Sublethal effects induced by morphine to the freshwater biological model Dreissena polymorpha

Opioids are considered as emerging contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, mainly due to their large illicit consume worldwide. Morphine (MOR) is the main opiate and it was commonly found at measurable concentrations in freshwaters. Even though its occurrence is well documented, just limited information is available regarding its hazard to nontarget organisms. The aim of this study was of the evaluation of sublethal effects induced by MOR to the freshwater bivalve Dreissena polymorpha. We exposed mussels to two MOR concentrations (0.05 \ub5g/L and 0.5 \ub5g/L) for 14 days and we investigated the sublethal effects by a suite of biomarkers. The Neutral Red Retention Assay (NRRA) was used as a test of cytotoxicity, while the oxidative stress was evaluated by the activity of antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes, namely catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and by measuring the levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and protein carbonylation (PCC). The genetic damage was assessed by the Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) assay, the DNA diffusion assay and the micronucleus test (MN test). Finally, the filtration rate of D. polymorpha was evaluated in order to investigate possible physiological effects. Both tested concentrations reduced the lysosome membrane stability of bivalves, but only the highest MOR concentration induced significant changes in the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, and GPx) and increase in lipid peroxidation levels. Slight increase in primary DNA fragmentation was noticed, while no fixed genetic damage and alterations of the filtering rate were found

Manipulation of ovarian and uterine function to increase conception rates in cattle.

In cattle, embryonic and fetal losses are the major causes of reproductive failureo Losses associated with failure in the process of maternal recognition of pregnancy can amount to as much as 30%0 Successful establishment of pregnancy depends on a delicate balance between luteolytic mechanisms inherent to the endometrium at the end of diestrus and antiluteolytic mechanisms, orchestrated by the conceptus to change endometrial function and, ultimately, block luteolysis. Antiluteolytic strategies are pharmacological, mechanical, nutritional and management manipulations of the process of maternal recognition of pregnancy that aim to increase the probability of successful gestations. Objective of the present paper is to review the recent literature on antiluteolytic strategies in cattle. Specifically, we focused on strategies to stimulate production of progesterone, strategies to reduce production of estradiol and other sttategies. Future directions for research in this area are proposedo

DDT is still a problem in developed countries: the heavy pollution of Lake Maggiore

Abstract The Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), one of the most widely used bioindicators of persistent organic pollutants, trace metals and radionuclides in several worldwide freshwater ecosystems, has been used to monitor DDT contamination trends in Lake Maggiore since 1996, caused by industrial effluents on a tributary of the River Toce, one of the major affluents of the lake. Dreissena specimens were collected at two sampling sites, one within the Baveno Bay, where the River Toce flows, and the other outside (Villa Taranto). Total DDT levels (3119.6 ng/g lipids at Baveno and 1351.2 ng/g lipids at Villa Taranto) in the soft tissues of the Zebra mussel decreased at both stations by about 30-50% in the first year after the closure of the chemical plant reaching an almost steady-state condition. The high concentrations measured in Zebra mussel specimens of Baveno Bay in 2000 (1947 ng/g lipids) and the percentage of pp 0 DDE in comparison with total DDT concentration, which showed a slight increase in the last years, clearly indicate that a contamination source is still present, deriving probably from the lacustrine sediments and the River Toce. Data show that the environmental risk is very high within the Baveno Bay and the recovery time should be longer than in the other parts of the lake, where DDT levels in Dreissena are presently two times higher than those measured in the other Italian subalpine lakes

Estratégias para reduzir a mortalidade embrionária em bovinos: I. Alternativas farmacológicas para otimizar a função luteínica de vacas de corte.

A mortalidade embrionária precoce é a maior causa de perdas reprodutivas em bovinos europeus criados no hemisfério norte. Uma vez que a eficiência reprodutiva do gado de corte nacional é baixa, conjetura-se que tais perdas também ocorram com bovinos de corte zebu criados no Brasil. Para aprofundar os conhecimentos sobre esse tema e propor possíveis estratégias que minimizem as perdas de prenhez, foi desenvolvido na Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste o projeto ?Mortalidade embrionária em bovinos e estratégias para a sua redução? que, além de ter como objetivo principal a determinação das taxas e da cronologia das perdas reprodutivas em vacas nelore inseminadas artificialmente, estabeleceu como meta o desenvolvimento de uma alternativa farmacológica de otimização da função luteínica de vacas de corte. Para tanto, avaliou-se o efeito de diferentes protocolos de suporte hormonal sobre as funções luteínicas e foliculares de vacas das raças Nelore e Red Angus. O alcance dessa meta, ou seja, o desenvolvimento de um protocolo de otimização da função luteínica de vacas de corte disponibiliza uma prática pecuária inovadora, a qual está descrita detalhadamente no presente Boletim de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento.bitstream/item/43525/1/Boletim26.pd

Transducer Arrays over A²B Networks in Industrial and Automotive Applications: Clock Propagation Measurements

