Hoveduke3420

Broken Hill, the oldest silver (Ag)-zinc (Zn)-lead (Pb) mining community in Australia, has a legacy and ongoing problem of environmental Pb exposure that was identified as early as 1893. To reduce Pb exposure risks, identifying potential exposure pathways and related factors is a critical first step. This study examined blood lead (PbB) levels of children ≤60 months old (n = 24,106 samples), along with Pb concentrations in corresponding soil (n = 10,160 samples), petri-dish dust (n = 106 houses) and ceiling dust (n = 80 houses) over a 25-year period from 1991 to 2015. Epigenetics inhibitor Regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between environmental Pb sources and children's blood lead (PbB) outcomes. Analysis of the dataset showed Aboriginal children in Broken Hill had a geometric mean PbB of 7.4 μg/dL (95% CI 6.7-7.4) being significantly higher (p  less then  0.01) than non-Aboriginal children (PbB 6.2 μg/dL, 95% CI 6.2-6.3) for all years between 1991 and 2015. Children at the age of 24-36 months had a higher orary ongoing dust emissions from the mining operations and the associated mine-lease areas along with household soil remediation, to help prevent recontamination of homes. Additional practices of dust cleaning using wet mopping and wiping techniques, vacuuming of carpets and furnishings, ongoing monitoring of children and household dust remain important but short-lived abatement strategies. Overall, the key goal should be to eliminate risk by removing contamination in the wider environment as well as in individual homes. Vested interest theory (VIT) predicts that perceived importance and hedonic relevance of an expected behavioral outcome affects attitude-behavior consistency. Applied to college students' nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NUPS), the theory posits that persuasive information that weakens vested perceptions regarding assumed advantages of stimulant misuse will reduce usage intentions. The current study developed and experimentally assessed persuasive messages that targeted perceptions of vested interest (VI), and examined if message effectiveness varied as a function of users' risk status. Appeals that focused on the physical harms of misuse served as the comparison condition. College student participants (N = 282) were randomly assigned to one of four message conditions. To examine group differences, data were analyzed in a 2 (VIT-based message yes, no) × 2 (Physical harms emphasized yes, no) × 3 (User status resolute, vulnerable, user) between-subjects factorial design. Analyses showed that messages focused on lowering VI by convincing students that NUPS did not enhance cognitive functioning of non-ADD/ADHD students reduced perceived vested interest (p  less then  .001) and attitude favoribility p = .005. In vulnerable nonusers, these messages also decreased NUPS intentions p = .006. The effect of exposure to the physical harm communication was not significant. Findings support the potential of VIT-guided messages in NUPS prevention, and the lack of effect of messages focused on physical consequences of misuse. Marijuana use among older adults is on an unprecedented rise, yet little is known about its effects on cognition in this population where, due to advanced age, risk for cognitive decline is high. Thus, we investigated whether marijuana use and use characteristics were associated with self-reported cognition among older adults ages ≥ 50 years using the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III. Respondents either had never used marijuana ("never" n = 10,976), used but not in the past 12 months ("former" n = 2990), or used in the past 12 months ("current" n = 712). Self-reported cognition was measured using the Executive Function Index. Marijuana and substance use characteristics were obtained using the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-5. Covariates included demographics, mental health and disability, and comorbid mental and substance use disorder. Using general linear models of cross-sectional data, we found that current users, particularly those with cannabis use disorder, reported worse cognition than never or former users, but these effects were small in magnitude. Among both former and current users, greater duration of past use was associated with worse cognition. Frequent use within the past 12 months was associated with worse cognition among current users, but daily users reported better cognition compared to monthly or weekly users. Thus, marijuana use may impact self-reported cognition in older adulthood, although these effects may be subtle, specific to particular use characteristics, and possibly affected by self-awareness of deficits. Future work using objective measures such as neuropsychological testing or neuroimaging may better elucidate these effects. Polypyridyl ruthenium complexes have been intensively investigated for their remarkable antiproliferative properties and some are currently being tested in clinical trials. Here, we investigated the impact of illumination on the biological properties of a series of new cyclometalated ruthenium compounds with increased π-conjugation. We determined that various of these complexes display a bivalent biological activity as they are highly cytotoxic by themselves in absence of light while their cytotoxicity can significantly be elevated towards an IC50 in the nanomolar range upon illumination. In particular, we showed that these complexes are particularly active (IC50  25 μM). As expected, light activation leads to increased production of singlet oxygen species in vitro and accumulation of reactive oxygen species in vivo. Importantly, we established that light exposure shifts the mode of action of the complexes towards activation of a caspase 3-dependent apoptosis that correlates with increased DNA damage. Altogether, this study characterizes novel ruthenium complexes with dual activity that can be tuned towards different mode of action in order to bypass cancer cell resistance mechanisms. Contamination by microplastics (MPs) and the associated organic pollutants has caused potential threats to the ecological environment of global waters. In this study, MPs were sampled by trawling from the surface waters of the estuary, fishing port entrance and harbor entrance areas connected to the southwestern coast of Taiwan. Moreover, the abundance, morphological characteristics, composition, and associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of MPs were analyzed. The abundance of MPs was 0.36 ± 0.21 items/m3, which was 6.4 ± 10.7% of the abundance of zooplanktons. The average abundance of MPs was the highest in the estuary area, indicating that river transport was the primary way for MPs to enter the ocean. The most dominant MPs were small (0.33-2 mm; 78.8 ± 8.1%), colored (60.0 ± 12.8%), fragments (66.1 ± 10.6%), comprising PE (52.6 ± 7.6%), and PP (38.7 ± 9.4%). The decomposition of various plastic products and disposable plastic packaging may be the most significant source. The total concentration of PAHs in MPs ranged from 104 to 3595 ng/g dw, with an average of 818 ± 874 ng/g dw.