Ingestion of marine debris by juvenile Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) in wintering grounds of coastal Argentina.

The occurrence of marine debris in the stomach contents of young male and female Spheniscus magellanicus stranded along the Atlantic coast of northern Argentina during its post-breeding exodus is reported for the first time. Marine debris was found in 15.5 % of 148 dead penguins, with a higher proportion of debris found in females when compared to males. A total of 81 debris items was recorded; plastic and paper each contributed with an equal number of debris whereas rubber contributed with a single item. Chemical identification performed using FTIR/ATR revealed that plastic items were largely LDPE and PA; other polymers included HDPE, PP and PS. The average length of fragmented plastic debris are in line with those reported from penguins stranded along the southern Brazilian coasts. Our study indicates that loads of ingested marine debris were roughly five times lower when compared to the estimates for the species in Brazilian beaches.

Normative Performance on the Balance Error Scoring System by Youth, High School, and Collegiate Athletes.

CONTEXT: Annually, more than 1 million youth athletes in the United States receive or are suspected of receiving a concussion. The Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) is the most commonly used clinical balance evaluation designed to provide a better understanding of the motor-control processes of individuals with concussion. Despite the widespread use of the BESS, a fundamental gap exists in applying this tool to young athletes, as normative values are lacking for this population. OBJECTIVE: To determine age- and sex-specific normative values for the BESS in youth, high school, and collegiate athletes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Local youth sport organizations, high schools, and colleges. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Student-athletes (N = 6762) completed preseason baseline concussion testing as part of a comprehensive concussion-management program. Groups were youth males aged 5 to 13 years (n = 360), high school males aged 14 to 18 years (n = 3743), collegiate males aged 19 to 23 years (n = 497), youth females aged 5 to 13 years (n = 246), high school females aged 14 to 18 years (n = 1673), and collegiate females aged 19 to 23 years (n = 243). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Errors according to the BESS specifications. RESULTS: Performance on the BESS was worse ( P < .01) in youth athletes than in high school and collegiate athletes. In the youth and high school cohorts, females exhibited better scores than males ( P < .05). Sex was not a factor for collegiate athletes. Data from the youth cohort were further subdivided into 4-year bins to evaluate potential motor-development differences. The error count was highest for 5- to 9-year-old males and decreased with age. CONCLUSIONS: Performance on the BESS depended on sex and age, particularly in youth athletes. These sex- and age-specific normative values provide a reference to facilitate and unify clinical decision making across multiple providers caring for youth athletes with concussions.

Marine debris in beaches of the Southwestern Atlantic: An assessment of their abundance and mass at different spatial scales in northern coastal Argentina.

Argentina is currently undergoing an intensive development of coastal-oriented tourism due to the temperate climate and coastal sceneries of the Southwestern Atlantic and particularly its wide ocean-open sandy beaches, which may turn into an important contributor of marine debris to the beaches. This study was designed to assess at four spatial scales (i) the variation of the abundance and mass of marine debris and (ii) the composition and sources of these items in sandy-tourist beaches of coastal zones of the province of Buenos Aires, in northern Argentina. The abundance and mass of marine debris shifted between sampling localities (separated by ~1.5×105m) and beaches (~3×104m). Debris was primarily from recreational and fishing activities and over 20mm in size. Tackling the complications associated with marine debris in northern Argentina may include intensive educational and advertising campaigns oriented chiefly to beach users and fisherman.

Nitric oxide promotes in vitro interstitial cell heart valve repair.

BACKGROUND: The cell and molecular biology of heart valve wound repair is not well understood. Valve interstitial cells (IC) are thought to play an important role in valvular wound repair. Because nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in wound repair, we tested the hypothesis that NO promotes valvular wound repair by examining the presence of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in wounded IC monolayers, in vitro. METHODS: Linear denuding wounds were made in confluent monolayers of porcine mitral valve IC plated on glass coverslips. Cultures were fixed at various times (0 to 48 h postwounding), and iNOS was localized in the cells by immunofluorescence microscopy. Cultures were also incubated with iNOS inhibitors L-N(G)-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and N-(3-(Aminomethyl)benzyl)acetamidine (1400W), and the extent of wound closure with and without inhibitor was measured at 24, 48 and 72 h postwounding. RESULTS: From 6 to 24 h postwounding, iNOS localization was increased at the wound edge. At 48 h, iNOS was localized beyond the wound edge, into the monolayer, where the intensity of the signal gradually diminished until it was virtually imperceptible. At 24 and 48 h, the inhibition of iNOS with both L-NAME and 1400W resulted in a significant delay in wound closure. CONCLUSION: NO promotes valve wound repair through an effect on IC migration.

