Influence of UVB radiation on the lethal and sublethal toxicity of dispersed crude oil to planktonic copepod nauplii

AbstractToxic effects of petroleum to marine zooplankton have been generally investigated using dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons and in the absence of sunlight. In this study, we determined the influence of natural ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation on the lethal and sublethal toxicity of dispersed crude oil to naupliar stages of the planktonic copepods Acartia tonsa, Temora turbinata and Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus. Low concentrations of dispersed crude oil (1 μL L−1) caused a significant reduction in survival, growth and swimming activity of copepod nauplii after 48 h of exposure. UVB radiation increased toxicity of dispersed crude oil by 1.3–3.8 times, depending on the experiment and measured variables. Ingestion of crude oil droplets may increase photoenhanced toxicity of crude oil to copepod nauplii by enhancing photosensitization. Photoenhanced sublethal toxicity was significantly higher when T. turbinata nauplii were exposed to dispersant-treated oil than crude oil alone, suggesting that chemical dispersion of crude oil may promote photoenhanced toxicity to marine zooplankton. Our results demonstrate that acute exposure to concentrations of dispersed crude oil and dispersant (Corexit 9500) commonly found in the sea after oil spills are highly toxic to copepod nauplii and that natural levels of UVB radiation substantially increase the toxicity of crude oil to these planktonic organisms. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of considering sunlight in petroleum toxicological studies and models to better estimate the impact of crude oil spills on marine zooplankton

Improved Reflectance and Stability of Mo/Si Multilayers

Commercial EUV lithographic systems require multilayers with higher reflectance and better stability then that published to date. Interface-engineered Mo/Si multilayers with 70% reflectance at 13.5 nm wavelength (peak width of 0.545 nm) and 71% at 12.7 nm wavelength (peak width of 0.49 nm) were developed. These results were achieved with 50 bilayers. These new multilayers consist of Mo and Si layers separated by thin boron carbide layers. Depositing boron carbide on interfaces leads to reduction in silicide formation on the Mo-on-Si interfaces. Bilayer contraction is reduced by 30% implying that there is less intermixing of Mo and Si to form silicide. As a result the Mo-on-Si interfaces are sharper in interface-engineered multilayers than in standard Mo/Si multilayers. The optimum boron carbide thicknesses have been determined and appear to be different for Mo-on-Si and Si-on-Mo interfaces. The best results were obtained with 0.4 nm thick boron carbide layer on the Mo-on-Si interface and 0.25 nm thick boron carbide layer on the Si-on-Mo interface. Increase in reflectance is consistent with multilayers with sharper and smoother interfaces. A significant improvement in oxidation resistance of EUV multilayers has been achieved with ruthenium terminated Mo/Si multilayers. The best capping layer design consists of a Ru layer separated from the last Si layer by a boron carbide layer. This design achieves high reflectance and the best oxidation resistance in a water vapor (i.e. oxidation) environment. Electron beam exposures of 4.5 hours in the presence of 5x10{sup -7} torr water vapor partial pressure show no measurable reflectance loss and no increase in the oxide thickness of Ru terminated multilayers. Longer exposures in different environments are necessary to test lifetime stability of many years

Knowledge and attitudes of primary health care physicians and nurses with regard to population screening for colorectal cancer in Balearic Islands and Barcelona

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary health care (PHC) professionals play a key role in population screening of colorectal cancer. The purposes of the study are: to assess knowledge and attitudes among PHC professionals with regard to colorectal cancer screening, as well as the factors that determine their support for such screening.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Questionnaire-based survey of PHC physicians and nurses in the Balearic Islands and in a part of the metropolitan area of Barcelona.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We collected 1,219 questionnaires. About 84% of all professionals believe that screening for colorectal cancer by fecal occult blood test (FOBT) is effective. Around 68% would recommend to their clients a colorectal cancer screening program based on FOBT and colonoscopy. About 31% are reluctant or do not know. Professionals perceive the fear of undergoing a colonoscopy as the main obstacle in getting patients to participate, and the invasive nature of this test is the main reason behind their resistance to this program. The main barriers to support the screening program among PHC professionals are lack of knowledge (nurses) and lack of time (physicians). On multivariate analysis, the factors associated with reluctance to recommend colorectal cancer screening were: believing that FOBT has poor sensitivity and is complicated; that colonoscopy is an invasive procedure; that a lack of perceived benefit could discourage client participation; that only a minority of clients would participate; thinking that clients are fed up with screening tests and being unaware if they should be offered something to ensure their participation in the programme.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Two in every three PHC professionals would support a population screening program for colorectal cancer screening. Factors associated with reluctance to recommend it were related with screening tests characteristics as sensitivity and complexity of FOBT, and also invasive feature of colonoscopy. Other factors were related with patients' believes.</p

