Diethylene glycol (DEG) is an industrial chemical, the misuse of which has led to numerous epidemic poisonings worldwide. The mechanism of its toxicity has not been defined as to the precise relationship between the metabolism of DEG and targetorgantoxicity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism for the acute toxicity of DEG, and the effect of the alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor 4-methylpyrazole (fomepizole), by determining the relationship between accumulation of DEG or its metabolites and the resulting kidney and liver toxicity. Rats were treated by oral gavage with water, 2 g/kg DEG (low dose), 10 g/kg DEG (high dose), or 10 g/kg DEG + fomepizole, and blood and urine were collected over 48 h. Rats treated with high-dose DEG had metabolic acidosis, increased BUN an...
The study was conducted to determine potential targetorgantoxicity and its reversibility in hamsters following twice daily oral doses of NSC-D629243 for 28 consecutive days. Male and female hamsters were administered NSC-D629243 dissolved in sesame oil ...
Biomarkers are biometric measurements that provide critical quantitative information about the biological condition of the animal or individual being tested. In drug safety studies, established toxicity biomarkers are used along with other conventional study data to determine dose-limiting organtoxicity, and to define species sensitivity for new chemical entities intended for possible use as human medicines. A continuing goal of drug safety scientists in the pharmaceutical industry is to discover and develop better trans-species biomarkers that can be used to determine targetorgantoxicities for preclinical species in short-term studies at dose levels that are some multiple of the intended human dose and again later in full development for monitoring clinical trials at lower therapeutic ...
The purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge base for wetland treatment to include processes and substances of particular importance to small, on-site systems receiving oil and gas well waste water. Collection of data on the sorption of heavy metals and the degradation of toxicorganics is one of the key tasks. The toxicorganics phenolics and anthracene, and chromium and copper have been selected as target adsorbates. An information search was performed on oil refinery waste treatment wetland systems.
9-cis-UAB30 is a potential chemopreventative agent that has been shown to be effective on many different types of tumors. The safety and toxicity of 9-cis-UAB30 had not been previously established. These studies were conducted to evaluate the potential toxicity and pharmacokinetics in a rodent and a nonrodent species for the purpose of investigational new drug submission. Oral gavage administration of 9-cis-UAB30 at the doses 0, 3, 15, and 100 ?mg/kg/day to CD? rats for 28 days showed a dose-dependent (although not dose-proportional) increase in plasma drug levels in week 4. The liver was the targetorgan for toxicity of 9-cis-UAB30. Hepatomegaly along with increases in serum aspartate-aminotransferase and alkaline-phosphatase levels were seen in rats. Moderate hypoalbuminemia and hyperglo...
Despite the fact that humans are exposed to multiple forms of mercury (elemental, inorganic, and organic), most research on mercury toxicity has focused on methylmercury (MeHg) and on neurotoxic outcomes and mechanisms. Recent work has indicated that the immunotoxic effects of mercury compounds may be significant contributors to human disease as well as mechanistically relevant to other targetorgantoxicities. In this study, we compared the effects of inorganic Hg (iHg) to organic Hg species (MeHg and ethylmercury, EtHg) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro at sub-cytotoxic concentrations, using methods developed to characterize response of human PBMCs to iHg in vitro. PBMCs were isolated from six volunteer blood donors (three males and three females) and cultured ...
Nano-sized silica is a promising material for disease diagnosis, cosmetics and drugs. For the successful application of nano-sized material in bioscience, evaluation of nano-sized material toxicity is important. We previously found that nano-sized silica particles with a diameter of 70nm showed acute liver failure in mice. Here, we performed histological analysis of major organs such as the liver, spleen, lung, kidney, brain and heart in mice, chronically injected with 70-nm silica particles for 4weeks. Histological analysis revealed hepatic microgranulation and splenic megakaryocyte accumulation in these 70-nm silica particles treated mice, while the kidney, lung, brain and heart remained unaffected. Thus, liver and spleen appear to be the major targetorgans for toxicity by the chronic a...
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the expression of specific genes in peripheral blood can be used as surrogate marker(s) to detect and distinguish targetorgantoxicity induced by chemicals in rats. Rats were intraperitoneally administered a single, acute dose of a well-established hepatotoxic (acetaminophen) or a neurotoxic (methyl parathion) chemical. Administration of acetaminophen (AP) in the rats resulted in hepatotoxicity as evidenced from elevated blood transaminase activities. Similarly, administration of methyl parathion (MP) resulted in neurotoxicity in the rats as evidenced from the inhibition of acetyl cholinesterase activity in their blood. Administration of either chemical also resulted in mild hematotoxicity in the rats. Microarray analysis of the global ...
Coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone) is occurring in food, and is also used in cosmetics. In order to perform a risk assessment for both oral and dermal exposure, we applied a physiologically based approach to model kinetics in humans by simulating both routes of exposure. The concentration-time profile in liver revealed a higher peak concentration (Cmax-hep) for the oral when compared to the dermal route. The area under the concentration-time curve in the liver (AUChep) was found the same for both routes if the same extent of absorption is assumed. Dose response information from published rat studies were used to identify the metric relevant for liver toxicity. Liver exposure levels resulting from doses and durations as outlined in the studies were simulated in a rat model. We obtained 31 data pair...
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is an important targetorgan for the toxicity of xenobiotics. The toxic effects of xenobiotics on this complex, heterogeneous structure have been difficult to model in vitro and have traditionally been assessed in vivo. The explant culture of GI tissue offers an alternative approach. Historically, the organotypic culture of the GI tract proved far more challenging than the culture of other tissues, and it was not until the late 1960s that Browning and Trier described the means by which intestinal tissues could be successfully cultured. This breakthrough provided a tool researchers could utilise, and adapt, to investigate topics such as the pathogenesis of inflammatory intestinal diseases, the effect of growth factors and cytokines on intestinal proliferation...
Sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) is a vertebrate pesticide widely used for possum control in New Zealand. Fluoroacetate is also a toxic component of poisonous plants found in Australia, South Africa, South America, and India. Because of its importance and effectiveness in pest control and the highly toxic nature of this compound, its acute sub-lethal and targetorgantoxicity have been extensively studied. In relation to its use as a pesticide its environmental fate, persistence, non-target impacts and general toxicology have been and continue to be extensively studied. Toxic baits must be prepared and used with extreme care, otherwise humans, livestock, and non-target wildlife will be put at risk. The high risk of secondary poisoning of dogs is a cause for concern. 1080 acts by interfering with cellular energy ...
Amyloid aggregation starts with the initial misfolding of peptide/protein precursors, with subsequent structural rearrangement into oligomers and protofibrils; the latter eventually organize into fibrils with shared basic structural features, found deposited in amyloid diseases. Mounting evidence indicates early oligomers as the most toxic amyloid species; accordingly, the search of inhibitors of their growth is considered a promising target to prevent amyloid toxicity. We recently showed that oleuropein aglycon, a polyphenol abundant in the extra virgin olive oil, interferes with the aggregation of amylin (involved in type-2 diabetes), eliminating its cytotoxicity. Here we report that oleuropein aglycon also hinders amyloid aggregation of A?(1-42) and its cytotoxicity, suggesting a general effect of such polyphenol. In particular, by using a wide panel of different spectroscopic, immunologic, cell ...
A quantitative comparison of tissue distribution and excretion of an orally administered sublethal dose of [3H]diacetoxyscirpenol (anguidine) was made in rats and mice 90 min, 24 hr, and 7 days after treatment. Total recoveries of 95-100% were obtained. Approximately 90% of the dose was excreted in urine and feces during the first 24 hr with a feces:urine ratio of about 1:4.5 in both species. Carcass and tissue radioactivity dropped rapidly during the first 24 hr but remained relatively constant at low, but detectable, levels over the course of the experiment. Few substantive interspecies differences were noted in tissue distribution. At 90 min the highest percentage of dose was in tissues involved in sequestering diacetoxyscirpenol because of high body water/lipid content or the absorption, metabolism, or excretion of the toxin. The rank order of these tissues was generally stable over the course of the experiment. When data were expressed as specific radioactivity instead, the ...
One proposed solution to the problem of ballast-mediated aquatic invasions involves chemically treating ballast water to kill key targetorganisms. Here, we examine the efficacy of three commercially available ballast water biocides using vegetative microalgae, dinoflagellate resting cysts and bacteria as test organisms. Chemicals tested were the ballast water biocides SeaKleen and Peraclean Ocean, and the chlorine dioxide biocide Vibrex. Results demonstrate that the applicability of each of the three chemical biocides as a routine ballast water treatment is limited by factors such as cost, biological effectiveness and possible residual toxicity of the discharged ballast water (assessed on the basis of impact on motility of vegetative marine microalgae). Of the three biocides tested, Perac...
In the past decade in vitro tests have been developed that represent a range of anatomic structure from perfused whole organs to subcellular fractions. To assess the use of in vitro tests for toxicity...Full Text Available
The role of intermediate products of dioxygen reduction in cytotoxic effects ascribed to oxygen molecules was studied in vivo using various yeast mutants with changed response to oxygen stress. It has been documented that superoxide radical exerts its deleterious effects on yeast cells directly and the role of other oxygen species derived from it is hardly detectable. Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, however, cannot be considered as a typical eukaryotic organism due to its inability of synthesizing polyunsaturated fatty acids (pufa). These fatty acids are known as main target molecules during oxidative stress and their peroxidation leads to cytotoxic effects. As fatty acid content could be easily manipulated in yeast, this organism was used to evaluate the contribution of pufa peroxidation process to the cytotoxic effects of oxygen. Results obtained show, that yeast cells containing linolenic acid as the main constituent of ...
Several short-lived, high-energy beta emitters are being proposed as the radionuclide components for molecular-targeted potential cancer therapeutic agents. The laboratory mice used to determine the efficacy of these new agents have organs that are relatively small compared to the ranges of these high-energy particles. The dosimetry model developed by Hui et al. was extended to provide realistic beta-dose estimates for organs in mice that received therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals containing 90Y, 188Re, 166Ho, 149Pm, 64Cu, and 177 Lu. Major organs in this model included the liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, heart, stomach, small and large bowel, thyroid, pancreas, bone, marrow, carcass, and a 0.025-g tumor. The study as reported in this paper verifies their results for 90Y and extends them by using their organ geometry factors combined with newly calculated organ ...
Distinguishing between effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors on ecosystems is a fundamental problem in environmental science. In river systems the longitudinal gradient of environmental factors is one of the most relevant sources of dissimilarity between communities that could be confounded with anthropogenic disturbances. To test the hypothesis that in macroinvertebrate communities the distribution of species' sensitivity to organictoxicants is independent of natural longitudinal factors, but depends on contamination with organictoxicants, we analysed the relationship between community sensitivity SPEARorganic (average community sensitivity to organictoxicants) and natural and anthropogenic environmental factors in a large-scale river system, from alpine streams to a lowland river. The results show that SPEARorganic is largely ...
As a result of evidence of the ecotoxicity of nitrofurans, the acute toxicity of furazolidone was tested in vivo on two aquatic organisms, Artemia salina and Daphnia magna, which are both crustaceans. Toxicity studies were also performed on larvae of Culex pipiens molestus. Results indicated a significant toxicity of the compound on Culex pipiens and Daphnia magna, while Artemia salina proved to be the least sensitive.
It is an object of the claimed invention to combine chemical treatment with microfiltration process to treat groundwater, leachate from contaminated soil washing, surface and run-off waters contaminated with toxic metals, radionuclides and trace amounts of organics from variety of sources. The process can also be used to treat effluents from industrial processes such as discharges associated with smelting, mining and refining operations. Influent contaminants amenable to treatment are from a few mg/L to hundreds of mg/L. By selecting appropriate precipitation, ion exchange and adsorption agents and conditions, efficiencies greater than 99.9 percent can be achieved for removal of contaminants. The filtered water for discharge can be targeted with either an order of magnitude greater or lower than contaminant levels for drinking water.
Measurement of serum biochemical parameters in response to metal exposures can be especially useful to help identify targetorgans of toxicity as well as the general health status of animals. Oreochromis niloticus were exposed to 5.0?mg/L?Zn, 1.0?mg/L?Cd, and 5.0?mg/L?Zn?+?1.0?mg/L?Cd mixture for 7 and 28?days, and alterations in serum enzyme activities and ion levels were measured. Significant changes in all the biochemical parameters were found to be time dependent. Following metal exposure, alkaline phosphatase activity was elevated at both exposure periods. No changes in activities of lactate dehydrogenase and lipase were observed in response to single or combined Zn and Cd exposure at 7?days while they increased at 28?days. Fish exposed to metals showed a decrease in cholinesterase ac...
Invading melanoma spreads to local and unpredictable distant location at the early stages of its development. It is justifiable, therefore, to classify the disease as a systemic disorder. This requires a systemic treatment that reaches all melanoma cells irrespective of whether they are singly dispersed and in circulation or already forming solid tumours of various sizes. Targeted radiotherapy affects directly and selectively cancer cells provided an appropriate radionuclide and its carrier are chosen. Melanoma is a pigmented tumour. Methylene blue (MTB)) accumulates selectively in melanoma cells due to its exceptionally high affinity to melanin. MTB serves, therefore, as a carrier for radionuclides. "2"1"1At-MTB has proved to be particularly effective in treating disseminated melanoma when administered systemically and, at the same time, non-toxic to normal non-pigmented and pigmented organs. (authors)
BackgroundEpidemiologic studies associate lung cancer in non-smoking Chinese women with Chinese-style wok cooking. Our goal was to quantify carcinogen and toxicant...Full Text Available
New methods for the reduction and remediation of hazardous wastes like carcinogenic organic solvents, toxic materials, and nuclear contamination are vital to environmental health. Procedures for effective...Full Text Available
BackgroundSelenium is a trace element performing important biological functions in many organisms including humans. It usually affects organisms in a strictly dosage-dependent manner...Full Text Available
This study was conducted to investigate the decomposition of three {gamma}-irradiated antibiotics (e.g., tetracycline, sulfamethazine, and lincomycin) and to compare the toxic effects on Daphnia magna, Vibrio fischeri, and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. The median cell growth inhibition concentrations (IC{sub 50}) of tetracycline, lincomycin, and sulfamethazine for P. subcapitata dramatically increased (e.g., toxicity decreased) after radiolysis. The results demonstrated that {gamma}-radiation treatment was efficient to decompose antibiotics and thereby their toxicity on P. subcaptitata remarkably decreased due to reduced parent compounds.
BackgroundCalcium homeostasis is a known target of several environmental toxicants including lead and mercury.ObjectiveOur goal was to determine...Full Text Available
Autophagic adapters including p62/SQSTM1 recognize polyubiquitinated autophagic targets such as toxic protein aggregates. Recently reporting in Molecular Cell, Filimonenko et al. provide evidence...Full Text Available
Purpose: This study presents a dosimetric optimization effort aiming to compare intensity-modulated (IM) X-rays and IM protons in 4 different orbital and paraorbital tumors. These are most challenging targets for standard radiotherapy due to their close relationship with the eyes and related structures. Methods and Materials: A primary orbital lymphoma, an optic nerve meningioma, a sphenoidal ridge meningioma protruding into the orbit, and a pediatric parameningeal paraorbital rhabdomyosarcoma were selected for the purpose of this study. Planning target volumes (PTVs) and organs at risk (OAR) were defined in each patient CT data set for each tumor site. IM X-ray and IM proton three-dimensional treatment plans were implemented. The following total tumor doses were prescribed: 30 Gy for the orbital lymphoma, 54 Gy for both meningiomas, and 50.4 Gy for the rhabdomyosarcoma case. Dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were obtained for ...
Summary Although risk assessments are typically conducted on a chemical-by-chemical basis, the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act required the US Environmental Protection Agency to consider cumulative risk of chemicals that act via a common mechanism of toxicity. To this end, we are conducting studies with mixtures of chemicals to elucidate mechanisms of joint action at the systemic level with the goal of providing a framework for assessing the cumulative effects of reproductive toxicants. Previous mixture studies conducted with antiandrogenic chemicals are reviewed briefly and two new studies are described. In all binary mixture studies, rats were dosed during pregnancy with chemicals, singly or in pairs, at dosage levels equivalent to approximately one-half of the ED50 for hypospadias or e...
Neurological disorders induced by long-term exposure to organic solvents typically have a slowly progressive clinical course, which may be arrested or even reversed following discontinuation of exposure....Full Text Available
Fish living in contaminated environments accumulate toxic chemicals in their tissues. Biomarkers are needed to identify the resulting health effects, particularly focusing on early changes at a subcellular...Full Text Available
ii) Flammability: (iii) A capacity to oxidise: (iv) Corrosiveness: (v) Toxicity (including chronic ...an explosion or fire: (d) For substances with corrosive properties: (i) To reduce the ...likelihood of any unintended corrosion:(ii) To control the adverse effects of any corrosion:
TOXCHEM is a microcomputer based modelling system for predicting the fate of toxic contaminants in wastewater treatment plants. The package evaluates concentrations of toxics in final effluent and waste sludge, and mass air emissions from municipal or industrial activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Maximum allowable influent concentrations of toxics required to meet effluent discharge or air emission limits can also be estimated. The package contains a read-only database with treatability parameters for over 100 contaminants, including organic compounds and metals. If effluent or sludge quality limits have been specified, treatment plant owners and operators can use the package to estimate the permissable discharge limits for dischargers to their collection system. A hypothetical example is provided of application of the software to a planning problem involving the start up of a new operation ...
Jatropha is a nonedible oil seed plant belonging to Euphorbiaceae family. Global awareness of sustainable and alternative energy resources has propelled research on Jatropha oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production. During the past two decades, several cultivation projects were undertaken to produce Jatropha oil. In future, the increased cultivation of toxic Jatropha plants and utilization of its agro-industrial by-products may raise the frequency of contact with humans, animals, and other organisms. An attempt was thus made to present known information on toxicity of Jatropha plants. The toxicity of Jatropha plant extracts from fruit, seed, oil, roots, latex, bark, and leaf to a number of species, from microorganisms to higher animals, is well established. Broadly, these extracts posse...
The oviduct is an exquisitely designed organ that functions in picking-up ovulated oocytes, transporting gametes in opposite directions to the site of fertilization, providing a suitable environment...Full Text Available
The eye is an easily accessible, highly compartmentalised and immune-privileged organ that offers unique advantages as a gene therapy target. Significant advancements have been made in understanding...Full Text Available
N-substituted aromatics are important priority pollutants entering the environment primarily through anthropogenic activities associated associated with the industrial production of dyes, explosives, pestides, and pharmaceuticals. Anaerobic treatment of wastewaters discharged by these industries could potentially be problematical as a result of the high toxicity of N-substituted aromatics. The objective of this study was to examine the structure-toxicity relationship of N-substituted aromatic compounds to acetoclastic methanogenic bacteria. The toxicity was assayed to serum flasks by measuring methane production in granular sludge. Unacclimated cultures were used to minimize the biotransformation of the toxicorganic chemicals during the test. The nature and the degree of the aromatic substitution were observed to have a profound effect on the toxicity of the ...
A series of lab and greenhouse studies were undertaken to understand how Cu and Zn toxicity influences Bromus carinatus (Hook and Arn.) growth, to what degree an organic amendment (yard waste compost) may reduce Cu and Zn bioavailability in Cu-Zn minespoil and promote plant growth in combination with fertilizer, and how the vertical distribution of compost in the minespoil influences rooting depth. Root Cu and Zn toxicity thresholds were determined to be 1 mg L"-"1 and 10 mg L"-"1 in solution, respectively. The compost amendment had exceptionally high Cu and Zn binding capacities (0.17 and 0.08 g metal g C"-"1, for Cu and Zn, respectively) that were attributed to high compost humic and fulvic acid concentrations. Maximum plant biomass was achieved when minespoil was amended with compost and fertilizer in combination. Fertilizer alone had no effect on plant growth. Mixing compost into the minespoil was essential to promote ...
Allyl acetate (AAC), allyl alcohol (AAL), and acrolein (ACR) are used in the manufacture of detergents, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals and as agricultural agents. A metabolic relationship exists between these chemicals in which allyl acetate is metabolized to allyl alcohol and subsequently to the highly reactive, a,b-unsaturated aldehyde, acrolein. Due to the weaker reactivity of the protoxicants, allyl acetate and allyl alcohol, relative to acrolien we hypothesized the protoxicants would attain greater systemic exposure and therefore deliver higher doses of acrolein to the internal organs. By extension, the higher systemic exposure to acrolein we hypothesized should lead to more internal organtoxicity in the allyl acetate and allyl alcohol treated animals relative to those trea...
Propylene and ethylene glycol deicers are commonly used at airports in the US and other countries to remove and retard the accumulation of snow and ice on aircraft. Deicers may not only enter water bodies without treatment, due to excessive storm-related flow, but also may expose terrestrial organisms to high concentrations through surface runoff. Most available toxicity data are for aquatic vertebrates and invertebrate species; this study examined effects on terrestrial and aquatic plants. Terrestrial plant species included both a monocot (rye grass, Lolium perenne) and a dicot (lettuce, Lactuca saliva). Aquatic species included a single cell alga (Selenastrum capricomutum), and an aquatic macrophyte (duckweed, Lemna minor). Glycol deicers were obtained in the formulated mixtures used on aircraft. Pure ethylene and propylene glycol were obtained from Sigma{reg_sign}. Parameters measured included germination, root and shoot length, survival, ...
In situ toxicity tests were designed for Ceriodaphnia dubia and Chironomus tentans as part of a larger study designed to assess the effectiveness of constructed wetlands for the treatment of wastewater produced by oil production at Suncor OSG. The artificial wetlands were 50m long by 3m wide, with three replicates of the control and the treatment. Each wetland had four sample sites equidistant along its length, creating a gradient of treatment from site A being the most toxic to site D being the least toxic. Each test was conducted twice during the summer of 1994. Both the Ceriodaphnia and Chironomus test cages were a flow through design to allow for maximal exposure to the water within the wetlands. Mortality and reproduction were used as endpoints for Ceriodaphnia, whereas mortality and growth were used as endpoints for the Chironomus test. Test durations were fifteen and ten days respectively. Chironomus had very high ...
The target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway regulates cell growth and aging in various organisms. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, silent information regulator 2 (Sir2) modulates cellular senescence. Moreover,...Full Text Available
Immunotoxicity encompasses both reduced and heightened immune function. Diverse chemicals can impair functioning of the immune system. Both monographs and books have been devoted to detailed descriptions...Full Text Available
The intracellular bioavailability of lead (Pb) at low dosage levels in major targetorgans such as the kidney and brain appears to be largely determined by complexation with a group of low molecular...Full Text Available
Some of most used indicators in marine ecology are nucleic acid-derived indices. They can be divided by target levels in three groups: 1) at the organism level as ecophysiologic indicators, indicators...Full Text Available
BackgroundPolyadenylation of RNA has a decisive influence on RNA stability. Depending on the organisms or subcellular compartment, it either enhances transcript stability or targets...Full Text Available
Several Bartonella species have now been implicated as human pathogens. The recovery of these fastidious organisms in the clinical microbiology laboratory remains difficult, and current...Full Text Available
High concentrations of toxic chemicals in sediment and white croaker (Genyonemus lineatus), as well as liver diseases (e.g., carcinomas) in this species, were found in the Los Angeles area. The highest concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) in the sediment were in San Pedro Bay, and the highest concentrations of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) derivatives were in sediment from near the White Point sewer outfall. Concentrations of AHs, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), and DDT derivatives were generally higher in food organisms from the croaker's stomach than in sediment. Moreover, croaker from San Pedro Bay and White Point were substantially contaminated with DDT derivatives and metabolites of aromatic compounds, compared to croaker from the Hyperion outfall and Dana Point. The evidence suggest that the observed pathological conditions of the liver were associated with exposure of the croaker to ...
This report describes the combustion experiments performed using the SP Industry Calorimeter. In addition to measuring parameters such as heat release rate (HRR), mass loss rate, effective heat of combustion and smoke obscuration, considerable effort was put into the characterisation of the smoke gases in order to obtain a basis for evaluations of the toxic potency of the smoke. The materials studied were Nylon 66, polypropene, polystyrene (with and without fire retardant, respectively), PVC and chlorobenzene. A total of 19 large-scale, well ventilated combustions were carried out. The mass of sample burned ranged from 20 kg to 125 kg in an experiment. A procedure was designed for cleaning the smoke gas duct between experiments and was found to be effective. Measurements were carried out for the amounts of O{sub 2}, CO{sub 2}, CO, NO{sub x}, THC (unburned hydrocarbons), HCN, HCl, NH{sub 3} and individual organic compounds in the smoke. ...
Methylene chloride is an organic solvent with many industrial uses. Inhalation of methylene chloride fumes can result in toxicity, caused by hepatic biotransformation of methylene chloride to carbon monoxide. A case of acute methylene chloride poisoning is presented, including successful treatment of this patient with the use of hyperbaric oxygenation. The rationale for the use of hyperbaric oxygenation in the treatment of methylene chloride poisoning is discussed. (aw)
Plasma is the component of blood from which lead is free to cross cell membranes and cause organtoxicity. Plasma lead levels, however, are extremely low and difficult to measure. Urinary lead originates...Full Text Available
... The male GM mosquitoes mate with normal females to produce larvae that die unless the antibiotic tetracycline is present. In tetracycline's absence an enzyme accumulates to a toxic level, killing the larvae. The developers hope the strategy could be combined with other mosquito control methods to reduce transmission in dengue-prone areas. Ricarda Steinbrecher, a geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus - a UK-based non-profit research organization - ...
