Fish stocking programs: assessing the benefits against long term impacts

OBJECTIVES: 1. Assess movements and ecological impacts of stocked barramundi in a model river and impoundment 2. Determine if barramundi stocking has any discernable adverse genetic impacts on wild populations in a previously stocked river syste

A novel sub-seabed CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e release experiment informing monitoring and impact assessment for geological carbon storage

© 2014 The Authors. Carbon capture and storage is a mitigation strategy that can be used to aid the reduction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This process aims to capture CO2 from large point-source emitters and transport it to a long-term storage site. For much of Europe, these deep storage sites are anticipated to be sited below the sea bed on continental shelves. A key operational requirement is an understanding of best practice of monitoring for potential leakage and of the environmental impact that could result from a diffusive leak from a storage complex. Here we describe a controlled CO2 release experiment beneath the seabed, which overcomes the limitations of laboratory simulations and natural analogues. The complex processes involved in setting up the experimental facility and ensuring its successful operation are discussed, including site selection, permissions, communications and facility construction. The experimental design and observational strategy are reviewed with respect to scientific outcomes along with lessons learnt in order to facilitate any similar future

Toward a digital analysis of environmental impacts on rodent mammary gland density during critical developmental windows

While mammographic breast density is associated with breast cancer risk in humans, there is no comparable surrogate risk measure in mouse and rat mammary glands following various environmental exposures. In the current study, mammary glands from mice and rats subjected to reproductive factors and exposures to environmental chemicals that have been shown to influence mammary gland development and/or susceptibility to mammary tumors were evaluated for histologic density by manual and automated digital methods. Digital histological density detected changes due to hormonal stimuli/reproductive factors (parity), dietary fat, and exposure to environmental chemicals, such as benzophenone-3 and a combination of perfluorooctanoic acid and zeranol. Thus, digital analysis of mammary gland density offers a high throughput method that can provide a highly reproducible means of comparing a measure of histological density across independent experiments, experimental systems, and laboratories. This methodology holds promise for the detection of environmental impacts on mammary gland structure in mice and rats that may be comparable to human breast density, thus potentially allowing comparisons between rodent models and human breast cancer studies

The future problem solving program international: an intervention to promote creative skills in portuguese adolescents

The Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) is an internationally applied educational program that involves young people. Its theoretical foundation is both the Creative Problem Solving Model and the Futurist Thinking. It aims to promote creative and critical thinking through a futurist approach to problems. This study intended to analyze the effects of the program on creative skills evaluated by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural Version). The participants’ perceptions of the efficacy of the program were also assessed. This intervention was carried out with 131 adolescents over a period of 7 months in an extra-curricular context. The evaluation of the program takes into account periods both before and after interventions, using similar experimental and control groups. The results showed significant statistical differences for the all skills studied and very positive perceptions of the efficacy of FPSPI. Two significant gender differences in creative performance were also found. The results are described and discussed in order to promote awareness for future research concerning this program(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inter-Individual Variation in Response to Estrogen in Human Breast Explants

Exposure to estrogen is strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk. While all women are exposed to estrogen, only 12% are expected to develop breast cancer during their lifetime. These women may be more sensitive to estrogen, as rodent models have demonstrated variability in estrogen sensitivity. Our objective was to determine individual variation in expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and estrogen-induced responses in the normal human breast. Human breast tissue from female donors undergoing reduction mammoplasty surgery were collected for microarray analysis of ER expression. To examine estrogen-induced responses, breast tissue from 23 female donors were cultured ex- vivo in basal or 10 nM 17β-estradiol (E2) media for 4 days. Expression of ER genes (ESR1 and ESR2) increased significantly with age. E2 induced consistent increases in global gene transcription, but expression of target genes AREG, PGR, and TGFβ2 increased significantly only in explants from nulliparous women. E2-treatment did not induce consistent changes in proliferation or radiation induced apoptosis. Responses to estrogen are highly variable among women and not associated with levels of ER expression, suggesting differences in intracellular signaling among individuals. The differences in sensitivity to E2-stimulated responses may contribute to variation in risk of breast cancer

Rhetoric But Whose Reality? The Influence of Employability Messages on Employee Mobility Tactics and Work Group Identification

Over the last decade, employability has been presented by its advocates as the solution to employment uncertainty, and by its critics as a management rhetoric possessing little relevance to the experiences of most workers. This article suggests that while employability has failed to develop into a key research area, a deeper probing of its message is warranted. In particular, it is suggested that employability may have resonance with employees as workers rather than as employees of their immediate employing organisation. This demands a slightly different approach to studying employability than some other related phenomena such as employee commitment which has resonance only in relation to the employing organization. In adopting a social identity approach, the significance of the employability message is shown not only to lie in employees’ willingness to disassociate from their existing work groups and pursue individual mobility, but also in its capacity to undermine workers’ collective responses to grievances and unwanted organizational changes. A future research agenda is presented which highlights the need to address recent attempts to develop employability expectations among graduate career entrants, and for a closer critical engagement with management writings that attempt to justify the unnecessary espousal of the self development message

A novel sub-seabed CO₂ release experiment informing monitoring and impact assessment for geological carbon storage

Carbon capture and storage is a mitigation strategy that can be used to aid the reduction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This process aims to capture CO2 from large point-source emitters and transport it to a long-term storage site. For much of Europe, these deep storage sites are anticipated to be sited below the sea bed on continental shelves. A key operational requirement is an understanding of best practice of monitoring for potential leakage and of the environmental impact that could result from a diffusive leak from a storage complex. Here we describe a controlled CO2 release experiment beneath the seabed, which overcomes the limitations of laboratory simulations and natural analogues. The complex processes involved in setting up the experimental facility and ensuring its successful operation are discussed, including site selection, permissions, communications and facility construction. The experimental design and observational strategy are reviewed with respect to scientific outcomes along with lessons learnt in order to facilitate any similar future

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Epithelial Cell Cycling Predicts p53 - Repsoniveness to γ-Irradiation During Post-Natal Mammary Gland Development

The tumor suppressor gene, TP53, plays a major role in surveillance and repair of radiation-induced DNA damage. In multiple cell types, including mammary epithelial cells, abrogation of p53 (encoded by Trp53) function is associated with increased tumorigenesis. We examined γ-irradiated BALB/c-Trp53+/+ and -Trp53–/– female mice at five stages of post-natal mammary gland development to determine whether radiation-induced p53 activity is developmentally regulated. Our results show that p53-mediated responses are attenuated in glands from irradiated virgin and lactating mice, as measured by induction of p21/WAF1 (encoded by Cdkn1a) and apoptosis, while irradiated early- and mid-pregnancy glands exhibit robust p53 activity. There is a strong correlation between p53-mediated apoptosis and the degree of cellular proliferation, independent of the level of differentiation. In vivo, proliferation is intimately influenced by steroid hormones. To determine whether steroid hormones directly modulate p53 activity, whole organ cultures of mammary glands were induced to proliferate using estrogen plus progesterone or epidermal growth factor plus transforming growth factor-α and p53 responses to γ-irradiation were measured. Regardless of mitogens used, proliferating mammary epithelial cells show comparable p53 responses to γ-irradiation, including expression of nuclear p53 and p21/WAF1 and increased levels of apoptosis, compared to non-proliferating irradiated control cultures. Our study suggests that differences in radiation-induced p53 activity during post-natal mammary gland development are influenced by the proliferative state of the gland, and may be mediated indirectly by the mitogenic actions of steroid hormones in vivo