Effect of depithing on the safety and environmental aspects of bagasse stockpiling

Large scale sugarcane bagasse storage in uncovered stockpiles has the potential to result in adverse impacts on the environment and surrounding communities through hazards associated with nuisance dust, groundwater seepage, spontaneous combustion and generation of contaminated leachates. Managing these hazards will assist in improved health and safety outcomes for factory staff and reduced potential environmental impacts on surrounding communities. Removal of the smaller fibres (pith) from bagasse prior to stockpiling reduced the dust number of bagasse by 50% and modelling suggests peak ground level PM₁₀ dust emissions would reduce by 70%. Depithed bagasse has much lower water holding capacity (～43%) than whole bagasse.This experimental and modelling study investigated the physical properties of depithed and whole bagasse. Dust dispersion modelling was undertaken to determine the likely effects associated with storage of whole and depithed sugarcane bagasse.     

Adolescents’ risk perceptions in relation to risk behavior with long-term health consequences; antecedents and outcomes: A literature review

There is a need for a systematic literature review focusing on adolescents’ risk perceptions in relation to risk behavior with long-term health consequences with delayed onset. The aim of this literature review was to review the results of such empirical studies, and to interpret these results from a general risk psychology perspective. Special focus was on factors influencing adolescents’ risk perceptions, and on the risk perceptions – risk behavior relationship. Literature searches were conducted in the PsycInfo, PubMed, and Cinahl databases. In total 51 journal articles were included in the review. Evidence, although inconsistent, was found for age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, close exposure to negative outcome, perceived control, and knowledge, stereotyping and misconceptions as covariates of risk perceptions. Evidence was found both for a negative and a positive association between risk perceptions and risk behavior. The results suggest that the adolescent’s risk perception, knowledge, perceived control (response- and self-efficacy) as well as benefits and costs of health behavior must be well balanced. Any agent, such as care providers, aiming at encouraging adolescents to take active responsibility for their long term health, must be able to determine each young person’s status regarding these issues concomitantly, in order not to evoke risk denial, exaggerated unrealistic optimism, or impaired mental wellbeing.     

Long-term associations of morbidity with air pollution: A catalog and synthesis

I searched the National Institutes of Health MEDLINE database through January 2017 for long-term studies of morbidity and air pollution and cataloged them with respect to cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, diabetes, hospitalization, neurological, and pregnancy-birth endpoints. The catalog is presented as an online appendix. Associations with PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm), PM₁₀ (PM with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) were evaluated most frequently among the 417 ambient air quality studies identified. Associations with total suspended particles (TSP), carbon, ozone, sulfur, vehicular traffic, radon, and indoor air quality were also reported. I evaluated each study in terms of pollutant significance (yes, no), duration of exposure, and publication date. I found statistically significant pollutant relationships (P < 0.05) in 224 studies; 220 studies indicated adverse effects. Among 795 individual pollutant effect estimates, 396 are statistically significant. Pollutant associations with cardiovascular indicators, lung function, respiratory symptoms, and low birth weight are more likely to be significant than with disease incidence, heart attacks, diabetes, or neurological endpoints. Elemental carbon (EC), traffic, and PM_2.5 are most likely to be significant for cardiovascular outcomes; TSP, EC, and ozone (O₃) for respiratory outcomes; NO₂ for neurological outcomes; and PM₁₀ for birth/pregnancy outcomes. Durations of exposure range from 60 days to 35 yr, but I found no consistent relationships with the likelihood of statistical significance. Respiratory studies began ca. 1975; studies of diabetes, cardiovascular, and neurological effects increased after about 2005. I found 72 studies of occupational air pollution exposures; 40 reported statistically significant adverse health effects, especially for respiratory conditions. I conclude that the aggregate of these studies supports the existence of nonlethal physiological effects of various pollutants, more so for non–life-threatening endpoints and for noncriteria pollutants (TSP, EC, PM_2.5 metals). However, most studies were cross-sectional analyses over limited time spans with no consideration of lag or disease latency. Further longitudinal studies are thus needed to investigate the progress of disease incidence in association with air pollution exposure.

Implications: Relationships of air pollution with excess mortality are better known than with long-term antecedent morbidity. I cataloged 489 studies of cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, and neurological effects, diabetes, and birth outcomes with respect to 12 air pollutants. About half of the studies reported statistically significant relationships, more frequently with noncriteria than with criteria pollutants. Indoor and cumulative exposures, coarse or ultrafine particles, and organic carbon were seldom considered. Significant relationships were more likely with less-severe endpoints such as blood pressure, lung function, or respiratory symptoms than with incidence of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, or diabetes. Most long-term studies are based on spatial relationships; longitudinal studies are needed to link the progression of pollution-related morbidity to mortality, especially for the cardiovascular system.     

