Over de minerale bestanddelen en hun onderlinge betrekkingen in weidegras van "normale" bedrijven

Wat het weideseizoen betreft, beschikt men in Nederland over een vrij groot aantal grasanalyses afkomstig van bedrijven waarop stoornissen voorkomen. Als een gemis wordt echter gevoeld, dat er geen voldoende cijfermateriaal is omtrent de mineralensamenstelling van het gras van goed renderende, „normale", „gezonde" bedrijven, waarmee bedrijven bedoeld worden, waar de melkopbrengsten en de vruchtbaarheid van de dieren weinig of niets te wensen overlaten en waar stofwisselingsziekten vrijwel niet voorkomen. Het is duidelijk dat cijfers van dergelijke „gezonde" bedrijven van veel belang kunnen zijn voor de beoordeling van het mineralenpatroon van grasmonsters van „zieke" bedrijven. Daarom werden tijdens het weideseizoen 1952 op 14 boerderijen in verschillende delen van het land 2 maal per maand monsters weidegras verzameld, die werden geanalyseerd op ruw eiwit, K20, Na20, CaO, MgO, Cl, S04, P205 en Cu. De uitkomsten zijn niet alleen in onderling verband beschouwd, maar ook met betrekking tot andere factoren, zoals de bemesting, de botanische samenstelling, de temperatuur en dergelijke. In dit onderzoek waren 6 zuivere weidebedrijven en 8 gemengde bedrijven betrokken

Optimization and development of analytical methods for the determination of new brominated flame retardants and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments and suspended particulate matter

With more stringent legislation on brominated flame retardants, it is expected that increasing amounts of substitutes would replace polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). Therefore, the development and optimization of analytical methodologies that allow their identification and quantification are of paramount relevance. This work describes the optimization of an analytical procedure to determine pentabromochlorocyclohexane, tetrabromo-o-chlorotoluene, 2,3,5,6-tetrabromo-p-xylene, tetrabromophthalic anhydride, 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromotoluene, tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate, decabromodiphenylethane and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane together with PBDEs in sediments and in suspended particulate matter. This method comprises a pressurized liquid extraction followed by three cleanup steps (gel permeation chromatography and solid phase extraction on Oasis™ HLB and on silica cartridges). Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, using electron capture negative chemical ionization, is used for the final analysis. The proposed method provides recoveries >85%. The method was applied to sediment and suspended particulate matter samples from different locations in the Western Scheldt estuary (the Netherlands). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the occurrence of the additive flame retardants 2,3,5,6-tetrabromo-p-xylene, 3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-o-chlorotoluene and 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromochlorocyclohexane is reported in the literature. The concentrations of these new flame retardants ranged from 0.05 to 0.30 μg/kg dry weight

Spatial distribution of intact polar lipids in North Sea surface waters: Relationship with environmental conditions and microbial community composition

We characterized and quantified the intact polar lipid (IPL) composition of the surface waters of the North Sea and investigated its relationships with environmental conditions, microbial abundances, and community composition. The total IPL pool comprised at least 600 different IPL species in seven main classes: the glycerophospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE); the sulfur-bearing glycerolipid sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG); and the nitrogen-bearing betaine lipids diacylglyceryl-trimethylhomoserine (DGTS), diacylglyceryl-hydroxymethyltrimethylalanine (DGTA), and diacylglyceryl-carboxy-hydroxymethylcholine (DGCC). Although no significant relationships were found between the IPL composition and environmental parameters, such as nutrient concentrations, distance-based ordination yielded distinct clusters of IPL species, which could in turn be tentatively correlated with the predominant microbial groups. SQDGs and PGs, as well as PC species containing saturated fatty acid moieties, were related to picoeukaryote abundances and PC species with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) moieties to nanoeukaryote abundances. The PEs were likely of mixed cyanobacterial-bacterial origin, whereas DGTA and DGCC species were mainly associated with cyanobacteria. DGTSs were likely derived from either pico-or nanoeukaryotes, although the DGTS species with PUFAs also showed some relationship with cyanobacterial abundances. Concentrations of the algal-derived IPLs showed strong positive correlations with chlorophyll a concentrations, indicating they may be used as biomarkers for living photosynthetic microbes. However, direct relationships between the IPLs and microbial groups were relatively weak, implying that the predominant IPLs in marine surface waters are not derived from single microbial groups and that direct inferences of microbial community compositions from IPL compositions should be considered with care

