Risks of exposure to liquid laundry detergent pods compared to traditional laundry detergents in dogs.

Objective: To calculate risk differences of traditional laundry detergents as compared to pods, describe clinical signs expected from exposure, and outline commonly employed treatment options.

Design: Retrospective review of cases reported to Pet Poison Helpline (PPH) from the dates of March 1, 2012 to March 1, 2015.

Setting: The computer database of the PPH, an international animal poison control center.

Remobilisation of industrial lead depositions in ash during Australian wildfires.

This study examined the recycling of lead (Pb) in ash from wildfires, its source and potential contribution to environmental contamination. Ash from wildfires was collected from four Australian sites following uncontrolled fires during 2012 to 2013 close to major urban populations in Sydney (New South Wales), Hobart (Tasmania) and Adelaide (South Australia). The samples were analysed for their total Pb concentration and Pb isotopic composition to determine the sources of Pb and the extent, if any, of industrial contamination and its recycling into the ecosystem.

Chemical, biological, and DNA markers for tracing slaughterhouse effluent.

Agricultural practices, if not managed correctly, can have a negative impact on receiving environments via waste disposal and discharge. In this study, a chicken slaughter facility on the rural outskirts of Sydney, Australia, has been identified as a possible source of persistent effluent discharge into a peri-urban catchment. Questions surrounding the facility's environmental management practices go back more than four decades.

Trust and the Compliance-Reliance Paradigm: The Effects of Risk, Error Bias, and Reliability on Trust and Dependence.

Objective: This study provides a theoretical link between trust and the compliance-reliance paradigm. We propose that for trust mediation to occur, the operator must be presented with a salient choice, and there must be an element of risk for dependence.

Background: Research suggests that false alarms and misses affect dependence via two independent processes, hypothesized as trust in signals and trust in nonsignals.

Pb-Ra disequilibria in young gas-laden magmas.

We present new U-Th-Ra-Pb and supporting data for young lavas from southwest Pacific island arcs, Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, and Terceira, Azores. The arc lavas have significant U and Ra excesses, whereas those from the ocean islands have moderate Th and Ra excesses, reflecting mantle melting in the presence of a water-rich fluid in the former and mantle melting by decompression in the latter. Differentiation to erupted compositions in both settings appears to have taken no longer than a few millennia.

Geochemical sources, forms and phases of soil contamination in an industrial city.

This study examines current soil contamination in an Australian industrial city, Newcastle. Public (roadside verges and parks) and private (homes) surface soils (n=170) contained metal(loid)s elevated above their respective Australian Health Investigation Levels (HIL). Lead (Pb), the most common contaminant in the city, exceeds the HIL for residential soils (HIL-A, 300mg/kg) in 88% of private soils (median: 1140mg/kg).

Widespread copper and lead contamination of household drinking water, New South Wales, Australia.

This study examines arsenic, copper, lead and manganese drinking water contamination at the domestic consumer's kitchen tap in homes of New South Wales, Australia. Analysis of 212 first draw drinking water samples shows that almost 100% and 56% of samples contain detectable concentrations of copper and lead, respectively. Of these detectable concentrations, copper exceeds Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) in 5% of samples and lead in 8%.

Australian atmospheric lead deposition reconstructed using lead concentrations and isotopic compositions of archival lichen and fungi.

Lead concentrations and their isotopic compositions were measured in lichen genera Cladonia and Usnea and fungi genus Trametes from the Greater Sydney region (New South Wales, Australia) that had been collected and archived over the past 120 years. The median lead contents were elevated in lichens and fungi prior to the introduction of leaded petrol (Cladonia 12.5 mg/kg; Usnea 15.

Evaluation and assessment of the efficacy of an abatement strategy in a former lead smelter community, Boolaroo, Australia.

This study examines the recent soil Lead Abatement Strategy (LAS) in Boolaroo, New South Wales, Australia, that was designed to "achieve a reduction in human exposure to lead dust contamination in surface soils". The abatement programme addressed legacy contamination of residential areas following closure of lead smelting operations in 2003 at the Pasminco Cockle Creek Smelter (PCCS). The principal objective of the LAS was to "cap and cover" lead-contaminated soils within the urban environment surrounding the PCCS.

Identification of the sources of metal (lead) contamination in drinking waters in north-eastern Tasmania using lead isotopic compositions.

This study utilises a range of scientific approaches, including lead isotopic compositions, to differentiate unknown sources of ongoing lead contamination of a drinking water supply in north-eastern Tasmania, Australia. Drinking water lead concentrations are elevated above the Australian Drinking Water Guideline (10 μg/L), reaching 540 μg/L in the supply network. Water lead isotopic compositions from the town of Pioneer ((208)Pb/(207)Pb 2.

A network model for human interoperability.

Objective: The objective is to demonstrate how the Human View architecture can be used to define and evaluate the human interoperability capabilities of a net-centric system. Human interoperability strives to understand the types of system relationships that affect collaboration across networked environments.

Background: The Human View was developed as an additional system architectural viewpoint to focus on the human component of a system by capturing data on human roles, tasks, constraints, interactions, and metrics.

Assessment of a sequential phase extraction procedure for uranium-series isotope analysis of soils and sediments.

The study of uranium-series (U-series) isotopes in soil and sediment materials has been proposed to quantify rates and timescales of soil production and sediment transport. Previous works have studied bulk soil or sediment material, which is a complex assemblage of primary and secondary minerals and organic compounds. However, the approach relies on the fractionation between U-series isotopes in primary minerals since they were liberated from the parent rock via weathering.

