Changes in Blood Lead Levels Associated with Use of Chloramines in Water Treatment Systems

BACKGROUND: More municipal water treatment plants are using chloramines as a disinfectant in order to reduce carcinogenic by-products. In some instances, this has coincided with an increase in lead levels in drinking water in those systems. Lead in drinking water can be a significant health risk. OBJECTIVES: We sought to test the potential effect of switching to chloramines for disinfection in water treatment systems on childhood blood lead levels using data from Wayne County, located in the central Coastal Plain of North Carolina. METHODS: We constructed a unified geographic information system (GIS) that links blood lead screening data with age of housing, drinking water source, and census data for 7,270 records. The data were analyzed using both exploratory methods and more formal multivariate techniques. RESULTS: The analysis indicates that the change to chloramine disinfection may lead to an increase in blood lead levels, the impact of which is progressively mitigated in newer housing. CONCLUSIONS: Introducing chloramines to reduce carcinogenic by-products may increase exposure to lead in drinking water. Our research provides guidance on adjustments in the local childhood lead poisoning prevention program that should accompany changes in water treatment. As similar research is conducted in other areas, and the underlying environmental chemistry is clarified, water treatment strategies can be optimized across the multiple objectives that municipalities face in providing high quality drinking water to local residents

Evaluating the impact of handling and logger attachment on foraging parameters and physiology in southern rockhopper penguins

Logger technology has revolutionised our knowledge of the behaviour and physiology of free-living animals but handling and logger attachments may have negative effects on the behaviour of the animals and their welfare. We studied southern rockhopper penguin ( Eudyptes chrysocome ) females during the guard stage in three consecutive breeding seasons (2008/09−2010/11) to evaluate the effects of handling and logger attachment on foraging trip duration, dive behaviour and physiological parameters. Smaller dive loggers (TDRs) were used in 2010/11 for comparison to larger GPS data loggers used in all three seasons and we included two categories of control birds: handled controls and PIT control birds that were previously marked with passive integrative transponders (PITs), but which had not been handled during this study. Increased foraging trip duration was only observed in GPS birds during 2010/11, the breeding season in which we also found GPS birds foraging further away from the colony and travelling longer distances. Compared to previous breeding seasons, 2010/11 may have been a period with less favourable environmental conditions, which would enhance the impact of logger attachments. A comparison between GPS and TDR birds showed a significant difference in dive depth frequencies with birds carrying larger GPS data loggers diving shallower. Mean and maximum dive depths were similar between GPS and TDR birds. We measured little impact of logger attachments on physiological parameters (corticosterone, protein, triglyceride levels and leucocyte counts). Overall, handling and short-term logger attachments (1-3 days) showed limited impact on the behaviour and physiology of the birds but care must be taken with the size of data loggers on diving seabirds. Increased drag may alter their diving behaviour substantially, thus constraining them in their ability to catch prey. Results obtained in this study indicate that data recorded may also not represent their normal dive behaviour

Brief Report: Schema Consistent Misinformation Effects in Eyewitnesses with Autism Spectrum Disorder

A number of studies have demonstrated schema-related misinformation effects in typical individuals, but no research to date has examined this with witnesses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), despite their impaired ability to generate core elements that define everyday events. After witnessing slides depicting a bank robbery, 16 adults with ASD and 16 matched comparison individuals were exposed to post-event misinformation that was either schema typical or atypical. Consistent with previous work, the comparison group went onto report more schema typical misinformation than atypical misinformation. However, so too did the ASD group, suggesting that individuals with ASD do have understanding of the causal links between events, persons and actions, an important finding from both theoretical and applied perspectives

Problems with Using the Normal Distribution – and Ways to Improve Quality and Efficiency of Data Analysis

Background: The Gaussian or normal distribution is the most established model to characterize quantitative variation of original data. Accordingly, data are summarized using the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation, by x 6 SD, or with the standard error of the mean, x 6 SEM. This, together with corresponding bars in graphical displays has become the standard to characterize variation. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we question the adequacy of this characterization, and of the model. The published literature provides numerous examples for which such descriptions appear inappropriate because, based on the ‘‘95 % range check’’, their distributions are obviously skewed. In these cases, the symmetric characterization is a poor description and may trigger wrong conclusions. To solve the problem, it is enlightening to regard causes of variation. Multiplicative causes are by far more important than additive ones, in general, and benefit from a multiplicative (or log-) normal approach. Fortunately, quite similar to the normal, the log-normal distribution can now be handled easily and characterized at the level of the original data with the help of both, a new sign, x /, times-divide, and notation. Analogous to x 6 SD, it connects the multiplicative (or geometric) mean x * and the multiplicative standard deviation s * in the form x * x /s*, that is advantageous and recommended. Conclusions/Significance: The corresponding shift from the symmetric to the asymmetric view will substantially increas

