Cyanobacteria blooms cannot be controlled by effective microorganisms (EM) from mud- or Bokashi-balls

In controlled experiments, the ability of ‘‘Effective Microorganisms (EM, in the form of mudballs or Bokashi-balls)’’ was tested for clearing waters from cyanobacteria. We found suspensions of EM-mudballs up to 1 g l-1 to be ineffective in reducing cyanobacterial growth. In all controls and EM-mudball treatments up to 1 g l-1 the cyanobacterial chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations increased within 4 weeks from&120 to 325–435 lg l-1. When pieces of EM-mudballs (42.5 g) were added to 25-l lake water with cyanobacteria, no decrease of cyanobacteria as compared to untreated controls was observed. In contrast, after 4 weeks cyanobacterial Chl-a concentrations were significantly higher in EM-mudball treatments (52 lg l-1) than in controls (20 lg l-1). Only when suspensions with extremely high EM-mudball concentrations were applied (i.e., 5 and 10 g l-1), exceeding the recommended concentrations by orders of magnitude, cyanobacterial growth was inhibited and a bloom forming concentration was reduced strongly. In these high dosing treatments, the oxygen concentration dropped initially to very low levels of 1.8 g l-1. This was most probably through forcing strong light limitation on the cyanobacteria caused by the high amount of clay and subsequent high turbidity of the water. Hence, this study yields no support for the hypothesis that EM is effective in preventing cyanobacterial proliferation or in terminating blooms. We consider EM products to be ineffective because they neither permanently bind nor remove phosphorus from eutroficated systems, they have no inhibiting effect on cyanobacteria, and they could even be an extra source of nutrients

Exercise Addiction Prevalence and Correlates in the Absence of Eating Disorder Symptomology: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Exercise addiction (EA) can be debilitating and can be a symptom of an eating disorder. To date, the prevalence rates of EA without indicated eating disorders in the general population and associated correlates remain unreported. METHODS: Two authors searched major databases from inception to 31/12/2018 to identify studies investigating the prevalence of EA in any population without indicated eating disorders. We conducted a random effects meta-analysis to report (i) prevalence rates of EA using the exercise addiction inventory and exercise dependence scale and compare sub-populations, (ii) compare methods of EA measurement and explore heterogeneity, and (iii) report on correlates. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies including 3635 people were included. The prevalence of EA among general exercisers was 8.1% (95% CI 1.5%-34.2%), amateur competitive athletes was 5.0% (95% CI 1.3%-17.3%), and university students was 5.5% (95% CI 1.4-19.1%%). Overall prevalence rates varied depending on the EA measurement tool. EA subjects were more likely to have lower levels of overall wellbeing (only in amateur competitive athletes), higher anxiety levels, and have greater frontal brain activity. CONCLUSIONS: EA is prevalent in the absence of indicated eating disorders across populations but varies depending on measurement tool. Further research is needed to explore EA without indicated eating disorders in different populations using homogenous measurement tools, further determine psychological correlates, and examine which measures of EA without indicated eating disorders predict poor health outcomes

Leisure-Time Sedentary Behavior, Alcohol Consumption, and Sexual Intercourse Among Adolescents Aged 12-15 Years in 19 Countries From Africa, the Americas, and Asia

BACKGROUND: The association between sedentary behavior and sexual behavior has not been investigated among adolescents. // AIM: The aim of this study was to: (i) investigate the association between leisure-time sedentary behavior and sexual intercourse, and (ii) test for mediation by alcohol consumption, drug use, physical activity, bullying victimization, parental support/ monitoring, loneliness, and depressive symptoms in a large global sample of young adolescents. // METHODS: Data were analyzed from 34,674 adolescents aged 12-15 years participating in the Global School-based Student Health Survey. Participants reported the number of hours spent in leisure-time sedentary behavior on a typical day (8 hours). Data on alcohol consumption, drug use, physical activity, bullying victimization, parental support/monitoring, loneliness, and depressive symptoms were considered as potential mediators. // OUTCOME: Participants reported whether or not they had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months (yes/no). // RESULTS: The prevalence of past 12-month sexual intercourse was 11.9%, whereas the prevalence of 8 hours per day of leisure-time sedentary behavior were 26.7%, 35.6%, 21.4%, 11.5%, and 4.9%, respectively. There was a dose-dependent relationship between sedentary behavior and odds of reporting sexual intercourse: compared with 8 hours/day of sedentary behavior were 1.12 (0.94-1.33), 1.22 (1.01-1.48), 1.34 (1.08-1.66), and 1.76 (1.37-2.27), respectively. There was no significant interaction by sex. The largest proportion of the association between sedentary behavior and sexual intercourse was explained by alcohol use (% mediated 21.2%), with other factors explaining an additional 11.2%. // CLINICAL TRANSLATION: Interventions to reduce leisure-time sedentary and/or alcohol consumption may contribute to a reduction in the proportion of adolescents engaging in sexual intercourse at a young age. The strengths and limitations of this study are the large, representative sample of adolescents from 19 countries. However, the cross-sectional design means causality or temporal associations could not be established. // CONCLUSIONS: In young adolescents, leisure-time sedentary behavior is positively associated with odds of having sexual intercourse in both boys and girls, in a dose-dependent manner. Alcohol consumption seems to be a key mediator of this relationship

Ascaroside Expression in Caenorhabditis elegans Is Strongly Dependent on Diet and Developmental Stage

Background: The ascarosides form a family of small molecules that have been isolated from cultures of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. They are often referred to as “dauer pheromones” because most of them induce formation of long-lived and highly stress resistant dauer larvae. More recent studies have shown that ascarosides serve additional functions as social signals and mating pheromones. Thus, ascarosides have multiple functions. Until now, it has been generally assumed that ascarosides are constitutively expressed during nematode development. Methodology/Principal Findings: Cultures of C. elegans were developmentally synchronized on controlled diets. Ascarosides released into the media, as well as stored internally, were quantified by LC/MS. We found that ascaroside biosynthesis and release were strongly dependent on developmental stage and diet. The male attracting pheromone was verified to be a blend of at least four ascarosides, and peak production of the two most potent mating pheromone components, ascr#3 and asc#8 immediately preceded or coincided with the temporal window for mating. The concentration of ascr#2 increased under starvation conditions and peaked during dauer formation, strongly supporting ascr#2 as the main population density signal (dauer pheromone). After dauer formation, ascaroside production largely ceased and dauer larvae did not release any ascarosides. These findings show that both total ascaroside production and the relative proportions of individual ascarosides strongly correlate with these compounds' stage-specific biological functions. Conclusions/Significance: Ascaroside expression changes with development and environmental conditions. This is consistent with multiple functions of these signaling molecules. Knowledge of such differential regulation will make it possible to associate ascaroside production to gene expression profiles (transcript, protein or enzyme activity) and help to determine genetic pathways that control ascaroside biosynthesis. In conjunction with findings from previous studies, our results show that the pheromone system of C. elegans mimics that of insects in many ways, suggesting that pheromone signaling in C. elegans may exhibit functional homology also at the sensory level. In addition, our results provide a strong foundation for future behavioral modeling studies

Interpersonal and affective dimensions of psychopathic traits in adolescents : development and validation of a self-report instrument

We report the development and psychometric evaluations of a self-report instrument designed to screen for psychopathic traits among mainstream community adolescents. Tests of item functioning were initially conducted with 26 adolescents. In a second study the new instrument was administered to 150 high school adolescents, 73 of who had school records of suspension for antisocial behavior. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor structure (Impulsivity α = .73, Self-Centredness α = .70, Callous-Unemotional α = .69, and Manipulativeness α = .83). In a third study involving 328 high school adolescents, 130 with records of suspension for antisocial behaviour, competing measurement models were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis. The superiority of a first-order model represented by four correlated factors that was invariant across gender and age was confirmed. The findings provide researchers and clinicians with a psychometrically strong, self-report instrument and a greater understanding of psychopathic traits in mainstream adolescents

