As reported in Chemosphere by Colles et al. (2020), there are multiple pathways for human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Now, a new chemical formation of C-F bonds in drug delivery lead to concerns for human exposure as these inert chemical formations are resistance to metabolic degradation and excretion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMindSpring (MS) is a community group intervention for refugees with the purpose of strengthening the participants' ability to cope with psychosocial problems, thereby preventing that premigration trauma and postmigratory stressors evolve into psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present project was to study the acceptability and impacts of MS. The study was a mixed-methods observational study including 92 Arabic speaking refugees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScience of the Total Environment recently discussed how open access and predatory journals affect the flow of scientific knowledge in an unfortunate way. Now, South Korea's Ministry of Education is intervening to establish a system that will help its researchers avoid the growing global number of fake conferences of low academic and scientific merit. Here, we discuss solutions to this problem with respect to what is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have read the response to our Discussion about Open Access and predatory journals entitle Factors affecting global flow of scientific knowledge in environmental sciences. The purpose of a Discussion in STOTEN is to inspire for debating and we therefore thank Pourret et al. (2020) for their response to our Discussion about Open Access, Plan S and Open Access Predatory Journals - three topics that concern us as researchers (Sonne et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlood biochemistry, body mass, and gross pathology of male eiders () wintering in the Inner Danish Waters of the western Baltic Sea (the Great Belt Strait) were assessed in this study. In November 2015, 14 specimens were obtained from the area defined for examination. Of the subject animals captured, 1 had dilated intestines and 2 had granulomas with encapsulated shotgun pellets considered to be chronic in nature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDomestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Amazon rainforest has sustained human existence for more than 10,000 years. Part of this has been the way that the forest controls regional climate including precipitation important for the ecosystem as well as agroforestry and farming. In addition, the Amazon also affects the global weather systems, so cutting down the rainforest significantly increases the effects of climate change, threatening the world's biodiversity and causing local desertification and soil erosion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2020
Here we present our view on the current Open Access debate, predatory journals and the on-going publication and promotion strategy of some countries and research institutions. We urge the world's researchers, journals and grant holders in collaboration to carefully consider how best to ensure continuous high-quality scientific publications in the future in a way so that limited funding results in important data and information being unpublished.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn 11 May 2019, the Mauna Loa, Hawaii, Earth System Research Laboratory reported the highest CO concentration in human meteorological history. Continuing CO rise will devastate ecosystems, and ice dependent species like polar bears ultimately will disappear. Commercial aviation is presently a relatively small CO contributor, but this CO intensive mode of transportation is projected to increase greatly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The ongoing translational and reproducibility crisis dominates preclinical research today as results from animal studies often disappoint when transferred to human clinical studies. This problem is especially relevant in the field of brain diseases and translational neuropsychiatry.
Methods: Here, we discuss if the 3R concept could be part of the translational crisis.
We reconstructed the first long-term (1968-2015) spatiotemporal trends of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using archived body feathers of white-tailed eagles () from the West Greenland ( = 31), Norwegian ( = 66), and Central Swedish Baltic coasts ( = 50). We observed significant temporal trends of perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (∑PFCAs) in all three subpopulations. Concentrations of FOSA and PFOS had started decreasing significantly since the mid-1990s to 2000 in the Greenland and Norwegian subpopulations, consistent with the 3M phase-out, though in sharp contrast to overall increasing trends observed in the Swedish subpopulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPollution is a widespread global problem, in which there is a particular need to involve the general populations. Approaches for involving the public in order to contribute for reaching a sustainable environment may include plastic collection and mapping of urban soundscape. Here we briefly reflect on some of the latest initiatives in Denmark involving citizen labor and citizen science.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPig slurry from modern high-technological farms contain copper and zinc, which is under suspicion of being co-factors in the development of antibiotic resistance. In addition, these two elements contaminate the surrounding environment when spread in large quantities. Therefore, biogas plants and biomembranes should be used to remove hazardous substances such as copper, zink, antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria before pig slurry is used as a fertilizer in crop production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Capillary electrophoresis of plasma proteins has shown great potential as a complementary diagnostic tool for avian species. However, reference intervals for plasma proteins are sparse or lacking for several free-living avian species. The current study reports electrophoretic patterns and concentrations of plasma proteins determined for 70 free-living white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) nestlings from two locations in Norway (Steigen and Smøla) in order to establish reference values for this subpopulation using capillary electrophoresis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe quantified blubber concentrations of vitamins A (retinol) and E (α-tocopherol) and evaluated associations with persistent organic pollutants (ΣPOPs) in 14 highly-contaminated killer whales (Orcinus orca) sampled in Greenland from 2012 to 2014. We considered the influence of blubber depth, sex/age class and diet (based on biomass % of major fatty acids) in these relationships. Blubber concentrations of vitamin A averaged 34.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe correct affiliation of Sabrina Lo Brutto is shown in this paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental exposure to organohalogenated contaminants (OHCs), even at low concentrations, may cause detrimental effects on the development and health of wild birds. The present study investigated if environmental exposure to OHCs may influence the variation of multiple physiological parameters in Norwegian white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) nestlings. Plasma and feather samples were obtained from 70 nestlings at two archipelagos in Norway in 2015 and 2016.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew ecotoxicological studies exist on the accumulation and effects of rare earth elements (REEs) in fish, particularly on Arctic species. In southwest Greenland, there are currently several advanced exploration REE mining projects. The aim of this study was to investigate accumulation of REEs in native fish species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe bioaccumulation and biomagnification of 22 major perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were investigated in tissues of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and their major prey species, the ringed seal (Pusa hispida), from the Scoresby Sound region of East Greenland. In polar bear liver the mean ΣPFSA (perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid) concentration (C, C, C and C) was 2611 ± 202 ng/g wet weight (ww; 99% perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)) and two orders of magnitude higher than the 20 ± 3 ng/g ww (89% PFOS) concentration in fat. The mean ΣPFSAs in seal liver was 111 ± 5 ng/g ww (98% PFOS) and three orders of magnitude higher relative to the 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLead is a widely used and toxic heavy metal that poses a serious hazard to wildlife species and their ecosystems. Lead is used for production of hunting ammunition. Via gunshot or rifle projectiles, it spreads in ecosystems and may end up in predators and scavengers feeding on wounded or dead animals shot with lead-based ammunition.
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