Organ targeted prenatal gene therapy—how far are we?

Prenatal gene therapy aims to deliver genes to cells and tissues early in prenatal life, allowing correction of a genetic defect, before long-term tissue damage has occurred. In contrast to postnatal gene therapy, prenatal application can target genes to a large population of dividing stem cells, and the smaller fetal size allows a higher vector-to-target cell ratio to be achieved. Early-gestation delivery may allow the development of immune tolerance to the transgenic protein which would facilitate postnatal repeat vector administration if needed. Targeting particular organs will depend on manipulating the vector to achieve selective tropism and on choosing the most appropriate gestational age and injection method for fetal delivery. Intra-amniotic injection reaches the skin, and other organs that are bathed in the fluid however since gene transfer to the lung and gut is usually poor more direct injection methods will be needed. Delivery to the liver and blood can be achieved by systemic delivery via the umbilical vein or peritoneal cavity. Gene transfer to the central nervous system in the fetus is difficult but newer vectors are available that transduce neuronal tissue even after systemic delivery. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybridized Biocomposites from Agro-Wastes: Mechanical,Physical and Thermal Characterization

Agricultural wastes, oil palm trunk (OPT) veneer and oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) mat were used for the preparation of hybridized plywood using 250 and 450 g/m² of urea formaldehyde (UF) as gluing agent. The mechanical (flexural strength, flexural modulus, screw withdrawal, shear strength), physical (density, water absorption, thickness swelling and delamination) and thermal (TGA) properties of the biocomposites were studied. Images taken with a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) indicated an improvement in the fiber–matrix bonding for the laminated panel glued with 450 g/m² of UF.     

Dynamic Modeling of Ground‐Water Quality Using Bayesian Techniques1

Abstract: Water industry experts have been arguing that the traditional techniques are not an accurate means of measuring water contamination. This is mainly because these techniques emphasize neither the stochastic nature of the water contamination process nor the precision and the accuracy of the tested methods used by environmental laboratories. In this work, we describe the development and application of prototype Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) that model ground‐water quality to determine the impact of chemical contaminants on ground‐water quality in the Salalah area, which is allocated to the south of Oman. We also present a new technique for data pre‐processing because it is needed for the treatment of ground‐water datasets that are used as the data source to learn the probabilities for dynamic decision models. Among more than 20 wells in area, only four wells were selected to be analyzed and the results show that we achieved an acceptable level of efficiency.     

Nitrous oxide emissions from an ultisol of the humid tropics under maize-groundnut rotation

Nitrous oxide (N20) contributes to global climate change and agricultural soils seem to be the major source. Lack of information led to this study on the influence of different amounts and sources of nitrogen on N2O emission from a maize (Zea mays L.)-groundnut (Arachis hypogae L.) crop rotation in an Ultisol of the humid tropics. The treatments were: inorganic N + crop residues (NC), inorganic N only (RN), and half of inorganic N + crop residues + chicken manure (NCM). The corresponding amount of N applied was 322, 180, and 400 kg ha(-1) yr(-1), respectively. The N2O emissions depended on the amounts and types of N. A maximum peak (9,889 +/- 2,106 microg N2O-N m(-2) d(-1)) was detected at 2 wk before maize sowing amended with chicken manure, showing a persistent influence on N transformations and N2O release. The mineral N from either applied source became low by 2 to 4 wk, coinciding with the small N2O fluxes or its consumption to a few isolated instances. The N2O flux significantly correlated with the mineral N and water-filled pore spaces. The direct annual N2O emission was 3.94 +/- 0.23, 1.90 +/- 0.08, and 1.41 +/- 0.07 kg N2O-N ha(-1) from the NCM, NC, and RN treatments, respectively. The corresponding N2O-N loss of the applied N plus N fixed by groundnut was 0.83, 0.49, and 0.59%. Overestimations of direct annual N2O emission using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology suggest a location-specific emission factor for variable N sources to be considered.     

Sensitivity analysis of mass balance receptor modeling: Methyl chloride as an indicator of wood smoke

The Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) approach to stability analysis of the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) receptor model is extended to incorporate uncertainties in both source and ambient compositions. SVD is applied to determine the improved precision with which the impact of residential wood smoke can be estimated by including methyl chloride in a CMB analysis. Wood smoke impacts in Hillsboro and Medford, Oregon, are examined. The results indicate that including methyl chloride will dramatically improve the precision of estimating wood smoke impacts for Medford, while estimates for Hillsboro are changed to a much lesser extent. This result is reasonable since the Medford airshed includes many industrial sources of particulate matter with chemical compositions similar to residential wood smoke, while Hillsboro is predominantly a residential community. The precision improvements estimated by SVD are verified by CMB analysis of a series of ambient samples collected in Hillsboro. Finally, the applicability of SVD as a receptor model study design tool is discussed.     

