Accumulation and biological effects of metals in wild rats in mining areas of Zambia

The lead–zinc (Pb–Zn) mine in Kabwe City and the copper–cobalt (Cu–Co) mine in the Copperbelt Province are major mining areas in Zambia. To examine the effects of metal pollution on wildlife, wild black rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus tanezumi) were captured in Kabwe and Chingola (in the Copperbelt Province), and in Lusaka (a noncontaminated site). Wild black rats in Kabwe accumulated significantly higher concentrations of Pb and Cd in various organs than rats from Lusaka. In Chingola, significantly higher concentrations of Cu, Co, Pb, and Cd were accumulated in wild black rats than in rats from Lusaka. These results were in accordance with metal accumulation patterns in soil. From toxicological aspects, concentrations of Pb and Cd in rats were generally low. However, metallothionein-1 (MT-1) and metallothionein-2 (MT-2) mRNA expression levels in wild black rats from Kabwe were significantly higher than those in rats from Lusaka. A generalized linear model (GLM) showed that concentrations of Zn and Cu had positive effects on the MT-1 and MT-2 mRNA expression. These results suggest that wild black rats in Zambian mining sites were exposed to metals that accumulated in their organs, causing biological responses such as MT mRNA induction. GLM indicated that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA expression could be a marker for Cr exposure.     

臭氧在中试规模污泥原位减量中的应用

为探究高、低浓度臭氧旁路处理对中试系统出水水质、污泥减量率的影响,采用两组系统(对照组:厌氧/缺氧/好氧(A/A/O),试验组:A/A/O+臭氧旁路处理)在5个工况下运行183d.结果表明,利用剂量为13mg/g MLSS(25mg/g MLVSS)臭氧处理占生物反应池容积20％的回流污泥时,系统运行性能良好;在此操作...     

Metal and metalloid contamination in roadside soil and wild rats around a Pb-Zn mine in Kabwe, Zambia

Metal (Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni) and metalloid (As) accumulation was studied in roadside soil and wild rat (Rattus sp.) samples from near a Pb-Zn mine (Kabwe, Zambia) and the capital city of Zambia (Lusaka). The concentrations of the seven metals and As in the soil samples and Pb in the rat tissue samples were quantified using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, and As in Kabwe soil were much higher than benchmark values. Geographic Information System analysis indicated the source of metal pollution was mining and smelting activity. Interestingly, the area south of the mine was more highly contaminated even though the prevailing wind flow was westward. Wild rats from Kabwe had much higher tissue concentrations of Pb than those from Lusaka. Their body weight and renal Pb levels were negatively correlated, which suggests that mining activity might affect terrestrial animals in Kabwe.     

Hazard perception of stroke drivers in a video-based Japanese hazard perception task

Objective: Hazard perception (HP) is the ability to identify a hazardous situation while driving. Though HP has been well studied among neurologically intact populations, little is known about the HP of neurologically impaired populations (in this study, stroke patients). The purpose of this study is, first, to investigate the HP of stroke patients and, second, to verify the effect of lesion side (right or left hemisphere) on HP, from the viewpoint of hazard types.

Methods: Sixty-seven neurologically intact age-matched older drivers and 63 stroke patients with valid driver’s licenses conducted a video-based Japanese HP task. Participants were asked to indicate the hazardous events in the driving scenario. These events were classified into 3 types: (1) behavioral prediction hazards (BP), which are those where the cause is visible before it becomes a hazard; (2) environmental prediction hazards (EP), which are those where the ultimate hazard may be hidden from view; and (3) dividing and focusing attention hazards (DF), which are those where there is more than one potential hazard to monitor on approach．Participants also took part in the Trail Making Test (TMT) to evaluate visual information processing speed.

Results: The results showed that the number of responses was significantly fewer for stroke patients than for age-matched drivers for all hazard types (P < .001), and this difference was not affected by lesion side (P > .05). It was also found that stroke patients showed a slower response time than age-matched drivers only for BP (P < .001). The lesion side did not affect response latency (P > .05). Results of the TMT revealed that age-matched drivers completed the task significantly faster than stroke patients (P < .001) and that neither TMT-A nor TMT-B differentiated between patients with left hemisphere damage and patients with right hemisphere damage (P > .05).

Conclusions: Firstly, HP in stroke patients is low compared to age-matched drivers. Secondly, even if stroke patients notice hazards, their response may be delayed in a BP situation, due to a slower visual information processing speed. Thirdly, the lesion side does not appear to affect HP.     

Development of drone-type float for surface-velocity measurement in rivers

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The present study develops a safety survey system for measuring natural river discharge. Monitoring of rivers is very important for river environment conservation...