Ammonia is a common and highly toxic pollutant which, in sufficient quantities, will adversely affect aquatic organisms. This ammonia criteria document for salt water will allow establishment of regulatory standards for ammonia discharge into estuaries, near coastal zones and oceans. Possible adverse impacts in highly sensitive and abundant ecosystems such as estuaries make regulation particularly important.
Apoptosis and Proliferation During DicWoroacetic Acid (DCA) Induced Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis in the F344 Male Rat Chlorine, introduced into public drinking \\\\'ater supplies for disinfection, can react with organic compounds in surface waters to form toxic by-prod...
A computer-assisted rotation and stationary conformation radiotherapy system with overrunning multileaf collimators has been developed. This system can produce any shape of target volume, including a number of target areas outside the axis of the rotation, regardless of the location of the axis at 360"0 rotation irradiation. In addition, by changing the dose rate and deleting a partial region within a field, multiple stationary irradiation can produce more homogeneous target volumes - thus avoiding excessive irradiation to critical organs - than the rotation technique. (orig.).
Current antidotal regimens for organophosphorus compound (OP) poisoning consist of a combination of pretreatment with a spontaneously reactivating AChE inhibitor such as pyridostigmine bromide, and postexposure therapy with anticholinergic drugs such as atropine sulfate and oximes such as 2-PAM chloride (Gray, 1984). Although these antidotal regimens are effective in preventing lethality of animals from OP poisoning, they do not prevent postexposure incapacitation, convulsions, performance deficits, or, in many cases, permanent brain damage (Dunn and Sidell, 1989). These problems stimulated the development of enzyme bioscavengers as a pretreatment to sequester highly toxic OPs before they reach their physiological targets. Several studies over the last two decades have demonstrated that exogenously administered human serum butyrylcholinesterase (Hu BChE) can be used successfully as a safe, efficacious, and single prophylactic treatment to ...
Occupational and environmental exposure to organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls are linked with increased risk of hematologic malignancies. DOE facilities and waste sites in the U.S. are contaminated with mixtures of potentially hazardous chemicals such as metals, organic ligands, solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive isotopes. A major goal of this project was to establish linkage between chemical/radiation exposure and induction of genomic damage in target populations with the capability to undergo transformation.
"2"0"3Pb, an ideal radionuclide for toxicological studies, can be artificially produced by bombardment of a thallium target but due to the extreme toxicity of thallium the lead has to be separated completely from the thallium. A single step method is here described consisting of removing the thallium from a dilute acid chloride solution using a continuous ethyl ether extraction. Essentially all of the thallium and almost none of the lead is removed in a 3-hr extraction. Because the ether is recycled, only about 30 ml are needed. If other contaminants are introduced from the bombardment and its subsequent manipulations, an additional step is used in which the lead is extracted from an iodide solution with methyl isopropyl keton. (U.K.).
Haemocyanin serves as normal transporter of oxygen in many Arthropods. The oxygen equilibrium curves have been described for the haemocyanins of many Arthropods and Molluscs. Oxygen equilibrium curves of the blood reveal the relationship between the oxygen tension and the percentage saturation of the haemocyanin. The shape of the oxygen equilibrium curves vary in position from sigmoid to hyperbolic in different animals or even undulatory as shown in some chitons. Oxygen equilibrium curves are known to be influenced by pH, temperature and inorganic ions. The effect of environmental pollutants like the heavy metals on the oxygen equilibrium curves of the fresh water crab has not been previously reported. One of the toxic heavy metals with regard to aquatic organisms is lead. Hence the present study was designed to determine the effect of organic and inorganic lead on the oxygen equilibrium curve of the fresh water crab, ...
The function of selenium in an organism is mediated mostly by selenoproteins including glutathione peroxidase. Glutathione peroxidase is a potent anti-oxidative enzyme, scavenging a variety of peroxides. The green alga Scenedesmus quadricauda was used to investigate the relationship between the toxicity of selenium and the glutathione peroxidase activity. Selenium resistant strains SeIV and SeVI were synchronized and grown in high concentrations of Se (selenite or selenate). As a measure of selenium toxicity the EC50 values were determined. During growth of the untreated wild type, glutathione peroxidase activity increased slightly and then declined gradually until the end of the cell cycle. A similar pattern was observed in untreated resistant strains and when resistant strains were grown...
Magnesium fructose-1,6-diphosphate is a novel agent of antimyocardial ischaemia. In the present study, the subchronic toxicity of magnesium fructose-1,6-diphosphate was investigated after 13-week repeated intravenous administration in beagle dogs. The animals received doses of 0, 75, 150 and 300 mg/kg/day (three males and three females for each dose). During the study period, clinical signs, mortality, body weights, food consumption, electrocardiogram, urinalysis, haematology, clinical biochemistry, macroscopic findings, organ weights and histopathology were examined. The administration of magnesium fructose-1,6-diphosphate resulted in increased incidence of clinical signs, including salivation and emesis. These effects were transient and were noted in almost all dogs given 300 mg/kg/day a...
Commercial development of oil shale resources will produce vast quantities of processed shale waste. The presence of potentially toxic trace elements, inorganic salts, and potentially toxic residual organic constitutents make the disposal of vast quantities of processed shale a potential environmental problem. To be environmentally acceptable, processed shale disposal must: result in a physically stable structure, prevent or minimize release of potentially toxic compounds, and provide an economically acceptable post-land use. Water is the common element underlying all factors important to the environmental stability of disposed solid waste. The leaching and transport of solubles by water in processed shale embankments may result in degradation of local surface and groundwater quality. The major purpose of this research is to physically model, study, and describe the redistribution and movement of water ...
Cadmium is a toxic, non-essential heavy metal inhibiting numerous enzymes with functional sulfhydryl groups. Among the animals, aquatic organisms are most sensitive to heavy metals. Various aspects of toxic effects of cadmium pollution on fishes have been extensively reviewed. Survey of literature reveals that relatively few attempts have been made on the various aspects of cadmium toxicity in crustaceans and these studies were mainly devoted to marine forms. The freshwater crustaceans, particularly the freshwater field crab, Barytelphusa guerini, received less attention. This crab forms one of the major components of the paddy field ecosystem and has an edible importance among local populations. Apart from this, these crabs are easily available, maintainable in the laboratory and data obtained in this study can be extrapolated to other crustaceans. The present study reports the influence of cadmium on ...
With regard to polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), there is few scientific knowledge on the emission patterns into the environment and exposure pathways to humans, and basic information is insufficient to consider what measures effective are. For the purpose of promoting risk reduction of target substances more effectively and efficiently, it is desirable to comprehend accurately the causal chain from the target substances utilization to the risk intake, and to evaluate the measures covering the whole applications of target substances. As the existing researches on the PBDE emission inventory, there are EU risk assessment report (European Chemical Bureau 2000, 2002, 2003), Danish EPA (1999), Palm et al.(2002) and Alcock et al. (2003). In addition, emissions of DecaBDE are published in TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) of US EPA. However, the primary information of the previous inventories is often the ...
The purpose is to describe problems associated with the establishment of vegetation on mined lands and practical rehabilitation and restoration methods for establishing a rehabilitation plan. Land disturbed by mining should be restored to its original state, when the mine is decommissioned, but before that can be attained, site problems such as toxicity, moisture supply, and texture must be rectified. The land may need to pass through several conditioning stages, and links need to be formed to maintain a functioning ecosystem. A key aspect to rehabilitation is the need to increase the organic matter content of the substrate. This improves soil structure, increases the moisture holding ability, and provides a pool for nutrient cycling. 11 refs., 2 tabs.
Abstract Over the last decade, the environmental sciences have witnessed an incredible movement towards the utilization of high-throughput molecular tools that are capable of detecting simultaneous changes of hundreds, and even thousands, of molecules and molecular components after exposure of organisms to different environmental stressors. These techniques have received a great deal of attention because they not only offer the potential to unravel novel mechanisms of physiological and toxic action but are also amenable to the discovery of biomarkers of exposure and effects. In this article, we review the state of knowledge of one of these tools in ecotoxicological research: proteomics. We summarize the state of proteomics research in fish, and follow with studies conducted with aquatic in...
In an effort to improve the extrapolation of laboratory data to man and estimate risk of human reproductive toxicity associated with environmental exposure, the pharmacokinetic parameters of the testicular compartment are being studied. Of particular interest is the variety of enzyme systems capable of activating and detoxicating environmental chemicals and drugs. This report compares the metabolism of benzo(a)pyrene by the isolated perfused testis and testicular homogenates in vitro. The cell free in vitro system metabolized benzo(a)pyrene at a much greater rate than the perfused testis and produced a different spectrum of metabolites. Reliable laboratory prediction of biotransformation by the whole organ or intact animal is an essential aspect of reproductive toxicology.
Biosorption is an important removal mechanism in treating hydrophobic toxicorganics in biological reactors. Equilibrium sorption isotherms and sorption kinetics of 2,4-dichlorophenol on live and chemically inactive anaerobic granules were studied. A metabolic inhibitor was used to inactivate the biological activity of the biomass. Results showed that the difference in the biosorption of live and chemically inactive anaerobic granules is not significant. This would suggest that anaerobic biosorption is mainly a physical-chemical process and that metabolic-mediated diffusion in the process is negligible. 12 refs., 3 tabs., 7 figs.
Background: The difficulty of directly measuring cellular dose is a significant obstacle to application of target tissue dosimetry for nanoparticle and microparticle toxicity assessment. As a consequence, the target tissue paradigm for dosimetry and hazard assessment of nanoparticles has largely been ignored in favor of using metrics of exposure (e.g. ?g particle/mL culture medium, particle surface area/mL, particle number/mL). We have developed a computational model of solution particokinetics (sedimentation, diffusion) and dosimetry for non-interacting spherical particles and their agglomerates in monolayer cell culture systems. Particle transport to cells is calculated by simultaneous solution of Stokes Law (sedimentation) and the Stokes-Einstein equation (diffusion). Results: The In vitro Sedimentation, Diffusion and Dosimetry model (ISDD) was tested against measured transport rates or cellular doses for multiple sizes ...
Conformal radiation therapy represents a considerable and attractive challenge in oncology. Its aim is mainly to improve local control by increasing the dose with an acceptable rate of complications. This work overviews the world literature on this subject. The technical and theoretical requirements are highlighted. These requirements include a precise definition of the target volume by digital imaging (essentially CT scan), but also clear view of the target volume and the organs at risk, a specific collimation of the beam, 3-D dose calculations, optimization procedures, and a rigid immobilization of the patient with verification of his position. Moreover, the clinical applications of conformal radiation therapy are reviewed and discussed. (authors). 80 refs., 1 tab.
Background: EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) inhibitors confer clinical benefit in metastatic colorectal cancer when combined with chemotherapy. An emerging strategy to improve outcomes in rectal cancer is to integrate biologically active, targeted agents as triple therapy into chemoradiation protocols. Material and methods: cetuximab and bevacizumab have now been incorporated into phase I-II studies of preoperative chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for rectal cancer. The rationale of these combinations, early efficacy and toxicity data, and possible molecular predictors for tumor response are reviewed. Computerized bibliographic searches of Pubmed were supplemented with hand searches of reference lists and abstracts of ASCO and ASTRO meetings. Results: the combination of cetuximab and CRT can be safely applied without dose compromises of the respective treatment components. Disappointingly low ...
Protocol changes and options contained within US Environmental Protection Agency whole effluent toxicity tests represent variables that have the potential to affect bioassay performance and interpretation of results. Variables evaluated in this study include: the change in allowable age in the Pimephales promelas acute bioassay from up to 90 d to a maximum of 14 d, age-specific acute responses of P. promelas among the allowable ages of 1 to 14 d, change in the chronic growth endpoint definition from final mass to biomass, differences between hemacytometer and fluorometer measurements in the Selenastrum capricornutum protocol, and options for statistical interpretation of species sensitivity in multiple test/species screening bioassays. Clear age-related sensitivity and precision differences were observed in acute responses of P. promelas. Results obtained using the younger age classes were typically more variable in studies of both 1- to 14-d-old and 14- to ...
Blood kinetics and tissue distribution of 20, 80 and 110 nm silver nanoparticles were investigated in rats up to 16 days after intravenous administration once daily for 5 consecutive days. Following both single and repeated injection, silver nanoparticles disappeared rapidly from the blood and distributed to all organs evaluated (liver, lungs, spleen, brain, heart, kidneys and testes) regardless of size. The 20 nm particles distributed mainly to liver, followed by kidneys and spleen, whereas the larger particles distributed mainly to spleen followed by liver and lung. In the other organs evaluated, no major differences between the sizes were observed. Size-dependent tissue distribution suggests size-dependent toxicity and health risks. Repeated administration resulted in accumulation in li...
Among the several chemical processes conducted for the removal of organic matter present in wastewaters coming from some agro-industrial plants (wine distilleries, olive oil mills, etc), the oxidation by ozone has shown a great effectiveness in the destruction of specially refractory pollutants: it is demonstrated that the biodegradability of those wastewaters increases aflcer an ozonation pretreatment. Their great pollutant character is imputed to the presence of some organic compounds, like phenols and polyphenols, which are toxic and inhibit the latter biological treatments. In this research, a competitive kinetic procedure reported by Clurol and Nekouinaini is applied to determine the degradation rate constants by ozone of several phenolic acids which are present in the wastewaters from the olive oil obtaining process. The resulting kinetic expressions for the ozonation reactions are useful for the successful design and ...
The decrease and subsequent lack of recovery of the North American scaup population has increased concerns about contaminants acquired during migration. We collected 189 fall- and spring-migrant lesser (Aythya affinis) and greater scaup (A. marila) on the lower Great Lakes (LGL) to determine if organic contaminants and trace elements in scaup livers were increased and to evaluate sources of variation in selenium (Se) burdens. We found that all organic contaminants were below toxic levels. Of 18 trace elements, only Se was detected at increased (>10-ppm dry-mass) levels. Se in lesser scaup increased but remained constant in greater scaup throughout fall; levels were increased in 14% of lesser scaup and 46% of greater scaup. During spring, Se increased in lesser scaup but decreased slightly ...
In this article, self-organizing-map-based video object segmentation is proposed, assuming that either Y-quantification or HSV-quantification can be systematically selected. Given a video sequence, the value of the probability density function for each component value is calculated according to a kernel estimation at the first frame. Some areas randomly chosen from the background are then examined, using each component value, to judge whether or not they include the target object. The quantification is determined so that the frequency of occurrence of false extractions can be reduced. The data presented to the maps are generated based on the selected quantification. Experimental results show that the proposed method recognizes the target object well.
Human heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27, HspB1) is an anti-apoptotic protein characterized for its tumorigenic and metastatic properties, and now referenced as a major therapeutic target in many types of cancer. Hsp27 biochemical properties rely on a structural oligomeric and dynamic organization. Downregulation by small interfering RNA or inhibition with dominant-negative mutant have proven their efficiency to counteract the anti-apoptotic and protective properties of Hsp27. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of Hsp27-targeted molecules interfering with its structural organization. Using the peptide aptamer (PA) strategy, we isolated PAs that specifically interact with Hsp27 and not with the other members of the small heat shock protein family. In mammalian cell cultur...
Mechanisms that govern transport, accumulation and toxicity of persistent pollutants at interfaces in aquatic ecosystems were the foci of this thesis. Specific attention was paid to humic substances, their occurrence, composition, and role in exchange processes across interfaces. It was concluded that: The composition of humic substances in aquatic surface microlayers is different from that of the subsurface water and terrestrial humic matter. Levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the aquatic surface microlayer reflect the DOC levels in the subsurface water. While the levels and enrichment of DOC in the microlayer generally show small variations, the levels and enrichment of particulate organic carbon (POC) vary to a great extent. Similarities exist between aquatic surface films, artificial semi-permeable and biological membranes regarding their structure and functioning. Acidification and liming of freshwater ...
Understanding risks from exposures to carcinogens and other chemicals depends upon measurement of their dose to target tissues and their reactivity with critical macromolecules. The authors have used AMS detection of radio-isotopes to assess doses and reactivities at low, environmentally relevant doses. Several biomedical investigations show the effectiveness of quantification of biologically important events at extremely high sensitivity with AMS. Specifically, they have measured the addition of environmental carcinogens such as 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]-quinoaxaline (MelQx), a chemical found in cooked food, to DNA at concentrations relevant to human exposure. Other low level detection problems in biology, such as immunoassay assessment of small environmental chemicals, is being developed with attomole sensitivity. AMS also aids the assessment of genotoxic risks from chemicals by quantifying the binding of labeled chemicals to DNA. The very ...
The need exists for rapid and inexpensive methods to determine the health effects of environmental contaminants on biological systems. One of the current research approaches for assessing cytotoxicity is to monitor the respiratory activity of the mitochondrion, a sensitive, nonspecific subcellular target site. Detected changes in mitochondrial function after the addition of a test chemical could be correlated to toxic effects. Mitochondrial respiration can be characterized by three indices: state 3 and state 4 respiratory rates, and the respiratory control ratio (RCR). State 4, the idle or resting state, results when coupled mitochondrial respire in a medium containing inorganic phosphate and a Kreb's cycle substrate in the absence of a phosphate acceptor such as adenosine diphosphate (ADP). In the presence of ADP the respiration rate increases to a maximum (state 3), accompanied by phosphorylation of ADP to adenosine triphosphate ...
Indicators are important tools for communicating and making accessible scientific and technical information to policymakers and the general public. They therefore play an important role in transforming information into action. Worldwide, many initiatives are underway to construct indicators for a variety of purposes, including those for reporting on sustainable development. This paper briefly describes the attempts made so far, but stresses that the users of the indicators should play a greater role in indicator construction. In developing countries, a substantial lack of data has meant that specific policy formulation may develop without adequate technical input. In developed countries also, data gaps may hinder policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. However, the development of indicators as tools to assist in the management of hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals is still in the early stages of formulation. A more imaginative program of indicators ...
Methods: Systemic irradiation of neuroaxis is an essential part in the management of medulloblastoma, stPNET and intracranial germ cell tumors. The introduction of quality assurance programs in radiooncology assures a precise radiotherapy of target volumes and is a prerequisite to improve survival. Results: Hyperfractionated radiotherapy has the potential of increasing dose to tumor more safely without increasing the risk for late adverse effects. Pilot studies revealed excellent tumor control in medulloblastoma with acceptable acute toxicity and a long-term survival of up to 96%. In medulloblastoma stereotactic radiation techniques reveal an acceptable toxicity and promising results in tumor control in recurrent disease or as primary treatment. They are now part of future treatment protocols in case of persisting residual tumor. Radiotherapy alone in pure germinoma is continuously yielding high cure rates. In secreting ...
The number of reports concerning the chemical toxicology of metals which are released in the environment by natural as well as anthropogenic sources, have been increasing constantly. Lead, cadmium, and manganese have found a variety of uses in industry, craft, and agriculture owing to their physical and chemical properties. The environmental burden of heavy metals has been rising substantially by smelter emission in air and waste sewage in water. Further, organic compounds of lead and manganese used as antiknock substances in gasoline are emitted into the atmosphere by automobile exhaustion. Such environmental contamination of air, water, soil, and food is a serious threat to all living kinds. Although these metals are known to produce their toxic effects on a variety of body systems, much emphasis has been placed on their effects on the nervous system owing to apparent association of relatively low or ...
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the elderly accounting for the vast majority of dementia. Recently, many studies have implicated the role of inflammatory response, especially neuroinflammatory response in the development and progression of AD. However, the underlying mechanism of how inflammatory response induces AD is unknown. Kynurenine pathway is a major route of the amino acid tryptophan catabolism, resulting in the production of nicotine adenine dinucleotide and other neuroactive intermediates: quinolinic acid (QA) and kynurenic acid (KA). QA exerts different toxic effects, including over-activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and excitotoxicity, synaptic dysfunction and neuronal death. On the other hand, KA is identified as the only...
Ribosomal protein L 10 from the livers of trout, hen, and rat was found to be the main target for 2-nitro-4-azidobenzoyl-Phe-tRNA in affinity labelling experiments. Therefore, despite somewhat different electrophoretic mobilities, this protein seems to be involved in the organization of the peptidyl transferase centre in ribosomes of various vertebrates. (author).
The Effective Dose Equivalent Concept defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection in 1977 considers the risk from irradiation including both hereditary and somatic effects. This paper will deal with the definition of a concept for somatic effects only, the somatically significant dose equivalent. This is defined as the dose equivalent which if received by every member of the population, would be expected to produce the same total somatic injury to the population as does the actual dose equivalent received by various individuals. The somatically effective dose equivalent for a particular radiopharmaceutical is the weighted sum of the average dose equivalent to various organs. The dose equivalent to various organs can be derived from an extended MIRD formalism also considering the rest of body excluding the source volumes and the re iden e times in total body and the targetorgans. ...
The Effective Dose Equivalent Concept defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection in 1977 considers the risk from irradiation including both hereditary and somatic effects. This paper will deal with the definition of a concept for somatic effects only, the somatically significant dose equivalent. This is defined as the dose equivalent which if received by every member of the population, would be expected to produce the same total somatic injury to the population as does the actual dose equivalent received by various individuals. The somatically effective dose equivalent for a particular radiopharmaceutical is the weighted sum of the average dose equivalent to various organs. The dose equivalent to various organs can be derived from an extended MIRD formalism also considering the rest of body excluding the source volumes and the re iden e times in total body and the targetorgans. ...
Two pilot-scale constructed wetlands (4:1 length:width aspect) were designed for tertiary treatment of refinery effluent. As requirements for removal of contaminants from NPDES effluents become more stringent, cost-effective technological approaches are needed to achieve the necessary treatment levels and be efficient, effective and low maintenance. The fundamental design of these constructed wetlands was based on biogeochemical principles that regulate the fate and persistence of the targeted elements (Cu, Zn, Pb). In order to maximize opportunities to learn more about the internal function of the wetlands, they were built to operate in series or in parallel permitting hydraulic retention times of 24 to 48 hours. The wetlands were lined with {approximately}76 cm of compacted clay as well as a 30 mil polyethylene liner. The hydrosoil selected for use in the constructed wetlands is 74.1% sand, 25.6% silt, 0.3% clay. Based on laboratory studies, this hydrosoil ...
The use of municipal sewage sludge as a fertilizer in agriculture is a convenient method of disposal. However, sludge is often contaminated with toxicorganic compounds such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), with implications for soil fertility and quality of crops for human and animal consumption. These compounds can be assimilated by intact plants or in-vitro cell-Culture systems. The amount of uptake depends on the plant species and on the physico-chemical conditions that influence, for example, molecular configuration; uptake rates are higher with low-molecular-weight and polar compounds. The xenobiotic can be converted to polar conjugates and hydroxylated metabolites that may also be toxic. In some cases, large amounts of the compound and/or its metabolic products are incorporated into non-extractable residues. The bound residues, especially those associated with ...
In recent years, there has been increased interest in using early life stages of freshwater bivalves to test the toxicity of dissolved constituents in water. The authors have developed laboratory and in situ assays with artificially cultured Utterbackia imbecillis to examine effects of contaminants and existing conditions in embayments and rivers on mortality and reproductive success of unionid mussels. Age sensitivity of U. imbecillis to Cd and Cu was examined using both static acute and 8-day static renewal bioassays. Both aqueous and sediment exposures demonstrated greater sensitivity to Cd than Cu. LC{sub 50}`s for two-day old (2d) and 9d mussels were approximately half the LC{sub 50} calculated for 16d mussels in 48-hr bioassays with Cd. Additionally, acute assays were repeated twice to examine variability in response between different mussel cultures to the two metals. The results of this work reinforce the potential of juvenile U. imbecillis as a standard ...
Iron is an essential element to marine biota. Different types of dissolved organic matter (DOM), such as humic substances have impacts on the marine coastal waters iron chemistry.The aim of the study was to examine how the presence of humic substances (both aquatic and sedimentary) may affect iron bioavailability to the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa Kutzing incubated on standard and modified mineral BG-11 media. The final iron concentrations in the growth media ranged from 0.1 to 100mM.The results demonstrate that both the growth rate and the concentration of chlorophyll a in cultures of M. aeruginosa are limited by insufficient (a 15-fold as compared with the cultures exposed to iron only at the same concentration. Sedimentary humic acids in the presence of iron at a...
Photoelectron resonance capture ionization (PERCI) mass spectrometry has been developed for the direct online analysis of organics, including lipids. Analysis is conducted without the need for sample preparation or chemical derivatization such as methylation, foregoing the use of harmful or toxic chemicals. PERCI is currently being adapted towards the analysis of edible oils. Herein, as a proof of principle of the simplicity and potential utility of this method towards the analysis of edible oils, we present the analysis of the prevalent fatty acids (FA) in Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil along with triolein and linolenic acid (LNA) standards. Ionization of olive oil results in little fragmentation of the prevalent FA, which are measured as their molecular ions, [FA-H]-. The relative concent...
A wide variety of phytochemicals present in our diet, including fruits, vegetables, and spices, have been shown to possess a broad range of health-beneficial properties. The cytoprotective and restorative effects of dietary phytochemicals are likely to result from the modulation of several distinct cellular signal transduction pathways. Many dietary phytochemicals that are synthesized as secondary metabolites function as toxins, that is, -phytoalexins,- and hence protect plants against insects and other damaging organisms and stresses. However, at the relatively low doses consumed by humans and other mammals, these same toxic plant-derived chemicals, as mild stressors, activate adaptive cellular response signaling, conferring stress resistance and other health benefits. This phenomenon has...
Fragranced consumer products are pervasive in society. Relatively little is known about the composition of these products, due to lack of prior study, complexity of formulations, and limitations and protections on ingredient disclosure in the U.S. We investigated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from 25 common fragranced consumer products-laundry products, personal care products, cleaning supplies, and air fresheners-using headspace analysis with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Our analysis found 133 different VOCs emitted from the 25 products, with an average of 17 VOCs per product. Of these 133 VOCs, 24 are classified as toxic or hazardous under U.S. federal laws, and each product emitted at least one of these compounds. For ''green'' products, emissions of these c...
The iron foundry industry is considered to be a potential source of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). This study investigated the emission factors and total emission amounts of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) from iron foundries in China. The concentrations and the World Health Organizationtoxicity equivalents (WHO-TEQs) are presented and the congener profiles are discussed in this paper. In the present work, 26 fly ash samples were collected and tested to quantify the PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs generated by 14 plants of different scales, and five stack gas samples were collected from two (named as EFG and LFG) of those plants. The emission levels of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs indicated that hot-air cupolas had lower emissions than cold-air cupol...
The analysis is submitted in support of the effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Coastal Oil and Gas Industry. The report analyzes the cost-effectiveness of 10 regulatory options organized by three wastestreams. The document compares the total annualized cost incurred for each of the regulatory options within each wastestream to the corresponding effectiveness of that option in reducing the discharge of pollutants. Section Two discusses the cost-effectiveness methodology used and identifies the pollutants included in the analysis, presenting their toxic weighting factors and removal efficiencies. Section Three presents the results of the analysis. In Section Four, the cost-effectiveness values are compared to cost-effectiveness values for other promulgated rules. Appendix A presents data on pollutants, pollutant removals, annualized costs, and other, more detailed information.
The cost-effectiveness (CE) analysis presents an evaluation of the technical efficiency of pollutant control options for the proposed effluent limitations guidelines. The proposed BAT and PSES apply to six subcategories: Dissolving Kraft; Dissolving Sulfite; Bleached Papergrade Kraft; Papergrade Sulfite; Unbleached Kraft; and Semichemical. The document compares the total annualized cost incurred for each of the regulatory options within each subcategory to the corresponding effectiveness of that option in reducing the discharge of pollutants. Section Two discusses the cost-effectiveness methodology and identifies the pollutants included in the analysis and their toxic weighting factors. Section Three describes the options evaluated for each subcategory. Section Four presents the results of the CE analysis. Section Five presents a separate analysis of AOX (adsorbable organic halides).
EPA has proposed effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the centralized waste treatment (CWT) industry. This report investigates the cost-effectiveness of all possible combinations of proposed control options for the three subcategories of CWT operations. EPA considered three control options for metals, two for oils and two for organics, with 12 possible combinations of these options. The report measures cost-effectiveness through a comparison of compliance costs to the quantity of pollutants removed under each combination of control options. The effectiveness of the regulations is measured in terms of reductions in the pounds of pollutants discharged to surface waters, weighted to account for the pollutants` toxicity. Some pollutants removed are specifically addressed by the regulation, while others and not directly regulated but are removed incidentally as a result of controlling for other pollutants.
Summary Background Sorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor that blocks cell proliferation via the ERK pathway and angiogenesis via the VEGF pathway. This phase II trial was conducted to determine the efficacy and tolerability of sorafenib for the treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (UC) who had not had prior chemotherapy for advanced disease. Patients and Methods Seventeen chemo-na?ve UC patients with adequate performance status and organ function were treated with sorafenib 400?mg twice daily on a continuous basis until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective tumor response rate as measured by RECIST criteria. Secondary endpoints included rate of prolonged stable disease (>3?months), time to progression, median and 1?yr survival and ...
On November fourth and fifth 2010 a group of more than 100 international investigators gathered in Atlanta for the second Osteoarthritis (OA) Biomarkers Global Initiative workshop titled ''Genetics and Genomics: New Targets in OA''. The first workshop took place in April 2009 and focused on in vitro (soluble) biomarkers whilst the third and final workshop will take place in 2012 and will focus on imaging biomarkers. The OA Research Society International (OARSI) has organized the workshops. In addition to OARSI, the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the Arthritis Foundation, Amgen, Genzyme, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and Pfizer sponsored the second meeting. It was clear from this meeting that experiments in the genetics, epigenetic...
Aims A depressed cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) activity is implicated in nitrate tolerance. The present study determines whether the leucine zipper-positive (LZ+) isoform of myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1), a key target protein for PKG actions, is involved in the development of nitrate tolerance. Methods and results Nitrate tolerance in in vitro preparations was obtained by a 24 h incubation with nitroglycerin (NTG). Nitrate tolerance in in vivo preparations was obtained by subcutaneous injection of mice with NTG, and the aortas were used. Protein levels of total MYPT1, MYPT1 (LZ+), PP1Cd, myosin light chain (MLC), and phosphorylated MLC were determined by Western blot analysis. Isometric vessel tension was determined by an organ chamber technique. Protein levels of MYPT1...
Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States. While effective on target plants, it has been associated with harmful health effects in non-targetorganisms such as fish, amphibians and mammals. In this study, growth effects on human liver cells were determined after exposure to increasing concentrations of this herbicide. Growth of immortalized human hepatoma HepG2 cells was inhibited by atrazine concentrations of 625 ppb after 72 h exposure and flow cytometry analysis demonstrated HepG2 cells exposed to 100 ppb atrazine accumulated in S phase after 48 h compared to untreated cells. Expression of cell cycle specific cyclin proteins was altered after atrazine exposure with cyclin E levels significantly decreased after a 24 h exposure and cyclin B levels decreased...
The problem of passively tracking a moving signal source has importance in a variety of applications such as radar, sonar, seismology, and radio astronomy. In many applications, only limited information is available about the signal source. It will be assumed here that only the signals which are detected by the sensors and the velocity of the source signal are known. The objective of this document is to present a program which passively tracks a target using an array of sensors. This program is available in MATLAB, version 3.5. The algorithm which is implemented consists of three main parts: time delay estimation, passive localization, and data post processing. Each of these parts are discussed, and the mathematical foundation for their solution given. Following, this the organization of the program is presented, and an example of its usage is given.
Photoelectrochemical oxidation is a potentially interesting method for destroying toxicorganic materials. We have studied the photoelectrocatalytic activity of TiO{sub 2} films made by thermal oxidation of titanium, low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD), and anodisation of titanium. Two model organic compounds have been investigated for photooxidation: methyl phosphonic acid (MPA) which is a nerve gas analogue and 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) which is a chlorinated aromatic compound considered a standard for the evaluation of the TiO{sub 2} / UV processes. In addition to photoelectrochemical characterisation the films have been characterised by profilometry, XRD, AFM, photocurrent spectroscopy and Raman microscopy. Correlations have been made between the physical properties of the thin films and their catalytic activities. The most catalytic sample of thermally oxidised titanium was prepared at 400 deg C, and the ...
An important early step in the assessment of ecological risks at contaminated sites is the screening of chemicals detected on the site to identify those that constitute a potential risk. Part of this screening process is the comparison of measured ambient concentrations to concentrations that are believed to be nonhazardous, termed benchmarks. This article discusses 13 methods by which benchmarks may be derived for aquatic biota and presents benchmarks for 105 chemicals. It then compares them with respect to their sensitivity, availability, magnitude relative to background concentrations, and conceptual bases. This compilation is limited to chemicals that have been detected on the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and to benchmarks derived from studies of toxic effects on freshwater organisms. The list of chemicals includes 45 metals and 56 industrial organic chemicals but only four pesticides. Although ...
Contributions to the population dose due to medical applications of ionising radiation are presented. It appears that contributions due to radiotherapy and X ray diagnosis are of comparable magnitude. To account for the age dependency of the radiation risks, contributions in terms of somatically significant dose equivalent are calculated as 0.3 mSv per caput per annum for X ray diagnosis and as 0.2 mSv per caput per annum for radiotherapy, the latter referring to only doses to organs outside the target volume. (author).
Kong-Ming Wu (Corresponding author) The application of recombinant DNA technology has resulted in many insect-resistant varieties by genetic engineering (GE). Crops expressing Cry toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been planted worldwide, and are an effective tool for pest control. However, one ecological concern regarding the potential effects of insect-resistant GE plants on non-targetorganisms (NTOs) has been continually debated. In the present study, we briefly summarize the data regarding the development and commercial use of transgenic Bt varieties, elaborate on the procedure and methods for assessing the non-target effects of insect-resistant GE plants, and synthetically analyze the related research results, mostly those published between 2005 and 2010. A mass of laboratory and field studies have shown that the currently available Bt crops have no direct detrimental effects on NTOs due to their ...
Background and purpose: the recent RTOG guidelines for future clinical developments in gynecologic malignancies included the investigation of dose escalation in the paraaortic (PO) region which is, however, very difficult to target due to the presence of critical organs such as kidneys, liver, spinal cord, and digestive structures. The aim of this study was to investigate intensity-modulated radiotherapy's (IMRT) possibilities of either increasing, in a safe way, the dose to 50-60 Gy in case of macroscopic disease or decreasing the dose to organs at risk (OR) when treatment is given in an adjuvant setting. Material and methods: the dosimetric charts of 14 patients irradiated to the PO region at the department of radiation oncology, university hospital of Liege, Belgium, in 2000 were analyzed in order to compare six-field conformal external-beam radio-therapy (CEBR) and five-beam IMRT approaches. Both CEBR and IMRT ...
Trichloroethylene (TCE) is both acutely toxic and carcinogenic to the mouse lung following exposure by inhalation. In contrast, it is not carcinogenic in the rat lung and is markedly less toxic following...Full Text Available
Acetylcholine and other neurotransmitters play unique trophic roles in brain development. Accordingly, drugs and environmental toxicants that promote or interfere with neurotransmitter function evoke neurodevelopmental abnormalities by disrupting the timing or intensity of neurotrophic actions. The current review discusses three exposure scenarios involving acetylcholine systems: nicotine from maternal smoking during pregnancy, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and exposure to the organophosphate insecticide, chlorpyrifos (CPF). All three have long-term, adverse effects on specific processes involved in brain cell replication and differentiation, synaptic development and function, and ultimately behavioral performance. Many of these effects can be traced to the sequence of cellular events surrounding the trophic role of acetylcholine acting on its specific cellular receptors and associated signaling cascades. However, for chlorpyrifos, additional ...
... Bisgard, GE, Ruiz, AV, Grover, RF & Will, JA, "Ventilatory control in the ... Watkins, BE, Riegle, GD & Heisey, SR, "Respiratory responses to ACTH and ...
Due to the use of a limited number of species and subchronic exposures, current ecological hazard assessment processes can underestimate the chronic toxicity of environmental contaminants resulting...Full Text Available
Antimony toxicity occurs either due to occupational exposure or during therapy. Occupational exposure may cause respiratory irritation, pneumoconiosis, antimony spots on the skin and gastrointestinal...Full Text Available
The purpose of organization and management development activities in the commercial nuclear power industry is to foster high levels of power plant performance and safety through improved human performance. The NRC has been working to develop assessment tools to assay the effects of organizational factors on plant safety. The utility industry has been working on initiatives targeting individual accountability, the improvement of plant performance and the elimination of the items identified through the NRC assessment process. Organization and management activities do not focus on industry organizational charts, but on the personnel processes and dimensions (factors) that affect safety and economic performance. As individual terms these activities are often combined and referred to as organizational factors. As an area of study, organizational factors has become more prominent as the industry emphasis has switched in recent ...
A study by the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas, has compared the shelter processing transfer of chemical warfare agent simulant vapor for subjects wearing unwashed and laundered ground-crew chemical defense overgarments. Twice laundered and four times laundered protective garments were included in the assessment. Test subjects, wearing the unwashed and laundered protective garments were initially sprayed with liquid simulant (methyl salicylate) to a target density of 5 g m-2. They were then sequentially processed into and through the USAFSAM Collective Protection Shelter (SCPS-2B) test facility. Immediately upon entry to the Toxic-Free Area, the subjects were confined in individual off gassing booths for 2 h while offgassed simulant vapor concentration in the booths was recorded. The resulting mean maximum vapor concentrations recorded in the booths for subjects who had worn unwashed and laundered overgarments ...
Purpose : To evaluate whether the early pulmonary irradiation can prevent or decrease the pulmonary damage and contribute to improve ultimate survival in paraquat lung. Materials and Methods : From Jun. 1987 to Aug. 1993, thirty patients with paraquat poisoning were evaluated. Fourteen of these patients were received pulmonary irradiation(RT). All of the patients ere managed with aggressive supportive treatment such as gastric lavage, forced diuresis, antioxidant agents and antifibrosis agents. Ingested amounts of paraquat were estimated into three groups(A: minimal < about 5cc, B: mouthful 5-50 cc, C: Large > 50cc). Pulmonary irradiation was started within 24 hours after admission(from day 1 to day 11 after ingestion of paraquat). Both whole lungs were irradiated with AP/PA parallel opposing fields using C0-60 teletherapy machine. A total of 10Gy(2Gy/fr. X 5 days)was delivered without correction of lung density. Results : In group A, all patients were alive regardless of ...
This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 409: Other Waste Sites, Tonopah Test Range (TTR), Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located near Area 3 on the TTR approximately 140 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, CAU 409 is comprised of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs): CAS RG-24-001-RGCR, Battery Dump Site; CAS TA-53-001-TAB2, Septic Sludge Disposal Pit (referred to as Septic Sludge Disposal Pit No.1); CAS TA-53-002-TAB2, Septic Sludge Disposal Pit (referred to as Septic Sludge Disposal Pit No.2). This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's (NNSA/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary for CAU 409. The CADD/CR have been combined into one report based on sample data collected during the field investigation performed in ...
Intensification of forest management and harvesting will lead to increased pressures on relatively infertile forest soils with possible reductions in levels of nitrogen and organic matter. It will be necessary for foresters to manage the soils, along with trees, if they wish to maintain site productivity. Nitrogen fixation should be considered as a supplementary or alternative soil amendment method. Free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria appear to contribute minor amounts of combined nitrogen to forest soils, but it is possible that this contribution has been underestimated. The nitrogen-fixing symbioses of higher plants with bacteria contribute up to 300 kg year of nitrogen, more than sufficient to replace potential losses of nitrogen in intensive forestry. The nitrogen-fixing process, however, requires sufficient supplies of certain elements and is sensitive to environmental factors. There are numerous examples of nitogen-fixing symbioses improving tree growth and ...
Findings indicate an urgent need to establish a monitoring program for persistent organic pollutants in water and sediment. - Marine culture is thriving in China and represents a major component of the regional economy in coastal zones, yet the environmental quality of many of those areas has never been studied. This paper attempts to investigate the quality status of Daya Bay, a key aquaculture area in China. The levels of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in water and sediment samples of the bay. The total concentrations of 16 PAHs varied from 4228 to 29325 ng l"-"1 in water, and from 115 to 1134 ng g"-"1 dry weight in sediments. In comparison to many other marine systems studied, the PAH levels in Daya Bay waters were relatively high, and at six sites they were sufficiently high (>10 #mu#g l"-"1) to cause acute toxicity. The PAH composition pattern in sediments suggest dominance by medium to high molecular weight ...
The US Department of the Army, Baltimore District Corps of Engineers, oversees a long-term monitoring study to assess and evaluate effects of the Jennings-Randolph reservoir on biota in the North Branch Potomac River. The reservoir was intended, in part, to mitigate effects of acid mine drainage originating in upstream and headwater area. The present study assessed recovery of benthos and fish in this system, six years after completion of the reservoir. Higher pH and lower iron and sulfate concentrations were observed upstream of the reservoir compared to preimpoundment conditions, suggesting better overall water quality in the upper North Branch. Water quality improved slightly directly downstream of the reservoir. However, the reservoir itself was poorly colonized by macrophytes and benthic organisms, and plankton composition suggested either metal toxicity and/or nutrient limitation. One large tributary to the North Branch and the reservoir ...
Propionibacterium freudenreichii ET-3 culture, a cell-free product of whey fermentation using P. freudenreichii ET-3 (7025), has been shown to promote the growth of Bifidobacteria through the action of 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (DHNA), and therefore, has potential use in the food and supplement industries. Although currently used as a food ingredient in Japan, the safety of this novel ingredient has not been previously evaluated through traditional toxicity testing. Therefore, here we report the results of standard toxicological testing performed on P. freudenreichii ET-3 culture. In a 4-week oral toxicity study, administration of 6000mg/kg body weight/day P. freudenreichii ET-3 culture was without compound-related adverse effects on clinical signs, body weights, food consumption, ophthalmology, hematology, clinical chemistry, urinalysis, organ weights, and gross and microscopic findings in male and female ...
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) are promoting construction plan of Material-Life Science Facility, which is consisted of Muon Science Facility and Neutron Scattering Facility, in order to open up the new science fields. The Neutron Scattering Facility will be utilized for advanced fields of Material and Life science using high intensity neutrons generated by the spallation reaction induced by injecting a 1 MW pulsed proton beam onto a mercury target. Design of the spallation mercury target system is in progress to obtain good neutron performance keeping high reliability and safety. The target material is mercury. As a result of the spallation reaction, large amount of radioactive spallation products are to be contained in the mercury. Therefore to establish the safety of the target system, transient behaviors of ...
Biological monitoring has been conducted in industrially impacted streams near US Department of Energy facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky for almost ten years. A comprehensive Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program, which was developed to meet National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements, includes tasks on (1 ) toxicity testing; (2) bioaccumulation in aquatic and terrestrial biota; (3) bioindicators of fish health; and (4) fish, macroinvertebrate, and periphyton community surveys. These studies have been used successfully to characterize spatial trends and demonstrate temporal recovery resulting from remedial actions and pollution abatement activities, identify contaminant sources, and provide data for conducting ecological risk assessments. The program uses multiple lines of evidence to evaluate stream recovery and illustrates the importance of using an integrated approach when determining stream health. An overview of data collected ...
This document provides details on a $120.2 million package of initiatives to implement the Ozone Annex, an agreement signed in December 2000 between Canada and the United States to significantly reduce transboundary smog causing pollutants and to improve air quality. Taking action under the Ozone Annex will address health and environmental challenges by reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds which are precursors to ground-level ozone. This document described the actions that will be taken by the Government of Canada to reduce emissions from vehicles and the fuels that power them. It also described the measures that will be taken to improve air quality monitoring networks. The National Pollutant Release Inventory will be used to meet new reporting commitments contained in the Annex. This document also highlights the initial actions that will be taken to reduce pollution from industrial sources and products. Some of the major initiatives ...
ObjectivesThis working group aims to conduct an in-depth analysis and synthesis of the health risks and benefits of producing and consuming your own food in urban areas. It will have a particular focus on urban soil pollutants - including both toxic elements and persistent organic pollutants that can pass up through the food chain or be ingested in soil. It will consider pathways of pollutant transport and deposition and human uptake from urban cultivation. Against the health risks associated with expos [continued...]DescriptionIn the UK there are over 250,000 allotment holders, many in urban areas, and in many city gardens fruit and vegetables are grown, often in regions known to have a legacy of environmental pollution. The activities of cultivating and eating 'home grown' foods holds both risks and benefits, yet the balance of risk and benefits and the resulting net implications for human health have not been clearly established. This has ...
All organisms, from bacteria and yeast to humans, respond to physical and chemical stressors by increasing the synthesis of a small group of cellular stress proteins.'' The authors have developed a simple in vitro system for quickly screening environmentally relevant stressors to detect stress-induced proteins that are good candidates for biomarkers. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to detect stressor-induced, concentration-dependent changes in cellular stress protein levels in two fish cell culture systems, whereas simultaneous in vitro neutral red uptake cytotoxicity assays measured the stressors effect on cellular physiology. There was a direct concentration-dependent relationship between sublethal cytotoxic effects and the increases in stress protein levels. Increases of 50 to 200% were detected in stress proteins from desert topminnow, Poeciliopsis lucida, hepatoma-derived cell cultures exposed to cadmium or copper. Three proteins ...
Current regulations guiding technical aspects of natural resource damage assessments combine source, exposure pathway, resource injury, and monetary damage components. In order to associate any observed injury to the uncontrolled release of chemicals (e.g. oil spills, contaminated sediments, in-place toxics, etc.), it is important to link the chemical ''release'' to the injured resource. In complex environmental settings where multiple sources of similar chemicals are combined, multicomponent chemical methods must be used to link the release to the environmental distribution of chemicals. Three examples of the utility of multicomponent organic chemical analyses linked to comprehensive and representative sampling strategies will be discussed--the Shell Martinez Refinery oil spill, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and a contaminated sediment assessment. These NRDA-based source identifications are based on use of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ...
Species interactions research and monitoring was initiated in 1989 to investigate ecological interactions among fish in response to proposed supplementation of salmon and steelhead in the upper Yakima River basin. This is the eighth of a series of progress reports that address species interactions research and pre-supplementation monitoring of fishes in the Yakima River basin. Data have been collected prior to supplementation to characterize the ecology and demographics of non-target taxa (NTT) and target taxon, and develop methods to monitor interactions and supplementation success. Major topics of this report are associated with implementing NTT monitoring prescriptions for detecting potential impacts of hatchery supplementation, hatchery fish interactions, and monitoring fish predation indices. This report is organized into four chapters, with a general introduction preceding the first chapter. This annual report ...
The operation of industrial facilities has generally resulted in contamination of the surrounding soils and ground water. A variety of methods have been proposed for the remediation of contaminated sites. This paper presents new process technology that is capable of performing treatment on ground water or soil washing leachates. The process is targeted to treat low levels of radioactivity, organics and heavy metals present in the aqueous solutions, to be easily transported and provide simple operation on-site and provide an effluent that meets the specified discharge quality. The purification process involves sequential chemical treatment and filtration. The paper will describe the development of the technology and review the current progress in its use to remediate contaminated sites at Chalk River. The application of the process technology has demonstrated that the ambitious goal of setting the effluent targets to meet ...
The operation of industrial facilities has generally resulted in contamination of the surrounding soils and ground water. A variety of methods have been proposed for the remediation of contaminated sites. This paper presents new process technology that is capable of performing treatment on ground water or soil washing leachates. The process is targeted to treat low levels of radioactivity, organics and heavy metals present in the aqueous solutions, to be easily transported and provide simple operation on-site and provide an effluent that meets the specified discharge quality. The purification process involves sequential chemical treatment and filtration. The paper will describe the development of the technology and review the current progress in its use to remediate contaminated sites at Chalk River. The application of the process technology has demonstrated that the ambitious goal of setting the effluent targets to meet ...
Quantitative estimates of lung cancer risk from exposure to diesel engine emissions were developed using data from three chronic bioassays with Fischer 344 rats. Human targetorgan dose was estimated with the aid of a comprehensive dosimetry model. This model accounted for rat-human differences in deposition efficiency, normal particle clearance rates, transport of particles to lung-associated lymph nodes, respiration rates, and lung surface area, as well as high-dose inhibition of particle clearance. Recent evidence indicates that the inert carbon core of the diesel particulate matter is likely to be the primary source of carcinogenicity. The epithelial tissue lining the alveoli and lower airways is the primary target site for induction of lung tumors. Dose was therefore based upon the concentration of carbon particulate matter per unit lung surface area. Unit risk estimates were developed using either a time-to-tumor or a ...
We present the results of modeling intended to evaluate the feasibility of using neutrons from induced fission in highly enriched uranium (HEU) as a means of detecting clandestine HEU, even when it is embedded in absorbing surroundings, such as commercial cargo. We characterized radiation from induced fission in HEU, which consisted of delayed neutrons at all energies and prompt neutrons at energies above a threshold. We found that for the candidate detector and for the conditions we considered, a distinctive HEU signature should be detectable, given sufficient detector size, and should be robust over a range of cargo content. In the modeled scenario, an intense neutron source was used to induce fissions in a spherical shell of HEU. To absorb, scatter, and moderate the neutrons, we place one layer of simulated cargo between the source and target and an identical layer between the target and detector. The resulting neutrons and gamma rays are ...
Background and purpose: the recent RTOG guidelines for future clinical developments in gynecologic malignancies included the investigation of dose escalation in the paraaortic (PO) region which is, however, very difficult to target due to the presence of critical organs such as kidneys, liver, spinal cord, and digestive structures. The aim of this study was to investigate intensity-modulated radiotherapy's (IMRT) possibilities of either increasing, in a safe way, the dose to 50-60 Gy in case of macroscopic disease or decreasing the dose to organs at risk (OR) when treatment is given in an adjuvant setting. Material and methods: the dosimetric charts of 14 patients irradiated to the PO region at the department of radiation oncology, university hospital of Liege, Belgium, in 2000 were analyzed in order to compare six-field conformal external-beam radio-therapy (CEBR) and five-beam IMRT approaches. Both CEBR and IMRT ...
