Epilithic biomass in a large gravel-bed river (the Garonne, France): a manifestation of eutrophication?

In order to evaluate the impact of outputs of the city of Toulouse (740 000 inhabitants) on the epilithic communities colonizing pebble banks in the river Garonne, a large gravel-bed river (eighth order), dry mass (DM), ash-free dry mass (AFDM) and chlorophyll-a (chla) epilithic biomass per unit area were measured and autotrophic index (AI) (i.e. ratio AFDM/chla) was calculated at four stations. This river is morphologically characterized by a succession of pools and riffles and by highly fluctuating hydraulic conditions. At the four stations studied (223 km apart), the means of AFDM values varied between 17.1 and 31.1 g m−2 of colonized surface and the chla concentration varied between 112 and 254 mg m−2. However, there were no significant differences in AFDM per unit area between the parts of the river upstream and downstream of the Toulouse area (Mann–Whitney U-test statistic), nor between the four stations (Kruskal–Wallis test statistic), and the AI did not allow the description of changes in periphyton communities between sampling locations. This study showed that epilithic biomass should be considered as the typical microbial community of the river rather than as a manifestation of eutrophication

The pharmaceutical use of permethrin: Sources and behavior during municipal sewage treatment

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.Permethrin entered use in the 1970s as an insecticide in a wide range of applications, including agriculture, horticultural, and forestry, and has since been restricted. In the 21st century, the presence of permethrin in the aquatic environment has been attributed to its use as a human and veterinary pharmaceutical, in particular as a pedeculicide, in addition to other uses, such as a moth-proofing agent. However, as a consequence of its toxicity to fish, sources of permethrin and its fate and behavior during wastewater treatment are topics of concern. This study has established that high overall removal of permethrin (approximately 90%) was achieved during wastewater treatment and that this was strongly dependent on the extent of biological degradation in secondary treatment, with more limited subsequent removal in tertiary treatment processes. Sources of permethrin in the catchment matched well with measured values in crude sewage and indicated that domestic use accounted for more than half of the load to the treatment works. However, removal may not be consistent enough to achieve the environmental quality standards now being derived in many countries even where tertiary treatment processes are applied.United Utilities PL

EGF functionalized polymer-coated gold nanoparticles promote EGF photostability and EGFR internalization for photothermal therapy

The application of functionalized nanocarriers on photothermal therapy for cancer ablation has wide interest. The success of this application depends on the therapeutic efficiency and biocompatibility of the system, but also on the stability and biorecognition of the conjugated protein. This study aims at investigating the hypothesis that EGF functionalized polymer -coated gold nanoparticles promote EGF photostability and EGFR internalization, making these conjugated particles suitable for photothermal therapy. The conjugated gold nanoparticles (100-200 nm) showed a plasmon absorption band located within the near infrared range (650-900 nm), optimal for photothermal therapy applications. The effects of temperature, of polymer-coated gold nanoparticles and of UVB light (295nm) on the fluorescence properties of EGF have been investigated with steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The fluorescence properties of EGF, including the formation of Trp and Tyr photoproducts, is modulated by temperature and by the intensity of the excitation light. The presence of polymeric-coated gold nanoparticles reduced or even avoided the formation of Trp and Tyr photoproducts when EGF is exposed to UVB light, protecting this way the structure and function of EGF. Cytotoxicity studies of conjugated nanoparticles carried out in normal-like human keratinocytes showed small, concentration dependent decreases in cell viability (0-25%). Moreover, conjugated nanoparticles could activate and induce the internalization of overexpressed Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in human lung carcinoma cells. In conclusion, the gold nanoparticles conjugated with Epidermal Growth Factor and coated with biopolymers developed in this work, show a potential application for near infrared photothermal therapy, which may efficiently destroy solid tumours, reducing the damage of the healthy tissue.Support was provided by: Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) for the financial support under the project reference PTDC/BBB-BMC/0611/2012 [https://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos)]. The work at CBMA was supported by the strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by national funds through the FCT I.P. and by the ERDF through the COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) [https://www.fct.pt/apoios/projectos]; European Commission through the project H2020-644242-SAPHELY (https://saphely.eu/project.php) and the project H2020-634013-2-PHOCNOSIS [http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193268_en.html].The authors would like to thank Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) for the financial support under the project reference PTDC/BBB-BMC/0611/2012. The work at CBMA was supported by the strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by national funds through the FCT I.P. and by the ERDF through the COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI). The authors acknowledge the funding from the European Commission through the project H2020-644242-SAPHELY and the project H2020-634013-2-PHOCNOSIS. Finally, the authors would also like to thank the master student Joao Lopes from Universidade Lusofona (Portugal) for the help with in vitro cytotoxic assays. Isabel Correia acknowledges FCT for Investigator FCT contract.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Maternal immune activation alters infant attentional processing in a nonhuman primate model

