Monitoring exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in an Australian population using pooled urine samples

Integrated exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be assessed through monitoring of urinary mono-hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs). The aim of this study was to provide the first assessment of exposure to PAHs in a large sample of the population in Queensland, Australia including exposure to infant (0-4. years). De-identified urine specimens, obtained from a pathology laboratory, were stratified by age and sex, and pooled (n. =. 24 pools of 100) and OH-PAHs were measured by gas chromatography-isotope dilution-tandem mass spectrometry. Geometric mean (GM) concentrations ranged from 30. ng/L (4-hydroxyphenanthrene) to 9221. ng/L (1-naphthol). GM of 1-hydroxypyrene, the most commonly used PAH exposure biomarker, was 142. ng/L. The concentrations of OH-PAHs found in this study are consistent with those in developed countries and lower than those in developing countries. We observed no association between sex and OH-PAH concentrations. However, we observed lower urinary concentrations of all OH-PAHs in samples from infants (0-4. years), children (5-14. years) and the elderly (>. 60. year old) compared with samples from other age groups (15-29, 30-44 and 45-59. years) which may be attributed to age-dependent behaviour-specific exposure sources.

Disease Diplomacy

In the age of air travel and globalized trade, pathogens that once took months or even years to spread beyond their regions of origin can now circumnavigate the globe in a matter of hours. Amid growing concerns about such epidemics as Ebola, SARS, MERS, and H1N1, disease diplomacy has emerged as a key foreign and security policy concern as countries work to collectively strengthen the global systems of disease surveillance and control. The revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR), eventually adopted by the World Health Organization’s member states in 2005, was the foremost manifestation of this novel diplomacy. The new regulations heralded a profound shift in international norms surrounding global health security, significantly expanding what is expected of states in the face of public health emergencies and requiring them to improve their capacity to detect and contain outbreaks. Drawing on Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink’s "norm life cycle" framework and based on extensive documentary analysis and key informant interviews, Disease Diplomacy traces the emergence of these new norms of global health security, the extent to which they have been internalized by states, and the political and technical constraints governments confront in attempting to comply with their new international obligations. The authors also examine in detail the background, drafting, adoption, and implementation of the IHR while arguing that the very existence of these regulations reveals an important new understanding: that infectious disease outbreaks and their management are critical to national and international security. The book will be of great interest to academic researchers, postgraduate students, and advanced undergraduates in the fields of global public health, international relations, and public policy, as well as health professionals, diplomats, and practitioners with a professional interest in global health security.

The Politics of Surveillance and Response to Disease Outbreaks: The New Frontier for States and Non-state Actors

The capacity to conduct international disease outbreak surveillance and share information about outbreaks quickly has empowered both State and Non-State Actors to take an active role in stopping the spread of disease by generating new technical means to identify potential pandemics through the creation of shared reporting platforms. Despite all the rhetoric about the importance of infectious disease surveillance, the concept itself has received relatively little critical attention from academics, practitioners, and policymakers. This book asks leading contributors in the field to engage with five key issues attached to international disease outbreak surveillance - transparency, local engagement, practical needs, integration, and appeal - to illuminate the political effect of these technologies on those who use surveillance, those who respond to surveillance, and those being monitored.

The pandemic of conflict-related sexual violence and the political economy of gender inequality

Since the 1998 Rome Statute recognized widespread and systematic acts of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as an act of genocide, a war crime and crime against humanity, the last decade has seen historic recognition that egregious acts of sexual violence merit international political and legal attention (UN General Assembly, 1998). Notably there are now no fewer than seven United Nations Security Council resolutions on the cross-cutting theme of Women, Peace and Security.

The politics of disease surveillance

The capacity to conduct international disease outbreak surveillance and share information about outbreaks quickly has empowered both State and Non-State Actors to take an active role in stopping the spread of disease by generating new technical means to identify potential pandemics through the creation of shared reporting platforms. Despite all the rhetoric about the importance of infectious disease surveillance, the concept itself has received relatively little critical attention from academics, practitioners, and policymakers. This book asks leading contributors in the field to engage with five key issues attached to international disease outbreak surveillance - transparency, local engagement, practical needs, integration, and appeal - to illuminate the political effect of these technologies on those who use surveillance, those who respond to surveillance, and those being monitored.