Alongshore variability of the California Current System from Central to Baja California in winter and spring 2003, physical, chemical and biological properties

Poster.-- American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and the Oceanography Society, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA), 15-20 febrero 2004Sixteen stations along the continental slope of western North America were occupied in February 18-27 and May 22-31, 2003, and form a meridional section from Monterey Bay, California (37º N, 122º W) to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (23º N, 110º W). Our purpose was to compare trends in California Current (CC), Inshore Countercurrent (ICC) and California Undercurrent (CUC) properties with latitude, and between winter and spring conditions. In winter, coastal upwelling was near zero and the along-transect dynamic height was high and flat, allowing the ICC to advect tropical properties northward. In spring, coastal upwelling had commenced and surface flow along the transect presumably became equatorward. As a consequence of these dynamics, in winter the thermocline was deeper, SST was higher, macronutrients, chlorophyll and primary production were low along the entire transect, with most properties lacking strong latitudinal trends. In spring, the thermocline, macronutrients, chlorophyll and primary production rose along the entire section but most dramatically in the north where upwelling was stronger. Prochlorophytes and other small open-ocean phytoplankton were more abundant in winter along the entire transect and to the south in spring, whereas diatoms, a characteristic coastal group of phytoplankton, were more abundant in spring and in the north. Surface iron was higher in the north in winter, but lower there in spring, presumably reflecting drawdown by diatoms. These results are detailed in the figure captionsWe would like to express our gratitude to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for funding this workN

Complement C1q Activates Tumor Suppressor WWOX to Induce Apoptosis in Prostate Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND:Tissue exudates contain low levels of serum complement proteins, and their regulatory effects on prostate cancer progression are largely unknown. We examined specific serum complement components in coordinating the activation of tumor suppressors p53 and WWOX (also named FOR or WOX1) and kinases ERK, JNK1 and STAT3 in human prostate DU145 cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:DU145 cells were cultured overnight in 1% normal human serum, or in human serum depleted of an indicated complement protein. Under complement C1q- or C6-free conditions, WOX1 and ERK were mainly present in the cytoplasm without phosphorylation, whereas phosphorylated JNK1 was greatly accumulated in the nuclei. Exogenous C1q rapidly restored the WOX1 activation (with Tyr33 phosphorylation) in less than 2 hr. Without serum complement C9, p53 became activated, and hyaluronan (HA) reversed the effect. Under C6-free conditions, HA induced activation of STAT3, an enhancer of metastasis. Notably, exogenous C1q significantly induced apoptosis of WOX1-overexpressing DU145 cells, but not vehicle-expressing cells. A dominant negative and Y33R mutant of WOX1 blocked the apoptotic effect. C1q did not enhance p53-mediated apoptosis. By total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, it was determined that C1q destabilized adherence of WOX1-expressing DU145 cells by partial detaching and inducing formation of clustered microvilli for focal adhesion particularly in between cells. These cells then underwent shrinkage, membrane blebbing and death. Remarkably, as determined by immunostaining, benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer were shown to have a significantly reduced expression of tissue C1q, compared to age-matched normal prostate tissues. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We conclude that complement C1q may induce apoptosis of prostate cancer cells by activating WOX1 and destabilizing cell adhesion. Downregulation of C1q enhances prostate hyperplasia and cancerous formation due to failure of WOX1 activation

Process evaluation in the field: global learnings from seven implementation research hypertension projects in low-and middle-income countries

Background Process evaluation is increasingly recognized as an important component of effective implementation research and yet, there has been surprisingly little work to understand what constitutes best practice. Researchers use different methodologies describing causal pathways and understanding barriers and facilitators to implementation of interventions in diverse contexts and settings. We report on challenges and lessons learned from undertaking process evaluation of seven hypertension intervention trials funded through the Global Alliance of Chronic Diseases (GACD). Methods Preliminary data collected from the GACD hypertension teams in 2015 were used to inform a template for data collection. Case study themes included: (1) description of the intervention, (2) objectives of the process evaluation, (3) methods including theoretical basis, (4) main findings of the study and the process evaluation, (5) implications for the project, policy and research practice and (6) lessons for future process evaluations. The information was summarized and reported descriptively and narratively and key lessons were identified. Results The case studies were from low- and middle-income countries and Indigenous communities in Canada. They were implementation research projects with intervention arm. Six theoretical approaches were used but most comprised of mixed-methods approaches. Each of the process evaluations generated findings on whether interventions were implemented with fidelity, the extent of capacity building, contextual factors and the extent to which relationships between researchers and community impacted on intervention implementation. The most important learning was that although process evaluation is time consuming, it enhances understanding of factors affecting implementation of complex interventions. The research highlighted the need to initiate process evaluations early on in the project, to help guide design of the intervention; and the importance of effective communication between researchers responsible for trial implementation, process evaluation and outcome evaluation. Conclusion This research demonstrates the important role of process evaluation in understanding implementation process of complex interventions. This can help to highlight a broad range of system requirements such as new policies and capacity building to support implementation. Process evaluation is crucial in understanding contextual factors that may impact intervention implementation which is important in considering whether or not the intervention can be translated to other contexts

Social times, reproduction and social inequality at work : contrasts and comparative perspectives between countries

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004If the focus is placed specifically on the problem of work and family, the daily life of people and their use of time are a main problem. This time is expressed in both freely available time, which is related to activities, and time of the productive and reproductive sphere. This chapter considers work in a broad sense and takes into account the sexual division of labour. Specifically, this chapter will explore transformations in time use and social inequality in unpaid work. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of time-use surveys will be used, analysing the time spent, and the time dedicated to household chores in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. From an analytical viewpoint, the analysis will place social reproduction at the centre of the socio-economic system, showing that the economic crisis has affected women and men differently, and that in both Europe and Latin America the family pattern is being replaced by a dominant family model of a male provider and a double presence of women. The large-scale incorporation of women into the labour market has emphasised the role that women assume in the domestic sphere perpetuating gender segregation in employment and in domestic and care work

Genetic Effects at Pleiotropic Loci Are Context-Dependent with Consequences for the Maintenance of Genetic Variation in Populations

Context-dependent genetic effects, including genotype-by-environment and genotype-by-sex interactions, are a potential mechanism by which genetic variation of complex traits is maintained in populations. Pleiotropic genetic effects are also thought to play an important role in evolution, reflecting functional and developmental relationships among traits. We examine context-dependent genetic effects at pleiotropic loci associated with normal variation in multiple metabolic syndrome (MetS) components (obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes-related traits). MetS prevalence is increasing in Western societies and, while environmental in origin, presents substantial variation in individual response. We identify 23 pleiotropic MetS quantitative trait loci (QTL) in an F16 advanced intercross between the LG/J and SM/J inbred mouse strains (Wustl:LG,SM-G16; n = 1002). Half of each family was fed a high-fat diet and half fed a low-fat diet; and additive, dominance, and parent-of-origin imprinting genotypic effects were examined in animals partitioned into sex, diet, and sex-by-diet cohorts. We examine the context-dependency of the underlying additive, dominance, and imprinting genetic effects of the traits associated with these pleiotropic QTL. Further, we examine sequence polymorphisms (SNPs) between LG/J and SM/J as well as differential expression of positional candidate genes in these regions. We show that genetic associations are different in different sex, diet, and sex-by-diet settings. We also show that over- or underdominance and ecological cross-over interactions for single phenotypes may not be common, however multidimensional synthetic phenotypes at loci with pleiotropic effects can produce situations that favor the maintenance of genetic variation in populations. Our findings have important implications for evolution and the notion of personalized medicine