Afrogalaxy

A freshwater scientist says New Zealand is losing the battle when it comes to water quality.

Land, Air, Water Aotearoa - or LAWA - collates water data from the councils around the country and runs a swimming spot check project across 700 sites.

Based on the most recent results from regional council and unitary authority recreational water quality testing, 97 of the 700 sites were unsuitable for swimming in.

Freshwater scientist Mike Joy said water quality around the country was getting worse with more water being taken from waterways, intensive farming and climate variability across the country and higher temperatures.

He said waterways across the country were being closed to swimming because of toxic algae and E coli.

"I can't think of anywhere in the country that hasn't had warnings on lakes and rivers."

Dr Joy said this was not escaping the tourists' attention, "thinking they're coming to this clean, green country and then finding that every lake and every place they go to there's a ban on swimming in it, or there's a safety warning on swimming and beaches as well."

LAWA's swim site project lead and principal scientist at Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Anna Madarasz-Smith, said this season's swimmability had been similar to other seasons.

"Most of our open-coast beaches or beach areas have really good swimmability, high water quality, some of the areas where it can be a little bit more effected by rain are areas like rivers and tidal lagoons," she said.

Mrs Madarasz-Smith said this time of year, the quality of the water was highly influenced by rain, which there had been more of this summer in some parts of the country.

Rain washes contaminants off the land such as fecal material from farm animals, birds and dogs into the waterways, which can make the water unsuitable to swim in.

Recently, people have been being advised to stay out of the water at two popular swimming spots in Taranaki because of elevated E coli levels.

Taranaki District Health Board's medical officer of health, Jonathan Jarman, said on average the board got about seven notifications of people falling ill from swimming in rivers in the region a year, but there were no reports this year.

He said when councils start to put up warning signs at swimming holes it meant one in 20 people were likely to get sick from swimming at that particular site, but not all spots will necessarily have signs.

"When we look at it from a population health point of view it's quite a significant issue if there weren't signs."

Dr Jarman said if there was a warning sign it was best not to swim at these places.

He said he was always saddened when people couldn't swim.

"It's always a big disappointment if faecal contamination has closed a swimming spot."

The standard advice from DHBs and councils is for people to stay out of the water for three days if there has been heavy rain.

 

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52141

New mothers who take opioid painkillers after vaginal birth or cesarean section may be at increased risk of becoming persistent users, a new study finds.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville examined data from more than 102,000 new mothers in Tennessee. None had used opioids in the 180 days before delivery.

After delivery, 89 percent who had a cesarean delivery and 53 percent who had a vaginal delivery filled opioid prescriptions.

The overall rate of persistent opioid use in the year after delivery was low overall -- less than 1 percent. It was higher among women who had C-sections, the study found.

But among women who filled an initial opioid prescription, the risk of persistent use was similar for both groups. And, the researchers found, filling additional prescriptions substantially raised the risk for both groups.

The findings suggest current prescribing practices could put a large number of new mothers at risk for chronic opioid use, the researchers said.

"This study is one of the first to indicate that regardless of the delivery type, postpartum initiation of opioid use -- a modifiable practice -- is associated with persistent opioid use," study senior author Dr. Carlos Grijalva said in a university news release. He's an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt.

"If our estimates were projected to the number of women who give birth annually in the United States, we calculated that every year there would be around 21,000 women becoming chronic opioid users that would be attributable to opioid use in the postpartum period," Grijalva said.

With 86 percent of women in the United States having at least one delivery and almost a third having a C-section, the potential impact of postpartum opioid prescribing is "huge," said lead author Dr. Sarah Osmundson. She's an assistant professor of maternal-fetal medicine. "Policies designed to standardize and improve opioid prescribing have the potential to influence exposures for a large proportion of our population," Osmundson said.

Obstetricians should consider other methods of pain control for women after childbirth, researchers said.

The study was recently published as a research letter in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/51666

Bacterium are rarely described as festive, but The Institute of Environmental Science and Research have some across a sparkly variety.

The bacterium, along with a mystery fungus, has left the team of scientists scratching their heads.

They were found in a hot-water cylinder, while a team of scientists were looking for a pathogenic (disease causing) organism in a hot-water cylinder.

"We wanted to see if the source of the infection was a contaminant in the hot-water system and although we take lots of bacteria out of the water, this glistening green one was very unusual," he said.

The team's lead scientist, David Harte said usually the bacterium in these samples are much less impressive.

"The glistening green one was quite spectacular under the microscope, usual they're just matte brown and cream-coloured colonies.

The cause it's not known but Mr Harte suspected it might be due to the growth medium (plate,) the bacteria was placed on, which was quite colourful.

Mr Harte said the fungus, which has unusual characteristics, remains unknown as this stage.

"We see thousands of different organisms - from time to time we do see something out the ordinary, and its always interesting when something novel like these turn up," he said.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/50468

Move aside cheetah and peregrine falcon, there is a new contender for the title of fastest animal on Earth: the Dracula ant. Scientists have discovered that the small tropical insect can snap its mandibles at up to 90 metres a second (more than 200mph), the fastest animal movement on record.

The ants use the explosive motion to attack, stun and kill prey, which is then fed to their larvae.


“They’re cruising around underground and if they encounter something like a centipede or a termite they can smack them with the mandibles to kill or stun them,” said Andrew Suarez, an animal biology professor at the University of Illinois, who led the work. “They can then sting it to further incapacitate it and then they carry it back to the nest.”

The species, Mystrium camillae, was already known to have highly specialised appendages. However, scientists were able to ascertain the exact speed of the snapping motion only with the advent of high-speed video technology over the past 10 years. The scientists also used x-ray imaging technology to observe the ants’ anatomy in three dimensions to better understand how the movement works.

The observations showed that Dracula ants power up their mandibles by pressing the tips together, spring-loading them with internal stresses. Eventually, when one mandible slides across the other, each is released, in a similar motion to people clicking their fingers.

The Dracula ant’s motion is different from that seen in trap-jaw ants, which were previously considered to have the world’s fastest snapping jaws. Those ants start from an open position and suddenly snap shut like a mousetrap.
“Even among ants that power-amplify their jaws, the Dracula ants are unique,” said Adrian Smith, of the North

Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, who was a co-author of the study. “Instead of using three different parts for the spring, latch and lever arm, all three are combined in the mandible.”

Dracula ants are mostly found in the tropics in Africa and Asia. They live in large colonies underground, or inside tree trunks, so are rarely seen. Their name derives from their unusual feeding habits, which involves a form of non-destructive cannibalism. The adult ants are unable to process solid food; instead, they feed prey to their larvae and then chew holes in the larvae and drink their blood. Scientists call the arrangement a “social stomach”.

In future the team plan to make more detailed observations of the ants in action in their natural environment. “Their biology, how they capture prey and defend their nests, is still in need of description,” Smith said.

The findings are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/49418

Trees with red trunks and apples that are red right the way through and flower all year round. Should we back or block the genetically changed plants New Zealand scientists are growing? Charlie Dreaver reports for Insight.
Gene edited plants are just as safe as normal plants, according to one scientist.

At a Plant and Food Research greenhouse in Auckland, one of the sections is filled with $300 apple trees, and Andy Allan, a professor of plant biology, is pointing out one of his favourite experiment, a tree with bright, fuchsia-coloured flowers.

"The particular red gene we're testing is under a strong expression, so the roots are red, the trunk is red, the leaves are copper and the fruit goes on to look more like a plum, it's so dark."

The apple has an extra apple gene, making it genetically modified. There are other plants in this room that have exactly the same number of genes, but they've been edited.

Along with the apples, pears, tomatoes and petunias are thriving, but many also flower all year round and produce seeds five years earlier than usual.

Mr Allen compares the practice of gene editing in plant breeding to key-hole surgery.

"It just makes a cut in a place you know exactly where it's going to go to.

"That cut is repaired by the plant, but often the plant makes a mistake, but those mistakes are like the natural equivalent to mutation and variants you see out there in the environment."

He says the public's perception of the research is much more sinister than what actually happens.

"We are academics or public civil servants and we're doing experiments using the plant's own DNA, so the perception of what we do as being evil or dangerous, is way different than what actually happens in this greenhouse."

Other countries would plant these crops in the field, he says, and he believes some of those growing in the greenhouse are ready for the outside world.

"I think these plants are as safe as the normal plants are, there is risk associated with everything, but there are no additional risks associated with these plants."

And the benefits of what's being grown could be significant, he believes, including trees which would not need cooler winters to flower and grow fruit.

But everything that leaves the facility, even the soil, will have to be destroyed.

"The only thing exiting this greenhouse at the moment is knowledge."
What is Gene Editing?
Farmers divided

Parts of the farming community say they should have choice over whether to use GMOs or not.

But others, including the Minister for the Environment David Parker, argue there is no need to jump the gun on introducing GMOs into the environment.

In his last report as Chief Science Advisor for the prime minister, Sir Peter Gluckman has laid out the ways genetic modification or gene editing can benefit the agricultural sector with pasture management and emissions.

"New Zealand scientists have developed promising forages using genetic technologies that could be used to make major progress through higher energy, lipid rich rye grasses which are now in field trials in the United States.

"However, these have not been and effectively cannot be subjected to field testing in New Zealand."

He said New Zealand needed to revisit the contentious topic.

"We have such big challenges ahead of us, between environmental degradation, climate change, the future of agriculture, the future of New Zealand's economy, the way we live, the way rural life and provincial life occurs.

"This is the core technology of the future, alongside the digital technologies and precision agriculture, we can't afford not to have the conversation."
GM and the law

At the moment, all applications to release GMOs, need to be approved by the Environmental Protection Authority.

Since that change was written into the act 1996, coming into force two years later, only three GMOs have been approved - a vaccine for equine flu, and two cancer therapies for clinical trial.

The Act was reviewed in 2015, but no real differences were made for those scientists and industries interested in GM and GE.

Gene editing, which uses the DNA already existing within the organism, falls under the same legislation as genetic modification, which some scientists argue is different.