Factors influencing kinetic and equilibrium behaviour of sodium ion exchange with strong acid cation resin

This study reports an investigation of the ion exchange treatment of sodium chloride solutions in relation to use of resin technology for applications such as desalination of brackish water. In particular, a strong acid cation (SAC) resin (DOW Marathon C) was studied to determine its capacity for sodium uptake and to evaluate the fundamentals of the ion exchange process involved. Key questions to answer included: impact of resin identity; best models to simulate the kinetics and equilibrium exchange behaviour of sodium ions; difference between using linear least squares (LLS) and non-linear least squares (NLLS) methods for data interpretation; and, effect of changing the type of anion in solution which accompanied the sodium species. Kinetic studies suggested that the exchange process was best described by a pseudo first order rate expression based upon non-linear least squares analysis of the test data. Application of the Langmuir Vageler isotherm model was recommended as it allowed confirmation that experimental conditions were sufficient for maximum loading of sodium ions to occur. The Freundlich expression best fitted the equilibrium data when analysing the information by a NLLS approach. In contrast, LLS methods suggested that the Langmuir model was optimal for describing the equilibrium process. The Competitive Langmuir model which considered the stoichiometric nature of ion exchange process, estimated the maximum loading of sodium ions to be 64.7 g Na/kg resin. This latter value was comparable to sodium ion capacities for SAC resin published previously. Inherent discrepancies involved when using linearized versions of kinetic and isotherm equations were illustrated, and despite their widespread use, the value of this latter approach was questionable. The equilibrium behaviour of sodium ions form sodium fluoride solution revealed that the sodium ions were now more preferred by the resin compared to the situation with sodium chloride. The solution chemistry of hydrofluoric acid was suggested as promoting the affinity of the sodium ions to the resin.

Ion exchange of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate solutions using strong acid cation resins in relation to coal seam water treatment

Coal seam gas production has resulted in the production of large volumes of associated water which contains dissolved salts dominated by sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. Ion exchange using synthetic resins has been proposed as a method for desalination of coal seam water to make it suitable for various beneficial reuse options. This study investigated the behaviour of solutions of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate with respect to exchange with Lanxess S108H strong acid cation (SAC) resin. Equilibrium isotherms were created for solutions of NaCl and NaHCO3 and an actual sample of coal seam water from the Surat Basin in southern Queensland. The exchange of sodium ions arising from sodium bicarbonate was found to be considerably more favourable than exchange of sodium ions from sodium chloride solutions. This latter behaviour was attributed to the secondary decomposition of bicarbonate species under acidic conditions which resulted in the evolution of carbon dioxide and formation of water. The isotherm profiles could not be satisfactorily fitted by a single isotherm model such as the Langmuir expression. Instead, two Langmuir equations had to be simultaneously applied in order to fit the sections of the isotherm attributable to sodium ion exchange from sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride. The shape of the isotherm profile was dependent upon the ratio of sodium chloride to sodium bicarbonate in solution and there was a high degree of correlation between simulated and actual coal seam water solutions.

Behaviour of natural zeolites used for the treatment of simulated and actual coal seam gas water

Coal seam gas operations produce significant quantities of associated water which often require demineralization. Ion exchange with natural zeolites has been proposed as a possible approach. The interaction of natural zeolites with solutions of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate in addition to coal seam gas water is not clear. Hence, we investigated ion exchange kinetics, equilibrium, and column behaviour of an Australian natural zeolite. Kinetic tests suggested that the pseudo first order equation best simulated the data. Intraparticle diffusion was part of the rate limiting step and more than one diffusion process controlled the overall rate of sodium ion uptake. Using a constant mass of zeolite and variable concentration of either sodium chloride or sodium bicarbonate resulted in a convex isotherm which was fitted by a Langmuir model. However, using a variable mass of zeolite and constant concentration of sodium ions revealed that the exchange of sodium ions with the zeolite surface sites was in fact unfavourable. Sodium ion exchange from bicarbonate solutions (10.3 g Na/kg zeolite) was preferred relative to exchange from sodium chloride solutions (6.4 g Na/kg zeolite). The formation of calcium carbonate species was proposed to explain the observed behaviour. Column studies of coal seam gas water showed that natural zeolite had limited ability to reduce the concentration of sodium ions (loading 2.1 g Na/kg zeolite) with rapid breakthrough observed. It was concluded that natural zeolites may not be suitable for the removal of cations from coal seam gas water without improvement of their physical properties.

Prediction of individual genetic risk to prostate cancer using a polygenic score

BACKGROUND Polygenic risk scores comprising established susceptibility variants have shown to be informative classifiers for several complex diseases including prostate cancer. For prostate cancer it is unknown if inclusion of genetic markers that have so far not been associated with prostate cancer risk at a genome-wide significant level will improve disease prediction. METHODS We built polygenic risk scores in a large training set comprising over 25,000 individuals. Initially 65 established prostate cancer susceptibility variants were selected. After LD pruning additional variants were prioritized based on their association with prostate cancer. Six-fold cross validation was performed to assess genetic risk scores and optimize the number of additional variants to be included. The final model was evaluated in an independent study population including 1,370 cases and 1,239 controls. RESULTS The polygenic risk score with 65 established susceptibility variants provided an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.67. Adding an additional 68 novel variants significantly increased the AUC to 0.68 (P = 0.0012) and the net reclassification index with 0.21 (P = 8.5E-08). All novel variants were located in genomic regions established as associated with prostate cancer risk. CONCLUSIONS Inclusion of additional genetic variants from established prostate cancer susceptibility regions improves disease prediction. Prostate 75:1467–1474, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effects of height and BMI on prostate cancer incidence and mortality: A Mendelian randomization study in 20,848 cases and 20,214 controls from the PRACTICAL consortium