Application of the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia in toddlers

Introduction: In young children with early onset ataxia (EOA), quantitative rating of ataxia by the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) is longitudinally influenced by the physiological age effect on motor coordination. To enable longitudinal quantitative interpretation of ataxia by SARA in children with EOA, the EPNS ataxia working group has previously determined SARA-scores in typically developing children (4-16 years of age). In toddlers, this information is still lacking. We therefore aimed to investigate the feasibility and reliability of SARA-scores in typically developing toddlers. Methods: In 57 typically developing toddlers (2-4 years), we aimed to determine the: 1. feasibility of SARA -scores, 2. age-related pre-requisites to obtain SARA-scores in toddlers over all domains, 3. SARA-score reliability, 4. mathematical age connection of SARA-scores in toddlers and older children. Results: In typically developing toddlers, the feasibility of SARA is strongly age-dependent (p < .000). After computing compensations for two age-related, unfeasible and therefore un-assessable kinetic subtasks and after allowing the videotaping of non-kinetic SARA sub-task performances at home, the SARA was fully reliably assessable in all (n = 57) toddlers (ICC = 0.732). From two to 16 years of age, SARA-scores were mathematically represented by one continuous, exponentially decreasing trend line approaching the adult-optimum at 16 years of age. Conclusion: In toddlers, SARA-scores are reliably assessable, by using two age-compensations and allowing the videotaping of SARA-performances partly at home. In children with EOA, these data enable longitudinal quantification and interpretation of quantitative ataxia-scores by SARA from 2 years of age throughout childhood

Over de minerale bestanddelen en hun onderlinge verhoudingen in verschillende voedermiddelen en rantsoenen

In tabellen zijn de belangrijkste gegevens opgenomen van gemaaid gras en van het daaruit gewonnen hooi, namelijk de gehaltes aan eiwit en minerale bestanddelen in de droge stof en daarnaast het base-totaal, het zuur-totaal, de alkali-alkaliciteit en de aardalkali-alkaliciteit per kg droge stof. Om de onderlinge verhouding van de verschillende gehaltes aan mineralen en elementen in gras of hooi in een ruimtelijke voorstelling vast te leggen, worden vervolgens deze grootheden vanuit de hoekpunten van diagrammen en een tetraëder beschouwd

The Stress of Lung Aging:Endoplasmic Reticulum and Senescence Tete-a-Tete

Beyond the structural changes, features including the dysregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response and increased senescence characterize the lung aging. ER stress response and senescence have been reported to be induced by factors like cigarette smoke. Therefore, deciphering the mechanisms underlying ER and senescent pathways interaction has become a challenge. In this review we highlight the known and unknown regarding ER stress response and senescence and their cross talk in aged lung

The surfactant co-formulant POEA in the glyphosate-based herbicide RangerPro but not glyphosate alone causes necrosis in Caco-2 and HepG2 human cell lines and ER stress in the ToxTracker assay

The toxicity of co-formulants present in glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) has been widely discussed leading to the European Union banning the polyoxyethylene tallow amine (POEA). We identified the most commonly used POEA, known as POE-15 tallow amine (POE-15), in the widely used US GBH RangerPro. Cytotoxicity assays using human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 and hepatocyte HepG2 cell lines showed that RangerPro and POE-15 are far more cytotoxic than glyphosate alone. RangerPro and POE-15 but not glyphosate caused cell necrosis in both cell lines, and that glyphosate and RangerPro but not POE-15 caused oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. We further tested these pesticide ingredients in the ToxTracker assay, a system used to evaluate a compound's carcinogenic potential, to assess their capability for inducing DNA damage, oxidative stress and an unfolded protein response (endoplasmic reticulum, ER stress). RangerPro and POE-15 but not glyphosate gave rise to ER stress. We conclude that the toxicity resulting from RangerPro exposure is thus multifactorial involving ER stress caused by POE-15 along with oxidative stress caused by glyphosate. Our observations reinforce the need to test both co-formulants and active ingredients of commercial pesticides to inform the enactment of more appropriate regulation and thus better public and environmental protection