Benefit of early commencement of growth hormone therapy in children with Prader-Willi syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a chromosomal disorder and growth failure is a common presentation. Growth hormone (GH) treatment is beneficial in PWS although the optimal age for starting GH is unknown. We investigated whether GH response in PWS was associated with the age of GH commencement by comparing 16 children who commenced GH before 3 years of age (early group) with 40 children who commenced GH after 3 years of age (late group) from the Ozgrow database. Height SDS, body mass index (BMI) SDS, bone age (BA)-chronological age (CA) ratio, change in height (Delta Ht) SDS and change in BMI during 4 years of GH treatment were compared between the groups. The early group had better height SDS and Delta Ht SIDS. BA delay was more pronounced in the early group but BA did not mature beyond CA with GH therapy in either group. Although the initial GH dose for the early group was lower than that of the late group, the former had better height outcome. The starting GH dose seen in the database is lower than the dose used by international centres

Gene Expression Profiling of Breast Cancers with Emphasis of β-Catenin Regulation

To gain molecular understanding of carcinogenesis of breast cancer, gene expression profiles were analyzed using cDNA microarray representing 4,600 cDNAs in 10 breast cancer samples and the adjacent noncancerous breast tissues from the same patients. The alterations in gene expression levels were confirmed by reverse-transcription PCR in four randomly selected genes. Genes that were differently expressed in cancer and noncancerous tissues were identified. 106 (of which 55 were known) and 49 (of which 28 were known) genes were up- or down-regulated, respectively, in greater than 60% of the breast cancer samples. In cancer tissues, genes related to cell cycle, transcription, metabolism, cell structure/motility and signal transduction were mostly up-regulated. Furthermore, three cancer tissues showing immunohistochemically aberrant accumulation of β-catenin in the nucleus and/or cytoplasm revealed down-regulation of Siah and Axin genes and up-regulation of Wnt and c-myc genes. These findings were highly consistent with Wnt signaling pathway associated with β-catenin regulation previously suggested by others. Our studies, therefore, provide not only a molecular basis to understand biological processes of breast cancer but also useful resources to define the mechanism of β-catenin expression in tumorigenesis of breast cancer

Management of congestive heart failure: a gender gap may still exist. Observations from a contemporary cohort

BACKGROUND: Unlike other cardiovascular diseases the incidence and prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF) continues to increase. While gender differences in coronary artery disease have been well described, to date, there has been a relative paucity of similar data in patients with CHF. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the profile and management of patients with CHF at a tertiary care centre to determine if a gender difference exists. METHODS: A chart review was performed at a tertiary care centre on consecutive patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of CHF between June 1997 and 1998. Co-morbidity, diagnostic investigations, and management of CHF were recorded. Comparisons between male and female patients were conducted. RESULTS: One hundred and forty five patients were reviewed. There were 80 male (M) and 65 female (F) patients of similar age [71.6 vs. 71.3 (M vs. F), p = NS]. Male patients were more likely to have had a previous myocardial infarction (66% vs. 35%, p < 0.01) and revascularization (41% vs. 20%, p < 0.05), and had worse left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) than women, [median LVEF 3 vs. 2 (M vs. F), p < 0.01]. Male patients were more likely to have a non-invasive assessment of left ventricular (LV) function [85% vs. 69%, (M vs. F), p < 0.05]. A logistic regression analysis suggests that amongst those without coronary disease, males were more likely to receive non-invasive testing. There were no differences in the use of prescribed medications, in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrated that there seem to be important gender differences in the profile and management of patients with CHF. Importantly women were less likely to have an evaluation of LV function. As assessment of LV function has significant implications on patient management, this data justifies the need for larger studies to assess gender differences in CHF profile and treatment