The air temperature change effect on water quality in the Kvarken Archipelago area.

The Kvarken Archipelago is Finland's World Heritage site designated by UNESCO. How climate change has affected the Kvaken Archipelago remains unclear. This study was conducted to investigate this issue by analyzing air temperature and water quality in this area. Here we use long-term historical data sets of 61 years from several monitoring stations. Water quality parameters included chlorophyll-a; total phosphorus; total nitrogen; coliform bacteria thermos tolerant; temperature; nitrate as nitrogen; nitrite-nitrate as nitrogen, and Secchi depth and correlations analysis was conducted to identify the most relevant parameters. Based on the correlation analysis of weather data and water quality parameters, air temperature showed a significant correlation with water temperature (Pearson's correlations = 0.89691, P < 0.0001). The air temperature increased in April (R2 (goodness-of-fit) = 0.2109 &P = 0.0009) and July (R2 = 0.1207 &P = 0.0155) which has indirectly increased the chlorophyll-a level (e.g. in June increasing slope = 0.39101, R2 = 0.4685, P < 0.0001) an indicator of phytoplankton growth and abundance in the water systems. The study concludes that there might be indirect effects of the likely increase in air temperature on water quality in the Kvarken Archipelago, in particular causing water temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration to increase at least in some months.

Concentrations of tryptoline and methtryptoline in rat brain.

Combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry have been used to identify and quantify tryptoline, methtryptoline, 5-hydroxytryptoline, and 5-hydroxymethtryptoline as their heptafluorobutyryl derivatives in extracts of rat brain. Tryptoline and methtryptoline were identified on the basis of their retention times and mass spectral characteristics: they were reliably detected in brain tissue extracts without interference from artifactual formation; their whole brain concentrations ranged between 0.2 and 3 ng/g; and they had a similar neuroanatomical distribution, with the highest concentrations in the cerebellum and the cortex. Smaller quantities of 5-hydroxytryptoline and 5-hydroxymethtryptoline were also identified on the basis of their retention times and mass spectral characteristics. However, the significance of this finding is unclear, because these two compounds were accompanied by larger quantities of their tetradeuterated analogues formed from tetradeuterated-5-hydroxytryptamine added at the time of tissue homogenization; this result suggests that formation of 5-hydroxytryptoline and 5-hydroxymethtryptoline occurred during tissue homogenization, sample preparation, or both.

Toxicity of plant material used as emergency food during famines in Finland.

The use of natural plants as emergency food in Finland and northern Europe has been described. The chemical contents of the commonly used "pettu" (pine bark), lichen (Cetraria islandica, Cladonia sp.) and water plants (Calla palustris, Menyathes trifoliata, Nymphea sp. and Nuphar luteum) are described and their toxicity after traditional pretreatments were studied in mice and rats. As 50% w/w mixture in normal food none of them were tolerated by mice. However, rats tolerated 25% of "pettu" and ash-treated C. islandica in 3-month tests rather well, although the body weight did not increase as much as in controls. At the end of experiment in the lichen group, the rats had proteinuria, and on autopsy some tubular changes were found probably due to high concentrations of lead in the lichen and kidneys. All the rhizomes studied contain toxic compounds, but they, particularly calla, would be nutritionally valuable. Boiling poorly eliminated their toxicity, but after baking at 180-200 degrees C the most toxic Nuphar and calla were well tolerated as 25% mixture during a 6-week test. It is possible that poorly selected or poorly pretreated emergency food have sometimes contributed to the death of famine victims in the olden times. Unqualified simplification of the traditional precautions for their treatment may be dangerous.

Tetrahydro-beta-carbolines and corresponding tryptamines: In vitro inhibition of serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline uptake in rat brain synaptosomes.

The structure activity relationships of tryptolines and some other beta-carbolines and tryptamines as inhibitors of serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) uptake were studied in rat brain synaptosomes. All beta-carbolines inhibited to higher degree the uptake of 5-HT than that of DA or NA(IC50's 5-100 times lower). The most potent tryptoline derivative was 6-hydroxy-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (5-hydroxytryptoline, 6-OH-THBC) with an IC50 of 5.0 x 10(-7) M at a 5-HT concentration of 10(-7) M. 6-Methoxy-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (5-methoxytryptoline) was slightly weaker; the inhibition of 5-HT uptake and DA uptake being competitive. Also tetrahydro-beta-carboline (tryptoline) was more potent than its 1-methylderivative, tetrahydroharmane (methtryptoline) or norharmane (beta-carboline). All of them were, however, weaker inhibitors of 5-HT uptake than the freely rotating indoleamines N-methyl-tryptamine (N-Me-T) or 5-HT itself. N-Me-T and 5-HT were also more potent inhibitors of DA and NA uptake than most of the beta-carbolines, DA uptake, however, was inhibited better by 6-OH-THBC than by 5-HT or N-ME-T. Tetrahydro-beta-carbolines may inhibit 5-HT uptake also in vivo but is unlikely that catecholamine uptake is affected.