Exposure-response relationship for noise annoyance and sleep disturbance. An analysis of national data

Blootstelling-responsrelaties voor verkeersgeluid en hinder lijken schaalspecifiek te zijn: relaties opgesteld op internationaal niveau wijken soms af van relaties op nationaal niveau die op hun buurt weer afwijken van relaties op regionaal niveau. Voor beleid betekent dit dat bij toepassing van (inter-)nationale blootstelling-responsrelaties op lokale situaties terdege rekening dient te worden gehouden met de beperkingen en 'vertaalbaarheid' van de relatie naar de lokale situatie. Daarnaast blijkt dat ondanks het gebruik van standaardvragen voor hinder en slaapverstoring, vastgelegd in een ISO-norm, de wijze van operationaliseren van hinder en slaapverstoring van invloed is op de blootstelling-responsrelatie. Dit zijn de belangrijkste bevindingen uit een onderzoek naar de relatie tussen geluid van wegverkeer en hinder en slaapverstoring op basis van gegevens uit het EMPARA-geluidsmodel en de Hinderinventarisatie 2003. In Nederland en binnen de Europese Unie is de verstoring van de leefomgeving door geluid een belangrijk aandachtspunt van beleid, omdat blootstelling aan hoge geluidsniveaus kan leiden tot negatieve effecten op welbevinden en gezondheid, waaronder hinder en slaapverstoring. In het rapport is onderzocht of het mogelijk is om met bestaande Nederlandse onderzoeksgegevens relaties vast te stellen tussen blootstelling aan verkeersgeluid en het optreden van hinder en slaapverstoring. De resultaten zijn vergeleken met de voorstellen voor relaties die in Europees verband zijn gedaan en de uitkomsten van de Gezondheidskundige Evaluatie Schiphol. Hierbij traden belangrijke verschillen aan het licht. Een belangrijke kanttekening bij de resultaten is dat slechts een beperkt aantal deelnemers aan het onderzoek is blootgesteld aan hogere geluidbelastingniveaus waardoor de betrouwbaarheidsintervallen voor hoge blootstellingen groot zijn. Dit is het gevolg van de scheve (min of meer log-normale) verdeling van geluidblootstelling in de Nederlandse bevolking.Exposure-response relations for traffic sound and annoyance appear to be scale-specific: relationships established at international levels sometimes deviate from national relationships; in turn these relations can deviate from regional ones. For policy, this means that due consideration should be given to the limitations and transferability of (inter-) national exposure-response relationships used in local situations. The definition and operationalisation of the terms 'annoyance' and 'sleep disturbance' can have a profound impact on the results. Although survey questions on annoyance conform to the ISO standard, the different interpretations of annoyance found in the literature can result in differences between exposure-response relationships. These are the main findings from a study investigating the relation between traffic sound and annoyance and sleep disturbance on the basis of the EMPARA noise model and a periodic national Annoyance survey (2003). Disturbance of the living environment through noise exposure is of concern, both in the Netherlands and the European Union. Exposure to high levels of noise can have adverse effects (annoyance and sleep disturbance) on health and well-being. The study described used existing Dutch data for determining the relationship between exposure to transport noise, and annoyance and sleep disturbance. The results from the Annoyance survey and EMPARA were compared with the proposals of the EU Noise Expert Network and the outcome of the monitoring programme, Health Impact Assessment - Schiphol Airport. The comparison revealed significant differences. In the Annoyance survey only few respondents experienced relatively high exposure levels. This resulted in large confidence intervals at high exposures.MN

Satisfaction and annoyance of residents in neighbourhoods situated near industrial activity. Analysis of telephone survey data on the residential environment

