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Background: Over 40% of the six million dry metric tons of sewage sludge, often referred to as biosolids, produced annually in the United States is land applied. Biosolids serve as a sink for emerging pollutants which can be toxic and persist in the environment, yet their fate after land application and their impacts on human health have not been well studied. These gaps in our understanding are exacerbated by the absence of systematic monitoring programs and defined standards for human health protection. Methods: The purpose of this paper is to call critical attention to the knowledge gaps that currently exist regarding emerging pollutants in biosolids and to underscore the need for evidence-based testing standards and regulatory frameworks for human health protection when biosolids are land applied. A scoping review methodology was used to identify research conducted within the last decade, current regulatory standards, and government publications regarding emerging pollutants in land applied biosolids. Results: Current research indicates that persistent organic compounds, or emerging pollutants, found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products, microplastics, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have the potential to contaminate ground and surface water, and the uptake of these substances from soil amended by the land application of biosolids can result in contamination of food sources. Advanced technologies to remove these contaminants from wastewater treatment plant influent, effluent, and biosolids destined for land application along with tools to detect and quantify emerging pollutants are critical for human health protection. Conclusions: To address these current risks, there needs to be a significant investment in ongoing research and infrastructure support for advancements in wastewater treatment; expanded manufacture and use of sustainable products; increased public communication of the risks associated with overuse of pharmaceuticals and plastics; and development and implementation of regulations that are protective of health and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers news briefs pertaining to the environment for September 2002. Creation of transgenic zebra fish that glow when exposed to toxic chemicals; Implications for research showing bacteria found in the digestive tract of kangaroos seem to prevent methane, a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming, from being formed during the breakdown of food; Recycling program for unwanted latex paint in California.

The article provides information about a symposium on "Aggression Across Species," held in July 2002 at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association in Keystone, Colorado. Presentations varied from the genetic analysis of aggression in fruit flies to aggression in mice and men and the result is this collection of papers, which cover five different species, including zebrafish, dog, rat, mouse, and humans, and various tools for the genetic analysis of aggression. The papers in this issue have in common the objective of exploring the genetic influences on aggressive behavior. Different vertebrate species exhibit aggressive behavior with some common features, and by taking advantage of the experimental opportunities that each offers we can gain insights into the largely common underlying biology and biochemistry.

Edwardsiella piscicida is a Gram‐negative facultative intracellular bacterium causing edwardsiellosis in catfish, the largest aquaculture industry in the United States. A safe and effective vaccine is an urgent need to avoid economic losses associated with E. piscicida outbreaks. PhoP/PhoQ is a two‐component signal transduction system (TCS) that plays an important role in bacterial pathogenesis through sense and response to environmental and host stress signals. This study aimed to explore the contribution of PhoQ/PhoP in E. piscicida virulence and develop live attenuated vaccines against E. piscicida infection in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and hybrid catfish (channel catfish ♀ × blue catfish (I. furcatus) ♂). In the current study, two in‐frame deletion mutants were constructed by deleting phoP (ETAC_09785) and phoQ (ETAC_09790) genes in E. piscicida strain C07‐087, and the virulence and protection efficacy of the constructed strains were evaluated in catfish following intraperitoneal injection. Both EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ strains had a delayed adaptation to oxidative stress (0.2% H2O2) compared to E. piscicida wild type. The EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ mutants produced significantly less biofilm compared to wild‐type E. piscicida. Notably, EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ mutants were significantly attenuated in channel catfish compared with wild‐type E. piscicida (6.63% and 4.17% versus 49.16% mortalities), and channel catfish vaccinated with EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ were significantly protected (95.65% and 97.92% survival) against