Conference news

RESOURCES: ENVIRONMENT AND POLICY, by John Fernie and Alan Pitkethly, Harper and Row, London, 1985, 338 pp. (#bp12.95, paperback)

THE ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, by Per‐Olov Johansson and Karl‐Gustaf Lofgren, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1985, 292 pp. (#bp29.50, hardback only)

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: STANDARDS, COMPLIANCE AND COSTS, edited by T. J. Lack, J. Wiley &; Son, Chichester, 1984, 329 pp. (#bp30, hardback)

ENVIRONMENT AND ENFORCEMENT: REGULATION AND THE SOCIAL DEFINITION OF POLLUTION, by K. Hawkins, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984, 253 pp. (#bp15 hardback; #bp6.95, paperback)

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, VOLUME 1: ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS, by George Tolley, Philip Graves and Glenn Blomquist, Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass, and Harper and Row, London, 1981. (#bp27.50, hardback)

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, VOLUME 4: SOLID WASTES, by George Tolley, Jospeh Havlicek and Robert Fabian, Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass. and Harper and Row, London, 1985. (#bp44.00, hardback)

World Health Organisation, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION CONTROL IN RELATION TO DEVELOPMENT, World Health Organisation, Geneva, Technical Report Series, 718, 1985, 63 pp.

TRANSPORT IS FOR PEOPLE: NINTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THEORY AND PRACTICE IN TRANSPORT ECONOMICS, European Conference of Ministers of Transport, 1983, Paris (#bp15.00)

RECREATION MANAGEMENT AND PRICING, by A. G. Bovaird, M. J. Tricker and R. Stoakes, Gower Press, Aldershot, 1984, 182 pp. (#bp15, hardback)

URBAN LAND AND SHELTER FOR THE POOR, by Patrick McAuslan, Earthscan#shInternational Institute for Environment and Development, London, 1985, 145 pp.

CARING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED. Prepared for the Association of Metro‐polital Authorities by Susan Balloch, Chris Hume, Brian Jones and Peter Westland. Publishers: Bedford Square Press, London, 1985, for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

THE LONG‐TERM UNEMPLOYED. ACTION FOR A FORGOTTEN MILLION, by Peter Ashby (Head, NVCO Policy Analysis Unit). An NCVO Policy Discussion document, Bedford Square Press, London (1985).

ANTHROPOGENIC COMPOUNDS: Volume 3 Part C of The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, edited by O. Hutzinger, Springer‐Verlag, Germany, 248 pp. 1986. (DM 188.00)

HEAVY METALS IN NATURAL WATERS: APPLIED MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT, by James W. Moore and S. Ramamoorthy, Springer‐Verlag, U.S.A. and Germany, viii #pl 268 pages, index, 1984. (DM 108.00)

DESTRUCTION AND DISPOSAL OF PCBs BY THERMAL AND NON‐THERMAL METHODS, by D. G. Ackerman, L. L. Scinto, P. S. Bakshi, R. G. Delumyea, R. J. Johnson, G. Richard, A. M. Takata and E. M. Sworzyn. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1983, xiv #pl 417 pages (no index). (#dl48.00)

ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR MANUAL (Pollution Technology Review No. 91), by Jack R. McDonald and Alan H. Dean, Noyes Data Corporation, U.S.A., 1982. (#dl48.00)

PATTY'S INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE AND TOXICOLOGY, edited by Lewis J. Cralley and Lester V. Cralley, Volume 3 (2nd Edition)—Theory and Rationale of Industrial Hygiene Practice: (i) Volume 3A—The Work Environment (#bp97.20); (ii) Volume 3B—Biological Responses (#bp92.00) J. Wiley and Sons Ltd., Chichester U.K. 1985.

SAFE DRINKING WATER. THE IMPACT OF CHEMICALS ON A LIMITED RESOURCE, edited by R. G. Rice, J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, U.K., Lewis Publishers Inc. Chelsea MI, 1985. (#bp36.00)

PLANTS FOR ARID LANDS. (Proceedings of the Kew International Conference on Economic Plants for Arid Lands held in the Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, 23‐27 July 1984), edited by G. E. Wickens, J. R. Goodwin and D. V. Field. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1985. (#bp30.00)

REGULATED RIVERS, edited by A. Lillehammer and S. J. Saltveit, Univer‐sitetsforlaget AS, Oslo, 1984. (#bp47.50)

NUTRIENT CYCLING IN TROPICAL FOREST ECOSYSTEMS, by C. F. Jordan, Wiley, Chichester, 1985. (#bp13.45)     

Multi-laboratory evaluations of the performance of Catellicoccus marimammalium PCR assays developed to target gull fecal sources

Here we report results from a multi-laboratory (n = 11) evaluation of four different PCR methods targeting the 16S rRNA gene of Catellicoccus marimammalium originally developed to detect gull fecal contamination in coastal environments. The methods included a conventional end-point PCR method, a SYBR^® Green qPCR method, and two TaqMan^® qPCR methods. Different techniques for data normalization and analysis were tested. Data analysis methods had a pronounced impact on assay sensitivity and specificity calculations. Across-laboratory standardization of metrics including the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), target detected but not quantifiable (DNQ), and target not detected (ND) significantly improved results compared to results submitted by individual laboratories prior to definition standardization. The unit of measure used for data normalization also had a pronounced effect on measured assay performance. Data normalization to DNA mass improved quantitative method performance as compared to enterococcus normalization. The MST methods tested here were originally designed for gulls but were found in this study to also detect feces from other birds, particularly feces composited from pigeons. Sequencing efforts showed that some pigeon feces from California contained sequences similar to C. marimammalium found in gull feces. These data suggest that the prevalence, geographic scope, and ecology of C. marimammalium in host birds other than gulls require further investigation. This study represents an important first step in the multi-laboratory assessment of these methods and highlights the need to broaden and standardize additional evaluations, including environmentally relevant target concentrations in ambient waters from diverse geographic regions.     

A Knowledge Transfer Framework: the PFI context

The UK's Private Finance Initiative market is predicted to rise to over £8 billion a year and there are indications of growing opportunities. PFI creates a long‐term income stream and provides valuable opportunities for portfolio diversification. PFI has evolved at a fast pace and the momentum is set to continue. However, there are major challenges facing construction organisations. These include the lack of PFI experts, longer negotiation periods and tight time schedules to deliver large‐scale schemes, high levels of investment and risks involved and limited knowledge transfer between PFI projects. Concerns over the level of knowledge sharing have prompted the development and evaluation of a Knowledge Transfer Framework that encourages construction organisations to transfer PFI knowledge between projects. It achieves this by building on a questionnaire survey of PFI clients and construction companies, case studies of companies involved in PFI, and research workshops to validate the framework developed.     

Artificial Maturation of the Highly Active Heterodimeric [FeFe] Hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 7757

Hydrogenases catalyze the reduction of protons and oxidation of molecular hydrogen with high turnover frequencies and low overpotentials under ambient conditions. The heterodimeric [FeFe] hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans has an exceptionally high activity, and can be purified aerobically in an oxygen-stable inactive state. Recently, it was demonstrated that monomeric [FeFe] hydrogenases produced recombinantly in Escherichia coli can be artificially maturated by simply incubating the inactive “apo” enzymes with the synthetic [2Fe] cofactor mimic [Fe₂(adt)(CO)₄(CN)₂]²⁻. Here, we use the same technique to produce the heterodimeric “apo” hydrogenase from D. desulfuricans in E. coli with a high yield and purity, and maturate the “apo” enzyme with [Fe₂(adt)(CO)₄(CN)₂]²⁻ to generate fully active “holo” enzyme. Interestingly, the rate of the artificial maturation process with D. desulfuricans is significantly slower than that for all other hydrogenases tested so far. The artificially maturated enzyme is spectroscopically and electrochemically identical to the native enzyme and shows high rates of hydrogen production (3700 s⁻¹) and hydrogen oxidation (63,000 s⁻¹). We expect that our highly efficient production method will facilitate future studies of this enzyme and other related [FeFe] hydrogenases from Desulfovibrio species.     

Potential process ‘hurdles’ in the use of macroalgae as feedstock for biofuel production in the British Isles

This review examines the potential technical and energy balance hurdles in the production of seaweed biofuel, and in particular for the MacroBioCrude processing pipeline for the sustainable manufacture of liquid hydrocarbon fuels from seaweed in the UK. The production of biofuel from seaweed is economically, energetically and technically challenging at scale. Any successful process appears to require both a method of preserving the seaweed for continuous feedstock availability and a method exploiting the entire biomass. Ensiling and gasification offer a potential solution to these two requirements. However there is need for more data particularly at a commercial scale. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