In many of the Dutch national policy plans, environmental quality is a strong guiding principle. From an environmental science and policy perspective, environmental quality at the local level is affected by sound, odour and air pollution, as well as external safety risks. This study examines the relationship between people's perception of sound and odour (noise and odour annoyance) and the perceived environmental quality, represented as residential satisfaction (RS). Data from 19 telephone surveys (TLO) were compiled in a large TLO database. In the present study data from 17 TLOs performed in 86 locations, covering 18,000 respondents were analysed. Typically, TLOs are used for policy or maintenance purposes to assess the RS of people living in the vicinity of industrial plants or factories. Data on (individual) exposure levels were not available for these analyses. A remarkeble finding is the observed dispersion of correlations between annoyance and satisfaction per location (n=84, correlations for sound and satisfaction: -0,57 en 0,07; for odour and satisfaction between: -0,57 en 0,37). For this reason a multi-level analysis (MLA) was performed. This finding indicates location specific differences, probably due to differences in exposure levels. Furthermore, tenure and type of dwelling appeared to be relatively strong predictors of residential satisfaction. Homeowners appeared to be more satisfied than tenants. People in flats were more dissatisfied than people living in (semi-)detached houses. Annoyance from noise and (offensive) odours was another, relatively strong, predictor of RS. In general, residents reporting more annoyance were less satisfied with their residential situation. Other predictors of RS were age, gender, and the number of facilities in the dwelling. Older people and women were more satisfied with their residential situation than younger people and men, respectively. The more facilities present in the dwelling, the more satisfied residents appeared to be. Residential satisfaction is determined by a combination of subjective (e.g. annoyance), objective (e.g. number of facilities) and personal factors (e.g. age, gender). Annoyance appears to be a relatively important factor of residential satisfaction but tenure and dwelling type appear to be, relatively, more important. It is strongly recommended to add sound and odour exposure data to the TLO-database.Het begrip 'kwaliteit' speelt in steeds meer beleidsvoornemens van de (rijks)overheid een krachtig sturende rol. Voor de lokale omgeving, de leefomgeving, is de algemene beleidsdoelstelling van VROM het verbeteren en in stand houden van de woonkwaliteit. Belangrijke determinanten van de ervaren kwaliteit van de leefomgeving zijn (hinder van) geluid, geur, luchtverontreiniging en externe veiligheid. In dit onderzoek wordt de invloed van hinder van geluid en geur op de ervaren kwaliteit (tevredenheid) van de leefomgeving onderzocht. De belangrijkste vragen waren a) wat is de invloed van hinder op de woontevredenheid en b) welke persoons- en/of woonkenmerken zijn van invloed op de woontevredenheid? De gegevens zijn verzameld met behulp van Telefonische Leefsituatie Onderzoeken (TLO's) bij mensen die in de buurt van (industriele) bedrijvigheid wonen. Verschillende TLO's (n=19) zijn in een groot TLO-bestand samengevoegd. In deze analyse is gebruik gemaakt van 17 TLO's met daarin in totaal 86 onderzoekslocaties en ongeveer 18.000 respondenten. Vanwege de gelaagde structuur van de gegevens is uitgevoerd. Gegevens over (individuele) blootstellingniveaus waren voor deze analyses niet beschikbaar. Een opmerkelijk bevinding is de grote spreiding in de (cor)relatie tussen woontevredenheid en hinder per locatie (n=84, correlaties voor geluid tussen: -0,57 en 0,07; voor geur tussen -0,57 en 0,37). Dit is de reden waarom in afwijking van eerder onderzoek een multi-level analyse (MLA) is uitgevoerd. Deze bevinding duidt op locatie-specifieke verschillen die van invloed kunnen zijn op de relatie woontevredenheid en hinder. Verschillen in blootstellingsnivo's zouden hieraan ten grondslag kunnen liggen. De andere bevindingen zijn in overeenstemming met resultaten van soortgelijk onderzoek. De bezitsvorm van de woning (eigenaar-huurder) en het type woning blijken relatief belangrijke voorspellers van tevredenheid met de leefomgeving. In het algemeen zijn huurders minder tevreden dan eigenaren. Flatbewoners zijn minder tevreden dan mensen in (half)vrijstaande huizen. Daarnaast blijkt hinder (van lawaai en stank) een relatief belangrijke voorspeller van woontevredenheid te zijn. Naarmate respondenten meer hinder ondervinden zijn ze minder tevreden met hun leefomgeving. De leeftijd, het geslacht, en het aantal voorzieningen in de woning van de respondent zijn eveneens voorspellers van woontevredenheid, zij het in mindere mate. Vrouwen en oudere mensen zijn meer tevreden met hun leefomgeving dan mannen respectievelijk jongere mensen. Naarmate in een woning meer voorzieningen aanwezig zijn tonen de bewoners zich meer tevreden. De tevredenheid met de leefomgeving in woongebieden nabij industriele activiteit wordt bepaald door een mix van persoons-, belevings- en omgevingsgebonden kenmerken. De mate van hinder is een relatief belangrijke determinant van woontevredenheid maar is niet de belangrijkste. Bezitsvorm van de woning en type woning zijn, relatief gezien, belangrijker. Het is aan te bevelen de, mede op basis van de variatie in de relatie tussen hinder en woontevredenheid de TLO-data uit te breiden met (vergelijkbare) blootstellingsgegevens

“Good Vibrations”: A workshop on oscillations and normal modes

We describe some theatrical strategies adopted in a two hour workshop in order to show some meaningful experiments and the underlying useful ideas to describe a secondary school path on oscillations, that develops from harmonic motion to normal modes of oscillations, and makes extensive use of video analysis, data logging, slow motions and applet simulations. Theatre is an extremely useful tool to stimulate motivation starting from positive emotions. That is the reason why the theatrical approach to the presentation of physical themes has been explored by the group “Lo spettacolo della Fisica” (http://spettacolo.fisica.unimi.it) of the Physics Department of University of Milano for the last ten years (Carpineti et al., JCOM, 10 (2011) 1; Nuovo Cimento B, 121 (2006) 901) and has been inserted also in the European FP7 Project TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated, see http://teachingmysteries.eu/en) which involves 13 different partners coming from 11 European countries, among which the Italian (Milan) group. According to the TEMI guidelines, this workshop has a written script based on emotionally engaging activities of presenting mysteries to be solved while participants have been involved in nice experiments following the developed path

A thermodynamic signature of lipid segregation in biomembranes induced by a short peptide derived from glycoprotein gp36 of feline immunodeficiency virus.