Selecting information technology for physicians' practices: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Many physicians are transitioning from paper to electronic formats for billing, scheduling, medical charts, communications, etc. The primary objective of this research was to identify the relationship (if any) between the software selection process and the office staff's perceptions of the software's impact on practice activities. METHODS: A telephone survey was conducted with office representatives of 407 physician practices in Oregon who had purchased information technology. The respondents, usually office managers, answered scripted questions about their selection process and their perceptions of the software after implementation. RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression revealed that software type, selection steps, and certain factors influencing the purchase were related to whether the respondents felt the software improved the scheduling and financial analysis practice activities. Specifically, practices that selected electronic medical record or practice management software, that made software comparisons, or that considered prior user testimony as important were more likely to have perceived improvements in the scheduling process than were other practices. Practices that considered value important, that did not consider compatibility important, that selected managed care software, that spent less than $10,000, or that provided learning time (most dramatic increase in odds ratio, 8.2) during implementation were more likely to perceive that the software had improved the financial analysis process than were other practices. CONCLUSION: Perhaps one of the most important predictors of improvement was providing learning time during implementation, particularly when the software involves several practice activities. Despite this importance, less than half of the practices reported performing this step

Interaction of Bestrophin-1 and Ca2+ Channel β-Subunits: Identification of New Binding Domains on the Bestrophin-1 C-Terminus

Bestrophin-1 modulates currents through voltage-dependent L-type Ca2+ channels by physically interacting with the β-subunits of Ca2+ channels. The main function of β-subunits is to regulate the number of pore-forming CaV-subunits in the cell membrane and modulate Ca2+ channel currents. To understand the influence of full-length bestrophin-1 on β-subunit function, we studied binding and localization of bestrophin-1 and Ca2+ channel subunits, together with modulation of CaV1.3 Ca2+ channels currents. In heterologeous expression, bestrophin-1 showed co-immunoprecipitation with either, β3-, or β4-subunits. We identified a new highly conserved cluster of proline-rich motifs on the bestrophin-1 C-terminus between amino acid position 468 and 486, which enables possible binding to SH3-domains of β-subunits. A bestrophin-1 that lacks these proline-rich motifs (ΔCT-PxxP bestrophin-1) showed reduced efficiency to co-immunoprecipitate with β3 and β4-subunits. In the presence of ΔCT-PxxP bestrophin-1, β4-subunits and CaV1.3 subunits partly lost membrane localization. Currents from CaV1.3 subunits were modified in the presence of β4-subunit and wild-type bestrophin-1: accelerated time-dependent activation and reduced current density. With ΔCTPxxP bestrophin-1, currents showed the same time-dependent activation as with wild-type bestrophin-1, but the current density was further reduced due to decreased number of Ca2+ channels proteins in the cell membrane. In summary, we described new proline-rich motifs on bestrophin-1 C-terminus, which help to maintain the ability of β-subunits to regulate surface expression of pore-forming CaV Ca2+-channel subunits

Molecular cytogenetics (FISH, GISH) of Coccinia grandis: A ca. 3 myr-old species of Cucurbitaceae with the largest Y/autosome divergence in flowering plants

The independent evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes in 19 species from 4 families of flowering plants permits studying X/Y divergence after the initial recombination suppression. Here, we document autosome/Y divergence in the tropical Cucurbitaceae Coccinia grandis, which is ca. 3 myr old. Karyotyping and C-value measurements show that the C. grandis Y chromosome has twice the size of any of the other chromosomes, with a male/female C-value difference of 0.094 pg or 10% of the total genome. FISH staining revealed 5S and 45S rDNA sites on autosomes but not on the Y chromosome, making it unlikely that rDNA contributed to the elongation of the Y chromosome; recent end-to-end fusion also seems unlikely given the lack of interstitial telomeric signals. GISH with different concentrations of female blocking DNA detected a possible pseudo-autosomal region on the Y chromosome, and C-banding suggests that the entire Y chromosome in C. grandis is heterochromatic. During meiosis, there is an end-to-end connection between the X and the Y chromosome, but the X does not otherwise differ from the remaining chromosomes. These findings and a review of plants with heteromorphic sex chromosomes reveal no relationship between species age and degree of sex chromosome dimorphism. Its relatively small genome size (0.943 pg/2C in males), large Y chromosome, and phylogenetic proximity to the fully sequenced Cucumis sativus make C. grandis a promising model to study sex chromosome evolution. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Base