestively associated with 4.7% (−0.9 to 10.7%) higher 8-iso-PGF2α. Conclusions: Urinary concentrations of the main environmental degradate of glyphosate, AMPA, were associated with higher levels of certain oxidative stress biomarkers. Associations with glyphosate reflected similar trends, although findings were not as strong. Additional research is required to better characterize the association between glyphosate exposure and biomarkers of oxidative stress, as well as potential downstream health consequences.

Loss of basic utilities, such as drinking water and electricity distribution, were sustained for months in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria's (HM) landfall in Puerto Rico (PR) in September 2017. The goal of this study was to assess if there was deterioration in biological quality of drinking water due to these disruptions. This study characterized the microbial composition of drinking water following HM across nine drinking water systems (DWSs) in PR and utilized an extended temporal sampling campaign to determine if changes in the drinking water microbiome were indicative of HM associated disturbance followed by recovery. In addition to monitoring water chemistry, the samples were subjected to culture independent targeted and non-targeted microbial analysis including quantitative PCR (qPCR) and genome-resolved metagenomics. The qPCR results showed that residual disinfectant was the major driver of bacterial concentrations in tap water with marked decrease in concentrations from early to late sampling timepoints. While Mycobacterium avium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were not detected in any sampling locations and timepoints, genetic material from Leptospira and Legionella pneumophila were transiently detected in a few sampling locations. The majority of metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) recovered from these samples were not associated with pathogens and were consistent with bacterial community members routinely detected in DWSs. Further, whole metagenome-level comparisons between drinking water samples collected in this study with samples from other full-scale DWS indicated no significant deviation from expected community membership of the drinking water microbiome. Overall, our results suggest that disruptions due to HM did not result in significant and sustained deterioration of biological quality of drinking water at our study sites.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The objective of this partnership was to create a global network of clinical and public health researchers and communities conducting technology-assisted research in noncommunicable disease. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The University of Rochester’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has successfully leveraged the informatics core’s capacity into an emerging network of organizations that focus on technology and health in settings outside of the mainland United States. The CTSI coordinated with another NIH-funded infrastructure program [the RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN)] to identify partner institutions interested in technology and health. RTRN identified the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Hawaii, both of which serve as hubs for common research interests in technology and health throughout the Caribbean and the Pacific. This network was formalized as the CDC’s Coordinating Center for its Global and Territorial Health Research Network (the “Global Network”), with additional US partners (Yale, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of North Caroline Chapel Hill, and the University of South Florida) within a wider scope of the CDC’s Prevention Research Centers (PRC) program. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Through combining 2 main NIH-funded research infrastructure networks (CTSA and RTRN), with a large CDC-funded PRC, the University of Rochester’s Informatics Core was successful in establishing a new productive global health network throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the Pacific, garnering additional research support from NIH Fogarty and other programs. The resulting network not only supports locally-important research in technology and health on compelling health issues (eg, diabetes, ZIka, participation in research), but also facilitates community engagement through local partnerships and the cores of the involved networks. In addition, much of the information and communications technology (ICT)-related research and learnings from the Global Network activity is immediately applicable to populations in the United States, served by the various collaborative networks. In total, while new, the Global Network supports a wide range of projects and engagements throughout the world that expand local informatics capacity and use of technology in the research process and to address global health problems, further enhancing the CTSI’s informatics core to serve the needs of its own constituency and promote research engagement with technology within this population. Local research collaborative projects reinforce the utility of the network and its resources, evidenced by tools, publications, partnerships, and conference presentations that have arisen. Lessons to date from this Global Network collaboration include: specific global research projects provide opportunities for partnership building and meaningful collaboration, team science is of central importance in distributing the work of the network, synergy is multidirectional with expertise and need flowing in all directions, and project team members in all locales learned and contributed substantially in ways that carried into their other responsibilities. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The overall partnership has created opportunity for South-South collaboration, for adaptation of projects among locales, and has helped boost reputational value for all partners involved. Implications for other CTSA awardees include: global collaboration can serve core research and technical needs for the CTSA itself and its local partners, CTSA status can be leveraged to access resources to support local research, and collaboration in other federally-funded research networks helps expand the insight, scope, and potential for new research.