How to get citizen science data accepted by the scientific community? Insights from the Plastic
Pirates projectData resulting from citizen science investigations are often questioned as most participants do not (yet) have a thorough scientific education. This is especially true for projects taking place in schools, and conducting citizen science in this context is further complicated by different motivations of participants and a busy school curriculum. Herein we present strategies to ensure quality of data generated by the citizen science project Plastic Pirates in which schoolchildren investigated litter pollution at and in rivers. We show how formulating concise research questions, offering accompanying educational material, employing data quality mechanisms in the field (photographs, standardized sampling methods and selfevaluation) as well as transparently detailing which datasets were excluded from analysis was vital to accomplish the acceptance of resulting citizen science data by the scientific community.
Abstract.A ten year-old girl presented with increased susceptibility to infection, massive enlargement of the cervical lymph nodes, a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate and an extremely high serum IgA (peak level 66 g/l). The diagnosis of plasmacytoma was confirmed by the identification of a monoclonal immunoglobulin (IgAk) in the serum and in the plasma cells present in a cervical lymph node biopsy. Her disturbed blood coagulation and thrombelastogram, serum hyperviscosity, cryoglobulinemia, hyponatremia and constantly positive test for rheumatoid factor without evidence of rheumatic disease were attributed to the effects of the myeloma proteins. Other signs often associated with plasmacytoma (bone pain, osteolytic lesions, anemia, bone marrow failure or infiltration) were absent indicating that the plasmacytoma originated in a lymph node, which is unusual. This case is the second well-documented childhood plasmacytoma to be reported. With combined melphalan and prednisone therapy, the greatly enlarged lymph nodes regressed in size and the plasma IgA concentration fell to normal.Immunological investigations revealed a considerable reduction of blood T cells, and abnormal skin tests at the time of diagnosis indicated a disturbance of cellular immunity. There were also abnormalities in the B-cell system. The blood B lymphocytes were found to carry only complement receptors for C3b and mainly for IgA, whereas in normal individuals blood B cells bear complement receptors for both C3b and C3d and mainly surface Ig of the IgM class. In the lymph node biopsy, there were many primary follicles expressing complement receptors for both C3b and C3d among the dense plasma cell infiltrates, but germinal centers, which mainly serve to renew B cells, were completely absent. In conjunction with data from the literature, we concluded 1) that the production of normal B lymphocytes is blocked, probably due to a secondary T cell deficiency, and 2) that the majority of the residual blood and bone marrow B cells and the plasmacytoma cells are parts of the same neoplastic cell clone.Key words: Plasmacytoma -Monoclonal g a m m o p a t h y -Lymph node plasmacytoma -Surface markers -Complement receptor subtypes.
In recent decades, global plastic consumption has rapidly increased. Large quantities of plastics enter the environment in various ways, often ending up in the oceans. Plastic debris is nowadays found in any aquatic ecosystems. Due to its long durability, plastics may drift around with ocean currents for decades. Nowadays, plastic debris can be found in any aquatic ecosystem. Eventually, plastics decay into smaller fragments and sink to the seafloor. Marine mammals are affected by plastics in three major ways: They confuse large pieces of plastics with food, they become entangled in fishing nets, and they ingest smaller plastic fragments together with prey items. Here we discuss causes and solutions to these problems. We use exercises to investigate plastic debris in the environment and discuss how we all can become part of the solution through our own actions.
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