Initial study on the effects of Prestige oil on human health

The big oil tanker Prestige wrecked at 130 miles from the coast of Galicia, on the Northwest of Spain, in November 19, 2002. During the accident over 40,000 tons of oil were spilled, and along the next weeks 22,000 more reached the shore in the way of three black tides. A great number of people participated in the cleaning tasks. The objective of this study was to initially evaluate the damage caused by Prestige oil in exposed individuals both from the cytogenetic and the endocrine points of view. Exposure level was determined by analysing volatile organic compounds in the environment and heavy metals in blood. Cytogenetic damage was determined by sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), and plasmatic prolactin and cortisol levels were used as biomarkers of endocrine toxicity. Finally we have determined the possible influence of GST genetic polymorphisms (GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletion polymorphisms, GSTP1 Ala105Val) on the evaluated effects. The exposed population was classified according to the performed cleaning tasks in three groups: volunteers that collaborated for 1 week (N=25), hired manual workers (N=20) and hired high-pressure cleaner workers (N=23). The control population consisted of 42 individuals. Exposure to Prestige oil caused cytogenetic damage in exposed individuals, being its effect influenced by age, sex, tobacco consumption and GSTM1 polymorphism. With regard to endocrine toxicity, our results showed that xenobiotics present in Prestige oil induced alterations in hormonal status, and thus it may be considered as an endocrine disruptor. Therefore, the selected parameters have shown to be good indicators of toxicity related to exposure to Prestige oil. In addition, data obtained point to the importance of using protective devices in preventing the effects related to the exposure.     

From Waste to Reuse: Manufacture of Ecological Composites Based on Biopolyethylene/wood Powder with PE-g-MA and Macaíba Oil

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This work aimed to investigate the biopolyethylene (BioPE)/wood powder (WP) composites compatibilized with polyethylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA),...     

Hexavalent Chromium Sorption by Modified Cellulose Macro and Nanofibers Obtained from Eucalyptus Residues

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Exposure to potentially toxic metallic elements (PTME) released in watercourses by industries results in irreversible damage to living beings or even...     

In vitro toxic effects of heavy metals on fungal growth and phosphate-solubilising abilities of isolates obtained from Phragmites australis rhizosphere

In this research, we evaluated the toxic effect of metal ions on mycelial growth and phosphate-solubilising activity of soil-borne micromycetes isolated from the Phragmites australis rhizosphere using Pikovskaya-agar plates supplemented with four metal concentrations. The diameter growth rate (DGR) decreased as the metal concentration rise for all tested fungi. Trichoderma atroviride had the fastest growth rate (1.48?cm²?day^?1) and was the least susceptible to Al³⁺, Cd²⁺, Cr³⁺, Cu²⁺ and Pb²⁺ with a median effective concentration (MEC₅₀) of 12.19, 0.48, 4.51, 11.44 and 50.05?mM, respectively. Aspergillus japonicus was the most tolerant to Co²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺, with MEC₅₀ values of 3.36, 1.095 and 2.34?mM, respectively. Penicillium italicum was the most tolerant to Cr6⁺ (MEC₅₀?=?0.677?mM). The ability to solubilise phosphate remained, despite the decrease in the DGR, and P. italicum and Penicillium dipodomyicola had the highest Phosphate Solubilisation Indexes (PSIs) at 1.97 and 2.12, respectively. In particular, P. italicum recorded the highest PSI of all the studied isolates at 0.62?mM Cr³⁺ (PSI?=?4.74). A. japonicus and T. atroviride were the most tolerant isolates to all tested metals, which suggests that these isolates are promising candidates for further study with regard to mycoremediation and biofertilisation of metal-polluted soils.     

The role of environmental activity integration into the R&D department to obtain competitive advantage

The objective of this work is to examine to what degree the integration between R&D and environmental departments facilitates the achievement of an environmental practice-derived competitive advantage. With this aim, we surveyed 110 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certified factories. The results reveal that the integration of environmental action into the R&D department enhances a company's reputation through the product quality and image. Moreover, the said integration positively influences the company's overall innovative capability and, hence, its ability to penetrate international markets.     