Since the act was introduced there have been new technologies such as the CRISPR technique created in 2012, which involves editing parts of the genome by removing, adding or altering sections of the DNA.

Legal and Scientific researcher Dr Julie Everett-Hincks, from the University of Otago, believes legislation is due for an update.

"They didn't even contemplate this technology back then, there have been some minor edits since then, but really with this new technology it's trying to work out where it fits.

"And you could argue that under the current legislation that it's having difficulty fitting, so a review with differently needed."

But Pure Hawke's Bay - which was instrumental in the move to make the Hastings District Council adopt a 10 year moratorium on genetically modified crops - says business would suffer if any changes were allowed and they argue that not enough is known about the technology and its effects.

Its chair, Bruno Chambers, says there are other options to investigate in order to lower emissions, which will not require GM.

"We're not anti-science and if something came along that was genetically modified that was really going to offer huge benefits to a number of farms, then we'd be looking at it with an open mind, but it always comes back to the markets."

Mr Chambers believes there would be an impact on the market if New Zealand crops were no longer GM-free.

"People are just starting realise how important it is for the New Zealand brand, it's a critical part of our selling position."

In Europe, 64 regional governments have declared themselves genetically modified organism free.

And earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ruled gene editing, is still GM and would need to be labelled as such, and would adhere to the same rules.

An orchardist in the region, David Cranwell says having GM in New Zealand will have an impact on where he can sell his apples.

"The company I work with, it's one of the biggest supermarket chains in Europe. They will not touch any genetically modified product, so if you're genetically modified you don't actually have access to sell through their stores, end of story."

There's also resistance to any change at this stage from the government.

Environment Minister David Parker agrees with the European Courts decision to include GE under genetic modification rules and has no intention of changing the legislation here.

"It takes a precautionary approach, people who want to make an application to release the GMO can, that's then dealt with by the regulator and we think the law is fit for purpose.

"I'd have to be satisfied there was a need to change the law, and I'm not satisfied."

He also highlights the trade benefits in keeping crops GM-free.

"Sometimes they might be overstated, but none the less they are real."

If there are to be any changes in the use of GM, Mr Parker says the government will first be looking at pest control, rather than agriculture.

 

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47018

Bits of plastic have been detected in the faeces of people in Europe, Russia and Japan, according to research claiming to show for the first time the widespread presence of plastics in the human food chain.

PARIS: Bits of plastic have been detected in the faeces of people in Europe, Russia and Japan, according to research claiming to show for the first time the widespread presence of plastics in the human food chain.

All eight volunteers in a small pilot study were found to have passed several types of plastic, with an average of 20 micro-particles per 10g of stool, researchers reported Tuesday at a gastroenterology congress in Vienna.

The scientists speculated that the tiny specks - ranging in size from 50 to 500 micrometres - may been ingested via seafood, food wrapping, dust or plastic bottles.

A human hair is roughly 50 to 100 micrometres in width.

"In our laboratory, we were able to detect nine different types of plastics," said Bettina Liebmann, a researcher at the Federal Environment Agency, which analysed the samples.

The two most common were polypropylene - found in bottle caps, rope and strapping - and polyethylene, present in drinking bottles and textile fibres.

Together with polystyrene (utensils, cups, coolers) and polyethylene (plastic bags), they accounted for more than 95 per cent of the particles detected.

"We were unable to establish a reliable connection between nutritional behaviour and exposure to microplastics," said lead author Philipp Schwabl, a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna.

In earlier studies on animals, the highest concentrations of microplastics were found in the stomach and intestines, but smaller amounts have also been detected in blood, lymph and the liver.

"There are initial indications that microplastics can damage the gastrointestinal tract by promoting inflammatory reactions or absorbing harmful substances," Schwabl said.

"Further studies are needed to assess the potential dangers of microplastics for humans."

Schwabl recruited five women and three men, aged 33 to 65, in Finland, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Japan and Austria.

Each kept a week-long log of what they ate, and then provided a stool sample.

All consumed foods wrapped in plastic and beverages in plastic bottles, and six ate seafood. None were vegetarians.

HEALTH IMPACTS UNKNOWN

Scientists not involved in the study said it was too limited in scope to draw any firm conclusions, especially about health impacts.

"I'm not at all surprised, or particularly worried by these findings," commented Alistair Boxall, a professor in environmental science at the University of York in Britain.

"Microplastics have been found in tap water, bottled water, fish and mussel tissue, and even in beer," he added. "It is therefore inevitable that at least some of these things will get into our lungs and digestive system."

Much more research is needed, he said, before we can determine the origin of plastics found in the gut, and especially whether they are harmful.

For Stephanie Wright, a researcher at King's College London, the real question is whether plastics are accumulating in the human body.

"What is unknown is whether the concentration of plastic being ingested is higher than that coming out, due to particles crossing the gut wall," she said.

"There is no published evidence to indicate what the health effects might be."

Global plastic production has grown rapidly, and is currently more than 400 million tonnes per year.

It is estimated that two to five per cent of plastics wind up in the ocean, where much of it breaks down into tiny particles.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/44042