Exposure to secondhand smoke in terraces and other outdoor areas of hospitality venues in eight European countries

Background

Outdoor secondhand smoke (SHS) concentrations are usually lower than indoor concentrations, yet some studies have shown that outdoor SHS levels could be comparable to indoor levels under specific conditions. The main objectives of this study were to assess levels of SHS exposure in terraces and other outdoor areas of hospitality venues and to evaluate their potential displacement to adjacent indoor areas.

Methods

Nicotine and respirable particles (PM2.5) were measured in outdoor and indoor areas of hospitality venues of 8 European countries. Hospitality venues of the study included night bars, restaurants and bars. The fieldwork was carried out between March 2009 and March 2011.

Results

We gathered 170 nicotine and 142 PM2.5 measurements during the study. The median indoor SHS concentration was significantly higher in venues where smoking was allowed (nicotine 3.69 µg/m3, PM2.5: 120.51 µg/m3) than in those where smoking was banned (nicotine: 0.48 µg/m3, PM2.5: 36.90 µg/m3). The median outdoor nicotine concentration was higher in places where indoor smoking was banned (1.56 µg/m3) than in venues where smoking was allowed (0.31 µg/m3). Among the different types of outdoor areas, the highest median outdoor SHS levels (nicotine: 4.23 µg/m3, PM2.5: 43.64 µg/m3) were found in the semi-closed outdoor areas of venues where indoor smoking was banned.

Conclusions

Banning indoor smoking seems to displace SHS exposure to adjacent outdoor areas. Furthermore, indoor settings where smoking is banned but which have a semi-closed outdoor area have higher levels of SHS than those with open outdoor areas, possibly indicating that SHS also drifts from outdoors to indoors. Current legislation restricting indoor SHS levels seems to be insufficient to protect hospitality workers – and patrons – from SHS exposure. Tobacco-free legislation should take these results into account and consider restrictions in the terraces of some hospitality venues to ensure effective protection.     

Protein aggregation: mechanisms and functional consequences

Understanding the mechanisms underlying protein misfolding and aggregation has become a central issue in biology and medicine. Compelling evidence show that the formation of amyloid aggregates has a negative impact in cell function and is behind the most prevalent human degenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases or type 2 diabetes. Surprisingly, the same type of macromolecular assembly is used for specialized functions by different organisms, from bacteria to human. Here we address the conformational properties of these aggregates, their formation pathways, their role in human diseases, their functional properties and how bioinformatics tools might be of help to study these protein assemblies.     

In vivo aggregation of bovine beta-lactoglobulin is affected by Cys at position 121

Bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) has been widely used as a model system to study protein folding and aggregation and for biotechnology applications. Native BLG contains two disulfide bonds and one free cysteine at position 121. This free thiol group has been shown to be responsible for the irreversibility of BLG denaturation in vitro, but nothing is known about its relevance during protein folding inside the cell. Here, we report the expression of soluble wild type recombinant BGL in Escherichia coli cells at about 109 mg rBLG/g wet weight cells and a comparison between the aggregation of wt BLG and its variant C121S upon intracellular expression. We show that in E. coli C121SBLG is more prone to aggregation than the wild type protein and that their different behavior depends on the oxidation of disulfide bonds. Our results underline the key contribution of the unpaired cysteine residue during the oxidative folding pathway and indicate BLG as a useful tool for the study of protein aggregation in vivo.     

Identification and molecular characterisation of a fibrinogen binding protein from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptococcus iniae</Emphasis>.

Background  

Binding of serum components by surface M-related proteins, encoded by the emm genes, in streptococci constitutes a major virulence factor in this important group of organisms. The present study demonstrates fibrinogen binding by S. iniae, a Lancefield non-typeable pathogen causing devastating fish losses in the aquaculture industry and an opportunistic pathogen of humans, and identifies the proteins involved and their encoding genes.     

Real-time measurement of particulate matter deposition in the lung

Abstract

Air pollution and cigarette smoke are recognized health risks. A method was developed for the measurement of the deposition fraction (DF) of polydisperse particulate matter (PM) in human airways. Ten normal volunteers [three females, age range 18–67 years, mean age (SD) 43.9 (14)] made single breath exhalations after inhalation to total lung capacity. The exhaled breath was diverted to a multichannel laser diffraction chamber where the particulate profiler measured 0.3–1.0-µm particles. DF was inversely related to expiration flow-rate, 0.69 (0.02) at 4 l min^?1 and 0.5 (0.01) at 13 l min^?1, respectively (p<0.05), and was influenced by the inhalation flow-rate [0.70 (0.02) at 3 l min^?1 and 0.59 (0.02) at 13 l min^?1, respectively (p<0.05)], while no differences were found between nasal and oral inhalation (0.68 (0.05) versus 0.67 (0.06), p>0.05). Higher breath holding times were associated with elevated DF [0.74 (0.02) at 20 s, and 0.62 (0.05) without breath holding (p<0.01)]. When the expiratory flow was controlled and the breath hold time standardized, DF was reproducible (CV?=?4.85%). PM can be measured in the exhaled breath and its DF can be quantified using a portable device. These methods may be useful in studies investigating the health effects of air pollution and tobacco smoke.     

Evolution at the tip and base of the X chromosome in an African population of Drosophila melanogaster

Hitchhiking effects of advantageous mutations have been invoked to explain reduced polymorphism in regions of low crossing-over in Drosophila. Besides reducing DNA heterozygosity, hitchhiking effects should produce strong linkage disequilibrium and a frequency spectrum skewed toward an excess of rare polymorphisms (compared to the neutral expectation). We measured DNA polymorphism in a Zimbabwe population of D. melanogaster at three loci, yellow, achaete, and suppressor of forked, located in regions of reduced crossing-over. Similar to previously published surveys of these genomic regions in other populations, we observed low levels of nucleotide variability. However, the frequency spectrum was compatible with a neutral model, and there was abundant evidence for recombination in the history of the yellow and ac genes. Thus, some aspects of the data cannot be accounted for by a simple hitchhiking model. An alternative hypothesis, background selection, might be compatible with the observed patterns of linkage disequilibrium and the frequency spectrum. However, this model cannot account for the observed reduction in nucleotide heterozygosity. Thus, there is currently no satisfactory theoretical model for the data from the tip and base of the X chromosome in D. melanogaster.      

Administration of 8-Hydroxy-2-(Di-n-Propylamino)tetralin in Raphe Nuclei Dorsalis and Medianus Reduces Serotonin Synthesis in the Rat Brain: Differences in Potency and Regional Sensitivity

Following administration of 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT; 0.04-5.0 micrograms/0.5 microliter) in the raphe nucleus dorsalis (DR) or medianus (MR), the synthesis of serotonin (5-HT), as assessed by the accumulation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) after decarboxylase inhibition, was measured in various regions of the rat CNS. At all doses, 8-OH-DPAT in the DR significantly reduced 5-HTP accumulation in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, cortex, and prefrontal cortex, whereas even the highest dose had no effect in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and spinal cord. One microgram of 8-OH-DPAT in the MR significantly reduced 5-HTP accumulation in the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex, and 5 micrograms had an effect in all the areas except the striatum and spinal cord. One and 5 micrograms of 8-OH-DPAT, administered in either the DR or MR, did not significantly modify the accumulation of dihydroxyphenylalanine in the striatum and nucleus accumbens. The results confirm that DR and MR have different sensitivities to 5-HT1A receptor agonists, and that activation of 5-HT1A receptors in these nuclei produces different effects on 5-HT synthesis in different brain regions.     

Tempo and mode of concerted evolution in the L1 repeat family of mice

A 300-bp DNA sequence has been determined for 30 (10 from each of three species of mice) random isolates of a subset of the long interspersed repeat family L1. From these data we conclude that members of the L1 family are evolving in concert at the DNA sequence level in Mus domesticus, Mus caroli, and Mus platythrix. The mechanism responsible for this phenomenon may be either duplicative transposition, gene conversion, or a combination of the two. The amount of intraspecies divergence averages 4.4%, although between species base substitutions accumulate at the rate of approximately 0.85%/Myr to a maximum divergence of 9.1% between M. platythrix and both M. domesticus and M. caroli. Parsimony analysis reveals that the M. platythrix L1 family has evolved into a distinct clade in the 10-12 Myr since M. platythrix last shared a common ancestor with M. domesticus and M. caroli. The parsimony tree also provides a means to derive the average half-life of L1 sequences in the genome. The rates of gain and loss of individual copies of L1 were estimated to be approximately equal, such that approximately one-half of them turn over every 3.3 Myr.      

Polymorphism and divergence at the 5' flanking region of the sex- determining locus, Sry, in mice

We have investigated patterns of evolution in the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome in mice by comparing levels of polymorphism within Mus domesticus with levels of divergence between M. domesticus and M. spretus. A 1,277-bp fragment of noncoding sequence flanking the sex determining locus (Sry) was PCR amplified, and 1,063 bases were sequenced and compared among 20 M. domesticus and 1 M. spretus. Two polymorphic base substitutions and two polymorphic insertion/deletion sites were identified within M. domesticus; nucleotide diversity was estimated to be 0.1%. Divergence between M. domesticus and M. spretus for this region (1.9%) was slightly lower than the average divergence of single-copy nuclear DNA for these species. Comparison of levels of polymorphism and divergence at Sry with levels of polymorphism and divergence in the mitochondrial DNA control region provided no evidence of a departure from the expectations of neutral molecular evolution. These findings are consistent with the presumed lack of function for much of the Y chromosome.