Recent studies have shown that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine are accumulated in the tissues of fish as a result of discharges of pharmaceuticals into surface waters from municipal wastewater treatment plants. In this study, an analytical method based on liquid chromatography with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-APCI-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of residues of paroxetine, fluoxetine and its active metabolite, norfluoxetine, in fish tissue. The procedure for sample preparation includes extraction of tissue by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), followed by cleanup on a mixed-mode solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, Oasis MCX.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcrylamide is a probable human carcinogen, and the drinking water quality guideline for this compound is 0.5 mg/L. However, analysis of this compound in water is difficult because of its very high water solubility, which limits the efficiency of sample preconcentration prior to analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWei, Lin and Weissfeld (WLW) have applied an elaboration of Cox's proportional hazards regression to the analysis of recurrent events data. This application is controversial and has attracted criticism in a piecemeal fashion over 15 years. A frequently raised concern is the method's 'risk set': each individual is considered to be at risk of all recurrent events from the start of the observation period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: It is known that African American men have a greater risk of prostate cancer than white men. We investigated whether this was true for first-generation black Caribbean and black African men in the United Kingdom.
Methods: A clinical cohort study design recruiting all cases of prostate cancer diagnosed over a 5-yr period and residing in defined areas of London and Bristol.
Evidence for the effectiveness of psychological therapies for people who self-harm is limited. Personal construct theory provides a model of self-harm and a framework for therapeutic intervention, which was evaluated in the present study. Sixty-four adults presenting to Accident and Emergency departments following self-harm were allocated to a personal construct psychotherapy or a 'normal clinical practice' condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigate the association between psychological stress and breast cancer and, as oestrogen may provide a common mechanism, the association between stress and prostate cancer. A prospective study of 991 women and 5743 men employed in Scotland in the 1970s provided data. Risk exposure was measured by questionnaire and physical examination, routine data collection provided cancer outcomes over the subsequent 30 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn marsupial karyotypes with little heterochromatin, the telomeric sequence (T(2)AG(3))(n), is involved in chromosome rearrangements. Here we compare the distribution of the (T(2)AG(3))(n) sequence in chromosomes recently derived by fusions and other rearrangements (7-0.5 MYBP) with its distribution in chromosomes derived earlier (24-9 MYBP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree new ruthenium(II) complexes containing the tris(1-pyrazolyl)methane (tpm) ligand have been prepared: [Ru(tpm)(L)(dppn)]n+ (where n = 1; L = Cl (5), n = 2; L = MeCN (6) and pyridine (7); dppn = benzo[i]dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine). Complex 6 was structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Binding parameters of these complexes with calf thymus DNA are reported and compared to those obtained for a previously reported monocation, [RuCl(tpm)(dppz)]+.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectronic spectroscopy, HPLC analyses, and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF and MS/MS) have been used to show that a covalent link from the heme to the distal Trp41 can occur on exposure of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) to H2O2 under noncatalytic conditions. Parallel analyses with the W41A variant and with APX reconstituted with deuteroheme clearly indicate that the covalent link does not form in the absence of either Trp41 or the heme vinyl groups. The presence of substrate also precludes formation of the link.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScientificWorldJournal
December 2006
Pharmaceutical compounds are being released into the aquatic environment through wastewater discharge around the globe. While there is limited removal of these compounds within wastewater treatment plants, wetland treatment might prove to be an effective means to reduce the discharge of the compounds into the environment. Wetlands can promote removal of these pharmaceutical compounds through a number of mechanisms including photolysis, plant uptake, microbial degradation, and sorption to the soil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe influence of seasonal changes in water conditions and parameters on several major pharmacologically active compounds (PhACs) and s-triazine herbicides was assessed in the wastewater and sewage treatment plant (WSTP) effluent as well as the downstream surface water from sites on the Canadian side of the upper Detroit River, between the Little River WSTP and near the water intake of a major drinking water treatment facility for the City of Windsor (ON, Canada). The assessed PhACs were of neutral (carbamazepine, cotinine, caffeine, cyclophosphamide, fluoxetine, norfluoxetine, pentoxifylline, and trimethoprim) and acidic (ibuprofen, bezafibrate, clofibric acid, diclofenac, fenoprofen, gemfibrozil, indomethacin, naproxen, and ketoprofen) varieties. The major assessed s-triazine herbicides were atrazine, simazine, propazine, prometon, ametryn, prometryn, and terbutryn.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV(1)) is the usual primary outcome variable in clinical trials in cystic fibrosis (CF). Usually, several secondary outcomes are also measured. We assessed which secondary outcomes are likely to give additional clinically useful information about treatment effects, in order to inform the design of future studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patient preferences for treatment can pose problems for the conduct of randomised controlled trials: patients with a preference may refuse participation and thereby potentially compromise external validity. Moreover, randomising patients with a preference may affect treatment efficacy and threaten internal validity.
