Removal of antimony from model solutions,mine effluent,and textile industry wastewater with Mg-rich mineral adsorbents

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Naturally occurring layered double hydroxide mineral, brucite (BRU), was compared with hydromagnesite (HYD) and a commercial Mg-rich mineral adsorbent...     

National short-term dietary exposure assessment of a selected group of pesticides in Argentina

ABSTRACT

An evaluation of acute dietary exposure to pesticide residues, applying deterministic and stochastic methods, was performed for a selected group of pesticides in two representative age groups from Argentina. Thus, 28 active ingredients (a.i.) and 75 food items were evaluated for the group of 2–5-year-old children, while 9 a.i. and 59 food items were considered for the 10–49-year-old women group. A deterministic assessment was conducting following the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) procedure but using the national maximum residue limits (MRLs) as pesticide residue concentration data, while in the stochastic approach, a theoretical distribution modeled with the available information was used. Food consumption data were obtained from the 2004–2005 comprehensive national nutrition and health survey. The risk was estimated by comparing the short-term dietary exposure with the acute reference dose (ARfD) values for each pesticide-food combination evaluated. In the deterministic assessment, 173 (39.1%) and 40 (31.3%) combinations exceeded the ARfD thresholds for the 2–5-year-old children and 10–49-year-old women groups, respectively. This conservative study generated relevant information as a first stage of acute dietary risk assessment in Argentina.     

Experimental Evaluation of the Importance of the Pulmonary Surfactant for Oxygen Transfer Rate in Human Lungs

The rate of oxygen transport from atmospheric air into water and perfluorocarbon compound (PFC) was investigated. Static and dynamic systems with and without the presence of the lung surfactant monolayer were considered. For the case of water used as an oxygen absorbent, the monolayer activity allowed a simulation of the gas uptake into the lung hypophase. In the second case, a two-phase liquid system with water as a hypophase and PFC as the blood substitute simulated oxygen transport in the alveolus-blood system. Original experimental measurement devices gave the opportunity of determining the gas transport rate with the possibilities of indicating the role of the lung surfactant in the process and evaluating the influence of environmental conditions on the transport phenomena. Results of that work suggest a possible enhancing role of the lung surfactant in the oxygen transfer rate.     

Assessing the effect of natural controls and land use change on sediment yield in a major Andean River: the Magdalena drainage basin, Colombia

The Magdalena River, a major fluvial system draining most of the Colombian Andes, is a world-class river, in the top 10 in terms of sediment load (approximately 150 MT/yr). In this study, we explore the major natural factors and anthropogenic influences behind the patterns in sediment yield on the Magdalena basin and reconstruct the spatial and temporal pattern of deforestation and agricultural intensification across the basin to test the relationships between land use change and trends in sediment yield. Our results show that sediment yield for the whole Magdalena catchment can be explained by natural variables, including runoff and maximum water discharge. These two estimators explain 58% of variance in sediment yield. Temporal analyses of sediment discharges and land use show that the extent of erosion within the catchment has increased over the last 10 to 20 years. Many anthropogenic influences, including a forest decrease by 40% in a 20-year period, an agriculture and pasture increase by 65%, poor soil conservation and mining practices, and increasing rates of urbanization, may have accounted for the overall increasing trends in sediment yield on a regional scale.     

The degradation of the cyanobacterial hepatotoxin nodularin (NOD) by UV radiation

This study investigates the decomposition of NOD by UV irradiation. Water solutions of pure NOD and NOD-containing Nodularia extract as well as Nodularia filaments collected on filters were exposed to UV-A, UV-B, and white fluorescent light (VIS) during 48 h experiments. In VIS, the toxin was fairly stable and only 3.8-4.6% of the original degraded. UV-B had the most pronounced effect on the NOD degradation rate. In the experiment, the overall loss of NOD was 0.27 and 0.77 micro g ml(-1)day(-1) for the solution of pure toxin and Nodularia extract and 0.28 micro g day(-1) for Nodularia filaments. Comparison of UV-B degradation rate in water and methanol extracts revealed higher stability of NOD in methanol. This might suggest that some hydrophobic components of Nodularia cell play a protective role against UV radiation. Additionally, chemical (LC-MS/MS) and biochemical (ELISA and PPIA) assays were employed to characterize the UV degradation products. LC-MS/MS analyses showed that in UV-B exposed sample, apart from NOD, there were three other compounds with molecular ion at m/z at 825.4. The fragmentation pattern of the ion was the same for all four compounds suggesting that they are geometrical isomers of NOD. The major degradation product, with a local absorption maximum at 242 nm, was active in both biochemical assays.     

A prospective study on rapid exome sequencing as a diagnostic test for multiple congenital anomalies on fetal ultrasound

Objective

Conventional genetic tests (quantitative fluorescent-PCR [QF-PCR] and single nucleotide polymorphism-array) only diagnose ~40% of fetuses showing ultrasound abnormalities. Rapid exome sequencing (rES) may improve this diagnostic yield, but includes challenges such as uncertainties in fetal phenotyping, variant interpretation, incidental unsolicited findings, and rapid turnaround times. In this study, we implemented rES in prenatal care to increase diagnostic yield.

Methods

We prospectively studied 55 fetuses. Inclusion criteria were: (a) two or more independent major fetal anomalies, (b) hydrops fetalis or bilateral renal cysts alone, or (c) one major fetal anomaly and a first-degree relative with the same anomaly. In addition to conventional genetic tests, we performed trio rES analysis using a custom virtual gene panel of ~3850 Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) genes.

Results

We established a genetic rES-based diagnosis in 8 out of 23 fetuses (35%) without QF-PCR or array abnormalities. Diagnoses included MIRAGE (SAMD9), Zellweger (PEX1), Walker-Warburg (POMGNT1), Noonan (PTNP11), Kabuki (KMT2D), and CHARGE (CHD7) syndrome and two cases of Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 2 (COL1A1). In six cases, rES diagnosis aided perinatal management. The median turnaround time was 14 (range 8-20) days.

Conclusion

Implementing rES as a routine test in the prenatal setting is challenging but technically feasible, with a promising diagnostic yield and significant clinical relevance.     

Networking emergency teams in Jerusalem

With the recent upsurge in terrorism, more and more attention is being directed at examining the effectiveness and efficiency of emergency teams. These teams tend to focus on their areas of expertise without necessarily communicating, cooperating or coordinating their operations. Research suggests that improved interpersonal communication and coordination enhances the overall work of each emergency team, and that their combined effort is far in excess of the sum of their individual endeavours. This paper outlines attempts made in Jerusalem to improve the performance of emergency teams and to help the helpers by holding training workshops, setting up a forum of co‐workers and encouraging dialogue among various emergency teams in the city. A planned intervention programme was designed to enable informal networking between team leaders. The programme had an impact on team workers and resulted in a more coordinated and effective service delivery during emergencies.     

Nexus on climate change: agriculture and possible solution to cope future climate change stresses

The changing climate scenarios harshen the biotic stresses including boosting up the population of insect/pest and disease, uplifting weed growth, declining soil beneficial microbes, threaten pollinator, and boosting up abiotic stresses including harsh drought/waterlogging, extremisms in temperature, salinity/alkalinity, abrupt rainfall pattern)) and ulitamtely  affect the plant in multiple ways. This nexus review paper will cover four significant points viz (1) the possible impacts of climate change; as the world already facing the problem of food security, in such crucial period, climatic change severely affects all four dimensions of food security (from production to consumption) and will lead to malnutrition/malnourishment faced by low-income peoples. (2) How some major crops (wheat, cotton, rice, maize, and sugarcane) are affected by stress and their consequent loss. (3) How to develop a strategic work to limit crucial factors, like their significant role in climate-smart breeding, developing resilience to stresses, and idiotypic breeding. Additionally, there is an essence of improving food security, as much of our food is wasted before consumption for instance post-harvest losses. (4) Role of biotechnology and genetic engineering in adaptive introgression of the gene or developing plant transgenic against pests. As millions of dollars are invested in innovation and research to cope with future climate change stresses on a plant, hence community base adaptation of innovation is also considered an important factor in crop improvements. Because of such crucial predictions about the future impacts of climate change on agriculture, we must adopt measures to evolve crop.