Wastewater-based epidemiology of cocaine in the Brazilian Federal District : spatial distribution, weekly variation and sample preservation strategies

The distribution of consumed cocaine in the Brazilian Federal District (FD) was estimated using the wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach. Sewage samples from eight wastewater treatment plants were analyzed for cocaine (COC) and benzoylecgonine (BE) using solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The highest per capita consumption was noticed for the northern area of the Brazilian Capital (1162 mg day-1 1000 inh‑1) being 32% higher than the average consumption rate of the investigated region. In this area, a day-to-day investigation revealed an average cocaine consumption of 1800 mg day-1 1000 inh-1 during the weekend, i.e., more than 50% higher than weekdays. An annual street-grade cocaine load of about 2 ton was estimated for the FD considering previous information on the actual purity of seized street drugs as well as consumers between 15 and 64 years old. Sample preservation strategies were also investigated in order to expand the WBE approach to other Brazilian areas. Sample acidification to pH 2.0 presented the smallest relative errors for COC (+11%) and BE (−4%) after a period of three days under typical transport conditions practiced by the Brazilian national postal service

Illicit drugs, metabolites and adulterants in wastewater : monitoring community drug abuse in the brazilian Federal District during the 2014 Soccer World Cup

A multiresidue method was developed to estimate community drug use during two weekends of the 2014 Soccer World Cup via wastewater analyses. Five of the 16 investigated substances were detected in all eight samples. Benzoilecgonine (BE), the major cocaine metabolite, was the most abundant substance (1.9 ± 0.3 to 4.2 ± 0.2 μg L-1) followed by anhydroecgonine (AE) (1.5 ± 0.2 to 2.6 ± 0.2 μg L-1), phenacetin (PHE) (0.62 ± 0.06 to 1.3 ± 0.1 μg L-1), levamisole (LEV) (0.5 ± 0.2 to 1.23 ± 0.09 μg L-1), and cocaine (COC) (0.46 ± 0.07 to 0.8 ± 0.1 μg L-1). COC and BE levels suggested a human consumption origin for the investigated drugs. AE/BE ratios revealed a significant use of smoked crack/free base cocaine. Relationships between the adulterants PHE and LEV evidenced a higher use of crack cocaine in the South-Wing WWTP region. An estimative for cocaine use revealed slightly higher drug consumption during the Soccer World Cup weekends in comparison with a typical weekend in 2012

Identification of earlier predictors of pregnancy complications through wearable technologies in a Brazilian multicentre cohort : Maternal Actigraphy Exploratory Study I (MAES-I) study protocol

Introduction Non-invasive tools capable of identifying predictors of maternal complications would be a step forward for improving maternal and perinatal health. There is an association between modification in physical activity (PA) and sleep–wake patterns and the occurrence of inflammatory, metabolic, pathological conditions related to chronic diseases. The actigraphy device is validated to estimate PA and sleep–wake patterns among pregnant women. In order to extend the window of opportunity to prevent, diagnose and treat specific maternal conditions, would it be possible to use actigraphy data to identify risk factors for the development of adverse maternal outcomes during pregnancy? Methods and analysis A cohort will be held in five centres from the Brazilian Network for Studies on Reproductive and Perinatal Health. Maternal Actigraphy Exploratory Study I (MAES-I) will enrol 400 low-risk nulliparous women who will wear the actigraphy device on their wrists day and night (24 hours/day) uninterruptedly from 19 to 21 weeks until childbirth. Changes in PA and sleep–wake patterns will be analysed throughout pregnancy, considering ranges in gestational age in women with and without maternal complications such as pre-eclampsia, preterm birth (spontaneous or provider-initiated), gestational diabetes, maternal haemorrhage during pregnancy, in addition to perinatal outcomes. The plan is to design a predictive model using actigraphy data for screening pregnant women at risk of developing specific adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes

Incidence and risk factors for Preeclampsia in a cohort of healthy nulliparous pregnant women: a nested case-control study

The objective of this study is to determine the incidence, socio-demographic and clinical risk factors for preeclampsia and associated maternal and perinatal adverse outcomes. This is a nested case-control derived from the multicentre cohort study Preterm SAMBA, in five different centres in Brazil, with nulliparous healthy pregnant women. Clinical data were prospectively collected, and risk factors were assessed comparatively between PE cases and controls using risk ratio (RR) (95% CI) plus multivariate analysis. Complete data were available for 1,165 participants. The incidence of preeclampsia was 7.5%. Body mass index determined at the first medical visit and diastolic blood pressure over 75 mmHg at 20 weeks of gestation were independently associated with the occurrence of preeclampsia. Women with preeclampsia sustained a higher incidence of adverse maternal outcomes, including C-section (3.5 fold), preterm birth below 34 weeks of gestation (3.9 fold) and hospital stay longer than 5 days (5.8 fold) than controls. They also had worse perinatal outcomes, including lower birthweight (a mean 379 g lower), small for gestational age babies (RR 2.45 [1.52-3.95]), 5-minute Apgar score less than 7 (RR 2.11 [1.03-4.29]), NICU admission (RR 3.34 [1.61-6.9]) and Neonatal Near Miss (3.65 [1.78-7.49]). Weight gain rate per week, obesity and diastolic blood pressure equal to or higher than 75 mmHg at 20 weeks of gestation were shown to be associated with preeclampsia. Preeclampsia also led to a higher number of C-sections and prolonged hospital admission, in addition to worse neonatal outcomes9CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ401636/2013-5Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationGates Foundation [OPP1107597]; CNPqNational Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [401636/2013-5

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors

Genome-wide association between single nucleotide polymorphisms with beef fatty acid profile in Nellore cattle using the single step procedure

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud Saturated fatty acids can be detrimental to human health and have received considerable attention in recent years. Several studies using taurine breeds showed the existence of genetic variability and thus the possibility of genetic improvement of the fatty acid profile in beef. This study identified the regions of the genome associated with saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and n-6 to n-3 ratios in the Longissimus thoracis of Nellore finished in feedlot, using the single-step method.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud The results showed that 115 windows explain more than 1 % of the additive genetic variance for the 22 studied fatty acids. Thirty-one genomic regions that explain more than 1 % of the additive genetic variance were observed for total saturated fatty acids, C12:0, C14:0, C16:0 and C18:0. Nineteen genomic regions, distributed in sixteen different chromosomes accounted for more than 1 % of the additive genetic variance for the monounsaturated fatty acids, such as the sum of monounsaturated fatty acids, C14:1 cis-9, C18:1 trans-11, C18:1 cis-9, and C18:1 trans-9. Forty genomic regions explained more than 1 % of the additive variance for the polyunsaturated fatty acids group, which are related to the total polyunsaturated fatty acids, C20:4 n-6, C18:2 cis-9 cis12 n-6, C18:3 n-3, C18:3 n-6, C22:6 n-3 and C20:3 n-6 cis-8 cis-11 cis-14. Twenty-one genomic regions accounted for more than 1 % of the genetic variance for the group of omega-3, omega-6 and the n-6:n-3 ratio.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud The identification of such regions and the respective candidate genes, such as ELOVL5, ESSRG, PCYT1A and genes of the ABC group (ABC5, ABC6 and ABC10), should contribute to form a genetic basis of the fatty acid profile of Nellore (Bos indicus) beef, contributing to better selection of the traits associated with improving human health.MVA Lemos, (FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São\ud Paulo). HLJ Chiaia, MP Berton, FLB Feitosa received scholarships from the\ud Coordination Office for Advancement of University-level Personnel (CAPES;\ud Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) in conjunction\ud with the Postgraduate Program on Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculdade\ud de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista (FCAV,\ud UNESP). F Baldi (FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São\ud Paulo grant #2011/21241-0). Lucia G. Albuquerque (FAPESP, Fundação de\ud Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo grant #2009/16118-5)

Obesity Partially Mediates the Diabetogenic Effect of Lowering LDL Cholesterol

OBJECTIVE LDL cholesterol (LDLc)-lowering drugs modestly increase body weight and type 2 diabetes risk, but the extent to which the diabetogenic effect of lowering LDLc is mediated through increased BMI is unknown. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted summary-level univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses in 921,908 participants to investigate the effect of lowering LDLc on type 2 diabetes risk and the proportion of this effect mediated through BMI. We used data from 92,532 participants from 14 observational studies to replicate findings in individual-level MR analyses. RESULTS A 1-SD decrease in genetically predicted LDLc was associated with increased type 2 diabetes odds (odds ratio [OR] 1.12 [95% CI 1.01, 1.24]) and BMI (b 5 0.07 SD units [95% CI 0.02, 0.12]) in univariable MR analyses. The multivariable MR analysis showed evidence of an indirect effect of lowering LDLc on type 2 diabetes through BMI (OR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01, 1.08]) with a proportion mediated of 38% of the total effect (P 5 0.03). Total and indirect effect estimates were similar across a number of sensitivity analyses. Individual-level MR analyses confirmed the indirect effect of lowering LDLc on type 2 diabetes through BMI with an estimated proportion mediated of 8% (P 5 0.04). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that the diabetogenic effect attributed to lowering LDLc is partially mediated through increased BMI. Our results could help advance understanding of adipose tissue and lipids in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology and inform strategies to reduce diabetes risk among individuals taking LDLc-lowering medications

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe