Dietary composition in Greenland 2000, plasma fatty acids and persistent organic pollutants

Human exposure to pollution in the Arctic presents a potential future health risk for the local populations. Epidemiological studies in Greenland have shown that human blood levels of several organic contaminants are very high, especially in the North where people depend on local food. In East Greenland (Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund)) the population shows the highest blood levels of several persistent organic pollutants found in Arctic countries, especially PCB, the levels of which exceed Canadian guideline levels. As in other Arctic countries, the direct source of these contaminants is the diet, and it is, therefore important to monitor the composition of the diet along with other factors which may influence the metabolism and thereby the accumulation of toxic substances. This project is part of the human health program of the ongoing circumpolar 'Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme'. Dietary survey results (Semiquantitative Food Frequency questionnaire from 192 men and women from East Greenland and 48 men from Uummannaq West Greenland) were analysed along with other factors (lifestyle and anthropometric factors), blood lipids, fatty acid profiles, and concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The dietary survey showed that the contributions of traditional food provided 25-30% of the total energy intake. However, the relative monthly meal intake of seal, whale, polar bear, fish and game, and the composition of imported food, varied between districts. The blood fatty acids (FA), e.g. the n-3/n-6 ratio (Uummannaq 0.70, Ittoqqortoormiit 0.37 Tassiilaq 0.45) showed moderate associations with the overall reported food composition. The n-3 fatty acids were associated with the well-known lowering effect on serum-triglyceride levels. The strongest associations between diet and plasma fatty acids were found for docosapentaenoic acid, C: 22.5.3 which strongly correlated with reported seal, and polar bear intake (P=0.01** and 0.04*, respectively), consistent with the fact that seal and polar bear blubber contain much higher concentrations of C: 22.5.3 than other sea mammals and fish. Seal and polar bear intake, and in particular all the plasma n-3 fatty acids, were significantly correlated with organic contaminant concentrations, (betaHCH, chlordanes, DDTs, Hexachlorobenzene, Mirex, PCBs, and toxaphenes) P<0.01**. CONCLUSIONS: The strongest correlations between POPs and fatty acids were found with C: 22.5.3, strongly indicating seal and polar bear blubber as the main contributors of POPs to the local population.     

Organochlorines and heavy metals in pregnant women from the Disko Bay area in Greenland

Recent studies from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic have shown high concentrations of heavy metals, such as mercury, and organochlorines in the blood and fatty tissue of the Inuit. This is attributed in particular to their high consumption of the meat and blubber of marine mammals. In the present study, 180 pregnant women and 178 newborn babies were studied, amounting to 36% of the total number of births in the Disko Bay area during 1994-1996. The pesticides found in the highest concentrations in maternal blood were DDE (4.8 micrograms/l wet wt.), trans-nonachlor (1.6 micrograms/l) and hexachlorobenzene (1.2 micrograms/l) while the total concentration of PCB (Aroclor 1260) was 19.1 micrograms/l. Calculated on a lipid basis, concentrations were slightly higher in maternal than in cord blood. The mercury concentrations were 16.8 micrograms/l in maternal blood and 35.6 micrograms/l in cord blood. In a linear regression analysis, the concentrations of organochlorines, mercury and selenium increased with maternal age. Concentrations of mercury and cadmium increased with the consumption of marine mammals, and cadmium was associated with smoking. The contaminants are potentially toxic for several organ systems but the high concentrations of pollutants have so far not been shown to influence health in Greenland.     

Modeling of crack propagation in strengthened concrete disks

Crack propagation in strengthened concrete disks is a problem that has not yet been addressed properly. To investigate it, a cracked half-infinite disk of concrete is strengthened with a linear elastic material bonded to the surface, and analyzed using two different finite element modeling approaches. The first method is 3D modeling of strengthening, interface and disk, and the second method is modeling of an equivalent disk in 2D, with an effective cohesive crack, equivalent thickness and equivalent stiffness. The 2D modeling approach simplifies modeling of the problem significantly and reduces the computational efforts and time. A good prediction of the cracking response, global response and load was obtained with the 2D model, whereas prediction of the size and shape of the interface debond was only approximate. It is concluded that the effective cohesive modeling approach can be used instead of 3D calculations to predict the response of a structure and that it opens up for simpler evaluation of strengthened concrete structures using the finite element method.     

How Accessibility Shapes Land Use

An empirical examination of the residential development patterns illustrates that accessibility and the availability of vacant developable land can be used as the basis of a residential land use model. The author presents an operational definition and suggests a method for determining accessibility patterns within metropolitan areas. This is a process of distributing forecasted metropolitan population to small areas within the metropolitan region. Although the model presented is not yet sufficiently well refined for estimating purposes, the concept and the approach may be potentially useful tools for metropolitan planning purposes.     

French National Planning Experience

During the past two decades the French have developed the most comprehensive system of regional planning in Europe. This article outlines the institutions that have been created to formulate and implement regional objectives within the framework of the national plan. Problems encountered during the Fourth and Fifth Plans are discussed, along with proposals set forth for dealing with them. Among these are attempts to balance the pull of the Paris region by stimulating economic growth in the provinces, to promote growth of urban centers in the Paris Basin, and to guide the expansion of the Paris region by a comprehensive Strategic Plan. Despite a certain lack of coherency and integration among various elements in their regional policy, the French are making relatively great strides in developing institutions and policies equal to their pressing regional problems.     

A deeper understanding of the spontaneous derepression of the URA3 gene in MaV203 Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its implications for protein engineering and the reverse two-hybrid system

Within the field of protein-based biomaterials, the need exists for both covalent and oriented bioconjugation strategies for improved performance. Such bioconjugation reactions can be facilitated by engineering proteins with chemically activated amino acids at strategically chosen sites. The incorporation of these unnatural amino acids (uAAs) can be achieved by using the nonsense suppression technique. This requires an aminoacyl-tRNA-synthetase (aaRS) that exclusively recognizes the uAA and loads it to the corresponding tRNA. Appropriate (aaRS) mutants can be found through reverse engineering using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain MaV203. This strain contains a counterselectable, Gal4p-inducible SPAL10::URA3 fusion and deletions in the endogenous GAL80 and GAL4 genes. Therefore, it has been used extensively for the screening of aaRS mutant libraries. It is generally assumed that the SPAL10 promoter actively represses the URA3 gene in the absence of Gal4p, resulting in MaV203 cells with a Ura ⁻ phenotype. The current contribution reveals that in a small fraction of MaV203 cells, a basal expression of the URA3 gene occurs. The unexpected URA3 expression is reported for the first time, and the nature of the mutation causing this expression was identified as a spontaneous recessive mutation in a single gene of a protein involved in the repression of the SPAL10 promoter. The basal URA3 expression causes aaRS mutants to be missed, which affects the outcome of the library screening. It is demonstrated that the use of diploid cells can circumvent the MaV203 Ura⁺ phenotype, allowing for an optimization of S. cerevisiae library screening.     

Cyber-Physical Systems und Privatsph?renschutz

In vielen Produktionsanlagen ist der Einsatz von Sensoren und Aktuatoren selbstverst?ndlich, um ein reibungsloses Zusammenspiel bei der Produktfertigung und beim Anlagenbetrieb zu gew?hrleisten. ?hnliche Komponenten solcher „Cyber-Physical Systems“ werden in jedem neuen Auto verbaut. Eine Forschungsagenda für Deutschland beschreibt die Potenziale und Herausforderungen für diese Systeme, die künftig in vielen Lebensbereichen Einzug halten k?nnten und aus denen sich bedeutende Datenschutzfragen ergeben.     

Measures for diffusion of solar PV in selected African countries

This paper investigates how African governments are considering supporting and promoting the diffusion of solar PV. This issue is explored by examining so-called ‘technology action plans (TAPs)’, which were main outputs of the Technology Needs Assessment project implemented in 10 African countries from 2010 to 2013. The paper provides a review of three distinct but characteristic trajectories for PV market development in Kenya (private-led market for solar home systems), Morocco (utility-led fee-for service model) and Rwanda (donor-led market for institutional systems). The paper finds that governments’ strategies to promoting solar PV are moving from isolated projects towards frameworks for market development and that there are high expectations to upgrading in the PV value chain through local assembly of panels and local production of other system elements. Commonly identified measures include support to: local production; financing schemes; tax exemptions; establishment and reinforcement of standards; technical training; and research and development.