The interactions between proteins/peptides and lipid bilayers are fundamental in a variety of key biological processes, and among these, the membrane fusion process operated by viral glycoproteins is one of the most important, being a fundamental step of the infectious event. In the case of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a small region of the membrane proximal external region (MPER) of the glycoprotein gp36 has been demonstrated to be necessary for the infection to occur, being able to destabilize the membranes to be fused. In this study, we report a physicochemical characterization of the interaction process between an eight-residue peptide, named C8, modeled on that gp36 region and some biological membrane models (liposomes) by using calorimetric and spectroscopic measurements. CD studies have shown that the peptide conformation changes upon binding to the liposomes. Interestingly, the peptide folds from a disordered structure (in the absence of liposomes) to a more ordered structure with a low but significant helix content. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that C8 binds with high affinity the lipid bilayers and induces a significant perturbation/reorganization of the lipid membrane structure. The type and the extent of such membrane reorganization depend on the membrane composition. These findings provide interesting insights into the role of this short peptide fragment in the mechanism of virus-cell fusion, demonstrating its ability to induce lipid segregation in biomembranes

39 hints to facilitate the use of semantics for data on agriculture and nutrition

In this paper, we report on the outputs and adoption of the Agrisemantics Working Group of the Research Data Alliance (RDA), consisting of a set of recommendations to facilitate the adoption of semantic technologies and methods for the purpose of data interoperability in the field of agriculture and nutrition. From 2016 to 2019, the group gathered researchers and practitioners at the crossing point between information technology and agricultural science, to study all aspects in the life cycle of semantic resources: Conceptualization, edition, sharing, standardization, services, alignment, long term support. First, the working group realized a landscape study, a study of the uses of semantics in agrifood, then collected use cases for the exploitation of semantics resources – a generic term to encompass vocabularies, terminologies, thesauri, ontologies. The resulting requirements were synthesized into 39 “hints” for users and developers of semantic resources, and providers of semantic resource services. We believe adopting these recommendations will engage agrifood sciences in a necessary transition to leverage data production, sharing and reuse and the adoption of the FAIR data principles. The paper includes examples of adoption of those requirements, and a discussion of their contribution to the field of data science

Zn-induced interactions between SARS-CoV-2 orf7a and BST2/Tetherin

We present in this work a first X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy study of the interactions of Zn with human BST2/tetherin and SARS-CoV-2 orf7a proteins as well as with some of their complexes. The analysis of the XANES region of the measured spectra shows that Zn binds to BST2, as well as to orf7a, thus resulting in the formation of BST2-orf7a complexes. This structural information confirms the the conjecture, recently put forward by some of the present Authors, according to which the accessory orf7a (and possibly also orf8) viral protein are capable of interfering with the BST2 antiviral activity. Our explanation for this behavior is that, when BST2 gets in contact with Zn bound to the orf7a Cys(15) ligand, it has the ability of displacing the metal owing to the creation of a new disulfide bridge across the two proteins. The formation of this BST2-orf7a complex destabilizes BST2 dimerization, thus impairing the antiviral activity of the latter

The role of Zn ions in the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 orf7a protein and BST2/tetherin

In this paper, we provide evidence that Zn2+ ions play a role in the SARS-CoV-2 virus strategy to escape the immune response mediated by the BST2-tetherin host protein. This conclusion is based on sequence analysis and molecular dynamics simulations as well as X-ray absorption experiments

Metal ion binding in wild-type and mutated frataxin: a stability study

This work studies the stability of wild-type frataxin and some of its variants found in cancer tissues upon Co2+ binding. Although the physiologically involved metal ion in the frataxin enzymatic activity is Fe2+, as it is customarily done, Co2+ is most often used in experiments because Fe2+ is extremely unstable owing to the fast oxidation reaction Fe2+ → Fe3+. Protein stability is monitored following the conformational changes induced by Co2+ binding as measured by circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, and melting temperature measurements. The stability ranking among the wild-type frataxin and its variants obtained in this way is confirmed by a detailed comparative analysis of the XAS spectra of the metal-protein complex at the Co K-edge. In particular, a fit to the EXAFS region of the spectrum allows positively identifying the frataxin acidic ridge as the most likely location of the metal-binding sites. Furthermore, we can explain the surprising feature emerging from a detailed analysis of the XANES region of the spectrum, showing that the longer 81-210 frataxin fragment has a smaller propensity for Co2+ binding than the shorter 90-210 one. This fact is explained by the peculiar role of the N-terminal disordered tail in modulating the protein ability to interact with the metal