Biomonitoring of Indoor Air Fungal or Chemical Toxins with Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes

Bad indoor air quality due to toxins and other impurities can have a negative impact on human well-being, working capacity and health. Therefore, reliable methods to monitor the health risks associated with exposure to hazardous indoor air agents are needed. Here, we have used transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans nematode strains carrying stress-responsive fluorescent reporters and evaluated their ability to sense fungal or chemical toxins, especially those that are present in moisture-damaged buildings. Liquid-based or airborne exposure of nematodes to mycotoxins, chemical agents or damaged building materials reproducibly resulted in time- and dose-dependent fluorescent responses, which could be quantitated by either microscopy or spectrometry. Thus, the C. elegans nematodes present an easy, ethically acceptable and comprehensive in vivo model system to monitor the response of multicellular organisms to indoor air toxicity.Peer reviewe

Sisäilmastoseminaari 2019

MALDI-TOF massaspektrometrialla voidaan luokitella ja tunnistaa mikro-organismeja niiden proteiiniprofiilin mukaan. Tämä kustannustehokas ja nopea menetelmä on otettu laajasti käyttöön mikrobiologisessa analytiikassa. Artikkelissa kuvataan aloitettua selvitys­työtä menetelmän hyödynnettävyydestä asumisterveystutkimuksissa. Esikokeissa menetelmää testattiin 10 Aspergillus-kannalla sekä 50 asumisterveysnäytteistä eristetyllä aktinomykeettikannalla. Aspergillus-lajien tunnistus onnistui tyydyttävästi. Aktinomykeetit tunnistettiin käytetyn tietokannan suppeuden vuoksi pääosin vain sukutasolle. Menetelmän käyttöönotto edellyttäisi MALDI-TOF MS kirjastotietokantojen laajentamista DNA-sekvensoinnilla tunnistetuilla ympäristömikrobikannoilla</p

Integrating Sustainability-Oriented Ecologies of Practice Across the Learning Cycle:Supporting Transformative Behaviours in Transgenerational, Transnational and Transdisciplinary Spaces

The article examines the complexities associated with effectively and comprehensivelytackling the climate change crisis. Focusing on the need for education, the authorsdiscuss a model of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that supports the deve-lopment of competencies, coalition building and the capacity to support and maintainpositive action. Drawing upon principles highlighted by the United Nations, the paperoutlines the breadth and depth of knowledge required to support transformative ESD.Firstly enhancing comprehensive knowledge that develops cognitive, affective and axiolo-gical dimensions and proficiency. This enhances critical engagement with informationand enables individuals to act responsibly and align with others in coalition building.The second element refers to collaborative partnership that is crucial for changes to beeffective. This has been one of the most challenging barriers preventing positive actionon the catastrophe pf climate change. Finally, the paper emphasizes the need to develop the competencies for supporting collective action, which will enable sustained actionacross transnational, transdisciplinary and transnational boundaries

Patterns in airborne pollen and other primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP), and their contribution to aerosol mass and number in a boreal forest

We studied variation in concentrations of airborne pollen and other particles of biological origin in a boreal forest in Finland during 2003–2004. The highest concentrations of pollen were observed in late spring and early summer, whereas the peak concentrations of other particles of biological origin (including e.g. fungal spores) occurred in August–September. Although the patterns in concentrations in 2003 and 2004 were similar, the concentration levels were significantly different between the years. The contribution of pollen and other particles of biological origin led to an increase in the measured particulate matter (PM) mass during the pollen season (mass of pollen and other particles of biological origin 5.9 and 0.4 μg m–3, respectively, in respect to PMtotal mass of 9.9 μg m–3) but the effect on total particle number was negligible. The other particles of biological origin constituted the largest fraction of measured primary biological aerosol particle (PBAP) numbers (~99%), whereas pollen showed a higher relative mass fraction (~97%) of PBAP. These results underline the important contribution of PBAP to coarse atmospheric particle mass providing up to 65% of the total mass during the peak pollen season

Integrating Sustainability-Oriented Ecologies of Practice Across the Learning Cycle: Supporting Transformative Behaviours in Transgenerational, Transnational and Transdisciplinary Spaces

The article examines the complexities associated with effectively and comprehensively tackling the climate change crisis. Focusing on the need for education, the authors discuss a model of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that supports the development of competencies, coalition building and the capacity to support and maintain positive action. Drawing upon principles highlighted by the United Nations, the paper outlines the breadth and depth of knowledge required to support transformative ESD. Firstly enhancing comprehensive knowledge that develops cognitive, affective and axiological dimensions and proficiency. This enhances critical engagement with information and enables individuals to act responsibly and align with others in coalition building. The second element refers to collaborative partnership that is crucial for changes to be effective. This has been one of the most challenging barriers preventing positive action on the catastrophe pf climate change. Finally, the paper emphasizes the need to develop the competencies for supporting collective action, which will enable sustained action across transnational, transdisciplinary and transnational boundaries.</p

Health-Related Quality of Life in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated with Curative Resection and/or Local Ablative Therapy or Systemic Therapy in the Finnish RAXO-Study

Metastasectomy and/or local ablative therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients often provide long-term survival. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data in curatively treated mCRC are limited. In the RAXO-study that evaluated repeated resectability, a multi-cross-sectional HRQoL substudy with 15D, EQ-5D-3L, QLQ-C30, and QLQ-CR29 questionnaires was conducted. Mean values of patients in different treatment groups were compared with age- and gender-standardized general Finnish populations. The questionnaire completion rate was 444/477 patients (93%, 1751 questionnaires). Mean HRQoL was 0.89–0.91 with the 15D, 0.85–0.87 with the EQ-5D, 68–80 with the EQ-5D-VAS, and 68–79 for global health status during curative treatment phases, with improvements in the remission phase (disease-free >18 months). In the remission phase, mean EQ-5D and 15D scores were similar to the general population. HRQoL remained stable during first- to later-line treatments, when the aim was no longer cure, and declined notably when tumour-controlling therapy was no longer meaningful. The symptom burden affecting mCRC survivors’ well-being included insomnia, impotence, urinary frequency, and fatigue. Symptom burden was lower after treatment and slightly higher, though stable, through all phases of systemic therapy. HRQoL was high in curative treatment phases, further emphasizing the strategy of metastasectomy in mCRC when clinically meaningful

Health-Related Quality of Life in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated with Curative Resection and/or Local Ablative Therapy or Systemic Therapy in the Finnish RAXO-Study

Metastasectomy and/or local ablative therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients often provide long-term survival. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data in curatively treated mCRC are limited. In the RAXO-study that evaluated repeated resectability, a multi-cross-sectional HRQoL substudy with 15D, EQ-5D-3L, QLQ-C30, and QLQ-CR29 questionnaires was conducted. Mean values of patients in different treatment groups were compared with age- and gender-standardized general Finnish populations. The questionnaire completion rate was 444/477 patients (93%, 1751 questionnaires). Mean HRQoL was 0.89–0.91 with the 15D, 0.85–0.87 with the EQ-5D, 68–80 with the EQ-5D-VAS, and 68–79 for global health status during curative treatment phases, with improvements in the remission phase (disease-free >18 months). In the remission phase, mean EQ-5D and 15D scores were similar to the general population. HRQoL remained stable during first- to later-line treatments, when the aim was no longer cure, and declined notably when tumour-controlling therapy was no longer meaningful. The symptom burden affecting mCRC survivors’ well-being included insomnia, impotence, urinary frequency, and fatigue. Symptom burden was lower after treatment and slightly higher, though stable, through all phases of systemic therapy. HRQoL was high in curative treatment phases, further emphasizing the strategy of metastasectomy in mCRC when clinically meaningful