Bit of History and Some Lessons Learned in Using NASA Remote Sensing Data in Public Health Applications

The NASA Applied Sciences Program's public health initiative began in 2004 to illustratethe potential benefits for using remote sensing in public health applications. Objectives/Purpose: The CDC initiated a st udy with NASA through the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) to establish a pilot effort to use remote sensing data as part of its Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN). As a consequence, the NCEH and NASA developed a project called HELIX-Atlanta (Health and Environment Linkage for Information Exchange) to demonstrate a process for developing a local environmental public health tracking and surveillance network that integrates non-infectious health and environment systems for the Atlanta metropolitan area. Methods: As an ongo ing, systematic integration, analysis and interpretation of data, an EPHTN focuses on: 1 -- environmental hazards; 2 -- human exposure to environmental hazards; and 3 -- health effects potentially related to exposure to environmental hazards. To satisfy the definition of a surveillance system the data must be disseminated to plan, implement, and evaluate environmental public health action. Results: A close working r elationship developed with NCEH where information was exchanged to assist in the development of an EPHTN that incorporated NASA remote sensing data into a surveillance network for disseminating public health tracking information to users. This project?s success provided NASA with the opportunity to work with other public health entities such as the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the University of New Mexico and the University of Arizona. Conclusions: HELIX-Atlanta became a functioning part of the national EPHTN for tracking environmental hazards and exposure, particularly as related to air quality over Atlanta. Learning Objectives: 1 -- remote sensing data can be integral to an EPHTN; 2 -- public tracking objectives can be enhanced through remote sensing data; 3 -- NASA's involvement in public health applications can have wider benefits in the future

An Update of NASA Public Health Applications Projects using Remote Sensing Data

Satellite earth observations present a unique vantage point of the earth s environment from space which offers a wealth of health applications for the imaginative investigator. The session will present research results of the remote sensing environmental observations of earth and health applications. This session will an overview of many of the NASA public health applications using Remote Sensing Data and will also discuss opportunities to become a research collaborator with NASA

NASA Earth Observation Systems and Applications for Public Health and Air Quality Models and Decisions Support

Health and Air Quality providers and researchers need environmental data to study and understand the geographic, environmental, and meteorological differences in disease. Satellite remote sensing of the environment offers a unique vantage point that can fill in the gaps of environmental, spatial, and temporal data for tracking disease. This presentation will demonstrate the need for collaborations between multi-disciplinary research groups to develop the full potential of utilizing Earth Observations in studying health. Satellite earth observations present a unique vantage point of the earth's environment from space, which offers a wealth of health applications for the imaginative investigator. The presentation is directly related to Earth Observing systems and Global Health Surveillance and will present research results of the remote sensing environmental observations of earth and health applications, which can contribute to the public health and air quality research. As part of NASA approach and methodology they have used Earth Observation Systems and Applications for Public Health and Air Quality Models to provide a method for bridging gaps of environmental, spatial, and temporal data for tracking disease. This presentation will provide an overview of projects dealing with infectious diseases, water borne diseases and air quality and how many environmental variables effect human health. This presentation will provide a venue where the results of both research and practice using satellite earth observations to study weather and it's role in public health research

Inhibition of cellular protein secretion by norwalk virus nonstructural protein p22 requires a mimic of an endoplasmic reticulum export signal.

Protein trafficking between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus is central to cellular homeostasis. ER export signals are utilized by a subset of proteins to rapidly exit the ER by direct uptake into COPII vesicles for transport to the Golgi. Norwalk virus nonstructural protein p22 contains a YXΦESDG motif that mimics a di-acidic ER export signal in both sequence and function. However, unlike normal ER export signals, the ER export signal mimic of p22 is necessary for apparent inhibition of normal COPII vesicle trafficking, which leads to Golgi disassembly and antagonism of Golgi-dependent cellular protein secretion. This is the first reported function for p22. Disassembly of the Golgi apparatus was also observed in cells replicating Norwalk virus, which may contribute to pathogenesis by interfering with cellular processes that are dependent on an intact secretory pathway. These results indicate that the ER export signal mimic is critical to the antagonistic function of p22, shown herein to be a novel antagonist of ER/Golgi trafficking. This unique and well-conserved human norovirus motif is therefore an appealing target for antiviral drug development

NASA Satellite Observations: A Unique Asset for the Study of the Environment and Implications for Public Health

This slide presentation highlights how satellite observation systems are assets for studying the environment in relation to public health. It includes information on current and future satellite observation systems, NASA's public health and safety research, surveillance projects, and NASA's public health partners

Predicting and Mitigating Outbreaks of Vector-Borne Disease Utilizing Satellite Remote Sensing Technology and Models

