Brain cancer incidence rates and the presence of nuclear reactors in US states: a hypothesis-generating study

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The etiology of brain cancer is poorly understood. The only confirmed environmental risk factor is exposure to ionizing radiation. Because nuclear reactors...     

First-trimester maternal serum alphafetoprotein and chorionic gonadotropin in aneuploid pregnancies

First-trimester maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) levels were measured in samples from 29 women with cytogenetically abnormal pregnancies and 145 women with cytogenetically normal pregnancies matched for gestational age, race, and sample storage time. All patients had a risk of fetal aneuploidy greater than or equal to that of a mother 35 years of age. AFP was significantly lower in samples from pregnancies affected with trisomy 21 (0.67 MoM;p <0.05), while HCG values were no different from those of matched controls. Trisomies 13 and 18 could not be distinguished from matched controls by AFP. However, levels of HCG were significantly lower in such pregnancy samples, with median values of 0.65 MoM in trisomy 13 and 0.32 MoM in trisomy 18 (p<0.05). Variations in AFP and HCG levels suggest that expressed differences between autosomal aneuploidies include differences in fetal and placenta! protein production in the first trimester.     

Determinants of organizational commitment in working women: Some implications for organizational integration

This study proposed and examined determinants of organizational commitment in working women. Among the selected determinants of role stress, personal characteristics, and satisfaction with various aspects of the organization, satisfaction with promotional opportunities was die best predictor of commitment. Experienced role stress was the second best determinant, although the observed relationship was inverse. Other variables such as age, education, and need for achievement, found to be antecedents of organizational commitment in earlier empirical studies, failed to predict commitment in this heterogeneous sample of working women. Findings were discussed in terms of the implications for further research and theory development in the area of organizational commitment as well as for the integration of women into modern work organizations.     

Distribution of Selected Soil and Water Conservation Practices in the U.S. as Identified with Google Earth

The proper representation of conservation practices on agricultural lands is an important factor in large‐scale assessments of water quality in the United States. Unfortunately, there are few publicly available data sources at the local level and even fewer at the national scale. In this research, randomly selected points within agricultural lands were examined for selected conservation practices using Google Earth aerial imagery by a team of interpreters. In total, 13,530 points had field boundaries digitized, and were subsequently examined and classified. The presence of terraces, grassed waterways, contour farming, center pivot irrigation, strip cropping, ponds, riparian vegetation, filter strips, and land cover were noted. Subjectivity among interpreters was evaluated using duplicate samples and was found to be similar to image misclassification rates in other research. Conservation practice adoption rates for selected major river basins compared favorably with data collected by the Conservation Effects Assessment Project. The frequency of occurrence of each conservation practice was summarized and presented by ecoregion. To facilitate future research, point level data and software source code developed in this research are available via the web at http://nlet.brc.tamus.edu/Conservation . Aerial imagery was found to be a powerful, inexpensive, and easily accessible tool to assess large‐scale conservation practice implementation for certain conservation practices.     

Development of a Cropland Management Dataset to Support U.S. Swat Assessments

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is widely used in the United States (U.S.) to simulate hydrology and water quality simulation. Process‐based models like SWAT require a great deal of data to accurately represent the natural world, including topography, land use, soils, weather, and management. With the exception of management, all these data are available nationally from multiple sources. To date, credible SWAT studies in the U.S. have assembled suitable management data (operation scheduling, fertilization application rates, and plant growth parameterization). In this research, we develop a national management database for SWAT using existing U.S. Department of Agriculture data sources. These data are compatible with existing SWAT interfaces and are relatively easy to use. Although management data from local sources is preferred, these data are not always available. This work is intended to fill this void with more reasonable management data than the existing defaults. This national database covers all major cultivated crops and should facilitate improved SWAT applications in the U.S. These data were tested in two case studies and found to produce satisfactory SWAT predictions. The database developed in this research is freely available on the web.     

Controlling Air Toxics Emissions From Remediation by Monitoring of Surrogate Parameters

Particulate matter (dust) from remediation and demolition sites may pose a potential risk to the nearby public due to the presence of various contaminants. Unfortunately, there are no good options for real‐time monitoring of metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. in wind‐blown dust. A three‐tiered approach involving a combination of real‐time monitoring and off‐site analysis that has proved successful is described in this article. PM₁₀ is used as a surrogate parameter for metals and other nonvolatile pollutants, and real‐time monitoring is used to guide dust control measures. If dust emissions are controlled, air emissions of metals and other nonvolatile pollutants also are controlled. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Differential aggregation of polystyrene and titanium dioxide nanoparticles under various salinity conditions and against multiple proteins types

The interaction of nanoplastics (NPls) and engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) with organic matter and environmental pollutants is particularly important. Therefore, their behavior should be investigated under the different salinity conditions, mimicking rivers and coastal environments, to understand this phenomenon in those areas. In this work, we analyzed the elementary characteristics of polystyrene-PS (unmodified surface and modified with amino or carboxyl groups) and titanium dioxide-TiO2 nanoparticles. The effect of salinity on their colloidal properties was studied too. Also, the interaction with different types of proteins (bovine serum albumin-BSA and tilapia proteins), as well as the formation of the BSA corona and its effect on the colloidal stability of nanoparticles, were evaluated. The morphology and dispersion of sizes were more uniform in unmodified-surface PS-NPs (70.5?±?13.7 nm) than in TiO2-NPs (131.2?±?125.6 nm). Likewise, Rama spectroscopy allowed recognizing peaks associated with the PS phenyl group aromatic ring in unmodified-surface PS-NPs (621, 1002, 1582, and 1602 cm^?1). For TiO2-NPs, the data suggest belonging to the tetragonal form, also known as rutile (445, 610 cm^?1). The elevation of salinity dose-dependently decreased NP colloid stability, with more significant variation in the PS-NPs compared to TiO2-NPs. The organic matter is also involved in this phenomenon, differentially as a function of time compared to its absence (unmodified-surface PS-NPs 30 psu/TOC 5 mgL^?1/24 h: 2876.6?±?378.03 nm; unmodified-surface PS-NPs 30 psu/24 h: 2133?±?49.57 nm). In general, the TiO2-NPs demonstrated greater affinity with all proteins tested (0.066 g/L). It was observed that morphology, size, and surface chemical modification intervene in a relevant way in the interaction of the nanoparticles with bovine serum albumin (unmodified-surface PS-NPs 298 K: 6.08E⁺⁰²; 310 K: 6.63E⁺⁰²; TiO2-NPs 298 K: 8.76E⁺⁰²; 310 K: 1.05E⁺⁰³ L mol^?1) and tilapia tissues proteins (from blood, gills, liver, and brain). Their morphology and size also determined the protein corona formation and the NPs’ agglomeration. These findings can provide references during knowledge transfer between NPls and ENPs.