Group items tagged

The contamination and potential ecological risk posed by heavy metals from thirteen (13) sediment samples from different sampling sites along the lower portion of Agusan River were analyzed and assessed using different pollution indices. The results obtained shows that the total digest concentrations of different heavy metals under investigation have the following order: Cd < Pb < Zn < Mn, for both first sampling periods. The speciation and distribution pattern have shown that significant amounts of all metals are present in the residual fraction. Similarly, oxide-bound and organic-bound fractions were found to be highly important for Zn and Mn while Cd and Pb were significantly associated in the residual and exchangeable fractions. The results of different pollution indices moreover, showed that among all the heavy metals being studied, Cd posed the highest environmental risk across all sampling stations in both sampling periods and Mn metal was highly enriched and abundant in all of the sampling stations. Importantly, PCA results suggest that Zn, Mn and Pb may have the same origin while Cd might be coming from different sources, and this is corroborated well with the cluster analysis results. The results obtained from this work provide baseline data on the assessment of heavy metal pollution in the lower portion of Agusan River. Importantly, the acquired environmental indices will certainly help safety managers in assessing and interpreting the potential risk of the sediment associated chemical status that might adversely affect aquatic organisms in the selected sampling sites.

"And again, in this expanded group, she found the same association between the variation of the DRD4 gene and a willingness to take risks on the slopes. The variant's overall effect was slight, explaining only about 3 percent of the difference in behavior between risk takers and the risk averse, but was statistically significant and remained intact"

"Child abuse has had a known association with increased risk for virtually all types of psychological and psychiatric problems - but a new evidence review suggests that it raises the risk of physical illness just as much."

Originalpublikation: Rudorf S et al., Neural Correlates of Anticipation Risk Reflect Risk Preferences, Journal of Neuroscience, 2012, DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4235-11.2012 „Diese Studie zeigt erstmals die neurobiologischen Zusammenhänge, wie individuelle Risikopräferenzen die Risikowahrnehmung bestimmen", sagt Prof. Weber. „Das hat auch Auswirkungen auf Handlungen in der Finanzwelt und im Gesundheitsbereich." Im nächsten Schritt wollen die Wissenschaftler untersuchen, welche Konsequenzen diese Resultate auf das ökonomische Verhalten etwa auf dem Aktienmark haben. „Damit ließe sich vielleicht sogar die Beratung von Anlegern mit Blick auf ihr individuelles Risikoverhalten verbessern", sagt Prof. Weber. Ein weiteres wichtiges Feld sei der Gesundheitsbereich. Raucher wissen, dass ihr Handeln sehr gefährlich ist, und rauchen trotzdem. „Wenn die Risikoeinstellung von Rauchern besser bekannt ist, können vielleicht wirksamere Anti-Raucher-Kampagnen entwickelt werden."

""We probably have underestimated the role our microbial flora play in modulating disease risk," says Daniel Rader, a heart disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Rader, who was not involved in the study, says that gut bacteria may not be as big a factor in causing heart disease as diabetes or smoking, but could be important in tipping some people toward sickness. Researchers led by Stanley Hazen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, didn't start out to study gut bacteria. In fact, says Hazen, he had "no clue - zero," that intestinal microbes were involved in heart disease. "I'd never even considered it or thought of the concept." Hazen and his colleagues compared blood plasma from healthy people to plasma from people who had had heart attacks, strokes or died to see if substances in the blood could predict who is in danger from heart disease. The researchers found 18 small molecules associated with fat buildup in the arteries. One of the best predictors turned out to be a byproduct made when gut bacteria break down a fat called choline (also known as lecithin). The more of this byproduct, called trimethylamine N-oxide or TMAO, a person or mouse has in the blood, the higher the risk of getting heart disease, the researchers found. Gut bacteria are actually middlemen in TMAO production. The microbes convert lecithin to a gas that smells like rotten fish. Then an enzyme in the liver changes the foul-smelling gas to TMAO."

"An IEEE Spectrum contributing editor, Charette is a self-described "risk ecologist" who investigates the impact of risk on technology and society. His interest is both professional and personal: He's a 33-year member of the IEEE Computer Society and has two daughters who are contemplating STEM careers. "Now I can give better career advice to my daughters," he says"

"A study conducted by researchers at cancer centers across the US has found a link between omega-3 fatty acids and an increased risk of prostate cancer. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish including salmon, trout, and fresh tuna, and in fish oil supplements. The study, published online July 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, looked at blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids in some of the men enrolled in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) of more than 35,000 men over age 50 in the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The study did not collect information on the men's diets. Therefore, it's not clear whether the omega-3 fatty acids in their blood came from food or from supplements."

The danger of sodium laureth sulfate in shampoos includes cancer risk.