E. piscicida infection at 21 days post‐vaccination. In hybrid catfish, EpΔphoP was significantly more attenuated than EpΔphoQ, but EpΔphoQ provided significantly better protection than EpΔphoP. EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ strains both induced specific antibodies in channel catfish against E. piscicida at 14 and 21 days post‐vaccination. This result indicated that EpΔphoP and EpΔphoQ mutants were safe and protective in channel catfish fingerlings, while EpΔphoP was safe in hybrid catfish. Our findings show that PhoP and PhoQ are required for adaptation to oxidative stress and biofilm formation and may help E. piscicida face tough environmental challenges; thus, functional PhoP and PhoQ are critical for a successful infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substance-related disorders are a group of medical conditions that affect a person's brain and behavior and lead to an inability to control the use of legal or illegal drug(s) or medication. Substance-related disorder is a serious public health and society problem worldwide. Genetic factors have been proven to have an important role. Researchers have carried out a lot of work in this field, and a large number of research results have been published in academic journals around the world. However, there are few overviews of research progress, presentation, and development trends in this field. In this study, a total of 636 articles related to genetic factors of substance-related disorders were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database from 1997 to 2018, and the scientific literatures were analyzed by bibliometrics. The study found that the United States (US) has maintained a leading position in the field of research, with many core institutions and plenty of high-quality research results. Alcohol use disorder is still the most concerning issue in this field. Over the past 20 years, new techniques such as genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on high-throughput sequencing technology have replaced family studies, twin studies, and retrospective studies in this field. We believe that it is urgent to study the genetic factors of substance-related disorders, which can greatly deepen the understanding of the pathogenesis of substance-related disorders and may provide potential targets for precise treatment of such diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents news briefs on the chemicals industry as of July 2003. Patent granted by the U.S. government to Wrigley for a gum that contains Viagra; Discussion on the use of ovarian tissue taken from aborted foetuses as a source of eggs for infertile women; Commercialization by a Taiwanese corporation of the first ornamental zebra fish that has been genetically modified to contain a jellyfish gene in the U.S.

Due to its wide distribution across the world, the snail Radix auricularia plays a central role in the transferal of energy and biomass by consuming plant biomass in freshwater systems. The gut microbiota are involved in the nutrition, digestion, immunity, and development of snails, particularly for cellulolytic bacteria, which greatly contribute to the digestion of plant fiber. For the first time, this study characterized the gut bacterial communities of R. auricularia, as well as predicted functions, using the Illumina Miseq platform to sequence 16S rRNA amplicons. Both juvenile snails (JS) and adult snails (AS) were sampled. The obtained 251,072 sequences were rarefied to 214,584 sequences and clustered into 1,196 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with 97% sequence identity. The predominant phyla were Proteobacteria (JS: 36.0%, AS: 31.6%) and Cyanobacteria (JS: 16.3%, AS: 19.5%), followed by Chloroflexi (JS: 9.7%, AS: 13.1%), Firmicutes (JS: 14.4%, AS: 6.7%), Actinobacteria (JS: 8.2%, AS: 12.6%), and Tenericutes (JS: 7.3%, AS: 6.2%). The phylum Cyanobacteria may have originated from the plant diet instead of the gut microbiome. A total of 52 bacterial families and 55 genera were found with >1% abundance in at least one sample. A large number of species could not be successfully identified, which could indicate the detection of novel ribotypes or result from insufficient availability of snail microbiome data. The core microbiome consisted of 469 OTUs, representing 88.4% of all sequences. Furthermore, the predicted function of bacterial community of R. auricularia performed by Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States suggests that functions related to metabolism and environmental information processing were enriched. The abundance of carbohydrate suggests a strong capability of the gut microbiome to digest lignin. Our results indicate an abundance of bacteria in both JS and AS, and thus the bacteria in R. auricularia gut form a promising source for novel enzymes, such as cellulolytic enzymes, that may be useful for biofuel production. Furthermore, searching for xenobiotic biodegradation bacteria may be a further important application of these snails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most species, evolutionary adaptation is not expected to be sufficiently