Marriage promotion and missing men: African American women in a demographic double bind.

Since 1996, state legislators, members of the U.S. Congress, and more recently President George W. Bush, have called for the protection of monogamous, heterosexual marriage and the promotion of marriage among poor women. The thrust of this policy making is directed at African American families, among which female headship doubled between 1965 and 1990. This doubling is temporally associated with enacting the legislation directed toward the War on Drugs, which resulted in a tripling of the African American prison population. In Syracuse, New York, the swelling African American population behind bars has resulted in a skewed sex ratio, in which women significantly outnumber men. The authors use national, state, and local epidemiological, environmental, and ethnographic data to argue that the proliferation of marriage-promotion policies is heterosexist and blames African American women for demographic realities over which they have little control.

Structural violence and racial disparity in HIV transmission.

Among women of color in the United States, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is rising. Most of the research on this topic, however, has focused on individual-level risk factors, which do not fully explain racial or ethnic differences in infection rates. This article uses structural violence as a conceptual framework to examine ecological-level risk factors leading to disparate rates of heterosexually transmitted HIV among women of color in Syracuse, New York. Three ecological pathways to disproportionate infection are discussed: community rates of infection, concurrent partnerships, and increased vulnerability. The discussion of the pathways considers the following macro-level risk factors: disproportionate incarceration rates of African American men, residential segregation, gang turf, constraints on access to sexually transmitted disease services, an African American sex ratio in which women outnumber men, social norms stigmatizing homosexuality, and commercial sales of douching products. The authors argue that health care providers and policy analysts must address ecological-level risk factors for HIV transmission in underserved communities.

Fibroblast growth factor 2 regulation of mitral valve interstitial cell repair in vitro.

OBJECTIVE: Because elongated mitral valve interstitial cells have features of myofibroblasts, it is likely that these cells are essential for the repair of injured valve leaflets. We characterized the cellular morphology and pattern of repair of these interstitial cells in wounds produced in vitro and tested the hypothesis that fibroblast growth factor 2 enhances interstitial cell repair. METHODS: Mitral valve interstitial cells were plated onto glass coverslips, reached confluence after 1 week, and were wounded by passage of a spatula along the center of a monolayer, which created a linear wound with two edges. The wounds were observed from 0 to 96 hours by phase-contrast microscopy. Wounds were also fixed at 0, 2, and 24 hours and stained for fibroblast growth factor 2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 by means of immunofluorescence and laser confocal microscopy. RESULTS: Cells in confluent monolayers and in the monolayer behind the wound edge formed a multilayered orthogonal pattern of elongated cells similar to fibroblasts. Cells along the wound edge migrated into the wound after 4 hours, and at 24 hours single cells with prominent lamellipodia and tails were present within the wound. There was overlapping of cells as well, similar to smooth muscle cells. Fibroblast growth factor 2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 were present in the cells of the undisturbed confluent monolayer. They were upwardly regulated relative to the unwounded monolayer in the cells along the wound edge at 2 hours and in the monolayer behind the wound edge at 24 hours. In single cells that migrated into the wound, fibroblast growth factor 2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 were prominent. Fibroblast growth factor 2 showed a 6-fold increase in concentration relative to unwounded cultures in conditioned medium from wounded cultures at 2 hours after wounding. Addition of a neutralizing antibody to fibroblast growth factor 2 significantly delayed wound closure at 24 to 96 hours. Addition of exogenous fibroblast growth factor 2 to cultures at the time of wounding did not enhance wound repair. CONCLUSION: Mitral valve interstitial cells have the ability to repair wounds, and fibroblast growth factor 2 is a modulator of these repair processes.