Radiation Dose and Risk Assessment in Hysterosalpingography

Hysterosalpingography is an important diagnostic method for the evaluation of the female re productive tract involving the exposure of patients to ionizing radiation The irradiation of ovaries is unavoidable and radiation exposure of the patient and the associated radiological risk for the foetus and born child during the period of growth should be considered, as well The purpose of this work is to evaluate organ and patient doses and radiation risks during hysterosalpingography procedures performed in a dedicated gynecological hospital The entrance surface air kerma was measured for a total of 31 patients during hvsterosalpingography Based on the results obtained, the radiogenic risk for hereditary effects and cancer induction was estimated The patient dose levels are in the range of 3-15 mGy, with a median value of 10 mGy, in terms of entrance surface air kerma Estimated median ovarian and uterus doses are 1 7 and 2 3 mGy, respectively The risk for fatal cancer and hereditary effects is estimated to be 5 5 10(-5) and 3 4 10(-6), respectively Although low compared to the natural incidence of genetic effects and cancer, it can be elevated in cases of prolonged or repeated procedures or procedures where the non-optimized protocol is use

A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield-related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change. Pollinator and enemy richness directly supported ecosystem services in addition to and independent of abundance and dominance. Up to 50% of the negative effects of landscape simplification on ecosystem services was due to richness losses of service-providing organisms, with negative consequences for crop yields. Maintaining the biodiversity of ecosystem service providers is therefore vital to sustain the flow of key agroecosystem benefits to society. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies

Radiation dose and risk assessment in hysterosalpingography

Hysterosalpingography is an important diagnostic method for the evaluation of the female reproductive tract involving the exposure of patients to ionizing radiation. The irradiation of ovaries is unavoidable and radiation exposure of the patient and the associated radiological risk for the foetus and born child during the period of growth should be considered, as well. The purpose of this work is to evaluate organ and patient doses and radiation risks during hysterosalpingography procedures performed in a dedicated gynecological hospital. The entrance surface air kerma was measured for a total of 31 patients during hysterosalpingography. Based on the results obtained, the radiogenic risk for hereditary effects and cancer induction was estimated. The patient dose levels are in the range of 3-15 mGy, with a median value of 10 mGy, in terms of entrance surface air kerma. Estimated median ovarian and uterus doses are 1.7 and 2.3 mGy, respectively. The risk for fatal cancer and hereditary effects is estimated to be 5.5×10-5 and 3.4 ×10-6, respectively. Although low compared to the natural incidence of genetic effects and cancer, it can be elevated in cases of prolonged or repeated procedures or procedures where the non-optimized protocol is used

Impact of Informal Settlements on the Environment in Southeast Europe – A Review

Impact of Informal Settlements on the Environment in Southeast Europe – A Review. International scientific conference Environmental impact of illegal construction, poor planning and design IMPEDE 201

Functional role of different habitat types at local and landscape scales for aphids and their natural enemies

The functional roles of different habitats may depend on the combined effect of local habitat management and the structure and composition of the surrounding landscape. However, this interaction is not well understood due to the common practice of pooling many different habitat types in one simple landscape metric (e.g., percentage crop area). In this study, we investigate the interactive effects of local and landscape factors on the abundance and species richness of aphids and their natural enemies, as well as primary parasitism and hyperparasitism rates. We selected 41 fields in Central Serbia with three disturbance levels at the local scale (wheat fields, alfalfa fields, and fallows) embedded in 15 landscapes that varied in percentage of annual crops, grasslands, and shrublands. We found ecosystem disservices to be promoted in wheat fields, where both aphid abundances and hyperparasitism rates were approximately threefold higher than in alfalfa fields and fallows. Concurrently, alfalfa fields supported at least twofold higher primary parasitism rates and predator (coccinellid) abundances than either wheat fields or fallows. The proportion of grasslands in the surrounding landscape had no effect on any organism group while shrublands appear to be important for both polyphagus predators and pests in some crops, a pattern not revealed when all semi-natural habitats in the landscape are pooled together. Our results imply that the roles of different habitat types at both local and landscape scales should be considered in a multifunctional agricultural management approach, which if adopted may provide better ecosystem services for multiple agroecosystem types

Antimicrobial Activity of Copper and Zinc-Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanopowders

4th BBBB-Bled International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences - New Trends in Drug Discovery, Delivery Systems and Laboratory Diagnostics, Sep 29-Oct 01, 2011, Bled, Sloveni

Dose imbalance of DYRK1A kinase causes systemic progeroid status in Down syndrome by increasing the un-repaired DNA damage and reducing LaminB1 levels.

BACKGROUND: People with Down syndrome (DS) show clinical signs of accelerated ageing. Causative mechanisms remain unknown and hypotheses range from the (essentially untreatable) amplified-chromosomal-instability explanation, to potential actions of individual supernumerary chromosome-21 genes. The latter explanation could open a route to therapeutic amelioration if the specific over-acting genes could be identified and their action toned-down. METHODS: Biological age was estimated through patterns of sugar molecules attached to plasma immunoglobulin-G (IgG-glycans, an established "biological-ageing-clock") in n = 246 individuals with DS from three European populations, clinically characterised for the presence of co-morbidities, and compared to n = 256 age-, sex- and demography-matched healthy controls. Isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSCs) models of full and partial trisomy-21 with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and two kinase inhibitors were studied prior and after differentiation to cerebral organoids. FINDINGS: Biological age in adults with DS is (on average) 18.4-19.1 years older than in chronological-age-matched controls independent of co-morbidities, and this shift remains constant throughout lifespan. Changes are detectable from early childhood, and do not require a supernumerary chromosome, but are seen in segmental duplication of only 31 genes, along with increased DNA damage and decreased levels of LaminB1 in nucleated blood cells. We demonstrate that these cell-autonomous phenotypes can be gene-dose-modelled and pharmacologically corrected in hiPSCs and derived cerebral organoids. Using isogenic hiPSC models we show that chromosome-21 gene DYRK1A overdose is sufficient and necessary to cause excess unrepaired DNA damage. INTERPRETATION: Explanation of hitherto observed accelerated ageing in DS as a developmental progeroid syndrome driven by DYRK1A overdose provides a target for early pharmacological preventative intervention strategies. FUNDING: Main funding came from the "Research Cooperability" Program of the Croatian Science Foundation funded by the European Union from the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme Efficient Human Resources 2014-2020, Project PZS-2019-02-4277, and the Wellcome Trust Grants 098330/Z/12/Z and 217199/Z/19/Z (UK). All other funding is described in details in the "Acknowledgements"