Runoff characteristics of highway pollutants based on a long-term survey through a year.

Highway pollutants generated mainly from traffics are repeating accumulation, raise, drift and move on the highways. Some of them are removed by road cleanings done regularly, the others are flushed by stormwater into receiving water. The objectives of this study are to survey characteristics of the highway pollutants, and to quantify their behavior on the highways. The study area is a part of Meishin Expressway running through the main island of Japan. Surveys on pollutant runoff from the highway were done for all storm events through one year from December 2004 to November 2005. For the surveys, samples were collected by continuous water sampling during storm events. And chemical substances in each sample such as SS, TOC, TN, TP, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for each class of particle size were measured. Using the results of the survey, characteristics of pollutant runoff during storm events were examined. And it cleared the basic unit loads for the highway pollutants throughout a year. As a result, some significant knowledge for the environmental management of highway pollution has been obtained.

Water quality estimation in consideration of pollutant runoff and internal production in Lake Biwa, Japan.

Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan, and water quality in the lake is heterogeneous. Therefore, it is important for water quality management that spatial distribution of water quality in the lake should be clearly understood. The objectives of this study are to show a methodology and to develop a simulation system to calculate COD distribution in Lake Biwa taking internal COD production into consideration. This study also aims to examine transition of COD in the lake using the simulation system. In the simulation system, runoff loads of COD from the Lake Biwa basin are calculated by Macro Model for each tributary. The external COD concentration in 233 inshore meshes of the Lake Biwa water surface was calculated using the runoff loads. The internal COD was calculated using relationships among limiting nutrients, chlorophyll-a and COD. Then, the spatial distribution of water quality in Lake Biwa was calculated both for the external and internal COD by spline technique. Simulations using the system were implemented for 1986-1998, and a clear difference in characteristics between a drought year and a flood year was shown. In the result, it was shown that the simulation system developed here was available to calculate COD distribution in Lake Biwa, and that it had the possibility to explain the recent phenomenon of COD increase in the lake.

Study of water quality distribution in Lake Biwa in consideration of runoff pollutant loads from its catchment basin.

Many strategies for water quality conservation in Lake Biwa are being carried out mainly by reducing runoff pollutant loads into the lake. But influence of the runoff load reduction on the water quality in Lake Biwa has not been clarified enough so far. This study is aimed at discussing methodology to estimate water quality distribution in Lake Biwa using runoff pollutant loads from its basin. The runoff loads from the basin are calculated by Macro Model with GIS database of the Lake Biwa basin, and the water quality distribution in the lake is estimated by the spline technique with the calculated runoff loads. As a result, it has been proved that the methodology has enough reproducibility to estimate the water quality distribution in Lake Biwa and is available to examine the water quality in the lake.

Comparison of pollutant runoff in Lake Biwa tributaries, Japan and the Brunette River watershed, Canada.

This study is aimed at verifying runoff pollutant loadings from urban areas. Urban runoff has been considered an important source of diffuse pollution especially during storm events. This paper describes the pollutant runoff during storm events, mainly in terms of effects of watershed characteristics. Data collected from Lake Biwa tributaries, Japan, have shown fundamental information to control pollutant runoff into receiving water. Also, data from the Brunette River watershed, Canada, which is a highly urbanized watershed in the Vancouver region, have been used for a comparative analysis. In the results, available information for the environmental management of urban storm water runoff was obtained by comparing the data on pollutant runoff in both watersheds.

Simultaneous flow cytometric measurement of K-562 megakaryocytic differentiation and CD56+ large granular lymphocyte cytotoxicity.

K-562 cells have the capacity to undergo multi-lineage differentiation, which may be crucial to their ability to serve as target reservoirs for CD56+ large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Conventional techniques using chromium release assays to measure lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity suffer from disadvantages, including radioactive contamination and the inability to simultaneously determine K-562 and/or CD56+ lymphocyte phenotypes. We illustrate here a three-color flow cytometric method providing for the simultaneous evaluation of K-562-CD56+ LGL binding, K-562 cell viability, and the status of K-562 cell differentiation. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) engenders megakaryocytic differentiation in K-562 cell populations, as measured by presentation of the beta(3) integrin (gpIIIa, CD61), while maintaining a negative expression of MHC-I and MHC-II molecules. Using the auto-fluorescence of K-562 cells, flow cytometry can be used to demonstrate a significant decrease in CD56+ LGL activity against K-562 cells in populations pre-incubated with PMA. The capacity of three-color flow cytometry to measure lymphocyte-target cell binding and cell death kinetics, while simultaneously determining target cell phenotype, permits the specific localization of CD61-expressing K-562 cells to areas inconsistent with CD56+ LGL-mediated patterns of lysis.

PMA-treated K-562 leukemia cells mediate a TH2-specific expansion of CD4+ T cells in vitro.

