The role of citric acid in cadmium and nickel uptake and translocation, in Halimione portulacoides

Some plants have high ability to absorb heavy metals in high concentrations. In this study, Halimione portulacoides was tested in conjunction with citric acid, in order to evaluate the possible use of this plant in phytoremediation processes in salt marshes. Two different concentrations of chelator were used combined with two heavy metal concentrations. When 25microM of citric acid was applied, Cd uptake and translocation was enhanced while for Ni these processes were almost inhibited. Increasing citric acid concentration to 50microM, Ni absorption decreased by the roots while for Cd there was still an increase in root uptake. Analysing translocation with this concentration of chelator, a decreased metal content in the upper organs for both metals was observed. While for Cd an optimal concentration of 25microM of citric acid was observed for phytoremediative processes, for nickel neither concentrations of chelator showed advantages for application in this remediative method.     

Mercury mobility in a salt marsh colonised by Halimione portulacoides

The present study intends to increase the knowledge on the mobility of mercury in a salt marsh colonised by Halimione portulacoides. Mercury distribution in the sediment layers and its incorporation into the plant biomass were assessed, as well as the potential export of mercury from the contaminated area to the adjacent environment. Mercury pools in the sediments ranged from 560 to 943 mg m(-2) and are largely associated with the solid fraction, with just a small amount being associated with the pore waters. Estimated diffusive fluxes of reactive mercury ranged from 1.3 to 103 ng m(-2) d(-1). Despite the above ground biomass values being comparatively higher than below ground biomass values, the mercury pools were much higher in the root system (0.06-0.16 mg m(-2) and 29-102 mg m(-2), respectively). The annual bioaccumulation of mercury in above ground tissues was estimated in 0.11 mg m(-2) y(-1), while in below ground biomass the values were higher (7 2mg m(-2) y(-1)). The turnover rates of H. portulacoides biomass suggest higher mercury mobility within the plant rhizosphere. Taking into account the pools of mercury in above ground biomass, the export of mercury by macro-detritus following the "outwelling hypothesis" is not significant for the mercury balance in the studied ecosystem. The mercury accumulated in the below ground part of the plant is quite mobile, being able to return to the sediment pool throughout the mineralisation process.     

Cork stoppers as an effective sorbent for water treatment: the removal of mercury at environmentally relevant concentrations and conditions

The technical feasibility of using stopper-derived cork as an effective biosorbent towards bivalent mercury at environmentally relevant concentrations and conditions was evaluated in this study. Only 25 mg/L of cork powder was able to achieve 94 % of mercury removal for an initial mercury concentration of 500 μg/L. It was found that under the conditions tested, the efficiency of mercury removal expressed as equilibrium removal percentage does not depend on the amount of cork or its particle size, but is very sensitive to initial metal concentration, with higher removal efficiencies at higher initial concentrations. Ion exchange was identified as one of the mechanisms involved in the sorption of Hg onto cork in the absence of ionic competition. Under ionic competition, stopper-derived cork showed to be extremely effective and selective for mercury in binary mixtures, while in complex matrices like seawater, moderate inhibition of the sorption process was observed, attributed to a change in mercury speciation. The loadings achieved are similar to the majority of literature values found for other biosorbents and for other metals, suggesting that cork stoppers can be recycled as an effective biosorbent for water treatment. However, the most interesting result is that equilibrium data show a very rare behaviour, with the isotherm presenting an almost square convex shape to the concentration axis, with an infinite slope for an Hg concentration in solution around 25 μg/L.     

Coating independent cytotoxicity of citrate- and PEG-coated silver nanoparticles on a human hepatoma cell line

The antibacterial potential of silver nanoparticles(AgNPs) resulted in their increasing incorporation into consumer,industrial and biomedical products.Therefore,human and environmental exposure to AgNPs(either as an engineered product or a contaminant)supports the emergent research on the features conferring them different toxicity profiles.In this study,30 ran AgNPs coated with citrate or poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) were used to assess the influence of coating on the effects produced on a human hepatoma cell line(HepG2),namely in terms of viability,apoptosis,apoptotic related genes,cell cycle and cyclins gene expression.Both types of coated AgNPs decreased cell proliferation and viability with a similar toxicity profile.At the concentrations used(11 and 5 μg/mL corresponding to IC50 and-IC10 levels,respectively) the amount of cells undergoing apoptosis was not significant and the apoptotic related genes BCL2(anti-apoptotic gene)and BAX(pro-apoptotic gene) were both downregulated.Moreover,both AgNPs affected HepG2 cell cycle progression at the higher concentration(11 μg/mL) by increasing the percentage of cells in S(synthesis phase) and G2(Gap 2 phase) phases.Considering the cell-cycle related genes,the expression of cyclin B1 and cyclin E1 genes were decreased.Thus,this work has shown that citrate- and PEG-coated AgNPs impact on HepG2 apoptotic gene expression,cell cycle dynamics and cyclin regulation in a similar way.More research is needed to determine the properties that confer AgNPs at lower toxicity,since their use has proved helpful in several industrial and biomedical contexts.     

