Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are an iconic and strictly herbivorous species. They inhabit coastal areas, which brings them in contact with urban and agricultural pollutant sources, yet their exposure and susceptibility to environmental pollutants is still largely unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate the presence of several legacy compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and pesticides as well as naturally produced MeO-PBDEs in male and female dugongs from Moreton Bay (n = 24), a semi-enclosed embayment close to Australia's third largest city, Brisbane. Results show that concentrations of all investigated compounds are low in general (<120 ng/g lipid weight) and below known toxicity thresholds established for marine mammals. However, concentrations found in this study are higher or comparable to concentrations in dugongs outside Moreton Bay or in sirenians worldwide. No temporal trends for POPs from 2001 until 2012 were found for adult animals suggesting that environmental changes are only slowly reflected in dugongs. Finally, pollutant profiles in dugongs are limited to the most persistent PCBs, pesticides and PBDEs that also dominate POP profiles in other marine mammal species in general.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.033 | DOI Listing |
J Am Chem Soc
January 2025
Engineering Research Center of Photoenergy Utilization for Pollution Control and Carbon Reduction, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, P. R. China.
-cycloalkenes are abundant in bioactive natural products and have been used as powerful tools in chemical biology and drug discovery. However, strategies for the modular synthesis of -cycloalkenes, especially planar-chiral medium-sized ones, with high efficiency and selectivity, still remain elusive. Herein, we report a Pd-catalyzed asymmetric [7 + 2] cyclization strategy to address this challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Bio Mater
January 2025
Institute of Physics and Materials Science, Department of Natural Sciences and Sustainable Ressources, BOKU University, Peter Jordan-Straß 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
Spider silk (SPSI) is a promising candidate for use as a filler material in nerve guidance conduits (NGCs), facilitating peripheral nerve regeneration by providing a scaffold for Schwann cells (SCs) and axonal growth. However, the specific properties of SPSI that contribute to its regenerative success remain unclear. In this study, the egg sac silk of is investigated, which contains two distinct fiber types: tubuliform (TU) and major ampullate (MA) silk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
In integrated crop-livestock systems, livestock graze on cover crops and deposit raw manure onto fields to improve soil health and fertility. However, enteric pathogens shed by grazing animals may be associated with foodborne pathogen contamination of produce influenced by fecal-soil microbial interactions. We analyzed 300 fecal samples (148 from sheep and 152 from goats) and 415 soil samples (272 from California and 143 from Minnesota) to investigate the effects of grazing and the presence of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) or generic E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Plant Protection, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia.
Smallholder farmers produce over 40% of global palm oil, the world's most traded and controversial vegetable oil. Awareness of the effects of palm oil production on ecosystems and human communities has increased drastically in recent years, with ever louder calls for the private and public sector to develop programs to support sustainable cultivation by smallholder farmers. To effectively influence smallholder practices and ensure positive social outcomes, such schemes must consider the variety in perspectives of farmers and align with their priorities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocrinology
January 2025
Reproduction, Mother and Child Health, Centre de recherche du centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec - Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada, G1V 4G2.
Leydig cells produce hormones that are required for male development, fertility, and health. Two Leydig cell populations produce these hormones but at different times during development: fetal Leydig cells which are active during fetal life and adult Leydig cells that are functional postnatally. Historically, our ability to understand the origin and function of Leydig cells has been made difficult by the lack of genetic models to exclusively target these cells.
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