COVID-19 effects on municipality waste collection services for households: statistical modelling of perspectives from Guyana and Nigeria

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The novel COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the functioning of solid waste management globally as households experience an increase in their waste...     

?kotoxikologie und ?kologie in Ballungsr?umen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Fate of cancerostatic platinum compounds in biological wastewater treatment of hospital effluents

The present work focuses on the fate of two cancerostatic platinum compounds (CPC), cisplatin and carboplatin, as well as of two inorganic platinum compounds, [PtCl₄]²⁻ and [PtCl₆]²⁻ in biological wastewater treatment. Laboratory experiments modelling adsorption of these compounds onto activated sludge showed promising specific adsorption coefficients K_D and K_OC and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. However, the adsorption properties of the investigated substances were differing significantly. Adsorption decreased following the order cisplatin > [PtCl₆]²⁻ > [PtCl₄]²⁻ > carboplatin. Log K_D-values were ranging from 2.5 to 4.3 , log K_OC from 3.0 to 4.7.

A pilot membrane bioreactor system (MBR) was installed in a hospital in Vienna and fed with wastewater from the oncologic in-patient treatment ward to investigate CPC-adsorption in a sewage treatment plant. During three monitoring periods Pt-concentrations were measured in the influent (3–250 μg l⁻¹ Pt) and the effluent (2–150 μg l⁻¹ Pt) of the treatment plant using ICP-MS. The monitoring periods (duration 30 d) revealed elimination efficiencies between 51% and 63% based on averaged weekly input–output budgets. The derived log K_D-values and log K_OC-values ranged from 2.4 to 4.8 and from 2.8 to 5.3, respectively. Species analysis using HPLC-ICP-MS proofed that mainly carboplatin was present as intact drug in the influent and – due to low log K_D – in the effluent of the MBR.     

Prenatal diagnosis of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency in a family with a previous fatal case of sudden unexpected death in childhood

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency is a potentially fatal inherited disease with a carrier frequency of approximately 1:100 in most Caucasian populations. The disease is implicated in sudden unexpected death in childhood. A prevalent disease-causing point mutation (A985G) in the MCAD gene has been characterized, thus rendering diagnosis easy in the majority of cases. Since the clinical spectrum of MCAD deficiency ranges from death in the first days of life to an asymptomatic life, there are probably other genetic factors—in addition to MCAD mutations—involved in the expression of the disease. Thus, families who have experienced the death of a child from MCAD deficiency might have an increased risk of a seriously affected subsequent child. In such a family we have therefore performed a prenatal diagnosis on a chorionic villus sample by a highly specific and sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the G985 mutation. The analysis was positive and resulted in abortion. We verified the diagnosis by direct analysis on blood spots and other tissue material from the aborted fetus and from family members.     

Prenatal diagnosis of campomelic dysplasia by ultrasonography

Consanguineous partners had a boy with campomelic dysplasia who died of increasing respiratory distress soon after birth. The next pregnancy was monitored frequently by ultrasonography and a healthy male infant was born at term. During a further pregnancy, ultrasonography suggested campomelic dysplasia in the 16th week of gestation. This was confirmed in the 18th week. The pregnancy was terminated and the fetus showed the typical radiological, anatomical and histological findings.     

Development and implementation of eco-genomic tools for aquatic ecosystem biomonitoring: the SYNAQUA French-Swiss program

The effectiveness of environmental protection measures is based on the early identification and diagnosis of anthropogenic pressures. Similarly, restoration actions require precise monitoring of changes in the ecological quality of ecosystems, in order to highlight their effectiveness. Monitoring the ecological quality relies on bioindicators, which are organisms revealing the pressures exerted on the environment through the composition of their communities. Their implementation, based on the morphological identification of species, is expensive because it requires time and experts in taxonomy. Recent genomic tools should provide access to reliable and high-throughput environmental monitoring by directly inferring the composition of bioindicators’ communities from their DNA (metabarcoding). The French-Swiss program SYNAQUA (INTERREG France-Switzerland 2017–2019) proposes to use and validate the tools of environmental genomic for biomonitoring and aims ultimately at their implementation in the regulatory bio-surveillance. SYNAQUA will test the metabarcoding approach focusing on two bioindicators, diatoms, and aquatic oligochaetes, which are used in freshwater biomonitoring in France and Switzerland. To go towards the renewal of current biomonitoring practices, SYNAQUA will (1) bring together different actors: scientists, environmental managers, consulting firms, and biotechnological companies, (2) apply this approach on a large scale to demonstrate its relevance, (3) propose robust and reliable tools, and (4) raise public awareness and train the various actors likely to use these new tools. Biomonitoring approaches based on such environmental genomic tools should address the European need for reliable, higher-throughput monitoring to improve the protection of aquatic environments under multiple pressures, guide their restoration, and follow their evolution.     

When experts disagree: the need to rethink indicator selection for assessing sustainability of agriculture

Sustainability indicators are well recognized for their potential to assess and monitor sustainable development of agricultural systems. A large number of indicators are proposed in various sustainability assessment frameworks, which raises concerns regarding the validity of approaches, usefulness and trust in such frameworks. Selecting indicators requires transparent and well-defined procedures to ensure the relevance and validity of sustainability assessments. The objective of this study, therefore, was to determine whether experts agree on which criteria are most important in the selection of indicators and indicator sets for robust sustainability assessments. Two groups of experts (Temperate Agriculture Research Network and New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard) were asked to rank the relative importance of eleven criteria for selecting individual indicators and of nine criteria for balancing a collective set of indicators. Both ranking surveys reveal a startling lack of consensus amongst experts about how best to measure agricultural sustainability and call for a radical rethink about how complementary approaches to sustainability assessments are used alongside each other to ensure a plurality of views and maximum collaboration and trust amongst stakeholders. To improve the transparency, relevance and robustness of sustainable assessments, the context of the sustainability assessment, including prioritizations of selection criteria for indicator selection, must be accounted for. A collaborative design process will enhance the acceptance of diverse values and prioritizations embedded in sustainability assessments. The process by which indicators and sustainability frameworks are established may be a much more important determinant of their success than the final shape of the assessment tools. Such an emphasis on process would make assessments more transparent, transformative and enduring.