Bio-Based Plastic Based on Ozonated Cassava Starch Produced by Extrusion

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Green methods of modification, such as ozone, can bring new functionalities to starch. In this study, starch-based plastics were produced by extrusion,...     

Impact of climate warming upon the fish assemblages of the Portuguese coast under different scenarios

Impact of sea-surface warming upon the fish assemblages of the Portuguese coast was assessed under two scenarios, the A2 and the B2 scenarios (Special Report on Emission Scenarios), which when coupled with a regional circulation model HadRM3 predict 1 and 2°C of sea-surface warming until the year 2100. Species richness increased in the Portuguese coast. In both scenarios, there was a latitudinal gradient in the amount of lost and gained species, increasing from north to south. An anomaly in the latitudinal gradient of species richness was detected in the southernmost area, which presented the lowest species richness of all areas, in the A2 scenario, and appears to be particularly vulnerable to climate change. Very few species were totally eliminated from Portuguese waters. For the Portuguese coast as a whole, there were more new than lost species, in both scenarios. Most of the new species were commercially important species, in the majority subtropical in the north and tropical in the south, mainly demersal and reef-associated. Reef-associated species also increased in relative importance. A commercial opportunity for fisheries may arise from climate warming, since most of the new species were commercial species and not many commercial species were lost. An increasing gradient from north to south was detected in the colonization of new species of herbivores, planktivores, and omnivores, as well as lower mean trophic level, which might have consequences for the future of trophic webs.     

Evaluation of violations in water quality standards in the monitoring network of São Francisco River basin,the third largest in Brazil

The São Francisco River is the largest river located entirely within Brazil, and water scarcity problems have been a major concern of Brazilian society and government. Water quality issues are also a concern and have worsened with the recent intensification of urbanization and industrialization. In this study, violations to water quality standards established by local legislation were calculated as a percentage for 26 selected parameters over a monitoring period of 14 years. The violation percentages were analyzed spatially using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by multiple comparison analysis. Temporal analysis was performed using the Mann-Kendall test and Spearman correlation. Some parameters could be identified as cause for concern due to high violation levels, such as the fecal coliform indicator (FCI) and phosphorus—both related to domestic and effluent disposal without treatment or with insufficient treatment—and color, turbidity, manganese, and total suspended solids—which can be affected by erosive processes of natural and anthropogenic causes. The study found that these violations are concentrated in the most urbanized and industrialized areas of the basin. Some metallic parameters, such as iron and arsenic violations, may be related to mining activities in the rich soil of the Iron Quadrangle area located within the Minas Gerais State. Trend analysis results indicated that most monitoring stations did not have significant modification (elevation or reduction) trends over time, which, together with the high violation percentages, might indicate the maintenance of a scenario of constant pressure upon water resources, in particular in those more urbanized areas.     

A gas chromatography-quartz crystal microbalance for speciation of sulfur compounds in landfill gas

A new method, based on separation with gas chromatography and detection with a quartz crystal microbalance, was used for the quantification of ethane-1-thiol, propane-1-thiol, ethyl methyl sulfide, propane-2-thiol, butane-2-thiol and butane-1-thiol. The analytical error, the analysis time and the general analytical performance are identical for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-quartz crystal microbalance (GC-QCM). However, the GC-QCM method constitutes a low cost alternative to GC-MS for monitoring individual sulfur compounds in landfill gas. It is an easily assembled apparatus made with an injection device, a furnace, a column, a crystal cell and a quartz crystal.     

Study of the effect of pH, salinity and DOC on fluorescence of synthetic mixtures of freshwater and marine salts

In order to provide support for the discussion of the fate of organic matter in estuaries, a laboratory simulation was performed by changing freshwater ionic strength, pH and organic matter content. The change in spectroscopic characteristics caused by variations in salinity, pH and organic matter concentration in the filtered samples was observed by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. The increase in emission fluorescence intensity of dissolved organic matter (DOM) due to increasing salinity (in the range 0 to 5 g l-1) is affected by the pH of the samples. The emission fluorescence intensity at the three maxima observed in the fluorescence spectra, is linearly correlated with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration at several salinity values in the same sample. The increase in organic matter concentration caused a shift in the emission peak wavelength at 410 nm for several salinity values. We concluded that it is necessary to take into account the influence of salinity and pH on emission fluorescence of dissolved organic matter if it is to be used as a tracer in estuarine or near shore areas.