Maternal infection during pregnancy has been linked to the emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders. Pre-clinical animal models of maternal immune activation (MIA) have provided critical mechanistic links between maternal cytokines and alterations in offspring brain and behavioral development. While most preclinical work on MIA used rodent models, nonhuman primate (NHP) models have strong translational potential due to their greater similarity with humans. Previous NHP MIA models have replicated rodent findings of atypical offspring behavior emerging as animals mature, but few studied MIA-induced alterations in infancy. Here, we present a unique contribution on early milestones of attention in males using a rhesus monkey NHP MIA model. During an assessment of imitation conducted at 1 week-old, MIA-exposed offspring deviated from species-typical abilities to imitate social signals from human demonstrators. During a visual paired comparison task at 1 month, MIA-exposed offspring looked longer at novel abstract stimuli than control animals. A similar response was observed at 3-4 months when MIA-exposed offspring looked longer at novel monkey faces than control animals. The atypical response to novel social stimuli exhibited by MIA-exposed offspring appears contingent on how different the novel stimuli looked compared to the familiar stimuli, where MIA animals looked longer at easy discriminations compared to control animals. These results indicate that attentional processes in MIA-exposed offspring may be disrupted early in development, potentially resulting in longer visual stimuli processing times. Disruption of early attentional processes in the NHP MIA model may provide translational insights to identify children impacted by gestational exposure to maternal infections

Factors associated with compliance among users of solar water disinfection in rural Bolivia

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of childhood mortality, with an estimated 1.3 million deaths per year. Promotion of Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) has been suggested as a strategy for reducing the global burden of diarrhoea by improving the microbiological quality of drinking water. Despite increasing support for the large-scale dissemination of SODIS, there are few reports describing the effectiveness of its implementation. It is, therefore, important to identify and understand the mechanisms that lead to adoption and regular use of SODIS. METHODS: We investigated the behaviours associated with SODIS adoption among households assigned to receive SODIS promotion during a cluster-randomized trial in rural Bolivia. Distinct groups of SODIS-users were identified on the basis of six compliance indicators using principal components and cluster analysis. The probability of adopting SODIS as a function of campaign exposure and household characteristics was evaluated using ordinal logistic regression models. RESULTS: Standardised, community-level SODIS-implementation in a rural Bolivian setting was associated with a median SODIS use of 32% (IQR: 17-50). Households that were more likely to use SODIS were those that participated more frequently in SODIS promotional events (OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.01-1.13), included women (OR = 1.18, 95%CI: 1.07-1.30), owned latrines (OR = 3.38, 95%CI: 1.07-10.70), and had severely wasted children living in the home (OR = 2.17, 95%CI: 1.34-3.49). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the observed household characteristics showed limited potential to predict compliance with a comprehensive, year-long SODIS-promotion campaign; this finding reflects the complexity of behaviour change in the context of household water treatment. However, our findings also suggest that the motivation to adopt new water treatment habits and to acquire new knowledge about drinking water treatment is associated with prior engagements in sanitary hygien and with the experience of contemporary family health concerns.Household-level factors like the ownership of a latrine, a large proportion of females and the presence of a malnourished child living in a home are easily assessable indicators that SODIS-programme managers could use to identify early adopters in SODIS promotion campaigns. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT0073149

Nitric oxide differentially regulates renal ATP-binding cassette transporters during endotoxemia

