Digital Commons Network^™

Neurological Impacts From Inhalation Of Pollutants And The Nose–Brain Connection, R.G. Lucchini, D.C. Dorman, A. Elder, B. Veronesi

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

The effects of inhaled particles have focused heavily on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Most studies have focused on inhaled metals, whereas less information is available for other particle types regarding the effects on the brain and other extra-pulmonary organs. We review here the key available literature on nanoparticle uptake and transport through the olfactory pathway, the experimental data from animal and in vitro studies, and human epidemiological observations. Nanoparticles (<0.1µm in one dimension) may easily reach the brain from the respiratory tract via sensory neurons and transport from the distal alveoli into the blood or lymph as free particles or inside phagocytic cells. These mechanisms and subsequent biologic responses may be influenced by the chemical composition of inhaled particles. Animal studies with ambient particulate matter and certain other particles show alterations in neuro-inflammatory markers of oxidative stress and central neurodegeneration. Human observations indicate motor, cognitive, and behavioral changes especially after particulate metal exposure in children. Exposure to co-pollutants and/or underlying disease states could also impact both the biokinetics and effects of airborne particles in the brain. Data are needed from the areas of inhalation, neurology, and metal toxicology in experimental and human studies after inhalation exposure. An increased understanding of the neurotoxicity associated with air pollution exposure is critical to protect susceptible individuals in the workplace and the general population.

Immunomodulation In Eastern Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica, Exposed To A Pah-Contaminated, Microphytobenthic Diatom, April N. Croxton, Gary H. Wikfors, Richard D. Schulterbrandt-Gragg

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The trophic transfer of sediment-associated pollutants is a growing concern in shellfish harvesting areas. Previous studies have examined the role of phytoplankton in the transport of organic contaminants to bivalve species, but little information on microphytobenthic communities and their role as contaminant vectors exists. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds formed during natural and industrial processes; they are termed “persistent organic pollutants” because they are only slowly degraded by natural processes. This study examined the transfer of PAH compounds (naphthalene, pyrene, and benzo(a)pyrene) by a microphytobenthic diatom to the eastern oyster, a commercially important shellfish species, to determine if …

Social Network Correlates Of Food Availability In An Endangered Population Of Killer Whales, Orcinus Orca, Emma A. Foster, Daniel W. Franks, Lesley J. Morrell, Ken C. Balcomb, Kim M. Parsons, Astrid Van Ginneken, Darren P. Croft

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

For the majority of social species, group composition is dynamic, and individuals are interconnected in a heterogeneous social network. Social network structure has far-reaching implications for the ecology of individuals and populations. However, we have little understanding of how ecological variables shape this structure. We used a long-term data set (1984e2007) to examine the relationship between food availability and social network structure in the endangered southern resident killer whales. During the summer months individuals in this population feed primarily on chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, which show annual variation in abundance. We tested the hypothesis that temporal variation in chinook …

Starvation Causes Disturbance In Amino Acid And Fatty Acid Metabolism In Diporeia, Suman Maity, Amber Jannasch, Jiri Adamec, Thomas Nalepa, Tomas O. Höök, Maria S. Sepúlveda

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The benthic amphipod Diporeia spp. was once the predominant macroinvertebrate in deep, offshore regions of the Laurentian Great Lakes. However, since the early 1990s, Diporeia populations have steadily declined across the area. It has been hypothesized that this decline is due to starvation from increasing competition for food with invasive dreissenid mussels. In order to gain a better understanding of the changes in Diporeia physiology during starvation, we applied two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry (GCXGC/TOF-MS) for investigating the responses in Diporeia metabolome during starvation. We starved Diporeia for 60 days and collected five organisms every …

Health Status, Infection And Disease In California Sea Lions (Zalophus Californianus) Studied Using A Canine Microarray Platform And Machine-Learning Approaches, Annalaura Mancia, James C. Ryan, Robert W. Chapman, Qingzhong Wu, Gregory W. Warr, Frances M.D. Gulland, Frances M. Van Dolah

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Conservation biologists face many challenges in assessing health, immune status and infectious diseases in protected species. These challenges include unpredictable sample populations, diverse genetic and environmental backgrounds of the animals, as well as the practical, legal and ethical issues involved in experimentation. The use of whole genome scale transcriptomics with animal samples obtained in a minimally invasive manner is an approach that shows promise for health assessment. In this study we assessed the utility of a microarray to identify changes in gene expression predictive of health status by interrogating blood samples from California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in …

