Degradation of Common Polymer Ropes in a Sublittoral Marine Environment

Contamination by microplastic particles and fibres has been observed in sediment and animals sampled from the Firth of Clyde, West Scotland. In addition to microplastics released during clothes washing, a probable source is polymer ropes in abandoned, lost and discarded fishing and recreational sailing gear. The fragmentation of polypropylene, polyethylene, and nylon exposed to benthic conditions at 10 m depth over 12 months was monitored using changes in weight and tensile properties. Water temperature and light levels were continuously monitored. The degree of biofouling was measured using chlorophyll a, the weight of attached macroalgae, and colonising fauna. Results indicate microplastic fibres and particles may be formed in benthic environments despite reduced photodegradation. Polypropylene, Nylon, and polyethylene lost an average of 0.39%, 1.02%, and 0.45% of their mass per month respectively. Microscope images of the rope surface revealed notable surface roughening believed to be caused by abrasion by substrate and the action of fouling organisms

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Microplastics: from origin to impacts

Microplastic (MP) pollution has rapidly become one of the most prominent global environmental issues. While there is debate as to whether the issue warrants the level of research, media, and funding currently centered upon it, the prevalence of MPs throughout the environment cannot be underestimated. Studies have demonstrated the movement of MPs into even the remotest habitats and have revealed their varied impacts, ranging from the transport of harmful microbes to changes in feeding behavior, tissue structure, and reproductive output. Despite this knowledge, there are still many challenges to the quantification, monitoring, and impacts of MP pollution

Growth and gut morphology of the lobster Nephrops norvegicus

Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a decapod crustacean of high economic importance found across the northeast Atlantic. Little is currently known about the variation in stomach morphology with body size. In this study, a novel two-stage endocasting technique was used to determine stomach volume in relation to carapace length. Scanning electron microscope images of the teeth of the gastric mill were analysed to determine the changes in gastric mill size and structure with growth. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between both carapace length and stomach volume, and the size of the gastric mill. These changes are thought to facilitate an increase in size and range of prey species

Is It or Isn’t It: The Importance of Visual Classification in Microplastic Characterization.

Microplastics are a diverse category of pollutants, comprising a range of constituent polymers modified by varying quantities of additives and sorbed pollutants, and exhibiting a range of morphologies, sizes, and visual properties. This diversity, as well as their microscopic size range, presents numerous barriers to identification and enumeration. These issues are addressed with the application of physical and chemical analytical procedures; however, these present new problems associated with researcher training, facility availability and cost, especially for large-scale monitoring programs. Perhaps more importantly, the classifications and nomenclature used by individual researchers to describe microplastics remains inconsistent. In addition to reducing comparability between studies, this limits the conclusions that may be drawn regarding plastic sources and potential environmental impacts. Additionally, where particle morphology data is presented, it is often separate from information on polymer distribution. In establishing a more rigorous and standardized visual identification procedure, it is possible to improve the targeting of complex analytical techniques and improve the standards by which we monitor and record microplastic contamination. Here we present a simple and effective protocol to enable consistent visual processing of samples with an aim to contribute to a higher degree of standardization within the microplastic scientific community. This protocol will not eliminate the need for non-subjective methods to verify plastic objects, but it will standardize the criteria by which suspected plastic items are identified and reduce the costs associated with further analysis.acceptedVersio

Is It or Isn’t It: The Importance of Visual Classification in Microplastic Characterization.

Microplastics are a diverse category of pollutants, comprising a range of constituent polymers modified by varying quantities of additives and sorbed pollutants, and exhibiting a range of morphologies, sizes, and visual properties. This diversity, as well as their microscopic size range, presents numerous barriers to identification and enumeration. These issues are addressed with the application of physical and chemical analytical procedures; however, these present new problems associated with researcher training, facility availability and cost, especially for large-scale monitoring programs. Perhaps more importantly, the classifications and nomenclature used by individual researchers to describe microplastics remains inconsistent. In addition to reducing comparability between studies, this limits the conclusions that may be drawn regarding plastic sources and potential environmental impacts. Additionally, where particle morphology data is presented, it is often separate from information on polymer distribution. In establishing a more rigorous and standardized visual identification procedure, it is possible to improve the targeting of complex analytical techniques and improve the standards by which we monitor and record microplastic contamination. Here we present a simple and effective protocol to enable consistent visual processing of samples with an aim to contribute to a higher degree of standardization within the microplastic scientific community. This protocol will not eliminate the need for non-subjective methods to verify plastic objects, but it will standardize the criteria by which suspected plastic items are identified and reduce the costs associated with further analysis

An affordable method for monitoring plastic fibre ingestion in Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758) and implementation on wide temporal and geographical scale comparisons

15 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, supplementary dataAlthough the ingestion of plastics has been reported in a wide variety of organisms, there remains a lack of knowledge regarding the extent of spatial and temporal gradients and no consensus concerning the definition of monitor species for benthic marine environments. The present study aims at demonstrating the correlation between the presence of tangled balls of fibres and high levels of total plastic fibre ingestion in Nephrops norvegicus to assess the potential use of the prevalence of tangled balls as indicators of fibre pollution. To do so, the presence of plastics in stomach contents from several European populations of N. norvegicus is characterized in detail, including size distribution and polymer composition, and then its correlation with the prevalence of balls tested. Our results demonstrate that the prevalence of balls (>20%) is significantly correlated to higher levels of plastic ingestion, regardless of polymer composition and size distribution of ingested fibres. Plastic fibre ingestion levels across wide temporal and geographical scales are assessed using only the prevalence of balls, highlighting areas of increased fibre ingestion (e.g., the Gulf of Cadiz, N Barcelona) and areas of potentially lower fibre pollution (e.g., the Ebro Delta, the NW Iberian margin). Moreover, the relationship between the prevalence of balls and diet composition is analysed to discard a potential relationship with geographical differences in diet habits. Finally, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the use of the prevalence of tangled balls of fibres as an affordable, cost-effective and easy to implement indicator of fibre pollution for monitoring purposes in this speciesThis work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities projects “PLASMAR” (RTI2018-094806-B-100) and by the Catalan Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)) project “SOMPESCA” (ARP059/19/00003). Carreras-Colom benefits from an FPU grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU16/03430)With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe