Sectoral Trends and Driving Forces of Global Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Disaggregation of sectoral energy use and greenhouse gas emissions trends reveals striking differences between sectors and regions of the world. Understanding key driving forces in the energy end-use sectors provides insights for development of projections of future greenhouse gas emissions. This paper examines global and regional historical trends in energy use and carbon emissions in the industrial, buildings, transport, and agriculture sectors. Activity and economic drivers as well as trends in energy and carbon intensity are evaluated. We show that macro-economic indicators, such as GDP, are insufficient for comprehending trends and driving forces at the sectoral level. These indicators need to be supplemented with sector-specific information for a more complete understanding of future energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.     

Age-related decline in metabolic competence of small and medium-sized synaptic mitochondria

A computer-assisted morphometric investigation of cytochrome oxidase (COX) activity, selectively evidenced by preferential diaminobenzidine cytochemistry, has been carried out on synaptic mitochondria in the cerebellar cortex of adult and old rats. The ratio (R) of the area of the cytochemical precipitate (CPA) to the overall area of each mitochondrion (MA) was calculated. R refers to the fraction of the inner mitochondrial membrane actively involved in cellular respiration, thus its quantitative estimation constitutes a reliable index of the mitochondrial metabolic competence (MMC). In adult rats a significant negative correlation between MA and R values was found, while in old animals there was just a positive trend. Paired-quartile comparisons of R values showed a significant age-related decrease in small and medium-sized mitochondria, whereas the lowest and not significant age-related reduction was found in oversized organelles. A paired decrease in number and increase in size is reported to be a general trend for mitochondria during aging, but oversized organelles, according to their low R value, constitute a scanty, though functional, compensating reaction. Thus, the present findings support the argument that the currently reported age-related cellular metabolic decay appears to rely both on the decline in MMC of the small and medium-sized mitochondria, and on their specific reduction in number. This novel result is of biological relevance since it is largely the small and medium-sized mitochondria that are required for the provision of adequate amounts of ATP for actual cellular performance, while the significantly enlarged organelles are thought to represent an intermediate ultrastructural feature in mitochondrial genesis and/or remodelling.     

Concentration of heavy metals in various children's herbal tea types and their correlations

This investigation was undertaken to determine the concentrations of cadmium, lead, mercury, zinc, copper and magnesium in six tea types used as children's tea. Six types of tea of different herbal composition used for children's consumption (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6) were analyzed in three subsequent collections. The analysis of cadmium showed that the concentration was very similar in all types of children's tea, ranging from 0.233 to 0.369 mg/kg. Lead concentrations were in the range of 0.340-1.564 mg/kg without any significant differences. The analysis of mercury detected very low concentration of this metal in all samples (0.002-0.004 mg/kg). In zinc, the values ranged from 36.633 to 71.711 mg/kg, with significant differences (p < 0.001) according to tea type. Copper concentration was 10.089-30.178 mg/kg with the highest value in T4. The concentration of magnesium was significantly higher in tea T1 and T2 (102.311 and 129.422 mg/kg) in comparison with other tea types where the level was 19.811-37.411 mg/kg. The maximum tolerable limit determined by Codex Alimentarius was not exceeded in any sample. In general, correlation analysis detected high positive correlation between cadmium and lead (r = 0.89), cadmium and mercury (r = 0.92) and between lead and mercury (r = 0.77).     

Guarana improves behavior and inflammatory alterations triggered by methylmercury exposure: an in vivo fruit fly and in vitro neural cells study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Methylmercury (MeHg) is a well-known environmental pollutant associated with neurological and developmental deficits in animals and humans. However,...     

Fine-scale spatial patterns of the Tertiary relict Zelkova abelicea (Ulmaceae) indicate possible processes contributing to its persistence to climate changes

In this paper, the fine-scale spatial patterns of the Tertiary relict Zelkova abelicea (Lam.) Boiss. were studied (1) to reveal processes that contributed to its persistence to climate changes and (2) to assist future conservation planning, with the purpose of shifting the attention of conservation practitioners from patterns to processes. Results of the fine-scale spatial patterns of Z. abelicea indicate that the species tolerates disturbance and/or tracks changes resulting from disturbance in the range of its distribution through morphological and reproductive plasticity. In addition, our study indicates that Z. abelicea populations are conserved in the absence of metapopulation structure and that the species participates in plant–plant interactions through facilitation processes. Hence, the persistence of the species to climate changes seems to be more complicated and multifactorial than a linear and plain view of species survival in climate refugial areas, and therefore calls for a consideration of the processes revealed in this paper in future conservation planning.     

Assessment of the Streptomyces-plant system to mitigate the impact of Cr(VI) and lindane in experimental soils

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Phytoremediation techniques have been proposed as ecological methods to clean up contaminated sites. This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of the...     

Lung-deposited dose of particulate matter from residential exposure to smoke from wood burning

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Residential settings are of utmost importance for human exposure, as it is where people spend most of their time. Residential wood combustion is a...     

Non-invasive matrices in human biomonitoring: a review

Humans and other living organisms are exposed to a variety of chemical pollutants that are released into the environment as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. Environmental pollutants are incorporated into the organism by different routes and can then be stored and distributed in different tissues, which leads to an internal concentration that can induce different alterations, adverse effects and/or diseases. Control measures should be taken to avoid these effects and human biomonitoring is a very useful tool that can contribute to this aim. Human biomonitoring uses different matrices to measure the target chemicals depending on the chemical, the amount of matrix necessary for the analysis and the detection limit (LOD) of the analytical technique. Blood is the ideal matrix for most chemicals due to its contact with the whole organism and its equilibrium with organs and tissues where chemicals are stored. However, it has an important disadvantage of being an invasive matrix. The development of new methodology and modern analytical techniques has allowed the use of other matrices that are less or non-invasive, such as saliva, urine, meconium, nails, hair, and semen or breast milk. The presence of a chemical in these matrices reflects an exposure, but correlations between levels in non-invasive matrices and blood must be established to ensure that these levels are related to the total body burden. The development of new biomarkers that are measurable in these matrices will improve non-invasive biomonitoring. This paper reviews studies that measure Cd, Pb, Hg, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides and phthalates in non-invasive matrices, the most used techniques for measurements and what alternative techniques are available.     

Characterization and sources assignation of PM2.5 organic aerosol in a rural area of Spain

The results from a year-long study of the organic composition of PM2.5 aerosol collected in a rural area influenced by a highway of Spain are reported. The lack of prior information related to the organic composition of PM2.5 aerosol in Spain, concretely in rural areas, led definition of the goals of this study. As a result, this work has been able to characterize the main organic components of atmospheric aerosols, including several compounds of SOA, and has conducted a multivariate analysis in order to assign sources of particulate matter. A total of 89 samples were taken between April 2004 and April 2005 using a high-volume sampler. Features and abundance of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alcohols and acids were separately determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography analysis. The Σn-alkane and ΣPAHs ranged from 3 to 81 ng m^?3 and 0.1 to 6 ng m^?3 respectively, with higher concentrations during colder months. Ambient concentrations of Σalcohols and Σacids ranged from 21 to 184 ng m^?3 and 39 to 733 ng m^?3, respectively. Also, several components of secondary organic aerosol have been quantified, confirming the biogenic contribution to ambient aerosol. In addition, factor analysis was used to reveal origin of organic compounds associated to particulate matter. Eight factors were extracted accounting more than 83% of the variability in the original data. These factors were assigned to a typical high pollution episode by anthropogenic particles, crustal material, plant waxes, fossil fuel combustion, temperature, microbiological emissions, SOA and dispersion of pollutants by wind action. Finally, a cluster analysis was used to compare the organic composition between the four seasons.     

Investigative monitoring within the European Water Framework Directive: a coastal blast furnace slag disposal, as an example

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes a framework for the protection of estuarine and coastal waters, with the most important objective being to achieve 'good ecological status' for all waters, by 2015. Hence, Member States are establishing programmes for the monitoring of water quality status, through the assessment of ecological and chemical elements. These monitoring programmes can be of three types: surveillance monitoring; operational monitoring (both undertaken on a routine basis); and investigative monitoring (carried out where the reason of any exceedance for ecological and chemical status is unknown). Until now, nothing has been developed in relation to investigative monitoring and no clear guidance exists for this type of monitoring, as it must be tackled on a 'case-by-case' basis. Consequently, the present study uses slag disposal from a blast furnace, into a coastal area, as a case-study in the implementation of investigative monitoring, according to the WFD.In order to investigate the potential threat of such slags, this contribution includes: a geophysical study, to determine the extent of the disposal area; sediment analysis; a chemical metal analysis; and an ecotoxicological study (including a Microtox test and an amphipod bioassay). The results show that metal concentrations are several times above the background concentration. However, only one of the stations showed toxicity after acute toxicological tests, with the benthic communities being in a good status. The approaches used here show that contaminants are not bioavailable and that no management actions are required with the slags.