Diet of 0-group stages of capelin (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Mallotus villosus</Emphasis>), herring (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Clupea harengus</Emphasis>) and cod (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus morhua</Emphasis>) during spring and summer in the Barents Sea

Recruitment of capelin in the Barents Sea fail when juvenile herring and cod are abundant and the potential for feeding competition of wild sympatric capelin and herring larvae and small cod juveniles were investigated. The frequency of gut evacuation after capture of capelin larvae were also studied in mesocosms. Small capelin larvae (<35 mm length) fed on small prey including phytoplankton, invertebrate eggs and nauplii, bivalves, other invertebrate larvae and small copepods. Calanus copepodites were only observed in large capelin larvae (>26 mm length). Calanus copepodites were the major food sources for contemporary herring larvae (25–35 mm length) and Calanus and euphausiids were the major prey for small juvenile herring (37–60 mm length) and cod (18–40 mm length). Capelin larvae reared in mesocosms evacuated the guts shortly after capture. Capelin larvae had a smaller mouth and fed on smaller prey than herring and cod of the same length. This implies that the small capelin larvae, in contrast to sympatric small herring and cod, are not tightly linked to the food chain involving Calanus and euphausiids. Thus, exploitative competition between capelin larvae and planktivorous fish that rely on Calanus and euphausiids in the Barents Sea may be relaxed.     

Induction of trypsinogen secretion in herring larvae (Clupea harengus)

Mechanisms initiating trypsinogen secretion were studied in laboratory reared herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) exposed to physical and chemical stimuli. Pancreatic secretion of trypsinogen was quantified for each stimulus type as the increase above pre-stimulus level of intestinal trypsin content. Larval prey types were: nauplii, copepodites or adult Acartia tonsa, small polystyrene spheres (diameter 94 m), small (diameter 79 m) or large (diameter 170 m) polystyrene-latex spheres. Intestinal trypsin content can be expressed as a function of two variables: meal size and content of pancreatic trypsinogen. Trypsinogen secretion increases with different prey items in the order: small spheres, nauplii and copepodites. Larvae which eat large spheres secrete more enzyme than if fed small spheres but trypsinogen secretion is similar in fish larvae fed copepodites and large spheres. The fact that the size of non-biodegradable particles exerts a major control over trypsinogen secretion suggests neural — as opposed to chemically mediated — initiation of secretion. A cephalic phase of secretory stimulation could not be demonstrated during swallowing of copepods or exposure for 2 to 3 h to compounds which leak from live copepodites. As cephalic and gastric phases of secretory stimulation are absent, initiation of trypsinogen secretion must take place in the intestine. Larval herring retain trypsin in the intestine. Ca. 4.5 h after a meal, 3/4 of the enzyme is located in the intestinal fluid, presumably available for hydrolysis of subsequent meals, and the high proportion (ca. 25%) of the pancreatic trypsinogen content which is secreted for copepodite prey may thus not be energetically wasteful for the larvae.     

Integration of Remote Sensed and In-situ Data in an Analysis of the Air Pollution Effects on Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Border Areas between Norway and Russia

Transboundary air pollution from industries in Nikel and Zapolyarnij has caused severe damage to the environment in Southern-Varanger in Norway and in Pechenga municipality in Russia. The work presented in this paper focuses on the integration of in-situ air pollution data with remote sensing based land cover maps. Land cover maps have been utilised to detect changes in the major land cover types within the area. The major change in the environment was the decrease of the sensitive lichen-dominated land cover types, and the increase of bilberry-dominated land cover types and finally the increase of the land cover types with the greatest air pollution stress (industrial barren, barren, and partly damaged vegetation, defoliated forests, lichen removal). A GIS based method for assessing the relationship of the remotely sensed land cover maps with the environmental condition parameters was developed and applied. By comparing the results from this analysis we observed that the land cover types with the greatest stress had the largest concentrations of SO₂ in the ground air layer, while the land cover types with minor damage (the remaining lichen-dominated vegetation) had rather low concentrations of sulphur dioxide in the ground air layer. The area of the land cover types with the greatest stress (industrial barren, barren and partly damaged vegetation) has increased in the period 1973–1988, and the degradation is carried out in a such manner that sensitive mountain and lichen vegetation formations have been transformed into a more barren-like environment. The increase in the emissions has also transferred the natural barrens which also consisted of some sparse vegetation into a complete barren with little vegetation left. Also the epilitic lichens and mosses on bare rocks and stones were also removed by the high concentrations of SO₂. The land cover types with minor damage (with the remaining lichen-dominated vegetation) had rather low concentrations of the contaminants (SO₂, Ni and S), while the partly damaged and damaged land cover types had the highest concentrations of the contaminants. An exception was the Ni and S concentrations found in class 11 Industrial barrens which were lower than expected. Associations between the degradation and the SO₂ concentration in the air were also documented. The conclusion from this analysis is that the in-situ data support the observations of damaged vegetation and industrial barrens imaged by the Landsat satellites, especially in the surroundings of Nikel and Zapolyarnij.     

