Longitudinal determination of serum placental protein 13 during development of preeclampsia

Objective: To determine maternal serum placental protein 13 (PP13) in normal pregnancy and preeclampsia. Methods: A prospective, longitudinal study with 41 normal pregnant women, 18 cases with preterm delivery or cervix insufficiency and 4 with developing late-onset preeclampsia. Six hundred and sixty-six maternal blood samples were obtained every 2-4 weeks starting at 5-8 weeks gestation (10-12 samples/patient) and tested for serum PP13 by ELISA. Results: In normal pregnant women delivering at term, median maternal serum PP13 levels were growing from 166 to 202 pg/ml and 382 pg/ml in the first, second and third trimester, respectively. Preeclamptic women had significantly reduced PP13 levels in the first trimester (multiples of median of 0.14 at 7-8 weeks; p = 0.005 compared to normal). PP13 in the third trimester was significantly higher compared to normal at 35-36 weeks with PP13 multiples of median of 1.79. Conclusion: This preliminary study indicates that low levels of PP13 in early pregnancy identify at-risk pregnancies, whereas high levels precede the syndrome in late pregnancy and suggest syncytiotrophoblast necrosis. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Energy Conceptions Following WWII

In this interview, Jack Chefetz engages with his grandmother, Almeda Nicholson, to discuss her experiences in the mid-20th century, focusing on energy-related events. Almeda recalls growing up in Garden City, New York, and later moving to Boston, where she worked after attending secretarial school. Reflecting on the 1965 Northeast blackout, Almeda describes the chaos it caused in Boston, emphasizing how it influenced people to invest in battery-powered devices. She notes the public's growing mistrust of atomic energy during the 1950s and 60s, heightened by incidents like the Three Mile Island crisis. Although she wasn’t directly affected by oil shortages, Almeda remarks on the energy policies of President Jimmy Carter, whom she recalls as personable, yet notorious for his energy-saving initiatives

In Situ Bioremediation through Mulching of Soil Polluted by a Copper–Nickel Smelter

Received for publication September 8, 2000. Bioremediation of a heavy metal–polluted soil was investigated in a 3-yr field experiment by adding mulch to a polluted forest floor. The mulch consisted of a mixture of compost and woodchips. The remediation treatment decreased the toxicity of the soil solution to bacteria as determined by the [3H]-thymidine incorporation technique, that is, by measuring the growth rate of soil bacteria extracted from unpolluted humus after exposing them to soil solution containing heavy metals from the experimental plots. Canonical correlation analysis was performed in order to identify the chemical and microbiological changes in the soil. The pH of the mulched organic layer increased by one unit. The concentration of complexed Cu increased and that of free Cu2+ decreased in the soil solution from the mulch treatment. According to basal respiration and litter decomposition, microbial activity increased during the 3 yr following the remediation treatment. The [3H]-thymidine incorporation technique was also used to study the growth rate and tolerance of bacteria to Cu. The bacterial growth rate increased and the Cu tolerance decreased on the treated plots. The structure of the microbial community, as determined by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, remained unchanged. The results indicate that remediation of the polluted soil had occurred, and that adding a mulch to the forest floor is a suitable method for remediating heavy metal–polluted soil

Sorption-Desorption Behavior of Atrazine on Soils Subjected to Different Organic Long-Term Amendments

Sorption of atrazine on soils subjected to three different organic amendments was measured using a batch equilibrium technique. A higher K(F) value (2.20 kg(-1)(mg L(-1))(-)N) was obtained for soil fertilized with compost, which had a higher organic matter (OM) content. A correlation between the K(Foc) values and the percentage of aromatic carbon in OM was observed. The highest K(Foc) value was obtained for the soil with the highest aromatic content. Higher aromatic content results in higher hydrophobicity of OM, and hydrophobic interactions play a key role in binding of atrazine, On the other hand, the soil amended with farmyard manure had a higher content of carboxylic units, which could be responsible for hydrogen bonding between atrazine and OR Dominance of hydrogen bonds compared to hydrophobic interactions can be responsible for the lower desorption capacity observed with the farmyard manure soil, The stronger hydrogen bonding can reduce the leaching of atrazine into drinking water resources and runoff to rivers and other surface waters

Cancer stem cells display extremely large evolvability alternating plastic and rigid networks as a potential mechanism Network models, novel therapeutic target strategies, and the contributions of hypoxia, inflammation and cellular senescence