Highly enriched preparations of human CD3+CD4+ T-lymphocytes were stimulated with mitogen or OKT3 to determine the capacity of K-562 cells to function as accessory cells. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-treated K-562 cells were induced to differentiate along the megakaryocytic lineage and could supplant monocyte-accessory cell function. Intracytoplasmic analysis of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) established that IL-4, and not IFN-gamma, was preferentially produced by the activated lymphocytes. This polarized stimulation is compatible with a type 2 or humoral immune response of purified T cells co-cultured with differentiated K-562 cells in vitro, and may have implications in immunoregulation due to disease progression.

Differential regulation of interleukin-1alpha and interleukin-1beta in K-562 cells.

Interleukin (IL)-1alpha and IL-1beta are encoded by two separate genes, but both function as comitogens for lymphocyte activation. In this study, we observed K-562 cells to express constitutively mRNA for IL-1alpha, although IL-1alpha was not detected in the growth-conditioned medium (GCM). However, IL-1beta mRNA was not expressed unless the cells had been treated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Both IL-1alpha and IL-1beta were detected in the GCM after the cells had been cultured with PMA, suggesting that IL-1 elaboration required PMA treatment. The K-562 cells treated with PMA differentiated to the myeloblastic stage, as observed by nuclear morphologic properties by electron microscopy. PMA treatment induced de novo expression of CD61 or gpIIIa, a marker associated with megakaryoblasts. These results showed that although K-562 cells constitutively expressed IL-1alpha mRNA, PMA treatment was required for secretion. On the other hand, both the expression and secretion of IL-1beta required treatment with PMA. This study showed that K-562 cells treated with PMA differentiated to the myeloblastic stage and expressed and secreted IL-1alpha and IL-1beta.

Effects of spaceflight on rat erythroid parameters.

Hematologic studies were performed on 21 ground control rats and 21 rats flown during the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 14-day mission. Group A (n = 5) was used to collect blood in flight and 9 days postflight, group B (n = 5) was injected with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo), group C (n = 5) received saline as a control, and group D (n = 6) was killed in flight and tissues were collected. Results indicated no significant changes in peripheral blood erythroid elements between flight and ground control rats. The nonadherent bone marrow on flight day 13 showed a lower number of recombinant rat interleukin-3 (rrIL-3)-responsive and rrIL-3 + rhEpo-responsive blast-forming unit erythroid (BFU-e) colonies in flight rats compared with ground control rats. On landing day, a slight increase in the number of rhEpo + rrIL-3-responsive BFU-e colonies of flight animals compared with ground control rats was evident. Nine days postflight, bone marrow from flight rats stimulated with rhEpo alone or with rhEpo + rrIL-3 showed an increase in the number of colony-forming unit erythroid colonies and a decrease in BFU-e colonies compared with ground control rats. This is the first time that animals were injected with rhEpo and subsequently blood and tissues were collected during the spaceflight to study the regulation of erythropoiesis in microgravity.

Lymphatic tissue changes in rats flown on Spacelab Life Sciences-2.

Thymus, spleen, inguinal lymph node, and bone marrow specimens from rats flown on the 14-day Spacelab Life Sciences-2 mission were examined after staining of tissue sections. The primary observation was a transient retrogressive change in lymphatic tissues in the rats within a few hours after landing. There was a diffuse increase in tingible body-containing macrophages in the cortex of the thymus, thymus-dependent areas of the splenic white pulp, and inguinal lymph node. This was not observed 9 days after recovery. The in situ labeling of fragmented DNA strands catalyzed by exogenous terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase (TdT) with ApopTag reagents (Oncor, Gaithersburg, MD) inside the tingible body-containing macrophages indicated that the process was one of apoptosis. No increase in tingible body macrophage activity was noted in thymus and spleen tissue obtained from rats in flight on flight day 13. The reaction to gravitational stress from readaptation to 1 G is the most likely explanation of the transient retrogressive change in lymphatic tissues.

Effects of spaceflight on rat peripheral blood leukocytes and bone marrow progenitor cells.

The white blood cell (WBC) elements and the bone marrow myeloid progenitor cell populations were analyzed to ascertain adaptation to micro-gravity and subsequent readaptation to 1 G in rats flown on the 14-day Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) mission. Bone marrow cells were harvested from one group of rats killed inflight (FD13) and blood was drawn from three other groups at various times. The WBC level was normal on FD14 with the exception of neutrophilia. On FD13, numbers of colony-forming units-granulocyte (CFU-G), CFU-GM, and CFU-M from flight animals were decreased compared with ground controls when incubated with recombinant rat interleukin-3 (rrIL-3) alone or in combination with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo). On recovery (R + 0), flight rats had decreased numbers of total leukocytes and absolute numbers of lymphocytes and monocytes with elevated neutrophils compared with control rats. They had lower numbers of CD4, CD8, CD2, CD3, and B cells in the peripheral blood but no differences in spleen lymphocytes.

Blood volume and erythropoiesis in the rat during spaceflight.

