Can TK-TD modelling bridge the gap between in vitro and in vivo mammalian toxicity data?

Repeated dietary dose testing is used to assess longer term toxicity of chemicals, such as pesticides, to mammals. However, the internal pesticide concentration varies significantly as feeding rate relative to body size fluctuates over time. Toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TK-TD) models can estimate internal toxicant concentration over time and link this directly to observed effects on endpoints such as the growth rate of laboratory rats.

Exploring caregiver perspectives in the context of parental substance use: A qualitative study.

Background: Parental substance use is a substantial public health and safeguarding concern. Research examining the impact of parental substance use upon children is well-established, but there is a lack of research examining how parents/caregivers cope with their parenting role within the context of another parent's substance use, or how best to support these parents/caregivers.

Objective: This paper examines the experiences and support needs of parents/caregivers impacted by another parent's substance use.

What can laboratory studies tell us about potential effects of pesticides on nontarget arthropods populations and communities in the field?

Over the past decades, concern has been increasing over reported declines in aboveground biodiversity on farmland. In many regions, data on the toxicity of pesticides to honeybees (Apis mellifera), but not wider nontarget arthropod (NTA) data, are required for pesticide registration. In Europe, the effects of pesticides on NTAs and honeybees have been the subject of regulatory risk assessment for more than 30 years, resulting in a large database.

Bayesian cluster geographically weighted regression for spatial heterogeneous data.

Spatial statistical models are commonly used in geographical scenarios to ensure spatial variation is captured effectively. However, spatial models and cluster algorithms can be complicated and expensive. One of these algorithms is geographically weighted regression (GWR) which was proposed in the geography literature to allow relationships in a regression model to vary over space.

Spatial non-parametric Bayesian clustered coefficients.

In the field of population health research, understanding the similarities between geographical areas and quantifying their shared effects on health outcomes is crucial. In this paper, we synthesise a number of existing methods to create a new approach that specifically addresses this goal. The approach is called a Bayesian spatial Dirichlet process clustered heterogeneous regression model.

Where are the vulnerable children? Identification and comparison of clusters of young children with health and developmental vulnerabilities across Queensland.

This study aimed to better understand the vulnerability of children in their first year of school, aged between 5 years 5 months and 6 years 6 months, based on five health and development domains. Identification of subgroups of children within these domains can lead to more targeted policies to reduce these vulnerabilities. The focus of this study was to determine clusters of geographical regions with high and low proportions of vulnerable children in Queensland, Australia.

Assessing the spatial structure of the association between attendance at preschool and children's developmental vulnerabilities in Queensland, Australia.

Demographic and educational factors are essential, influential factors of early childhood development. This study aimed to investigate spatial patterns in the association between attendance at preschool and children's developmental vulnerabilities in one or more domain(s) in their first year of full-time school at a small area level in Queensland, Australia. This was achieved by applying geographically weighted regression (GWR) followed by K-means clustering of the regression coefficients.

Short communication: Is there a difference in the sensitivity of Africanised and European honeybees to thiamethoxam or dimethoate?

The similarity of sensitivity of adult Africanised and European honeybees following acute oral exposure to thiamethoxam has been questioned. Data collated from adult acute contact and oral toxicity testing of a range of thiamethoxam containing products (solo and mixtures) shows that the toxicity of these products to Africanised honeybees can be directly predicted from the toxicity of the active substances to European honeybees. Similarly, the acute contact and oral toxicity of dimethoate to Africanised bees lies within the same range as European honeybees.

MERISTEM-DEFECTIVE regulates the balance between stemness and differentiation in the root meristem through RNA splicing control.

Plants respond to environmental stresses through controlled stem cell maintenance and meristem activity. One level of gene regulation is RNA alternative splicing. However, the mechanistic link between stress, meristem function and RNA splicing is poorly understood.

Dust abraded from thiamethoxam-treated seed during sowing: Refining the risk assessment for native bees in Brazil.

During sowing using pneumatic machinery, dust may be abraded from pesticide-treated seed and contaminate adjacent bee-attractive off-crop areas. This study quantified the risk to native bees of dust released during sowing of Brazilian crop seeds treated with a thiamethoxam formulation (Cruiser 350FS). To address toxicity to native bees, adult acute contact LD50 data for thiamethoxam were collated from the literature, a species sensitivity distribution generated, and the HD calculated.

Evaluation of a Clinic Education Program for Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

A group education program was developed for clinic patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Teaching methods used included the Arthritis Foundation's handbook, , and a lecture by a rheumatologist. The 20 patients in the study were given a multiple choice test before and after the teaching program to determine their knowledge of arthritis.

Evolutionary and structural aspects of Solanaceae RNases T2.

Plant RNases T2 are involved in several physiological and developmental processes, including inorganic phosphate starvation, senescence, wounding, defense against pathogens, and the self-incompatibility system. Solanaceae RNases form three main clades, one composed exclusively of S-RNases and two that include S-like RNases. We identified several positively selected amino acids located in highly flexible regions of these molecules, mainly close to the B1 and B2 substrate-binding sites in S-like RNases and the hypervariable regions of S-RNases.