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of replication-competent adenovirus-mediated double suicide gene therapy in an adjuvant setting with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in an experimental prostate cancer model in preparation for a Phase I clinical study in humans. Methods: For efficacy studies, i.m. DU145 and intraprostatic LNCaP C4-2 tumors were established in immune-deficient mice. Tumors were injected with the lytic, replication-competent Ad5-CD/TKrep adenovirus containing a cytosine deaminase (CD)/herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-1 TK) fusion gene. Two days later, mice were administered 1 week of 5-fluorocytosine + ganciclovir (GCV) prodrug therapy and fractionated doses of EBRT (trimodal therapy). Tumor control rate of trimodal therapy was compared to that of EBRT alone. For toxicology studies, immune-competent male mice received a single intraprostatic injection (10"1"0 vp) of the replication-competent ...
Abstract Many solute carrier transporters that interact with anticancer agents and contribute to their pharmacokinetics have been shown to be differentially upregulated in cancer cells as a result of adaptive response to altered nutritional requirements. This review focuses on pathophysiological function of membrane transporters responsible for the influx of physiological substances including oligopeptides, amino acids, and organic cations and anions, and summarizes the recent knowledge regarding mechanisms in their gene expressions. Broad substrate specificity of enhanced oligopeptide H+/peptide cotransporter 1 activity in cancer cells is useful for tumor tissue-specific delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and positron emission tomography diagnostic probes. Amino acid transporters such as...
Aims: Rapamycin (sirolimus) is an antibiotic that inhibits protein synthesis through mammalian targeting of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, and is used as an immunosuppressant in the treatment of organ rejection in transplant recipients. Rapamycin confers preconditioning-like protection against ischemic-reperfusion injury in isolated mouse heart cultures. Our aim was to further define the role of rapamycin in intracellular Ca^2^+ homeostasis and to investigate the mechanism by which rapamycin protects cardiomyocytes from hypoxic damage. Main methods: We demonstrate here that rapamycin protects rat heart cultures from hypoxic-reoxygenation (H/R) damage, as revealed by assays of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) leakage to the medium, by MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-d...
The recent acceleration of effort to elucidate and explore the coordination chemistry of technetium has been prompted mainly by the need for a new generation of radiotracers in nuclear medicine, preferentially for tomograhic studies. Current approaches and their limitations in designing "9"9"mTc complexes capable of penetrating cell membranes of the targetorgans, and remaining there sufficiently long, are reviewed. With the predominance of Tc(V) oxo compounds, especially for brain imaging agents, new N4 and N2S2 coordinate complexes have been developed by shifting from bidentate to tetradentate ligands with a variable side chain or other adjustable reactivity. The search for myocardial imaging agents has focused on a variety of mixed ligand complexes of Tc(III) and most promising [Tc(CNR)_6]"+ complexes of Tc(I). 64 refs. (author).
It was developed a new formulation of macro aggregates of Samarium 153 ({sup 153} Sm-MH) for the arthropaties treatment. The radio pharmaceutic was prepared by reaction of Samarium 153 chloride (SmCl{sub 3}) in aqueous environment with sodium boron hydride in NaOH 0.5 N. The microscopic analysis shown that the particles have an average size of 4% m (range 1-14 {mu} m). The velocity of sedimentation was 0.008 cm/min with high stability in vitro in human serum. The biological studies in healthy rabbits, shown that the complex is retained inside the articulation still eight days after of the administration of the radiopharmaceutical. Likewise, it is presented the data of absorbed dose in the different targetorgans, which was determined by thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) through the use of a REMCAL phantom (radiation equivalent manikin calibration). (Author)
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, established requirements for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop rules for the establishment of enhanced ozone monitoring networks or Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) in ozone nonattainment areas designated as serious, severe, and extreme. The subsequent rules require these stations to collect ambient air measurements for a target list of volatile organic compounds including several carbonyls, oxides of nitrogen, ozone, and meteorological measurements, both surface and upper air. Twenty-two areas in the US are obligated to install and operate PAMS stations to aid in the identification, development, and implementation of effective ozone control strategies. This paper will examine the specific requirements of the PAMS rules and will provide information regarding the current status of the networks and overall implementation issues.
Adipose tissue plays an essential role in energy homeostasis as a metabolic and endocrine organ. Accordingly, adipocytes are emerging as a major drug target for obesity and obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Dysfunction of enlarged adipocytes in obesity is involved in obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin released from small adipocytes, are able to prevent these disorders. In this study, we found that honokiol, an ingredient of Magnolia officinalis used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines, enhanced adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Oil Red O staining showed that treatment with honokiol in the presence of insulin dose-dependently increased lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipoyctes although its activity was weak compared with r...
'Regional climate change: hydrology and land-use' is a topic that is being intensively discussed for quite a while already. At the same time, this topic demands consequences both on the level of politics and other decision makers. We scientists bear a particular responsibility for the analysis of existing data, targeted additional research to fill information gaps, and the critical evaluation and interpretation of the obtained results. The currently gathered sub-population of the scientific community is, albeit small, quite representative of a wide spectrum of activities and can very well offer a deeper insight into the current state-of-the-art. We deliberately organized the contributions such as to offer both overviews and results from detailed projects, as well as a close proximity of very well founded results with rather provocative hypotheses. (orig.)
The Pawtucket Heart Health Program is one of the community studies examining whether population-based efforts to lower cardiovascular risk factors will reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The Pawtucket Heart Health Program intervention is based on a blend of social learning theory, community organization models, community psychology tenets, and diffusion research. This model allows for multifaceted programs that target individuals, groups, organizations, and the entire community to alter their cardiovascular risk through managing blood pressure, lowering blood cholesterol, quitting smoking, increasing fitness, and maintaining desirable weight levels. A dominant feature of the intervention is the emphasis that it places on volunteers for program delivery. The role of volunteers in providing direct services to help citizens lower their blood pressure and lose weight is highlighted to demonstrate the feasibility and ...
Recent technological developments have facilitated intensified searches for genetic markers under selection in nonmodel species. Here, we present an approach for the identification of candidate gene variation in nonmodel organisms. We report on the characterization of 82 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and on the development of a specific genotyping assay for 30 SNPs in 18 candidate genes for growth and reproduction in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). These markers can be used for scanning natural populations for signatures of selection in both contemporary and archived historical samples, for example in retrospective studies assessing the effects of environmental changes, such as increasing temperatures, and selection imposed by high fishing pressure. Furthermore, these gene markers may be of interest to aquaculture, serving as a starting point for linking phenotypic traits important for productivity with genotypes and potentially be of use for marker-assisted ...
The feasibility of containing genetically engineered bacteria with enhanced dehalogenating properties for in situ bioremediation was investigated. (1) An agarose matrix microbead protocol and a detection system for contained microorganisms or DNA were developed. Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) allowed tracking of a consortium of encapsulated organisms or several gene targets from a single species. Gene sequences encoding the enzymes responsible for initiating the biodegradation of toluene, octane, and 2,4-D were detected by multiplex PCR and nucleic acid probes from similar to 1-10 biodegradative cells/g soil. Improved DNA extraction methods resulted in PCR reactions detecting similar to 6 cells/g soil. (2) The pcpB gene (for the broad-spectrum detoxicant pentachlorophenol (PCP) hydroxylase) isolated from Flavobacterium sp. strain ATCC 39723 was used in attempts to develop an improved dehalogenating recombinant microorganism for ...
Carbonyl compounds constitute an important reactive class of non methane volatile organic compounds. They can be emitted directly to the atmosphere from primary sources such as combustion engines, landfills and wastewater surfaces or as secondary products by the photochemical oxidation of hydrocarbons and other volatile organic compounds 1-3. Carbonyls photo-oxidize during the day to produce toxic radicals such as OH, HO_2, RO and RO_2. These species react with nitrogen oxides (NOx) and other VOCs present in the atmosphere to form tropospheric ozone (O_3); a highly reactive oxidizing agent that is harmful to human health, agricultural products and climate 4, 5. Hence identifying the levels and sources of ozone precursors such as low carbonyls, carbon monoxide (CO) and NOx derivatives, and understanding their physical and chemical transformation in the troposphere is an important task due to their atmospheric and adverse ...
Anaerobic processes have been widely used for the treatment of various high-strength industrial wastewaters. However, application has been limited for the treatment of sulfate-rich industrial wastewaters, such as those from the petrochemical, and mining industries. Wastewaters containing benzoate and sulfate were treated in two upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors at 34--37 C for 320 d. The sulfate concentration was increased stepwise in Reactor-A up to 7,500 mg/L, and was kept mostly constant at 3,000 mg/L in Reactor-B. Both reactors removed over 98% of organic chemical-oxygen demand (COD) for sulfate up to 6,000 mg/L, despite the fact that the mixed liquor contained up to 769 mg S/L of total sulfides and up to 234 mg S/L of dissolved H{sub 2}S. Sulfate0reducing efficiency decreased with the increase in sulfate concentration, but increased with time at each sulfate concentration. Reactor-B consistently reduced 89% of sulfate. However, both ...
Objective: Pretargeting is the concept that combines optimal delivery of the antibody and rapid capture and elimination of the radioactivity. In this study, we evaluated the potential of antibody pretargeting to enable the tumor-targeting {sup 212}Pb for in vivo generation of {sup 212}Bi for {alpha} particle radiotherapy. Methods: The {sup 212}Pb/{sup 212}Bi chelate of DOTA-biotin, as well as their {gamma}-emitting analogues, {sup 203}Pb and {sup 205}Bi, was prepared and characterized. The radiolabeled compounds were injected in animals for evaluation of tumor targeting and normal tissue uptake and retention. In the pretargeting protocol, injection of 400 {mu}g of NR-LU-10 antibody-streptavidin conjugate was given at t=0 h, then 100 {mu}g of N-acetyl-galatosamine-biotin clearing agent was injected at t=20-24 h; finally, 1 {mu}g of {sup 212}Pb/{sup 212}Bi-DOTA-biotin was injected 6 h later. Results: Both {sup 203}Pb and {sup 205}Bi-DOTA-biotin ...
Toxicity and potential carcinogenicity studies of boric acid were investigated in mice to verify in a second rodent species that this was a noncarcinogenic chemical. Earlier chronic studies in rats...Full Text Available
This report describes a case of toxic myopathy in a two year old sheltie dog with clinical signs of profound weakness, myoglobinuria, and muscle enzyme elevations. The clinical signs were likely related...Full Text Available
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is a persistent environmental pollutant. The toxicity of HCB has been extensively studied after an accidental human poisoning in Turkey and more recently it has been shown that...Full Text Available
The identification of predictive biomarkers is at the core of modern toxicology. So far, a number of approaches have been proposed. These rely on statistical inference of toxicity response from either...Full Text Available
Sources of manganese are identified. Uptake and distribution of manganese in plants and man are discussed, and the role of manganese in metabolism is described. The epidemiology of manganese toxicity is outlined, permissible air concentrations are listed, and the symptoms of manganese toxicity and deficiency are described. 555 references, 32 tables.
Exposure of mice to 1000 ppm of vinyl chloride (VC), 6 hr/day, 5 days/week, caused some acute deaths with toxic hepatitis and marked tubular necrosis of the renal cortex. Starting the sixth month,...Full Text Available
Free radical formation has been implicated in the toxicity of a wide range of xenobiotics. In recent years, particular interest has been paid to compounds which can undergo a one electron reduction...Full Text Available
The dielectrophoretic (DEP) crossover method has been applied to the detection of cell responses to toxicants. Time and dose responses of the human cultured leukemia (HL-60) line were measured...Full Text Available
Lipopolysaccharides from different bacteria isolated from cotton were purified and chemically analyzed. Their pulmonary toxicity to animals was tested in inhalation tests. Lipopolysaccharides from Agrobacterium...Full Text Available
BackgroundHealth risk from exposure of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) to wildlife and human has been a subject of great interest for understanding their molecular mechanism of toxicity....Full Text Available
Since the establishment of the National Toxicology Program (NTP), there have been gradual changes in strategies to evaluate the overall toxicity of chemicals as well as their carcinogenic potential....Full Text Available
The experimental data set used to evaluate site-specific histopathologic correspondence between the morphologic end points of toxicity and carcinogenicity comprises 130 chemical carcinogenesis studies....Full Text Available
Electrostatic nature of plant plasma membrane (PM) plays significant roles in the ion uptake and toxicity. Electrical potential at the PM exterior surface (ψ0o) influences...Full Text Available
All microRNA (miRNA) target—finder algorithms return lists of candidate target genes. How valid is that output in a biological setting? Transcriptome analysis has proven to be a useful approach...Full Text Available
The effects of variable hardness, pH, alkalinity, humics, and suspended clay on the chemical speciation of copper and its toxicity to fathead minnow larvae in Lake Superior water were investigated. Two proposed methods (toxicity factors and chemical speciation) for predicting LC50 values in specific natural waters from laboratory toxicity data and the average site specific values of general water quality parameters were evaluated. The accuracy of the cupric ion-selective electrode in determining CU/sup +2/ activities in ambient and chemically altered Lake Superior water was also determined.
Cultured fish and human cells have been used as bioassay systems for the evaluation of the toxicity of aquatic pollutants. Numerous assays using bacteria and yeast have also been used for such purposes. The authors report the toxicity of aquatic pollutants (Cd, Hg, and Ni), using cell culture systems and the yeast Saccharomyces cervisiae test. Cd, Hg, and Ni were chosen as model compounds of pollutants because the related toxicity is now fairly well established.
Full text.Changes in land use and urbanization yield more pressure put on limited soil and water resources, including the risk of pollution with toxic heavy metals. The study area lies in the Bekaa valley totaling about 12753 ha. The valley receives from the west torrential fan deposits and a mixture of colluvial and alluvial material. The principal soil classes are Fluvisols, Cambisols, Regosols, Vertisols and Luvisols. The area is populated and also the most important agricultural part of the plain. Agriculture in the plain is being practiced mainly with cash, field crops and vegetables. The western surrounding area is being used mainly for terraced fruit trees. This Arab-German Technical Cooperation Project (ACSAD-BGR) aimed, following the ISO standards and Eikman-Klocke recommendations, at investigating the nature of the extends of soil pollution by heavy metals in two pilot areas: The central Bekaa-Lebanon and Ghouta-Damascus. Different institutions cooperate ...
The irradiation of air produces some toxic gases such as ozone, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, nitrogen tetroxide, nitric anhydride and nitrous oxide. Of these gases, ozone is the most important because of its toxicity and may be produced in such quantities as to constitute a health hazard within the irradiation room. The toxicity, and explosive characteristics of ozone and quantitative aspects of ozone production are discussed and ventilation requirements considered. (U.K.).
The vomeronasal organ is the primary olfactory organ that detects sexual pheromones in mammals. We investigated the anatomy of the vomeronasal organ of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii),...Full Text Available
Quantitative ecological risk assessment (ERA) is a means whereby the risk posed by a toxicant in any system can be evaluated by comparing the distribution of its measured or modelled concentrations (water quality data (WQD)) with available information on the range of concentrations that are known to adversely affect biota within that, or similar, habitats (dose-response data (DRD)). Initially, the WQD are compared with regulatory criteria (e.g. ANZECC and ARMCANZ, 2000). If they fail this test, then, on the assumption that both data sets comprise subsets of the entire range of concentrations, probability density functions are derived assuming a standard distribution form a typically log-normal. In this paper, AQUARISK has been used to estimate the risk posed by copper in effluent from the Rum Jungle mine site, pre- and post-remediation, and the proportion of taxa likely to be affected in the East Branch (EB) of the Finniss River downstream of the mine. In addition, ...
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and has very limited therapeutic options. Recently, it has been found that hyaluronic acid (HA) shows selective binding to CD44 receptors expressed in most cancer histotypes. Since the trend in cancer treatment is the use of targeted radionuclide therapy, the aim of this research was to label HA with rhenium-188 and to evaluate its potential use as a hepatocarcinoma therapeutic radiopharmaceutical. Methods: {sup 188}Re-HA was prepared by a direct labelling method to produce a ReO(O-COO){sub 2}-type coordination complex. {sup 188}Re-HA protein binding and its stability in saline, phosphate buffer, human serum and cysteine solutions were determined. Biokinetic and dosimetric data were estimated in healthy mice (n=60) using the Medical Internal Radiation Dose methodology and mouse model beta-absorbed fractions. To evaluate liver toxicity, alanine aminotranferase (AST) and ...
When Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), it created a number of new reporting requirements for companies that handle toxic chemicals and products containing toxic chemicals. Section 313 of EPCRA requires that certain manufacturers report annual releases to the environment of listed toxic chemicals and chemical categories. Because these manufacturers must know the toxic chemical composition of the products they use to be able to calculate releases accurately, EPA requires some suppliers of mixtures or trade name products containing one or more of the listed section 313 toxic chemicals to notify their customers. The pamphlet explains which suppliers must notify their customers, who must be notified, what form the notice must take, and when it must be sent.
Investigations of cadmium toxicity to microorganisms are now more concerned with the interactions of cadmium with different environmental factors and other metals. The interactions are complex and have not been thoroughly studied yet. Metal interactions may assume the form of synergism characterized by increase in toxicity, but also of antagonism in which one metal reduces the toxicity of another. Apart from cadmium interactions with such toxic metals as mercury and lead, interactions of cadmium with the essential trace elements seem to be very interesting because it has been assumed that algal cells take up cadmium by the system transporting these elements. A previous study showed that cadmium transport into Stichococcus bacillaris cells was inhibited by Mn/sup 2 +/ ions. Thus, it can be supported that there exist some possibilities of using those ions antagonistic to cadmium as counterposition. ...
The authors have shown that toxicity of paraquat for Escherichia coli is increased over 1-fold in strains defective in the biosynthesis of spermidine compared to isogenic strains containing spermidine. The increased sensitivity of these spermidine-deficient mutants to paraquat is eliminated by growth in medium containing spermidine or by endogenous supplementation of spermidine by the use of a speE"+D"+ plasmid. No paraquat toxicity is seen in the absence of oxygen, even in amine-deficient strains, indicating that superoxide is the agent responsible for the increased toxicity. However, the specific mechanisms responsible for the increased paraquat toxicity in the spermidine-deficient mutants remain to be determined. The marked sensitivity to paraquat of E. coli deficient in spermidine is of particular interest, since such mutants have no other phenotypic properties that can be easily assayed. This ...
Sulfur mustard (HD) is an alkylating and cytotoxic chemical warfare agent, which inflicts severe skin toxicity and an inflammatory response. Effective medical countermeasures against HD-caused skin toxicity are lacking due to limited knowledge of related mechanisms, which is mainly attributed to the requirement of more applicable and efficient animal skin toxicity models. Using a less toxic analog of HD, chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), we identified quantifiable inflammatory biomarkers of CEES-induced skin injury in dose- (0.05-2 mg) and time- (3-168 h) response experiments, and developed a CEES-induced skin toxicity SKH-1 hairless mouse model. Topical CEES treatment at high doses caused a significant dose-dependent increase in skin bi-fold thickness indicating edema. Histopathological e...
Nutritional insufficiency and toxicity are deleterious effects of phytoplankton on grazers. We hypothesize that toxic food is likely to have stronger evolutionary selective effects on grazers than nutritionally insufficient food. We explore this hypothesis in comparative studies of egg production and egg hatching of the copepod Acartia hudsonica challenged with both a toxic and a nutritionally insufficient alga. Experiments lasting 6 days, in which mixtures of different proportions of the suspect and a control alga were offered as food to female copepods, showed that the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense, which bears paralytic shellfish toxins, was toxic to A. hudsonica. In contrast, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum was nutritionally insufficient to A. hudsonica. In another set of e...
... In order to produce organic livestock feed, feed mills must be inspected and certified. If they produce both organic and non-organic feed, they must implement procedures, backed up by records, to prevent the commingling of organic and non-organic feed. This includes steps to clean storage bins and mixing and bagging equipment prior to producing batches of organic feed. Organic feed mills also must prevent ...
Soils and groundwater beneath an abandoned Process sewer line in the A/M Area of the Savannah River Site (SRS) contain elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, specifically trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), two common chlorinated solvents. These compounds have low aqueous solubilities, thus when released to the subsurface in sufficient quantity, tend to exist as immiscible fluids or nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). Because chlorinated solvents are also denser than water, they are referred to by the acronym DNAPLS, or dense non aqueous Phase liquids. Technologies targeted at the efficient characterization or removal of DNAPL are not currently proven. For example, most DNAPL studies rely on traditional soil and water sampling and the fortuitous observation of immiscible solvent. Once DNAPL is identified, soil excavation (which is only applicable to small contained spill sites) is the only ``proven`` cleanup method. New ...
Soils and groundwater beneath an abandoned process sewer line in the A/M Area of the Savannah River Site (SRS) contain elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, specifically trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), two common chlorinated solvents. These compounds have low aqueous solubilities, thus when released to the subsurface in sufficient quantity, tend to exist as immiscible fluids or nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). Because chlorinated solvents are also denser than water, they are referred to by the acronym DNAPLs, or dense non-aqueous phase liquids. Technologies targeted at the efficient characterization or removal of DNAPL are not currently proven. For example, most DNAPL studies rely on traditional soil and water sampling and the fortuitous observation of immiscible solvent. Once DNAPL is identified, soil excavation (which is only applicable to small contained spill sites) is the only proven cleanup method. New ...
A conjugate of 6-hydrazinopyridine-3-carboxylic acid (HYNIC) with the amino analogue of metronidazole (MN) was synthesized through a multiple-step reaction. HYNIC-MN could be labeled easily and efficiently with 99mTc using N-(2-hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl)glycine (tricine) and ethylenediamine -N,N?-diacetic acid (EDDA) as coligands to form the 99mTc?HYNIC?MN complex in high yield (>95%). Its partition coefficient indicated that it was a good hydrophilic complex. The tumor cell experiment showed that the 99mTc?HYNIC?MN complex had a certain hypoxic selectivity. The biodistribution studies of 99mTc?HYNIC?MN in Kunming mice bearing S180 tumor showed a favorable tissue distribution profile with high tumor uptake, and low or negligible accumulation in non-targetorgans, suggesting 99mTc...
The Department of Defense (DoD) has long depended on military support functions enabled by space reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) assets. Future generation satellite capabilities will further push technologies in space - if the right technologies are deployed in the right numbers and with the right payloads. Modeling and simulation play major parts in developing and deploying such assets: 1) system and operational requirements determination, and 2) assessment of military utility of such assets. Each area is critical in a system"s life cycle. Requirements determination cuts across the issues of doctrine, organizations, training, materiel, leader development, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF). Military utility assessments are necessary to explore and quantify the military worth/benefit of space RSTA assets to operational commanders. Each of these areas requires relevant modeling/simulation tools which span the ...
A technique of producing radioactive isotopes of rare earth elements (r.e.e.) and carrier free "2"4"2Am is suggested. The technique makes use of ''sandwich'' phthalocya=- nine complexes of r.e.e. and americium placed on sorbent. This is a new type of r.e.e. compounds and actinides (C_3_2H_1_6N_8)_2M (M is a metal ion) which are thermally, radiationally and chemically stable, dissolve well in some organic solvents and do not dissolve in water. Radiation and chemically stable activated carbon is used as a sorbent carrier. After irradiation the target is treated by a weakly acid solution or complex-former solution. Radioactive atoms formed due to (n, #gamma#)-reaction and desoleting the complex because of recoil transfer into the solution. When irradiating in the flux of 10"1"3 neutr./cm"2 x s for 1 hour it is possible to produce radioactive isotopes with the yield from 20 to 90%, for example "1"6"0Tb, "1"6"6Ho with enrichment factor > 100 and ...
Technical developments in the construction of high power accelerators have created new research activities on accelerator-driven transmutation technologies (ADTT) with main applications for energy production and nuclear waste transmutation. The on-going research was reported and discussed at the conference. The studies of energy production based on ADTT indicate possible important advantages compared to the present nuclear power reactors. Natural Uranium or Thorium is burned in a subcritical reactor with or without simultaneous incineration and transmutation of nuclear waste. High level radioactive wastes and weapons Plutonium constitute an environmental and proliferation problem. Studies were reported on the possibilities to use ADTT to considerably shorten the life-time and reduce the amount of long-lived radioactive waste in order to decrease the volumes needed for long-term geologic deposition. A panel discussed the ADTT impact on nuclear waste disposal, proliferation problems and ...
The concept of nanocrystal conversion chemistry, which involves the use of pre-formed nanoparticles as templates for chemical transformation into derivative solids, has emerged as a powerful approach for designing the synthesis of complex nanocrystalline solids. The general strategy exploits established synthetic capabilities in simple nanocrystal systems and uses these nanocrystals as templates that help to define the composition, crystal structure, and morphology of product nanocrystals. This article highlights key examples of 'conversion chemistry' approaches to the synthesis of nanocrystalline solids using a variety of techniques, including galvanic replacement, diffusion, oxidation, and ion exchange. The discussion is organized according to classes of solids, highlighting the diverse target systems that are accessible using similar chemical concepts: metals, oxides, chalcogenides, phosphides, alloys, intermetallic compounds, sulfides, and ...
Megavoltage photon intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is typically used in the treatment of prostate cancer at our institution. Approximately 1% to 2% of patients with prostate cancer have hip prostheses. The presence of the prosthesis usually complicates the planning process because of dose perturbation around the prosthesis, radiation attenuation through the prosthesis, and the introduction of computed tomography artifacts in the planning volume. In addition, hip prostheses are typically made of materials of high atomic number, which add uncertainty to the dosimetry of the prostate and critical organs in the planning volume. When the prosthesis is bilateral, treatment planning is further complicated because only a limited number of beam angles can be used to avoid the prostheses. In this case study, we will report the observed advantages of using noncoplanar beams in the delivery of IMRT to a prostate cancer patient with bilateral hip prostheses. The ...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play vital roles in plant abiotic stress responses via cleavage or translational inhibition of their target mRNAs. Populus euphratica is a typical stress-resistant sessile organism that grows in desert areas. Here, we identified sequences of 12 miRNA precursors from 11 families and 13 mature miRNAs from 12 families by PCR amplification in P. euphratica. To detect expression differences in mature miRNAs and their precursors under dehydration and high salinity shock in P. euphratica, we examined 14 miRNA precursors from 13 miRNA families and 17 mature miRNAs from 17 miRNA families using the SYBR Green RT?PCR assay. This is the first report of expression profiles for both precursor and mature miRNAs in P. euphratica. By profiling both the matu...
This progress report covers period from Nov. 1, 1989 to Aug. 31, 1990. The long term objective was to develop receptor-binding radiotracers for SPECT or PET imaging of CNS or peripheral nervous system. The specific chemistry aims, as understood on the basis of past findings, were: to synthesize and develop a more polar analogs of 4IQNB, possessing similar binding characteristics but eliminated more rapidly from the surrounding tissues and the targetorgan, to design a method of introducing a technetium chelating group onto a molecule or cholinergic agent without drastic lowering of its apparent affinity, to synthesize and develop radiotracers based on m-AChR antagonists selective for one of the subtypes of the receptor. The chemistry service aims were to prepare and characterize (R,R)- and (R,S)-4IQNB and derivatives, to provide the triazene intermediate to other investigators, and to provide ({sup 123}I)4IQNB for in vivo imaging. The ...
Urban type R D (research and development) facilities have research institute functions which are not desirable to coexist in a city as compared with suburban R D facilities. Therefore careful consideration must be given to environmental protection. KSP is the first large scale urban type R D facility in Japan. The planning and construction have been made with the theme of realization of flexibility in architecture and mechanical planning as well as realization of environmental integrity. To achieve the target so-called technical slit is built at the center of the building to provide a void space for securing natural ventilation. It is effective for provision of internal mechanical spaces without spoiling urban View air exhaust from laboratories natural ventilation for underground parking lots and decrease of damage by strong wind on the ground level. Standards are established and organization is formed for environmental administration to ...
Methods: Systemic irradiation of neuroaxis is an essential part in the management of medulloblastoma, stPNET and intracranial germ cell tumors. The introduction of quality assurance programs in radiooncology assures a precise radiotherapy of target volumes and is a prerequisite to improve survival. Results: Hyperfractionated radiotherapy has the potential of increasing dose to tumor more safely without increasing the risk for late adverse effects. Pilot studies revealed excellent tumor control in medulloblastoma with acceptable acute toxicity and a long-term survival of up to 96%. In medulloblastoma stereotactic radiation techniques reveal an acceptable toxicity and promising results in tumor control in recurrent disease or as primary treatment. They are now part of future treatment protocols in case of persisting residual tumor. Radiotherapy alone in pure germinoma is continuously yielding high cure rates. In secreting ...
The technology for flue gas desulfurization (FGD) with seawater is widely adopted by coal-fired power plants in coastal areas. SO2 in the flue gas is absorbed by alkaline seawater and transfered in aqueous phase as sulfite (SO3(2-)), and most SO3(2-) is transformed to sulfate (SO4(2-)) after an aeration process. The remaining SO3(2-) in the seawater discharged to sea area may be harmful to marine organism because of its biological toxicity, thus it is necessary to determine the concentration of SO3(2-) in the seawater for desulfurization. In this study, the method of determination of SO3(2-) in the seawater by ion chromatography was investigated. The separation was achieved on an IonPac AS14A column with 14 mmol/L NaOH-12 mmol/L Na2 CO3 solution as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/min, and the detection was performed by a pulsed amperometric detector. Formaldehyde was added as a protective agent when sampling because the SO3(2-) is ...
Antiquitin (ATQ) deficiency is the main cause of pyridoxine dependent epilepsy characterized by early onset epileptic encephalopathy responsive to large dosages of pyridoxine. Despite seizure control most patients have intellectual disability. Folinic acid responsive seizures (FARS) are genetically identical to ATQ deficiency. ATQ functions as an aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH7A1) in the lysine degradation pathway. Its deficiency results in accumulation of ?-aminoadipic semialdehyde (AASA), piperideine-6-carboxylate (P6C) and pipecolic acid, which serve as diagnostic markers in urine, plasma, and CSF. To interrupt seizures a dose of 100mg of pyridoxine-HCl is given intravenously, or orally/enterally with 30mg/kg/day. First administration may result in respiratory arrest in responders, and thus treatment should be performed with support of respiratory management. To make sure that late and masked response is not missed, treatment with oral/enteral pyridoxine should be continued until ATQ ...
Nuclear testing at and around the Nevada Test Site (NTS) resulted in widespread contamination from transuranic and other radionuclides, as well as from other toxic inorganic and organic contaminants. The type of contamination, including spatial distribution and type of radionuclides present, depends on the type of testing performed. Remediation of the contaminated areas is currently under way. The optimum in situ or ex situ remediation technology depends on the degree of interaction between the particular radionuclide, or contaminant in general, and the soil matrix, among other factors. The objective of this project was to evaluate the sorption affinity of NTS soils for common non-transuranic radionuclides. The sorption of cobalt (Co) on soils from two different areas of the NTS, namely the Little Feller and Cabriolet event sites, was studied. Experiments were conducted as a function of pH, solid concentration, total Co concentration, ionic ...
The ecological effects of acid mine drainage were investigated during the summer of 1993 on St. Kevin Gulch, a headwater stream near Leadville, Colorado. The stream currently receives acidic water from an abandoned mine. The pH downstream of the mine is between 3.5 and 4.5, and several metals exceed concentrations toxic to aquatic organisms. Zinc is present at especially high concentrations (1 to 10 mg/L) Furthermore, the stream bottom is covered with a thick layer of iron hydroxide precipitates. Effects on stream biota have been dramatic. Aquatic flora in the affected reach is limited to a green filamentous alga, Ulothrix subtilissima. Macroinvertebrate densities are significantly lower in the affected reach (mean = 99 indiv/m"2; SD = 88 indiv/M"2) compared to an upstream (pristine) reference reach (mean = 1,735 indiv/m"2; SD = 652 indiv/M"2). Functional processes were also studied in the stream. Net primary production (NPP) was measured ...
A study of mine-waste contamination effects on Methow River habitat on the eastern slopes of the north Cascade Mountains in Washington state, U.S.A., revealed impacts at ecosystem, community, population, individual, tissue, and cellular levels. Ore deposits in the area were mined for gold, silver, copper and zinc until the early 1950's, but the mines are now inactive. An above-and-below-mine approach was used to compare potentially impacted to control sites. The concentrations of eleven trace elements (i.e., Al, As, B, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Se, and Zn) in Methow River sediments downstream from the abandoned mine sites were higher than background levels. Exposed trout and caddisfly larvae in the Methow River showed reduced growth compared to controls. Samples of liver from juvenile trout and small intestine from exposed caddisfly larvae were examined for evidence of metal accumulation, cytopathological change, and chemical toxicity. Morphological changes ...
Untreated landfill leachates and wastes from metal plating and mining operations are sources of environmental contamination by heavy metals. Because of their toxicity and potential for accumulation, the discharge of heavy metals must be controlled. Standard physical and chemical treatments used to remove metals from wastes such as concentration by electro-precipitation, ion exchange, solvent extraction, evaporative recovery, and conventional precipitation, are usually expensive and produce high quantities of sludge. Biosorption is the removal of metals from aqueous solutions by microorganisms. It is called biosorption rather than bioadsorption or bioaccumulation because the mechanisms of removal are not restricted to adsorption or metabolic uptake and so the more general term is preferable and has come to be accepted. In this thesis the focus is one two microorganisms and two metals. However, the possible combinations of conditions such as pH, relative metal ...
White lupin (Lupinus albus L.) is an annual crop that has been used for phytostabilization of acidified multi-contaminated soils. Once the culture cycle is over, after shoot harvesting, a progressive transference of contaminants from roots to soil may take place as decomposition of roots occurs. An incubation experiment with Cu, Zn, Cd, and As-loaded roots of white lupin and soils with different pH values and concentrations of these contaminants from the area affected by a mine spill at Aznalcollar (near Seville, Spain) was performed in order to assess the effect of the decomposition of the roots to the pH and (NH_4)_2SO_4-extractable levels of these pollutants in the soils. Pollutants loaded-roots were mineralized (56 d) at a ratio similar to animal manures (15.8-19.4% of total organic carbon) in soil. The estimated root inputs of contaminants in comparison to their extractable concentrations in soil were high, especially in the control, non-contaminated and ...
Combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy (CRC) is actually one important way of research in oncology. Theoretical advantages are: (1) Spatial cooperation; (2) Additivity, which is only obtained if the toxicity of each modality are different; (3) Supra-additivity, which needs a rigorous in vitro definition; the only way to prove it is to make an isobologram analysis. This model has however, some limitations: qualitative variable could not be used, results could be different, depending on the cell line and isoeffect chosen...In fact, a supra-additivity was only demonstrated for cis platinum and etoposide. Interactions mechanisms were: (1) at the molecular level, creation of new lesions or inhibition of radiation lesions repair; (2) At the cellular level, either cytokinetic cooperation with S-phase dependent drugs, or synchronization for the drugs which blocked the cells in M-phase; (3) At the tissular level, reoxygenation, cycle redistribution. In clinical ...
In order to lower the costs for second generation bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass anaerobic digestion of the effluent from ethanol fermentation was implemented using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor system in a pilot-scale biorefinery plant. Both thermophilic (53 degrees C) and mesophilic (38 degrees C) operation of the UASB reactor was investigated. At an OLR of 3.5 kg-VS/(m(3) day) a methane yield of 340 L/kg-VS was achieved for thermophilic operation (53 degrees C) while 270 L/kg-VS was obtained under mesophilic conditions (38 degrees C). For loading rates higher than 5 kg-VS/(m(3) day) the methane yields were, however, higher under mesophilic conditions compared to thermophilic conditions. The conversion of dissolved organic matter (VS(diss)) was between 68% and 91%. The effluent from the ethanol fermentation showed no signs of toxicity to the anaerobic microorganisms. However, a high content of suspended matter ...
Before large-scale anthropogenetic emissions the environmental factors have been rather stable for thousands of years, varying yearly, seasonally and daily in rather regular manners around some mean values. In this century the emissions of CO{sub 2}, sulphur and nitrogen from society to atmosphere are changing both atmospheric and soil environment at rates not experienced before. The fluxes to soil affect the contents of plant available nutrients and solubility of toxic compounds in the forest soil. Additionally, the chemical state of soil environment is coupled to tree growth, litter production and nutrient uptake as well as to the activity of biological organisms in soil, which decompose litter and release nutrients from it. Trees have developed effective regulation systems to cope with the environment during the evolution. The resulting acclimations improve the functioning of the trees if the environmental factors remain within their range ...
The antiviral drug combination consisting of arbidol and acetaminophen was investigated for its 4-week repeated oral administration in Sprague-Dawley rats. Groups of rats (10/sex in low-dose group, 15/sex in other three groups) were given at doses of 0, 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg/day. Clinical signs, mortality, body weight, food consumption, hematology, clinical biochemistry, macroscopic findings, organ weights, and histopathology were examined. The administration resulted in increased incidence of piloerection in most of the high-dose females and in some of the high-dose males and mid-dose females. Histopathological examinations revealed minor treatment-related change in the stomach of the high-dose animals. A decrease in body-weight gains and an increase in liver weight were observed in the mid- and high-dose groups. These treatment-related effects were reversible at the 2-week recovery period. A number of other clinical and pathological findings were not considered ...
The performance of a convolution/superposition based treatment planning system depends on the ability of the dose calculation algorithm to accurately account for physical interactions taking place in the tissue, key components of the linac head and on the accuracy of the photon beam model. Generally the user has little or no control over the performance of the dose calculation algorithm but is responsible for the accuracy of the beam model within the constraints imposed by the system. This study explores the dosimetric impact of limitations in photon beam modeling accuracy on complex 3D clinical treatment plans. A total of 70 photon beam models was created in the Pinnacle(TM) treatment planning system. Two of the models served as references for 6 MV and 15 MV beams, while the rest were created by perturbing the reference models in order to produce specific deviations in specific regions of the calculated dose profiles (central axis and transverse). The beam models were then used to ...
Extensive research into the treatment and control of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from semiconductor industry manufacturing processes has identified the need for alternatives to existing combustion devices. Specifically, semiconductor manufacturing design is moving toward exploiting effective, small-scale, abatement control technologies for specific point-of-use (POU) waste streams associated with a particular component or manufacturing tool. The Silent Discharge Plasma (SDP) developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory is a nonthermal plasma technology created by a dielectric-ballasted electrical discharge. Influent gas-phase pollutants are destroyed in the reactor by the free radicals or electrons generated by the plasma. This paper examines the potential for SDP to be used in niche circumstances for POU control of VOC exhaust streams specific to the semiconductor industry. A sensitivity analysis is presented, showing how SDP cost of ownership is affected by ...
Neurotensin (NT) and its high affinity receptor (NTR1) are involved in several neoplastic processes. Thus, NT-based radiopharmaceuticals are potential tracers for targeted diagnosis and therapy of NTR-positive tumours. A new analogue based on NT(8-13), NT-XIX, with the three enzymatic cleavage sites stabilised, was synthesised and tested. The synthesis was performed by Boc strategy. Labelling with "9"9"mTc/"1"8"8Re was performed using the tricarbonyl technique. Metabolic stability was tested in vitro and in vivo. NT-XIX was further characterised in vitro in HT-29 cells and in vivo in nude mice with HT-29 xenografts. NT-XIX showed much longer half-lives than non-stabilised analogues. Binding to NTR1 was highly specific, although the affinity was lower than that of natural NT. Bound activity rapidly internalised into HT-29 cells and 50% remained trapped after 24 h. In the time-course biodistribution, the highest uptake was found in the tumour at all p.i. times. In ...
Investigations were made on the biodegradability and bacterial toxicity of chemicals. The intention was to obtain data necessary for estimating and judging the behaviour of these chemicals during aerobic biological waste water treatment. The course of biodegradation and toxicity with time and concentration could be measured, quantified and described. As test procedure, the respirometric dilution method was used. This method is based on a die away test with continuous measuring of the oxygen used for biochemical oxidation processes. The course of the oxygen demand with time and concentration shows the biodegradation and toxicity patterns of the tested chemical. A variety of household and industrial chemicals were investigated. One group of substances were microbiocides, some of which showed toxic effects at concentrations less than 20 mg/l while others were biodegradable even at concentrations of 200 ...
Production treatment chemicals represent a diverse collection of chemical classes, added at various points from the wellhead to the final flotation cell, to prevent operational upsets and enhance the separation of oil from water. Information in the literature indicates that while many treatment chemicals are thought to partition into oil and not into the produced water, there are cases where a sufficiently water soluble treatment chemical is added at high enough concentrations to suggest that the treatment chemical may add to the aquatic toxicity of the produced water. A study was conducted to evaluate the potential effect of production treatment chemicals on the toxicity of produced waters using the US EPA Seven-day Mysidopsis bahia Survival, Growth and Fecundity Test. Samples of produced water were collected and tested for toxicity from three platforms under normal operating conditions, followed by repeated sampling and ...
Human antibodies targeting prostate cancer cell surface epitopes may be useful for imaging and therapy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the tumor targeting of an internalizing human...Full Text Available
Computational prediction of microRNA targets remains a challenging problem. The existing rule-based, data-driven and expression profiling approaches to target prediction are mostly approached from the...Full Text Available
In order to identify novel high value antibacterial targets it is desirable to delineate whether the inactivation of the target enzyme will lead to bacterial death or stasis. This knowledge is particularly...Full Text Available
This bibliography contains citations concerning toxicity investigations of polymeric materials in food-contact applications. Polymeric food-packaging materials and regulations are discussed. Toxicity testing, polymeric equipment in food processing, and the use of additives in food packaging are included. Discussions also include coating materials for food containers and pigments for food packaging films. (This updated bibliography contains 275 citations, 10 of which are new entries to the previous edition.)
An acute fish toxicity model was constructed on the basis of a wide series of experimental data for guppy. The Multiple Computer-Automated structure Evaluation program was used to construct the model. The created model possesses very good predictive ability. It can correctly predict acute toxicity for guppy for 80% of compounds with an average error of only 0.63 log unit per median lethal concentration. The importance of the narcosis effect was demonstrated. The main toxicophores, corresponding to polar narcosis and to the reactive chemicals, were identified.
Taconite tailings and their component asbestiform minerals in Lake Superior water had no demonstrable effect on the chronic toxicity of cadmium to the flagfish, Jordanella floridae. Maximum acceptable toxicant concentrations determined in life cycle tests, where effects on survival, growth, reproduction, and bioconcentration were used as endpoints, were between 3.3 to 7.4, 3.0 to 6.5, and 3.4 to 7.3 micrograms cadmium/liter at 0.004, 0.08, and 0.95 mg/liter taconite tailings concentrations, respectively.
Carbonyl sulfide (COS), a colorless gas, is a side product of industrial procedures sure as coal hydrogenation and gasification. It is structurally related to and is a metabolite of carbon disulfide. COS is metabolized in the body by carbonic anhydrase to hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S), which is thought to be responsible for COS toxicity. No threshold limit value for COS has been established. Results of these studies indicate COS (with an LC{sub 50} of 590 ppm) is slightly less acutely toxic than H{sub 2}S (LC{sub 50} of 440 ppm).
24 isotopes of astatine element 85, are known today, three of which occur naturally as decay products of "2"1"5U and "2"5"8U, respectively. Because these isotopes being very short-lived, all experiments dealing with this heaviest element of the halogen group need be done with "2"0"9"-"2"1"1At, having half-lifes in the several hours region. Mixtures of them may be obtained either by #alpha#-bombardment (E#alpha# approximately 30-50 MeV) of "2"0"9Bi or as spallation products by the reaction of high-energy protons with thorium and uranium targets. - In its chemical reactions astatine shows a behaviour which is between an halogen and a metal. The following oxidation states have been shown to exist: -1, 0, +1, +5 and +7. At"-, AtO_2"- and AtO_4"- are the ionic species for At(-I), At(+V) and At(+VII) whereas no definite species have been established for the other oxidation states. Furthermore, At_2 could not be shown to exist as yet in contrast to several interhalogen ...
Insulitis is considered the histopathological hallmark of type I diabetes. In the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse, diabetes has never been observed in the absence of insulitis. The in vivo detection of insulitis could be of relevance for early prediction of diabetes. As approximately 15% of islet-infiltrating lymphocytes express interleukin 2 receptors, the authors have labelled recombinant inter-leukin 2 with "1"2"3I and used this radiopharmaceutical to detect insulitis by gamma camera imaging. The authors studied 71 prediabetic NOD and 27 normal Balb/c mice. Labelled #alpha#-lactalbumin was used as the control protein. In the first set of experiments the tissue distribution of radiolabelled interleukin 2 in isolated organs from animals sacrificed at different time points was studied. Higher radioactivity was detected in the pancreas of NOD mice injected with labelled interleukin 2, as compared to NOD mice receiving labelled #alpha#-lactalbumin. In another set of ...
Computational fluid dynamics(CFD) code FLUENT was used to simulate the thermal hydraulic processes occurring in conceptual design of the accelerator-driven subcritical reactor(ADSR) liquid lead target. The purpose of the analysis is to investigate the thermal hydraulic characteristics of liquid lead as ADSR target material with various target geometries and injection locations of proton beam. In the calculation analysis, the local temperature of the liquid lead target rises to the boiling temperature very rapidly. When the proton beam is injected from the bottom of the target system, the duration time to reach the boiling temperature is longer and the temperature distribution is flatter than other cases.
Recently, organic semiconducting materials have gained a broad interest due to their potential for organic electronic devices such as organic light emitting diode (OLED), organic photovoltaic devices and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Optical properties of organic semiconducting materials are important for practical application. For example, the power conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices is mainly affected by absorption properties of organic materials. Proton irradiation is one of the efficient methods to change the optical properties of organic materials. In this paper, we investigate the changes of optical properties of various polymers using the proton irradiation.
contaminated groundwater from the ASARCO metals refining facility ... ditch or creek crossing the ASARCO property at its northern end) and one at its ...
from a broad range of sources including industrial and consumer products, food additives and drugs that never made it to the market to evaluate the predictive toxicity...
Dogs challenged with toxic doses of methylsalicylate developed acute myocardiopathy. Metabolic manifestations of uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation by methylsalicylate (MS) were observed. Oxygen...Full Text Available
The removal of toxic metals and alkalis from gas streams at high temperatures was investigated. This is important for the development of coal-fired combined cycle power generation systems.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is a public health agency with responsibility for assessing the public health implications associated with uncontrolled releases of hazardous...Full Text Available
Exposure of female rats to trichloroethylene (TCE), an environmental toxicant commonly found in ground and surface waters throughout the United States, reduces the fertilizability of oocytes...Full Text Available
Strategies are needed for assessing the risks of exposures to airborne toxicants that vary over concentrations and durations. The goal of this project was to describe the relationship between the concentration...Full Text Available
A case of intraocular coenurosis was clinically diagnosed and treated with praziquantel. The drug destroyed the coenurus, but vision was lost through toxic endophthalmitis and retinal detachment. There...Full Text Available
... The MTT assay indicates cell viability through a yellow to purple ... besiegers were said to have catapulted plague infected corpses into the city of ...
A growing number of environmental toxicants found in pesticides, herbicides, and industrial solvents are believed to have deleterious effects on development by disrupting hormone-sensitive processes....Full Text Available
Immunomodulation by environmental chemical contaminants and the role immune parameters play in toxicity and risk assessment studies is of increasing concern. Although considerable evidence has indicated...Full Text Available
In evaluating the risk associated with low levels of exposure to toxicants, it is clear that DNA repair, one of the main defenses against agent damage, is not a constant. It can be modified by age, time of day, and physiological state. Nutrition, especially caloric restriction (CR), can modify almost every step in the process of protecting genomic integrity. And history of exposure can modify DNA repair. Thus, the conditions of exposure are almost as important to toxicity as the exposure itself, even at the level of DNA repair. Extrapolation from high to low dose, to be consistent with what is known, should be less a mathematical exercise than an exercise in toxicological judgement, which puts the exposure in proper perspective. This appears to be true at almost every level in the process including a response with a toxic stimulus, even those thought to be very basic, such as DNA repair.
To test whether the dose addition and independent action models can predict the combined toxicity of the mixtures of phenol and aniline derivatives, six phenolic and two aniline derivatives were selected as the test components. The inhibition toxicity of the derivatives and their mixtures to Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67 indicated that all dose?response relationships could be effectively described by the Weibull function with correlation coefficients greater than 0.99. The combined toxicity of two equivalent-effect concentration ratio mixtures and eight uniform design concentration ratio mixtures could be predicted successfully by the dose addition model within 95% confidence intervals. However, it was also well predicted by the independent action model, especially at lower concentrations.
The existence of thresholds for toxicants is a matter of debate in chemical risk assessment and regulation. Current risk assessment methods are based on the assumption that, in the absence of sufficient...Full Text Available
... F4 ... Sublethal Toxicity of Nine Pesticides on Olfactory Learning Performances of ... Daphnia and Preparation of Dosage- Mortality Curves for Pesticides ...
The methanol and aqueous extracts of 10 plant species (Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Carissa edulis, Fagaropsis angolensis, Harrissonia abyssinica, Myrica salicifolia, Neoboutonia macrocalyx, Strychnos heningsii, Withania somnifera and Zanthoxylum usambarensis) used to treat malaria in Meru and Kilifi Districts, Kenya, were tested for brine shrimp lethality and in vitro anti-plasmodial activity against chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum (NF54 and ENT30). Of the plants tested, 40% of the methanol extracts were toxic to the brine shrimp (LD5050N. macrocalyx had the highest toxicity to brine shrimp nauplii (LD50 21.04+-1.8mg/ml). Methanol extracts of the rest of the plants exhibited mild or no brine shrimp toxicity (LD50>50mg/ml). The aqueo...
Experimental and computational investigations were performed in order to better understand the mechanical response of rigid targets with various geometries to the detonation of shallow buried explosives. The motion of the targets was measured by use of high-speed digital video photography. This work involved flat targets, targets that were downwardly convex, and targets that were downwardly concave with explosive charges located at various positions beneath the targets. It was observed that, in general, angled hulls - whether downwardly concave or convex - tended to reduce the amount of momentum imparted to the center of mass of the targets. Computations were performed by use of an arbitrary Langrangian-Eulerian treatment in a nonlinear finite element code. A model based on quasi-static te...