Reduction of hepatitis C virus using lectin affinity plasmapheresis in dialysis patients.

Background/aims: To test the safety and efficacy of the Aethlon Hemopurifier, a lectin affinity cartridge, in clearing hepatitis C virus (HCV) from the blood of HCV-positive end-stage renal disease patients undergoing dialysis. Viral RNA was measured using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

Results: HCV clearance from plasma or blood was measured using either direct capture on immobilized Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) or using miniature plasmapheresis cartridges containing immobilized GNA.

Slow continuous intravenous plasmapheresis (SCIP): clinical applications and hemostability of extracorporeal ultrafiltration.

An intravenous plasmapheresis catheter which excludes >99.4% of platelets from external ultrafiltration circuits is currently undergoing safety and efficacy trials for fluid removal from NYHA class II-IV congestive heart failure patients resistant to diuretic drug therapy. In animals, the SCIP catheter allowed a four fold increase in ultrafiltration efficiency without hemolysis, hemoinstability or external cartridge changes in 72 hours of treatment.

Artificial in vivo biofiltration: slow continuous intravenous plasmafiltration (SCIP) and artificial organ support.

An intravenous plasmafiltration (SCIP) catheter has been developed and is proposed for clinical investigation into the alleviation of acute fluid overload by SCUF of the extracted plasma. The system utilizes a unique backflushing technique, high intravenous shear flow rates and biocompatible polymers to minimize protein and platelet aggregation along the filter surfaces. The absence of platelets from the extracted plasma promotes the longevity of ultrafiltration cartridges, thus theoretically minimizing attendant labor associated with continuous renal replacement therapies.

Slow continuous intracorporeal plasmapheresis for acute fluid overload.

Intermittent dialysis is still the predominant treatment for acute or chronic renal insufficiency in the USA despite increasing evidence that slower and longer fluid management therapies are more beneficial to the patient. We have investigated the use of slow continuous intracorporeal plasmapheresis (SCIP) as a more efficient and hemodynamically stable alternative means of treating acute fluid overload. In this paper we discuss preliminary observations on the safety of SCIP catheter insertion, fluid removal, extraction and pathology in Yorkshire pigs.

Optimized in situ construction of oligomers on an array surface.

Oligonucleotide arrays are powerful tools to study changes in gene expression for whole genomes. These arrays can be synthesized by adapting photolithographic techniques used in microelectronics. Using this method, oligonucleotides are built base by base directly on the array surface by numerous cycles of photodeprotection and nucleotide addition.

A novel approach to the treatment of chronic fluid overload with a new plasma separation device.

Many patients with congestive heart failure suffer at some point in their therapy from severe fluid overload, and a significant proportion of patients become unresponsive to diuretic drug therapy. In this paper, we propose a new experimental approach to plasma purification and the treatment of severe fluid overload in acute care patients. Plasma can be extracted directly from the patient through an intracorporeal catheter temporarily placed within the inferior vena cava.

Intravenous catheter for intracorporeal plasma filtration.

Future advances in dialysis of end-stage renal disease patients may include improvements in therapeutic continuity and patient mobility. Continuous renal replacement therapies could lead to self-contained, mobile and potentially wearable dialysis units. We investigated an experimental, intravenous slow-continuous plasma separation system (IPSS) as a precursor to direct intravenous hemofiltration.

Vitellin processing and protein synthesis during cricket embryogenesis.

At the start of insect embryogenesis most of the protein mass of the egg cytoplasm exists as vitellin (Vt) obtained endocytically during vitellogenesis. Of the new embryo polypeptides (EP) appearing in the egg during embryogenesis, many are synthesized de novo, while, in some species, others derive from developmentally programmed partial proteolysis of Vt. Earlier we showed that by the end of vitellogenesis the two native Vts in Acheta domesticus exist in opposing gradients along the longitudinal axis of the egg.

A monoclonal IgG anticardiolipin antibody from a patient with the antiphospholipid syndrome is thrombogenic in mice.

Antiphospholipid antibodies, including anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA), are strongly associated with recurrent thrombosis in patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). To date, reports about the binding specificities of ACA and their role(s) in causing and/or sustaining thrombosis in APS are conflicting and controversial. The plasmas of patients with APS, usually containing a mixture of autoantibodies, vary in binding specificity for different phospholipids/cofactors and vary in in vitro lupus anticoagulant activity.

Autoantibodies to human heat shock protein (hsp)60 may be induced by Escherichia coli groEL.

The 65-kD hsp from Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been reported to induce an autopathogenic subset of T cells in at least two animal models of autoimmune disease. Reports of increased expression of human hsp60 in the inflamed synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, increased proliferation of RA synovial fluid T cells to mycobacterial hsp65, and increased levels of anti-mycobacterial hsp65 antibody in synovial fluid, have suggested that the highly homologous human (hu) hsp60 may be recognized as an autoantigen iin RA patients. In the present study, we have examined by ELISA the serum IgG antibody levels to mycobacterial hsp65 and hu hsp60, as well as to the Escherichia coli hsp60, groEL, in patients with RA, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Reiter's syndrome, active tuberculosis, and normal controls.

Purification of recombinant human Hsp60: use of a GroEL-free preparation to assess autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis.

A 65 kDa mycobacterial heat shock protein has been implicated in the development or perpetuation of the inflammatory diseases rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). An homology of the mycobacterial hsp65 with human hsp60 (HuHsp60) has been thought to constitute a cross reactive autoimmunizing pathogenetic potential. Study of this cross reactivity with recombinant reagents has been complicated by the fact that recombinant HuHsp60 might be contaminated by the E.