Disease Will Limit Future Food Supply From The Global Crustacean Fishery And Aquaculture Sectors, G.D. Stentiford, D.M. Neil, E.J. Peeler, J.D. Shields, H.J. Small, T.W. Flegel, J.M. Vlak, B. Jones, F. Morado, S. Moss, J. Lotz, L. Bartholomay, D.C. Behringer, C. Hauton, D.V. Lightner

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Seafood is a highly traded food commodity. Farmed and captured crustaceans contribute a significant proportion with annual production exceeding 10 M metric tonnes with first sale value of $40bn. The sector is dominated by farmed tropical marine shrimp, the fastest growing sector of the global aquaculture industry. It is significant in supporting rural livelihoods and alleviating poverty in producing nations within Asia and Latin America while forming an increasing contribution to aquatic food supply in more developed countries. Nations with marine borders often also support important marine fisheries for crustaceans that are regionally traded as live animals and commodity products. …

Comparison Of Methods For The Detection Of Coliphages In Recreational Water At Two California, United States Beaches, Roberto A. Rodríguez, David C. Love, Jill R. Stewart, Julianne Tajuba, Jacqueline Knee, Jerold W. Dickerson Jr., Laura F. Webster, Mark D. Sobsey

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Methods for detection of two fecal indicator viruses, F+ and somatic coliphages, were evaluated for application to recreational marine water. Marine water samples were collected during the summer of 2007 in Southern California, United States from transects along Avalon Beach (n = 186 samples) and Doheny Beach (n = 101 samples). Coliphage detection methods included EPA method 1601 – two-step enrichment (ENR), EPA method 1602 – single agar layer (SAL), and variations of ENR. Variations included comparison of two incubation times (overnight and 5-h incubation) and two final detection steps (lysis zone assay and a rapid latex agglutination …

Mercury In The Gulf Of Mexico: Sources To Receptors, Reed Harris, Curtis Pollman, William Landing, David Evans, Donald Axelrad, David Hutchinson, Steven L. Morey, Darren Rumbold, Dmitry Dukhovskoy, Douglas H. Adams, Krish Vijayaraghavan, Christopher Holmes, R. Dwight Atkinson, Tom Myers, Elsie Sunderland

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) fisheries account for 41% of the U.S. marine recreational fish catch and 16% of the nation's marine commercial fish landings. Mercury (Hg) concentrations are elevated in some fish species in the Gulf, including king mackerel, sharks, and tilefish. All five Gulf states have fish consumption advisories based on Hg. Per-capita fish consumption in the Gulf region is elevated compared to the U.S. national average, and recreational fishers in the region have a potential for greater MeHg exposure due to the higher levels of fish consumption. Atmospheric we Hg deposition is estimated to be higher in the …

Assessment Of Management To Mitigate Anthropogenic Effects On Large Whales, Julie M. Van Der Hoop, Michael J. Moore, Susan G. Barco, Timothy V.N. Cole, Pierre-Yves Daoust, Allison G. Henry, Donald F. Mcalpine, William A. Mclellan, Tonya Wimmer, Andrew R. Solow

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

United States and Canadian governments have responded to legal requirements to reduce human induced whale mortality via vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear by implementing a suite of regulatory actions. We analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns of mortality of large whales in the Northwest Atlantic (23.5°N to 48.0°N), 1970 through 2009, in the context of management changes. We used a multinomial logistic model fitted by maximum likelihood to detect trends in cause-specific mortalities with time. We compared the number of human-caused mortalities with U.S. federally established levels of potential biological removal (i.e., species-specific sustainable human-caused mortality). From 1970 …

Do Initial Responses To Drugs Predict Future Use Or Abuse?, Harriet De Wit, Tamara J. Phillips

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Publications

Individuals vary in their initial reactions to drugs of abuse in ways that may contribute to the likelihood of subsequent drug use. In humans, most drugs of abuse produce positive subjective states such as euphoria and feelings of well-being, which may facilitate repeated use. In nonhumans, many drugs initially increase locomotor activity and produce discriminative stimulus effects, both of which have been considered to be models of human stimulant and subjective states. Both humans and nonhumans vary in their sensitivity to early acute drug effects in ways that may predict future use or self-administration, and some of these variations appear …

A Brief History And Summary Of The Effects Of River Engineering And Dams On The Mississippi River System And Delta, Jason S. Alexander, Richard C. Wilson, W. Reed Green

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The United States Geological Survey Forecast Mekong project is providing technical assistance and information to aid management decisions and build science capacity of institutions in the Mekong River Basin. A component of this effort is to produce a synthesis of the effects of dams and other engineering structures on large-river hydrology, sediment transport, geomorphology, ecology, water quality, and deltaic systems. The Mississippi River Basin (MRB) of the United States was used as the backdrop and context for this synthesis because it is a continental scale river system with a total annual water discharge proportional to the Mekong River, has been …

