Biomass smoke in Burkina Faso: what is the relationship between particulate matter,carbon monoxide,and kitchen characteristics?

In Burkina Faso where cooking with biomass is very common, little information exists regarding kitchen characteristics and their impact on air pollutant levels. The measurement of air pollutants such as respirable particulate matter (PM₁₀), an important component of biomass smoke that has been linked to adverse health outcomes, can also pose challenges in terms of cost and the type of equipment needed. Carbon monoxide could potentially be a more economical and simpler measure of air pollution. The focus of this study was to first assess the association of kitchen characteristics with measured PM₁₀ and CO levels and second, the relationship of PM₁₀ with CO concentrations, across these different kitchen characteristics in households in Nouna, Burkina Faso. Twenty-four-hour concentrations of PM₁₀ (area) were measured with portable monitors and CO (area and personal) estimated using color dosimeter tubes. Data on kitchen characteristics were collected through surveys. Most households used both wood and charcoal burned in three-stone and charcoal stoves. Mean outdoor kitchen PM₁₀ levels were relatively high (774 μg/m³, 95 % CI 329–1,218 μg/m³), but lower than indoor concentrations (Satterthwaite t value, ?6.14; p?<?0.0001). In multivariable analyses, outdoor kitchens were negatively associated with PM₁₀ (OR?=?0.06, 95 % CI 0.02–0.16, p value <0.0001) and CO (OR?=?0.03, 95 % CI 0.01–0.11, p value <0.0001) concentrations. Strong area PM₁₀ and area CO correlations were found with indoor kitchens (Spearman’s r?=?0.82, p?<?0.0001), indoor stove use (Spearman’s r?=?0.82, p?<?0.0001), and the presence of a smoker in the household (Spearman’s r?=?0.83, p?<?0.0001). Weak correlations between area PM₁₀ and personal CO levels were observed with three-stone (Spearman’s r?=?0.23, p?=?0.008) and improved stoves (Spearman’s r?=?0.34, p?=?0.003). This indicates that the extensive use of biomass fuels and multiple stove types for cooking still produce relatively high levels of exposure, even outdoors, suggesting that both fuel subsidies and stove improvement programs are likely necessary to address this problem. These findings also indicate that area CO color dosimeter tubes could be a useful measure of area PM₁₀ concentrations when levels are influenced by strong emission sources or when used in indoors. The weaker correlation observed between area PM₁₀ and personal CO levels suggests that area exposures are not as useful as proxies for personal exposures, which can vary widely from those recorded by stationary monitors.     

Marine organisms as heavy metal bioindicators in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman

In the present study, cadmium and lead concentrations were compared in barnacles, ghost shrimps, polychaetes, bivalves, and sediment from ten different locations along the intertidal zone of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The results revealed significant differences in the heavy metal concentrations between the organisms with barnacles showing, by far, the highest metal concentrations. The bioaccumulation factor of Cd in different animals follows this pattern with barnacles?>?bivalves?>?polychaetes?>?ghost shrimps, while the pattern for Pb was barnacles?>?polychaetes?>?bivalves?>?ghost shrimps. In most of the stations, sediments showed the lowest lead and cadmium concentrations. Therefore, it is concluded that barnacles with Pb concentrations between 0.17 and 2,016.1 μg/g and Cd concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 147.1 μg/g are the best organisms to be employed in monitoring programs designed to assess pollution with bioavailable metals in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.     

Use of hairy roots extracts for 2,4-DCP removal and toxicity evaluation by Lactuca sativa test

2,4-Dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) is widely distributed in wastewaters discharged from several industries, and it is considered as a priority pollutant due to its high toxicity. In this study, the use of different peroxidase extracts for 2,4-DCP removal from aqueous solutions was investigated. Tobacco hairy roots (HRs), wild-type (WT), and double-transgenic (DT) for tomato basic peroxidases (TPX1 and TPX2) were used to obtain different peroxidase extracts: total peroxidases (TPx), soluble peroxidases (SPx), and peroxidases ionically bound to the cell wall (IBPx). All extracts derived from DT HRs exhibited higher peroxidase activity than those obtained from WT HRs. TPx and IBPx DT extracts showed the highest catalytic efficiency values. The optimal conditions for 2,4-DCP oxidation were pH 6.5, H₂O₂ 0.5 mM, and 200 U mL^?1 of enzyme, for all extracts analyzed. Although both TPx extracts were able to oxidize different 2,4-DCP concentrations, the removal efficiency was higher for TPx DT. Polyethylene glycol addition slightly improved 2,4-DCP removal efficiency, and it showed some protective effect on TPx WT after 2,4-DCP oxidation. In addition, using Lactuca sativa test, a reduction of the toxicity of post removal solutions was observed, for both TPx extracts. The results demonstrate that TPx extracts from both tobacco HRs appear to be promising candidate for future applications in removing 2,4-DCP from wastewaters. This is particularly true considering that these peroxidase sources are associated with low costs and are readily available. However, TPx DT has increased peroxidase activity, catalytic efficiency, and higher removal efficiency than TPx WT, probably due to the expression of TPX1 and TPX2 isoenzymes.     

