Assessing depleted uranium (DU) contamination of soil, plants and earthworms at UK weapons testing sites

Depleted uranium (DU) weapons testing programmes have been conducted at two locations within the UK. An investigation was therefore carried out to assess the extent of any environmental contamination arising from these test programmes using both alpha spectrometry and mass spectrometry techniques. Uranium isotopic signatures indicative of DU contamination were observed in soil, plant and earthworm samples collected in the immediate vicinity of test firing points and targets, but contamination was found to be localised to these areas. The paper demonstrates the superiority of the 235U:238U ratio over the 234U:238U ratio for identifying and quantifying DU contamination in environmental samples and also describes the respective circumstances under which alpha spectrometry or mass spectrometry may be the more appropriate analytical tool

Encountering religious diversity : multilevel governance of Islamic education in Finland and Ireland

Recent decades have witnessed a change in European governments’ policies from benign neglect to active management of religious diversity, where Islam is often seen as the most challenging for the European social order. However, the ways that this “management” is justified and undertaken varies from country to country and depends on the issues at hand. This paper will take up the issue of Islamic education in Finland and Ireland where it is incorporated into the public school system and where the state has taken an active role in order to control Islam in the field of education. The main argument of this article is that the “management” of Islamic education in both of the above-mentioned countries is ridden with contradictions arising from the difficulty to balance between an emphasis on particular national traditions, on the one hand, and public policies concerning religious diversity, on the other hand. Theoretically, the article will employ the perspective of multilevel governance which helps to widen the perspective from the state as a primary explanatory to different agents of the civil society in encountering religious diversity.Peer reviewe

Glucose Amplifies Fatty Acid-Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Pancreatic β-Cells via Activation of mTORC1

BACKGROUND: Palmitate is a potent inducer of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in beta-cells. In type 2 diabetes, glucose amplifies fatty-acid toxicity for pancreatic beta-cells, leading to beta-cell dysfunction and death. Why glucose exacerbates beta-cell lipotoxicity is largely unknown. Glucose stimulates mTORC1, an important nutrient sensor involved in the regulation of cellular stress. Our study tested the hypothesis that glucose augments lipotoxicity by stimulating mTORC1 leading to increased beta-cell ER stress. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that glucose amplifies palmitate-induced ER stress by increasing IRE1alpha protein levels and activating the JNK pathway, leading to increased beta-cell apoptosis. Moreover, glucose increased mTORC1 activity and its inhibition by rapamycin decreased beta-cell apoptosis under conditions of glucolipotoxicity. Inhibition of mTORC1 by rapamycin did not affect proinsulin and total protein synthesis in beta-cells incubated at high glucose with palmitate. However, it decreased IRE1alpha expression and signaling and inhibited JNK pathway activation. In TSC2-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts, in which mTORC1 is constitutively active, mTORC1 regulated the stimulation of JNK by ER stressors, but not in response to anisomycin, which activates JNK independent of ER stress. Finally, we found that JNK inhibition decreased beta-cell apoptosis under conditions of glucolipotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Collectively, our findings suggest that mTORC1 mediates glucose amplification of lipotoxicity, acting through activation of ER stress and JNK. Thus, mTORC1 is an important transducer of ER stress in beta-cell glucolipotoxicity. Moreover, in stressed beta-cells mTORC1 inhibition decreases IRE1alpha protein expression and JNK activity without affecting ER protein load, suggesting that mTORC1 regulates the beta-cell stress response to glucose and fatty acids by modulating the synthesis and activity of specific proteins involved in the execution of the ER stress response. This novel paradigm may have important implications for understanding beta-cell failure in type 2 diabetes

Coronary Heart Disease among Circassians in Israel Is Not Associated with Mutations in Thrombophilia Genes

The Muslim Circassian community in Israel represents a unique ethnic community that has never been genetically and medically studied. One hundred and fifty-three randomly selected individuals (91 men and 62 women, ages 35 and older), both healthy or with a history of cardiovascular disease (14 men and 7 women), were studied in a cross-sectional descriptive study for mutations in three genes known to be associated with hypercoagulation. Their medical records were reviewed for risk factors and history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and thromboembolic events. The mutation FV 1691G→A in the gene for factor V (FV 1691G→A), the mutation MTHFR 677C→T in the gene 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, and the allele G20210A in the gene for prothrombin (PT 20210G→A) were studied. The mutation FV 1691G→A was observed in a heterozygous form in 1.3% of 153 studied individuals, while the PT 20210G→A allele was identified in a heterozygous form in 6.5%. No individual was found homozygous for either of these two mutations. The MTHFR C677T mutation was present in 42.8% of the studied population in a heterozygous form and in 8.6% in a homozygous form. Serum homocysteine, folate, and B12 levels were studied among individuals heterozygous and homozygous for the MTHFR C677T mutation. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of all three mutations between individuals affected with CVD or other forms of thromboembolic disease and healthy individuals. This is the first report of a medical condition and its genetic background among Circassians. The high prevalence of CVD among Circassians was found to be etiologically unrelated to the three mutations studied in the genes for factor V, MTHFR, and prothrombin

International comparison of the determination of cadmium and lead in herb : the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) pilot study CCQM-P97

A Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) inter-laboratory comparison program, CCQM-P97, for the analysis of cadmium and lead in Herba Demodii Styracifolii was organized by the Hong Kong Government Laboratory. The objective of the program was to establish comparability of trace metals analysis in herbal matrices amongst the participating national metrology institutes. The arithmetic mean values of the 13 participants were 0.3186 mg kg−1 (RSD = 11.3%) and 1.650 mg kg−1 (RSD = 11.0%) for cadmium and lead, respectively. The participants using double-isotope dilution mass spectrometry technique for their quantification were found to provide similar mean values to those of non-isotope dilution mass spectrometry users. The observation indicated that trace metal analysis in herbal matrices was not method-dependent, but the use of the highest metrological IDMS approach gave a better precision than other routine calibration methods