Impacts of irrigation on groundwater recharge, mixing and quality: sandyaquifer of the Limagne Bourbonnaise (central France).

International audienc

Supernumerary ring chromosomes containing chromosome 17 sequences : a specific feature of dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans?

Mystery surrounds the mechanisms by which the uncommon cutaneous tumor dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DP) arises and progresses. A clue may be at hand in the form of extra abnormal chromosomes (one to three ring chromosomes per case with or without other chromosome abnormalities) seen in some 10 cases, including five cases in our experience. The specificity of the rings to DP would be enhanced if the rings were found to contain a contribution from a constant chromosome. We here report fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) results bearing on the chromosomal content of DP rings, together with clinical, pathologic, and cytogenetic documentation of our first two cases, which were briefly reported earlier, and three new DP cases. To dissect a translocation (in our 2nd case), we probed by FISH and discovered chromosome 17 sequences in the rings in all five DP cases. Nonfluorescent bands were seen on some rings painted with a whole chromosome 17 probe, indicating the presence in these rings of foreign chromosome sequences. The complexity of the rings was underscored by the detection in only one case of chromosome 17 centromeric sequences. The situation in DP seems to have parallels to that in well-differentiated liposarcoma, another tumor of intermediate malignancy with extra abnormal marker chromosome containing contributions from a constant chromosome and variable donors. In DP the supernumerary rings are clearly specific and significant

Impact of irrigated agriculture on groundwater resources in a temperate humid region

International audienceThe groundwater irrigation expansion, and its multiple potential impacts on the quantity and quality of water resources, is not just restricted to areas that are water limited. In this study we present the seasonal impacts irrigation practices can have on groundwater resources in a temperate humid region, where the average annual rain/PET ratio is 1.0. In this system the irrigation expansion is solely supported by groundwater pumping, but despite this only 5 boreholes are monitored for hydraulic head data. In this study, we compensate the scarce hydrophysical dataset by incorporating environmental tracers (major ions, δ18O, δ2H and δ13C) and dating tracers (3H, CFC, SF6 and 14C). Results indicate that at 9 of the 15 irrigation sites investigated, groundwater pumping for irrigation has induced the mixing of recent groundwater (up to 20 years). The changes in flow pathways, induced by irrigation, also results in seasonal declines in groundwater NO3 concentrations due to mixing with older waters. In temperate humid areas, such evaluations of the seasonal evolution of water residence time, mixing process, and agrochemical contaminants are an important contribution to real water resources management in irrigated catchments