Thomais Vlachogianni | National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (original) (raw)

Papers by Thomais Vlachogianni

Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology, 2012

The paper explains the content, structure, activities and contribution of the capacity building c... more The paper explains the content, structure, activities and contribution of the capacity building component of the Horizon 2020 Initiative, a major undertaking supported by the EU Neighbourhood policy instrument. The Mediterranean environment is one of the richest and at the same time most vulnerable in the world. A staggering 80% of its pollution comes from land based sources: municipal waste, urban waste and water, and industrial emissions.

American Journal of Educational Research, 2013

The present review describes the role of different energy regimes throughout the human history an... more The present review describes the role of different energy regimes throughout the human history and their environmental impact. The appearance of Homo sapiens and the development of primitive human civilization can be narrated by different energy regimes throughout the centuries. Getting the energy that humans needed for their needs affected directly the environment in many different ways. Some energy sources have a greater impact than others. Energy is lost to the environment during any energy transformation, usually as heat. Environmental historian can describe human history, from the discovery of fire (the most important human invention) by the primitive man and the development in four different energy regimes over the last ten thousand years. The first two divisions, "gatherer-hunters" (1.5 million to 10,000) and "pre-industrial agriculture," cover many centuries until 1750. The third period deals with "an industrial world" up to 1950, and the fourth period covers the developments in the post industrial society, between 1950 and the 21 st century. Energy usage divides periods of socio-ecological human history. In each period, human energy sources and consumption changed significantly, providing a point of no return. Until the 1700s, however, agriculture continued to rely on energy directly related to the sun and stored in organic systems. After 1750, humans developed new ways of thinking about nature, as well as new kinds of energy systems based on coal and the production of steam. New energy systems (petroleum, natural gas, hydroelectric) allowed a dramatic increase in human populations but at the same time polluted quite heavily damaging the environmental balance with nature. Those increases changed dramatically after 1950 and caused the doubling of the population and the multiple energy use for transport and electricity. Are nuclear energy and renewable energy sources the future prospects for a sustainable development in energy use by humans? Is the -Third Industrial Revolution‖ the future solution for global warming? These are hard questions with great implications on the future of the planet, its ecological balance and inevitably for the human civilization.

Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, 2013

Lung Cancer: Targets and Therapy, 2013

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are a diverse group of materials finding increasing use in manufa... more Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are a diverse group of materials finding increasing use in manufacturing, computing, food, pharmaceuticals, and biomedicine due to their very small size and exceptional properties. Health and safety concerns for ENMs have forced regulatory agencies to consider preventive measures and regulations for workers' health and safety protection. Respiratory system toxicity from inhalable ENMs is the most important concern to health specialists. In this review, we focus on similarities and differences between conventional microparticles (diameters in mm and µm), which have been previously studied, and nanoparticles (sizes between 1 and 100 nm) in terms of size, composition, and mechanisms of action in biological systems. In past decades, respirable particulate matter (PM), asbestos fibers, crystalline silicate, and various amorphous dusts have been studied, and epidemiological evidence has shown how dangerous they are to human health, especially from exposure in working environments. Scientific evidence has shown that there is a close connection between respirable PM and pulmonary oxidative stress through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS). There is a close connection between oxidative stress in the cell and the elicitation of an inflammatory response via pro-inflammatory gene transcription. Inflammatory processes increase the risk for lung cancer. Studies in vitro and in vivo in the last decade have shown that engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) at various doses can cause ROS generation, oxidative stress, and pro-inflammatory gene expression in the cell. It is assumed that ENPs have the potential to cause acute respiratory diseases and probably lung cancer in humans. The situation regarding chronic exposure at low doses is more complicated. The long-term accumulation of ENPs in the respiratory system cannot be excluded. However, at present, exposure data for the general public regarding ENPs are not available.

Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, 2009

There is extensive experimental evidence that oxidative damage permanently occurs to lipids of ce... more There is extensive experimental evidence that oxidative damage permanently occurs to lipids of cellular membranes, proteins, and DNA. In nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, 8-hydroxy-2 -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) or 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 -deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) is one of the predominant forms of free radical-induced oxidative lesions, and has therefore been widely used as a biomarker for oxidative stress and carcinogenesis. Studies showed that urinary 8-OHdG is a good biomarker for risk assessment of various cancers and degenerative diseases. The most widely used method of quantitative analysis is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detection (EC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and HPLC tandem mass spectrometry. In order to resolve the methodological problems encountered in measuring quantitatively 8-OHdG, the European Standards Committee for Oxidative DNA Damage was set up in 1997 to resolve the artifactual oxidation problems during the procedures of isolation and purification of oxidative DNA products. The biomarker 8-OHdG or 8-oxodG has been a pivotal marker for measuring the effect of endogenous oxidative damage to DNA and as a factor of initiation and promotion of carcinogenesis. The biomarker has been used to estimate the DNA damage in humans after exposure to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco smoke, asbestos fibers, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In recent years, 8-OHdG has been used widely in many studies not only as a biomarker for the measurement of endogenous oxidative DNA damage but also as a risk factor for many diseases including cancer.

Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, 2008

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2009

Tobacco smoke contains many toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals, as well as stable and un... more Tobacco smoke contains many toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals, as well as stable and unstable free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the particulate and the gas phase with the potential for biological oxidative damage. Epidemiological evidence established that smoking is one of the most important extrinsic factor of premature morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate oxidative and carcinogenic mechanisms of tobacco and synergistic action with other respirable particles in the respiratory system of smokers. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and spintrapping techniques were used to study stable free radicals in the cigarette tar, and unstable superoxide anion (O 2

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2013

Reactive oxygen or nitrogen species (ROS, RNS) and oxidative stress in the respiratory system inc... more Reactive oxygen or nitrogen species (ROS, RNS) and oxidative stress in the respiratory system increase the production of mediators of pulmonary inflammation and initiate or promote mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The lungs are exposed daily to oxidants generated either endogenously or exogenously (air pollutants, cigarette smoke, etc.). Cells in aerobic organisms are protected against oxidative damage by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems. Recent epidemiologic investigations have shown associations between increased incidence of respiratory diseases and lung cancer from exposure to low levels of various forms of respirable fibers and particulate matter (PM), at occupational or urban air polluting environments. Lung cancer increases substantially for tobacco smokers due to the synergistic effects in the generation of ROS, leading to oxidative stress and inflammation with high DNA damage potential. Physical and chemical characteristics of particles (size, transition metal content, speciation, stable free radicals, etc.) play an important role in oxidative stress. In turn, oxidative stress initiates the synthesis of mediators of pulmonary inflammation in lung epithelial cells and initiation of carcinogenic mechanisms. Inhalable quartz, metal powders, mineral asbestos fibers, ozone, soot from gasoline and diesel engines, tobacco smoke and PM from ambient air pollution (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) are involved in various oxidative stress mechanisms. Pulmonary cancer initiation and promotion has been linked to a series of biochemical pathways of oxidative stress, DNA oxidative damage, macrophage stimulation, telomere shortening, modulation of gene expression and

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2008

We quantified 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 54 surface soil samples covering an a... more We quantified 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 54 surface soil samples covering an area of 6400 km 2 in Shanghai. An isopleth map of total concentrations of the 18 PAHs, which was constructed using an ordinary Kriging approach with log transformed data, clarified the regional variability and identified regional hot spots in the urban and industrial areas of Shanghai. These hot spots all suffer from high PAH pollution, suggesting that local human activities (e.g., vehicular traffic, petrochemical industry and coal combustion) may be the main contributors. Coal or oil fired power plants and their locations seem to be a significant factor controlling the PAH concentrations in surface soil. The higher molecular weight PAHs are often accumulated near pollution sources and are more heterogeneous in Shanghai soil, because they are less easily transported and biodegraded than 2 ring PAHs. The total concentrations are not correlated with soil total organic carbon. We successfully applied hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA) based on a centered log ratio procedure to explore the characteristics and possible sources of soil PAHs. The high PAH contamination in the Shanghai surface soil is mainly attributed to the contribution of pyrogenic sources (vehicular traffic pollution and combustion of coal and biomass). Furthermore, we applied PAH percentages by ring number, isopleth maps of total concentrations of 18 PAHs and source diagnostic ratios of PAHs to help assign the pyrogenic sources in Shanghai soils. Such map based approaches have only rarely been applied in investigations published in Organic Geochemistry.