Isolation and Genomic Sequence of Hepatitis A Virus from Mixed Frozen Berries in Italy

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was detected in two samples of mixed frozen berries linked to Italian hepatitis A outbreak in April and September 2013. Both viruses were fully sequenced by next-generation sequencing and the genomes clustered with HAV complete genomes of sub-genotype IA with nucleotide identities of 95–97 %.     

Effects of fluvial instability on the bed morphology in vegetated channels

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - Flume experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of streambed instability in channels with randomly-distributed vegetation, varying vegetation density and...     

Silicon nanoparticles decrease arsenic translocation and mitigate phytotoxicity in tomato plants

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, we simulate the irrigation of tomato plants with arsenic (As)-contaminated water (from 0 to 3.2 mg L?1) and investigate...     

A Comparative Study On the Levels of Trace Metals in Some Mediterranean and Red Sea Fishes

Samples of Mugil cephalus, Liza ramada, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Epinephelus alexandrinus, Epinephelus areolatus, Epinephelus fasciatus, Epinephelus chlorostigma, Cephalopholis argus and Cephalopholis sonnerati were collected from the Mediterranean and Red Seas and their muscle and bone analyzed by AAS for some trace metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb). the results showed that these metals accumulate in the bones to a greater extent than in the muscle. the highest accumulated element is cobalt (4.7-20.8 times), while the lowest is lead (1.1-2.5 times). the accumulation is more pronounced in Red Sea species than in Mediterranean species. the elevated levels of lead in Mugil cephalus (2.6-3.0 mg kg^-1) and Epinephelus alexandrinus (3.0-3.9 mg kg^-1) were attributed to the intake in food in the polluted environment of Alexandria coastal water. the relationship between body size and concentration of trace metals using a standard linear regression technique gives a significant positive correlation for cobalt, manganese, iron and lead in the muscle, as well as for lead in the bones of Mugil species from the Red Sea, while the Mediterranean species showed little correlation.

There is a tendency for increased concentrations of the essential metals manganese, iron and copper with increasing trophic level of the fish, while the opposite is true for the toxic metals chromium and lead. Our results indicate that there is no risk from toxic metal concentrations in muscle of fish from the Mediterranean and Red Seas consumed by man even in contaminated areas.     

New insights in analysing parasitoid attracting synomones: early volatile emission and use of stir bar sorptive extraction

Summary. It is well known that feeding by Pieris brassicae caterpillars on cabbage leaves triggers the release of volatiles that attract natural antagonists such as the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata. The temporal dynamics in the emissions of parasitoid attracting volatiles has never been elucidated in this system. In a time course experiment, caterpillar infested leaves attracted the parasitoid within one hour after infestation. At such an early stage of infestation, as much as fifty percent of the parasitoids flew towards the infested plant in a wind tunnel bioassay, while only five percent flew towards the non-infested control plant. Three hours after infestation and later, the response to the volatiles from the infested plant reached its maximum and then continued at a constantly high level for the remaining 14 hours of the experiment. Chemical analyses of volatiles collected from infested leaves at short time intervals during the first 24 hours identified a total of ten compounds, comprising green leaf volatiles, terpenoids, and a nitrile. Significant increase of emission within the first 5 hours following initial herbivory was detected for (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, (Z)-3-hexen-1-yl acetate, cineole and benzylcyanide. Subsequently, a coupled bioassay-chemical analysis procedure was developed allowing for testing and analyzing the same sample for future identification of the bioactive compounds. This was achieved by using stir bar sorptive extraction for the analysis of solvent extracts of caterpillar-damaged leaves.     

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae induces growth and metal accumulation changes in Cannabis sativa L

The effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza on heavy metal uptake and translocation was investigated in Cannabis sativa. Hemp was grown in the presence and absence of 100 microg g-1 Cd and Ni and 300 microg g-1 Cr(VI), and inoculated or not with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae. In our experimental condition, hemp growth was reduced in inoculated plants and the reduction was related to the degree of mycorrhization. The percentage of mycorrhizal colonisation was 42% and 9% in plants grown in non-contaminated and contaminated soil, suggesting a significant negative effect of high metal concentrations on plant infection by G. mosseae. Soil pH, metal bioavailability and plant metal uptake were not influenced by mycorrhization. The organ metal concentrations were not statistically different between inoculated and non-inoculated plants, apart from Ni which concentration was significantly higher in stem and leaf of inoculated plants grown in contaminated soil. The distribution of absorbed metals inside plant was related to the soil heavy metal concentrations: in plant grown in non-contaminated soil the greater part of absorbed Cr and Ni was found in shoots and no significant difference was determined between inoculated and non-inoculated plants. On the contrary, plants grown in artificially contaminated soil accumulated most metal in root organ. In this soil, mycorrhization significantly enhanced the translocation of all the three metals from root to shoot. The possibility to increase metal accumulation in shoot is very interesting for phytoextraction purpose, since most high producing biomass plants, such as non-mycorrhized hemp, retain most heavy metals in roots, limiting their application.