BIOLOGICAL assay -- Evaluation, ENVIRONMENTAL monitoring, XENOESTROGENS, WATER pollution measurement, ANALYTICAL chemistry techniques, WATER quality monitoring, and IN vitro toxicity testing

Bioassays are well established in the pharmaceutical industry and single compound analysis, but there is still uncertainty about their usefulness in environmental monitoring. We compared the responses of five bioassays designed to measure estrogenic activity (the yeast estrogen screen, ER-CALUX, MELN, T47D-KBluc, and E-SCREEN assays) and chemical analysis on extracts from four different water sources (groundwater, raw sewage, treated sewage, and river water). All five bioassays displayed similar trends and there was good agreement with analytical chemistry results. The data from the ER-CALUX and E-SCREEN bioassays were robust and predictable, and well-correlated with predictions from chemical analysis. The T47D-KBluc appeared likewise promising, but with a more limited sample size it was less compelling. The YES assay was less sensitive than the other assays by an order of magnitude, which resulted in a larger number of nondetects. The MELN assay was less predictable, although the possibility that this was due to laboratory-specific difficulties cannot be discounted. With standardized bioassay data analysis and consistency of operating protocols, bioanalytical tools are a promising advance in the development of a tiered approach to environmental water quality monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HOSPITALS, REFUSE disposal facilities, ENVIRONMENTAL impact charges, WATER utilities, SEWAGE disposal plants, SEWAGE purification, STEROIDS, HORMONES, and WATER quality management

Influent and effluent samples originating from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (treating hospital wastewater and domestic wastewater, Belgium) have been analyzed in order to estimate their steroid hormone content. The natural estrogens estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), and the synthetic 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) together with other steroid hormones progesterone (P) and testosterone (T) metabolites were detected in these samples. The hormone concentrations in both the hospital and the domestic WWTP samples were not significantly different and ranged from <0.2 ng EE2/L to 114 ng EE2/L, from <0.2 ng E1/L to 58 ng E1/L and from <0.2 ng P/L to >100 ng P/L. E2 was detected once at a concentration of 17 ng/L. In the domestic WWTP which comprises a conventional activated sludge treatment in parallel with a membrane bioreactor, no differences in estrogen removal efficiency could be observed for both treatments. In comparison to chemical analysis data, the Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES) appears to underestimate the influent estrogen concentrations, probably due to influent toxicity for the YES. Effluent estrogen concentrations, on the other hand, were overestimated by the YES test, probably due to the presence of other estrogenic compounds in the effluent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PROPERTY tax and DIVORCE

Offers information on the interest paid on debt given to a former spouse incident to a divorce as nondeductible personal interest in the United States. Importance of proper drafting of property settlement agreements; Details on some cases; Laws implemented by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) governing the issue.

RESEARCH, ODDS ratio, ENDOSCOPIC vascular surgery, STROKE treatment, STROKE patients, HEMORRHAGIC diseases, TREATMENT effectiveness, LOGISTIC regression analysis, META-analysis, THERAPEUTICS, CEREBRAL ischemia -- Treatment, FIBRINOLYTIC agents -- Therapeutic use, TISSUE plasminogen activator, CEREBRAL hemorrhage, CEREBRAL ischemia, CLINICAL trials, COMPARATIVE studies, RESEARCH methodology, MEDICAL cooperation, STROKE, THROMBOSIS, VEIN surgery, EVALUATION research, NIH Stroke Scale, and DISEASE complications

Background: In 2015, five randomised trials showed efficacy of endovascular thrombectomy over standard medical care in patients with acute ischaemic stroke caused by occlusion of arteries of the proximal anterior circulation. In this meta-analysis we, the trial investigators, aimed to pool individual patient data from these trials to address remaining questions about whether the therapy is efficacious across the diverse populations included.Methods: We formed the HERMES collaboration to pool patient-level data from five trials (MR CLEAN, ESCAPE, REVASCAT, SWIFT PRIME, and EXTEND IA) done between December, 2010, and December, 2014. In these trials, patients with acute ischaemic stroke caused by occlusion of the proximal anterior artery circulation were randomly assigned to receive either endovascular thrombectomy within 12 h of symptom onset or standard care (control), with a primary outcome of reduced disability on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 90 days. By direct access to the study databases, we extracted individual patient data that we used to assess the primary outcome of reduced disability on mRS at 90 days in the pooled population and examine heterogeneity of this treatment effect across prespecified subgroups. To account for between-trial variance we used mixed-effects modelling with random effects for parameters of interest. We then used mixed-effects ordinal logistic regression models to calculate common odds ratios (cOR) for the primary outcome in the whole population (shift analysis) and in subgroups after adjustment for age, sex, baseline stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score), site of occlusion (internal carotid artery vs M1 segment of middle cerebral artery vs M2 segment of middle cerebral artery), intravenous alteplase (yes vs no), baseline Alberta Stroke Program Early CT score, and time from stroke onset to randomisation.Findings: We analysed individual data for 1287 patients (634 assigned to endovascular thrombectomy, 653 assigned to control). Endovascular thrombectomy led to significantly reduced disability at 90 days compared with control (adjusted cOR 2.49, 95% CI 1.76-3.53; p<0.0001). The number needed to treat with endovascular thrombectomy to reduce disability by at least one level on mRS for one patient was 2.6. Subgroup analysis of the primary endpoint showed no heterogeneity of treatment effect across prespecified subgroups for reduced disability (pinteraction=0.43). Effect sizes favouring endovascular thrombectomy over control were present in several strata of special interest, including in patients aged 80 years or older (cOR 3.68, 95% CI 1.95-6.92), those randomised more than 300 min after symptom onset (1.76, 1.05-2.97), and those not eligible for intravenous alteplase (2.43, 1.30-4.55). Mortality at 90 days and risk of parenchymal haematoma and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage did not differ between populations.Interpretation: Endovascular thrombectomy is of benefit to most patients with acute ischaemic stroke caused by occlusion of the proximal anterior circulation, irrespective of patient characteristics or geographical location. These findings will have global implications on structuring systems of care to provide timely treatment to patients with acute ischaemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion.Funding: Medtronic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SOCIOECONOMICS and CHRISTIANITY

The thrust of the present paper has been that "social economics" -- aside from that specific, Anglo-American form -- is not the "emerging" or (relatively) new field or discipline as it has been represented or insinuated to be in several prominent recent works. In response to the rhetorical title of Brian Showler's resurrective article in the maiden issue of the IJSE (Vol. 1 No. 1, 1974), viz., "Social Economics: Branch or New Roots?", we here answer with a resounding Yes! But, first, new roots sinking to where? Not merely what we have resurrected or resuscitated on both sides of the pond as a revitalisation of efforts on the parts of such as J.M. Clark, the Catholic Economic Association, et al. in the 1930s and 1940s.
In its guise of "Social Catholicism (Christianisme)" we recognise today that Pope John XXIII (MM, 1961; PT 1963) and Vatican II (especially Gaudiam et Spes, 1965) admitted fresh air and breathed new life into that movement usually traced (only) back to Eeo XIII (RN, 1891) and the works of Heinrich Pesch, SJ (1895-1925) and his disciples. (Cf. G&R/R-R, 1947/48, IV.ii vs. Fellner, p. 6). However, three-score years before that already, Roman-Catholic conomie sociale as "l'conomie politique chrtienne" had already been so christened and introduced by de Coux (1832, etc) and Villeneuve-Bargemont (1834/37), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]