Biting the bullet: a call for action on lead-contaminated meat in food-banks

Each year in the United States, food banks receive more than one million kilograms of donated hunted game meat. The National Rifle Association’s (NRA’s) Hunters for the Hungry initiative has established programs in more than 40 states for hunters to take their harvested game animal to a meat processing facility and indicate intent to donate the resulting processed and packaged meat to a local food bank. Most donated game meat is ground deer meat (venison); other donated game includes wild hog and goose. Even though the presence of ammunition-derived metallic lead fragments in donated firearms-hunted meat has been recognized for more than a decade, most of the donated hunted meat is not inspected to discard meat containing lead fragments. An underlying lack of food safety standards for adulterated donated food increases risks to low-income recipients, who are already disproportionately affected by elevated blood lead levels (BLLs).2 Primary prevention is needed for this overlooked source of lead exposure.publishedVersio

Intersexuality and the Cricket Frog Decline: Historic and Geographic Trends

Exposure to anthropogenic endocrine disruptors has been listed as one of several potential causes of amphibian declines in recent years. We examined gonads of 814 cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) collected in Illinois and deposited in museum collections to elucidate relationships between the decline of this species in Illinois and the spatial and temporal distribution of individuals with intersex gonads. Compared with the preorganochlorine era studied (1852–1929), the percentage of intersex cricket frogs increased during the period of industrial growth and initial uses of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (1930–1945), was highest during the greatest manufacture and use of p,p-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and PCBs (1946–1959), began declining with the increase in public concern and environmental regulations that reduced and then prevented sales of DDT in the United States (1960–1979), and continued to decline through the period of gradual reductions in environmental residues of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in the midwestern United States (1980–2001). The proportion of intersex individuals among those frogs was highest in the heavily industrialized and urbanized northeastern portion of Illinois, intermediate in the intensively farmed central and northwestern areas, and lowest in the less intensively managed and ecologically more diverse southern part of the state. Records of deposits of cricket frog specimens into museum collections indicate a marked reduction in numbers from northeastern Illinois in recent decades. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that endocrine disruption contributed to the decline of cricket frogs in Illinois

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Feline Thyroid Gland: Model for Endocrine Disruption by Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers?

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous flame retardants and known endocrine disruptors used in many household products since the 1970s. They are lipophilic and bioaccumulate, with tissue residues in humans and wildlife exponentially increasing since their inception. Feline hyperthyroidism (FH) is a common disease of geriatric domestic cats first recognized only after PBDE production began. FH has been associated with a variety of risk factors and the associated thyroid abnormalities are morphologically and functionally analogous to human toxic (multi)nodular goiter (TNG), but its etiology remains unknown. Thyroid hyperplasia, a prelude of TNG, was linked with experimental exposure of rats to PBDEs in 1975. Structurally similar to thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), hydroxylated metabolites of PBDEs have been shown to bind to transthyretin, the dominant high-affinity serum binding protein in cats, and to thyroid hormone receptors (TRs), and also to inhibit 5’-deiodinases. Experimental exposures to PBDEs have resulted in decreased T4 levels via uridinediphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (UDPGT) induction. To test the hypothesis that PBDE exposure is associated with endocrine disruption of the feline thyroid gland and hyperthyroidism, we analyzed serum from 62 client-owned domestic and 9 feral cats (2 of which were pooled) for 15 PBDE congeners with gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectroscopy (GC/HRMS). To evaluate potential sources of exposure, dust samples from 19 homes and 10 commercial canned cat food samples were extracted using a modified EPA Method 3545 and analyzed via GC/HRMS. Total lipid-adjusted serum PBDE burdens ranged from 373 ng/g lipid to 51,063 ng/g lipid (mean: 5,865 ng/g lipid) for client-owned cats and 457-3712 ng/g lipid (mean: 1,203 ng/g lipid) for feral cats. This difference was statistically significant and may be attributable to environment, diet, and/or age. Among the client-owned cats, total lipid-adjusted PBDEs are extremely high compared to published values for human beings and represent the highest documented PBDE burdens in any species on the planet to date. Total lipid-adjusted PBDEs did not correlate with age or thyroid status. BDE-153 had a higher percent composition in serum of euthyroid cats than in hyperthyroid cats. The percent composition of BDE-183 was significantly higher in feral cats versus client-owned cats of either thyroid status. Elevated TSH was not detected any subject. In fact, all of the hyperthyroid cats and 79% of the euthyroid cats, including all of the euthyroid feral cats, had TSH concentrations below the detection limit of 0.03 ng/ml on the canine DPC IMMULITE® assay standardized with recombinant feline TSH. Concentrations of PBDEs in dust ranged from 510 ng/g to 95,448 ng/g (mean: 8,098 ng/g) and were significantly higher in dust samples from homes of hyperthyroid cats as compared to those of euthyroid cats. PBDEs in canned foods ranged from 0.42-3.09 ng/g (mean: 1.79 ng/g). We estimated that total daily ingestion of PBDEs for domestic cats ranges from 32 to 3,906 ng/kg BW (mean: 375 ng/kg BW). Backward calculation from the mean feline serum body burden suggested daily exposure to 1,038 ng/kg/day (range: 66-9,038 ng/kg/day). At the high end, forward and backward calculation estimates equated to 6.5 and 15%, respectively, of the lowest single acutely toxic dose known to disrupt neurodevelopment in laboratory animals. These estimates also equated to 1.3 and 3.0%, respectively, of the lowest single acutely toxic dose known to disrupt thyroid function. Body burdens of PBDEs in cats chronically exposed to them may reach endocrine disruptive concentrations over time, a possible explanation as to why FH is predominantly a geriatric disease. We concluded that domestic cats are highly exposed to PBDEs, largely through ingestion of household dust during grooming. If PBDEs play a role in hyperplasia leading to thyroid autonomy, they apparently do not do so by markedly increasing TSH. It seems more plausible that PBDEs may act directly at the thyroid nuclear receptors, at pituitary TRs, and/or at an earlier, potentially developmental, time point.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Cooperation between higher education institutions and industry in fostering of student's innovation: the case of the University of Latvia