Advanced automotive applications like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Individual Listening Zones (ILZ) require a high number of transducers (i.e., microphones, accelerometers, and loudspeakers) usually arranged as arrays. Transducer arrays are widely employed in several applications besides automotive field, such as teleconferencing systems, industrial and civil monitoring of noise and vibrations. Automotive Audio Bus ( A2B ) is an audio transport protocol that solves the latest requirements of automotive and industrial fields. A2B allows transporting up to 32 channels in a multi-node daisy chain network and guarantees synchronization and low deterministic latency. This paper aims to develop a clock propagation model of an A2B network composed by transducer arrays. This model will be useful to evaluate the impact of the bus on the array performance. Firstly, a theoretical description of the A2B protocol and jitter analysis is provided. It follows a description of the jitter measures carried out on the clocks distributed along the A2B network. Lastly, latency introduced by nodes of the network is investigated

Direction Specific Analysis of Psychoacoustics Parameters inside Car Cockpit: A Novel Tool for NVH and Sound Quality

Psychoacoustics parameters are widely employed in automotive field for objective evaluation of Sound Quality (SQ) of vehicle cabins and their components. The standard approach relies on binaural recordings from which numerical values and curves are calculated. In addition, head-locked binaural listening playback can be performed. The Virtual Reality (VR) technology recently started to diffuse also in automotive field, bringing new possibilities for enhanced and immersive listening sessions, thanks to the usage of massive microphone arrays instead of binaural microphones. In this paper, we combine both solutions: the principal SQ parameters are derived from multichannel recordings. This allows computing a map of direction-dependent values of SQ parameters. The acquisition system consists in a spherical microphone array with 32 capsules and a multiple-lens camera for capturing a panoramic equirectangular background image. The audio recording is encoded into High Order Ambisonics (HOA) format for being compared with a classic omnidirectional microphone and into Spatial PCM Sampling (SPS) format for producing 360° equirectangular color maps. The SPS encoding is used to plot over the background image the distribution of SPL values in dB (A) and of the SQ parameters: by adding to them the directional information, it results into a novel 360° diagnostic tool for localizing the most annoying sources. Furthermore, the playback of the HOA soundtrack can be performed both on a loudspeaker rig inside an Ambisonics listening room or on binaural headphones attached to a Head Mounted Display (HMD), benefiting from head-tracking and personalized Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), allowing to make quick subjective evaluations with a degree of realism unattainable with the older static binaural approach

First evidence of protein modulation by polystyrene microplastics in a freshwater biological model

Microplastics (MPs)are now one of the major environmental problems due to the large amount released in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as their diffuse sources and potential impacts on organisms and human health. Still the molecular and cellular targets of microplastics\u2019 toxicity have not yet been identified and their mechanism of actions in aquatic organisms are largely unknown. In order to partially fill this gap, we used a mass spectrometry based functional proteomics to evaluate the modulation of protein profiling in zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), one of the most useful freshwater biological model. Mussels were exposed for 6 days in static conditions to two different microplastic mixtures, composed by two types of virgin polystyrene microbeads (size = 1 and 10 \u3bcm)each one. The mixture at the lowest concentration contained 5 7 105 MP/L of 1 \u3bcm and 5 7 105 MP/L of 10 \u3bcm, while the higher one was arranged with 2 7 106 MP/L of 1 \u3bcm and 2 7 106 MP/L of 10 \u3bcm. Proteomics\u2019 analyses of gills showed the complete lack of proteins\u2019 modulation after the exposure to the low-concentrated mixture, while even 78 proteins were differentially modulated after the exposure to the high-concentrated one, suggesting the presence of an effect-threshold. The modulated proteins belong to 5 different classes mainly involved in the structure and function of ribosomes, energy metabolism, cellular trafficking, RNA-binding and cytoskeleton, all related to the response against the oxidative stress

Removal of metallic elements from real wastewater using zebra mussel bio-filtration process

The metallic element pollution is a serious environmental problem but still unsolved since these contaminants are released mainly by human activity, reaching all the environmental compartments. Traditional wastewater treatment plants are very efficient in removing metallic elements only when their concentration is in the order of mg/L, but are not able to remove them until \u3bcg/L, as it would be needed to cope with the water quality standards in low flow receptors. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the potential removal of some recalcitrant metallic elements to the classical treatments, by the natural process of bio-filtration performed by the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). For this purpose we built a pilot-plant at the Milano-Nosedo wastewater treatment plant, where we placed about 40,000 D. polymorpha specimens appointed to the wastewater bio-filtration. The metallic element removal due to zebra mussel activity was evaluated in the treated wastewater with a plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Data obtained in these experiments showed an encouraging metallic element removal due to D. polymorpha activity; in particular, the total abatement (100%) of Cr after one day of bio-filtration exposure is remarkable. Therefore, this study encourages further research related with the use of bivalves as a new tool for the wastewater depuration process; in this regard, the contaminated mollusks used in the bio-filtration could be incinerated or stored in special landfills, as is also the case of traditional sewage sludge