Environmental PCBs in Guánica Bay,Puerto Rico: implications for community health

Guánica Bay, located in southwestern Puerto Rico, has suffered oil spills and other pollution discharges since the 1960s. Previous research showed elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in coral reef and sediment. This research examined PCB concentrations in sediment and fish. Sediment and fish sampling in the bay was facilitated by community members. This study identified the second highest reported PCB level (129,300 ng/g) in sediment in the USA. Fish samples also showed elevated concentrations (1623 to 3768 ng/g), which were higher than the thresholds of safe levels of PCBs in fish for human consumption. The alarmingly high concentration of PCBs calls for proactive community engagement to bring awareness about contamination of the bay and more extensive sampling to test for the concentration of PCBs in seafood and the people of Guánica. This study also underscores the value of the involvement of local communities during sampling design aimed at identifying hot spots of contaminants.     

Adaptive threat management framework: integrating people and turtles

In the 35 years since its inception, the Brazilian National Program for the Conservation of Marine Turtles (TAMAR) has had great success in protecting the five species of sea turtles that occur in Brazil. It has also contributed significantly to worldwide scientific data and knowledge about these species’ biology, such as life cycles and migration patterns. TAMAR’s conservation strategies have always relied on a variety of environmental education and social inclusion (EESI) activities highly adapted to the socio-environmental evolving contexts of its 25 locations distributed across nine states. Diversity and flexibility are critical to enable timely and effective local responses to existing or potential threats to sea turtles. The intuitive, locally adapted, decentralized, and independent way EESI activities have been carried out have generated positive results in the resolution of specific and evolving local problems through the course of the project. This article brings EESI under the same conceptual framework that underlies its conservation approach by adopting an adaptive threat management framework to organize and qualify its educational and social inclusion interventions according to the main categories of threat addressed by TAMAR.     

Spatial differences in outdoor PM10 mass and aerosol composition in Mexico City

Twenty-five MiniVol samplers were operated throughout the Mexico City metropolitan region from February 22 through March 22, 1997, to evaluate the variability of PM10 concentrations and composition. The highest PM10 concentrations were found in neighborhoods with unpaved or dirty roads, and elements related to crustal material were the main cause of differences from nearby (<200 m) monitors that were not adjacent to the roadbed. SO4(2-) concentrations were homogeneous across the city. SO4(2-) measured at the city boundaries was about two-thirds of the concentrations measured within the urbanized area, indicating that most SO4(2-) is of regional origin. Elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) concentrations were highly variable, with higher concentrations in areas that had high diesel traffic and older vehicles. Spatial correlations among PM10 concentrations were high, even though absolute concentrations were variable, indicating a common effect of meteorology on the concentration or dispersion of local emissions.     

Chest injuries of elderly postmortem human surrogates (PMHSs) under seat belt and airbag loading in frontal sled impacts: Comparison to matching THOR tests

Abstract

Objective: The goal of the study was to develop experimental chest loading conditions that would cause up to Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 2 chest injuries in elderly occupants in moderate-speed frontal crashes. The new set of experimental data was also intended to be used in the benchmark of existing thoracic injury criteria in lower-speed collision conditions.

Methods: Six male elderly (age >63) postmortem human subjects (PMHS) were exposed to a 35?km/h (nominal) frontal sled impact. The test fixture consisted of a rigid seat, rigid footrest, and cable seat back. Two restraint conditions (A and B) were compared. Occupants were restrained by a force-limited (2.5?kN [A] and 2?kN [B]) seat belt and a preinflated (16?kPa [A] and 11?kPa [B]; airbag). Condition B also incorporated increased seat friction. Matching sled tests were carried out with the THOR-M dummy. Infra-red telescoping rod for the assessment of chest compression (IRTRACC) readings were used to compute chest injury risk. PMHSs were exposed to a posttest injury assessment. Tests were carried out in 2 stages, using the outcome of the first one combined with a parametric study using the THUMS model to adjust the test conditions in the second. All procedures were approved by the relevant ethics board.

Results: Restraint condition A resulted in an unexpected high number of rib fractures (fx; 10, 14, 15 fx). Under condition B, the adjustment of the relative airbag/occupant position combined with a lower airbag pressure and lower seat belt load limit resulted in a reduced pelvic excursion (85 vs. 110?mm), increased torso pitch and a substantially lower number of rib fractures (1, 0, 4 fx) as intended.

Conclusions: The predicted risk of rib fractures provided by the THOR dummy using the C_max and PC Score injury criteria were lower than the actual injuries observed in the PMHS tests (especially in restraint condition A). However, the THOR dummy was capable of discriminating between the 2 restraint scenarios. Similar results were obtained in the parametric study with the THUMS model.     

Polymetallic pollution from abandoned mines in Mediterranean regions: a multidisciplinary approach to environmental risks

Regional Environmental Change - Abandoned mines are a recurrent problem for nearby communities in Mediterranean regions because mine tailings represent a major source of polymetallic contamination....     

Soil salinity,household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh

As a creeping process, salinisation represents a significant long-term environmental risk in coastal and deltaic environments. Excess soil salinity may exacerbate existing risks of food insecurity in densely populated tropical deltas, which is likely to have a negative effect on human and ecological sustainability of these regions and beyond. This study focuses on the coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and uses data from the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the Soil Resource Development Institute to investigate the effect of soil salinity and wealth on household food security. The outcome variables are two widely used measures of food security: calorie availability and household expenditure on food items. The main explanatory variables tested include indicators of soil salinity and household-level socio-economic characteristics. The results of logistic regression show that in unadjusted models, soil salinisation has a significant negative effect on household food security. However, this impact becomes statistically insignificant when households’ wealth is taken into account. The results further suggest that education and remittance flows, but not gender or working status of the household head, are significant predictors of food insecurity in the study area. The findings indicate the need to focus scholarly and policy attention on reducing wealth inequalities in tropical deltas in the context of the global sustainable deltas initiative and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.     

Establishing best practice for microbially aided phytoremediation

The dispersal of industrial and municipal wastes leads to an increase of contaminated soils and is one of the large concerns in many countries throughout Europe regarding environmental issues. This article proposes a sequence of the microbially aided phytoremediation (phytoextraction and phytostabilization) procedure with the following most important steps: (1) risk assessment, (2) site investigation, (3) determination of the remediation strategy, (4) realization of remediation measures, (5) monitoring, and (6) reuse of the remediated site. UMBRELLA's innovative approach is a proposal of methods to evolve a tool-box which supports phytoremediation by means of microbes and enhances the efficiency of the remediation process at low and heterogeneously metal contaminated sites.