Paralytic shellfish toxins in Alaskan Arctic food webs during the anomalously warm ocean conditions of 2019 and estimated toxin doses to Pacific walruses and bowhead whales.

Climate change-related ocean warming and reduction in Arctic sea ice extent, duration and thickness increase the risk of toxic blooms of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella in the Alaskan Arctic. This algal species produces neurotoxins that impact marine wildlife health and cause the human illness known as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). This study reports Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) concentrations quantified in Arctic food web samples that include phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic clams, benthic worms, and pelagic fish collected throughout summer 2019 during anomalously warm ocean conditions.

Chromatographic performance of microfluidic liquid chromatography devices: Experimental evaluation of straight versus serpentine packed channels.

We prepared a series of planar titanium microfluidic (μLC) columns, each 100 mm long, with 0.15, 0.3 and 0.

Virtualizing healthcare: competing visions.

Telehealth technologies show tremendous promise in helping reduce health care costs by bridging distance and time. However, neither of the two competing visions for how telehealth should be used is scalable. On the one hand, remote telehealth care providers who triage or monitor patients, are not integrated into the health care system.

The application of a new microfluidic device for the simultaneous identification and quantitation of midazolam metabolites obtained from a single micro-litre of chimeric mice blood.

Rationale: Improvements in the design of low-flow highly sensitive chromatographic ion source interfaces allow the detection and characterisation of drugs and metabolites from smaller sample volumes. This in turn improves the ethical treatment of animals by reducing both the number of animals needed and the blood sampling volumes required.

Methods: A new microfluidic device combining an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) analytical column with a nano-flow electrospray source is described.

Analysis of host-cell proteins in biotherapeutic proteins by comprehensive online two-dimensional liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Assays for identification and quantification of host-cell proteins (HCPs) in biotherapeutic proteins over 5 orders of magnitude in concentration are presented. The HCP assays consist of two types: HCP identification using comprehensive online two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (2D-LC/MS), followed by high-throughput HCP quantification by liquid chromatography, multiple reaction monitoring (LC-MRM). The former is described as a "discovery" assay, the latter as a "monitoring" assay.

Spontaneous abortion and preterm labor and delivery in nonhuman primates: evidence from a captive colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Background: Preterm birth is a leading cause of perinatal mortality, yet the evolutionary history of this obstetrical syndrome is largely unknown in nonhuman primate species.

Methodology/principal Findings: We examined the length of gestation during pregnancies that occurred in a captive chimpanzee colony by inspecting veterinary and behavioral records spanning a total of thirty years. Upon examination of these records we were able to confidently estimate gestation length for 93 of the 97 (96%) pregnancies recorded at the colony.

Association of Toll-like receptor 4 alleles with symptoms and sensitization to laboratory animals.

Background: Researchers and technicians working with laboratory animals (LAs) are exposed to animal allergen and endotoxin, which can interact to potentiate or inhibit symptoms or allergic responses. We hypothesized that functional genetic variants of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a key surface receptor for endotoxin, interface between worker and workplace and affect animal sensitization, symptoms, or both.

Objective: We sought to determine whether TLR4/8551 variants alter the risk for LA sensitization, symptoms, or both.

Why is nurses' drinking deemed to he acceptable but not that of patients? Antony Sheehan and Jim Murphy challenge the stereotype.

Cutting Edge's recent programme Nurses on Channel 4 was a fine attempt to focus on the plight of nurses at a large teaching hospital in Glasgow.