Combustion of dried animal dung as biofuel results in the generation of highly redox active fine particulates.

BACKGROUND: The burning of biomass in the developing world for heating and cooking results in high indoor particle concentrations. Long-term exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) has been associated with increased rates of acute respiratory infections, chronic obstructive lung disease and cancer. In this study we determined the oxidative activity of combustion particles derived from the biomass fuel dung cake by examining their capacity to deplete antioxidants from a model human respiratory tract lining fluid (RTLF). For comparison, the observed oxidative activity was compared with that of particles derived from industrial and vehicular sources. RESULTS: Incubation of the dung cake particle suspensions in the RTLF for 4 h resulted in a mean loss of ascorbate of 72.1 +/- 0.7 and 89.7 +/- 2.5% at 50 and 100 microg/ml, respectively. Reduced glutathione was depleted by 49.6 +/- 4.3 and 63.5 +/- 22.4% under the same conditions. The capacity of these samples to deplete ascorbate was in excess of that observed with diesel or gasoline particles, but comparable to that seen with residual oil fly ash and considerably in excess of all three control particles in terms of glutathione depletion. Co-incubation with the metal chelator diethylenetriaminepentaacetate inhibited these losses, whilst minimal inhibition was seen with superoxide dismutase and catalase treatment. The majority of the activity observed appeared to be contained within aqueous particle extracts. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that biomass derived particles have considerable oxidative activity, largely attributable to their transition metal content

Closing the Loop: Communication for Transformation of Geoscience Teaching Practice

The goal of the GER Framework is to improve teaching and learning about the Earth, by focusing the power of Geoscience Education Research (GER) on the set of ambitious, high-priority, community-endorsed grand challenges outlined in this document. This goal has an underlying assumption - that research results are effectively shared with educators and are used to reform teaching practice; consistent with the feedback loop on the strength of evidence pyramid. Closing this loop is intimately tied to research theme on Institutional Change and Professional Development. However, closing this loop has a broader scope as well. Raising awareness of research results, and then applying the research results, will require engaged, respectful dialogue as well as strategic communication to extend the community of reflective practitioners and gain needed support from administrators. This chapter expands on strategies for communication

Nanoscaled discovery of a shunt rifamycin from Salinispora arenicola using a three-colour GFP-tagged Staphylococcus aureus macrophage infection assay

Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a global public health threat, and development of novel therapeutics for treating infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria is urgent. Staphylococcus aureus is a major human and animal pathogen, responsible for high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The intracellular survival of S. aureus in macrophages contributes to immune evasion, dissemination, and resilience to antibiotic treatment. Here, we present a confocal fluorescence imaging assay for monitoring macrophage infection by green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged S. aureus as a front-line tool to identify antibiotic leads. The assay was employed in combination with nanoscaled chemical analyses to facilitate the discovery of a new, active rifamycin analogue. Our findings indicate a promising new approach for the identification of antimicrobial compounds with macrophage intracellular activity. The antibiotic identified here may represent a useful addition to our armory in tackling the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance

Chronic psychosocial and financial burden accelerates 5-year telomere shortening: findings from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.

Leukocyte telomere length, a marker of immune system function, is sensitive to exposures such as psychosocial stressors and health-maintaining behaviors. Past research has determined that stress experienced in adulthood is associated with shorter telomere length, but is limited to mostly cross-sectional reports. We test whether repeated reports of chronic psychosocial and financial burden is associated with telomere length change over a 5-year period (years 15 and 20) from 969 participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, a longitudinal, population-based cohort, ages 18-30 at time of recruitment in 1985. We further examine whether multisystem resiliency, comprised of social connections, health-maintaining behaviors, and psychological resources, mitigates the effects of repeated burden on telomere attrition over 5 years. Our results indicate that adults with high chronic burden do not show decreased telomere length over the 5-year period. However, these effects do vary by level of resiliency, as regression results revealed a significant interaction between chronic burden and multisystem resiliency. For individuals with high repeated chronic burden and low multisystem resiliency (1 SD below the mean), there was a significant 5-year shortening in telomere length, whereas no significant relationships between chronic burden and attrition were evident for those at moderate and higher levels of resiliency. These effects apply similarly across the three components of resiliency. Results imply that interventions should focus on establishing strong social connections, psychological resources, and health-maintaining behaviors when attempting to ameliorate stress-related decline in telomere length among at-risk individuals

