Investigating the potential of functionalized MCM-41 on adsorption of Remazol Red dye

The modification of MCM-41 was performed with 3-aminopropropyltrimethoxysilane. The structural order and textural properties of the synthesized materials were studied by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry/differential thermogravimetry, nitrogen adsorption, and desorption analysis. The adsorption capacity of NH₂-MCM-41 was studied with Remazol Red dye. The following parameters were studied in the adsorption process: pH, temperature, adsorbent dosage, and initial concentration. The desorption process was studied in different concentrations of NaOH solutions. The Freundlich isotherm model was found to be fit with the equilibrium isotherm data. Kinetics of adsorption follows the modified Avrami rate equation. The maximum adsorption capacity was estimated to be 45.9 mg?g^?1, with removal of the dye of 99.1 %. The NH₂-MCM-41 material exhibited high desorption capacity with 98.1 %.     

Sediment Quality Assessment in the Gulf of Gdańsk (Baltic Sea) Using Complementary Lines of Evidence

Sediments from Polish coastal environments were classified by a quality assessment approach that took into account trace metal and organic micropollutant concentrations, grain-size distribution, and organic carbon content. Generally, no benthic organisms were found at sites where sediments were classified as heavily polluted. However, areas characterized by a moderate contamination showed a variable composition of the benthic community and changing bioaccumulation patterns; therefore, no single species found in the Gulf of Gdańsk could be considered representative of the whole benthic environment. Although sediment monitoring must be considered a suitable tool to detect hot-spot pollution areas in coastal and inland waters, it should be complemented by bioaccumulation measurements to evaluate the actual risk posed by contaminants to benthic organisms. This “biological information” allows a better appreciation of the real benthic infaunal community exposure to chemicals and can usefully complement the existing sediment quality guidelines.     

Resistant weeds were controlled by the combined use of herbicides and bioherbicides

The intensive and abundant use of synthetic herbicides has been questioned in recent decades due to the strong dependence and also the resistance effects that are identified in weeds. Several grain crops suffer from the weed control system because many of the weeds are already resistant to the main herbicides that are used. In recent years, there has been a large gap in the market without the addition of new synthetic herbicides with mechanisms of action that differ from those already existing. The objective of this short piece is to address and overcome this challenge and bring an innovative and alternative solution that proposes a synergistic action system between bioherbicides produced by the fungus Trichoderma koningiopsis and synthetic herbicides (2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, glyphosate, and ammonium glufosinate). The plants included in this study were Bidens pilosa (amor seco, or in the United States, beggar ticks or Spanish needle), Euphorbia heterophylla (adeus‐brasil), and Conyza bonariensis (margaridinha‐do‐campo, or, in the United States, hairy fleabane or asthmaweed). It was verified that, in the application of the biocomposites in the presence of chemical herbicides, potentiation of the phytotoxic action (100%) occurred under the target plants, emphasizing phytotoxicity to the weed, C. bonariensis, which is currently resistant to available herbicides. The bioherbicides studied have promising characteristics to be explored in the biocontrol of weeds.     

Poliovirus and Other Enteroviruses from Environmental Surveillance in Italy, 2009–2015

Within the initiatives for poliomyelitis eradication by WHO, Italy activated an environmental surveillance (ES) in 2005. ES complements clinical Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance for possible polio cases, detects poliovirus circulation in environmental sewage, and is used to monitor transmission in communities. In addition to polioviruses, the analyses comprised: (i) the monitoring of the presence of non-polio enteroviruses in sewage samples and (ii) the temporal and geographical distribution of the detected viruses. From 2009 to 2015, 2880 sewage samples were collected from eight cities participating in the surveillance. Overall, 1479 samples resulted positive for enteroviruses. No wild-type polioviruses were found, although four Sabin-like polioviruses were detected. The low degree of mutation found in the genomes of these four isolates suggests that these viruses have had a limited circulation in the population. All non-polio enteroviruses belonged to species B and the most frequent serotype was CV-B5, followed by CV-B4, E-11, E-6, E-7, CV-B3, and CV-B2. Variations in the frequency of different serotypes were also observed in different seasons and/or Italian areas. Environmental surveillance in Italy, as part of the ‘WHO global polio eradication program’, is a powerful tool to augment the polio surveillance and to investigate the silent circulation or the re-emergence of enteroviruses in the population.     

An Eco-balance of a Recycling Plant for Spent Lead–Acid Batteries

This study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to present an eco-balance of a recycling plant that treats spent lead–acid batteries. The recycling plant uses pyrometallurgical treatment to obtain lead from spent batteries. The application of LCA methodology (ISO 14040 series) enabled us to assess the potential environmental impacts arising from the recycling plants operations. Thus, net emissions of greenhouse gases as well as other major environmental consequences were examined and hot spots inside the recycling plant were identified. A sensitivity analysis was also performed on certain variables to evaluate their effect on the LCA study. The LCA of a recycling plant for spent lead–acid batteries presented shows that this methodology allows all of the major environmental consequences associated with lead recycling using the pyrometallurgical process to be examined. The study highlights areas in which environmental improvements are easily achievable by a business, providing a basis for suggestions to minimize the environmental impact of its production phases, improving process and company performance in environmental terms.     

Social and geographical inequalities in prenatal care in Italy

The purpose of this study was to find out possible differences in prenatal diagnosis (PD) by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling and ultrasound examination before 16 weeks' gestation (early ultrasound examination, EUE), according to area of residence and level of education of the mothers. Data come from a multicentre study in Italy involving 43 maternity hospitals (Mercurio project) and were collected through structured interviews a few days after delivery. Study subjects were 1541 mothers of single non-malformed infants born between April 1992 and March 1994. Overall, the incidence of PD and EUE was 5.8 and 80 per cent, respectively. After adjustment for maternal age and other possible confounders, the odds ratios for PD were 2.19 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI)=1.26–3.81) when women residing in the northern regions were compared with those residing in the southern regions, and 2.06 (95 per cent CI=1.12–3.79) and 4.08 (95 per cent CI=1.97–8.42) when women with medium and high levels of education were compared with those with low level. For EUE, the odds ratios were 1.77 (95 per cent CI=1.32–2.36) and 2.88 (95 per cent CI=1.56–5.29) when comparing women with medium and high levels of education with those with low level. No relationship was found between area of residence and EUE. These geographical and social inequalities in prenatal care in Italy should be taken into account for the organization, delivery, and evaluation of pregnancy services in the coming years.     

Vitamin E supplementation enhances growth and condition of nestling barn swallows (Hirundo rustica)

To optimize fitness, organisms may have to trade the number and quality of individual offspring against their own condition and survival. Limiting micronutrients such as antioxidants may be crucial to this trade-off. We investigated whether vitamin E, a major antioxidant in the diet of vertebrates, is limiting to barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) nestlings. We manipulated brood size to alter the intensity of sib–sib competition and supplemented nestlings with two different physiological doses of vitamin E while establishing a control group. Treatment effects were measured on body mass and size, feather growth, T cell-mediated immune response and hematocrit. Supplementation with vitamin E at intermediate physiological doses improved nestling mass and condition and feather growth, whereas higher physiological doses did not enhance offspring quality compared to a control treatment. The positive effects of vitamin E on body mass and condition were only detectable from days 6 to 10 when maximum growth rate is attained. Experimental enlargement of broods reduced body mass and size and T cell-mediated immune response only during the late nestling period. The effect of vitamin E supplementation did not depend on brood size manipulation, as revealed by the nonsignificant statistical interaction. This result contradicts the hypothesis that availability of vitamin E depends on intrabrood competition and instead suggests that it depends on concentration of vitamin E in the insect prey of swallows. Thus, antioxidants may be available in limited amounts to barn swallow nestlings and such limitation affects growth. In addition, present results confirm that barn swallow parents trade progeny number against growth and immunity of individual offspring.     

Energy efficiency during conventional and novel sintering processes: the case of Ti–Al2O3–TiC composites

The conventional (hot pressing or HP) and the novel (spark plasma sintering or SPS) consolidation techniques were compared when processing Ti–Al₂O₃–TiC powders obtained by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS). It was found that the two different methods are able to produce similar materials, in some cases (Vickers hardness and wear rate) slightly better for SPSed samples. However, SPS does not need sintering temperatures as high as HP to obtain fully dense products. Most significantly, processing times were strongly reduced when adopting the SPS technique instead of HP, i.e. 4–7 min and about 5 h, respectively. Finally, when the total energies required during each SPS or HP experiment were compared, it was found that the use of the SPS technology allowed for an energy saving in the order of 90–95%. This fact makes SPS significantly advantageous from environmental and economical points of view compared to HP.     

Sex-related asymmetry in competitive ability of sexually monomorphic barn swallow nestlings

In diverse taxa, offspring solicit parental care using complex displays, which may evolve as reliable signals of condition or as mechanisms to manipulate parental investment. Differential sex allocation may therefore result from adaptive parental decisions or sex-related variation in competitive ability or because of sex-related asymmetries in kin selection. Under normal food provisioning, female barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) nestlings begged more loudly but did not receive more food than male nestlings. After food deprivation, begging call loudness of males but not females increased. Begging loudness positively predicted the number of feedings received by the nestlings, and males gained more mass than females after food deprivation. Male nestlings are more severely affected by chronic food reduction and may therefore accrue a larger benefit compared to females by increasing their food intake under short-term conditions of food scarcity. These results suggest that either females do not increase begging intensity to favour male broodmates which are more vulnerable to prolonged food stress, or that males prevail in scramble competition despite being similar in size to females.