Assessment of the Bioavailability and Speciation of Heavy Metal(loid)s and Hydrocarbons for Risk-Based Soil Remediation

For the assessment of the environmental and sanitary risks deriving from contamination of agricultural soils, it is crucial to identify and characterize the contaminants and study the soil chemical properties influencing their mobility and bioavailability. This information is essential for the selection of the best site remediation and securing strategy. The study site of this work is agricultural land of 6 ha in the province of Naples (Italy) subject to the past illegal burial of industrial wastes, principally from tanneries. With the aim of identifying the contaminants and assessing their mobility and bioavailability, the soil of the site was characterized for the main chemical and physical properties and for the concentration of potentially toxic elements and hydrocarbons. The readily and potentially bioavailable fractions of the main metal contaminants and their distribution in the soil geochemical fractions were determined by extraction in 1 M of NH4NO3, 0.05 M of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) pH 7, and European Community Bureau of Reference (EU-BCR) sequential fractionation. Further, the speciation of heavy hydrocarbons and chromium was carried out. The agricultural soil was widely contaminated by chromium, zinc, and heavy hydrocarbons (up to 4487, 1846, and 1800 mg/kg, respectively). In some sub-areas, contaminations by cadmium, lead, and copper (up to 283, 417, and 1183 mg/kg, respectively) were also observed. The chromium was found to be scarcely mobile and bioavailable and was mainly associated with the oxidizable, residual, and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 56%, 25%, and 19% of the total, respectively). However, chromium speciation revealed the presence of a significant amount of highly toxic Cr(VI) (above the legal threshold of 2 mg/kg), despite the low oxidizing power of the soil. Zinc was more mobile and bioavailable than chromium and was mainly distributed among the acetic acid-extractable and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 28% and 47% of the total, respectively). Cadmium was found to be very mobile and bioavailable, and was mainly distributed in the acetic acid-extractable and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 40% and 45% of the total). The speciation of heavy hydrocarbons showed that they consist almost entirely of long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, considered not very toxic and immobile. These results suggest that the use of not-edible plant coverage might be the best securing and remediation action for the study site, with the potential to preserve the soil ecosystem services, contain the risk of soil erosion and particle dispersion, and phytoextract the bioavailable metals

O MORAR CONTEMPORÂNEO DO RECIFE: O ARRANJO ESPACIAL DOS APARTAMENTOS X A ROTINA DOMÉSTICA

Não só as casas mudaram, como também a estrutura e rotina das famílias que nelas vivem. Tomando como base o ideal de que deva existir uma harmonia entre estas duas variáveis - a casa e a família - e partindo da premissa de que exista uma inadequação destes espaços contemporâneos, os apartamentos, frente aos novos hábitos domésticos adotados por seus usuários, neste trabalho buscou-se definir o padrão da casa atualmente produzida e destinada a classe média da cidade do Recife, bem como entender os novos hábitos domésticos da família, afim de que, em linhas gerais, fosse possível investigar suas adequações. Para isso, fez-se uma análise em “plantas de venda”, onde foi definido uma frequência dos arranjos espaciais, oferecidos pelo mercado imobiliário, indutora, portanto, do padrão tipológico; como também, a aplicação de uma entrevista com moradores de um edifício, enquadrado no padrão tipológico definido, para reconhecimento de sua rotina. Após o cruzamento dos dados coletados, comprovou-se a hipótese da inadequação destes espaços

Potentially toxic element availability and risk assessment of cadmium dietary exposure after repeated croppings of brassica juncea in a contaminated agricultural soil

Phytoextraction of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) is eco-friendly and cost-effective for remediating agricultural contaminated soils, but plants can only take up bioavailable forms of PTEs, thus meaning that bioavailability is the key for the feasibility of this technique. With the aims to assess the phytoextraction efficiency on an agricultural soil contaminated by Cr, Zn, Cd, and Pb and the changes induced by plants in PTE bioavailability and in human health risk due to dietary exposure, in this work we carried out a mesocosm experiment with three successive croppings of Brassica juncea, each followed by Rocket salad as bioindicator. Brassica juncea extracted more Zn and Cd than Cr and Pb, significantly reducing, after three repeated croppings, the bioavailable element concentrations in soil as a result of plant uptake and soil pH changes. For Cd, this reduction did not bring the bioavailable amounts obtained by soil extraction with NH4NO3 below the trigger value of 0.1 mg kg−1 set by some European countries. Nevertheless, the Hazard Quotient for Cd in Rocket salad decreased across three repeated croppings of Brassica juncea. This indicated the beginning of a re-equilibration process between soil PTE forms of different bioavailability, that are in a dynamic equilibrium, thus stressing the need to monitor the possible regeneration of the most readily bioavailable pool

