Detection of hormones in surface and drinking water in Brazil by LC-ESI-MS/MS and ecotoxicological assessment with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Daphnia magna</Emphasis>

The growing use of pharmaceutical drug is mainly due to several diseases in human and in animal husbandry. As these drugs are discharged into waterways via wastewater, they cause a major impact on the environment. Many of these drugs are hormones; in which even at low concentrations can alter metabolic and physiological functions in many organisms. Hormones were found in surface water, groundwater, soil, and sediment at concentrations from nanograms to milligrams per liter of volume—quantities known to cause changes in the endocrine system of aquatic organisms. This study aimed to develop a methodology for hormone detection (estriol, estrone, 17β-estradiol, 17α-ethinylestradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) on surface and treated water samples. Sample toxicity was assessed by ecotoxicology tests using Daphnia magna. A liquid chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization source (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was used for the analysis. The results showed that samples were contaminated by the hormones estriol, estrone, progesterone, 17β-estradiol, and 17α-ethinylestradiol during the sampling period, and the highest concentrations measured were 90, 28, 26, 137, and 194 ng·L^?1, respectively. This indicates the inflow of sewage containing these hormones at some points in the Piracicaba River in the State of Sao Paulo—Brazil. Results indicated little toxicity of the hormone estriol in D. magna, indicating that chronic studies with this microcrustacean are necessary.     

Human Adaptation to Work in Two Different Climates

The processes of acclimation to hot-dry and to warm-humid climates were studied using two approaches: a quantitative analysis of literature data and an experimental study in the laboratory concerning the physiological parameters of heart rate, rectal temperature, sweat loss, and subjective assessment.

Analysis o f literature data: Data from 62 experiments with a total of 813 participants were pooled and recalculated. The experiments ranged from 6 to 24 days, air temperatures from 30.4 to 50.0°C, water vapor pressures from 1.5 to 6.5 kPa, and wet bulb globe temperatures (WBGT) from 27.4 to 38.6°C.

Laboratory studies: In the laboratory, 8 participants were acclimated during 15 consecutive days to a hot-dry climate and to a warm-humid climate, which were equivalent in terms of the WBGT (33.5 and 33.6°C, respectively). The participants walked four times for 25 min on a treadmill at a speed of 4 km/h. The hot-dry climate caused somewhat greater strain than the warm-humid condition. In the course of acclimation to the hot-dry climate, heart rate and rectal temperature started at higher levels, decreased slightly steeper but remained on a higher level throughout. Nevertheless, the differences between both thermal conditions were small, and both physiologic functions reached the point of acclimation almost at the same time under warm-humid and under hot-dry exposure. Sweat loss, which is not regarded as a valid predictor for acclimation, was considerably higher but increased less in the hot-dry than in the warm-humid climate.     

Carbon dioxide emissions from transport and anemia influence on under-five mortality in Benin

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This work is the first study about the joint effect (influence) of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) from transport and anemia influence on under-five...