rapid to buffer the effects of human-mediated environmental changes, including environmental pollution. Here we review how key features of populations, the characteristics of environmental pollution, and the genetic architecture underlying adaptive traits, may interact to shape the likelihood of evolutionary rescue from pollution. Large populations of Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) persist in some of the most contaminated estuaries of the United States, and killifish studies have provided some of the first insights into the types of genomic changes that enable rapid evolutionary rescue from complexly degraded environments. We describe how selection by industrial pollutants and other stressors has acted on multiple populations of killifish and posit that extreme nucleotide diversity uniquely positions this species for successful evolutionary adaptation. Mechanistic studies have identified some of the genetic underpinnings of adaptation to a well-studied class of toxic pollutants; however, multiple genetic regions under selection in wild populations seem to reflect more complex responses to diverse native stressors and/or compensatory responses to primary adaptation. The discovery of these pollution-adapted killifish populations suggests that the evolutionary influence of anthropogenic stressors as selective agents occurs widely. Yet adaptation to chemical pollution in terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate wildlife may rarely be a successful 'solution to pollution' because potentially adaptive phenotypes may be complex and incur fitness costs, and therefore be unlikely to evolve quickly enough, especially in species with small population sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gulf killifish ( Fundulus grandis) is a euryhaline fish found in coastal marsh along the entire of Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic of coast of the United States. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of salinity on embryogenesis in the Gulf killifish. Four recirculation systems at salinities of 0.4, 7, 15, and 30 g/L were maintained at a static temperature with flow-through trays, containing embryos ( n = 39) placed in triplicate into each system. Throughout embryogenesis, the rate of development, ammonia and urea excretion, and heart rate were monitored. Percent hatch was recorded, and morphological parameters were measured for larvae at hatch. As salinity was increased, the rate of embryogenesis decreased. Salinity significantly affected percent hatch with an 80.0% ± 2.6% for 7 g/L and 39.1 ± 4.3, 45.4 ± 4.5, and 36.3% ± 12.0% for 0.4, 15, and 30 g/L, respectively. Salinity and stage of development significantly affected production of ammonia and urea. As salinity increased, the dominate metabolite end product changed from urea to ammonia. However, the 15 g/L salinity treatment had the two highest levels of urea recorded. Heart rate was unaffected by salinity but increased throughout embryogenesis and remained constant once embryos reached stages where hatching has been recorded. While mean total length was not affected by salinity, embryos incubated in 30 g/L produced larvae with significantly thicker body depth at hatch. The 0.4, 7, and 15 g/L salinity treatments all had similar mean hours to hatch. The 30 g/L treatment resulted in a significantly longer mean time to hatch and smaller body cavity area at hatch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every country's law permits medical experimentation on animals. While some countries protect particular kinds of animals from being subject to experimentation-notably great apes and endangered species-very few place concrete limitations on what researchers may cause animals to suffer, given sufficient scientific justification. What laws do, instead, is establish standards for the humane treatment and housing of animals in labs, and they encourage researchers to limit or seek alternatives to the use of animals, when doing that is consistent with the scientific goals of their research. The system that has evolved in the United States combines elements of sometimes competing regulatory philosophies. The result is a complex, multilayered system that addresses the most important concerns, but, partly because of historical accident, also leaves some gaps. Even proponents of medical research on animals can see obvious ways in which the regulatory structure could be changed to benefit animals. Perhaps more important, though, is the fact that the existing regulatory structure, imperfect though it may be, is elastic enough to accommodate substantial changes that could reduce unnecessary animal suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the relevance of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) program. He offers information on the approach used for the transgenic/genetically modified (GM) version of the SIT, and argues that such approach could held control dengue outbreak in the U.S. He adds that although insecticide-based methods to control dengue mosquito are effective, GM and SIT are far more efficient in eradicating dengue mosquitoes.