A decreased red blood cell mass (RBCM) and plasma volume (PV) have been consistently found in humans after return from spaceflight. Rats flown on the Spacelab Life Sciences-1 mission were studied to assess changes in RBCM, PV, erythropoiesis, and iron economy. The RBCM and PV increased in both ground control and flight animals as expected for growing rats. However on landing day, both the RBCM and PV, when normalized for body mass, were significantly decreased in the spaceflight animals. During an 8-d postflight observation period, iron incorporation into circulating red blood cells was diminished in the flight animals. During the first 4 d postflight, increases in reticulocyte counts were significantly smaller in the flight than the control animals. Fewer erythropoietin-responsive progenitor cells were recovered from the bone marrow of flight animals after landing than control rats. Serum erythropoietin (EPO) levels were the same in both groups. Thus, rats subjected to a 9-d spaceflight had less increase in RBCM than controls and diminished erythropoiesis during an 8-d post-spaceflight observation period. The rat, like humans, appears to require a smaller blood volume in microgravity.

Effects of microgravity and increased gravity on bone marrow of rats.

Astronauts have a reduction in their red cell mass when exposed to microgravity. This is probably mainly due to a physiological response to decreased energy requirements. Further studies of erythropoiesis were carried out in microgravity on rats flown on Soviet Biosatellite 2044 and in hypergravity by centrifugation at 2G. Studies included: bone marrow cell differential counts, clonal studies of RBC colony formation, and plasma erythropoietin determinations. In the bone marrow of Cosmos flight animals there was a slight increase in granulocytic cells and in centrifuged animals, a slight decrease in the percentage of erythroid cells which led to an increased M:E ratio. The bone marrow cells of flight and centrifuged rats responded to erythropoietin. Cosmos flight animals' cells formed fewer CFU-E than the controls but this was reversed in the centrifuge studies. There were no essential differences in the erythropoietin levels of test groups as compared to control groups.

Effects of spaceflight on the number of rat peripheral blood leukocytes and lymphocyte subsets.

Experiments were carried out on peripheral blood leukocytes and spleen lymphocytes from 29 male rats that were flown during the Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1) nine-day mission on the shuttle Columbia in June 1991 and on appropriate ground controls. On the day of landing, there was a significant decrease in the total white blood cell counts (P < 0.0001) of flight animals in comparison to controls. There was also a significant decrease in the absolute number of lymphocytes (P < 0.0001) and monocytes (P < 0.0001) in the flight animals. A slight decrease in the absolute number of eosinophils and a slight increase in the number of neutrophils were observed at landing, compared with preflight values. Immunophenotyping of the peripheral blood and spleen lymphocytes of flight and control animals indicated that, on the day of landing, there was a decrease in the absolute number of CD4 and CD8 positive cells and B lymphocytes. However, relative percentages of peripheral blood CD4+, CD8+, and B cells were not found to be depressed. No differences were discerned in the percent reactivity of spleen lymphocytes of flight animals compared with controls. The observed decrease in the number of leukocytes and lymphocytes at the immediate postflight period was transient and all values returned to the control levels by nine days postflight.

Inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm and the associated T-cell reaction: a case study.

The immune response associated with an inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm was studied by determining the phenotypes of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, the aortic aneurysm wall, and the perianeurysmal tissue. Increased numbers of activated T cells were found in all three areas. After aneurysm repair, peripheral blood analysis demonstrated normalization of the T-cell subsets. These data suggest that inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with a measurable immune response in peripheral blood with elevation of the same subset of inflammatory cells (CD4) as detected in abdominal aortic aneurysm tissue, and the immune response regresses after aneurysm repair.

Cell death in the human leukemia cell line, K-562, induced by antiserum and monoclonal antibodies.

Rabbit polyclonal antiserum, or derived gamma globulin, to K-562 cells induces decreased TdR uptake within hours and cell death without cytolysis in 2-4 days. A panel of nine mAb, reactive with K-562 cells, was grouped on the basis of no effect on growth or TdR uptake, increased uptake, or decreased uptake. Treatment of cells with antiserum, gamma globulin, or mAb of the last group caused single-strand, but not double-strand, DNA fragmentation at a time when the cells were still viable. Cycloheximide did not inhibit the antibody effect suggesting that protein synthesis was not required. Aurintricarboxylic acid at certain concentrations markedly enhanced TdR uptake and protected the cells when antiserum was used but did not protect from mAb treatment.

Changes in the eruption order of the first permanent tooth and their relation to season of birth in Japan.

In order to examine the eruption order of the first two permanent teeth, kindergarten children 5 to 6 years old were examined in Hakone, Japan. Among a total of 817 children examined from 1976 to 1984, 349 were determined as I-type children, whose mandibular first incisor erupted earlier than the mandibular first molar, and 183 were as M-type children, whose first molar erupted earlier in the mandible. The mandibular I-type rate, i.e., the proportion of the I-type among a total of I- and M-type children, was 66% (349/532). In 1983-1984, the I-type rate was 70% among boys and 62% among girls, but the overall I-type rate did not differ significantly by the sex of the subject or by the year of examination. The I-type rate varied significantly with the season of subject's birth. Those born in October or November showed a significantly lower I-type rate (33%) than the other subjects (P less than 0.001), in spite of a shift of birth season with low I-type rate toward winter in 1983-1984. The difference of the I-type rate according to birth season suggests that the causes responsible for this change are primarily environmental and act at the prenatal or perinatal stage of life.