Utility of outdoor central site monitoring in assessing exposure of school children to ultrafine particles.

Epidemiological studies investigating the association between daily particle exposure and health effects are frequently based on a single monitoring site located in an urban background. Using a central site in epidemiological time-series studies has been established based on the premises of low spatial variability of particles within the areas of interest and hence the adequacy of the central sites to monitor the exposure. This is true to a large extent in relation to larger particles (PM, PM) that are typically monitored and regulated.

Adaptive monitoring of coral health at Scott Reef where data exhibit nonlinear and disturbed trends over time.

Time series data are often observed in ecological monitoring. Frequently, such data exhibit nonlinear trends over time potentially due to complex relationships between observed and auxiliary variables, and there may also be sudden declines over time due to major disturbances. This poses substantial challenges for modeling such data and also for adaptive monitoring.

Expert clinical consensus in the delivery of hydrodilatation for the management of patients with a primary frozen shoulder : a modified Delphi study.

Aims: To achieve expert clinical consensus in the delivery of hydrodilatation for the treatment of primary frozen shoulder to inform clinical practice and the design of an intervention for evaluation.

Methods: We conducted a two-stage, electronic questionnaire-based, modified Delphi survey of shoulder experts in the UK NHS. Round one required positive, negative, or neutral ratings about hydrodilatation.

A new mixture copula model for spatially correlated multiple variables with an environmental application.

In environmental monitoring, multiple spatial variables are often sampled at a geographical location that can depend on each other in complex ways, such as non-linear and non-Gaussian spatial dependence. We propose a new mixture copula model that can capture those complex relationships of spatially correlated multiple variables and predict univariate variables while considering the multivariate spatial relationship. The proposed method is demonstrated using an environmental application and compared with three existing methods.

Applying a tiered environmental risk assessment framework to estimate the risk of pesticides to soil organisms in Latin America.

This work investigates the application of a tiered risk assessment scheme for soil organisms based on the risk quotient (RQ) and the toxicity exposure ratio (TER). Forty-five pesticides registered in Latin America were chosen and the ecotoxicological endpoints for earthworms, Collembola, and microorganisms were collated. Tier I assessment was made on conservative assumptions in which no refinements were applied.

Lower pollen nutritional quality delays nest building and egg laying in micro-colonies leading to reduced biomass gain.

The performance of micro-colonies fed five diets differing in pollen species composition and level of nine essential amino acids (EAA; leucine, lysine, valine, arginine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, methionine) was assessed for 37 days by recording total biomass gain, nest building initiation, brood production (eggs, small and large larvae, pupae, drones), nectar, and pollen collection. Stronger colony performance was linked to higher amino acid levels but no consistent differences in biomass gain were recorded between mono- and poly-species diets. Poorest performance occurred in micro-colonies offered pure oilseed rape (OSR) pollen which contained the lowest EAA levels.

Retrospective identification of latent subgroups of emergency department patients: A machine learning approach.

Objective: This research aims to (i) identify latent subgroups of ED presentations in Australian public EDs using a data-driven approach and (ii) compare clinical, socio-demographic and time-related characteristics of ED presentations broadly using the subgroups.

Methods: We examined presentations to four public hospital EDs in Queensland from 2009 to 2014. An unsupervised machine learning algorithm, Clustering Large Applications, was used to cluster ED presentations.

Bayesian Hierarchical Multidimensional Item Response Modeling of Small Sample, Sparse Data for Personalized Developmental Surveillance.

Developmental surveillance tools are used to closely monitor the early development of infants and young children. This study provides a novel implementation of a multidimensional item response model, using Bayesian hierarchical priors, to construct developmental profiles for a small sample of children ( = 115) with sparse data collected through an online developmental surveillance tool. The surveillance tool records 348 developmental milestones measured from birth to three years of age, within six functional domains: auditory, hands, movement, speech, tactile, and vision.

Is there a risk to honeybees from use of thiamethoxam as a sugar beet seed treatment?

The ban imposed by the European Union on the use of neonicotinoids as sugar beet seed treatments was based on the exposure of bees to residues of neonicotinoids in pollen and nectar of succeeding crops. To address this concern, residues of thiamethoxam (TMX) and clothianidin (CTD) were analyzed in soil collected from fields planted in at least the previous year with thiamethoxam-treated sugar beet seed. This soil monitoring program was conducted at 94 sites across Germany in two separate years.

The state of science on severe air pollution episodes: Quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Severe episodic air pollution blankets entire cities and regions and have a profound impact on humans and their activities. We compiled daily fine particle (PM) data from 100 cities in five continents, investigated the trends of number, frequency, and duration of pollution episodes, and compared these with the baseline trend in air pollution. We showed that the factors contributing to these events are complex; however, long-term measures to abate emissions from all anthropogenic sources at all times is also the most efficient way to reduce the occurrence of severe air pollution events.