In Vitro Activity of Copper(II) Complexes,Loaded or Unloaded into a Nanostructured Lipid System,against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused mainly by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), presenting 9.5 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths in 2014. The aim of this study was to evaluate a nanostructured lipid system (NLS) composed of 10% phase oil (cholesterol), 10% surfactant (soy phosphatidylcholine, sodium oleate), and Eumulgin^® HRE 40 ([castor oil polyoxyl-40-hydrogenated] in a proportion of 3:6:8), and an 80% aqueous phase (phosphate buffer pH = 7.4) as a tactic to enhance the in vitro anti-Mtb activity of the copper(II) complexes [CuCl₂(INH)₂]·H₂O (1), [Cu(NCS)₂(INH)₂]·5H₂O (2) and [Cu(NCO)₂(INH)₂]·4H₂O (3). The Cu(II) complex-loaded NLS displayed sizes ranging from 169.5 ± 0.7095 to 211.1 ± 0.8963 nm, polydispersity index (PDI) varying from 0.135 ± 0.0130 to 0.236 ± 0.00100, and zeta potential ranging from −0.00690 ± 0.0896 to −8.43 ± 1.63 mV. Rheological analysis showed that the formulations behave as non-Newtonian fluids of the pseudoplastic and viscoelastic type. Antimycobacterial activities of the free complexes and NLS-loaded complexes against Mtb H₃₇Rv ATCC 27294 were evaluated by the REMA methodology, and the selectivity index (SI) was calculated using the cytotoxicity index (IC₅₀) against Vero (ATCC^® CCL-81), J774A.1 (ATCC^® TIB-67), and MRC-5 (ATCC^® CCL-171) cell lines. The data suggest that the incorporation of the complexes into NLS improved the inhibitory action against Mtb by 52-, 27-, and 4.7-fold and the SI values by 173-, 43-, and 7-fold for the compounds 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The incorporation of the complexes 1, 2 and 3 into the NLS also resulted in a significant decrease of toxicity towards an alternative model (Artemia salina L.). These findings suggest that the NLS may be considered as a platform for incorporation of metallic complexes aimed at the treatment of TB.     

Structural evolution of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene oxide)/unmodified clay upon ambient ageing

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/unmodified clay masterbatches are compounded together in order to investigate the ambient ageing of the resulting PLA/PEO/clay ternary blends. Binary blends are miscible up to 20 wt PEO% and in ternary counterparts, clay is intercalated at a nanometric scale, similarly to the clay dispersion state in masterbatches. PEO/clay interactions are strong, as confirmed by the lower plasticization of ternary blends. Furthermore, structural modifications occurring over time are evidenced for all blends through the observation of changes in thermal responses. Over the 220‐day observation period, lower plasticized samples undergo physical ageing only whereas blends close to the miscibility limit know a rapid PLA/PEO phase separation without physical ageing. For blends with intermediate PEO concentrations, both phenomena are observed with slower PLA chain mobility transition. Remarkably clay appears to affect both phenomena, ternary blends having limited physical ageing and slower PLA/PEO segregation. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40426.     

Sugar Beet Grown Using Nutrient Film Technique: Yield and Nutritional Quality

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L cv Great Western Sugar) was grown using the nutrient film technique with a half-strength modified Hoagland nutrient solution to determine its biomass yield and nutritional quality. After 6 months, storage root and foliage weights per plant were 493·1 g and 551·0 g, respectively. Sucrose content in the fresh storage root was 118·4 g kg⁻¹ but was less than 10 g kg⁻¹ in the fresh leaves and petioles. Some nutrients in the leaves and petioles were analysed to evaluate their potential as a leafy vegetable. Fresh leaf protein, total dietary fibre, mineral (Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and K), vitamin (carotene, ascorbic acid and thiamine) and oxalic acid concentrations were similar to those of consumer-accepted green vegetables.     

Isolation and characterization of a Δ-9 fatty acid desaturase gene from the oleaginous yeast Cryptococcus curvatus CBS 570

The oleaginous yeast Cryptococcus curvatus is of industrial interest because it can accumulate triacylglycerols up to 60% of the cell dry weight. We are aiming at genetic modification of fatty acid biosynthesis for the production of tailor-made triacylglycerols in C. curvatus. As a first step in the development of a transformation and expression system a gene encoding the Δ-9 fatty acid desaturase of C. curvatus (CBS 570) was cloned. The 1470 bp gene encodes a protein of 493 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 55 kDa. The gene shows strong similarity to previous cloned Δ-9 desaturase genes from rat and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 62 and 72%, respectively. Expression of the Δ-9 desaturase gene was studied. Supplementation of the growth medium with oleic acid (C18:1(c9)) showed a strong repression (90%) on the mRNA level, while supplementation with petroselinic acid (C18:1(c6)) had no effect on the amount of mRNA.     

Adipose Stromal/Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: Potential Next-Generation Anti-Obesity Agents

Over the last decade, several compounds have been identified for the treatment of obesity. However, due to the complexity of the disease, many pharmacological interventions have raised concerns about their efficacy and safety. Therefore, it is important to discover new factors involved in the induction/progression of obesity. Adipose stromal/stem cells (ASCs), which are mostly isolated from subcutaneous adipose tissue, are the primary cells contributing to the expansion of fat mass. Like other cells, ASCs release nanoparticles known as extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are being actively studied for their potential applications in a variety of diseases. Here, we focused on the importance of the contribution of ASC-derived EVs in the regulation of metabolic processes. In addition, we outlined the advantages/disadvantages of the use of EVs as potential next-generation anti-obesity agents.