Darbā tiek pētīta augstskolas un industrijas sadarbība inovāciju veicināšanai Eiropas Savienības inovāciju politikas kontekstā. Darba mērķis ir izpētīt augstskolas un industrijas sadarbības veidus, studentu iesaisti sadarbībā, kā arī šo sadarbību ietekmējošos faktorus Latvijas Universitātē. Tika konstatēts, ka Latvijas Universitātes sadarbības ar industriju un studentu iesaistes prakses ir dažādas, un tās atšķiras no fakultātes uz fakultāti. Studentu pētniecisko sadarbību ar industriju, kas ietver inovatīvu risinājumu izstrādi, veicina, galvenokārt, attiecīgās fakultātes mācībspēku sadarbība ar industriju, kā arī iespēja studentam par attiecīgo pētniecības tēmu izstrādāt noslēguma darbu. Pētījuma rezultāti norāda arī uz citiem studentu pētniecisko sadarbību ar industriju ietekmējošiem faktoriem.In the master thesis the cooperation between the university and industry in fostering innovation is explored in the context of the European Union innovation policy. The aim is to analyse the forms of cooperation between the University of Latvia and industry, student involvement in this cooperation, as well as factors influencing the cooperation. The results suggest that different forms of cooperation between the University of Latvia and industry exist, and student involvement in the cooperation differs among faculties. The main factors contributing to students` involvement in research-based cooperation with the industry are the academic personnel who have close ties with the industry and the opportunity for the students to write their master theses or PhD dissertation about the topic explored while working with the industry. Other factors as well were identified that influence students` involvement in research-based cooperation with the industry

‘One Toxicology’, ‘Ecosystem Health’ and ‘One Health’

‘One Health’ as a discipline links human and veterinary medicine as co-equal partners in an increasingly efficient joint venture into health promotion and prioritised research. ‘One Toxicology’ is proposed as a way to reunify toxicology as a component of ‘Ecosystem Health’ and the encompassing ‘One Health’. Ecotoxicology, which includes wild animal, plant and microbial communities, is a critical component of ‘Ecosystem Health’. ‘One Toxicology’ is proposed to help hold toxicological sciences together and maintain intimate connections to medicine in general. ‘One Toxicology’ is efficient because biochemical systems are highly conserved and, thus, when one group of species is at risk, other groups of species are also often at risk. Fortunately, in the case of toxicological risk, problems can be avoided, because humans can minimise exposures. Historically, human health has benefited immensely from studies of the impacts of chemicals on laboratory animals and wildlife. Similarly, veterinarians and wildlife managers have learned from careless or accidental poisonings of humans to protect the health of both domestic and wild animals. Yet, newly discovered emerging toxicoses abound, and well-known toxicoses persist - to the detriment of all life forms, including our own. Thus, in the ‘One Toxicology’ of the future, disciplinary boundaries should more rapidly blur. If this is done well, physicians, various public health specialists, veterinarians of many disciplines, wildlife health specialists, ecologists and an array of toxicologists will share and rely upon disparate sources of information with increasing efficiency to facilitate diagnosis and management of poisoning; to prevent unwanted, unwise, and unnecessary toxic injury to human, animal, plant, and microbial components of biodiversity; to decrease nutrients available that enable toxigenic species; and to prevent releases of chemical contaminants that indirectly set the stage for infectious diseases

One Health and Cyanobacteria in Freshwater Systems: Animal Illnesses and Deaths Are Sentinel Events for Human Health Risks

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms have adversely impacted human and animal health for thousands of years. Recently, the health impacts of harmful cyanobacteria blooms are becoming more frequently detected and reported. However, reports of human and animal illnesses or deaths associated with harmful cyanobacteria blooms tend to be investigated and reported separately. Consequently, professionals working in human or in animal health do not always communicate findings related to these events with one another. Using the One Health concept of integration and collaboration among health disciplines, we systematically review the existing literature to discover where harmful cyanobacteria-associated animal illnesses and deaths have served as sentinel events to warn of potential human health risks. We find that illnesses or deaths among livestock, dogs and fish are all potentially useful as sentinel events for the presence of harmful cyanobacteria that may impact human health. We also describe ways to enhance the value of reports of cyanobacteria-associated illnesses and deaths in animals to protect human health. Efficient monitoring of environmental and animal health in a One Health collaborative framework can provide vital warnings of cyanobacteria-associated human health risks