Background and Purpose: The aim of the Synergium was to devise and prioritize new ways of accelerating progress in reducing the risks, effects, and consequences of stroke. Methods: Preliminary work was performed by 7 working groups of stroke leaders followed by a synergium (a forum for working synergistically together) with approximately 100 additional participants. The resulting draft document had further input from contributors outside the synergium. Results: Recommendations of the Synergium are: Basic Science, Drug Development and Technology: There is a need to develop: (1) New systems of working together to break down the prevalent 'silo' mentality; (2) New models of vertically integrated basic, clinical, and epidemiological disciplines; and (3) Efficient methods of identifying other relevant areas of science. Stroke Prevention: (1) Establish a global chronic disease prevention initiative with stroke as a major focus. (2) Recognize not only abrupt clinical stroke, but subtle subclinical stroke, the commonest type of cerebrovascular disease, leading to impairments of executive function. (3) Develop, implement and evaluate a population approach for stroke prevention. (4) Develop public health communication strategies using traditional and novel (e.g., social media/marketing) techniques. Acute Stroke Management: Continue the establishment of stroke centers, stroke units, regional systems of emergency stroke care and telestroke networks. Brain Recovery and Rehabilitation: (1) Translate best neuroscience, including animal and human studies, into poststroke recovery research and clinical care. (2) Standardize poststroke rehabilitation based on best evidence. (3) Develop consensus on, then implementation of, standardized clinical and surrogate assessments. (4) Carry out rigorous clinical research to advance stroke recovery. Into the 21st Century: Web, Technology and Communications: (1) Work toward global unrestricted access to stroke-related information. (2) Build centralized electronic archives and registries. Foster Cooperation Among Stakeholders (large stroke organizations, nongovernmental organizations, governments, patient organizations and industry) to enhance stroke care. Educate and energize professionals, patients, the public and policy makers by using a 'Brain Health' concept that enables promotion of preventive measures. Conclusions: To accelerate progress in stroke, we must reach beyond the current status scientifically, conceptually, and pragmatically. Advances can be made not only by doing, but ceasing to do. Significant savings in time, money, and effort could result from discontinuing practices driven by unsubstantiated opinion, unproven approaches, and financial gain. Systematic integration of knowledge into programs coupled with careful evaluation can speed the pace of progress. Copyright © 2010 American Heart Association. Inc., [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While public attention has been focused on Escherichia coli outbreaks, genetic engineering, and mad cow disease, nanotechnology has quietly taken its place at the forefront of scientific innovation and is poised to revolutionize numerous industries and fields of study. Although nanotechnology has been on the radar of researchers and developers for decades, it is only in the past few years that real-world applications have become a pervasive reality. Some of the most promising applications are in the areas of consumer products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including new and over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and food and food packaging. Despite the incredible social and economic potential of nanotechnology, FDA faces numerous hurdles in the regulation of these products. This article explores the current state of our scientific understanding of nanotechnology, human and environmental health and safety concerns, the strengths and weaknesses of FDA's existing regulatory authority, and current efforts to address these and other issues relating to the development, understanding, and promotion of nanotechnology. In addition, the article proposes various regulatory and policy considerations FDA should take into account in addressing nano-based concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbicides are used to control invasive or noxious plants on public lands throughout the western United States. These chemicals are often applied in the upper reaches of watersheds that provide spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous species of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp., steelhead O. mykiss, and bull trout Salvelinus confluentus. As a consequence, natural resource managers must often weigh the ecological benefits of using herbicides to control normative plants against the potential for unintended toxicological impacts on salmonids, particularly during early life stages. However, the effects of chemical control agents on fish development have not been widely investigated. Their use in the vicinity of aquatic habitats, including areas that support threatened and endangered species, is therefore a concern. To address this uncertainty, we used the zebrafish Danio rerio as a model experimental system for investigating developmental toxicity, which involved conducting rapid and sensitive phenotypic screens for potential developmental defects resulting from exposure to six herbicides (picloram, clopyralid, imazapic, glyphosate, imazapyr, and triclopyr) and several technical formulations (Tordon K, Transline, Habitat, Plateau, Garlon 3A, and Renovate). Zebrafish embryos were exposed continuously through 5 d of development at nominal concentrations ranging from 3 µg/L to 10 mg/L. Detailed screens were used to examine aspects of ontogeny from early development (gastrulation and segmentation) through organogenesis, hatching, and morphology as free-swimming larvae. Growth was measured at the end of each exposure interval. To detect defects in neural development (sensorimotor integration), the escape reflex of larvae was monitored at 3, 4, and 5 d after fertilization. No developmental toxicity was observed in