Effects Of Mining-Derived Metals On Riffle-Dwelling Crayfish In Southwestern Missouri And Southeastern Kansas, Usa, Ann L. Allert, Robert J. Distefano, Christopher J. Schmitt, James F. Fairchild, William G. Brumbaugh

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Riffle-dwelling crayfish populations were sampled at 16 sites in 4 tributaries of the Spring River located within the Tri-State Mining District in southwest Missouri. Crayfish density, physical habitat quality, and water quality were examined at each site to assess the ecological effects of mining-derived metals on crayfish. Metals (lead, zinc, and cadmium) were analyzed in samples of surface water, sediment, detritus, and whole crayfish. Sites were classified a posteriori into reference, mining, and downstream sites primarily based on metal concentrations in the materials analyzed. Three species of crayfish (Orconectes neglectus neglectus, O. macrus, and O. virilis) were collected …

Soil Genesis On The Island Of Bermuda In The Quaternary: The Importance Of African Dust Transport And Deposition, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Joseph M. Prospero, Gary Skipp, Stanley R. Herwitz

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The origin of terra rossa, red or reddish-brown, clay-rich soils overlying high-purity carbonate substrates, has intrigued geologists and pedologists for decades. Terra rossa soils can form from accumulation of insoluble residues during dissolution of the host limestones, addition of volcanic ash, or addition of externally derived, long-range-transported (LRT) aeolian particles. We studied soils and paleosols on high-purity, carbonate aeolianites of Quaternary age on Bermuda, where terra rossa origins have been debated for more than a century. Potential soil parent materials on this island include sand-sized fragments of local volcanic bedrock, the LRT, fine-grained (µm) component of distal loess from the …

Critique On The Use Of The Standardized Avian Acute Oral Toxicity Test For First Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides, Nimish B. Vyas, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Avian risk assessments for rodenticides are often driven by the results of standardized acute oral toxicity tests without regards to a toxicant’s mode of action and time course of adverse effects. First generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs) generally require multiple feedings over several days to achieve a threshold concentration in tissue and cause adverse effects. This exposure regimen is much different than that used in the standardized acute oral toxicity test methodology. Median lethal dose values derived from standardized acute oral toxicity tests underestimate the environmental hazard and risk of FGARs. Caution is warranted when FGAR toxicity, physiological effects, and pharmacokinetics …

Climate Change And Infectious Disease Dynamics, Raina K. Plowright, Paul C. Cross, Gary M. Tabor, Emily Almberg, Leslie Bienen, Peter J. Hudson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The International Panel on Climate Change has made an unequivocal case that the earth's climate is changing in profound ways, and that human activities are contributing significantly to climate disruption (IPCC 2007). The weight of evidence demonstrates warming global temperatures, changing patterns of precipitation, and increasing climate variability, with more extreme events. Thus, the physical underpinnings of ecology are changing, with pervasive effects on disease dynamics. Interactions among environment, hosts, and pathogens drive disease processes, and climate change will influence every interaction in this triad, directly and indirectly.

Wildlife Toxicology: Environmental Contaminants And Their National And International Regulation, K. Christiana Grim, Anne Fairbrother, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Wildlife toxicology is the study of potentially harmful effects of toxic agents in wild animals, focusing on amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Fish and aquatic invertebrates are not usually included as part of wildlife toxicology since they fall within the field of aquatic toxicology, but collectively both disciplines often provide inSight into one another and both are integral parts of ecotoxicology (Hoffman et al. 2003). It entails monitoring, hypothesis testing, forensics, and risk assessment; encompasses molecular through ecosystem responses and various research venues (laboratory, mesocosm, field); and has been shaped by chemical use and misuse, ecological mishaps, and biomedical research. …

Sorta Situ: The New Reality Of Management Conditions For Wildlife Populations In The Absence Of "Wild" Spaces, Barbara A. Wolfe, Roberto F. Aguilar, A. Alonso Aguirre, Glenn H. Olsen, Evan S. Blumer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The rate of species loss today is approaching catastrophic levels. Scientists project that over the next two decades, more than 1 million species of plants and animals will become extinct. E.O. Wilson has estimated that "the rate ofloss may exceed 50,000 a year, 137 a day ... this rate, while horrendous, is actually the minimal estimate, based on the species/area relationship alone" (Kellert and Wilson 1993, p. 16; Aguirre 2009). Ever-expanding communities, strained natural resources, changes in land use, and other anthropogenic drivers are compromising ecosystems and rapidly changing the landscape and the availability of "wild" spaces.

