Assessment of trace element accumulation in surface sediment of Sepang Besar river, Malaysia

Due to non-scientific industrial activity and urbanization, trace elements contamination has posed a threat to Malaysia's biodiversity-rich coastal wetlands, streams, estuaries, and mangroves. Commercialization has taken a toll on mangroves in backwater canals and along the banks of the Sepang River. As a result, a thorough examination of sediment quality from the Sepang River mangrove habitats is done with a focus on trace element pollution and pollution issues, taking into account the enormous ecological services that are offered to coastal communities and offering guidance for upcoming restoration efforts. The concentration of trace elements (Cr, As, Pb, Ni, Mo, Co, Cd, and Hg) in the sediment samples was measured using an induced plasma mass spectrometric (ICP-MS). Results of the study revealed that Arsenic (As) levels exceeded the Canadian range of low effects, indicating the possibility of deleterious biological consequences on mangrove plants and animals. In all sampling locations, the enrichment factor (EF) analysis revealed extraordinarily high enrichment of As (9.89–23.65) and Mo (4.74–12.03). The geo-accumulation index of As (1.83 – 3.04), Mo (1.40 – 2.74), and Cd (0.652 – 3.03) revealed that mangrove locations in the Sepang River have almost extreme pollution effects. Pearson's correlation, which deduced the anthropogenic influence of As, Cd, and Mo in mangroves, backed up this claim. Results of the study recommended that continue monitoring of pollutants released from anthropogenic sources is highly required and there is a strong need to take more stringent measures to protect the environment

Subarachnoid haemorrhage guidelines and clinical practice: a cross-sectional study of emergency department consultants' and neurospecialists' views and risk tolerances

OBJECTIVES: To establish if emergency medicine and neuroscience specialist consultants have different risk tolerances for investigation of suspected spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), and to establish if their risk-benefit appraisals concur with current guidelines. SETTING: 4 major neuroscience centres in London. PARTICIPANTS: 58 consultants in emergency medicine and neuroscience specialities (neurology, neurosurgery and neuroradiology) participated in an anonymous survey. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was the highest stated acceptable risk of missing SAH in the neurologically intact patient presenting with sudden onset headache. Secondary outcome measures included agreement with guideline recommendations, risk/benefit appraisal and required performance of diagnostic tests, including lumbar puncture. RESULTS: Emergency department clinicians accepted almost 3 times the risk of a missed SAH diagnosis compared with the neuroscience specialists (2.8% vs 1.1%; p=0.02), were more likely to accept a higher risk of missed diagnosis for the benefit of a non-invasive test (p=0.04) and were more likely to disagree with current published guidelines stipulating the need for LP in all CT-negative cases (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Divergence from recognised procedures for SAH investigation is often criticised and attributed to a lack of knowledge of guidelines. This study indicates that divergence from guidelines may be explained by alternative risk-benefit appraisals made by doctors with their patients. Guideline recommendations may gain wider acceptance if they accommodate the requirements of the doctors and patients using them. Further study of clinical risk tolerance may help explain patterns of diagnostic test use and other variations in healthcare delivery

Predictors of failed attendances in a multi-specialty outpatient centre using electronic databases.

BACKGROUND: Failure to keep outpatient medical appointments results in inefficiencies and costs. The objective of this study is to show the factors in an existing electronic database that affect failed appointments and to develop a predictive probability model to increase the effectiveness of interventions. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on outpatient clinic attendances at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore from 2000 to 2004. 22864 patients were randomly sampled for analysis. The outcome measure was failed outpatient appointments according to each patient's latest appointment. RESULTS: Failures comprised of 21% of all appointments and 39% when using the patients' latest appointment. Using odds ratios from the mutliple logistic regression analysis, age group (0.75 to 0.84 for groups above 40 years compared to below 20 years), race (1.48 for Malays, 1.61 for Indians compared to Chinese), days from scheduling to appointment (2.38 for more than 21 days compared to less than 7 days), previous failed appointments (1.79 for more than 60% failures and 4.38 for no previous appointments, compared with less than 20% failures), provision of cell phone number (0.10 for providing numbers compared to otherwise) and distance from hospital (1.14 for more than 14 km compared to less than 6 km) were significantly associated with failed appointments. The predicted probability model's diagnostic accuracy to predict failures is more than 80%. CONCLUSION: A few key variables have shown to adequately account for and predict failed appointments using existing electronic databases. These can be used to develop integrative technological solutions in the outpatient clinic