Complexation of the antibiotic tetracycline with humic acid

The effect of solution chemistry and sorbate-to-sorbent ratio on the interaction of the antibiotic tetracycline with Elliott soil humic acid (ESHA) was investigated using equilibrium dialysis and FITEQL modeling. Tetracycline speciation strongly influenced its sorption to ESHA. Sorption was strongly pH-dependent with a maximum around pH 4.3, and competition with H+ and electrolyte cation (Na+) was evident. The pH-dependent trend was consistent with complexation between the cationic/zwitterionic tetracycline species and deprotonated sites in ESHA (mainly carboxylic functional groups). Modification of ESHA by Ca2+ addition increased tetracycline sorption suggesting that ternary complex formation (ESHA-metal-tetracycline) may be important at higher concentrations of multivalent metal cations. The macroscopic data (pH-envelope and sorption isotherms) were successfully modeled using a discrete logK function with the FITEQL 4.0 chemical equilibrium program indicating that ESHA-tetracycline interaction could be reasonably represented as complex formation of a monoacid with discrete sites in humic acid. Sorption-desorption hysteresis was observed; both sorption and desorption isotherms were well described by the Freundlich equation.     

Prediction of odor from pig production based on chemical odorants

The present work was performed to investigate the use of odorant measurements for prediction of odor concentration in facilities with growing-finishing pigs and to analyze the odorant composition in facilities with different floor and ventilation systems. Air was sampled in Nalophan bags, odor concentrations were measured by dilution-to-threshold olfactometry, and concentrations of odorants were measured by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Olfactometry and chemical analyses were synchronized to take place at identical time intervals after sampling. A principal component analysis revealed that different facilities for growing-finishing pigs can be distinguished based on the odorants. Pit ventilation comprising a small amount of the total ventilation air (10-20%) in facilities with both room and pit ventilation can be used to concentrate odorants, whereas the room ventilation contains lower concentrations of most odorants. A partial least squares regression model demonstrated that prediction of the odor concentration based on odorants measured by PTR-MS is feasible. Hydrogen sulfide, methanethiol, trimethylamine, and 4-methylphenol were identified as the compounds having the largest influence on the prediction of odor concentration, whereas carboxylic acids had no significant influence. In conclusion, chemical measurement of odorants by PTR-MS is an alternative for expressing the odor concentration in facilities with growing-finishing pigs that can be used to increase the understanding of odor from different types of facilities and improve the development of odor reduction technologies.     

Noninvasive prenatal screening for cystic fibrosis using circulating trophoblasts: Detection of the 50 most common disease-causing variants

Objectives

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common severe autosomal recessive disorders. Prenatal or preconception CF screening is offered in some countries. A maternal blood sample in early pregnancy can provide circulating trophoblasts and offers a DNA source for genetic analysis of both the mother and the fetus. This study aimed to develop a cell-based noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) to screen for the 50 most common CF variants.

Methods

Blood samples were collected from 30 pregnancies undergoing invasive diagnostics and circulating trophoblasts were harvested in 27. Cystic fibrosis testing was conducted using two different methods: by fragment length analysis and by our newly developed NGS-based CF analysis.

Results

In all 27 cases, cell-based NIPT provided a result using both methods in agreement with the invasive test result.

Conclusion

This study shows that cell-based NIPT for CF screening provides a reliable result without the need for partner- and proband samples.