Monitoring stormwater contaminants in the Puget Sound nearshore: an active biomonitoring tool using transplanted mussels (Mytilus trossulus)

Stormwater delivers a diverse range of contaminants to receiving waters including Puget Sound. Monitoring stormwater pollutants and their effects on biota is critical to informing best management practices aimed at recovering Puget Sound health. In the winter of 2012/13, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Toxics-focused Biological Observation System (TBiOS) team conducted a pilot study using transplanted mussels to characterize the extent and magnitude of contamination in nearshore biota of Puget Sound. Mussels are now a key TBiOS indicator organism for tracking contaminants in the nearshore, and the Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM) program has adopted mussels for nearshore stormwater monitoring as well. SAM now serves as the primary funder of nearshore mussel monitoring in Puget Sound and the first two SAM mussel monitoring surveys were conducted during the winters of 2015/16 and 2017/18, with future surveys planned on a biennial basis. These mussel surveys utilized native bay mussels (Mytilus trossulus) from a local aquaculture source that were transplanted into anti-predator cages to locations along the Puget Sound shoreline. Monitoring sites covered a broad range of upland land-use types, from rural to highly urban, and concentrations of organic contaminants and metals were measured in the mussels after a two to three-month winter deployment period. Data from the first two years of mussel surveys (2012/13, 2015/16) indicates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were the most abundant organic contaminants of those tested in the nearshore. Concentrations of both contaminants were significantly higher in the most urbanized areas and were positively correlated with impervious surface in upland watersheds adjacent to the nearshore. Patterns of PAHs (i.e. PAH fingerprints) in mussels from different locations demonstrate how mussels might be useful as indicators of sources for this particular class of stormwater contaminants in Puget Sound

HER-2/neu and CD117 (c-kit) overexpression in patients with pesticide exposure and extensive stage small cell lung carcinoma (ESSCLC)

BACKGROUND: The rate of detection of HER-2/neu and CD117 (c-kit) overexpression in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has varied widely; between 5–35% and 21–70% respectively. METHODS: To evaluate the relationship between pesticide exposure and HER-2/neu and CD117 overexpression in extensive stage SCLC (ESSCLC), we identified patients with ESSCLC and assessed pesticide exposure using a predetermined questionnaire. An exposure index (hours/day × days/year × years) ≥ 2400 hours was considered as 'exposed.' HER-2/neu overexpression was evaluated on archival tissue using the DAKO Hercep test, and CD117 testing was performed using immunohistochemistry (A4052 polyclonal antibody). RESULTS: 193 ESSCLC patients were identified. Pesticide exposure data could be obtained on 174 patients (84 females and 109 males) with a mean age of 68.5 years. 53/174 (30.4%) revealed HER-2/neu overexpression. 54/174 (31.03%) specimens showed CD117 overexpression by IHC. On multivariate analysis, HER-2/neu overexpression was associated with diminished survival (p < 0.001). In comparison, CD117 expression did not have an adverse prognostic value (p = 0.025). 41/53 (77.4%) patients with HER-2/neu overexpression and 47/121 (38.8%) patients without overexpression had exposure to pesticides (odds ratio: 5.38; p < 0.01). Among the cohort tested for CD117, 29/54 (53.7%) patients with CD117 overexpression and 59/120 (49.2%) patients without CD117 overexpression had pesticide exposure (odds ratio: 1.18; p = 0.12). CONCLUSION: Pesticide exposure affects HER-2/neu but not CD117 overexpression. Future studies are needed to determine specific pesticide(s)/pesticide components that are responsible for HER-2/neu overexpression in ESSCLC, and to validate our findings in other solid tumors that overexpress HER-2/neu

Regional and social differences concerning overweight, participation in health check-ups and vaccination. Analysis of data from a whole birth cohort of 6-year old children in a prosperous German city

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies on health inequalities still focus mostly on adults. Research about social disparities and health in children is slowly increasing, also in Germany, but these studies are mostly restricted to individual social variables derived from the parents to determine social class. This paper analyses the data of the medical check-up prior to school enrolment to determine differences concerning overweight, participation in health check-ups and immunization; it includes individual social variables but also regional variables describing the social environment of the children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The dataset includes 9,353 children who started school in 2004 in Munich, Germany. Three dependent variables are included (i.e. overweight, health check-ups, vaccinations). The individual level social variables are: children's sex, mother tongue of the parents, Kindergarten visit. On the small scale school district level, two regional social variables could be included as well, i.e. percentage of single-parent households, percentage of households with low educational level. Associations are assessed by cross tables and regression analyses. The regional level variables are included by multilevel analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analyses indicate that there is a large variation between the school districts concerning the three dependent variables, and that there is no district with very 'problematic values' for all three of them (i.e. high percentage of overweight, low levels of health check-ups and vaccinations). Throughout the bivariate and multivariate analyses, the mother tongue of the children's parents shows the most pronounced association with these dependent variables; i.e. children growing up in non-German-speaking families tend to be more overweight and don't visit preventive check-ups as often as children of German-speaking parents. An opposite association can be seen concerning vaccinations. Regional level influences are present as well, but they are rather small when the individual level social variables are controlled for.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The dataset of the medical check-up prior to school enrolment offers a great opportunity for public health research, as it comprises a whole age cohort. The number and scope of variables is quite limited, though. On one hand, it includes only few variables on health or health related risks. On the other, it would be important to have more information from the region where the children live, e.g. the availability of community and health care services for parents and children, social networks of families with children, areas where children can play outside, traffic noise and air pollution. Despite these shortcomings, the need for specific interventions can already be derived from the data analyzed here, e.g. programs to reduce overweight in children should focus on parents with a mother tongue other than German.</p

Further investigation of green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) distinct population segment composition in non-natal estuaries and preliminary evidence of Columbia River spawning

Green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) is a highly migratory, marine oriented species that congregates in non-natal estuaries during summer and early fall. Individuals from the threatened Southern Distinct Population Segment (SDPS) and non-listed Northern Distinct Population Segment (NDPS) regularly co-occur in non-natal estuaries including the Columbia River estuary, Willapa Bay, and Grays Harbor in relative proportions not explained by abundance or distance from natal river. We used genetic markers to assign green sturgeon sampled in these estuaries from 2010 to 2012 to distinct population segments (DPS). We then examined interannual differences in DPS composition among estuaries. Fork length distributions were compared between SDPS and NDPS green sturgeon to determine whether size varied within and among DPSs and estuaries. The majority of green sturgeon sampled in the Columbia River estuary and Willapa Bay were assigned to the SDPS, while we assigned nearly even DPS proportions to our Grays Harbor samples. NDPS green sturgeon were significantly smaller than those originating from the SDPS within and among estuaries. We used these findings to develop several hypotheses about the mechanisms that may lead to specific patterns of non-natal estuary use. Genetic markers also assigned a single age-0 green sturgeon sampled in the Columbia River to the NDPS, although our analyses suggest that this individual’s parents may not have originated from known NDPS spawning populations. Because the Columbia River may serve as alternative spawning habitat for green sturgeon as climate change occurs, we recommend monitoring the Columbia River more closely for further evidence of green sturgeon spawning