A Sustainable Perspective for Macadamia Nutshell Residues Revalorization by Green Composites Development

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Macadamia is a nut widely used globally in food, personal hygiene products, and human health. After removing the nut, high amounts of the shell residual,...     

Evolutionary social and biogeophysical changes in the Amazon,Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna and Mekong deltas

Policy-making in social-ecological systems increasingly looks to iterative, evolutionary approaches that can address the inherent complexity of interactions between human wellbeing, provision of goods, and the maintenance of ecosystem services. Here, we show how the analysis of available time-series in tropical delta regions over past decades can provide important insight into the social-ecological system dynamics in deltaic regions. The paper provides an exploratory analysis of the recent changes that have occurred in the major elements of three tropical deltaic social-ecological systems, such as demography, economy, health, climate, food, and water. Time-series data from official statistics, monitoring programmes, and Earth observation data are analysed to explore possible trends, slow and fast variables, and observed drivers of change in the Amazon, Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna and Mekong deltas. In the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta zone, increasing gross domestic product and per capita income levels since the 1980s mirror rising levels of food and inland fish production. In contrast, non-food ecosystem services, such as water availability, water quality, and land stability appear to be deteriorating. In the Amazon delta, natural and anthropogenic perturbations are continuously degrading key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage in biomass and soils, the regulation of water balance, and the modulation of regional climate patterns. In the Mekong delta, rapid economic development, changing land-use practices, and salinity intrusion are progressively putting more pressure on the delivery of important provisioning services, such as rice and inland aquaculture production, which are key sources of staple food, farm incomes, and export revenue. Observed changes in many key indicators of ecosystem services point to a changing dynamic state and increased probability of systemic threshold transformations in the near future.     

Restoring biochemical activity and bacterial diversity in a trichloroethylene-contaminated soil: the reclamation effect of vermicomposted olive wastes

