The Science of the total environment
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2019
Modelling the effect of season, sex, and body size on the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, cellular innate immunomarkers: A proposition of laboratory reference ranges.
Innate immunomarkers reflect both environmental contamination and fish health status, providing useful information in environmental risk assessment studies. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge about the effect of confounding factors can lead to data misinterpretation and false diagnoses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of three confounding factors (season, sex and body size) on three-spined stickleback innate immunomarkers in laboratory conditions. ⋯ The predictive power of the statistical model depended on the immunomarker, but the control data of the in vivo experiments, realized in same laboratory conditions, were globally well include in the laboratory reference ranges. Moreover, some statistical effects of the in vivo exposures were correlated with an augmentation of values outside the reference ranges, indicating a possible harmful effect for the organisms. As confounding factors influence is a major limit to integrate immunomarkers in biomonitoring programs, modelling their influence on studied parameter may help to better evaluated environmental contaminations.
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2019
Short-term effects of meteorological factors and air pollution on childhood hand-foot-mouth disease in Guilin, China.
Previous studies have always focused on the impact of various meteorological factors on Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD). However, only few studies have investigated the simultaneous effects of climate and air pollution on HFMD incidence. ⋯ Our results indicated that daily meteorological factors and air pollution exert non-linear and delayed effects on pediatric HFMD, and such effects vary depending on gender and age. These findings may serve as a reference for the development of an early warning system and for the adoption of specific interventions for vulnerable groups.