Conditioned Response Evoked By Nicotine Conditioned Stimulus Preferentially Induces C-Fos Expression In Medial Regions Of Caudate-Putamen, Sergios Charntikov, Matthew E. Tracy, Changjiu Zhao, Ming Li, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Nicotine has both unconditioned and conditioned stimulus properties. Conditioned stimulus properties of nicotine may contribute to the tenacity of nicotine addiction. The purpose of this experiment was to use neurohistochemical analysis of rapidly developing c-Fos protein to elucidate neurobiological loci involved in the processing of nicotine as an interoceptive conditioned stimulus (CS). Rats were injected (SC) in an intermixed fashion with saline or nicotine (16 sessions of each) and placed in conditioning chambers where they were given one of the three conditions depending on group assignment: (a) nicotine paired 100% of the time with intermittent access to sucrose (nicotine-CS condition), …

Long-Term Storage And Impedance-Based Water Toxicity Testing Capabilities Of Fluidic Biochips Seeded With Rtgill-W1 Cells, Linda M. Brennan, Mark W. Widder, Lucy E.J. Lee, William H. Van Der Schalie

United States Army: Publications

Rainbow trout gill epithelial cells (RTgill-W1) are used in a cell-based biosensor that can respond within one hour to toxic chemicals that have the potential to contaminate drinking water supplies. RTgill-W1 cells seeded on enclosed fluidic biochips and monitored using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) technology responded to 18 out of the 18 toxic chemicals tested within one hour of exposure. Nine of these chemical responses were within established concentration ranges specified by the U.S. Army for comparison of toxicity sensors for field application. The RTgill-W1 cells remain viable on the biochips at ambient carbon dioxide levels at 6°C for …

Multi-Platform Comparison Of Ten Commercial Master Mixes For Probe-Based Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection Of Bioterrorism Threat Agents For Surge Preparedness, Gregory S. Buzard, Daniel Baker, Mark J. Wolcott, David A. Norwood, Leslie A. Dauphin

United States Army: Publications

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United States Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases have developed real-time PCR assays for the detection of bioterrorism threat agents. These assays all rely on a limited number of approved real-time PCR master mixes. Because the availability of these reagents is a critical element of bioterrorism preparedness, we undertook a joint national preparedness exercise to address the potential surge needs resulting from a large-scale bio-emergency. We identified 9 commercially-available potential alternatives to an existing approved master mix (LightCycler FastStart DNA Master HybProbes): the TaqMan Fast Universal PCR master mix, OmniMix HS, FAST …

Fishery Resource Utilization Of A Restored Estuarine Borrow Pit: A Beneficial Use Of Dredged Material Case Study, Kevin Reine, Douglas Clarke, Gary Ray, Charles Dickerson

United States Army: Publications

Numerous pits in coastal waters are subject to degraded water quality and benthic habitat conditions, resulting in degraded fish habitat. A pit in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey (USA) was partially filled with dredged sediment to increase flushing, alleviate hypoxia, and enhance benthic assemblages. Restoration objectives were assessed in terms of benthic community parameters and fishery resource occupation. Restoration resulted in increased benthic diversity (bottom samples) and the absence of water column stratification. Fisheries resources occupied the entire water column, unlike pre-restoration conditions where finfish tended to avoid the lower water column. The partial restoration option effectively reproduced an existing borrow …

Risk Behaviour And Time As Covariates For Effi Cacy Of The Hiv Vaccine Regimen Alvac-Hiv (Vcp1521) And Aidsvax B/E: A Post-Hoc Analysis Of The Thai Phase 3 Efficacy Trial Rv 144, Merlin L. Robb, Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, Sorachai Nitayaphan, Punnee Pitisuttithum, Jaranit Kaewkungwal, Prayura Kunasol, Chirasak Khamboonruang, Prasert Thongcharoen, Patricia Morgan, Michael Benenson, Robert M. Paris, Joseph Chiu, Elizabeth Adams, Donald Francis, Sanjay Gurunathan, Jim Tartaglia, Peter Gilbert, Don Stablein, Nelson L. Michael, Jerome H. Kim

United States Army: Publications

Background The Thai phase 3 HIV vaccine trial RV 144 showed modest effi cacy of a vaccine against HIV acquisition. Baseline variables of age, sex, marital status, and risk did not modify vaccine effi cacy. We did a post-hoc analysis of the trial’s data to investigate behavioural risk and effi cacy every 6 months after vaccination.

