Fluorescence in situ hybridisation study of micronuclei in C3A cells following exposure to ELF-magnetic fields

Human C3A cells were exposed to extremely low frequency (50 Hz) magnetic fields (ELF-MF's) up to 500 mu T. They were subjected to the micronucleus assay using a Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) technique with an in-house pan-centromere probe. We found no increased frequency in micronucleated cells and no change in the proportion of centromere positive over centromere negative micronuclei compared to the unexposed control cells. These results are in accordance with some, but in contradiction with other previously published investigations underlining that effects of environmental ELF-EMF's on cellular DNA may be very subtle and that small changes or environmental influences may determine the outcome of a (geno)toxicity study. Interestingly, a low-level (5 mu T) exposure resulted in less than the background micronucleus frequency

Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes:Evidence from genome-wide association studies

First published: 16 February 202

Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment

This report presents an ecosystem assessment covering the total land area of the EU as well as the EU marine regions. The assessment is carried out by Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency, DG Environment, and the European Topic Centres on Biological Diversity and on Urban, Land and Soil Systems. This report constitutes a knowledge base which can support the evaluation of the 2020 biodiversity targets. It also provides a data foundation for future assessments and policy developments, in particular with respect to the ecosystem restoration agenda for the next decade (2020-2030). The report presents an analysis of the pressures and condition of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems using a single, comparable methodology based on European data on trends of pressures and condition relative to the policy baseline 2010. The following main conclusions are drawn: - Pressures on ecosystems exhibit different trends. - Land take, atmospheric emissions of air pollutants and critical loads of nitrogen are decreasing but the absolute values of all these pressures remain too high. - Impacts from climate change on ecosystems are increasing. - Invasive alien species of union concern are observed in all ecosystems, but their impact is particularly high in urban ecosystems and grasslands. - Pressures from overfishing activities and marine pollution are still high. - In the long term, air and freshwater quality is improving. - In forests and agroecosystems, which represent over 80% of the EU territory, there are improvements in structural condition indicators (biomass, deadwood, area under organic farming) relative to the baseline year 2010 but some key bio-indicators such as tree-crown defoliation continue to increase. This indicates that ecosystem condition is not improving. - Species-related indicators show no progress or further declines, particularly in agroecosystems. The analysis of trends in ecosystem services concluded that the current potential of ecosystems to deliver timber, protection against floods, crop pollination, and nature-based recreation is equal to or lower than the baseline value for 2010. At the same time, the demand for these services has significantly increased. A lowered potential in combination with a higher demand risks to further decrease the condition of ecosystems and their contribution to human well-being. Despite the wide coverage of environmental legislation in the EU, there are still large gaps in the legal protection of ecosystems. On land, 76% of the area of terrestrial ecosystems, mainly forests, agroecosystems and urban ecosystems, are excluded from a legal designation under the Bird and Habitat Directives. Freshwater and marine ecosystems are subject to specific protection measures under the Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives. The condition of ecosystems that are under legal designation is unfavourable. More efforts are needed to bend the curve of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and to put ecosystems on a path to recovery. The progress that is made in certain areas such as pollution reduction, increasing air and water quality, increasing share of organic farming, the expansion of forests, and the efforts to maintain marine fish stocks at sustainable levels show that a persistent implementation of policies can be effective. These successes should encourage us to act now and to put forward an ambitious plan for the restoration of Europe’s ecosystems.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Aesthetics and Clarity in Information Visualization: The Designer’s Perspective

Designers are increasingly involved in creating ‘popular’ data visualizations in mass media. Scientists in the field of information visualization propose collaborations between designers and scientists in popular data visualization. They assume that designers put more emphasis on aesthetics than on clarity in their representation of data, and that they aim to convey subjective, rather than objective, information. We investigated designers’ criteria for good design for a broad audience by interviewing professional designers and by reviewing information design handbooks. Additionally, we investigated what might make a visualization aesthetically pleasing (attractive) in the view of the designers. Results show that, according to the information designers, clarity and aesthetics are the main criteria, with clarity being the most important. They aim to objectively inform the public, rather than conveying personal opinions. Furthermore, although aesthetics is considered important, design literature hardly addresses the characteristics of aesthetics, and designers find it hard to define what makes a visualization attractive. The few statements found point at interesting directions for future research

Co-exposure of ELF-magnetic fields and chemical mutagens : an investigation of genotoxicity with the SOS-based VITOTOX test in Salmonella typhimurium

&lt;p&gt;It is believed that extreme low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) are not mutagenic, at least at exposure levels below 100 μT. Synergistic or co-operative effects with environmental mutagens remain possible yet. We therefore investigated the effects of ELF-MF in conjunction with 4 different well known chemical mutagens having different modes of action. For this purpose the bacterial Vitotox test was used. Our study confirmed previous results which showed that a 100 μT magnetic field (50 Hz) does not damage DNA and hence is not mutagenic in this assay and that there was also no influence on the DNA damaging capacity of the used mutagens.&lt;/p&gt;</p

The cytome assay as a tool to investigate the possible association between exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields and an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease

&lt;p&gt;Exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) has been identified as one of the potential environmental risk factors for Alzheimer&amp;#39;s disease (AD). However, this is far from being established. So far there is no experimental evidence supporting this alleged association. We have performed an in vitro cytogenetic laboratory investigation to explore the plausibility of such association. Our investigation was based on possible similarities found in cells from AD patients and in cells exposed to ELF-MF. We especially found that 50  Hz ELF-MF increase the frequency of cells with (large) micronuclei and nuclear buds indicating that fields above 50 &amp;mu;T may induce chromosome instabilities as those found in AD patients. It should be stressed yet that results from the few published experimental studies on ELF-MF and AD are rather reassuring. Thus, our findings certainly do not prove anything. They only suggest that further investigations might be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;</p