Co-Occurrence of Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins with Other Environmental Health Hazards:Impacts and Implications

Toxin-producing cyanobacteria in aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments can occur alongside a wide range of additional health hazards including biological agents and synthetic materials. Cases of intoxications involving cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, with exposure to additional hazards, are discussed. Examples of the co-occurrence of cyanobacteria in such combinations are reviewed, including cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins plus algal toxins, microbial pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria, metals, pesticides, and microplastics. Toxicity assessments of cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, and these additional agents, where investigated in bioassays and in defined combinations, are discussed and further research needs are identified.</p

5-State Rotation-Symmetric Number-Conserving Cellular Automata are not Strongly Universal

We study two-dimensional rotation-symmetric number-conserving cellular automata working on the von Neumann neighborhood (RNCA). It is known that such automata with 4 states or less are trivial, so we investigate the possible rules with 5 states. We give a full characterization of these automata and show that they cannot be strongly Turing universal. However, we give example of constructions that allow to embed some boolean circuit elements in a 5-states RNCA

Hyperspectral remote sensing of cyanobacterial pigments as indicators for cell populations and toxins in eutrophic lakes

The growth of mass populations of toxin-producing cyanobacteria is a serious concern for the ecological status of inland waterbodies and for human and animal health. In this study we examined the performance of four semi-analytical algorithms for the retrieval of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and phycocyanin (C-PC) from data acquired by the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager-2 (CASI-2) and the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications (AISA) Eagle sensor. The retrieval accuracies of the semi-analytical models were compared to those returned by optimally calibrated empirical band-ratio algorithms. The best-performing algorithm for the retrieval of Chl a was an empirical band-ratio model based on a quadratic function of the ratio of re!ectance at 710 and 670 nm (R2=0.832; RMSE=29.8%). However, this model only provided a marginally better retrieval than the best semi-analytical algorithm. The best-performing model for the retrieval of C-PC was a semi-analytical nested band-ratio model (R2=0.984; RMSE=3.98 mg m−3). The concentrations of C-PC retrieved using the semi-analytical model were correlated with cyanobacterial cell numbers (R2=0.380) and the particulate and total (particulate plus dissolved) pools of microcystins (R2=0.858 and 0.896 respectively). Importantly, both the empirical and semi-analytical algorithms were able to retrieve the concentration of C-PC at cyanobacterial cell concentrations below current warning thresholds for cyanobacteria in waterbodies. This demonstrates the potential of remote sensing to contribute to early-warning detection and monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms for human health protection at regional and global scales

Acumulación de Cu y Zn por célular microalgales marinas de Nannochloropsis gaditana (Eustigmatophyceae) inmovilizadas en alginato de calcio

13 páginas, 5 figuras, 2 tablas.[EN] Different experiments about the accumulation capacity for copper and zinc were carried out on the marine microalgae Nannochloropsis gaditana Lubián (Eustigmatophyceae). A 24-hour study of the evolution of accumulated metal in the beads revealed two possible accumulation phases. Accumulation differences between free and immobilized microalgal cells were investigated finding no differences for copper, and little differences for zinc. Free cells accumulated practically 100% Cu or Zn in the media under experimental conditions. Experiments in order to compare the accumulation capacity of living vs. dead cells were designed too, obtaining the largest accumulation levels for both metals in the beads containing immobilized living microalgae. In experiments carried out in continuous-flow reactors, beads with entrapped cells showed to be more efficient removing Cu and Zn than beads without cells. In all the experiments, the calcium alginate beads showed strong affinity for Cu. Similar results were obtained when accumulation by packed beads in columns was tested, but efficacy was higher if this design was used (beads with cells retain 80% of Cu introduced in the column).[ES] Se han realizado distintos experimentos sobre la capacidad de acumulación de cobre y zinc por parte de la microalga marina Nannochloropsis gaditana Lubián (Eustigmatophyceae). Un estudio de la evolución del metal acumulado durante 24 horas reveló la existencia de dos posibles fases de acumulación. Se investigaron las diferentes capacidades de acumulación de células microalgales libres e inmovilizadas, no encontrándose diferencias para el cobre y pequeñas diferencias para el zinc. Las células libres acumularon prácticamente el 100% del Cu o Zn presentes en el medio, en las condiciones experimentales. Se desarrollaron experimentos encaminados a determinar la capacidad de acumulación de estos metales por parte de algas inmovilizadas vivas frente a la de algas inmovilizadas muertas, encontrándose los niveles acumulativos más altos para ambos metales en las gotas de alginato que contenían algas vivas. En experimentos realizados en reactores de flujo continuo, las gotas de alginato con células inmovilizadas en su interior demostraron ser más eficientes en cuanto a la retirada de Cu y Zn del medio que las gotas sin algas. En todos los experimentos realizados se observa una fuerte afinidad del Cu por el alginato de calcio. Se obtuvieron resultados similares cuando se ensayó la acumulación de metales en gotas de alginato dispuestas en columnas llenas, aunque la eficacia fue mayor cuando se usó este último diseño (las gotas de alginato con células retuvieron el 80% del Cu introducido en la columna).Peer reviewe

Co-occurrence of taste and odor compounds and cyanotoxins in cyanobacterial blooms:emerging risks to human health?

Cyanobacteria commonly form large blooms in waterbodies; they can produce cyanotoxins, with toxic effects on humans and animals, and volatile compounds, causing bad tastes and odors (T&amp;O) at naturally occurring low concentrations. Notwithstanding the large amount of literature on either cyanotoxins or T&amp;O, no review has focused on them at the same time. The present review critically evaluates the recent literature on cyanotoxins and T&amp;O compounds (geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol, β-ionone and β-cyclocitral) to identify research gaps on harmful exposure of humans and animals to both metabolite classes. T&amp;O and cyanotoxins production can be due to the same or common to different cyanobacterial species/strains, with the additional possibility of T&amp;O production by non-cyanobacterial species. The few environmental studies on the co-occurrence of these two groups of metabolites are not sufficient to understand if and how they can co-vary, or influence each other, perhaps stimulating cyanotoxin production. Therefore, T&amp;Os cannot reliably serve as early warning surrogates for cyanotoxins. The scarce data on T&amp;O toxicity seem to indicate a low health risk (but the inhalation of β-cyclocitral deserves more study). However, no data are available on the effects of combined exposure to mixtures of cyanotoxins and T&amp;O compounds and to combinations of T&amp;O compounds; therefore, whether the co-occurrence of cyanotoxins and T&amp;O compounds is a health issue remains an open question.</p

Relational lattices via duality

The natural join and the inner union combine in different ways tables of a relational database. Tropashko [18] observed that these two operations are the meet and join in a class of lattices-called the relational lattices- and proposed lattice theory as an alternative algebraic approach to databases. Aiming at query optimization, Litak et al. [12] initiated the study of the equational theory of these lattices. We carry on with this project, making use of the duality theory developed in [16]. The contributions of this paper are as follows. Let A be a set of column's names and D be a set of cell values; we characterize the dual space of the relational lattice R(D, A) by means of a generalized ultrametric space, whose elements are the functions from A to D, with the P (A)-valued distance being the Hamming one but lifted to subsets of A. We use the dual space to present an equational axiomatization of these lattices that reflects the combinatorial properties of these generalized ultrametric spaces: symmetry and pairwise completeness. Finally, we argue that these equations correspond to combinatorial properties of the dual spaces of lattices, in a technical sense analogous of correspondence theory in modal logic. In particular, this leads to an exact characterization of the finite lattices satisfying these equations.Comment: Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science 2016, Apr 2016, Eindhoven, Netherland

Electrical resistivity tomography using a finite element based BFGS algorithm with algebraic multigrid preconditioning

We present a new inversion method for Electrical Resistivity Tomography which, in contrast to established approaches, minimizes the cost function prior to finite element discretization for the unknown electric conductivity and electric potential. Minimization is performed with the Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno method (BFGS) in an appropriate function space. BFGS is self-preconditioning and avoids construction of the dense Hessian which is the major obstacle to solving large 3-D problems using parallel computers. In addition to the forward problem predicting the measurement from the injected current, the so-called adjoint problem also needs to be solved. For this problem a virtual current is injected through the measurement electrodes and an adjoint electric potential is obtained. The magnitude of the injected virtual current is equal to the misfit at the measurement electrodes. This new approach has the advantage that the solution process of the optimization problem remains independent to the meshes used for discretization and allows for mesh adaptation during inversion. Computation time is reduced by using superposition of pole loads for the forward and adjoint problems. A smoothed aggregation algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioned conjugate gradient is applied to construct the potentials for a given electric conductivity estimate and for constructing a first level BFGS preconditioner. Through the additional reuse of AMG operators and coarse grid solvers inversion time for large 3-D problems can be reduced further. We apply our new inversion method to synthetic survey data created by the resistivity profile representing the characteristics of subsurface fluid injection. We further test it on data obtained from a 2-D surface electrode survey on Heron Island, a small tropical island off the east coast of central Queensland, Australia

Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have long been a central focus of complexity science and physics. To better grasp and understand symmetry of configurations in decentralized toroidal architectures, we employ group-theoretic methods, which allow us to identify and enumerate these inputs, and argue about irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational problems. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied to two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. Regardless of the transition function, the results show the universal insolvability of crucial distributed tasks, such as leader election, pattern recognition, hashing, and encryption. By using compact enumeration formulas and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate the probability of a configuration being shift-symmetric for a uniform or density-uniform distribution. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. Given the resource constraints, the enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error and provide recommendations for system's size and initialization. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 appendice

Genomic insights into the biosynthesis and physiology of the cyanobacterial neurotoxin 2,4-diaminobutanoic acid (2,4-DAB)

Cyanobacteria are an ancient clade of photosynthetic prokaryotes, whose worldwide occurrence, especially in water, presents health hazards to humans and animals due to the production of a range of toxins (cyanotoxins). These include the sometimes co-occurring, non-encoded diaminoacid neurotoxins 2,4-diaminobutanoic acid (2,4-DAB) and its structural analogue β-N-methylaminoalanine (BMAA). Knowledge of the biosynthetic pathway for 2,4-DAB, and its role in cyanobacteria, is lacking. The aspartate 4-phosphate pathway is a known route of 2,4-DAB biosynthesis in other bacteria and in some plant species. Another pathway to 2,4-DAB has been described in Lathyrus species. Here, we use bioinformatics analyses to investigate hypotheses concerning 2,4-DAB biosynthesis in cyanobacteria. We assessed the presence or absence of each enzyme in candidate biosynthesis routes, the aspartate 4-phosphate pathway and a pathway to 2,4-DAB derived from S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM), in 130 cyanobacterial genomes using sequence alignment, profile hidden Markov models, substrate specificity/active site identification and the reconstruction of gene phylogenies. In the aspartate 4-phosphate pathway, for the 18 species encoding diaminobutanoate-2-oxo-glutarate transaminase, the co-localisation of genes encoding the transaminase with the downstream decarboxylase or ectoine synthase – often within hybrid non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-polyketide synthases (PKS) clusters, NRPS-independent siderophore (NIS) clusters and incomplete ectoine clusters – is compatible with the hypothesis that some cyanobacteria use the aspartate 4-phosphate pathway for 2,4-DAB production. Through this route, in cyanobacteria, 2,4-DAB may be functionally associated with environmental iron-scavenging, via the production of siderophores of the schizokinen/synechobactin type and of some polyamines. In the pathway to 2,4-DAB derived from SAM, eight cyanobacterial species encode homologs of SAM-dependent 3-amino-3-carboxypropyl transferases. Other enzymes in this pathway have not yet been purified or sequenced. Ultimately, the biosynthesis of 2,4-DAB appears to be either restricted to some cyanobacterial species, or there may be multiple and additional routes, and roles, for the synthesis of this neurotoxin.</p