A review of regulations and guidelines related to winter manure application

Winter manure application elevates nutrient losses and impairment of water quality as compared to manure applications in other seasons. In conjunction with reviewing global distribution of animal densities, we reviewed worldwide mandatory regulations and voluntary guidelines on efforts to reduce off-site nutrient losses associated with winter manure applications. Most of the developed countries implement regulations or guidelines to restrict winter manure application, which range from a regulative ban to guidelines based upon weather and field management conditions. In contrast, developing countries lack such official directives, despite an increasing animal production industry and concern over water quality. An analysis of five case studies reveals that directives are derived from a common rationale to reduce off-site manure nutrient losses, but they are also affected by local socio-economic and biophysical considerations. Successful programs combine site-specific management strategies along with expansion of manure storage to offer farmers greater flexibility in winter manure management.     

N deposition as a threat to the World's protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity

This paper combines the world’s protected areas (PAs) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), common classification systems of ecosystem conservation status, and current knowledge on ecosystem responses to nitrogen (N) deposition to determine areas most at risk. The results show that 40% (approx. 11% of total area) of PAs currently receive >10 kg N/ha/yr with projections for 2030 indicating that this situation is not expected to change. Furthermore, 950 PAs are projected to receive >30 kg N/ha/yr by 2030 (approx. twice the 2000 number), of which 62 (approx. 11,300 km²) are also Biodiversity Hotspots and G200 ecoregions; with forest and grassland ecosystems in Asia particularly at risk. Many of these sites are known to be sensitive to N deposition effects, both in terms of biodiversity changes and ecosystem services they provide. Urgent assessment of high risk areas identified in this study is recommended to inform the conservation efforts of the CBD.     

Upgrading food wastes by means of bromelain and papain to enhance growth and immunity of grass carp (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ctenopharyngodon idella</Emphasis>)

The fast growing of global aquaculture industry accompanied with increasing pressure on the supply and price of traditional feed materials (e.g., fish meal and soy bean meal). This circumstance has urged the need to search alternative sources of feed stuff. Food waste was used as feed stuff in rearing fish which possess substantial protein and lipid. Grass carp are major species reared in Hong Kong with lower nutritional requirements; it is also an ideal species for investigating the feasibility of using food waste as fish feeds for local aquaculture industry. The growth and immunity, reflected by total protein, total immunologlobulin (IgI), and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) activity of grass carp blood, were depressed when feeding with food waste feeds without enzymes. However, the supplementation of bromelain and papain in fish feed enhanced the efficient use of food waste by grass carp, which in turn improved the fish immunity. The present results indicated that the addition of those enzymes could enhance the feed utilization by fish and hematological parameters of grass carp, and the improvement on growth and immunity superior to the control (commercial feed) was observed with the addition of bromelain and papain supplement. Addition of 1 and 2 % mixture of bromelain and papain could significantly enhance the lipid utilization in grass carp.     

Mechanistic insights into the specificity of human cytosolic sulfotransferase 2A1 (hSULT2A1) for hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls through the use of fluoro-tagged probes

Determining the relationships between the structures of substrates and inhibitors and their interactions with drug-metabolizing enzymes is of prime importance in predicting the toxic potential of new and legacy xenobiotics. Traditionally, quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) studies are performed with many distinct compounds. Based on the chemical properties of the tested compounds, complex relationships can be established so that models can be developed to predict toxicity of novel compounds. In this study, the use of fluorinated analogues as supplemental QSAR compounds was investigated. Substituting fluorine induces changes in electronic and steric properties of the substrate without substantially changing the chemical backbone of the substrate. In vitro assays were performed using purified human cytosolic sulfotransferase hSULT2A1 as a model enzyme. A mono-hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyl (4-OH PCB 14) and its four possible mono-fluoro analogues were used as test compounds. Remarkable similarities were found between this approach and previously published QSAR studies for hSULT2A1. Both studies implicate the importance of dipole moment and dihedral angle as being important to PCB structure in respect to being substrates for hSULT2A1. We conclude that mono-fluorinated analogues of a target substrate can be a useful tool to study the structure activity relationships for enzyme specificity.     

Benthic ecosystem functioning in the severely contaminated Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea,Italy): focus on heterotrophic pathways

The benthic ecosystem functioning is a rarely applied holistic approach that integrates the main chemical and biological features of the benthic domain with the key processes responsible for the flux of energy and C through the system. For the first time, such conceptual model, with an emphasis on the heterotrophic pathways, has been applied to the sediments at four stations within one of the most polluted coastal areas in Italy: the Mar Piccolo of Taranto. The functioning of the benthic ecosystem was different according to the investigated site. Nearby the military arsenal, i.e., the main source of organic contaminants and heavy metals, the system seemed inhibited at all the investigated structural and functional levels. Slow microbial processes of C reworking together with very limited densities of benthic fauna suggested a modest transfer of C both into a solid microbial loop and to the higher trophic levels. On the other hand, the ingression of marine water through the “Navigabile” channel seemed to stimulate the organic matter degradation and, consequently, the proliferation of meiofauna and macrofauna. In the innermost part of the basin, the system functioning, to some extent, is less impacted by contaminants and more influenced by mussel farms. The organic matter produced by these bivalves fueled faster C reworking by benthic prokaryotes and enhanced the proliferation of filter feeders.