Injury prevention programs against distracted driving: Are they effective?

Introduction: Distracted driving (talking and/or texting) is a growing public safety problem, with increasing incidence among adult drivers. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence of distracted driving (DD) among health care providers and to create awareness against DD. We hypothesized that distracted driving is prevalent among health care providers and a preventive campaign against distracted driving would effectively decrease distracted driving among health care providers.

Methods: We performed a 4-phase prospective interventional study of all health care providers at our level 1 trauma center. Phase 1: one week of pre-intervention observation; phase 2: one week of intervention; phase 3: one week of postintervention observation; and phase 4: one week of 6 months of postintervention observation. Observations were performed outside employee parking garage at the following time intervals: 6:30–8:30 a.m., 4:40–5:30 p.m., and 6:30–7:30 p.m. Intervention included an e-mail survey, pamphlets and banners in the hospital cafeteria, and a postintervention survey. Hospital employees were identified with badges and scrubs, employees exiting through employee gate, and parking pass on the car. Outcome measure was incidence of DD pre, post, and 6 months postintervention.

Results: A total of 15,416 observations (pre: 6,639, post: 4,220, 6 months post: 4,557) and 520 survey responses were collected. The incident of DD was 11.8% among health care providers. There was a significant reduction in DD in each time interval of observation between pre- and postintervention. On subanalysis, there was a significant decrease in talking (P = .0001) and texting (P = .01) while driving postintervention compared to pre-intervention. In the survey, 35.5% of respondents admitted to DD and 4.5% respondents were involved in an accident due to DD. We found that 77% respondents felt more informed after the survey and 91% respondents supported a state legislation against DD. The reduction in the incidence of DD postintervention was sustained even at 6-month follow-up.

Conclusion: There was a 32% reduction in the incidence of distracted driving postintervention, which remained low even at 6-month follow-up. Implementation of an effective injury prevention campaign could reduce the incidence of distracted driving nationally.     

The effect of solvents on metal ion adsorption by the alga Chlorella vulgaris

The dead dried alga, Chlorella vulgaris, was used for metal ion sequestering. The uptake of each of Cu(II), Cd(II), Fe(III), and Sn(IV) from their aqueous solutions decreased upon reuse of the biomass. Introducing mixed ethanol/water (50% v/v) metal ion solutions in batch systems enhanced the metal uptake of the exhausted biomass by 90% for iron, 40% for tin and only 14% for cadmium. In the column system, 20% v/v ethanol/water proved to be superior to acetone/water and isopropanol/water metal solutions in enhancing metal uptake. This increase in uptake offers a new method for regeneration of the algal capacity to remove metal ions from their solutions. Mossbauer results of iron and tin loaded algae from aqueous and mixed ethanol water solutions exhibited the characteristic doublet for (FeCl4-) at 0.350-0.565 mms(-1) respectively and the major doublet for inorganic Sn(IV) moieties at -0.217 to -0.365 mms(-1) respectively, excluding the possibility of microprecipitation of iron and tin, which is expected at such high concentrations of metals in the alga.     

Characterization of cytotoxicity of airborne particulates from urban areas of Lahore

A number of species (organic and inorganic) in airborne particulates cause the toxicity to living being. The potential of in vitro test methods were explored for toxicity assessment of trace toxic elements (inorganic species) present in ambient air on human being (lungs). A year long sampling of airborne particles (PM_2.5) was carried (April 2008 to March 2009) in Lahore, Pakistan. A total of thirty nine samples were collected on 47 mm Zefluor Teflon filter membranes and each was analysed to characterize for the elements: Sb, As, Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Pb, Mn, Hg using ICP-MS in water extract and total acid digestate. The samples cytotoxicity was also established using lung derived cells and MTS colorimetric assays. This generated dose response curves and IC₅₀ values for the elemental mixtures identified on the Teflon filter membrane. The results indicated that even at low concentrations airborne elemental mixtures displayed an additive toxic effect.