In an effort to develop octahedral metal complexes as chemotherapeutic and diagnostic agents targeted to DNA, it is critical to optimize the properties of their cellular uptake. Appending d-octaarginine...Full Text Available
The design of the absorber blocks for internal and external dumping of the SPS proton beam is discussed. In addition, the external target stations for slow and fast extracted proton beams are described.
... L. Sutton. 2000. Is the aquatic weed hygrophila, Hygrophila polysperma (Polemoniales: Acanthaceae), a suitable target for classical biological ... ...
Nato SCI-12 on Camouflage Evaluation Workshop on Search and Target Acquisition The Netherlands, June 1999. Image Discrimination Models for Object Detection ...
By W. Wayne Scott. Langley Research Center. SUMMARY. Thin- and thick-target bremsstrahlung spectra are presented for electron energies up to 7.0 MeV. ...
The R and D activities of the institute focused on two major projects, ``Molecular and cellular environmental toxicology``, and ``Biophysics of multi-cellular systems``. For assessment of health risks emanating from the uptake of heavy metal compounds, work performed under the first mentioned project studies the formation of allergy-inducing metabolic products from membrane lipids, and the effects of related cellular signaling processes. These studies are accompanied by an approach to quantify and classify the toxicity of environmental organometallic compounds. Another major task is research into the pathogenesis of lung disease induced by dusts, gases, and gas-dust mixtures and the liberation of inflammatory agents by immunological cell reactions (alveolar macrophages). Atomic force microscopy is the tool used to visualize the related dynamic changes in bronchial cells. Studies for detection of the localisation and structure of the Fe-Mo co-factor in nitrogenase ...
The accuracy of dose computation within the lungs depends strongly on the performance of the calculation algorithm in regions of electronic disequilibrium that arise near tissue inhomogeneities with large density variations. There is a lack of data evaluating the performance of highly developed analytical dose calculation algorithms compared to Monte Carlo computations in a clinical setting. We compared full Monte Carlo calculations (performed by our Monte Carlo dose engine MCDE) with two different commercial convolution/superposition (CS) implementations (Pinnacle-CS and Helax-TMS's collapsed cone model Helax-CC) and one pencil beam algorithm (Helax-TMS's pencil beam model Helax-PB) for 10 intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) lung cancer patients. Treatment plans were created for two photon beam qualities (6 and 18 MV). For each dose calculation algorithm, patient, and beam quality, the following set of clinically relevant dose-volume values was reported: (i) minimal, median, ...
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a proposed Department of Energy facility which will contribute to the resolution of important Defense Program and inertial fusion energy issues for energy production in the future. The NIF will consist of a laser system with 192 independent beamlets transported to a target chamber. The target chamber is a multi-purpose structure that provides the interface between the target and the laser optics. The chamber must be capable of achieving moderate vacuum levels in reasonable times; it must remain dimensionally stable within micron tolerances, provide support for the optics, diagnostics, and target positioner; it must minimize the debris from the x-ray and laser light environments; and it must be capable of supporting external neutron shielding. The chamber must also be fabricated from a low neutron activation material. The fusion reaction in the ...
This paper addresses one source of degradation in OPV devices: the metal/organic interface. The basic approach was to study the completed device stability vs. the stability of the organic film itself as shown in subsequent devices fabricated from the films.
Nitrogens, Sulfurs, Isotopes, and Hydrocarbons Gases Elements Ions and Inorganic Acids Organic Compounds Co-eluting Organics Hopanes, Cholestanes, and Sterols Pesticides,...
The article deals with the effects of various hazardous materials in the working environment. Some of these may be detrimental to the safety and health of the worker. The absorption of hazardous substances by the human body is discussed, as well as the effects of toxic substances. The hazardous substances are classified into the following categories: irritants, asphyxiants, anaesthetics and narcotics, carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens, systemic poisons, hazardous particulate matter and the biotransformation of toxic substances. Examples of hazardous substances include: industrial solvents, fumes and vapours, lead, mercury and uranium.
...Site Home About The Project Advisory Board Advisory Board Kenneth Geiser Omar Friella Darryl Young Jennie Curtis Michael Maniates Stuart Baker Beverly Thorpe Erica Priggen Kenneth Geiser is Professor of Work Environment and Director of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Ken is one of the authors of the landmark Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act and served as Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction ...
Bacterial plasmids contain specific genes for resistances to toxic heavy metal ions including Ag+, AsO2-, AsO4(3-), Cd2+, Co2+, CrO4(2-), Cu2+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Sb3+, and Zn2+. Recent progress with...Full Text Available
Numerous studies have documented the general toxicity of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and a sizeable literature has accumulated concerning the toxic effects of PCBs on a variety of homeostatic systems. However, current information regarding the effects of PCBs on rhythmic endocrine function is quite limited. Thus, the present study was undertaken to determine whether circadian periodicity in pituitary-adrenal function is affected by exposure to PCBs.
The biological activity of coir fibre, coir ash and their components were investigated in vitro by measuring the haemolytic activity and macrophage cytotoxicity. In vivo studies carried out by injecting guinea pigs intratracheally with coir fibres resulted in resolving granulomas. The observed haemolytic activity and macrophage cytotoxicity was more marked with coir ash compared with coir fibres. Chemical analysis of coir ash revealed the presence of toxic chemical constituents in appreciable amounts. PMID:6283694
Besarhanamides A (1) and B (2) are fatty acid amides purified from the marine cyanobacterium, Lyngbya majuscula, collected from Pulau Hantu, Singapore. The structure determination of these secondary metabolites was carried out using extensive 2D NMR spectral data as well as chemical manipulations including the Marfey's method. In addition, besarhanamide A exhibited moderate toxicity with LD50 at 13mM in the brine shrimp toxicity bioassay.
Amyloid plaques are a characteristic feature in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A novel non-toxic contrast agent is presented, Gd-DTPA-K6Aβ1–30, which is homologous to Aβ,...Full Text Available
We proposed a solid and a mercury target concepts through the preliminary conceptual design. To feasible these concepts, analysis and experimental works are being carried out. This paper introduces an outline of present status of target R and D such as heat transfer augmentation experiments for the solid target, mercury flow tests with a loop of maximum flow rate of 15L/min, flow pattern measurements for a cold source moderator etc. as well as preliminary conceptual design works. (author)
In the CERN approach to the design of a neutrino factory, the repetition frequency of the proton beam is high enough to consider stationary solid targets as a viable solution for multi-MW beams. The target consists of high density tantalum spheres of 2 mm diameter which can efficiently be cooled by passing a high mass flow He-gas stream through the voids between the Ta-granules. Very small thermal shocks and stresses will arise in this fine grained structure due to the relatively long burst of 3.3 ms from the SPL-proton linac. In a quadruple target system where each target receives only one quarter of the total beam power of 4 MW, conservative temperature levels and adequate lifetimes of the target are estimated in its very high radiation environment. A conceptual design of the integration of the target into the magnetic horn-pion-collector is presented.
Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is a model environmental organism that possesses diverse respiratory capacities, including the ability to reduce soluble Cr(VI) to sparingly soluble, less toxic Cr(III). Effective bioremediation of Cr-contaminated sites requires knowledge of the molecular mechanisms and regulation of heavy metal resistance and biotransformation by dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria. Towards this goal, our ERSP-funded work is focused on the identification and functional analysis of genes/proteins comprising the response pathways for chromate detoxification and/or reduction. Previous transcriptomic profiling and whole-cell proteomic analyses implicated the involvement of a functionally undefined DNA-binding response regulator (SO2426) and a putative azoreductase (SO3585) in the chromate stress response of MR-1. Here we describe a detailed functional analysis of SO2426 and SO3585 in order to begin to understand the role of these ...
An average of 9 million gallons per day of oil-contaminated ballast water off loaded from tankers are treated at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company Ballast Water Treatment Facility at the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in Port Valdez, Alaska. This paper focuses on the results of 2 Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council monitoring programs which detail changes in the chemical composition of treated ballast water as it moves from tankers through the facility and subsequently traces the effluent hydrocarbons into the receiving environment of Port Valdez. The treatment facility involves gravity separation tanks, dissolved air flotation cells and biological treatment tanks. Effluent containing traces of volatile aromatics, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, low levels of oil, saturated hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is being continuously discharged to Port Valdez. Because of the extremely large average flow rate, low ...
Full text: Radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP) relies heavily on medical imaging. Until recently, the most important planning tool was the treatment simulator. The kilovoltage radiographic capabilities in a treatment simulator enabled the boundaries of treatment fields to be visualized with respect to bony anatomic landmarks. Perhaps the most important advance in treatment planning in recent years is the ability to visualize the passage of the beams with respect to a more accurate geometrical representation of the tumor and other soft tissue structures. This 'virtual simulation' uses a computer-based representation of a patient to determine the extent of the disease and the location of radiation sensitive normal tissue. Computer tomographic (CT) imaging produces a high-resolution three-dimensional representation of anatomy that can be correlated with other image sets such as magnetic resonance images (MRI) of function. Positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging is beginning to be ...
Seven years ago 164 governments, together with partner organizations from around the world, made a collective commitment to dramatically expand educational opportunities for children, youth, and adults by 2015. Participants at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, endorsed a comprehensive vision of education, anchored in human rights, affirming the importance of learning at all ages and emphasizing the need for special measures to reach the poorest, most vulnerable and most disadvantaged groups in society. This sixth edition of the "Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report" assesses the extent to which these commitments are being met. There is clearly a "Dakar effect," evidence that rallying around common goals can mobilize countries to empower individual lives. Partly because of the abolition of tuition fees, more children are enrolled in school than in 2000, with the sharpest increases in the regions farthest from the goals set in Dakar. Many ...
Due to the large number of chemicals in commerce without adequate toxicity characterization data, coupled with an ineffective federal policy for chemical management in the United States, many states are grappling with the challenge to identify toxic chemicals that may pose a risk to human health and the environment. Specific populations (e.g., children, elderly) are particularly sensitive to these toxic chemicals. In 2008, the Children's Safe Product Act (CSPA) was passed in Washington State. The CSPA included specific requirements to identify High Priority Chemicals (HPCs) and Chemicals of High Concern to Children (CHCCs). To implement this legislation, a methodology was developed to identify HPCs from authoritative scientific and regulatory sources on the basis of toxicity criteria. Another set of chemicals of concern was then identified from authoritative sources, based on their potential exposure to ...
The isopod parasite Ceratothoa oestroides becomes hard to eradicate in intensive fish rearing systems and in addition to causing weight loss in adult fish it causes mortalities in larval and juveniles stages of sea bass and sea bream. Faced with the fast emergence of this infection in Adriatic finfish facilities, an effective compound had to be tested for bath treatment. Ivermectin was chosen for this purpose on the basis of extensive practice in northern European countries which used ivermectin administered in food with good results in treatment of Lepeophtheirus sp. and Caligus sp. infections. For determination of toxicity of ivermectin, a short-term toxicity bioassay on 40-day-old sea bream, Sparus aurata, L., was conducted, following FAO and UNEP procedures for methodology in aquatic t...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquious in the environment both as natural products and as environmental contaminants. Among PAHs, phenanthrene (PH) that is ubiquitously distributed throughout the environment was subjected in this study. Although environmental distribution and metabolism of PH have been well reported, there are only a few studies examined the expression of mRNA and their functions on PH-induced toxicity. A new paradigm in toxicity screening, toxicogenomic technology represents a useful approach for evaluating the toxic properties of environmental pollutants. In this respect, we elicited the genes which were changed more than 2-fold by analysis of gene expression profiles in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells, exposed to PH by using human oligonucleo...
Examining the relationship between biodiversity and functional stability (resistance and resilience) of activated sludge bacterial communities following disturbance is an important first step towards developing strategies for the design of robust biological wastewater treatment systems. This study investigates the relationship between functional resistance and biodiversity of dominant bacterial taxa by subjecting activated sludge samples, with different levels of biodiversity, to toxic shock loading with cupric sulfate (Cu[II]), 3,5-dichlorophenol (3,5-DCP), or 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Respirometric batch experiments were performed to determine the functional resistance of activated sludge bacterial community to the three toxicants. Functional resistance was estimated as the 30?min IC50 or th...
The primary objective of this task was to perform a variability study of the high activity waste (HAW) acidic feed to determine the impact of feed variability on the quality of the final grout and on the mixability of the salt solution into the dry powders. The HAW acidic feeds were processed through the neutralization/pH process, targeting a final pH of 12. These fluids were then blended with the dry materials to make the final waste forms. A secondary objective was to determine if elemental substitution for cost prohibitive or toxic elements in the simulant affects the mixing response, thus providing a more economical simulant for use in full scale tests. Though not an objective, the HAW simulant used in the full scale tests was also tested and compared to the results from this task. A statistically designed test matrix was developed based on the maximum molarity inputs used to make the acidic solutions. The maximum molarity inputs were: 7.39 ...
An overview is presented of the US heating and space conditioning market, with specific emphasis on the type of fuel used. The author highlights he drive of electric utilities to increase their penetration in the space heating markets, and showed how geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) were recognized by utilities as an electrotechnology for all seasons; beneficial for customers, electric utilities and the environment. Then he focused on the utility driven National Earth Comfort Program (officially Geothermal Heat Pump Technology Demonstration and Market Mobilization Program) is a collaborative effort with the US Department of Energy and other public and private sector organizations. It will be implemented by the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium, Inc. (GHPC), and is designed for the utility industry`s Climate Challenge under the President`s Climate Change Action Plan. The program has a budget of 100 million US$ until the year 2000. Program goals include: reduce annual ...
Based on the practical condition of the plant and in reference to advanced management experiences worldwide, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has established its own peculiar management system for radiation protection management and ALARA implementation. The characteristics of the system are: radiation protection training to all workers, active involvement of all managers and staffs, and whole process safety control to maintenance activities. The management philosophy of 'workers are responsible for their own radiation safety' is adopted in the plant. A strict, formalized and systematic whole staff radiation protection training, evaluation, authorization and periodically refreshing mechanism had been established and executed in the plant. In the organizational point of view, the responsibilities of line managers were specified in plant procedures, ALARA coordination organization on plant level and for specific activities were established. Meanwhile, the plant ...
Metagenomics projects based on shotgun sequencing of populations of micro-organisms yield insight into protein families. We used sequence similarity clustering to explore proteins with a comprehensive dataset consisting of sequences from available databases together with 6.12 million proteins predicted from an assembly of 7.7 million Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) sequences. The GOS dataset covers nearly all known prokaryotic protein families. A total of 3,995 medium- and large-sized clusters consisting of only GOS sequences are identified, out of which 1,700 have no detectable homology to known families. The GOS-only clusters contain a higher than expected proportion of sequences of viral origin, thus reflecting a poor sampling of viral diversity until now. Protein domain distributions in the GOS dataset and current protein databases show distinct biases. Several protein domains that were previously categorized as kingdom specific are shown to have GOS examples in ...
The generation of industrial solid wastes containing leachable species of environmental concern is a problem for developing and developed nations alike. These materials arise from direct processing of mineral ores, from production of metals and minerals, from manufacturing operations, and from air and water pollution treatment processes. The general characteristics that make these wastes intractable is that their content of hazardous species is not easily liberated from the waste yet is not bound so tightly that they are safe for landfill disposal or industrial use. The approach taken in this work is a thermal treatment that separates the inorganic contaminants from the wastes. The objective is to provide recovery and reuse of both the residual solids and liberated contaminants. The results from operating this technique using two very different types of waste are described. The reasons that the process will work for a wide variety of wastes are explored. By using the knowledge of the ...
The patients studied were referred for routine abscess localization with indium-111 labelled autologous leukocytes. One series (n=15) was studied at 1 day after reinjection of labelled cells and a second series (n=9) was studied between 4 hours and 4 days after reinjection of labelled cells. The leukocytes were isolated by a gravity sedimentation method and labelled with In-111 oxinate according to Roevekamp and co-workers. The labelled cell suspension administered to the patient contained between 11 and 15 MegaBq (300-400 microCi). The indium-111 concentration in the liver and spleen was quantitated using a scintillation camera and an on-line computer system. Phantom studies were carried out to obtain conversion factors from geometric mean counts to MegaBq of activity for both liver and spleen. Once determined, the amount of activity in liver and spleen was corrected for physical decay of In-111 and expressed as a percentage of the administered activity. Additionally in the 2nd series ...
The SIEN 2009 symposium organized by Romanian Nuclear Energy Association, AREN, in co-operation with Romanian Atomic Forum, ROMATOM, was primarily targeting the expert community involved in developing new nuclear power projects and implementing the National Nuclear Program. The symposium was also open as a discussion and information forum for scientists, engineers, technicians and students interested in scientific and technologic topics of Nuclear Power. It was structured in the following 6 sections: - Nuclear new builds and developments; - Operation, inspection and maintenance; - Increasing nuclear safety features; - Fuel cycle and decommissioning; - Public perception and confidence strengthening; - Environmental management. The symposium began with three plenary lectures dealing with: - Sustainable Nuclear Energy European Technology Platform; - Nuclear new-build; - Current issues of nuclear equipment standardization in Romania. A poster ...
We describe the synthesis and characterization of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle based heavy metal sorbents with various surface chemistries that demonstrate an excellent affinity for the separation of heavy metals in contaminated water systems (i.e. spiked Columbia river water). The magnetic nanoparticle sorbents are prepared from an easy to synthesize iron oxide precursor, followed by a simple, one-step ligand exchange technique to introduce the organic surface functionality of interest chosen to target either specific or broader classes of heavy metals. Functionalized superparamagnetic nanoparticles are excellent sorbent materials for the extraction of heavy metal contaminants from environmental and clinical samples since they are easily removed from the media once bound to the contaminant by simply applying a magnetic field. These engineered magnetic nanoparticle sorbents have an inherently high active surface area (often > ...
A burgeoning interest in technetium coordination chemistry has been spurred by its widespread use in nuclear medicine. Recent focus has been on the design and preparation of new technetium complexes, the lipophilicity, polarity, and overall charge of which can be readily altered by simple substitutions in the molecular framework of the ligand in order to optimize the biodistribution and target specific organs. Examples are cationic (Cardiolite) and neutral (Ceretec) technetium complexes, used as myocardial and brain imaging agents, respectively. The authors have been pursuing a continuing study of tris(3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonato)gallium and -indium complexes that are water soluble, are hydrolytically stable, and are of varying lipophilicity and neutral charge. Studies of in vivo in rabbits and mice have revealed that several of these cationic complexes may be useful as morphologic kidney imaging agents, with [{sup 99m}Tc(pap){sub 3}]{sup +} ...
A burgeoning interest in technetium coordination chemistry has been spurred by its widespread use in nuclear medicine. Recent focus has been on the design and preparation of new technetium complexes, the lipophilicity, polarity, and overall charge of which can be readily altered by simple substitutions in the molecular framework of the ligand in order to optimize the biodistribution and target specific organs. Examples are cationic (Cardiolite) and neutral (Ceretec) technetium complexes, used as myocardial and brain imaging agents, respectively. The authors have been pursuing a continuing study of tris(3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonato)gallium and -indium complexes that are water soluble, are hydrolytically stable, and are of varying lipophilicity and neutral charge. Studies of in vivo in rabbits and mice have revealed that several of these cationic complexes may be useful as morphologic kidney imaging agents, with ["9"9"mTc(pap)_3]"+ showing elevated ...
BackgroundDinoflagellates are unicellular, often photosynthetic protists that play a major role in the dynamics of the Earth's oceans and climate. Sequencing of dinoflagellate nuclear...Full Text Available
N-substituted aromatics are important priority pollutants entering the environment primarily through anthropogenic activities associated with the industrial production of dyes, explosives, pesticides,...Full Text Available
Strong inhibitory effects of the anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) on four strains of autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are reported. Two Nitrosospira...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that mediates the toxicity and biological activity of dioxins and related chemicals. The...Full Text Available
Petroleum contamination of groundwater is widely recognized as a serious environmental problem. Toluene (methylbenzene) occurs naturally in crude oil and is commonly found as a contaminant in the subsurface as a result of waste disposal and storage activities. Biological transf...
ObjectivesObjectives Not AvailableDescriptionA collaborative study of the anaerobic treatment of wastes containing recalcitrant and inhibitory compounds using the SERC Anaerobic facility, in particular biomass structure, monitoring and control, catabolism and toxicity, pre-acidification and microbial growth and mesophilic and thermophilic lignocellulose degradation.~%~
Gonadal, adrenal, and thyroid hormones affect the brain directly, and the sensitivity to hormones begins in embryonic life with the appearance of hormone receptor sites in discrete populations of neurons....Full Text Available
According to world statistics, dogs and cats are the species that owners most frequently seek assistance with potential poisonings, accounting 95–98% of all reported animal cases. Exposures...Full Text Available
The nitrite-reducing activity of the normal susceptible biotype of lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.) was strongly inhibited by atrazine in the assay medium, both in the case of the...Full Text Available
[1] Independent data from the Gulf of Mexico are used to develop and test the hypothesis that the same sequence of physical and ecological events each year allows the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia...Full Text Available
The morphogenesis of pulmonary edema and bronchiolar injury induced by the toxic furan, 4-ipomeanol, was studied by combined light and transmission electron microscopy. Weanling male CD-1 mice received...Full Text Available
Phenazines are redox-active small molecules that play significant roles in the interactions between pseudomonads and diverse eukaryotes, including fungi. When Pseudomonas aeruginosa...Full Text Available
A substantial proportion of lymph node-negative patients who receive adjuvant chemotherapy do not derive any benefit from this aggressive and potentially toxic treatment. However, standard histopathological...Full Text Available
The rate and capacity for chloroform (CF) and trichloroethylene (TCE) transformation by a mixed methanotrophic culture of resting cells (no exogenous energy source) and formate-fed cells were measured....Full Text Available
Toxicogenomics provides the ability to examine in greater detail the underlying molecular events that precede and accompany toxicity, thus allowing prediction of adverse events at much earlier...Full Text Available
Plasma exchange (PE) is currently being used to treat a variety of disorders involving immune complexes, such as polyarteritis nodosa. This procedure removes endogenous toxic components that accumulate...Full Text Available
Acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity is the most common drug-induced cause of acute liver failure in the United States. The only available treatment, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), has a limited...Full Text Available
Generations 5 and 6 (G5 and G6) poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers have been shown to be highly efficient nonviral carriers in in vitro gene delivery. However, their high toxicity...Full Text Available
Government agencies responsible for protecting the public from the adverse effects of toxic chemicals must set priorities for research, regulatory action, protocol testing, and monitoring due to the...Full Text Available
Aluminium (Al3+) toxicity is the primary factor limiting crop production on acidic soils worldwide. In addition to an application of lime for soil amelioration, Al3+ resistant plant varieties have been deployed to raise productivity on such hostile soils. This has been possible due to the exploita...
Aluminium (Al) toxicity, affecting around half of the world¿s arable land, severely hinders the ability of crop plants to utilize moisture and nutrients by restricting root growth and function. Among the cultivated cereals, rye is the most Al-tolerant and represents an important potential source of ...
Our goal was to determine whether chlorpyrifos oxon, dichlorvos, diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP), and sarin covalently bind to human albumin. Human albumin or plasma was treated with organophosphorus...Full Text Available
The storage and distribution of copper, cadmium, and uranium and their effects on ionic contents in roots and shoots of Azolla filiculoides has been studied by x-ray microanalysis....Full Text Available
The kinetics of the degradation of trichloroethylene (TCE) and seven other chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons by Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b were studied. All experiments were performed with cells...Full Text Available
Because copper catalyzes the conversion of H2O2 to hydroxyl radicals in vitro, it has been proposed that oxidative DNA damage may be an important component of copper toxicity....Full Text Available
A strain of Neurospora crassa was isolated by training the mould to grow on media containing high concentrations of Co2+. This strain, the CoR strain, exhibited...Full Text Available
Simultaneous or prior exposure to one chemical may alter the concurrent or subsequent response to another chemical, often in unexpected ways. This is particularly true when the two chemicals...Full Text Available
Bortezomib/PS-341/Velcade, a proteasome inhibitor, is widely used to treat multiple myeloma. While several mechanisms of the cytotoxicity of the drug were proposed, the actual mechanism remains elusive....Full Text Available
A genomic clone that specifies a single polypeptide precursor for ricin, a toxic lectin of Ricinus communis (castor bean), was isolated, sequenced and Sl mapped. The gene encodes a 64 kDa precursor...Full Text Available
Zinc is an essential trace metal ion for growth, but an excess of Zn is toxic and microorganisms express diverse resistance mechanisms. To understand global bacterial responses to excess Zn, we conducted...Full Text Available
Microbial degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons has been studied with the aim of developing applications for the removal of toxic compounds. Efforts have been directed toward the genetic manipulation...Full Text Available
The purpose of this study was to determine whether cefonicid, a cephalosporin antibiotic with a modified N-methylthiotetrazole (MTT) side chain, caused testicular toxicity when subcutaneously administered...Full Text Available
Antivenoms are the currently available agents for treatment of snake venom intoxication in humans. The development of therapeutic strategies employing more generally available drugs could improve treatment of invenomation by reducing hypersensitive reacti...
