The relationship of alcohol to blood pressure: The INTERMAP Study

Adverse blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organisation Global Burden of Disease Comparative Risk Analysis study (2000) reported that regular consumption of alcohol elevated BP and attributed 16% of all hypertensive disease worldwide to alcohol. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between heavy alcohol use and high BP, but few studies have directly addressed the role of drinking patterns, type of alcoholic beverages, nutrient intakes, foods and urinary metabolites. The International Collaborative Study of Macro-/Micro-nutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP) is a cross-sectional epidemiological study designed to investigate the role of macro and micronutrients in the aetiology of adverse BP patterns in populations. This report investigates the relationship of alcohol consumption and BP in 4,680 men and women aged 40 to 59 years from 17 population samples in Japan, People's Republic of China, United Kingdom and the United States, using data including macro-/micro-nutrients from four 24-hour dietary recalls, two 7-day alcohol records, urinary electrolytes and urinary metabolites from two timed 24-hour urine collections, together with socioeconomic data. Specific aims include investigation of the relationship between BP and alcohol drinking patterns and type of alcoholic beverage; the relationship between alcohol intake and other nutrients, the role of nutrient pattern and foods of non-drinker (teetotallers and ex-drinkers) and drinkers (moderate and heavy drinkers) and their BP; the difference in urinary amino acid excretion among non-drinkers and current drinkers; identify urinary metabolites detected by nuclear magnetic resonance in relation to different alcohol intake levels and alcohol drinking pattern; use of INTERMAP data to explore country/population differences in alcohol metabolism. Findings from the INTERMAP Study show that the harmful effect of alcohol intake on blood pressure is related particularly to the quantity of alcohol consumed (average intake per day), not drinking pattern or type of beverage

Heating experiments of the Tagish Lake meteorite: Investigation of the effects of short-term heating on chondritic organics

We present in this study the effects of short-term heating on organics in the Tagish Lake meteorite and how the difference in the heating conditions can modify the organic matter (OM) in a way that complicates the interpretation of a parent body’s heating extent with common cosmothermometers. The kinetics of short-term heating and its influence on the organic structure are not well understood, and any study of OM is further complicated by the complex alteration processes of the thermally metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites—potential analogues of the target asteroid Ryugu of the Hayabusa2 mission—which had experienced posthydration, short-duration local heating. In an attempt to understand the effects of short-term heating on chondritic OM, we investigated the change in the OM contents of the experimentally heated Tagish Lake meteorite samples using Raman spectroscopy, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy utilizing X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy, and ultraperformance liquid chromatography fluorescence detection and quadrupole time of flight hybrid mass spectrometry. Our experiment suggests that graphitization of OM did not take place despite the samples being heated to 900 °C for 96 h, as the OM maturity trend was influenced by the heating conditions, kinetics, and the nature of the OM precursor, such as the presence of abundant oxygenated moieties. Although both the intensity of the 1s σ* exciton cannot be used to accurately interpret the peak metamorphic temperature of the experimentally heated Tagish Lake sample, the Raman graphite band widths of the heated products significantly differ from that of chondritic OM modified by long-term internal heating

Climate change impacts on water salinity and health

AbstractIt is estimated that 884 million people do not have access to clean drinking water in the world. Increasing salinity of natural drinking water sources has been reported as one of the many problems that affect low-income countries, but one which has not been fully explored. This problem is exacerbated by rising sea-levels, owing to climate change, and other contributing factors, like changes in fresh water flow from rivers and increased shrimp farming along the coastal areas. In some countries, desalination plants are used to partly remove salt and other minerals from water sources, but this is unlikely to be a sustainable option for low-income countries affected by high salinity. Using the example of Bangladesh as a model country, the following research indicates that the problem of salinity can have serious implications with regard to rising rates of hypertension and other public health problems among large sectors of the worldwide population

Concerns of Organic Contamination for Sample Return Space Missions

Analysis of organic matter has been one of the major motivations behind solar system exploration missions. It addresses questions related to the organic inventory of our solar system and its implication for the origin of life on Earth. Sample return missions aim at returning scientifically valuable samples from target celestial bodies to Earth. By analysing the samples with the use of state-of-the-art analytical techniques in laboratories here on Earth, researchers can address extremely complicated aspects of extra-terrestrial organic matter. This level of detailed sample characterisation provides the range and depth in organic analysis that are restricted in spacecraft-based exploration missions, due to the limitations of the on-board in-situ instrumentation capabilities. So far, there are four completed and in-process sample return missions with an explicit mandate to collect organic matter: Stardust and OSIRIS-REx missions of NASA, and Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 missions of JAXA. Regardless of the target body, all sample return missions dedicate to minimise terrestrial organic contamination of the returned samples, by applying various degrees or strategies of organic contamination mitigation methods. Despite the dedicated efforts in the design and execution of contamination control, it is impossible to completely eliminate sources of organic contamination. This paper aims at providing an overview of the successes and lessons learned with regards to the identification of indigenous organic matter of the returned samples vs terrestrial contamination

Bright Stuff on Ceres = Sulfates and Carbonates on CI Chondrites

Recent reports of the DAWN spacecraft's observations of the surface of Ceres indicate that there are bright areas, which can be explained by large amounts of the Mg sulfate hexahydrate (MgSO46(H2O)), although the identification appears tenuous. There are preliminary indications that water is being evolved from these bright areas, and some have inferred that these might be sites of contemporary hydro-volcanism. A heat source for such modern activity is not obvious, given the small size of Ceres, lack of any tidal forces from nearby giant planets, probable age and presumed bulk composition. We contend that observations of chondritic materials in the lab shed light on the nature of the bright spots on Cere

Intriguing Dehydrated Phyllosilicates Found in an Unusual Clast in the LL3.15 Chondrite NWS6925

Meteorites provide us with valuable insights into the conditions of the early solar system. Collisions often occur in our solar system that can result in materials accreting to other bodies as foreign clasts. These foreign pieces may have multiple origins that can sometimes be easily identified as a particular type of meteorite. It is important to interpret the origins of these clasts in order to understand dynamics of the solar system, especially throughout its early history. The Nice Model, as modified, proposes a reordering of planetary orbits that is hypothesized to have triggered the Late Heavy Bombardment. Clasts found within meteorites that came from objects in the solar system not commonly associated as an impactor could be indicative of such an event suggested by the Nice Model. Impacts also redistribute material from one region of an asteroid to another, and so clasts are found that reveal portions of the geological history of a body that are not recorded by typical samples. These would be cognate clasts. The goal of this investigation was to examine meteorites that had particularly interesting foreign and cognate clasts enclosed in them. We focus here on an unusual clast located in the ordinary chondrite, NWA 6925. This is one of three clasts analyzed during the LPI summer internship of Jessica Johnson

Organic Matter in the Solar System—Implications for Future on-Site and Sample Return Missions

Solar system bodies like comets, asteroids, meteorites and dust particles contain organic matter with different abundances, structures and chemical composition. This chapter compares the similarities and differences of the organic composition in these planetary bodies. Furthermore, these links are explored in the context of detecting the most pristine organic material, either by on-site analysis or sample return missions. Finally, we discuss the targets of potential future sample return missions, as well as the contamination controls that should be in place in order to successfully study pristine organic matter