response to the six individual herbicides or the different technical formulations. The absence of toxicity at relatively high exposure concentrations suggests that noxious weed control activities are not likely to pose a direct threat to the health of salmonids at early life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of cardiac development and regeneration will improve diagnostic and therapeutic interventions against heart disease. In this direction, zebrafish is an excellent model because several processes of zebrafish heart development are largely conserved in humans, and zebrafish has several advantages as a model organism. Zebrafish transcriptomic profiles undergo alterations during different stages of cardiac development and regeneration which are revealed by RNA-sequencing. ChIP-sequencing has detected genome-wide occupancy of histone post-translational modifications that epigenetically regulate gene expression and identified a locus with enhancer-like characteristics. ATAC-sequencing has identified active enhancers in cardiac progenitor cells during early developmental stages which overlap with occupancy of histone modifications of active transcription as determined by ChIP-sequencing. CRISPR-mediated editing of the zebrafish genome shows how chromatin modifiers and DNA-binding proteins regulate heart development, in association with crucial signaling pathways. Hence, more studies in this direction are essential to improve human health because they answer fundamental questions on cardiac development and regeneration, their differences, and why zebrafish hearts regenerate upon injury, unlike humans. This review focuses on some of the latest studies using state-of-the-art technology enabled by the elegant yet simple zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the New Immigrant Survey 2003, this article shows that skin color and height affect wages among new lawful immigrants to the United States, controlling for education, English language proficiency, occupation in source country, family background, ethnicity, race, and country of birth. Immigrants with the lightest skin color earn on average 17% more than comparable immigrants with the darkest skin color. Taller immigrants have higher wages, but weight does not affect wages. Controls for extensive current labor market characteristics that may be influenced by discrimination do not eliminate the negative effect of darker skin color on wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, concern regarding perchlorate contamination has arisen in many contexts. Perchlorate has many military, commercial, and domestic applications, and it has been found in milk, drinking and irrigation water, and produce. Perchlorate is harmful at low levels, yet it remains unregulated in the United States while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency attempts to establish acceptable exposure levels. The present study investigated potential reproductive effects on vertebrates using a model fish species, the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Sticklebacks were raised from syngamy through sexual maturity in untreated water and in three target concentrations of sodium perchlorate-treated water. Perchlorate was found to interfere with the expression of nuptial coloration, courtship behavior, and normal sexual development. Genetic testing revealed that some females were masculinized to the extent that they produced both sperm and eggs, and histological analysis showed that these individuals had intersexual gonads (ovotestes) containing both oocytes and cells undergoing spermatogenesis. In vitro fertilizations revealed that those gametes were capable of self- and cross-fertilization. However, crosses using sperm derived from genetic females died either during the blastula phase or near the onset of organogenesis. Sperm derived from genetic males produced viable fry when crossed with eggs derived from genetic females from all treatments. To our knowledge, the present study provides the first evidence that perchlorate produces androgenic effects and is capable of inducing functional hermaphroditism in a nonhermaphroditic vertebrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) and sodium chlorate (SC) have been detected in public drinking water supplies in many parts of the United States. These chemicals cause perturbations in pituitary-thyroid homeostasis in animals by competitively inhibiting iodide uptake, thus hindering the synthesis of thyroglobulin and reducing circulating T4 (thyroxine). Little is known about the short-term exposure effects of mixtures of perchlorate and chlorate. The present study investigated the potential for the response to a mixture of these chemicals on the pituitary-thyroid axis in rats to be greater than that induced by the individual chemicals. Adult male F-344 rats were exposed, via their drinking water, to the nominal concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 10 mg/LAP or 10, 100, 1000 mg/L SC and their mixtures for seven days. Serum T4 levels were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in rats following exposure to the mixtures, but not after exposure to the individual chemicals. Serum T3 (triiodothyronine) was not altered by treatment and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was only increased after the high-dose chlorate treatment. Histological examination of the thyroid gland showed colloid depletion and hypertrophy of follicular epithelial cells in high-dose single chemical and all mixture-treated rats, while hyperplasia was observed only in some of the rats treated with mixtures (AP 10 + SC 100, AP 0.1 + SC 1000, and AP 10 + SC 1000 mg/L). These data suggest that short-term exposure to the mixture of AP and SC enhances the effect of either chemical alone on the pituitary-thyroid axis in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on the developments in the gap junction field as discussed at the 2002 American Society for Cell Biology meeting in San Francisco, California. Life cycle of gap junction formation and degradation; Regulation of connexin expression; Gap junctions in development.