Electronic waste or e-waste is one of the rapidly growing problems of the world. E-waste comprises of a multitude of components, some containing toxic substances that can have an adverse impact on human...Full Text Available
Sulfur pollution can lead to serious problems in freshwater wetlands, including phosphorus eutrophication and sulfide toxicity. We tested the effects of anaerobic iron-rich groundwater discharge in fens, simulated by iron injection, on two characteristic species (Juncus effusus and Caltha palustris) in a sulfidic environment. Biomass production of C. palustris roots showed an optimum response to the combined addition of iron and sulfide, with highest values at intermediate concentrations of both substances. Iron deficiency apparently occurred at low iron concentrations, while at high iron concentrations, growth was decreased. For J. effusus, in contrast, no toxic effects were found of both iron and sulfide. This could be explained by larger radial oxygen loss (ROL) of J. effusus and could not be explained by differences in phosphorous concentrations. The results of our experiments confirm that iron-rich groundwater discharge has the potential ...
In recent years, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) has selected numerous glycol ethers for testing in routine laboratory mammals to ascertain the magnitude of their ability to injure the conceptus....Full Text Available
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that mediates the toxicity of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. However, the role of the AHR...Full Text Available
BackgroundWith the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances in accordance with the United Nations Montreal Protocol, phosphine remains as the only economically viable fumigant for...Full Text Available
Enzyme kinetic studies from this laboratory (M. Dobersen and S. Greer, Biochemistry 17:920-928, 1978) suggested that deoxycytidine could antagonize the toxicity of 5-halogenated analogs of deoxycytidine...Full Text Available
BackgroundEvidence on human semen quality as it relates to exposure to various metals, both essential (e.g., zinc, copper) and nonessential (e.g., cadmium, lead), is inconsistent....Full Text Available
BackgroundCancer stem cells (CSCs) have increased resistance to cancer chemotherapy. They can be enriched as drug-surviving CSCs (D-CSCs) by growth with chemotherapeutic drugs, and/or...Full Text Available
Many plants are known to reduce the toxic effects of high soil boron (B) by reducing uptake of B, but no mechanism for limiting uptake has previously been identified. The B-tolerant cultivar of barley...Full Text Available
RC-12 [1,2-dimethoxy-4-(bis-diethylaminoethyl)-amino-5-bromobenzene] was evaluated for prophylactic, radical curative, and suppressive activities against infections with Plasmodium cynomolgi and subacute...Full Text Available
The amyloidoses are the prototype gain of toxic function protein misfolding diseases. As such, several naturally occurring animal models and their inducible variants provided some of the first...Full Text Available
Physical system conceptual models are developed to illustrate the various interconnecting pathways of metal flow. Economic use of mercury and cadmium, as representative toxic heavy metals, is inventoried,...Full Text Available
Aluminum toxicity is a major problem in agriculture worldwide. Among the cultivated Triticeae, rye (Secale cereale L.) is one of the most Al tolerant and represents an important potential...Full Text Available
Fifty-two isolates of Fusarium species were obtained from soybean seeds from various parts of Korea and identified as Fusarium oxysporum, F. moniliforme,...Full Text Available
BackgroundSaw palmetto is commonly used by men for lower urinary tract symptoms. Despite its widespread use, very little is known about the potential toxicity of...Full Text Available
This study reports on the physical-chemical behaviour of swelling di-octahedral clays (smectites) and their interaction with aqueous solutions and bacteria (Shewanella putrefaciens). Experimental results are presented for compacted clays, hydrated under confined volume conditions, using a new type of reaction-cell (the 'wet-cell' of Warr and Hoffman, 2004) that was designed for in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement. For comparison, dispersed clay systems were studied using standard batch solutions subjected to varying degrees of agitation. The combination of time-dependent in situ XRD measurements with gravimetric measurements and calculated diffraction patterns using the CALCMIX software (Plancon and Drits, 1999) allowed to successful quantification of the dynamics of water uptake and storage. This analytical procedure combined with published water vapour adsorption data enabled determination of the abundance of structured water layers, developed in the ...
PurposeWe conducted a comparative study of Clinical Target Volume (CTV) definition of pelvic lymph nodes by multiple GU radiation oncologists looking at the levels...Full Text Available
To capitalize on the response of tumor cells to ionizing radiation, we developed a controlled-release nanoparticle drug delivery system using a targeting peptide that recognizes a radiation-induced...Full Text Available
The role of IGF-I in the negative regulation of GH expression and release is demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo models; however, the targets and mechanisms of IGF-I...Full Text Available
The technology of gene targeting through homologous recombination has been extremely useful for elucidating gene functions in mice. The application of this technology was thought impossible in the large...Full Text Available
The goal of ultrasonic molecular imaging is the detection of targeted contrast agents bound to receptors on endothelial cells. We propose imaging methods that can distinguish adherent microbubbles...Full Text Available
... detected (and reported) as a by-product of MRM screening (MS/MS) targeted by Law or Rule ... detected (and reported) as a by-product of MRM screening (MS/MS) targeted by Law or Rule ...
The phenomenon of antibiotic resistance has created a need for the development of novel antibiotic classes with non-classical cellular targets. Unfortunately, target-based drug discovery against...Full Text Available
Many genetic processes depend on proteins interacting with specific sequences on DNA. Despite the large excess of nonspecific DNA in the cell, proteins can locate their targets rapidly. After initial...Full Text Available
Peroxisomes, glyoxysomes, glycosomes, and hydrogenosomes have each been classified as microbodies, i.e., subcellular organelles with an electron-dense matrix that is bound by a single membrane. We investigated...Full Text Available
Considering accessibility of the 3′UTR is believed to increase the precision of microRNA target predictions. We show that, contrary to common belief, ranking by the hybridization energy or by...Full Text Available
Histone Arg methylation and Lys acetylation have been found to cooperatively regulate the expression of p53 target genes. Peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) is an enzyme that citrullinates...Full Text Available
Operant conditioning techniques were applied to the study of how target fixations are controlled by the probability of signal occurrence. In a standard vigilance setting, gaze at three illuminable...Full Text Available
Cytokinesis in animal and fungal cells utilizes a contractile actomyosin ring (AMR). However, how myosin II is targeted to the division site and promotes AMR assembly, and how the AMR coordinates with...Full Text Available
Purposes1. To determine the optimal pelvic nodal clinical target volume for post-operative treatment of endometrial cancer. 2. To compare the DVH of different treatment planning...Full Text Available
The characteristics of per-fluorocarbon compounds (PFC) are colorless, non-toxic, easily vaporized and nonflammable. Also, some of them are liquids of a high density, low surface tension, low latent heat and low specific heat. These particular chemical and physical properties of fluoro-organic compounds permit their use in very different fields such as electronics, medicine, tribology, nuclear and material science. The Sonatol process was developed under a contract with the DOE. The Sonatol process uses an ultrasonic agitation in a PFC solution that contains a fluorinated surfactant to remove radioactive particles from surfaces. Filtering the suspended particles allows the solutions to be reused indefinitely. They applied the Sonatol process to the decontamination of a heterogeneous legacy Pu-238 waste that exhibited an excessive hydrogen gas generation, which prevents a transportation of such a waste to a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Korea ...
The concentration of some organic acids in the atmosphere was determined using a wet effluent diffusion denuder-aerosol collector coupled with Ion Chromatography. Three organic acids and four inorganic anions were identified and quantified in the air sample, taken from the backyard of PSI. (author)
...In your area Get connected Farmers & growers news Training & events Poultry (laying) Poultry production can be a profitable enterprise for organic farmers and eggs are ... To find out more about organic poultry production download our free comprehensive introductory guide: Organic poultry production - an introductory guide [PDF, ...
Hyperphosphorylated and aggregated human protein tau constitutes a hallmark of a multitude of neurodegenerative diseases called tauopathies, exemplified by Alzheimer's disease. In spite of an enormous amount of research performed on tau biology, several crucial questions concerning the mechanisms of tau toxicity remain unanswered. In this paper we will highlight some of the processes involved in tau biology and pathology, focusing on tau phosphorylation and the interplay with oxidative stress. In addition, we will introduce the development of a human tau-expressing yeast model, and discuss some crucial results obtained in this model, highlighting its potential in the elucidation of cellular processes leading to tau toxicity.
The methodology for studying the behaviour of the toxic pollutant metals (Hg, Pb, Cd, Cr) in the South Shetland region is presented here, toxic pollutants are caused by the urban and industrial activity at the Southern hemisphere and they are pressured to be incorporated to the region though atmospheric transport processes the Cs 137 (refI) was used as a tracing element, which was freed and dispersed in the atmosphere as a result of nuclear bombs testing. During the austral summer samples from ground, sediments, atmospheric and glacier were extracted.
Cadmium is an environmental toxic metal implicated in human diseases. The mechanism of its toxicity is not fully understood. Therefore, the role of cadmium in renal toxicity, and the protective role of selenium against this toxicity were investigated. Forty-five male rats were used through out the study and divided into three groups of 15. The first group received saline solution daily for 10 days. The second group, received cadmium chloride (CdCl_2) (2 mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally daily for a period of 10 days. The third group, received sodium selenite (1 mg/kg body weight, twice a day) and CdCl_2 (once a day) for a period of 10 days. The results showed that cadmium treatment increased renal lipid peroxidation (measured as malondialdehyde, MDA) which was associated with a significant decrease in the antioxidant systems such as reduced glutathione levels and the activities of glutathione ...
Olive mill effluent (OMW) is an example of a wastewaters containing high concentrations of recalcitrant and toxic compounds which are polyphenolics of different molecular weight. It causes disposal problems because they contain powerful pollutants. Treatment and detoxification of phenolic fraction extracted from olive mill wastewaters as well as a synthetic phenolic mixture was investigated by electro-Fenton method. Results shows that this method is highly efficient in polymerising low molecular mass phenolics and removing a large amount of recalcitrant polyphenolic compounds. This treatment decreased 78% of the toxicity which sustained a good anaerobic post-treatment. (orig.)
Anaerobic digestions fed with waste orange peels are stable at loading rates up to 3.5 kg total solids (TS)/cubic m.d if the amount of peel oil introduced into the digestion is less than 0.075 g/L digestion liquor per day. The yield of gas (50-55% methane) is 0.5 cubic m/kg of TS; conversion of solids to gas approaches 100%. Oil content of peels can be reduced to non-toxic levels using commercial oil recovery equipment. Presence of aromatic acids in digestion liquors cannot serve as an indication of toxicity or overloading.
... they assisted in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole? ... List the types of targets that ETA has attacked. ... was at least partially responsible for the attack. ...
... Tanzania, and the attack on the USS COLE. ... vis another has no bearing on the legality of the attack. If the person attacked is a combatant, the use of ...
The production of polarized negative ion beams by collisional pumping is described. Collisional pumping utilizes repeated charge changing collisions in a thick electron-spin-polarized gas or vapor target to form a polarized fast atom beam. The polarized fast atom beam is then partially converted into a polarized negative ion beam in a vapor target. Analysis is presented for a hydrogen beam passing through either a thick polarized H atom target or a thick polarized alkali target. Large polarizations and large currents may be possible.
The production of polarized negative ion beams by ''collisional pumping'' is described. Collisional pumping utilizes repeated charge changing collisions in a thick electron-spin-polarized gas or vapor target to form a polarized fast atom beam. The polarized fast atom beam is then partially converted into a polarized negative ion beam in a vapor target. Analysis is presented for a hydrogen beam passing through either a thick polarized H atom target or a thick polarized alkali target. Large polarizations and large currents may be possible.
While there is growing interest in Real Time Pricing as a competitive tool, its adoption to date has been constrained by wariness on the part of many utilities and many of their customers. That wariness is not misplaced, for Real Time Pricing is not for everyone. In order for both utilities and their customers to benefit, the pricing system must be properly tailored for, and offered to, the appropriate audience. This paper discusses needs for identifying targets, implications of targeting of Real Time Pricing to various types of customers, and implications for design and marketing of such pricing systems. Examples from utility experiences are provided, and recommendations are offered for development of improved targeting of Real Time Pricing.
This paper present the results of a series of calculations made to determine the "2"3"8Pu production potential of several advanced target assembly designs in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). These calculations show that by using advanced target designs the intimately mix the "2"3"7Np target material with an yttrium hydride moderator, the FFTF has the potential of producing up to 30 kg of high-quality "2"3"8Pu per year.
... Do you certify Halal or Kosher meat? What fish feed do you allow? What levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in organic fish? How can I be sure that organic products from abroad are really organic? Do you prosecute businesses that break the rules? Does the Soil Association carry out any routine testing of food? Do you test for GM material? Why do you allow additives in organic food? Is organic food fortified with vitamins and minerals? Why choose organic during pregnancy?...
A comparative test in mice for pulmonary toxicity between butylated hydroxytoluene (2,6-di-tert.-butyl-4-methylphenol, BHT) and 2,6-di-tert.-butyl-4-(alpha, alpha, alpha-2H3)methylphenol (BHT-d3) showed a significantly lower toxic potency of the latter. The rate of in vitro BHT metabolism to 2,6-di-tert.-butyl-4-methylene-2,5-cyclohexadienone (BHT-QM) was slowed by deuterating BHT in the 4-methyl group. On the other hand, the rate of in vitro metabolism to 2,6-di-tert.-butyl-4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2,5-cyclohexadienone (BHT-OH) was increased with the deuteration. A similar isotope effect of the deuterium substitution on the in vivo metabolic rates of BHT was observed. These observations support the concept that the lung damage caused by BHT is mediated by BHT-QM. The pulmonary toxicity of 2-tert.-butyl-4-ethylphenol (4-EP) and their deuterated analogs was also compared. 2-tert.-Butyl-4-(1,1-2H2)ethylphenol (4-EP-d2) showed a ...
We apply the framework developed in Target space duality I: general theory. We show that both nonabelian duality and Poisson-Lie duality are examples of the general theory. We propose how the formalism leads to a systematic study of duality by studying few scenarios that lead to open questions in the theory of Lie algebras. We present evidence that there are probably new examples of irreducible target space duality.
The gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) receptor is becoming an increasingly attractive target for development of new radiolabeled peptides with diagnostic and therapeutic potential. The attractiveness of the GRP receptor as a target is based upon the functional expression of GRP receptors in several tumors of neuroendocrine origin including prostate, breast, and small cell lung cancer. This concise review outlines some of the efforts currently underway to develop new GRP receptor specific radiopharmaceuticals by employing a variety of radiometal chelation systems.
This paper illustrates how the techniques developed by the authors for capital cost targeting of mass exchange networks can be applied to determination of capital investment targets for reduction in effluent for existing systems involving mass exchange. The results is an impact diagram which shows the relationship between effluent reduction and capital investment, indicating a region of limiting return on investment as well as the maximum possible reduction in effluent. (au)
In order to facilitate observations of low energy nuclear reactions, a new type recoil mass-separator together with a new gas-jet target system is being developed at the tandem accelerator facility in Kyushu University. The expected mass-resolving power of the separator is 220 for a solid angle of 10 msr and the practical thickness of the gas-jet target will exceed 0.1 atm#centre dot#cm for the light elements of H and He. (author).
A portable fiber optic detector that senses the presence of specific target chemicals by electrostatically attracting the target chemical to an aromatic compound coating on an optical fiber. Attaching the target chemical to the coated fiber reduces the fluorescence so that a photon sensing detector records the reduced light level and activates an appropriate alarm or indicator.
A 16 l liquid parahydrogen target has been developed for a measurement of the parity-violating {gamma}-asymmetry in the capture of polarized cold neutrons on protons in the {rvec n} + p {yields} d + {gamma} reaction by the NPDGamma collaboration. The target system was carefully designed to meet the stringent requirements on systematic effects for the experiment and also to satisfy hydrogen safety requirements. The target was designed to preserve the neutron polarization during neutron scattering on liquid hydrogen (LH{sub 2}), optimize the statistical sensitivity to the {rvec n} + p {yields} d + {gamma} reaction, minimize backgrounds coming from neutron interaction with the beam windows of the target cryostat, minimize LH{sub 2} density fluctuations which can introduce extra noise in the gamma asymmetry signal, and control systematic effects. The target incorporates two mechanical ...
...2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Energy Policy Act target group certification...Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION...Provisions and Clauses 952.226-73 Energy Policy Act target group...
... TITLE (Include Security Classification) Sorption of Selected Volatile Organic Constituents of Jet Fuels and Solvents on Natural Sorbents from Gas ...
Described as the body's largest organ, the skin is strategically located at the interface with the external environment where it has evolved to detect, integrate and respond to a diverse range...Full Text Available
Hypocalcemia in the hypomagnesemic state in man is usually attributed to refractoriness of end-organs to the calcemic action of parathyroid hormone. We studied the responsiveness of end-organs to bovine...Full Text Available
FT-IR spectroscopic studies of major organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites using microscopic technique and comparison with terrestrial kerogen. ...
This paper aims to explore consumer preference for fresh vegetables labelled as organic in combination with health and environment related quality traits. The study decomposes organic farming into its main quality aspects and measures consumers' preference structure for organic, in general, and for specific organic quality traits in particular. By means of stated choice preference modelling, the following hypotheses are tested: consumers prefer health over environment related quality traits; the organic label plays a significant role in consumers' choice for organic products; organic farming is perceived as healthier and more environmentally friendly than conventional farming; purchase intention is mainly driven by health related quality traits; both health and environmental concerns influ...
years I chaired a national committee drafting recommended standards for organic livestock production for the Organic Trade Association and had the opportunity to work with...
Target materials for inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant designs might be selected for a wide variety of reasons including wall absorption of driver energy, material opacity, cost and ease of fabrication. While each of these issues are of great importance, target materials should also be selected based upon their safety and environmental (S and E) characteristics. The present work focuses on the recycling, waste management and accident dose characteristics of potential target materials. If target materials are recycled so that the quantity is small, isotopic separation may be economically viable. Therefore, calculations have been completed for all stable isotopes for all elements from lithium to polonium. The results of these calculations are used to identify specific isotopes and elements that are most likely to be offensive as well as those most likely to be acceptable in terms of their S and E ...
Certain allelochemicals of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense cause lysis of a broad spectrum of target protist cells but the lytic mechanism is poorly defined. We first hypothesized that membrane sterols serve as molecular targets of these lytic compounds, and that differences in sterol composition among donor and target cells may cause insensitivity of Alexandrium and sensitivity of targets to lytic compounds. We investigated Ca^2^+ influx after application of lytic fractions to a model cell line PC12 derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla to establish how the lytic compounds affect ion flux associated with lysis of target membranes. The lytic compounds increased permeability of the cell membrane for Ca^2^+ ions even during blockade of Ca^2^+ channels wit...
A simple electromagnetic transport system was constructed to identify very rare positrons produced in a powerful laser beam interaction with a target. Testing experiments were carried out with CO[sub 2]-laser (10[sup 12] W/cm[sup 2]) beam pulses ([tau] = 50 ns, f = 0.01 Hz) focused on the copper target, as well as with a 96 MeV alpha-particle beam irradiated carbon target. The results showed that the developed system could be effectively used for positron identification and evaluation of their energy by means of a time-of-flight method. The computerized system to deal with this problem, together with others related to the power laser beam interaction with targets, has been constructed. (orig.).
The modeling methods used to compute the neutron-induced activation of target and near-target materials in the NIF facility are presented. A detailed space and energy description of the neutron environment in the different materials is provided. A new capability has been developed to treat in a general way the activation of debris produced in an operational regime of yield and no-yield experiments. First calculations are addressed to analyze the activity of the debris into the target chamber. The contribution of the different components to activity, interior dose rates, and waste disposal rating (WDR) is determined. The importance of the activation coming from primary irradiation in the target, and from secondary irradiation in debris deposited onto the first wall is assessed. Finally, waste hazards of the activated debris when removed out of the chamber and stored are analyzed. (authors)
Using static Michelson interferometer to get the spectrum information of measurement targets for spectrum identification, under the condition that the interference length is constant, the system can be optimized by BP neural network algorithm for the mixed spectral separation process. Thereby it can realize improving the recognition probability of camouflage target. Collecting the spectrum information in field of view (FOV) by the interferometer and linear array CCD detector, composing the set of mixed spectrum data, with known absorption spectrum of the material as a hidden layer of rules, it used BP neural network to separate the mixed spectrum data. Experiment with different distances, different combinations of mixed background spectrum as the initial data, using steel target (size: 1.5 m x 1.5 m) made of four kinds, the recognition probability of non-camouflage target is about 90% by BP neural ...
In the Fourth Dutch National Environmental Outlook (NMP, abbreviated in Dutch) of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (VROM), published in July 1997, possible future developments in the traffic and transport sector in the Netherlands are described for the period 1995-2020 and also evaluates present Dutch policies. NMP-4 also offers possible solutions for expected environmental problems. This report serves as a background document for the traffic and transport sector. With a view to present Dutch policies, the main conclusions drawn from the Outlook are that: (1) the policy targets for car and lorry use for 2010 will not be met, (2) the target for CO2 emissions from road transport for 2010 will not be met, (3) the NOx emission target for 2010 will be met for cars, but not for trucks, (4) the VOC emission target for 2010 will be met for cars, but not for trucks, and (5) the noise ...
DescriptionThe overall objective of the project is to provide an improved understanding of the processes and linkages through which organic carbon additions influence soil bio-physical and physico-chemical properties. Soil organic carbon (SOC) levels and turnover rates are intimately linked to the soil properties that are important in the maintenance of soil quality and fertility, and sustainable crop production. However, it has been difficult to distinguish the various processes and linkages through which [continued...
...Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus (organic mound) springs of the Swan Coastal Plain Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus ...organic mound) springs of the Swan Coastal Plain [Skip navigation links] About us | Contact us | Publications |...ecological communities Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus (organic mound) springs of the Swan Coastal Plain Advice to the Minister for the ...of the 'Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus (organic mound) springs of the Swan Coastal Plain' community sufficient to distinguish it from ...
The method and results of the quantitative gas chromatographic determination of volatile organic substances in an urban atmosphere are presented. The concentration of organic substances was determined by using a mixed adsorber consisting of graphitized thermal carbon black and activated charcoal modified by pyrocarbon. Average, maximum and minimum concentrations of constant organic components in the atmosphere of Leningrad as a typical large industrial city are reported.
As the Operating and Support staffs of the FFTF organization have gained experience, the plant reliability and capacity factors have shown a steadily improving trend. The plant capacity factor for Cycle 4 was 99.5%. It is the purpose of this report to describe the evolution of the maintenance organization at the FFTF site from a general support organization to a technically proficient organization playing a major role in planning and performance of plant maintenance evolutions.
One of the most challenging topics in the area of organic electronic devices is the growth of transparent electrodes onto flexible polymeric substrates that will be characterized by enhanced conductivity in combination with high optical transparency. An essential aspect for these materials is their synthesis and/or microstructure which define the transparency, the stability and the interfacial chemistry which in turn determine the performance and stability of the organic electronic devices, such as organic light emitting diodes, organic photovoltaics, etc. In this work, we will discuss the latest advances in the growth of organic (e.g. PEDOT:PSS) and inorganic (e.g. zinc oxide-ZnO, indium tin oxide-ITO) conductive materials and their deposition onto flexible polymeric substrates. We will compare the optical, structural, nano-mechanical and nano-topographical properties of the ...
Organization factors have been known as an important contributor to plant safety. Previous studies associated with assessing organisation factors mainly deals with the aspect of safety of an organization. For an organization, however, efficiency or an aspect of economy related with work activities is also important. This paper introduces a conceptual model, SPOOM-EDM (Self Poly-Oriented Organizational Model - Evaluation Diamond Model), for evaluating an organization with respect to both safety and economy. It also shows how the proposed model can be applied for the evaluation of an organization through the analysis of real events. (author)
In order to calculate the doses received by the organs of 530 children treated by radiation for cancer between 1945 and 1969 at the G. Roussy Institute, we have developed a computer program for organ location calculation. To calculate the location of each child's organs of interest at the time of the treatment, only two parameters are necessary; sex and height or sex and age when the height at the time of the treatment is unknown. The algorithm is based on the metric studies of growth known as auxology. Each organ is located by one point representing its center. The model has been checked on 100 healthy children.
1. Choline, and the choline analogues monoethylcholine (MEC) and N-aminodeanol (NAD) were examined for prophylactic activity in acute acetylcholinesterase inhibitor toxicity in mice. The rank order of potency of the compounds was MEC greater than NAD greater than choline. 2. Simultaneous administration of MEC (60 mg kg-1) or NAD (200 mg kg-1) with physostigmine reduced lethality to 17 and 13% respectively. MEC (60 mg kg-1) completely protected against disopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) and diazinon toxicity, and NAD reduced lethality to 17% for both agents. Choline (200 mg kg-1) exhibited only negligible antidotal activity against the inhibitors. 3. In vitro concentrations of choline, MEC, and NAD, similar to the estimated concentration obtained in vivo in the acute toxicity study, produced mixed inhibition of mouse brain acetylcholinesterase. The inhibition was dose-related and was additive to the inhibition produced by the ...
The feasibility of using desferrioxamine (DF), an iron chelator, as a therapeutic agent against paraquat (PQ/sup + +/) toxicity in male Sprague-Dawley rats was explored, based on the rationale of limiting toxic hydroxyl radical production from hydrogen peroxide by removing redox-active iron. Body weights, mortality, and lung histopathology were followed for periods up to 14 days after intraperitoneal injection of PQ/sup + +/ (20 or 25 mg/kg body weight) with or without concurrent daily subcutaneous injections of DF (300 mg/day). Animals receiving PQ/sup + +/ showed the expected typical patterns of mortality and of lung histopathology, namely: marked edema, subpleural hemorrhage, acute inflammation, perivascular mononuclear cell infiltrates, sloughing of alveolar and bronchiolar lining cells, and diffuse interstitial fibrosis. Desferrioxamine alone was non-toxic. Surprisingly, results when both PQ/sup + +/ and DF were ...