Smoking doesn't limit the increase in respiratory muscle strength in patients undergoing pre-inspiratory muscle training esophagectomy

A program of muscular respiratory training to smoker patients in pre-operatory ambulatory can improve the muscle strength and the functional respiratory capacity, avoiding complications which increase the hospitalization period of the patient. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the inspiratory muscle training in smoker and non-smoker patients who would be submitted to a megaesophagus surgery. Seventeen patients were studied, divided into two groups: smoker (GT), composed of 10 patients (58.82%), and the non-smoker (GNT), with 7 patients (41.18%). Data analysis comparing the two groups was expressed as follows: the values of age and anthropometric measurements were compared by Student's t-test and the values of Maximal Inspiratory Pressure (MIP) and Maximal Expiratory Pressure (MEP) were compared by the paired Student's t-test. Data were expressed as mean±standard deviation when checked to normal. Differences were considered statistically significant if p<0.05. Level of significance adopted was p=0.05. Considering the comparative analysis, it was observed a significant increase of Maximal Inspiratory Pressure MIP after the 4 weeks of inspiratory muscle training (IMT), as follows: MIP in GT from -57.20±18.76 to -79.00±15.38 and in GNT from -52.00±18.76 to -72.66±19.33. The prophylactic therapy in the preoperative outpatient provides a significant increase in inspiratory muscle strength in both groups, as evidenced by the increase in MIP with consequent improvement in ventilatory capacity.Um programa de treinamento muscular respiratório (TMR) para pacientes tabagistas no pré-operatório ambulatorial pode melhorar a força muscular e a capacidade funcional respiratória, evitando complicações que aumentem a permanência do paciente no hospital. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficácia do treinamento muscular inspiratório (TMI) em pacientes tabagistas e não tabagistas que seriam submetidos à cirurgia do megaesôfago. Foram estudados 17 pessoas, divididas em dois grupos: o tabagista (GT), composto por 10 pacientes (58,82%), e o não tabagista (GNT), com 7 pacientes (41,18%). A análise dos dados relacionando os dois foi expressa da seguinte forma: os valores de idade e as medidas antropométricas foram comparadas pelo teste t de Student e os valores da pressão inspiratória máxima (PImáx) e da pressão expiratória máxima (PEmáx) pelo teste t de Student pareado. Os dados foram expressos em média±desvio-padrão quando verificada a normalidade. Consideraram-se diferenças estatisticamente significativas se p<0,05. Na análise comparativa, observou-se aumento significativo da PImáx após as 4 semanas do TMI, como se segue: PImáx no GT de -57,20±18,76 para -79,00±15,38 e no GNT de -52,00±18,76 para -72,66±19,33. A fisioterapia profilática no pré-operatório ambulatorial proporcionou aumento significativo na força dos músculos inspiratórios em ambos os grupos, evidenciada pelo acréscimo na PImáx com consequente melhora da capacidade ventilatória.UFTMUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL

Remuneração baseada em valor na área da saúde no Brasil : realidade ou utopia?

Orientador : Claudimar Pereira da VeigaArtigo (especialização) – Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas. Curso de Especialização MBA em Gestão Estratégica.Inclui referênciasResumo: Este artigo de intervenção tem o propósito de disseminar o conhecimento da Remuneração Baseada em Valor (VBR) na área da saúde e demonstrar as novas ações e conceitos para viabilizar o sistema de saúde no Brasil para responder se é uma realidade ou utopia. Este é um estudo qualitativo, indutivo, exploratório e descritivo, com aprofundamento do conhecimento sobre o tema, com busca de conceitos e de casos implementados em outros países, suas importâncias e desafios quanto ao modelo VBR. A demonstração dos conceitos mostra a importância ou não da disseminação da VBR como uma forma de avaliar os serviços prestados. Além disso, engajar os usuários quanto ao impacto desse novo modelo de remuneração por hospitais e planos de saúde do Brasil, e quais as vantagens os usuários podem obter com esse novo modelo. Por fim, entende-se que o objetivo principal é propor melhorarias para todo o sistema de saúde no país. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que se faz necessário uma adequação ao atual modelo atualmente existente no Brasil, principalmente, se comparado aos modelos apresentados nos estudos que tem sido realizados globalmente, afinal, é unanime que não se pode conviver com tanto desperdício de toda a cadeia assistencial, com tamanha ineficiência nos processos de saúde e alto custo para realização de atendimentos e procedimentos na atenção básica, média e alta complexidade

Zoneamento da área extrativista mais produtiva da Anomalocardia flexuosa (Linnaeus, 1767) (Mollusca: Bivalvia) no mundo

A praia de Mangue Seco, no estado de Pernambuco, é um local com grande quantidade de ecossistemas e se destaca principalmente pela captura da espécie Anomalocardia flexuosa. Neste trabalho foi proposto um zoneamento dessa praia de acordo com as características mais expressivas e também considerando as densidades da Anomalocardia flexuosa. No delineamento da região foram considerados primeiramente os efeitos das águas circundantes e a proximidade da linha de praia; assim, três principais estratos de localização foram avaliados (borda, interior costa e interior mar), além de estratos secundários com divisões latitudinais e longitudinais. No total foram obtidas 176 amostras em campanhas realizadas no ano de 2015. As médias das densidades foram maiores no setor interior costa em todas as campanhas. As zonas localizadas próximas a estuários pareceram mais propícias ao estabelecimento da espécie quando comparadas a locais com maior interferência marinha. Foi possível diferenciar, principalmente, quatro estratos de localização de acordo com as características morfodinâmicas e as densidades da Anomalocardia flexuosa. O primeiro estrato e o mais abundante seria o interior costa, o segundo o interior mar e o estrato borda seria dividido em dois substratos, um mais afastado da linha de praia e outro mais próximo às saídas de foz

Stilbene polyphenols in the brown red wood of Vitis vinifera cv. Sangiovese affected by "esca proper"*

A number of stilbene polyphenols, dimers, trimers and tetramers of resveratrol (viniferins), which are typical Vitaceae metabolites, were extracted from asymptomatic wood (AW) and symptomatic brown-reddiscoloured wood (BRW) of Vitis vinifera cv. Sangiovese affected by “esca proper”, the trunk disease caused by the fungal complex Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Phaeoacremonium aleophilum and Fomitiporia mediterranea. Resveratrol and the same types of viniferins were found in both AW and BRW, with the exception of α-viniferin, which was only detected in AW, and ampelopsin B, only in BRW. The total concentration of stilbene polyphenols was higher in symptomatic wood (3.7% in BRW vs 1.2% in AW). The absolute variationsin molar concentrations of each stilbene polyphenol (i) between BRW and AW (Δi = CiBRW - CiAW), were higherfor ε-viniferin and resveratrol than the other compounds, while the relative variations (Δi/CiAW), were lower for ampelopsin H and isohopeaphenol, and higher for ampelopsin B, hopeaphenol, ampelopsin A, leachianol F and G, pallidol and ε-viniferin (in descending order), than the relative variation for resveratrol. Aspects relating to the biosynthesis of stilbene polyphenols and their role in the host-esca pathogen interaction are discussed

Impact of prescribed burning, mowing and abandonment on a Mediterranean grassland: A 5-year multi-kingdom comparison

Mediterranean grasslands are semi-natural, fire-prone, species-rich ecosystems that have been maintained for centuries through a combination of fire, grazing, and mowing. Over the past half century, however, grasslands have faced numerous threats, including the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral practices. Our hypothesis was that mowing and prescribed burning are management practices potentially effective in counteracting the reduction of plant diversity triggered by land abandonment. However, the long-term effects of such management practices on plant communities and soil microbiota in Mediterranean grassland remain poorly studied. Here, we conducted a 5-year field experiment comparing prescribed fire, vegetation mowing, and abandonment in a fire-prone Mediterranean grassland in southern Italy in order to evaluate the capability of such management strategies to counteract the detrimental impacts of land abandonment on plant diversity and the associated increase of wildfire. We combined vegetation analysis and soil chemical characterization and several microbiota analyses, including microbial biomass and respiration, arthropod community, and high-throughput sequencing of bacterial and eukaryotic rRNA gene markers. Burning and mowing significantly increased plant species richness and diversity compared to abandonment plots, reducing the abundance of perennial tall grasses in favour of short-lived species. Standing litter followed the same trend, being 3.8-fold greater and largely composed of grass remains in the abandoned compared to burnt and mowed plots. In the soil, prescribed burning caused significant increase in pH, a reduction in organic carbon, total N, and cation exchange capacity. Diversity and taxonomic composition of bacterial and fungal microbiota was affected by burning and mowing treatments. Abandonment caused shifts of microbiota towards a fungal-dominated system, composed of late successional fungi of the Basidiomycota. Fast-growing and putative fungal pathogens were more abundant under burnt and mowed treatments. Soil arthropods were influenced by vegetation and microbiota changes, being strongly reduced in mowed plots. Our study demonstrated that grassland abandonment promotes the spread of tall grasses, reducing plant diversity and increasing the risk of wildfire, while prescribed burning and mowing are effective in counteracting such negative effects