The integrated biomarker response revisited: optimization to avoid misuse

The growing need to evaluate the quality of aquatic ecosystems led to the development of numerous monitoring tools. Among them, the development of biomarker-based procedures, that combine precocity and relevance, is recommended. However, multi-biomarker approaches are often hard to interpret, and produce results that are not easy to integrate in the environmental policies framework. Integrative index have been developed, and one of the most used is the integrated biomarker response (IBR). However, an analysis of available literature demonstrated that the IBR suffers from a frequent misuse and a bias in its calculation. Then, we propose here a new calculation method based on both a more simple formula and a permutation procedure. Together, these improvements should rightly avoid the misuse and bias that were recorded. Additionally, a case study illustrates how the new procedure enabled to perform a reliable classification of site along a pollution gradient based on biomarker responses used in the IBR calculations.     

Determination of the utility of groundwater with respect to the geochemical parameters: a case study from Tuticorin District of Tamil Nadu (India)

In modern living, rapid development has created an increase in demand for groundwater. An endeavor has been made to understand the hydrogeochemical parameters to determine the utility of groundwater. This situation is severe in coastal hard rock aquifers due to the influence of salinity ingression and other anthropogenic influence. A total of 135 groundwater samples were collected from the coastal aquifer of the Tuticorin district and analyzed for major cations and anions during premonsoon (PRM) and postmonsoon (POM). The ions analyzed were used to determine the drinking, agricultural and domestic utility of groundwater. The electrical conductivity (EC) contour shows that the groundwater quality is poor along the coast. The parameters were compared with WHO (Guidelines for drinking water quality recommendations, WHO, Geneva, 2004) standard for drinking purpose. A groundwater classification method has been developed for groundwater in the area using a dynamic water quality index (WQI). On the basis of the WQI so computed, groundwater in the area has been spatially classified into “excellent,” “good,” “poor” and “very poor” to “Unsuitable” water types variation lithologywise. Corrosivity ratio and hardness were noted to be higher and found to be unsuitable in majority of the regions for domestic purpose. Higher fluoride concentration was noted in the central part of the study area represented by complex geology comprising of the hornblende biotite gneiss and charnockite. Sodium percentage (Na%), sodium absorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate, Wilcox (Classification and use of irrigation waters, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1955), permeability index, residual sodium bicarbonate, magnesium hazard, Kelly’s ratio and potential salinity also indicate that most of the groundwater samples are not suitable for irrigation purposes.     

Pathways of rural change: an integrated assessment of metabolic patterns in emerging ruralities

While rural transformations are nothing new in human history, current processes of rural change occur under multiple forces at an unprecedented pace, involving profound and unexpected changes in land use and users, and rapid transformations in the metabolic patterns of rural systems. The present special section aims to shed light on current drivers and pathways of rural change by analyzing, under a common conceptual and theoretical framework, examples of new ruralities that are emerging as responses across different world regions. Within this context, this introduction presents: (1) common research questions of the six presented cases of rural change; (2) the general theoretical and methodological framework of integrated assessment of societal metabolism adopted to analyze rural systems and (3) the main contributions and conclusions that could be drawn from six context-specific case studies from Asia, Latin America and Europe.     

Seasonal dynamics of heart rate variability in three murine rodent species

Seasonal dynamics of heart rate variability in individuals of late summer and autumn generations have been studied in three rodent species kept in a vivarium: the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus), and northern red-backed vole (Cl. rutilus). It has been shown that the cardiac function of the rodents in autumn and winter is mainly controlled by autonomic mechanisms: the heart rate is slow, cardiovascular control systems are relaxed. During the winter-spring transition, the role of central cardiovascular circuits increases because of the necessity to activate all body systems by spring.     

Diatoms in bottom sediments as indicators of pollution of urban aquatic ecosystems

Analysis of the concentrations of chemical elements and the composition of diatoms in the surface layer of bottom sediments has been performed in a small reservoir at the mouth of dammed river to evaluate the levels of pollution and the impact of toxicants on diatom communities of the river ecosystem. Data on interrelations between the concentrations of chemical elements and the relationship between inorganic pollution and accumulation of diatoms in bottom sediments as an indicator of development of the diatom assemblage have been obtained using linear correlation analysis and graphical plotting.     

Seasonal ecophysiology of an endangered coastal species,the yellow-horned poppy (Glaucium flavum Crantz)

Glaucium flavum Crantz. is a short-lived perennial herb distributed in coastal zones from the Black Sea to southern, western and north-western Europe. Despite its diminishing area of distribution and potential pharmacological value, little is known about the ecophysiological features of this coastal species. We investigated the photosynthetic performance of G. flavum by measuring gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic pigment concentration and leaf water content over the space of a year in a coastal habitat of SW Spain. We also measured the variation in total concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium, calcium and magnesium, in the leaves and soil, throughout the study period. G. flavum showed a high resistance to summer drought conditions which appeared to be due to the high degree of stomatal control. The potential photochemical efficiency of photosystem II showed minimum values during the winter, indicating that low temperatures can produce negative effects within the photosynthetic apparatus. However, the marked decline in net photosynthesis during the winter seems to be mainly related to a loss of metabolic activity. Although leaf nutrient concentrations were, in general, within the normal ranges, phosphorus availability seems to be limited by the high calcium concentrations detected in the soil of the study site. Our study points out the efficiency of the different physiological adaptations of this rare and endangered coastal species in coping with the strong seasonal variability of the Mediterranean climate.     

Ecology of Siberian stone pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour) and Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) in the Altai mountain glacial basins

Data are presented on the ecology of Siberian stone pine and Siberian larch in recent Altai mountain glacial basins at elevations above 2100 m a.s.l. The representative example of the Aktru basin is used to demonstrate the ranges of tolerance of these tree species to a series of ecological factors.