The environmental impacts of uranium mining and milling activities are of great concern in many countries for the last three decades. These impacts range from the creation of massive stockpiles of radioactive and toxic waste rock and sand-like tailings to serious contamination of surface and groundwater with radioactive and toxic pollutants, and releases of conventional, toxic and radioactive air pollutants. Uranium mining is also associated with high concentrations of highly toxic heavy metals, which are a major source of surface and groundwater contamination. Depending upon the hydraulic properties of the fractures involved, contaminated ground water may be transported many miles from its point of origin before feeding into an aquifer. Tailings pond may contaminate the groundwater regime by continuous seepage and leaching of radionuclides and other toxic metals due to interaction ...
Typical beam lines are comprised of an assembly of vacuum valves and shutters referred to as a ''front end'', optical elements to monochromatize, focus and split the photon beam, and an experimental area where a target sample is placed into the photon beam and data from the interaction is detected and recorded. Windows are used to separate sections of beam lines that are not compatible with storage ring ultra high vacuum. Some experimental beam lines share a common vacuum with storage rings. Sections of beam lines are only allowed to vent up to atmospheric pressure using pure nitrogen gas after a vacuum barrier is established to protect ring vacuum. The front end may only be bled up when there is no current in the machine. This is especially true on the VUV storage ring where for most experiments, windows are not used. For the shorter wavelength, more energetic photons of the x-ray ring, beryllium windows are used at various beam ...
This publication presents seven national case studies from a coordinated research project on Indicators for Sustainable Energy Development conducted during the 2002-2005 time period. The project was led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The case studies were developed by research organizations from Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia, Slovakia and Thailand. This publication is being issued just prior to the 15th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development for which energy for sustainable development is a major theme. The 15th session of the Commission will focus on policy decisions on practical measures and options to expedite implementation in selected clusters of energy issues. The application the energy indicator, especially their quantification, enables systematic monitoring of progress made towards the implementation of ...
Development in organic farming has been stimulated by farmers and consumers becoming interested in healthy food products and sustainable environment. Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which is based on the principles of health, ecology, care, and fairness. Organic development in Uganda has focused more on the crop sector than livestock sector and has primarily involved the private sector, like organic products export companies and non-governmental organizations. Agriculture in Uganda and many African countries is predominantly traditional, less mechanized, and is usually associated with minimum use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and drugs. This low external input agriculture also referred to as "organic by default" can create basis for organic farming where agroecological methods are introduced and present ...
Purpose: Various published reports involving intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans developed using automated optimization (inverse planning) have demonstrated highly conformal plans. These reported conformal IMRT plans involve significant target dose inhomogeneity, including both overdosage and underdosage within the target volume. In this study, we demonstrate the development of optimized beamlet IMRT plans that satisfy rigorous dose homogeneity requirements for all target volumes (e.g., #+-#5%), while also sparing the parotids and other normal structures. Methods and Materials: The treatment plans of 15 patients with oropharyngeal cancer who were previously treated with forward-planned multisegmental IMRT were planned again using an automated optimization system developed in-house. The optimization system allows for variable sized beamlets computed using a three-dimensional convolution/superposition dose ...
The dry desulfurization, denitrification and air toxics removal process using activated coke (AC) has been commercially adapted for flue gas clean up of a power plant, an oil refinery plant, an iron ore sintering plant, and a refuse incinerator. This process can achieve 100% removal of SO{sub x}, over 80% removal of NO{sub x} and effective removal of air toxics such as Hg, HCL, dioxines, etc., by contacting flue gas with AC and injecting NH{sub 3} for DeNO{sub x} at temperature range of about 100-200{degrees}C. For flue gas treatment, AC has several functions, which basically depends on the chemical surface group on AC inner surface. As adsorbent, AC can adsorb SO{sub x} at the relatively basic oxygen group site, where the adsorbed SO{sub x} is stored as sulfuric acid into micropore structure of AC. As catalyst, AC can decompose NO{sub x} catalytically with addition of NH{sub 3}. The catalytic activity (NO{sub x} removal efficiency) correlates ...
The simultaneous effects of irradiating full grown pupae of Spodoptera Littoralis with doses 30 and 40 krad followed by topical treatment of adults with methomyl were studied. Gamma rays decreased the toxicity of methomyl against adult moths. The obtained LD_5_0 values for male moths emerging from unirradiated or irradiated pupae with 30 or 40 krad were 7, 9.93 and 10.33 u g/g. b.wt., respectively. F1 larvae (produced from unirradiated females mated to irradiated males) became more tolerant to methomyl by increasing radiation doses from 5 to 30 krad. The toxicity of methomyl to F1, F2 and F3 larvae (whose male parents had been irradiated in the pupal stage with 10 krad) was less than its toxicity to the larvae produced from unirradiated parents. F2 and F3 larvae were more tolerant to methomyl effect than the F1 larvae.
Purpose: To report outcomes of a single institution study of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma. The dose-volume dependency of the observed gastrointestinal toxicity is explored. Methods and materials: Twenty-seven patients with unresectable cholangiocarcinoma (n = 26 Klatskin tumours and one intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC)) were treated by linac-based SBRT. The dose schedule was 45 Gy in three fractions prescribed to the isocenter. Results: The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 6.7 and 10.6 months, respectively. With a median follow-up of 5.4 years, 6 patients had severe duodenal/pyloric ulceration and 3 patients developed duodenal stenosis. Duodenal radiation exposure was higher in patients developing moderate to high-grade gastrointestinal toxicity with the difference in mean maximum dose to 1 cm"3 of duodenum reaching statistical significance. A statistically significant ...
Benthic invertebrates can uptake metals through diffusion of free ion solutes, or ingestion of sediment-bound forms. This study investigated the efficacy of the metal chelating resin SIR 300TM in adsorbing porewater metals and isolating pathways of metal exposure. A field experiment (Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia) and a laboratory toxicity test each manipulated the availability of porewater metals within contaminated and uncontaminated sediments. It was predicted that within contaminated sediments, the resin would adsorb porewater metals and reduce toxicity to invertebrates, but in uncontaminated sediments, the resin would not significantly affect these variables. Whereas in the laboratory, the resin produced the predicted results, in the field the resin increased porewater metal concentrations of contaminated sediments for at least 34 days and decreased abundances of four macroinvertebrate groups, and richness in all sediments. These ...
2,2,5,7,8-Pentamethyl-6-chromanol (PMCol) was administered by gavage in rats for 28 days at dose levels of 0, 100, 500, and 2000mg/kg/day. PMCol administration induced decreases in body weight gains and food consumption, hepatotoxicity (increased TBILI, ALB, ALT, TP; increased relative liver weights; increased T4 and TSH), nephrotoxicity (increased BUN and BUN/CREAT, histopathology lesions), effect on lipid metabolism (increased CHOL), anemia, increase in WBC counts (total and differential), coagulation (FBGNand PTdarr) and hyperkeratosis of the nonglandular stomach in the 2000mg/kg/day dose group (in one or both sexes). In the 500mg/kg/day dose group, toxicity was seen to a lesser extent. In the 100mg/kg/day dose group, only increased CHOL (females) was observed. To assess the toxicity of...
The production methods for seven radioisotopes, Ga-67, Sr-85, Pd-103, In-111, Tu-167, Hg-197 and Pb-203, by using a classical 1.5m cyclotron in the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, USSR, are described. At present, more than 50 cyclotrons in different countries are used for the production of radioisotopes applied to medicine. Radioisotopes are produced with the cyclotron in the I.Ph.P.E. in the form of irradiated targets, which are delivered to Moscow radiopharmaceutical factory, where radiopharmaceuticals are produced on the base of these targets. The cyclotron is operated in two regimes providing the acceleration of protons, deuterons and alpha -particles. Two types of target assemblies are used for irradiation, the one is intended for the internal beam, and the other is for the external beam. The reactions used for the production of seven radioisotopes described above, the types of ...
The production methods for seven radioisotopes, Ga-67, Sr-85, Pd-103, In-111, Tm-167, Hg-197 and Pb-203, by using a classical 1.5m cyclotron in the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, USSR, are described. At present, more than 50 cyclotrons in different countries are used for the production of radioisotopes applied to medicine. Radioisotopes are produced with the cyclotron in the I.Ph.P.E. in the form of irradiated targets, which are delivered to Moscow radiopharmaceutical factory, where radiopharmaceuticals are produced on the base of these targets. The cyclotron is operated in two regimes providing the acceleration of protons, deuterons and alpha -particles. Two types of target assemblies are used for irradiation, the one is intended for the internal beam, and the other is for the external beam. The reactions used for the production of seven radioisotopes described above, the types of ...
This paper proposes a new pattern recognition system employing optical joint transform correlation (JTC) technique which offers a great number of advantages over similar digital techniques, including very fast operation, simple architecture and capability of updating the reference image in real time. The proposed JTC technique incorporates a synthetic discriminant function (SDF) of the target image estimated from different training images to make the pattern recognition performance invariant to noise and distortion. It then involves four different phase-shifted versions of the same target SDF reference image, which are individually joint transform correlated with the given input scene. When the correlation signals are combined, it produces a single cross-correlation peak corresponding to each potential target present in the given input scene. The proposed technique also includes a fringe-adjusted filter to generate a ...
Abstract:- This study was undertaken to investigate the antimicrobial effect of organic acids against-Escherichia coli-O157:H7,-Salmonella-Typhimurium, and-Listeria monocytogenes-on whole red organic apples and lettuce. Several studies have been conducted to evaluate organic acids as sanitizers. However, no studies have compared antimicrobial effects of various organic acids on organic fresh produce, including evaluation of color changes of produce. Apples and lettuce were inoculated with a cocktail of 3 strains each of 3 foodborne pathogens provided above and treated with 1% and 2% organic acids (propionic, acetic, lactic, malic, and citric acid) for 0, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 min. With increasing treatment time and acid concentration, organic acid treatments showed significant reduction compar...
Laser optical pumping can be used to produce polarized alkali atom beams or polarized alkali vapor targets. Polarized alkali atom beams can be converted into polarized alkali ion beams, and polarized alkali vapor targets can be used to produce polarized H/sup -/ or /sup 3/He/sup -/ ion beams. In this paper the authors discuss how the polarized alkali atom beams and polarized alkali vapor targets are used to produce polarized ion beams with emphasis on the production of polarized negative ion beams.
The HARP experiment at CERN is performing extensive measurements of hadron production cross sections and secondary particle yields, in the momentum range 1.5-15 GeV/c, over the full solid angle and using a large set of cryogenic and solid targets. First measurements of hadron production cross-sections in the forward region are reported using an aluminium target 5% of an interaction length thick and a proton beam of 12.9 GeV/c. A preliminary analysis in the large angle region of elastic scattering events produced with the cryogenic hydrogen target at 3 GeV/c beam momentum is also presented.
Carrier-free radionuclides of tungsten and tantalum, "1"7"6","1"7"7W and "1"7"6","1"7"7Ta have been produced by heavy ion activation of holmium target with 97 MeV "1"6O"5"+ beam. Radiochemical separation scheme has been developed to isolate tungsten and tantalum radionuclides from the holmium target matrix. (author)
Carrier-free radioisotopes of tungsten, "1"7"6","1"7"7W, and their corresponding daughter radionuclides "1"7"6","1"7"7Ta, have been produced in holmium target by heavy ion activation with "1"6O"5"+ beam. An attempt has been made to separate these carrier-free radionuclides from bulk holmium target through LLX using cation exchanger HDEHP. (author)
A simple highly efficient procedure has been developed for recovery of thallium radioisotopes from lead and bismuth targets irradiated by 1-GeV protons. The procedure is based on the use of extraction chromatography. The cross-sections have been determined for formation of {sup 200}Pb, {sup 201}Pb, {sup 202m}Pb, and {sup 203}Pb radioisotopes in targets from lead with natural isotopic composition, irradiated by 1-GeV protons.
A simple highly efficient procedure has been developed for recovery of thallium radioisotopes from lead and bismuth targets irradiated by 1-GeV protons. The procedure is based on the use of extraction chromatography. The cross-sections have been determined for formation of "2"0"0Pb, "2"0"1Pb, "2"0"2"mPb, and "2"0"3Pb radioisotopes in targets from lead with natural isotopic composition, irradiated by 1-GeV protons.
The paper presents results of experimental research on the interaction of a pulsed plasma-ion stream with a tungsten (W) target. The pulsed hydrogen plasma was produced within the RPI-IBIS (Multi-Rod Plasma Injector) facility at IPJ in Swierk. Measurements were carried out by means of optical spectroscopy and corpuscular diagnostic techniques. For experiments with the W-target the operational conditions (so-called PID mode) were chosen when a clean hydrogen plasma stream was generated. Attention was paid to the identification of WI and WII spectral lines.
A modified variable structure interacting multiple model (M-VSIMM) estimator for complex hybrid maneuver target tracking is presented. The M-VSIMM could potentially be applied to fire control systems (FCS) used on warships. Target model groups were designed using 3D dimensional dynamic target models. Optimal model group selection logic was proposed, contrary to the activation and termination logic in the original VSIMM. The system will respond faster with optimal model group selection logic. After performing simulations, the tracking performances of the Kalman, ?-?(-?), VDIE, IMM and M-VSIMM filters were compared under various maneuvering conditions.
Preliminary experiments have been performed to investigate the effects of radiative cooling on plasma jets. Thin (3 um - 5 um) conical shells were irradiated with an intense laser, driving jets with velocities > 100 km/s. Through use of different target materials - aluminium, copper and gold - the degree of radiative losses was altered, and their importance for jet collimation investigated. A number of temporally resoved optical diagnostics was used, providing information about the jet evolution. Gold jets were seen to be narrower than those from copper targets, while aluminium targets produced the least collimated flows.
The velocity distribution of electrons ejected close to the forward direction by 0.8-2 MeV/A ions traversing various solid targets, including a Au monocrystal, is measured in coincidence with emerging charge-selected ions. The velocity spectrum is observed to be independent of outgoing projectile velocity and charge state for polycrystalline targets. Measurements on the Au crystal under channeling conditions show dependences on final charge state, and are tentatively explained by assuming that the main contribution to the production yield comes from the non-channeled fraction of the ions. A simple model for the creation of the forward-ejected electrons is proposed, which accounts for most of the experimental findings.
The centroid and envelope dynamics of a high-intensity charged particle beam are investigated as a beam smoothing technique to achieve uniform illumination over a suitably chosen region of the target for applications to ion-beam-driven high energy density physics and heavy ion fusion. The motion of the beam centroid projected onto the target follows a smooth pattern to achieve the desired illumination, for improved stability properties during the beam-target interaction. The centroid dynamics is controlled by an oscillating "wobbler", a set of electrically-biased plates driven by RF voltage. __________________________________________________
This paper presents the characteristics of selected parameters of organic matter of the Tertiary coal samples and organic matter of Carboniferous rock samples from the Spitsbergen. The coal samples were taken from Central Coal Basin (the Longyearbyen region) and from the Forlandsundet Basin (Oscar II Land, the Kaffioyra region). Samples of dispersed organic matter were collected from Suffolk Pynten and Sergeijevfjellet area in Sorkapp Land. The optical properties of coal samples are different from properties of dispersed organic matter. Macerals of vitrinite group dominate in all of the samples. The average content of vitrinite group macerals is much lower in dipersed organic matter samples than it is in coals. The average content of liptinite group macerals is a little lower, and inertinite group macerals is much higher. The average content of mineral matter is higher in ...
For the safety of astronauts and to ensure the stability and integrity of the genome of microorganisms and plants used in bioregenerative life support systems, it is important to improve our knowledge of the combined action of (space) radiation and microgravity. The SOS-LUX-TOXICITY test, as part of the TRIPLE-LUX project (accepted for flight at Biolab in Columbus on the International Space Station, (ISS)), will provide an estimation of the health risk resulting from exposure of astronauts to the radiation environment of space in microgravity. The project will: (i) increase our knowledge of biological/health threatening action of space radiation and enzymatic DNA repair; (ii) uncover cellular mechanisms of synergistic interaction of microgravity and space radiation; (iii) provide specified...
Biosorption behaviour of and toxic effects of heavy metals in submersed and immobilised microorganisms was studied in batches and in continuous processes in an airlift-recycle reactor. Nickel, cadmium, and zinc were used as heavy metals. (orig./VHE) [Deutsch] Am Beispiel einer Naphthalin-2-sulfonsaeure-abbauenden Kultur wurde das Biosorptionsverhalten und die toxische Wirkung von Schwermetallen auf submerse und immobilisierte Mikroorganismen im Batch-Ansatz und im kontinuierlichen Betrieb in einem Airlift-Schlaufenreaktor untersucht. Als Schwermetalle wurden Nickel, Cadmium und Zink eingesetzt. (orig./VHE)
Role of microelements in coal in connection with their combustion in power stations, gasification and hydrogenation is discussed from the standpoint of environmental pollution and effects on technological parameters. In the wastes from fossil-fuel power stations there are biogenic and toxic elements (Be, B, Pb, etc.) present, which eventually go into the soil. Analyses showed that coal from the Kuznetsk, Donetsk, Ehkibastuz and Kansk-Achinsk basins which are used for power, have a relatively low level of biogenic and toxic microelements, e.g. Ba, B, Mn, Pb, Co, Ni, V, Cu, Y. Coal reactivity in gasification and hydrogenation is discussed. The catalytic effect of several microelements in coal gasification and hydrogenation is established. A geochemical multiplicative indicator is presented which makes quantitative evaluation of the suitability of coals for hydrogenation possible. 17 references.
This study explores the use of photosensitizers and reactive oxygen species (ROS) to limit growth of cyanobacteria. We chose 12 phthalocyanines, tetraphenol porphyrine, and methylene blue as compounds producing singlet oxygen. Hydrogen peroxide was chosen as another source of ROS. These compounds were tested using algal toxicity tests in microplates on three cultures of green algae (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Scenedesmus quadricauda, and Chlorella kessleri) and on three cultures of cyanobacteria (Synechococcus nidulans, Microcystis incerta, and Anabaena sp.). Results indicate that photosensitizers and singlet oxygen could be highly toxic for some selected phytoplankton species. Green alga Scenedesmus quadricauda was highly sensitive (EC50 = 0.07 mg/L) to compounds producing singlet o...
Allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (SCT) is potentially curative therapy in AML by providing both dose-intensive chemo-radiotherapy and induction of graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) effect. Historically, more emphasis was given to the intensity of conditioning. Over the last decade the pendulum turned more towards induction of GvL as the primary goal. A plethora of non-myeloablative (NMA) and reduced-intensity conditioning regimens (RIC) were introduced trying to reduce transplant-related toxicities and allow SCT in elderly and medically infirm patients. In addition, reduced-toxicity myeloablative regimens (RTC) based on fludarabine and myeloablative alkylating-agent doses were designed to allow safer administration of dose-intensive therapy. Conditioning dose-intensity is highly correlated w...
Laboratory studies have been carried out to determine the toxicity of methiocarb pellets to wild trapped wood mice in order to provide some background data prior to any further evaluation of hazard in the field. In this study, wood mice were exposed to dry and to dampened methiocarb pellets in order to reproduce field trial application conditions. Field observations of methiocarb pellets indicate that the physical character changes under dry and wet weather conditions. This may affect their relative attractiveness and potential toxicity to wood mice. The laboratory assessment of exposed wood mice included measurement of brain esterase activities, methiocarb residues in selected mouse tissue, carcasses, and histological evaluation of kidney, liver and lungs.
Objectives1. We will use reduction of lysosomal stability as an indicator of cell injury induced by C-60 fullerenes and carbon nanotubes in the liver analogue or digestive gland (hepatopancreas) of marine mussels. Molluscan hepatopancreatic digestive cells are key to normal function and are a sensitive key interface with the environment. Reduction of lysosomal stability is mechanistically linked with impaired health of the whole animal. 2. We will also test the hepatopancreatic digestive cells for evide [continued...]DescriptionNanotechnology is a major innovative scientific and economic growth area, which may present a variety of hazards for environmental and human health. The surface properties and very small size of nanoparticles and nanotubes provides surfaces that may bind and transport toxic chemical pollutants, as well as possibly being toxic in their own right by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). There is a wealth of evidence ...
Sulfur pollution can lead to serious problems in freshwater wetlands, including phosphorus eutrophication and sulfide toxicity. We tested the effects of anaerobic iron-rich groundwater discharge in fens, simulated by iron injection, on two characteristic species (Juncus effusus and Caltha palustris) in a sulfidic environment. Biomass production of C. palustris roots showed an optimum response to the combined addition of iron and sulfide, with highest values at intermediate concentrations of both substances. Iron deficiency apparently occurred at low iron concentrations, while at high iron concentrations, growth was decreased. For J. effusus, in contrast, no toxic effects were found of both iron and sulfide. This could be explained by larger radial oxygen loss (ROL) of J. effusus and could ...
T-2 toxin, a highly toxic member of the type-A trichothecenes, is produced by various Fusarium moulds that can potentially affect human health. It is strongly cytotoxic for human hematopoietic progenitors. Alimentary toxic aleukia (ATA), a disease typically associated with human, is primarily induced by T-2 toxin. A comparison of the metabolism of T-2 toxin incubated with hepatocytes of rats, piglets, chickens, and the hepatic subcellular fractions (microsomes and cytosol) of piglets, chickens, rats, and carp (common carp and grass carp) was carried out. The activities of the recombinant pig CYP3A29 on the transformation of T-2 and HT-2 toxins were preliminary studied. Metabolites were identified by novel LC/MS-IT-TOF. Qualitative similarities and differences across the species were observ...
Several different aspects of the influence of the target backing on in-beam electron spectra following compound nuclear reactions induced by accelerated ions at tandem energies irradiating backed targets are discussed in detail. This discussion is illustrated by a few typical examples, such as "1"2C"5"+ and "3"1P"1"0"+ beams at 4 MeV/u bombarding Sn(+Be), Sn(+Au), Pb(+C) backed targets. Moreover, the relative influence of electron backscattering, electron Doppler shift and Doppler broadening as well as #delta#-electron emission on the low energy electron spectra (E_e#<=#100 keV) obtained under such conditions are investigated in the frame of the available experimental data. (orig.).
Using the complex Kohn method, we have calculated variational values of phase shifts and the annihilation parameter, Z_{eff}, for the elastic scattering of positrons by molecular hydrogen. Our results are sensitive to small changes in the accuracy of the wave function representing the target hydrogen molecule. We have developed a systematic approach to demonstrate that, at low positron energies, there are particular forms of the Kohn trial wave function for which the results of variational calculations are not reliable, even when the target wave function accounts for as much as 96.8% of the correlation energy of H_{2}. We find that reliable results can be recovered if our calculations are extended to admit more sophisticated target wave functions accounting for 99.7% of the correlation energy. Remaining discrepancies between theory and experiment are briefly discussed.
This report discusses the experimental setup of experiment 814 at Brookhaven AGS. This experiment involves the collision of silicon ions with target nuclei. The detector systems are discussed primarily. (LSP)
Many existing agents for diabetes therapy are unable to restore or maintain normal glucose homeostasis or prevent the eventual emergence of hyperglycemia-related complication. Therefore, agents based on novel mechanisms are sought to complement and extend the current therapeutic approaches. Based on the initial paper research, we focused on active STAT3 as an attractive pharmacological target for type 2 diabetes. The subsequent text mining with a unique query to identify suppressors but not activators of STAT3 revealed the ERK2/STAT3 pathway as a novel diabetes target. The description of ERK2 inhibitors as diabetes target had not been found in our text mining research at present. The mechanism-based peptide inhibitor for ERK2 was identified using the knowledge of the KIM sequence, which ha...
Nov 21, 2003... for the European Space Agency's Automated Transport Vehicle, a new, uncrewed station cargo vehicle targeted for launch late next year. ...
In animal models, single-gene mutations in genes involved in insulin/IGF and target of rapamycin signalling pathways extend lifespan to a considerable extent. The genetic, genomic and epigenetic influences...Full Text Available
An application that provides a flexible and easy to use interface to the GAMMA spectral simulation package is described that is targeted at investigations using in vivo MR spectroscopic methods....Full Text Available
The potential of radiolabelled phenylpiperazines as agents for the detection and therapy of tumours of neural crest origin was evaluated by in vitro pharmacological studies with human neuroblastoma...Full Text Available
This letter reports a study designed to measure the benefits of voicing in the recognition of concurrent syllables. The target and distracter syllables were either voiced or whispered, producing...Full Text Available
... In the Proceedings of INTC 2003, we studied charging effects on target coverage during electrospinning (16). ... of Fibers from Electrospinning of ...
The biosynthesis of insect juvenile hormone (JH) and its neuroendocrine control are attractive targets for chemical control of insect pests and vectors of disease. To facilitate the molecular...Full Text Available
BackgroundAmino-terminal signal peptides (SPs) are short regions that guide the targeting of secretory proteins to the correct subcellular compartments in the cell. They are cleaved...Full Text Available