Pharyngeal aspiration of single-wall carbon nanotubes aggravates allergic reaction to inhaled ovalbumin in mice

Single-wall carbon nanotubes are a major type of nano-objects that have industrial applications such as fuel cells. In this study, four types of single-wall carbon nanotubes and their abilities to aggravate allergic reactions were examined: those containing Fe, those containing Ni, and the corresponding purified metal-free ones. These were administered to mice via pharyngeal aspiration. Subsequently, the mice inhaled ovalbumin a total of eight times over three weeks. After inhalation of ovalbumin, the concentrations of total immunoglobulin E and ovalbumin-specific immunoglobulin E in serum increased in mice treated with purified metal-free and Fe containing single-wall carbon nanotubes while those containing Ni did not affect total and ovalbumin-specific immunoglobulin E levels. Additionally, the purified metal-free and Fe containing nanotubes caused the gene expression of heme oxygenase-1, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 2, and tumor necrosis factor-α, suggesting that some kinds of single-wall carbon nanotubes have the potential to aggravate allergic reactions via oxidative stress and inflammation. Incorporated metals do not seem to be involved in the aggravation of allergic reactions. Other physical properties, such as fiber length and aggregation state, may be involved in enhancing allergic reactions.     

Assessing the removal potential of soil-aquifer treatment system (soil column) for endotoxin

Soil-aquifer treatment (SAT) of wastewater is an increasingly valued practice for replenishing aquifers due to ease of operation and low maintenance needs and therefore low cost. In this study, we investigated the fate of endotoxins through laboratory-scale SAT soil columns over a four month period. The effluent of rapid sand filtration was run through the columns under gravity flow conditions. Four SAT columns were packed with four different filter materials (fine sand, medium sand, coarse sand and very coarse sand). The effluent of rapid sand filtration (average dissolved organic carbon (DOC) = 4 mg l(-1) and average endotoxin concentration = 4 EU ml(-1)) was collected from a domestic wastewater treatment plant in Sapporo, Japan. DOC removal ranged from 12.5% to greater than 22.5% during the study, with DOC levels averaging 3.1 and 3.5 mg l(-1) for the SAT columns packed with different soils. Endotoxin transformation exhibited different profiles, depending on the time and soil type. Reduction in endotoxin concentration averaged 64.3% and was as high as 86.7% across the soil columns 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. While DOC removal was gradual, the reductions in endotoxin levels were rather rapid and most of the removal was achieved in the top layers. Soil with a larger grain size had lower efficiency in removing endotoxin. Tests were performed to evaluate the transformation of organic matter showing endotoxicity and to determine the mechanisms responsible for changes in the structural and size properties of dissolved organic matter (OM) during SAT. Dissolved OM was fractionated using Sep-Pack C18 Cartridges into hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions. Dialysis tubes with different molecular weight cut-offs were used to perform size fractions of OM showing endotoxicity. Evaluation of the transformation of organic matter showing endotoxicity during SAT indicated that both hydrophobic and large molecules were reduced. Moreover, experimental findings showed that adsorption test data fit to the Freundlich isotherm and were affected by the particle grain size with higher adsorption capacity for fine and medium sand.     

Importance of the Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) to breeding rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) on Teuri Island, Sea of Japan

Temporal variation in the diet and chick growth of rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata), on Teuri Island, Sea of Japan, was studied to understand how local marine environmental changes affect the reproduction of this piscivorous seabird. The food delivered by parents to chicks was sampled every 1-2 weeks from late May to July, 1994-1998. Overall, the diet of nestling rhinoceros auklets consisted of (by mass) 61% Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus), 18% Japanese sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), 18% Japan Sea greenling (Pleurogrammus azonus), 2% other fish and 1% squid. Among years, the contribution of anchovy ranged from 16% to 93%. Once anchovy occurred in the diet, it dominated (80% on average) thereafter. Accordingly, when anchovy appeared in the diet early in the chick-rearing season (1994, 1998), the contribution of anchovy overall was large. The first appearance of anchovy in the diet of auklets late in the summer of 1997 was possibly related to negatively anomalous sea-surface temperature. Food loads composed of anchovy (34.0 g) were heavier than those of sand lance (22.5 g) and greenling (28.5 g). The energy density of anchovies also was higher: 6.3 kJ g^-1 wet mass compared to 0+ greenling (4.78 kJ g^-1) and 0+ sand lance (3.78 kJ g^-1). Thus, a high proportion of anchovy in the diet resulted in high food load mass, high daily growth rates of chicks and high fledging success. This study highlighted the importance of the time of arrival of migratory high-lipid prey, which is influenced by local oceanographic conditions, to the reproductive performance of a piscivorous seabird.     

‘Learning by doing’: adaptive planning as a strategy to address uncertainty in planning

Adaptive management, an established method in natural resource and ecosystem management, has not been widely applied to landscape planning due to the lack of an operational method that addresses the role of uncertainty and standardized monitoring protocols and methods. A review of adaptive management literature and practices reveals several key concepts and principles for adaptive planning: (1) management actions are best understood and practiced as experiments; (2) several plans/experiments can be implemented simultaneously; (3) monitoring of management actions are key; and (4) adaptive management can be understood as ‘learning by doing’. The paper identifies various uncertainties in landscape planning as the major obstacles for the adoption of an adaptive approach. To address the uncertainty in landscape planning, an adaptive planning method is proposed where monitoring plays an integral role to reduce uncertainty. The proposed method is then applied to a conceptual test in water resource planning addressing abiotic-biotic-cultural resources. To operationalize adaptive planning, it is argued that professionals, stakeholders and researchers need to function in a genuinely transdisciplinary mode where all contribute to, and benefit from, decision making and the continuous generation of new knowledge.     

Validation of oesophagus temperature recording for detection of prey ingestion on captive Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae)

The efficiency of oesophagus and stomach temperature loggers to detect ingestion of prey items was studied in captive Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) fed on land in Antarctica and in an aquarium in Japan. On land, the detection rate was studied for different masses of prey delivered at various frequencies, while in the pool the delay between capture and swallowing was investigated. The rate at which food items were detected and the magnitude of the temperature drops induced were higher in the oesophagus than in the stomach. Where small food items were delivered at a high frequency, birds collected prey items in the beak before swallowing them. Thus, oesophagus sensors may underestimate the number of prey swallowed if the system is used in the wild. In the oesophagus temperature recordings, the magnitude of drops was weakly, but positively, correlated to the mass of single, ingested prey (R ²=0.40). Received: 24 April 2000 / Accepted: 20 September 2000     

Levels and regional trends of persistent organochlorines and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in Asian breast milk demonstrate POPs signatures unique to individual countries

Human breast milk samples collected in 2007–2008 from four countries, Vietnam (Hanoi), China (Beijing), Korea (Seoul) and Japan (Sendai, Kyoto and Takayama), were analyzed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), chlordane-related compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Comparing with previous surveys, the present study indicates that the DDTs in breast milk from China and Vietnam had gradually decreased during the last decade, but were still 5–10 times higher than those in other nations. The ratios of p,p′-DDE/p,p′-DDT and o,p′-DDT/p,p′-DDT were higher in Beijing than in the other countries, suggesting that there is less fresh intake of commercial DDT products and a possible exposure to dicofol in China. CHL and PCB levels were relatively higher in mothers from Japan, whereas β-HCH and HCB were more common in Chinese women. In Japan, it is suspected that mothers in the urban/coastal area (Sendai) were more continuously exposed to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) than mothers in the rural/inland area (Takayama). In addition, OCP levels in primiparae were significantly higher than those in multiparae from Japan and Korea. These indicate that both parity and regional factors are major determinants of the levels of OCPs and PCBs in human milk. On the other hand, higher concentrations of PBDEs were observed in mothers' milk from Korea. The congener was dominated by BDE-47 (43–54%), followed by BDE-153 (23–33%) in all regions except for Beijing where BDE-28 (23%) was relatively abundant. In Japanese breast milk, regional and parity-dependent distributions were not observed for PBDEs. Among PBDE congeners, age-dependency was observed for BDE-153, which was negatively correlated (p < 0.05) to the age of mothers in Kyoto (17 participants were housewives), while it increased with age in Sendai (10 participants were clerks). No such correlation was seen for BDE-47, indicating that BDE-47 was ingested and assimilated via different kinetics or routes from BDE-153 in Japan.     

Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls in blood collected from 195 pregnant women in Sapporo City, Japan

We measured the concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), non-ortho coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (non-ortho PCBs), and mono-ortho coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (mono-ortho PCBs) in blood collected between 2002 and 2004 from 195 pregnant women living in Sapporo City of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The present study is one of the few studies in which PCDDs, PCDFs, and dioxin-like PCBs have been measured in the blood of pregnant women. Of the 195 pregnant women, 101 were primipara (mean: 28.8 years) and 94 were multipara (mean: 32.4 years). The arithmetic mean total TEQ concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs, non-ortho PCBs, and mono-ortho PCBs of primiparous and multiparous mothers in Sapporo City were 17.4 (median: 15.7) and 14.0 (median: 13.9)pgTEQ/glipid, respectively, and the concentrations were in the range of 6.6-43.4 and 3.4-28.2pgTEQ/glipid, respectively. In regard to the relationship between the total TEQ concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs, non-ortho PCBs, and mono-ortho PCBs in maternal blood and the number of deliveries or age of primiparous and multiparius mothers, the levels of these dioxin-like compounds tended to decrease with increases in the number of deliveries and significantly increased with increasing maternal age in both groups. Furthermore, significant correlations were observed between the total TEQ concentrations of these dioxin-like compounds and the age of primiparae and multiparae. The total TEQ concentration of PCDDs, PCDFs, non-ortho PCBs, and mono-ortho PCBs measured in 195 pregnant women has decreased compared to past levels in Japan for the last several decades. The results of the present study have indicated that dioxin contamination in the blood of young women in Japan is continuing to decrease.     

Solid waste generated from ships: a case study on ship-waste composition and garbage delivery attitudes at Haiphong ports,Vietnam

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Ports and marine transportation play important roles in the development of Vietnam, but there are increasing concerns over environmental issues...     

The input-output balance of cadmium in a paddy field of Tokyo

Field monitoring was practiced from 2001 to 2003 to evaluate the input (irrigation, atmospheric deposition, and fertilizer application) and the output (uptake and accumulation into the above-ground biomass of rice plants and leaching) of cadmium (Cd) in a contaminated paddy field in Tokyo. The cadmium concentrations of irrigated water, open-bulk precipitation, soil solution (leaching water), rice plants collected at the harvesting stage and the chemical fertilizer and the cow manure compost applied were determined. The Cd flux of each factor was calculated by multiplying the Cd concentration by the volume or mass of the media. The annual input-output balance of Cd in the paddy field in 2001 and 2002 was estimated to be -5.44 [corrected] g ha(-1) and -2.01 [corrected] g ha(-1), respectively, indicating the loss of Cd from the paddy field, although the losses accounted for only 0.24% [corrected] and 0.089% [corrected] of the total amount of Cd in the ploughed layer soil in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Among the factors involved, the input from fertilizers (including manure compost) and the output due to the uptake by rice plants played a major role in the balance. The former largely depended on the types and amounts of fertilizers applied, and the latter on the water management practices in the paddy field, such as flooding and drainage of the surface water.