Cancer is increasingly perceived as a systems-level, network phenomenon. The major trend of malignant transformation can be described as a two-phase process, where an initial increase of network plasticity is followed by a decrease of plasticity at late stages of tumor development. The fluctuating intensity of stress factors, like hypoxia, inflammation and the either cooperative or hostile interactions of tumor inter-cellular networks, all increase the adaptation potential of cancer cells. This may lead to the bypass of cellular senescence, and to the development of cancer stem cells. We propose that the central tenet of cancer stem cell definition lies exactly in the indefinability of cancer stem cells. Actual properties of cancer stem cells depend on the individual "stress-history" of the given tumor. Cancer stem cells are characterized by an extremely large evolvability (i.e. a capacity to generate heritable phenotypic variation), which corresponds well with the defining hallmarks of cancer stem cells: the possession of the capacity to self-renew and to repeatedly re-build the heterogeneous lineages of cancer cells that comprise a tumor in new environments. Cancer stem cells represent a cell population, which is adapted to adapt. We argue that the high evolvability of cancer stem cells is helped by their repeated transitions between plastic (proliferative, symmetrically dividing) and rigid (quiescent, asymmetrically dividing, often more invasive) phenotypes having plastic and rigid networks. Thus, cancer stem cells reverse and replay cancer development multiple times. We describe network models potentially explaining cancer stem cell-like behavior. Finally, we propose novel strategies including combination therapies and multi-target drugs to overcome the Nietzschean dilemma of cancer stem cell targeting: "what does not kill me makes me stronger"

A review of combined advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of organic pollutants from water

Water pollution through natural and anthropogenic activities has become a global problem causing short-and long-term impact on human and ecosystems. Substantial quantity of individual or mixtures of organic pollutants enter the surface water via point and nonpoint sources and thus affect the quality of freshwater. These pollutants are known to be toxic and difficult to remove by mere biological treatment. To date, most researches on the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater were based on the exploitation of individual treatment process. This single-treatment technology has inherent challenges and shortcomings with respect to efficiency and economics. Thus, application of two advanced treatment technologies characterized with high efficiency with respect to removal of primary and disinfection by-products in wastewater is desirable. This review article focuses on the application of integrated technologies such as electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts or sonophotocatalysis to remove target pollutants. The information gathered from more than 100 published articles, mostly laboratories studies, shows that process integration effectively remove and degrade recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wastewater better than single-technology processing. This review recommends an improvement on this technology (integrated electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts) viz-a-vis cost reduction in order to make it accessible and available in the rural and semi-urban settlement. Further recommendation includes development of an economic model to establish the cost implications of the combined technology. Proper monitoring, enforcement of the existing environmental regulations, and upgrading of current wastewater treatment plants with additional treatment steps such as photocatalysis and ozonation will greatly assist in the removal of environmental toxicants

Emerging investigator series : Towards a framework for establishing the impacts of pharmaceuticals in wastewater irrigation systems on agro-ecosystems and human health

Use of reclaimed wastewater for agricultural irrigation is seen as an attractive option to meet agricultural water demands of a growing number of countries suffering from water scarcity. However, reclaimed wastewater contains pollutants which are introduced to the agro-environment during the irrigation process. While water reuse guidelines do consider selected classes of pollutants, they do not account for the presence of pollutants of emerging concern such as pharmaceuticals and the potential risks these may pose. Here we use source-pathway-receptor analysis (S-P-R) to develop a holistic framework for evaluating the impacts of pharmaceuticals, present in wastewater used for agricultural irrigation, on human and ecosystem health and evaluate the data availability for the framework components. The developed framework comprised of 34 processes and compartments but a good level of knowledge was available for only five of these suggesting that currently it is not possible to fully establish the impacts of pharmaceuticals in wastewater irrigation systems. To address this, work is urgently needed to understand the fate and transport of pharmaceuticals in arable soil systems and the effects of chronic low-level exposure to these substances on microbes, invertebrates, plants, wildlife and humans. In addition, research pertaining to the fate, uptake and effects of pharmaceutical mixtures and metabolites is lacking as well as data on bio-accessibility of pharmaceuticals after ingestion. Scientific advancements in the five areas prioritised in terms of future research are needed before we are able to fully quantify the agricultural and human health risks associated with reclaimed wastewater use

Повышение эффективности документооборота ПТО

Цель работы – разработать предложения по совершенствованию документооборота на предприятии. Объектом исследования выступает ОАО "ИССИКЛИК МАНБАИ ГП". Предметом исследования является система документооборота и организация документооборота на предприятии. Задачи: – изучить теоретические основы построения системы документооборота на предприятии; – охарактеризовать объект исследования, привести организационную структуру; – провести анализ системы документооборота, выявить основные проблемы документооборота, проанализировать направления совершенствования существующей системы документооборота; – разработать на основе анализа существующей системы документооборота конкретные мероприятия по ее совершенствованию.The purpose of the work is to develop proposals for improving the workflow at the enterprise. The object of study of the competition is OJSC “ISSIKLIK MANBAI GP”. Organization of workflow and organization of workflow at the enterprise. Tasks: - to study the theoretical foundations of building a workflow system at the enterprise; - characterize the object of study, bring the organizational structure; - conduct an analysis of the workflow system, identify the main problems of the workflow, analyze the directions for improving the existing workflow system; - develop, based on an analysis of the existing document management system, specific measures for its improvement