723 research outputs found

    Dataset Supporting McClean and Hunter: 17a-Estradiol limits the impact of ibuprofen upon community respiration by streambed biofilms in a sub-urban stream. DOI: 10.1101/718924

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    Pharmaceuticals compounds such as the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen and the artificial estrogen 17a-estradiol are contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater systems. Globally, the use of these compounds is growing by around ~3 % per year, yet we know little about how interactions between different pharmaceuticals may affect aquatic ecosystems. Here we test how interactions between ibuprofen and 17a-estradiol affect the growth and community metabolism of streambed biofilms. Here we provide supporting data from contaminant exposure experimentsreporting how ibuprofen and estradiol affected biofilm biomass (ash free dry weigh), community respiration, net and gross primary production

    Muddying the waters: Impacts of a bogflow on carbon transport and water quality

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    Landslides of peat have been recorded throughout Britain and Ireland for centuries. Whilst these events are not uncommon, land degradation can amplify their magnitude and frequency and, crucially, their immediate impacts are rarely documented. A 20,000 m3 bogflow event that occurred on land undergoing development in the Irish border area in November 2020 was monitored at high frequency in the major receiving river system (384 km2). Samples collected every seven hours over a 28 day period at a site 37 km downstream were analysed for suspended sediment (SS), particulate organic carbon (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC and UV-derived fractions), synchronous with hydrometeorological data and turbidity. There was no impact of the bogflow on DOC concentrations or loads. However, concentrations of SS and POC in the first samples after the bogflow were 825 mg/L and 346 mg C/L, respectively, and fish kill was estimated at 100 %. Analysis of detrended SS and POC loads suggested the main impacts of the bogflow on water quality lasted just eight days. Over this period, an additional 1318 t of SS and 608 t of POC were transported as far as the monitoring point, equating to 325 % more SS and 925 % more POC than would have been expected otherwise under the same river flow conditions. The carbon loss and water quality impacts were short lived, but nevertheless severe, and highlight the vulnerability of peatlands and the risks when these environments are inappropriately managed

    Using the Tea Bag Index to unravel how interactions between an antibiotic (Trimethoprim) and endocrine disruptor (17a-estradiol) affect aquatic microbial activity: Supporting Dataset 1

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    The constant release of complex mixture of pharmaceuticals, including antimicrobials and endocrine disruptors, into the aquatic environment. These have the potential to affect aquatic microbial metabolism and alter biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients. We used the Tea Bag Index (TBI) for decomposition within a series of contaminant exposure experiments to test how interactions between an antibiotic (trimethoprim) and endocrine disruptor (17a-estradiol) affects microbial activity in an aquatic system. The TBI is a citizen science tool used to test microbial activity by measuring the differential degradation of green and rooibos tea as proxies for labile and recalcitrant organic matter decomposition. Here we present the raw data on pharmaceutical exposures and the mass loss of the Rooibos and Green tea bags within the experiment. From Tea Bag mass loss we then calculated the Stabilisation Factor (S) and Initial Decomposition Rate of the labile organic matter fraction

    The Early Royal Society and Visual Culture

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    Recent studies have fruitfully examined the intersection between early modern science and visual culture by elucidating the functions of images in shaping and disseminating scientific knowledge. Given its rich archival sources, it is possible to extend this line of research in the case of the Royal Society to an examination of attitudes towards images as artefacts –manufactured objects worth commissioning, collecting and studying. Drawing on existing scholarship and material from the Royal Society Archives, I discuss Fellows’ interests in prints, drawings, varnishes, colorants, images made out of unusual materials, and methods of identifying the painter from a painting. Knowledge of production processes of images was important to members of the Royal Society, not only as connoisseurs and collectors, but also as those interested in a Baconian mastery of material processes, including a “history of trades”. Their antiquarian interests led to discussion of painters’ styles, and they gradually developed a visual memorial to an institution through portraits and other visual records.AH/M001938/1 (AHRC

    EgoActive: Integrated wireless wearable sensors for capturing infant egocentric auditory-visual statistics and autonomic nervous system function ‘in the wild’

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    There have been sustained efforts toward using naturalistic methods in developmental science to measure infant behaviors in the real world from an egocentric perspective because statistical regularities in the environment can shape and be shaped by the developing infant. However, there is no user-friendly and unobtrusive technology to densely and reliably sample life in the wild. To address this gap, we present the design, implementation and validation of the EgoActive platform, which addresses limitations of existing wearable technologies for developmental research. EgoActive records the active infants’ egocentric perspective of the world via a miniature wireless head-mounted camera concurrently with their physiological responses to this input via a lightweight, wireless ECG/acceleration sensor. We also provide software tools to facilitate data analyses. Our validation studies showed that the cameras and body sensors performed well. Families also reported that the platform was comfortable, easy to use and operate, and did not interfere with daily activities. The synchronized multi-modal data from the EgoActive platform can help tease apart complex processes that are important for child development to further our understanding of areas ranging from executive function to emotion processing and social learning

    Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

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    Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

    Nutritional correlates of koala persistence in a low-density population

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    It is widely postulated that nutritional factors drive bottom-up, resource-based patterns in herbivore ecology and distribution. There is, however, much controversy over the roles of different plant constituents and how these influence individual herbivores and herbivore populations. The density of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations varies widely and many attribute population trends to variation in the nutritional quality of the eucalypt leaves of their diet, but there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. We used a nested design that involved sampling of trees at two spatial scales to investigate how leaf chemistry influences free-living koalas from a low-density population in south east New South Wales, Australia. Using koala faecal pellets as a proxy for koala visitation to trees, we found an interaction between toxins and nutrients in leaves at a small spatial scale, whereby koalas preferred trees with leaves of higher concentrations of available nitrogen but lower concentrations of sideroxylonals (secondary metabolites found exclusively in eucalypts) compared to neighbouring trees of the same species. We argue that taxonomic and phenotypic diversity is likely to be important when foraging in habitats of low nutritional quality in providing diet choice to tradeoff nutrients and toxins and minimise movement costs. Our findings suggest that immediate nutritional concerns are an important priority of folivores in low-quality habitats and imply that nutritional limitations play an important role in constraining folivore populations. We show that, with a careful experimental design, it is possible to make inferences about populations of herbivores that exist at extremely low densities and thus achieve a better understanding about how plant composition influences herbivore ecology and persistence.IW and WF received a grant from New South Wales (NSW) Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water
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