Use of terrestrial field studies in the derivation of bioaccumulation potential of chemicals

Field-based studies are an essential component of research addressing the behavior of organic chemicals, and a unique line of evidence that can be used to assess bioaccumulation potential in chemical registration programs and aid in development of associated laboratory and modeling efforts. To aid scientific and regulatory discourse on the application of terrestrial field data in this manner, this article provides practical recommendations regarding the generation and interpretation of terrestrial field data. Currently, biota-to-soil-accumulation factors (BSAFs), biomagnification factors (BMFs), and bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) are the most suitable bioaccumulation metrics that are applicable to bioaccumulation assessment evaluations and able to be generated from terrestrial field studies with relatively low uncertainty. Biomagnification factors calculated from field-collected samples of terrestrial carnivores and their prey appear to be particularly robust indicators of bioaccumulation potential. The use of stable isotope ratios for quantification of trophic relationships in terrestrial ecosystems needs to be further developed to resolve uncertainties associated with the calculation of terrestrial trophic magnification factors (TMFs). Sampling efforts for terrestrial field studies should strive for efficiency, and advice on optimization of study sample sizes, practical considerations for obtaining samples, selection of tissues for analysis, and data interpretation is provided. Although there is still much to be learned regarding terrestrial bioaccumulation, these recommendations provide some initial guidance to the present application of terrestrial field data as a line of evidence in the assessment of chemical bioaccumulation potential and a resource to inform laboratory and modeling efforts

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation for Extensive-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis

Purpose: Extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (esSCLC) is an incurable disease and represents a therapeutic challenge because of its poor prognosis. Studies in prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) in esSCLC have shown a decreased incidence of symptomatic brain metastases in patients who respond to systemic chemotherapy. However, its effect on overall survival is debatable. We evaluated the benefit of PCI in patients with esSCLC in terms of overall survival, progression-free survival, incidence of brain metastases, recurrence rate, and exposure to postrecurrence therapies. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed electronic charts from patients diagnosed with esSCLC from 2008 to 2014 at our institution. All patients had negative baseline brain imaging before chemotherapy and PCI and received at least 4 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line setting without progressive disease on follow-up. PCI was performed at the discretion of the treating physician. Analyses were based on descriptive statistics. Survival curves were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Among 46 eligible patients, 16 (35%) received PCI and 30 (65%) did not. Compared with no PCI, PCI led to improved progression-free survival (median, 10.32 v 7.66 months; hazard ratio, 0.4521; 95% CI, 0.2481 to 0.8237; P < .001) and overall survival (median, 20.94 v 11.05 months; hazard ratio, 0.2655; 95% CI, 0.1420 to 0.4964; P < .001) as well as lower incidence of brain metastases (19% v 53%; P = .0273) and higher exposure to second-line chemotherapy (87% v 57%; P = .0479). Conclusion: Careful patient selection for PCI can improve not only brain metastases control and higher second-line chemotherapy exposure but also patient survival

Religion in macroeconomics: a quantitative analysis of Weber’s thesis

Religion, Growth, Industrial revolution, O11, O41, Z12,

Estudo anatômico das artérias coronárias de suínos Landrace Anatomic study of coronary arteries Landrace pigs

A utilização de artérias coronárias de suínos em experiências sobre ação de fármacos para observações clínicas e aplicações cirúrgicas é freqüente. Para o estudo anatômico das artérias coronárias foram utilizados 30 corações fixados em formalina a 10% de suínos Landrace, de ambos os sexos, idades entre 5 e 6 meses, peso de 80 a 110 kg. As artérias coronárias e os ramos foram dissecados até as ramificações visíveis macroscopicamente. Foi verificada a presença de uma artéria coronária esquerda, comprimento de 0,4-1,2cm, terminando em 2 (80%) ou 3 (20%) ramos. O ramo interventricular paraconal, comprimento de 10-16cm, emitiu 16-25 ramos sendo 52,3% para o ventrículo direito e 47,7% para o ventrículo esquerdo. O ramo circunflexo, comprimento de 7-15cm, emitiu 4-13 ramos para o ventrículo esquerdo (55,6%) e 4-9 ramos para o átrio esquerdo (44,4%). Observou-se uma artéria coronária direita, comprimento de 7,5-11,5cm, que emitiu 12-21 ramos sendo 57,4% para o ventrículo direito e 42,6% para o átrio direito. O ramo interventricular subsinuoso, comprimento de 5,1-10,2cm, emitiu 9-22 ramos sendo 50,9% para o ventrículo direito e 49,1% para o ventrículo esquerdo. A freqüência de ramos do ramo interventricular paraconal foi semelhante para ambos os ventrículos. A freqüência de ramos do ramo interventricular subsinuoso, ramo terminal da coronária direita foi semelhante para ambos os ventrículos. As comparações dos resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa com os resultados encontrados na literatura especializada indicam semelhança de distribuição dos ramos coronários nos suínos e nos humanos.<br>The experimental use of coronary arteries of swine to study drug action for clinical and surgical application is an important tool. For this anatomic study about coronary arteries, thirty hearts of Landrace pigs, of both sexes, 5 to 6 months old, weighing 80 to 110 kg, were fixed in 10% formalin. The coronary arteries and their branches were dissected until the visible ramifications. There was one left coronary artery, with length of 0.4-1.2cm, giving off 2 (80%) or 3 (20%) branches. The paraconal interventricular branch, with length of 10-16cm, emitted 16-25 branches, 52.3% for the right ventricle and 47.7% for the left ventricle. The circumflex branch, with length of 7-15cm, emitted 4-13 branches, 55.6% for the left ventricle and 44.4% for the left atrium. There was one right coronary artery, with length of 7.5-11.5cm, which emitted 12-21 branches, 57.4% for the right ventricle and 42.6% for the right atrium. The subsinuosus interventricular branch, length of 3-11cm, emitted 9-22 branches, 50.9% for the right ventricle and 49.1% for the left ventricle. The number of branches of the paraconal interventricular branch and the number of branches of the subsinuosus interventricular branch was similar for both ventricles. The results obtained in the present study compared with the literature indicate that the distribution of the coronary branches in swine and in humans is similar

Colonization of artificial substrata by teredinid larvae released from a previously infested focus at Ilha Grande Bay, RJ

The colonization pattern of wooden panels by teredinid larvae released from a previously infested focus was investigated. Panels were placed at different distances (1, 10, 20m) and in different directions from the focus. The colonization experiment took place at Parcel do Aleijado, Ilha Grande Bay, RJ. The focus remained immersed in nearly surface water, by the coast, during three months for infestation by teredinids. After this period, it was transferred to the study site. The infested focus and colonization panels remained in water, 10m deep, for three months more. Total density and density of the dominant species were considered for each group of panels. Five teredinid species were found: Bankia fimbriatula, Bankia gouldi, Lyrodus floridanus, Lyrodus massa and Teredo furcifera. The dominant species was Teredo furcifera (76.6%). Significant differences were only observed between directions for total teredinids and for dominant species density. Results concerning the dominant species Teredo furcifera were even more expressive and suggested the occurrence of a local water circulation pattern.<br>Foi estudado o padrão de colonização de larvas de teredinídeo liberadas a partir de um foco previamente infestado. Coletores foram posicionados a diferentes distâncias (1m, 10m, 20m) e em diferentes sentidos a partir do foco. O experimento de colonização foi realizado junto ao Parcel do Aleijado, Baía da Ilha Grande, RJ. O foco permaneceu imerso próximo à superfície, junto à costa, durante 3 meses para infestação por teredinídeos. Após este período, foi tranferido para a área de estudo. O foco infestado e os coletores permaneceram imersos, a 10m de profundidade, por mais 3 meses. Foram consideradas a densidade total e a densidade da espécie dominante para cada grupo de coletores. Foram encontradas 5 espécies de teredinídeos: Bankia fimbriatula, Bankia gouldi, Lyrodus floridanus, Lyrodus massa and Teredo furcifera. A espécie dominante foi Teredo furcifera (76,6%). Diferenças significativas foram observadas somente entre os diferentes sentidos, para o valor total de teredinídeos e para a densidade da espécie dominante. Os resultados envolvendo a espécie dominante Teredo furcifera foram ainda mais expressivos e sugerem a ocorrência de um padrão local de circulação de água