Aims: This study compared baseline characteristics and short-term psychological outcomes of patients who selected their treatment and those who agreed to random allocation.
The interaction with duplex DNA of a series of 12 previously synthesised ruthenium (II) complexes incorporating extended terpyridines or analogous ligands is reported. The interaction was investigated using absorption spectroscopy and also, when possible, luminescence spectroscopy. Binding parameters for the interactions were estimated using established models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: IGF-I, a major regulator of childhood growth, is also associated with the risk of several cancers in adult life. Adult height and particularly leg length are also associated with cancer risk. Prepubertal growth is more in leg than trunk length, and it has been suggested that leg length might be a biomarker of childhood IGF-I.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Outcomes for treatment for upper gastrointestinal cancer traditionally include procedure-related morbidity and mortality and long-term survival. Patient-reported outcomes, such as quality of life (QOL) and satisfaction measures, add to standard end points, but associations between these factors are not fully understood. This study examined how patient satisfaction related to surgical morbidity, treatment type, and QOL outcomes after inpatient treatment for upper gastrointestinal cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Texcoco River in central Mexico is polluted with domestic wastewater as a result of discharges of untreated or inadequately treated sewage. Since nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO) surfactants and their intermediate degradation products such as nonylphenol (NP) and NP mono- and diethoxylate (NP1EO, NP2EO) have been found in domestic wastewater and in surface waters near wastewater discharges in industrialized countries, the Texcoco River was sampled to determine whether these compounds were present. The results indicated that NPEOs were present at very high concentrations (> 100 microg/L) in the lower reaches of the Texcoco River, but unlike rivers in industrialized countries, relatively low concentrations of intermediate degradation products, including NP1EO, NP2EO, and NP, were present.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTadpoles of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis were exposed, beginning at stage 50, to a commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether mixture (DE-71) through the diet. Subsequent experiments were conducted using a single intraperitoneal injection at stage 58 with limited quantities of two purified brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) congeners, BDE47 and BDE99 and DE-71 to determine the relative potency of these BDE congeners within the commercial mixture. Significant inhibition of tail resorption, delayed metamorphosis and impacts on skin pigmentation were observed in Xenopus exposed to DE-71 in the diet at nominal doses of 1000 and 5000 microgg(-1) of food.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe constitution of the centromeric portions of the sex chromosomes of the red-necked wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus (family Macropodidae, subfamily Macropodinae), was investigated to develop an overview of the sequence composition of centromeres in a marsupial genome that harbors large amounts of centric and pericentric heterochromatin. The large, C-band-positive centromeric region of the X chromosome was microdissected and the isolated DNA was microcloned. Further sequence and cytogenetic analyses of three representative clones show that all chromosomes in this species carry a 178-bp satellite sequence containing a CENP-B DNA binding domain (CENP-B box) shown herein to selectively bind marsupial CENP-B protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe endocrine modulating potency of five alkylphenol compounds to fish, including nonylphenol (NP), three nonylphenol ethoxylate mixtures (NP1EO, NP4EO, NP9EO) and one nonylphenol ethoxycarboxylate (NP1EC) was assessed using in vivo tests conducted with Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). Medaka exposed to test materials from 1 day to 100 days post-hatch were monitored for alterations to sex ratios and secondary sex characteristics and development of gonadal intersex (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFManagement decisions for patients with cancer are frequently taken within the context of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT). There is little known, however, about decision-making at team meetings and whether MDT decisions are all implemented. This study evaluated team decision-making in upper gastrointestinal cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Evidence suggests that baseline quality of life (QOL) scores are independently prognostic for survival in patients with cancer, but the role of QOL data in predicting short-term outcome after surgery is uncertain. This study assessed the association between QOL scores and short-term outcomes after surgery for oesophageal and gastric cancer.
Methods: Consecutive patients selected for oesophagectomy or total gastrectomy between November 2000 and May 2003 completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer's quality of life questionnaire, QLQ-C30.
Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) are discharged into the environment from domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, we determined the distribution of the anti-epileptic drug, carbamazepine (CBZ), and its major metabolites and caffeine in both aqueous and solid phases through different treatment processes of a WWTP. A method was developed to extract samples of biosolids using pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), coupled with cleanup of extracts using solid-phase extraction.
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