The Public Health application area focuses on Earth science applications to public health and safety, particularly regarding infectious disease, emergency preparedness and response, and environmental health issues. The application explores issues of toxic and pathogenic exposure, as well as natural and man-made hazards and their effects, for risk characterization/mitigation and improvements to health and safety. The program elements of the NASA Applied Sciences Program are: Agricultural Efficiency, Air Quality, Climate, Disaster Management, Ecological Forecasting, Water Resources, Weather, and Public Health

Downscaling MODIS Land Surface Temperature for Urban Public Health Applications

This study is part of a project funded by the NASA Applied Sciences Public Health Program, which focuses on Earth science applications of remote sensing data for enhancing public health decision-making. Heat related death is currently the number one weather-related killer in the United States. Mortality from these events is expected to increase as a function of climate change. This activity sought to augment current Heat Watch/Warning Systems (HWWS) with NASA remotely sensed data, and models used in conjunction with socioeconomic and heatrelated mortality data. The current HWWS do not take into account intra-urban spatial variation in risk assessment. The purpose of this effort is to evaluate a potential method to improve spatial delineation of risk from extreme heat events in urban environments by integrating sociodemographic risk factors with estimates of land surface temperature (LST) derived from thermal remote sensing data. In order to further improve the consideration of intra-urban variations in risk from extreme heat, we also developed and evaluated a number of spatial statistical techniques for downscaling the 1-km daily MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST data to 60 m using Landsat-derived LST data, which have finer spatial but coarser temporal resolution than MODIS. In this paper, we will present these techniques, which have been demonstrated and validated for Phoenix, AZ using data from the summers of 2000-2006

NASA Applied Sciences Program

NASA's strategic Goals: a) Develop a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics consistent with the redirection of human spaceflight program to focus on exploration. b) Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs. NASA's partnership efforts in global modeling and data assimilation over the next decade will shorten the distance from observations to answers for important, leading-edge science questions. NASA's Applied Sciences program will continue the Agency's efforts in benchmarking the assimilation of NASA research results into policy and management decision-support tools that are vital for the Nation's environment, economy, safety, and security. NASA also is working with NOAH and inter-agency forums to transition mature research capabilities to operational systems, primarily the polar and geostationary operational environmental satellites, and to utilize fully those assets for research purposes

Relationships Between Excessive Heat and Daily Mortality over the Coterminous U.S

In the United States, extreme heat is the most deadly weather-related hazard. In the face of a warming climate and urbanization, it is very likely that extreme heat events (EHEs) will become more common and more severe in the U.S. Using National Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) meteorological reanalysis data, we have developed several measures of extreme heat to enable assessments of the impacts of heat on public health over the coterminous U.S. These measures include daily maximum and minimum air temperatures, daily maximum heat indices and a new heat stress variable called Net Daily Heat Stress (NDHS) that gives an integrated measure of heat stress (and relief) over the course of a day. All output has been created on the NLDAS 1/8 degree (approximately 12 km) grid and aggregated to the county level, which is the preferred geographic scale of analysis for public health researchers. County-level statistics have been made available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) system. We have examined the relationship between excessive heat events, as defined in eight different ways from the various daily heat metrics, and heat-related and all-cause mortality defined in CDC's National Center for Health Statistics 'Multiple Causes of Death 1999-2010' dataset. To do this, we linked daily, county-level heat mortality counts with EHE occurrence based on each of the eight EHE definitions by region and nationally for the period 1999-2010. The objectives of this analysis are to determine (1) whether heat-related deaths can be clearly tied to excessive heat events, (2) what time lags are critical for predicting heat-related deaths, and (3) which of the heat metrics correlates best with mortality in each US region. Results show large regional differences in the correlations between heat and mortality. Also, the heat metric that provides the best indicator of mortality varied by region. Results from this research will potentially lead to improvements in our ability to anticipate and mitigate any significant impacts of extreme heat events on health

Osteopontin upregulation in rotavirus-induced murine biliary atresia requires replicating virus but is not necessary for development of biliary atresia

AbstractBiliary atresia (BA) is a progressive fibro-inflammatory pediatric liver disease in which osteopontin (OPN), a glycoprotein with inflammatory and fibrogenic activity, may play a pathogenic role. The current studies were conducted in a mouse model of rotavirus-induced BA to test the hypotheses that live but not inactivated rotavirus causes antigenemia, upregulation of hepatic OPN expression, and induction of BA and fibrosis; and that OPN is necessary for development of BA. Prolonged or transient antigenemia developed in mice inoculated with live or inactivated virus, respectively, but only live virus upregulated hepatic OPN and caused BA and fibrosis. OPN was expressed in intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts in healthy mice and in mice with BA. OPN-deficient mice, similar to WT mice, developed BA. Together, these data show that live but not inactivated rotavirus causes upregulation of hepatic OPN expression and BA but that OPN is not necessary for development of BA