Arsenic distribution in a pasture area impacted by past mining activities

[EN]Former mine exploitations entail a serious threat to surrounding ecosystems as after closure of mining activities their unmanaged wastes can be a continuous source of toxic trace elements. Quite often these mine sites are found within agricultural farming areas, involving serious hazards as regards product (feed/food) quality. In this work a grazing land impacted by the abandoned mine exploitation of an arsenical deposit was studied so as to evaluate the fate of arsenic (As) and other trace elements and the potential risks involved. With this aim, profile soil samples (0–50 cm) and pasture plant species (Agrostis truncatula, Holcus annus and Leontodon longirostris) were collected at different distances (0–100 m) from the mine waste dump and analyzed for their trace element content and distribution. Likewise, plant trace element accumulation from impacted grazing soils and plant trace element translocation were assessed. The exposure of livestock grazing animals to As was also evaluated, establishing its acceptability regarding food safety and animal health. International soil guideline values for As in grazing land soils (50 mg kg−1) resulted greatly exceeded (up to about 20-fold) in the studied mining-affected soils. Moreover, As showed a high mobilization potential under circumstances such as phosphate application or establishment of reducing conditions. Arsenic exhibited relatively high translocation factor (TF) values (up to 0.32–0.89) in pasture plant species, reaching unsafe concentrations in their above-ground tissues (up to 32.9, 16.9 and 9.0 mg kg−1 in Agrostis truncatula, Leontodon longirostris and Holcus annus, respectively). Such concentrations represent an elevated risk of As transfer to the high trophic-chain levels as established by international legislation. The limited fraction of arsenite found in plant roots should play an important role in the relatively high As root-to-shoot translocation shown by these plant species. Both soil ingestion and pasture intake resulted important entrance pathways of As into livestock animals, showing quite close contribution levels. The cow acceptable daily intake (ADI) of As regarding food safety was surpassed in some locations of the study area when the species Agrostis truncatula was considered as the only pasture feed. Restrictions in the grazing use of lands with considerable As contents where this plant was the predominant pasture species should be established in order to preserve food quality. Therefore, the exposure of livestock animals to As via both soil ingestion and pasture consumption should be taken into account to establish the suitability of mining-impacted areas for gazing

La reestructuración de los recursos sanitarios dedicados a la salud ambiental en la Comunidad de Madrid (1989-1999)

The Environmental Health, in its broadest sense, wich includes what is administratively meant Environmental Health and Food Hygiene, was traditionally performed by the Titular Chemists, Dictors and Veterinary Surgeons who perforrmed their duties within the limits of the Partidos (Areas or districts within the jurisdiction of a Court). Upon this structures, created in 1953, different technical and political events have been influencing for years, making their restructuring necessary in order to be able to answer the whole of the problems that worry the Public Health.This work tries to describe the model of Chemist and Veterinary Services restructuring carried out within the Community of Madrid, to analyze this model, and to propose a model of restructuring of this Services that can be a paradigm for thouse Communities that have not undertaken the same process yet.The methodology we have used is the analysis of the situation before and after the Chemist and Veterinary Services restructuring carried out by means of two different Orders of the Community of Madrid.“Partido” structures have become obsolete, so the restructuring of resources is a necessity. The approach of this restructuring must be done far from any corporativist tamptation and considerating the possibility of incorporating other professionals different from the traditional ones in view of the increasing complexity of the problems of Environmental Health.La Salud Ambiental, en su acepción más amplia, que engloba lo que administrativamente se entiende por Sanidad Ambiental e Higiene Alimentaria, tradicionalmente estuvo desempeñada por los Titulares Farmacéuticos, Médicos y Veterinarios que ejercían sus funciones en el ámbito de las demarcaciones de Partidos. Sobre estas estructuras, creadas en el año 1953 han ido incidiendo a lo largo de los años distintos eventos de tipo técnico y político que han hecho necesaria su reestructuración para ser capaces de dar respuesta al conjunto de problemas que preocupan a la Salud Pública.En este trabajo se pretende describir el modelo de reestructuración de los Servicios Farmacéuticos y Veterinarios realizado en la Comunidad de Madrid, analizar este modelo de reestructuración y proponer un modelo de estos Servicios que pueda servir de paradigma a las Comunidades Autónomas que todavía no han abordado el proceso.La metodología usada es la del análisis de la situación antes y después de la reestructuración de los Servicios Veterinarios y Farmacéuticos realizada a través de sendos Decretos de la Comunidad de Madrid.Las estructuras de Partidos han quedado obsoletas por lo que la reestructuración de los recursos es una necesidad. El abordaje de esta reestructuración debe hacerse lejos de cualquier tentación corporativista y contemplando la posibilidad de incorporar otros profesionales distintos a los tradicionales dada la complejidad creciente de los problemas de Salud Ambiental

Mercury release and speciation in chemical looping combustion of coal

In the in situ Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion of coal (iG-CLC), the fuel is gasified in situ in the fuel reactor and gasification products are converted to CO2 and H2O by reaction with the oxygen carrier. This work is the first study on mercury release in Chemical Looping Combustion of coal. The fraction of the mercury in coal vaporized in the fuel reactor depended mainly on the fuel reactor temperature and the coal type. In the fuel reactor, mercury was mainly emitted as Hg0 in the gas phase and the amount increased with the temperature. In the air reactor, mercury was mostly emitted as Hg2+. In a real CLC system, mercury emissions to the atmosphere will decrease compared to conventional combustion as only mercury released in the air reactor will reach the atmosphere. However, measures should be taken to reduce Hg0 in the CO2 stream before the purification and compression steps in order to avoid operational problems.The authors thank the Government of Aragón and La Caixa (2012-GA-LC-076 project) and the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (ENE2010-19550 project) for the financial support. P. Gayán thanks CSIC for the financial support of the project 201180E102. The authors also thank to Alcoa Europe-Alúmina Española S.A. for providing the Fe-enriched sand fraction used in this work. G. Galo is acknowledged for his contribution to the experimental results.Peer reviewe

A Deep Insight into the Sialome of Rhodnius neglectus, a vector of chagas disease

Background Triatomines are hematophagous insects that act as vectors of Chagas disease. Rhodnius neglectus is one of these kissing bugs found, contributing to the transmission of this American trypanosomiasis. The saliva of hematophagous arthropods contains bioactive molecules responsible for counteracting host haemostatic, inflammatory, and immuneresponses. Methods/Principal Findings Next generation sequencing and mass spectrometry-based protein identification were performed to investigate the content of triatomine R. neglectus saliva.We deposited 4,230 coding DNA sequences (CDS) in GenBank. A set of 636 CDS of proteins of putative secretory nature was extracted from the assembled reads, 73 of them confirmed by proteomic analysis. The sialome of R. neglectus was characterized and serine protease transcripts detected. The presence of ubiquitous protein families was revealed, including lipocalins, serine protease inhibitors, and antigen-5. Metalloproteases, disintegrins, and odorant binding protein families were less abundant. Conclusions/Significance The data presented improve our understanding of hematophagous arthropod sialomes, and aid in understanding hematophagy and the complex interplay among vectors and their vertebrate hosts

Search for narrow resonances in dilepton mass spectra in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and combination with 8 TeV data

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Observation of Charge-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations in p-Pb Collisions and Its Implication for the Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect

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Search for R-parity violating supersymmetry with displaced vertices in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

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Search for heavy gauge W ' bosons in events with an energetic lepton and large missing transverse momentum at root s=13TeV

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Search for massive resonances decaying in to WW,WZ or ZZ bosons in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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Search for anomalous Wtb couplings and flavour-changing neutral currents in t-channel single top quark production in pp collisions at root s=7 and 8 TeV

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