Hamiltonians are Mutants

A new study published in PNAS (open access) takes a look at the health implications of exposure to particulate air pollution. In this particular study, mice were caged near 2 steel mills and a major highway in the Hamilton, Ontario area and exposed either to ambient air, or the same air passed through a HEPA filter to remove particulate pollution.

When exposed to Hamilton air (but not HEPA filtered air) for 10 weeks (followed by 6-weeks recovery in the lab), the mice had a 1.6-fold increase in sperm mutation frequency and an increase in global methylation of germline DNA. From the article:

"We have demonstrated that exposure of inbred mice to particulate air pollution near two integrated steel mills and a major highway caused tandem repeat DNA mutation and hypermethylation in spermatogonial stem cells. [...] The overall implications of these findings for the health of humans are unclear. Heritable mutation, germ-line DNA damage and epigenetic modifications have the potential to affect disease incidence in the descendents of exposed individuals. In addition to its potential importance in the maintenance of genome stability, appropriate methylation of DNA is critical for imprinting, regulation of gene expression, mammalian development, and disease."

No word yet on whether any of these mutations conferred super-powers.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

I was just informed about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, on the always good Informationaddiction. I can't believe I've never heard of this Texas sized landfill that floats in the currents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Unreal. Just thought I'd post it so you have to know about it now too.

Drinking the Rideau

I live in a city that, like many cities, has a river running through it. A quick informal poll I conducted suggested that no one would drink water from the Rideau River in Ottawa Ontario. This is disturbing to me especially since I think of Canada as having great fresh water resources. It also just pisses me off that it is acceptable and expected that the water is unsuitable to drink. What exactly is wrong with Rideau water? It is the drinking water to the community of Smith Falls, but they are quite a bit more upstream. All municipalities along the Rideau dispose of treated waste water into the Rideau. However the health of the river must not be that bad because I fish there and catch many bass and I've heard that there are walleye. Also I have seen two large snapping turtles in the Rideau suggesting that even long lived animals aren't dying of toxic pollutants. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority has a great website explaining water quality and legal aspects about the river. They also have available their sampling data that you can check out with the Watershed Information System. It is a pretty amazing source of information and it gives you water quality data for specific sampling spots along the river. Unfortunately they don't sample within the city of Ottawa and the data is just that, data with no explanation of significance. Fortunately the Rideau Roundtable, a non-profit group of enviromentalists, provides some great data about the river that is more easily digested. Basically the only thing that might be a problem is periodic high levels of E.coli, probably a consequence of waste water but that is not addressed. Low metals, lower phosphorus than ever before since data has been recorded. There are some invasive species but nothing that harmful. Also nitrates are rising slightly but apparently still at acceptable levels.Next time I'm fishing I'm going to drink a cup of it. I'll report back with any symptoms.