Lipid droplet and peroxisome biogenesis occur at the same ER subdomains

Nascent lipid droplet (LD) formation occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane but it is not known how sites of biogenesis are determined. We previously identified ER domains in S. cerevisiae containing the reticulon homology domain (RHD) protein Pex30 that are regions where preperoxisomal vesicles (PPVs) form. Here, we show that Pex30 domains are also sites where most nascent LDs form. Mature LDs usually remain associated with Pex30 subdomains, and the same Pex30 subdomain can simultaneously associate with a LD and a PPV or peroxisome. We find that in higher eukaryotes multiple C2 domain containing transmembrane protein (MCTP2) is similar to Pex30: it contains an RHD and resides in ER domains where most nascent LD biogenesis occurs and that often associate with peroxisomes. Together, these findings indicate that most LDs and PPVs form and remain associated with conserved ER subdomains, and suggest a link between LD and peroxisome biogenesis

A 13-hour laboratory school study of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate in school-aged children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

BackgroundLisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) is indicated for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children 6 to 12 years of age and in adults. In a previous laboratory school study, LDX demonstrated efficacy 2 hours postdose with duration of efficacy through 12 hours. The current study further characterizes the time course of effect of LDX.MethodsChildren aged 6 to 12 years with ADHD were enrolled in a laboratory school study. The multicenter study consisted of open-label, dose-optimization of LDX (30, 50, 70 mg/d, 4 weeks) followed by a randomized, placebo-controlled, 2-way crossover phase (1 week each). Efficacy measures included the SKAMP (deportment [primary] and attention [secondary]) and PERMP (attempted/correct) scales (secondary) measured at predose and at 1.5, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12, and 13 hours postdose. Safety measures included treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs), physical examination, vital signs, and ECGs.ResultsA total of 117 subjects were randomized and 111 completed the study. Compared with placebo, LDX demonstrated significantly greater efficacy at each postdose time point (1.5 hours to 13.0 hours), as measured by SKAMP deportment and attention scales and PERMP (P < .005). The most common treatment-emergent AEs during dose optimization were decreased appetite (47%), insomnia (27%), headache (17%), irritability (16%), upper abdominal pain (16%), and affect lability (10%), which were less frequent in the crossover phase (6%, 4%, 5%, 1%, 2%, and 0% respectively).ConclusionIn school-aged children (6 to 12 years) with ADHD, efficacy of LDX was maintained from the first time point (1.5 hours) up to the last time point assessed (13.0 hours). LDX was generally well tolerated, resulting in typical stimulant AEs.Trial registrationOfficial Title: A Phase IIIb, Randomized, Double-Blind, Multi-Center, Placebo-Controlled, Dose-Optimization, Cross-Over, Analog Classroom Study to Assess the Time of Onset of Vyvanse (Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate) in Pediatric Subjects Aged 6-12 With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00500149 http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00500149

Will systems biology offer new holistic paradigms to life sciences?

A biological system, like any complex system, blends stochastic and deterministic features, displaying properties of both. In a certain sense, this blend is exactly what we perceive as the “essence of complexity” given we tend to consider as non-complex both an ideal gas (fully stochastic and understandable at the statistical level in the thermodynamic limit of a huge number of particles) and a frictionless pendulum (fully deterministic relative to its motion). In this commentary we make the statement that systems biology will have a relevant impact on nowadays biology if (and only if) will be able to capture the essential character of this blend that in our opinion is the generation of globally ordered collective modes supported by locally stochastic atomisms

