Environmental Fate of Popular Anti-Depressant/Anxiety Medication Escitalopram (Lexapro)

Since the official launch of the Mental Health Commission of Canada in 2012, Canada’s first mental health strategy was created. The increase in awareness for mental health has shown that depression/anxiety ranks among the top three illnesses reported; of which 21% of Edmontonians experience in a year. The most common treatment is prescription medication where SSRI antidepressants such as escitalopram (Lexapro) are the bulk of the prescriptions filled. SSRI’s, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, affect the process of returning serotonin to the end of the neuron it comes from by slowing it down. The goal is to build up enough serotonin to set off the impulse in the next neuron, allowing the body to adjust to the reduced amounts of serotonin. Akin to many other prescription drugs which are excreted from the body, the environmental fate of escitalopram becomes a concern to the water ecosystem around Edmonton. Evaluation on the antidepressant escitalopram identifies a potential emission of 0.147 kg per day being released by the depression/anxiety population of Edmonton. A multimedia fugacity model assessed the dispersal and consequence of Escitalopram emissions going through the wastewater treatment facility into the North Saskatchewan River and surrounding environments. The model illustrated that the majority of the antidepressant are deposited in the sediment. The soil and suspended particles receive the next highest percentages. The antidepressant has demonstrated that it has little impact on the non-aqueous phase liquids, and minimal affect on the river bed.  *Indicates faculty mentor

Food Preferences in Patients After Roux-en Y Gastric Bypass Surgery: A Pilot Study Examining Eating Behaviors and Weight Maintenance

In a cross-sectional pilot study, we examined eating behaviors in patients (N= 24) approximately 6 years after gastric bypass surgery. Anthropometric measures, personal interviews, and 7 days of food records were collected. A mean body mass index of 33.7±8 was reported, with 75%(18/24) sustaining a weight loss 50% or more of their excess body weight. A mean total caloric intake of 1429±411 cal was reported: 43% carbohydrate, 17% protein, and 39% fat. Subjects reported “returning to old eating habits” with a diet high in liquid calories (soda, coffee drinks, sports drinks, alcohol), sweets (chocolate, cookies), convenience foods, and fast food consumption

Understanding Eating and Exercise Behaviors in Post Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Patients: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study

Background: Weight regain following gastric bypass (GB) surgery continues to plague many individuals across the United States. However, understanding long-term eating and exercise behaviors to promote and sustain a lower weight following GB surgery is limited. Method: The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and attitudes of eating and exercise behaviors associated with weight maintenance in post-GB patients (n = 24) 2 or more years postsurgery. Demographic, anthropometric, and food record data were collected. Focus groups and personal interviews were used to understand behaviors and support systems associated with weight stabilization. Focus groups were audiotaped, transcribed, and organized into common themes. Results: All participants were female, with a mean of 6 years postsurgery, and had a mean age of 51.8 – 10.5 years. The majority were married (71%) and had a college degree (58%). Although the average weight regain postsurgery was estimated at 16.2 – 12.7 kg, most of the women (75%) had maintained a significant weight loss of at least 50% of their excess body weight. Themes associated with weight regain emerging from the focus groups included variable family support and a return to ‘‘old eating habits.’’ Conclusion: Focus group participants identified lack of long-term emotional support from family members and limited community support for weight loss surgery patients

Ecosystem Processes and Human Influences Regulate Streamflow Response to Climate Change at Long-Term Ecological Research Sites

Analyses of long-term records at 35 headwater basins in the United States and Canada indicate that climate change effects on streamflow are not as clear as might be expected, perhaps because of ecosystem processes and human influences. Evapotranspiration was higher than was predicted by temperature in water-surplus ecosystems and lower than was predicted in water-deficit ecosystems. Streamflow was correlated with climate variability indices (e.g., the El Nino Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation), especially in seasons when vegetation influences are limited. Air temperature increased significantly at 17 of the 19 sites with 20- to 60-year records, but streamflow trends were directly related to climate trends (through changes in ice and snow) at only 7 sites. Past and present human and natural disturbance, vegetation succession, and human water use can mimic, exacerbate, counteract, or mask the effects of climate change on streamflow, even in reference basins. Long-term ecological research sites are ideal places to disentangle these processes

Energy Balance Following Gastric Bypass Surgery: A Pilot Study of Daily Caloric Intake and Step Count

Background: The popularity of weight loss surgery (WLS) has surged in the United States during the past decade. Although obesity-related comorbidities show improvement with WLS, there is limited research about long-term weight maintenance strategies.Methods: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore daily caloric intake and walking behaviors associated with weight maintenance in post-Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients (n=24) two or more years postsurgery. Demographic, anthropometric, food record, and step count data were collected.Results: Weight maintenance was stable at a mean body mass index of 33.7±8 kg/m2. Weight regained from the lowest reported weight averaged 16.2±12.7 kg. Of this sample, 18 (75%) have sustained a weight loss ≥50% of their excess body weight. A mean total caloric intake of 1,429±411 calories was reported with a caloric breakdown of 43% from carbohydrate, 17% from protein, and 39% from fat. Of those individuals who identified themselves as currently gaining weight (n=9), a caloric intake of approximately of 1,630±532 kcals and 3,217±1,155 steps per day were recorded. Compared to those individuals who were sustaining a significant weight loss (n=15), approximately 1,343±275 kcals were consumed per day and they averaged 6,915±3,715 steps per day. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups for step count (t(17)=3.81, p\u3c0.001). The estimated caloric difference to sustain a lower weight was approximately 500 calories when calculating energy intake plus walking behaviors.Conclusion: A lower caloric intake and higher energy expenditure in walking behavior appears to have a positive association to weight stabilization following WLS

Liquid-assisted grinding and ion pairing regulates percentage conversion and diastereoselectivity of the Wittig reaction under mechanochemical conditions

Mechanochemistry is maturing as a discipline and continuing to grow, so it is important to continue understanding the rules governing the system. In a mechanochemical reaction, the reactants are added into a vessel along with one or more grinding balls and the vessel is shaken at high speeds to facilitate a chemical reaction. The dielectric constant of the solvent used in liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) and properly chosen counter-ion pairing increases the percentage conversion of stilbenes in a mechanochemical Wittig reaction. Utilizing stepwise addition/evaporation of ethanol in liquid-assisted grinding also allows for the tuning of the diastereoselectivity in the Wittig reaction

ARBitrator: a software pipeline for on-demand retrieval of auto-curated nifH sequences from GenBank

MotivationStudies of the biochemical functions and activities of uncultivated microorganisms in the environment require analysis of DNA sequences for phylogenetic characterization and for the development of sequence-based assays for the detection of microorganisms. The numbers of sequences for genes that are indicators of environmentally important functions such as nitrogen (N2) fixation have been rapidly growing over the past few decades. Obtaining these sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information's GenBank database is problematic because of annotation errors, nomenclature variation and paralogues; moreover, GenBank's structure and tools are not conducive to searching solely by function. For some genes, such as the nifH gene commonly used to assess community potential for N2 fixation, manual collection and curation are becoming intractable because of the large number of sequences in GenBank and the large number of highly similar paralogues. If analysis is to keep pace with sequence discovery, an automated retrieval and curation system is necessary.ResultsARBitrator uses a two-step process composed of a broad collection of potential homologues followed by screening with a best hit strategy to conserved domains. 34 420 nifH sequences were identified in GenBank as of November 20, 2012. The false-positive rate is ∼0.033%. ARBitrator rapidly updates a public nifH sequence database, and we show that it can be adapted for other genes.Availability and implementationJava source and executable code are freely available to non-commercial users at http://pmc.ucsc.edu/∼wwwzehr/research/database/[email protected] informationSUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION is available at Bioinformatics online