Background Epidemiological studies suggest a potential role for obesity and determinants of adult stature in prostate cancer risk and mortality, but the relationships described in the literature are complex. To address uncertainty over the causal nature of previous observational findings, we investigated associations of height- and adiposity-related genetic variants with prostate cancer risk and mortality. Methods We conducted a case–control study based on 20,848 prostate cancers and 20,214 controls of European ancestry from 22 studies in the PRACTICAL consortium. We constructed genetic risk scores that summed each man’s number of height and BMI increasing alleles across multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms robustly associated with each phenotype from published genome-wide association studies. Results The genetic risk scores explained 6.31 and 1.46 % of the variability in height and BMI, respectively. There was only weak evidence that genetic variants previously associated with increased BMI were associated with a lower prostate cancer risk (odds ratio per standard deviation increase in BMI genetic score 0.98; 95 % CI 0.96, 1.00; p = 0.07). Genetic variants associated with increased height were not associated with prostate cancer incidence (OR 0.99; 95 % CI 0.97, 1.01; p = 0.23), but were associated with an increase (OR 1.13; 95 % CI 1.08, 1.20) in prostate cancer mortality among low-grade disease (p heterogeneity, low vs. high grade <0.001). Genetic variants associated with increased BMI were associated with an increase (OR 1.08; 95 % CI 1.03, 1.14) in all-cause mortality among men with low-grade disease (p heterogeneity = 0.03). Conclusions We found little evidence of a substantial effect of genetically elevated height or BMI on prostate cancer risk, suggesting that previously reported observational associations may reflect common environmental determinants of height or BMI and prostate cancer risk. Genetically elevated height and BMI were associated with increased mortality (prostate cancer-specific and all-cause, respectively) in men with low-grade disease, a potentially informative but novel finding that requires replication.

BDST modelling of sodium ion exchange column behaviour with strong acid cation resin in relation to coal seam water treatment

Reverse osmosis is the dominant technology utilized for desalination of saline water produced during the extraction of coal seam gas. Alternatively, ion exchange is of interest due to potential cost advantages. However, there is limited information regarding the column performance of strong acid cation resin for removal of sodium ions from both model and actual coal seam water samples. In particular, the impact of bed depth, flow rate, and regeneration was not clear. Consequently, this study applied Bed Depth Service Time (BDST) models to reveal that increasing sodium ion concentration and flow rates diminished the time required for breakthrough to occur. The loading of sodium ions on fresh resin was calculated to be ca. 71.1 g Na/kg resin. Difficulties in regeneration of the resin using hydrochloric acid solutions were discovered, with 86% recovery of exchange sites observed. The maximum concentration of sodium ions in the regenerant brine was found to be 47,400 mg/L under the conditions employed. The volume of regenerant waste formed was 6.2% of the total volume of water treated. A coal seam water sample was found to load the resin with only 53.5 g Na/kg resin, which was consistent with not only the co-presence of more favoured ions such as calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium, but also inefficient regeneration of the resin prior to the coal seam water test.

A reverse Stroop task with mouse tracking

In a reverse Stroop task, observers respond to the meaning of a color word irrespective of the color in which the word is printed—for example, the word red may be printed in the congruent color (red), an incongruent color (e.g., blue), or a neutral color (e.g., white). Although reading of color words in this task is often thought to be neither facilitated by congruent print colors nor interfered with incongruent print colors, this interference has been detected by using a response method that does not give any bias in favor of processing of word meanings or processing of print colors. On the other hand, evidence for the presence of facilitation in this task has been scarce, even though this facilitation is theoretically possible. By modifying the task such that participants respond to a stimulus color word by pointing to a corresponding response word on a computer screen with a mouse, the present study investigated the possibility that not only interference but also facilitation would take place in a reverse Stroop task. Importantly, in this study, participants’ responses were dynamically tracked by recording the entire trajectories of the mouse. Arguably, this method provided richer information about participants’ performance than traditional measures such as reaction time and accuracy, allowing for more detailed (and thus potentially more sensitive) investigation of facilitation and interference in the reverse Stroop task. These trajectories showed that the mouse’s approach toward correct response words was significantly delayed by incongruent print colors but not affected by congruent print colors, demonstrating that only interference, not facilitation, was present in the current task. Implications of these findings are discussed within a theoretical framework in which the strength of association between a task and its response method plays a critical role in determining how word meanings and print colors interact in reverse Stroop tasks.