Characterization of solid and vapor products from thermochemical conversion of municipal solid waste woody fractions.

The ever-increasing consumption of material goods with economic growth is resulting in an increasing generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the rapid filling of landfills. Fractions of municipal solid waste containing wood-based products have the potential to be used for the development of value added products. In this paper we produced and characterized biochar and pyrolysis vapors from municipal solid waste (MSW) woody fractions to demonstrate their suitability towards soil amendments.

Influences of Adhesion Variability on the "Living" Dynamics of Filamentous Bacteria in Microfluidic Channels.

Microfabricated devices have increasingly incorporated bacterial cells for microscale studies and exploiting cell-based functions in situ. However, the role of surface interactions in controlling the bacterial cell behavior is not well understood. In this study, microfluidic substrates of varied bacterial-binding affinity were used to probe the interaction-driven behavior of filamentous Escherichia coli.

Late-emigrating trunk neural crest cells in turtle embryos generate an osteogenic ectomesenchyme in the plastron.

Background: The turtle plastron is composed of a keratinized epidermis overlying nine dermal bones. Its developmental origin has been controversial; recent evidence suggests that the plastral bones derive from trunk neural crest cells (NCCs).

Results: This study extends the observations that there is a turtle-specific, second wave of trunk NCC delamination and migration, after the original NCCs have reached their destination and differentiated.

Detection of JWH-018 and JWH-073 by UPLC-MS-MS in postmortem whole blood casework.

Synthetic cannabinoids have been detected in various herbal blends sold legally in convenience stores, smoke shops, and on the Internet. Many of these compounds have extreme forensic significance. We developed and validated a rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of trace concentrations of two of these compounds, JWH-018 and JWH-073, in human blood.

Interactive influences of ethnicity, gender and parental hypertension on hemodynamic responses to behavioral challenge.

To determine the independent and interactive influences of ethnicity, gender and parental hypertension on the magnitude and patterning of hemodynamic responses to standardized laboratory stressors, 112 normotensive, young adult African-American and Caucasian subjects (56 women, 56 men) completed a four-task protocol: three psychological stressors (the Stroop Color Word task, mental arithmetic and mirror tracing) and the forehead cold pressor test. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and impedance derived measures of cardiac pre-ejection period and stroke volume were measured at rest and during each task; calculated indices of cardiac output and total peripheral resistance were also computed. Women responded to the psychological stressors with significantly larger increases in HR and cardiac output, less change in total peripheral resistance and greater attenuation of cardiac pre-ejection period than did men; however, blood pressure responses did not vary by gender, ethnicity or parental history of hypertension.

Absence of enhanced sympathoadrenal activity and behaviorally evoked cardiovascular reactivity among offspring of hypertensives.

To determine whether offspring of hypertensives show enhanced sympathetic nervous system activity, we evaluated several indices of sympathoadrenal activation and cardiovascular responsiveness to behavioral stimuli among 90 normotensive, young adult men having either one or two hypertensive parents (PH+(-), PH++) or normotensive parents only (PH--) (n = 30/group). Measurements included heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) reactions to three mental stressors (the Stroop test, mental arithmetic, mirror tracing), a cold pressor test, postural adjustment (60 degrees upright tilt), isometric exercise and bicycle ergometry, as well as the 24-h excretion of catecholamines (epinephrine [E], norepinephrine [NE]) and venous plasma catecholamine concentrations, both at rest (seated and supine) and in response to the Stroop test and upright tilt. The three groups did not differ in age, education, body mass index (BMI), estimated aerobic fitness, resting HR, cardiac preejection period (PEP) and PEP:LVET (left ventricular ejection time) ratio, 24-h Na or K excretion, or fasting lipids, insulin or plasma renin activity.

Utility of the National Death Index for ascertainment of mortality among cancer prevention study II participants.

This paper reports the results of testing and using the National Death Index to ascertain vital status in the American Cancer Society's prospective cohort study, Cancer Prevention Study II. This cohort of over one million men and women, enrolled by volunteers in 1982, is one of the largest ever to be linked with the National Death Index. In a linkage of over 15,000 persons whose vital status through 1988 had been traced through manual follow-up, 93% of all known deaths were ascertained.

Methods and basic data of case-control study of leukaemia and lymphoma among young people near Sellafield nuclear plant in West Cumbria.

Objective: To examine whether the observed excess of childhood leukaemia and lymphoma near the Sellafield nuclear plant is associated with established risk factors or with factors related to the plant.

Design: A case-control study.

Setting: West Cumbria health district.