"A new genetic biomarker that indicates an increased risk for developing breast cancer can be found in an individual's "junk" (non-coding) DNA, according to a new study featuring work from researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and their colleagues."

"Watabe, M., Kato, T., Tsuboi, S., Ishikawa, K., Hashiya, K., Monji, A., Utsumi, H., & Kanba, S. (2013). Minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, reduces 'honey trap' risk in human economic exchange Scientific Reports, 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01685"

"Previous research on rhesus macaques discovered that social rank influenced components of the stress response, brain, and immune system. With gene chip technology for measuring the expression of over 6,000 different genes, Tung, Gilad and colleagues at Yerkes, Emory University, and Johns Hopkins looked for the first time in primates at the effects of social rank on genetic function. Comparing 49 different female monkeys of different rank revealed significant changes in the expression of 987 genes, including 112 genes associated with immune system function. The result fits with data in monkeys where low rank and chronic stress lead to compromised immune function, and, more loosely, with human studies linking low socioeconomic status and high social stress to elevated disease risk."

"For 20 years, researchers have reported a potential link between gum disease and atherosclerotic heart disease from hardening of the arteries or stroke. "The message sent out by some in health-care professions, that heart attack and stroke are directly linked to gum disease, can distort the facts, alarm patients and perhaps shift the focus on prevention away from well-known risk factors for these diseases," said Dr. Peter Lockhart, a professor and chair of oral medicine at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. Lockhart wrote the heart group's new position statement in the journal Circulation. The statement was prepared after a three-year analysis of about 600 studies by an expert panel led by a dentist and a cardiologist."

If there is organic life deep under the ice on Europa, why would we need to disturb it at all? Potential source of unknown viruses etc. Risks of releasing something are low I guess, but the assumption that whatever may be there needs Earth-like conditions to survive and multiply is dangerous.

"Dr Zbinden said that while the discovery of the bacterium is no cause for alarm, it is important that it is recognised and the risk is quantified. "This bacterium seems to have a natural potential to cause severe disease and so it's important that clinicians and microbiologists are aware of it"

"The problem, as I see it, is that we are not doing very much to remedy these issues, and that a lot of people have already accepted that "true science" is simply an ideal that will inevitably disappear with the current system proceeding along as it is. As such, why risk our careers and reputations to fight for some noble cause that most of academia won't really appreciate anyway?"

Dr Simon Archer and his team at Surrey University were particularly interested in looking at the genes that were switched on or off in our volunteers by changes in the amount that we had made them sleep. "We found that overall there were around 500 genes that were affected," Archer explained. "Some which were going up, and some which were going down." What they discovered is that when the volunteers cut back from seven-and-a-half to six-and-a-half hours' sleep a night, genes that are associated with processes like inflammation, immune response and response to stress became more active. The team also saw increases in the activity of genes associated with diabetes and risk of cancer. The reverse happened when the volunteers added an hour of sleep. So the clear message from this experiment was that if you are getting less than seven hours' sleep a night and can alter your sleep habits, even just a little bit, it could make you healthier

"Everybody likes a simple cause and effect - something we can point to and say (ommitting a few choice words to the perpetrators), 'Fix this and the bees will be right again.' Reality is rarely so straightforward. As the bee decline has progressed I've lost count of the simple 'causes' that have been presented. Among the more memorable are: * mobile 'phones (the absolute 'definite cause' of choice a couple of years ago) * mobile base stations, power lines and other strong electromagnetic sources (a perennial favourite for any malaise) * alien abduction (hopefully they have smaller probes for abducted bees...) * God's punishment (pro gay-marriage states in the USA have more cases of CCD) Leo's article shows neonicotinoids are at least a plausible candidate and they are surely not good for bees, but the argument for these being the explicit 'cause' of global bee decline is still not particularly strong. The risk here is that the media and vocal lobbyists are going off on a righteous crusade to the detriment of more diligent, and maybe less newsworthy, efforts to get to the root of a complex problem. Rather than reviewing the evidence here, I recommend a visit to Randy Oliver's website where his two recent articles from the American Bee Journalon this topic can be found, along with some further commentary on his home page. Interested readers can also directly access the study by Henry et. al. (2012a), the commentry on this study by Creswell and Thompson (2012), the response to the comment (Henry et. al. 2012b) and to the meta-analysis of toxicological studies on imidacloprid by Creswell (2010). An example of one such study is Cutler and Scott-Dupree (2007). Links to all are included below. These are original material rather than reportage and demonstrate the complexity of the issue. As food for thought, I'll leave you with the following: * Neonicotinoids are widely used in Australia and our bees are not (yet) in decline."

"Christian Hilbe, Maria Abou Chakra, Philipp M. Altrock, Arne Traulsen, The evolution of strategic timing in collective-risk dilemmas. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66490, 14. Juni 2013, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066490 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0066490"