Background, aim, and scope  In this work, the potential for using olive-mill solid waste as an organic amendment for biochemical and biological restoration of a trichloroethylene-contaminated soil, which has previously been stabilized through vermicomposting processes, has been explored. Materials and methods  Trichloroethylene-contaminated water was pumped into soil columns with a layer of vermicompost at 10-cm depth (biobarrier system). The impacts of the trichloroethylene on the microbial community were evaluated by determining: (1) the overall microbial activity (estimated as dehydrogenase activity) and enzyme activities related to the main nutrient cycles (β-glucosidase, o-diphenoloxidase, phosphatase, urease, and arylsulphatase activities). In addition, isoelectric focusing of the soil extracellular humic-β-glucosidase complexes was performed to study the enzymatically active humic matter related to the soil carbon cycle. (2) The soil bacterial diversity and the molecular mechanisms for the bacterial resistance to organic solvents were also determined. For this, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to detect changes in bacterial community structure and PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) was developed and optimised for detection and discrimination of the resistance-nodulation-division (RND) genes amplified from the contaminated soils. Results  Vermicompost reduced, with respect to the unamended soil, about 30% of the trichloroethylene leaching during the first month of the experiment. Trichloroethylene had a marked negative effect on soil dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, urease, phosphatase, and arylsulphatase activities. Nevertheless, the vermicompost tended to avoid this toxic effect. Vermicompost also displays stable humic-β-glucosidase complexes that increased the extracellular activity related to C-cycle in the contaminated soils. The isoelectric focusing technique showed a more biochemically active humic matter in the soil sampled under the vermicompost. The behaviour of the three main phyla of bacteria isolated from the DGGE bands was quite different. Bands corresponding to Actinobacteria disappeared, whereas those affiliated with Proteobacteria remained after the trichloroethylene contamination. The disappeared Actinobacteria became visible in the soil amended with the vermicompost. Bands corresponding to Bacteriodetes appeared only in columns of contaminated soils. In this study, six types of RND proteins were detected by PCR-SSCP in the natural soil, three in the trichloroethylene-contaminated soil and 7/5 in trichloroethylene-contaminated soil above/below the vermicompost in the biobarrier columns. Trichloroethylene tended to reduce or eliminate all the clones detected in the uncontaminated soil, whereas new efflux pumps appeared in the biobarrier columns. Discussion  Although enzymes incorporated into the humic substances of vermicomposted olive wastes are quite stable, trichloroethylene also inhibited the background levels of the soil extracellular β-glucosidase activity in the amended soils. The decrease was less severe in the biobarrier system, but in any case, no relation was found between the levels of trichloroethylene in soil and extracellular β-glucosidase activity, or between the latter and the quantity of humic carbon in soils. The isoelectric focusing technique was carried out in the humic fraction to determine whether the loss of activity occurred in overall extracellular β-glucosidase or in that linked to stable humic substances (humic–enzyme complexes). The contaminated soils showed the lower enzyme activities, whereas contaminated and amended soils presented greater quantity of focalised (and therefore stable) humic carbon and spectra heterogeneity: very different bands with higher enzyme activities. No clear relationship between trichloroethylene concentration in soil and diversity of the bacterial population was noted. Similar patterns could be found when the community structures of bacteria and microbial activity were considered. Since the use of the dehydrogenase assay has been recognised as a useful indicator of the overall measure of the intensity of microbial metabolism, these results could be attributed to PCR-DGGE methodology, since the method reveals the presence of dominant populations regardless of their metabolic state. Trichloroethylene maintained or even increased the number of clones with the DNA encoding for RND proteins, except for the contaminated soil located above the vermicompost. However, the main effect of trichloroethylene was to modify the structure of the community in contaminated soils, considering the type of efflux pumps encoded by the DNA extracted from soil bacteria. Conclusions  Trichloroethylene inhibited specific functions in soil and had a clear influence on the structure of the autochthonous bacterial community. The organic matter released by the vermicomposted olive waste tended to avoid the toxic effect of the contaminant. Trichloroethylene also inhibited the background levels of the soil extracellular β-glucosidase activity, even when vermicompost was present. In this case, the effect of the vermicompost was to provide and/or to stimulate the humic-β-glucosidase complexes located in the soil humic fraction >10⁴, increasing the resistance of the enzyme to the inhibition. The bacterial community from the soil presented significantly different mechanisms to resistance to solvents (RND proteins) under trichloroethylene conditions. The effect of the vermicompost was to induce these mechanisms in the autochthonous bacterial community and/or incorporated new bacterial species, able to grow in a trichloroethylene-contaminated ambient. Coupled biochemical and molecular methodologies are therefore helpful approaches in assessing the effect of an organic amendment on the biochemical and biological restoration of a trichloroethylene-contaminated soil. Recommendations and perspectives  Since the main biochemical and biological effects of the organic amendment on the contaminated soil seem to be the incorporation of biochemically active humic matter, as well as new bacterial species able to grow in a trichloroethylene-contaminated ambient, isoelectric focusing and PCR-SSCP methodologies should be considered as parts of an integrated approach to determine the success of a restoration scheme.     

Animal Welfare,National Identity and Social Change: Attitudes and Opinions of Spanish Citizens Towards Bullfighting

Traditionally, in Spain bullfighting represents an ancient and well-respected tradition and a combined brand of sport, art and national identity. However, bullfighting has received considerable criticism from various segments of society, with the concomitant rise of the animal rights movement. The paper reports a survey of the Spanish citizens using a face-to-face survey during January 2016 with a total sample of 2522 citizens (1256 men and 1266 women). The survey asked about degree of liking and approving; culture, art and national identity; socio-economic aspects; emotional perception and animal welfare. The hypothesis proposed that the perception of bullfights may be affected by gender, age, occupation, origin and nationality of the persons surveyed. The hypothesis was confirmed. The majority of citizens surveyed do not like bullfights and great majorities do not attend or watch such events. Two extreme clusters were described: one representing favorable attitude towards bullfighting and other against bullfighting. The proportion of indifferent persons was important. Women and young people showed a more favorable attitude towards animal welfare issues associated with these events. Rural people were more accepting bullfights than urban people. Students were more anti-bullfight than those in other occupations. Additionally, technical economic factors made people favor more bullfights. The growth of claim against bullfights establishes an element of a far more multifaceted phenomenon that animal cruelty per se and support of a new paradigm called social change in countries as Spain.