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important regulator of renal transport processes. In the present study, we investigated the role of NO, produced by inducible NO synthase (iNOS), in the regulation of renal ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in vivo during endotoxemia. Wistar–Hannover rats were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS+) alone or in combination with the iNOS inhibitor, aminoguanidine. Controls received detoxified LPS (LPS−). After LPS+, proximal tubular damage and a reduction in renal function were observed. Furthermore, iNOS mRNA and protein, and the amount of NO metabolites in plasma and urine, increased compared to the LPS− group. Coadministration with aminoguanidine resulted in an attenuation of iNOS induction and reduction of renal damage. Gene expression of 20 ABC transporters was determined. After LPS+, a clear up-regulation in Abca1, Abcb1/P-glycoprotein (P-gp), Abcb11/bile salt export pump (Bsep), and Abcc2/multidrug resistance protein (Mrp2) was found, whereas Abcc8 was down-regulated. Up-regulation of Abcc2/Mrp2 was accompanied by enhanced calcein excretion. Aminoguanidine attenuated the effects on transporter expression. Our data indicate that NO, produced locally by renal iNOS, regulates the expression of ABC transporters in vivo. Furthermore, we showed, for the first time, expression and subcellular localization of Abcb11/Bsep in rat kidney

History, power, and electricity: American popular magazine accounts of electroconvulsive therapy, 1940–2005

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that has been in use in the United States since the 1940s. During the whole of its existence, it has been extensively discussed and debated within American popular magazines. While initial reports of the treatment highlighted its benefits to patients, accounts by the 1970s and 1980s were increasingly polarized. This article analyzes the popular accounts over time, particularly the ways in which the debates over ECT have revolved around different interpretations of ECT's history and its power dynamics. © 2008Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57903/1/20283_ftp.pd

Structural basis for selective inhibition of immunoglobulin E-receptor interactions by an anti-IgE antibody

Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies play a central role in the allergic response: interaction with FcεRI on mast cells and basophils leads to immediate hypersensitivity reactions upon allergen challenge, while interaction with CD23/FcεRII, expressed on a variety of cells, regulates IgE synthesis among other activities. The receptor-binding IgE-Fc region has recently been found to display remarkable flexibility, from acutely bent to extended conformations, with allosteric communication between the distant FcεRI and CD23 binding sites. We report the structure of an anti-IgE antibody Fab (8D6) bound to IgE-Fc through a mixed protein-carbohydrate epitope, revealing further flexibility and a novel extended conformation with potential relevance to that of membrane-bound IgE in the B cell receptor for antigen. Unlike the earlier, clinically approved anti-IgE antibody omalizumab, 8D6 inhibits binding to FcεRI but not CD23; the structure reveals how this discrimination is achieved through both orthosteric and allosteric mechanisms, supporting therapeutic strategies that retain the benefits of CD23 binding

In Search of Cellular Immunophenotypes in the Blood of Children with Autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social behavior, communication difficulties and the occurrence of repetitive or stereotyped behaviors. There has been substantial evidence for dysregulation of the immune system in autism.We evaluated differences in the number and phenotype of circulating blood cells in young children with autism (n = 70) compared with age-matched controls (n = 35). Children with a confirmed diagnosis of autism (4-6 years of age) were further subdivided into low (IQ<68, n = 35) or high functioning (IQ ≥ 68, n = 35) groups. Age- and gender-matched typically developing children constituted the control group. Six hundred and forty four primary and secondary variables, including cell counts and the abundance of cell surface antigens, were assessed using microvolume laser scanning cytometry.There were multiple differences in immune cell populations between the autism and control groups. The absolute number of B cells per volume of blood was over 20% higher for children with autism and the absolute number of NK cells was about 40% higher. Neither of these variables showed significant difference between the low and high functioning autism groups. While the absolute number of T cells was not different across groups, a number of cellular activation markers, including HLA-DR and CD26 on T cells, and CD38 on B cells, were significantly higher in the autism group compared to controls.These results support previous findings that immune dysfunction may occur in some children with autism. Further evaluation of the nature of the dysfunction and how it may play a role in the etiology of autism or in facets of autism neuropathology and/or behavior are needed