Effective Image Communication of Hormone Replacement Therapy Risks and Benefits.

This article focuses on the value of a unique graphic/image designed to communicate health risks and benefits related to the administration of hormone replacement therapy. It will demonstrate why equations, technical terms, and confusing rhetoric need not be used for communication to patients and others. The use of a "familiar" theater graphic (given the name Benefit/Risk Characterization Theater) will allow physicians and patients to share decision-making by visualizing tradeoffs through the use of a clearer format: example Benefit/Risk Characterization Theaters: breast cancer risks associated with hormone replacement therapy, effectiveness of estrogen in treating menopausal symptoms, and thromboembolic risk of taking estrogen for postmenopausal women.

Significant spatial variability of bioavailable PAHs in water column and sediment porewater in the Gulf of Mexico 1 year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

One year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill accident, semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) and polyethylene devices (PEDs) were deployed in wetland areas and coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to monitor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The measured PAH levels with the PEDs in coastal areas were 0.05-1.

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification of mercury and selenium in the Sarasota Bay ecosystem.

The bioaccumulation and biomagnification of Hg and Se were investigated in Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA, to characterize the Hg exposure risks to wild bottlenose dolphins in the bay. Concentrations of total mercury (THg), monomethylmercury (MMHg), and total selenium (TSe) were monitored in the bay, the latter of which might reduce Hg toxicity. The food web structure and dolphins' trophic level-specific consumption rates were evaluated using stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ(13) C) and nitrogen (δ(15) N).

Assessment of mercury and selenium concentrations in captive bottlenose dolphin's (Tursiops truncatus) diet fish, blood, and tissue.

Concentrations of total mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) were determined in diet fish and whole blood and tissue samples from seven bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) housed at the National Aquarium Baltimore (NAB). In addition, concentrations of monomethylmercury (CH(3)Hg(+)) were determined in diet fish and dolphins' tissue samples. The data were compared with the values found in wild populations to better understand how the dietary Hg and Se uptake rates affect the Hg and Se levels in dolphins.