Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) is the water contained in tailings impoundment structures in oil sands operations. There are concerns about the environmental impacts of the release of OSPW because of its toxicity. In this study, ozonation followed by biodegradation was used to remediate OSPW. The impacts of the ozone process evolution on the naphthenic acids (NAs) speciation and acute toxicity were evaluated. Ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) was used to preliminarily separate isomeric and homologous species. The results showed limited effects of the ozone reactor size on the treatment performance in terms of contaminant removal. In terms of NAs speciation, high reactivity of NAs with higher number of carbons and rings was only observed in a region of high reactivity (i.e., utilized ozone dose lower than 50 mg/L). It was also found that nearly 0.5 mg/L total NAs was oxidized per mg/L of utilized ozone dose, at utilized ozone doses lower than 50 mg/L. IMS showed that ozonation was able to degrade NAs, oxidized NAs, and sulfur/nitrogenated NAs. Complete removal of toxicity toward Vibrio fischeri was achieved after ozonation followed by 28-day biodegradation period. In vitro and in vivo assays indicated that ozonation reduced the OSPW toxicity to mice.
Mammalian macrophage CSF (MCSF; CSF-1) is the primary regulator of the mononuclear phagocyte lineage. We, for the first time, report the complete sequencing of five MCSF cDNAs from three fish species, rainbow trout, zebrafish, and goldfish. Despite the difference in the lengths of the MCSF transcripts, all of the fish MCSF molecules encode a signal peptide, a CSF-1 domain, a transmembrane domain, and an intracellular region. Each fish MCSF gene has a unique exon/intron structure. The primordial MCSF gene may have had a nine exon/eight intron structure. In this model, insertion of an intron in exon 6 in primitive fish created the fish type I MCSF, while the loss of this exon or part of the original exon 6 created the fish type II MCSF. Investigation of alternative splicing variants in trout suggests that no mammalian equivalent splice variants exist. The two trout MCSF genes are differentially expressed in vivo and contributed differently to the high-level expression of MCSF in spleen and head kidney. In contrast to the up-regulation of MCSF by PMA in mammals, in trout MCSF1 expression is down-regulated by PMA treatment. As in mammals, recombinant trout MCSF1 can promote the growth of head kidney leukocytes, and it up-regulates the expression of CXCR3 in head kidney macrophages, with the latter suggesting a role of MCSF in the trafficking of macrophages to sites of inflammation or injury where the CXCR3 ligands are expressed. Thus MCSF has an important role in the immune system of fish as in mammals.
Mongolian gerbils were susceptible to infection with Giardia lamblia cysts from patients. Inoculation of gerbils with 5 x 10(3) cysts each resulted in an infection characterized by the intermittent release of cysts for up to 39 days. The mean number of cysts released per gerbil in a 2-hr period was 8.8 x 10(2) (range, 0-5 x 10(3)). The highest number of trophozoites found in the intestine was on day 15 after infection, when the mean number of trophozoites per gerbil was 6.36 x 10(6). Administration of cysts from different patients to gerbils resulted in a similar pattern of cyst release during the first 30 days of infection. Mongolian gerbils were also susceptible to infection with cultured trophozoites (Portland 1 strain). The pattern of cyst release and the number of trophozoites in the intestines of orally and duodenally inoculated gerbils were similar. Gerbils were protected against reinfection with G. lamblia for up to eight months after primary infection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.