The Hydrogeochemistry of a Constructed Fen Peatland in the Post-Mined Landscape in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Large areas of land within the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) have been subjected to open pit mining to recover bitumenous oil sands. Following extraction, oil sands require the addition of solvents to optimize the solubility and separation of bitumen from sand. Consequently, the tailings sands, a byproduct of oil sands production, contain elevated residual concentrations of sodium (Na+), amongst other constituents. In an attempt to reclaim post-mined landscape in the AOSR, a fen peatland system has been constructed, in which groundwater inputs are received from an upland aquifer constructed of tailings sands. The intent is to mimic the function of naturally occurring fens in which groundwater supplements precipitation inputs, especially important during periods of limited water availability, which are common in the AOSR. However, given the elevated concentrations of Na+ in tailings materials, there is a concern that it will leach from the tailings sand and accumulate in the fen at concentrations toxic for the recently planted fen species. The purpose of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of Na+ generated throughout the upland – fen system and to evaluate the hydrological processes controlling its transport from the upland to the fen. Na+ concentrations were highest within the tailings sand materials and petroleum coke underdrain and lowest within the fen peat deposit in all three years (2013 – 2015); however, there was considerable temporal variation in concentrations within all materials. Concentrations within the tailings sand upland and petroleum coke underdrain were generally the highest after the winter months which appeared to allow for elevated Na+ concentrations in the absence of freshwater recharge. Following rainfall, Na+ concentrations decreased within all construction materials. Upland recharge basins were important for detaining overland flow and encouraging upland freshwater recharge, which ultimately determined the trajectory for Na+ re-distribution along the eastern region of the upland. High precipitation and recharge in 2013 and 2014 resulted in the highest fluxes towards the fen; however, allowed for dilution of upland groundwater which resulted in relatively low loads of Na+ being received at the fen. A Na+ plume was observed migrating from the upland into the petroleum coke underdrain and beneath the fen. Little upward migration of the Na+ plume into the fen peat occurred in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, a lack of precipitation resulted in less groundwater dilution, which despite lower fluxes, resulted in greater loads of Na+ being received at the fen. The Na+ plume advanced throughout the petroleum coke underdrain. Considerable upwards migration of Na+ into the peat deposit was observed, resulting in an increase in concentration, but mainly at depth. Evapo-concentration resulted in elevated concentrations at the fen surface by the end of the study. This study documented the distribution and transport of Na+ from a constructed tailings sand upland to the adjacent constructed fen within the first three years post-construction, and provides insight into the variability of salinity with location within reclamation materials, and the effects of weather conditions typical of the AOSR. This study also makes important fen construction design modifications and recommendations to minimize OSPW generation while simultaneously ensuring sub-surface storage. Success in reclaiming fen peatlands in the AOSR must account for the management and transport of solutes generated from the tailings sand materials

Preferential recharge in a reclaimed tailings sand upland: Implications on solute flushing

Study region: A peatland watershed was constructed on a post-mined oil sands lease in Northern Alberta, Canada, with the intention of replicating the function of natural wetlands removed by surface mining. Study focus: Given the potential for moisture limited conditions due to the sub-humid regional climate, ensuring sufficient water availability in these landscapes is a principal concern. This research demonstrates how small recharge basins can modify the hydrology to promote groundwater recharge critical for sustaining saturated conditions in a downgradient wetland. New hydrological insights for the region: Location was important in determining the efficacy of recharge basins. Specifically, basins placed at the confluence of two hillslopes detained substantial volumes of runoff due to large upslope areas, contributing ~30% of the groundwater budget to the fen, while only occupying 1% of the upland area. Basins situated near low relief hillslopes or altogether isolated from a hillslope did not detain appreciable runoff and therefore had a minor role in recharging groundwater. Groundwater in the vicinity and downgradient of active recharge basins had considerably lower solute concentrations because of dilution. This suggests that basins can not only enhance recharge within engineered landscapes, providing a consistent and focused supply of water to upland aquifers, but offer relatively fresh groundwater to downgradient ecosystems. This could ameliorate the impact of high salinity present in oil sands process-affected materials.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry (FACT) Array: A Working Partnership

The Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry (FACT) Array is a collaborative partnership of researchers from 24 different organizations using passive acoustic telemetry to document site fidelity, habitat preferences, seasonal migration patterns, and reproductive strategies of valuable sportfish, sharks, and marine turtles. FACT partners have found that by bundling resources, they can leverage a smaller investment to track highly mobile animals beyond a study area typically restrained in scale by funds and manpower. FACT is guided by several simple rules: use of the same type of equipment, locate receivers in areas that are beneficial to all researchers when feasible, maintain strong scientific ethics by recognizing that detection data on any receiver belongs to the tag owner, do not use other members detection data without permission and acknowledge FACT in publications. Partners have access to a network of 480 receivers deployed along a continuum of habitats from freshwater rivers to offshore reefs and covers 1100 km of coastline from the Dry Tortugas, Florida to South Carolina and extends to the Bahamas. Presently, 49 species, (25 covered by Fisheries Management Plans and five covered by the Endangered Species Act) have been tagged with 2736 tags in which 1767 tags are still active

High-throughput analysis of subtelomeric chromosome rearrangements by use of array-based comparative genomic hypridization

Telomeric chromosome rearrangements may cause mental retardation, congenital anomalies, and miscarriages. Automated detection of subtle deletions or duplications involving telomeres is essential for high-throughput diagnosis, but impossible when conventional cytogenetic methods are used. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) allows high-resolution screening of copy number abnormalities by hybridizing differentially labeled test and reference genomes to arrays of robotically spotted clones. To assess the applicability of this technique in the diagnosis of (sub)telomeric imbalances, we here describe a blinded study, in which DNA from 20 patients with known cytogenetic abnormalities involving one or more telomeres was hybridized to an array containing a validated set of human-chromosome–specific (sub)telomere probes. Single-copy-number gains and losses were accurately detected on these arrays, and an excellent concordance between the original cytogenetic diagnosis and the array-based CGH diagnosis was obtained by use of a single hybridization. In addition to the previously identified cytogenetic changes, array-based CGH revealed additional telomere rearrangements in 3 of the 20 patients studied. The robustness and simplicity of this array-based telomere copy-number screening make it highly suited for introduction into the clinic as a rapid and sensitive automated diagnostic procedure

Mapping the regulatory landscape for artificial intelligence in health within the European Union

Regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence (AI) are needed to mitigate risks while ensuring the ethical, secure, and effective implementation of AI technology in healthcare and population health. In this article, we present a synthesis of 141 binding policies applicable to AI in healthcare and population health in the EU and 10 European countries. The EU AI Act sets the overall regulatory framework for AI, while other legislations set social, health, and human rights standards, address the safety of technologies and the implementation of innovation, and ensure the protection and safe use of data. Regulation specifically pertaining to AI is still nascent and scarce, though a combination of data, technology, innovation, and health and human rights policy has already formed a baseline regulatory framework for AI in health. Future work should explore specific regulatory challenges, especially with respect to AI medical devices, data protection, and data enablement

Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barré syndrome in three patients from Suriname

We present three patients from Suriname who were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) during the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in this country. One patient had a positive ZIKV urine real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) result. The other two patients had a negative ZIKV urine qRT-PCR but a positive virus neutralization test and presence of IgG antibodies against ZIKV in the serum. Considering the evidence of a past ZIKV infection and absence of evidence for recent infections with the most common preceding infections of GBS, it is very likely that these GBS cases were triggered by ZIKV

Adherence to hepatitis A travel health guidelines: A cross-sectional seroprevalence study in Dutch travelling families - The Dutch travel Vaccination Study (DiVeST)

Background: This Dutch travel Vaccination Study (DiVeST) aimed to study adherence or compliance to Dutch travel health guidelines in travelling families and to identify risk groups to provide better advice and protection for international travellers. Methods: Between 2016 and 2018, family members who travelled to Eastern Europe or outside Europe during the preceding year were recruited via Dutch secondary schools. The vaccination status of the travellers was assessed using questionnaires and vaccination records and hepatitis A virus antibody concentrations in dried blood spot (DBS) eluates. Subgroups of travellers with lower adherence to guidelines were identified. Results: Of the 246 travellers that participated in this study, 155 (63%) travelled to destinations for which the HAV vaccination was recommended. Of these 155 travellers, 56 (36%) said they visited a pre-travel clinic, and 64 of them (41%) showed a valid HAV vaccination in their vaccination records. Of the 145 travellers with available DBS eluates, anti-HAV antibodies were detected in 98 (68%) of them. Conclusions: We found that adherence to travel health guidelines, in t

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin