Sea-to-land transfer of technetium-99 through the use of contaminated seaweed as an agricultural soil conditioner

The use of seaweed as an agricultural soil conditioner gives rise to a potential pathway for the transfer of Technetium-99 (99Tc) from marine to terrestrial ecosystems and thence to man. However, to date there is little information on the extent of the release of 99Tc from seaweed into soil and the mechanisms involved. This pot experiment has shown that 99Tc is released fairly rapidly from Fucus vesiculosus into a sandy coastal soil. Despite low temperature conditions, 60% of the 99Tc added with the seaweed had accumulated in the soil 15 weeks after addition. Concurrent CO2 monitoring (used as a measure of microbial decomposition or catabolism) suggested that the initial 99Tc release (up to 40% in the first 8 weeks) was due to leaching from the seaweed and that microbial decomposition was responsible for the release of the remaining 99Tc in the latter phase (12–15 weeks)

Coping resources and health responses among men and women medical students

The structures and pressures of medical education raise particular concerns about how coping resources vary among students as they enter training. Most past studies have focussed on male students. Our data considers the coping and health-related responses of men and women students during the initial phase of their socialization into medicine. Subjects were 179 men and 80 women in entering classes of two medical schools who completed a variety of self-report measures. A multivariate analysis of these data revealed profile differences between men and women on measures of coping and health-related responses. Univariate tests demonstrated sex differences in mastery, number of health symptoms and reliance on alcohol. Men and women, however, showed similarly high esteem and use of social networks. The variation observed between men and women medical students as they begin their training suggests different potential sources of vulnerability. The importance of these findings is to provide a context of initial coping repertoires of men and women medical students for future evaluation of the effects of socialization.sex differences medical students coping resources health problems

Priorities towards national-level soil protection: a survey of soil stakeholders in Scotland

Soil protection policies are being developed in many countries, particularly those in the European Union where pan-national regulatory frameworks now exist. We report an analysis of a survey of the views of a wide range of stakeholders in the soil resource of Scotland, including representatives of rural and urban land users, public bodies and authorities, non-governmental environmental organizations, and soil scientists based in Scotland. The four soil issues considered of particular importance were soil pollution, soil erosion, loss of soils to development, and loss of biodiversity. Comments were strongly polarized, either strongly promoting issues or indicating lack of awareness, on a set of topics: the loss of valued soils, loss of archaeological sites, and changes in terrestrial carbon store. It is argued that an integrated approach is required to implement any future soil protection strategies, and that special attention should be paid to monitoring long-term changes and to provision of soil survey data from urban areas

Differential regulation of NHE1 phosphorylation and glucose uptake by inhibitors of the ERK pathway and p90RSK in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

AbstractInsulin stimulates trafficking of GLUT4 to the cell surface for glucose uptake into target cells, and phosphorylation of Ser703 of the Na+/H+ exchanger NHE1, which activates proton efflux. The latter has been proposed to facilitate optimal glucose uptake into cardiomyocytes. We found that the insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of Ser703 of NHE1 is mediated by p90RSK but not directly coupled to glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes in the short-term. Inhibiting Erk1/2 activation prevented NHE1 phosphorylation but not glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In contrast, both NHE1 phosphorylation and insulin-stimulated uptake of glucose into 3T3-L1 adipocytes were blocked by inhibitors of the N-terminal kinase domain of p90RSK, namely BI-D1870 and SL0101, but not the FMK inhibitor of the C-terminal kinase domain of p90RSK, though in our hands FMK did not inhibit p90RSK in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Further experiments were consistent with phosphorylation of AS160 by PKB/Akt mediating insulin-stimulated trafficking of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane. BI-D1870 and SL0101 however, inhibited glucose uptake without blocking GLUT4 translocation. While BI-D1870 partially inhibited insulin-stimulated PKB activation in these cells, this only partially inhibited AS160 phosphorylation and did not block GLUT4 trafficking, suggesting that p90RSK might regulate glucose transport after GLUT4 translocation. Moreover, BI-D1870 also prevented PMA-induced glucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes further suggesting a role for p90RSK in regulating uptake of glucose into the cells. Kinetic experiments are consistent with SL0101 being a direct competitor of 2-deoxyglucose entry into cells, and this compound might also inhibit uptake of glucose into cells via inhibiting p90RSK, as revealed by comparison with the inactive form of the inhibitor. Taken together, we propose that BI-D1870 and SL0101 might exert their inhibitory effects on glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes at least partially through a p90RSK dependent step after GLUT4 becomes associated with the plasma membrane