Reports on the workshop that highlights advances in environmental health research using marine and freshwater model systems by the United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Features of models; Keynote speaker; Application of modern genetic methods and protein-engineering techniques.

The article discusses the simple therapy for simple diseases. In Iran, as in the United States and the rest of the world, viral infections involving the upper respiratory tract particularly are the most frequent childhood illnesses. A major problem is diarrheal disease, which may be the leading cause of death in infants in a developing country. Proper fluid replacement therapy may be lifesaving and to dispense useless medications to such patients represents serious mismanagement. Certainly, iodochlorhydroxyquin has no value in the prevention or treatment of nonspecific diarrhea.

Medications administered by anesthesia health care providers and subsequently excreted into the water supply system have the potential to affect ecological systems. Presently, there is a lack of literature examining which medications or metabolites enter the waste stream. Further, their potential environmental impacts are often unknown or simply not considered as an externality of medical practice. Recent work examining the practice of anesthesiology has explored the solid waste stream, and the global warming potential of anesthetic gases, however the potential aquatic impacts remain unexplored. To address the potential for waterborne pollution and environmental toxicity, we extracted the total intravenous medications (by mass) administered by anesthesiologists in 2017 at The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC), a mid-size regional Level 1 trauma center in Burlington, VT. The most commonly administered medications were: cefazolin, propofol, acetaminophen, sugammadex and lidocaine. To estimate the amount of each medication that entered the wastewater stream, we used published metabolism profiles to adjust from the total amount administered to the amount excreted unchanged or as prominent metabolites. For each medication we reviewed existing literature concerning their environmental fate and impacts in water. Due to the constraints of current knowledge, it is not possible to determine the exact fate and impacts of these drugs. Some medications, like propofol, have the potential for significant bioaccumulation and persistence. Others, such as lidocaine and acetaminophen, have short half-lives in the environment but their constant delivery and excretion result in pseudo-persistence. The current literature mostly assesses acute exposure at doses higher than could be expected in the environment on select species. While significant toxicities across a variety of species have been found repeatedly, chronic low dose exposures require further study for all the medications discussed. Finally, multi-drug impacts are likely to be more impactful than single-drug toxicities. While we cannot state definitive impacts, the pharmaceuticals most used in anesthesiology have a clear toxic potential and future studies should more closely examine the relative contribution of anesthesia to pharmaceutical pollution, as well as points of intervention for minimizing these unintended consequences of healthcare delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study conducted by Peter James et al. revealing lower mortality rates among women the U.S. who live in homes surrounded by more vegetation.

The article presents a brief acquaintance with scorpion fish. Scorpion fish, variable in appearance, dwell in both tropical and temperate waters. In the United States, they are found about Hawaii and California. Their fins are the venomous weapons. The pain of a sting is immediate, intense, and throbbing. Pain from the hand may radiate to the shoulder, neck, and head. Pain from a foot sting may radiate into the abdomen. For all scorpion fish stings, the injured should immediately place the wound in hot water.