Two-Year Pulmonary Safety and Efficacy of Inhaled Human Insulin (Exubera) in Adult Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to evaluate the 2-year pulmonary safety of inhaled human insulin (Exubera [EXU]) in 635 nonsmoking adults with type 2 diabetes

Discovery of Prostamide F2α and Its Role in Inflammatory Pain and Dorsal Horn Nociceptive Neuron Hyperexcitability

It was suggested that endocannabinoids are metabolized by cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 in the spinal cord of rats with kaolin/λ-carrageenan-induced knee inflammation, and that this mechanism contributes to the analgesic effects of COX-2 inhibitors in this experimental model. We report the development of a specific method for the identification of endocannabinoid COX-2 metabolites, its application to measure the levels of these compounds in tissues, and the finding of prostamide F2α (PMF2α) in mice with knee inflammation. Whereas the levels of spinal endocannabinoids were not significantly altered by kaolin/λ-carrageenan-induced knee inflammation, those of the COX-2 metabolite of AEA, PMF2α, were strongly elevated. The formation of PMF2α was reduced by indomethacin (a non-selective COX inhibitor), NS-398 (a selective COX-2 inhibitor) and SC-560 (a selective COX-1 inhibitor). In healthy mice, spinal application of PMF2α increased the firing of nociceptive (NS) neurons, and correspondingly reduced the threshold of paw withdrawal latency (PWL). These effects were attenuated by the PMF2α receptor antagonist AGN211336, but not by the FP receptor antagonist AL8810. Also prostaglandin F2α increased NS neuron firing and reduced the threshold of PWL in healthy mice, and these effects were antagonized by AL8810, and not by AGN211336. In mice with kaolin/λ-carrageenan-induced knee inflammation, AGN211336, but not AL8810, reduced the inflammation-induced NS neuron firing and reduction of PWL. These findings suggest that inflammation-induced, and prostanoid-mediated, enhancement of dorsal horn NS neuron firing stimulates the production of spinal PMF2α, which in turn contributes to further NS neuron firing and pain transmission by activating specific receptors

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron

The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson. Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a bbˉb\bar{b} pair in events with no charged leptons and large missing transverse energy using the full CDF data set

We report on a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson in the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45 fb$^{-1}$. We consider events having no identified charged lepton, a transverse energy imbalance, and two or three jets, of which at least one is consistent with originating from the decay of a $b$ quark. We place 95% credibility level upper limits on the production cross section times standard model branching fraction for several mass hypotheses between 90 and $150 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$. For a Higgs boson mass of $125 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$, the observed (expected) limit is 6.7 (3.6) times the standard model prediction.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a bb pair in events with one charged lepton and large missing transverse energy using the full CDF data set

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a W boson in sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV p-pbar collision data collected with the CDF II detector at the Tevatron corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45 fb-1. In events consistent with the decay of the Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair and the W boson to an electron or muon and a neutrino, we set 95% credibility level upper limits on the WH production cross section times the H->bb branching ratio as a function of Higgs boson mass. At a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV/c2 we observe (expect) a limit of 4.9 (2.8) times the standard model value.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett (v2 contains clarifications suggested by PRL

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a bb pair in events with two oppositely-charged leptons using the full CDF data set

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a Z boson in data collected with the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45/fb. In events consistent with the decay of the Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair and the Z boson to electron or muon pairs, we set 95% credibility level upper limits on the ZH production cross section times the H -> bb branching ratio as a function of Higgs boson mass. At a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV/c^2 we observe (expect) a limit of 7.1 (3.9) times the standard model value.Comment: To be submitted to Phys. Rev. Let