Extreme genetic fragility of the HIV-1 capsid

Genetic robustness, or fragility, is defined as the ability, or lack thereof, of a biological entity to maintain function in the face of mutations. Viruses that replicate via RNA intermediates exhibit high mutation rates, and robustness should be particularly advantageous to them. The capsid (CA) domain of the HIV-1 Gag protein is under strong pressure to conserve functional roles in viral assembly, maturation, uncoating, and nuclear import. However, CA is also under strong immunological pressure to diversify. Therefore, it would be particularly advantageous for CA to evolve genetic robustness. To measure the genetic robustness of HIV-1 CA, we generated a library of single amino acid substitution mutants, encompassing almost half the residues in CA. Strikingly, we found HIV-1 CA to be the most genetically fragile protein that has been analyzed using such an approach, with 70% of mutations yielding replication-defective viruses. Although CA participates in several steps in HIV-1 replication, analysis of conditionally (temperature sensitive) and constitutively non-viable mutants revealed that the biological basis for its genetic fragility was primarily the need to coordinate the accurate and efficient assembly of mature virions. All mutations that exist in naturally occurring HIV-1 subtype B populations at a frequency >3%, and were also present in the mutant library, had fitness levels that were >40% of WT. However, a substantial fraction of mutations with high fitness did not occur in natural populations, suggesting another form of selection pressure limiting variation in vivo. Additionally, known protective CTL epitopes occurred preferentially in domains of the HIV-1 CA that were even more genetically fragile than HIV-1 CA as a whole. The extreme genetic fragility of HIV-1 CA may be one reason why cell-mediated immune responses to Gag correlate with better prognosis in HIV-1 infection, and suggests that CA is a good target for therapy and vaccination strategies

The Cyprinodon variegatus genome reveals gene expression changes underlying differences in skull morphology among closely related species

Genes in durophage intersection set at 15 dpf. This is a comma separated table of the genes in the 15 dpf durophage intersection set. Given are edgeR results for each pairwise comparison. Columns indicating whether a gene is included in the intersection set at a threshold of 1.5 or 2 fold are provided. (CSV 13 kb

Characterization of MHz pulse repetition rate femtosecond laser-irradiated gold-coated silicon surfaces

In this study, MHz pulse repetition rate femtosecond laser-irradiated gold-coated silicon surfaces under ambient condition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The radiation fluence used was 0.5 J/cm2 at a pulse repetition rate of 25 MHz with 1 ms interaction time. SEM analysis of the irradiated surfaces showed self-assembled intermingled weblike nanofibrous structure in and around the laser-irradiated spots. Further TEM investigation on this nanostructure revealed that the nanofibrous structure is formed due to aggregation of Au-Si/Si nanoparticles. The XRD peaks at 32.2°, 39.7°, and 62.5° were identified as (200), (211), and (321) reflections, respectively, corresponding to gold silicide. In addition, the observed chemical shift of Au 4f and Si 2p lines in XPS spectrum of the irradiated surface illustrated the presence of gold silicide at the irradiated surface. The generation of Si/Au-Si alloy fibrous nanoparticles aggregate is explained by the nucleation and subsequent condensation of vapor in the plasma plume during irradiation and expulsion of molten material due to high plasma pressure

Phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives to promote growth and enhance host health

There are heightened concerns globally on emerging drug-resistant superbugs and the lack of new antibiotics for treating human and animal diseases. For the agricultural industry, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to replace antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. The 2nd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics was held at the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, France, December 12-15, 2016 to discuss recent scientific developments on strategic antibiotic-free management plans, to evaluate regional differences in policies regarding the reduction of antibiotics in animal agriculture and to develop antibiotic alternatives to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance. More than 270 participants from academia, government research institutions, regulatory agencies, and private animal industries from >25 different countries came together to discuss recent research and promising novel technologies that could provide alternatives to antibiotics for use in animal health and production; assess challenges associated with their commercialization; and devise actionable strategies to facilitate the development of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) without hampering animal production. The 3-day meeting consisted of four scientific sessions including vaccines, microbial products, phytochemicals, immune-related products, and innovative drugs, chemicals and enzymes, followed by the last session on regulation and funding. Each session was followed by an expert panel discussion that included industry representatives and session speakers. The session on phytochemicals included talks describing recent research achievements, with examples of successful agricultural use of various phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives and their mode of action in major agricultural animals (poultry, swine and ruminants). Scientists from industry and academia and government research institutes shared their experience in developing and applying potential antibiotic-alternative phytochemicals commercially to reduce AGPs and to develop a sustainable animal production system in the absence of antibiotics.Fil: Lillehoj, Hyun. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Yanhong. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Calsamiglia, Sergio. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Miyakawa, Mariano Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Chi, Fang. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Cravens, Ron L.. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Oh, Sungtaek. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Gay, Cyril G.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentin