Artificial radioactivity in environmental media (air, rainwater, soil, vegetation) in Austria after the Fukushima nuclear accident

Several environmental media in Austria were monitored for artificial radionuclides released during the Fukushima nuclear accident. Air (up to 1.2 mBq/m³ particulate ¹³¹I) and rainwater (up to 5.2 Bq/L ¹³¹I) proved to be the media best suited for the environmental monitoring, allowing also a temporal resolution of the activity levels. Significant regional differences in the wet deposition of ¹³¹I with rain could be observed within the city of Vienna during the arrival of the contaminated air masses. Forward-trajectory analysis supported the hypothesis that the contaminated air masses coming from the northwest changed direction to northeast over Northern Austria, leading to a strong activity concentration gradient over Vienna. In the course of the environmental monitoring of the Fukushima releases, this phenomenon—significant differences of ¹³¹I activity concentrations in rainwater on a narrow local scale (8.1 km)—appears to be unique. Vegetation (grass) was contaminated with ¹³¹I and/or ¹³⁷Cs at a low level. Soil (up to 22 Bq/kg ¹³⁷Cs) was only affected by previous releases (nuclear weapon tests, Chernobyl). Here, also significant local differences can be observed due to different deposition rates during the Chernobyl accident. The effective ecological half-lives of ¹³⁷Cs in soil were calculated for four locations in Austria. They range from 7 to 30 years. No Austrian sample investigated herein exceeded the detection limit for ¹³⁴Cs; hence, the Fukushima nuclear accident did not contribute significantly to the total radiocesium inventory in Austrian environmental media. The levels of detected radioactivity were of no concern for public health.     

Proactive limit values for responsible management of chemicals

Limit values (LVs) are legal concentration limits for constituents, residues and contaminants in consumer products or for emissions from production processes into environmental compartments. They are a traditional regulatory aid to manage chemicals in human environments. To make them proactive, LVs should become enforced by means of a transparent and informed decision process whose starting point is the Basic Rule of Environmental Hygiene, BREH:Avoid useless exposure as far as possible, minimize useful exposure in a reasonable manner, and prevent that exposure which is dangerous. The BREH calls upon minimizing exposure not only according toon site risk potentials and acceptance, but also tooff site avoidability and acceptability.     

Predictions for isomer distributions of toxic dioxins and furans in selected industrial combustion processes

Three thermodynamic databases of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans (PCDD/Fs) have been used to simulate the PCDD/F isomer distribution in industrial combustion processes. The three databases had been derived using the Group Additivity approach and two computational molecular modelling methods, Modified Neglect of Diatomic Overlap (MNDO) and Parametrized Model 3 (PM3), respectively. The predictions of the toxic PCDD/F isomer distributions using the three different databases have been compared with measured values from industrial processes. An excellent agreement between the predictions using the MNDO method and the measured data has been obtained. It is concluded that the PCDD/F isomer distributions within each group observed in these combustion processes may be thermodynamically controlled.     

Treatment of spent wash in anaerobic mesophilic suspended growth reactor (AMSGR)

Approximately 400 KL of spent wash or vinasse per annum is generated at an average COD concentration of 100,000 mg/l, by over 250 distilleries in India. There is an urgent need to develop, assess and use ecofriendly methods for the disposal of this high strength wastewater. Therefore, an attempt was made to investigate a few aspects of anaerobic digestion of spent wash collected from a distillery. The study was carried out in a 4 L laboratory scale anaerobic mesophilic suspended growth reactor. After the successful startup, the organic loading was increased stepwise to assess the performance of the reactor. During the study period, biogas generated was recorded and the maximum gas generated was found to be 16.9 L at an Organic Loading Rate (OLR) of 38 g COD/L. A 500% increase in the Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) concentration (2150 mg/L) was observed, when the OLR was increased from 38 to 39 g COD/L. During the souring phase the removal of COD, Total Solids (TS) and Volatile Solids (VS) were in the order of 52%, 40% and 46% respectively. The methane content in the biogas varied from 65% to 75%.     

Prenatal diagnosis of a de novo supernumerary marker derived from chromosome 16

Marker chromosomes are supernumerary chromosomes of unknown origin and are seldom found in prenatal diagnosis. Application of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) allows the identification of the chromosomal origin of markers. Estimation of the risk of an abnormal phenotype outcome can be enabled by collecting data on phenotypes associated with markers of the same chromosomal origin. So far only very few cases of prenatal diagnosis of de novo supernumerary markers derived from chromosome 16 have been reported. Here the prenatal diagnosis of a de novo supernumerary marker chromosome 16 is described and the relevant literature discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental study on the causal relationships between (ecto-)parasites, testosterone and sexual signalling

Bird song is considered to have evolved via sexual selection and should as such honestly signal aspects of the quality of its bearer. To ensure honesty, the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis proposed a dual role of testosterone, having positive effects on sexual signalling but suppressive effects on immune function. However, recent studies showed that it is rather an immune activation that suppresses the androgen production. This reversed chain of causation may significantly alter the pathways, which translate the effects of parasites and pathogens into changes in the expression of male sexual traits. We infested male canaries with Ixodes ricinus tick nymphs to investigate the causal relationships between (ecto-)parasites, testosterone and sexual signalling, here singing behaviour. We focused on flexible song traits, which may quickly reflect changes in the infestation status, and tested whether these effects relate to changes in the plasma testosterone levels or health state. The experimental tick infestation altered the males’ song performance by reducing song consistency, a trait that had previously been identified to reflect male quality. The tick infestation lowered the plasma testosterone levels and had a negative effect on the health status in terms of a reduced hematocrit. Our pathway analysis then revealed that it is the parasite-induced reduction of the plasma testosterone levels but not of the health state that caused the changes in song consistency. Thus, our study supports the view that it is the effect of parasites and immune activation on plasma testosterone levels that generates the trade-off between immunocompetence and sexual signalling.     

Predation affects alarm call usage in female Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana diana)

Diana monkeys produce acoustically distinct calls to a number of external events, including different types of predators. In a previous study, we found population-wide differences in male alarm call production in Taï Forest, Ivory Coast, and on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone, mostly likely originating from differences in predator experience. In Taï Forest, leopards (Panthera pardus) are common but on Tiwai Island they have been absent for decades, while the predation pressure from crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) has been similar. To further evaluate the impact of predator experience, we here analyse the vocal behaviour of female Diana monkeys in both habitats. Female Diana monkeys produce predator-specific alarm calls, alert calls and contact calls in response to predators, suggesting that their calls serve in a broader range of functions compared to males. Results showed that females produced the same call types at both sites, despite the differences in predator fauna. Regarding call usage, leopard alarm calls were extremely rare on Tiwai Island, but not in Taï Forest, whereas we found no differences in eagle alarm call production. When comparing response latencies, Tiwai females were slower to respond to both predators compared to Taï females. Finally, we found no habitat-specific acoustic differences in the alert and predator-specific alarm calls, but significant differences in frequency-based parameters of contact calls. Overall, our results suggest that ontogenetic experience can affect primate vocal behaviour in both usage and acoustic structure but that the way in which particular call types are affected may be closely linked to function.