Methods RV 144 was a randomised, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled effi cacy trial testing the combination of the HIV vaccines ALVAC-HIV (vCP1521) and AIDSVAX B/E to prevent HIV infection or reduce setpoint viral load. Male and female volunteers aged 18–30 years were recruited from the …

The Interface Of Animal And Human Vaccines, Connie Schmaljohn, Christian W. Mandl

United States Army: Publications

The historical legacy of zoonotic viral diseases includes more than 50 million human deaths (3% of the world’s population) due to the appearance of a novel influenza virus in the early 1900s as well as the emergence of previously unknown diseases such as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in 1993 [1] and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 [2]. Preventing epidemics resulting from other emerging viral diseases, whether due to ordinary interactions of humans and animals, to man-made environmental changes, or even to increased exposure following natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis, depends on the harmonization of all aspects of …

Disability Among Us Army Veterans Vaccinated Against Anthrax, Sandra I. Sulsky, Rose Luippold, Patrick Garman, Hayley Hughes, Edward J. Boyko, Charles Maynard, Paul J. Amoroso

United States Army: Publications

Context: To protect troops against the use of anthrax as a biological weapon, the US Department of Defense began an anthrax vaccination program in 1998. 14 years after the inception of the vaccination program, there is no evidence suggesting vaccination against anthrax carries long-term health risks for Active Duty Soldiers.

Objective: To investigate the association between Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA) received while on Active Duty and subsequent disability determined by the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Design, setting and participants: Case–control study nested in the cohort of all Active Duty personnel known to have separated from the US Army …

Pilot Study For A Sperm Quality-Based Reproductive Assessment Scheme For Deer, Lawrence V. Tannenbaum, Barrett E. Borry

United States Army: Publications

Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) for mammals at chemically contaminated terrestrial sites conventionally apply a food-chain model to draw inferences about a population’s reproductive condition. Very recently though, the ERA field was advanced beyond the desktop level with the introduction of Rodent Sperm Analysis (RSA), a direct health status assessment method for the actual chemically exposed site receptor. Here, the sperm parameters of rodents (count, motility, morphology) of contaminated sites and their habitat-matched non-contaminated reference locations are comparatively reviewed for a technically supported indication of reproductive capability, ERA’s toxicological endpoint of greatest concern. With the extent to which sperm parameters need …

Revisiting History Through Crime Fiction: Shiono Nanami’S Scarlet Venice In The Renaissance Trilogy Of Murder, Ikuho Amano

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications

In her Renaissance Trilogy of Murder (1988), Shiono Nanami (塩野七生, 1937- ) rejuvenates the classical genre of historical crime fiction, dismantling a canonical outlook of late Renaissance Italy. As historiographer of Ancient Rome, the Italian Renaissance, and the Mediterranean naval epic, Shiono achieved literary stardom in Japan in the 1980s, and has been internationally known for her pragmatist approaches to history and contemporary politics. Her writing has reassessed established history from the non-Western and non-Christian viewpoints. Most notably, her magnum opus, Rōmajin no monogatari (Res GestaePopuli Romani—Tales of the Romans) (published 1992-2006) tirelessly describes the empire’s politics, beginning …

Transportation Impacts Of The Chicago River Closure To Prevent An Asian Carp Infestation, Aaron Strong Ph.D., Nikhil Sikka Ph.D., Lindsay Salvatore Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This project develops a simple linear programming model of the Upper Midwest regions rail transportation network to test whether a closure of the Chicago River to freight traffic would impact the capacity constraint of the rail system. The result suggest that the rail network in the Upper Midwest regions are nowhere near approaching capacity and that a closure would have little impact on the rail network. Two noteworthy sets of commodities may be adversely affected, cereal grains and other agricultural product and gravel and crushed stone.

Timber Talk, Vol. 50, No. 3, September 1, 2012

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Timber Stumpage Prices; Wood is Good; Solar-Heated Lumber Dryers: Design Basics; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; Study Reveals Component Market Trends; The Trading Post

Theological And Ethical Implications Of Creation Care, Young Seok Cha

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Decolonizing The Modernist Mind, Alpana Sharma

English Language and Literatures Faculty Publications

Cataclysmic changes in the world require new accommodations to it, new ways of articulating the strangeness that abounds. Literary modernism of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries- the main period under study in this special issue-sought precisely to capture that sense of strangeness, matching it and expressing it with new aesthetic forms, styles, and subject matter. But these early forms of expression which delineated the contours of a startling new reality-the technologies of photography and cinema, scientific discoveries, new modes of transportation, global war, postwar trauma, new class and gender formations, the birth of the unconscious, the erosion of an …