Assessment of the pollution status of alluvial plains : a case study for the dredged sediment-derived soils along the Leie River

The concept of an integrated multifunctional river management is gaining importance. For major rivers, restoring the contact between rivers and alluvial plains is an important goal, as riparian areas have a specific role for several riverine processes. However, former and current human activities are an obstruction or a limitation for river restoration. We studied the influence of former dredging activities along the river Leie on the alluvial plain quality. A soil survey and an archive query for reconstructing the history of dredging operations were conducted simultaneously. The geographical impact expressed as topographical changes and covering of the original soil profile and related processes and biota was large. The pollution status of dredged sediment-derived soils was found to be far from negligible: concentrations of Cd, Cr, and Zn were, in 10% of the cases, higher than 20, 480, and 2800 mg kg(-1) DM, respectively. Both agriculture and nature rehabilitation on dredged sediment-derived soils can only be accepted after profound risk assessment, and management should focus on ecological risk reduction. Results indicate the importance of soil quality assessment in alluvial plains for an integrated river management, rather than a priori assuming pristine soil conditions. The collected "off-line" sediment data can be used as a reconstruction of past sediment pollution, especially when long-term sediment monitoring programs are not available

Assessment of faecal microbial transfer in irritable bowel syndrome with severe bloating

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Pedotransfer funkcije za procjenu gustoće šumskih tala

The data of 45 soil profiles from a 16 × 16 km grid across Slo­venia was analysed to develop a local pedotransfer function (PTF) for bulk den­sity (.b) estimation. In total, 106 soil horizons were considered. Concentration of organic carbon (OC) was found to be well correlated (r = -0.861, p < 0.001) with .b. Two separate line segments were fitted to the data, which was partitio­ned into two intervals, based on OC content (below 36.0 g/kg and above 36.0 g/kg). Nearly 80 % of the variability in .b is explained with segmented re­gression. The local PTF was compared with published PTFs and four valida­tions indices (MPE, SDPE, RMSPE and R2) confirmed the highest prediction quality of the local PTF. The differences of carbon stock (Cpool) estimation, based on usage of different PTFs could be higher than 160 t OC per hectare. Predic­tion of carbon stocks could be substantially improved by calibration of the mo­dels coefficients with data stratified according to each unique soil type.S obzirom na vremensku zahtjevnost i veliku količinu rada po­trebnog za uzorkovanja i analize kemijskih i fizikalnih svojstava šumskih tala, razvoj alternativnih metoda je vrlo važan. Korištenjem pedotransfer funkcija (PTF), znanstvenici koji se bave proučavanjem tala mogu dobiti informaciju o najvažnijim svojstvima tala koja je inače teško (skupo ili vremenski zahtjevno) dobiti. PTF se mogu definirati kao statistički modeli za predviđanje fizikalnih (gustoća, hidraulička svojstva, itd.) i kemijskih (npr. kapacitet za izmjenu ka­tiona) svojstava tla iz drugih, dostupnijih ili rutinski analiziranih svojstava. Cilj ovog rada je bio razviti lokalnu PTF za procjenu gustoće mineralnog di­jela šumskih tala Slovenije. Na osnovi literature, hipoteza je bila da (1) gustoća snažno korelira s konce4ntracijom organskog ugljika (OC) i (2) lokalna PTF daje bolčje vrijednosti od objavljenih pedotransfer funkcija. Podaci 45 profila tla s bioindikacijske 16 x 16 km mreže u Sloveniji su anali­zirani s ciljem razvijanja lokalne pedotransfer funkcije za procjenu gustoće tla. Ukupno je obrađeno 106 profila tla. Uzorci za procjenu gustoće tla uzeti su u pet ponavljanja korištenjem metal­nih O-prstenova zapremine 5 cm3. U laboratoriju su uzorci tla osušeni na 105 °C i izvagani za daljnje kemijske i fizikalne analize. Korištene su sljedeće analitičke metode: pH je određen u KCl prema ISO 10390 na automatskom ph-metru Me­trohm Titrino, sadržaj C i N je određen prema ISO 10694 i/ili 13878 na elemen­tarnom analizatoru Leco CNS-2000, karbonati prema ISO 10693 Scheiblerovim kalcimetrom a mehanički nsastav tla prema ISO 11277 sedimentnom metodom i pipetom prema Köhnu. Jednostavna i multipla regresija korištene su za predviđanje .b korištenjem različitih zavisnih varijabla, a testirani su također i regresijski modeli sa seg­mentnim odnosima. Koncentracija organskog ugljika (OC) dobro korelira (r = -0.861, p < 0.001) s gustoćom tla. Dva odvojena segmenta linije izjednačenja uklopljeni su u poda­tke koji su razdijeljeni u dva intervala prema sadržaju OC (ispod i iznad 36,0 g/kg). Gotovo 80 % varijabiliteta gustoće tla objašnjeno je segmentnom re­gresijom (Slika 4.). Lokalna pedotransfer funkcija uspoređena je s objavljenim funkcijama a če­tiri indeksa validacije (MPE, SDPE, RMSPE and R2) potvrdila su najveću kvali­tetu predviđanja lokalne pedotransfer funkcije (Slika 5.). Razlike u procjeni zalihe ugljika u tlu (Cpool) različitih pedotransfer funkcija bile su veće od 160 t/ha (Tablica 4.). Predviđanje zaliha ugljika moglo bi biti značajno unaprijeđeno kalibracijom koeficijenata u modelima pomoću podataka razvrstanih prema vrsti tla

Toekomstdenken in België : toekomstwetenschappers roepen op tot actie

Nooit sedert de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd de samenleving zo indringend in al zijn geledingen geraakt als in de afgelopen maanden. Een lockdown heeft ons gedrag veranderd en experten buigen zich nu al over de vraag hoe we na de coronacrisis zullen leven en werken; hoe onze eet- en shoppinggewoontes maar ook ons reisgedrag zullen veranderen; op welke manier we ons zullen verplaatsen, sporten en ons ontspannen of cultuur beleven. Kortom een kans om aan verandering te denken, want volgens velen was de wereld al vóór corona aan verandering toe. En dit geldt voor de manier waarop we leven, aan politiek doen en met onze planeet omgaan. Meer dan ooit zullen we onze toekomst een nieuwe vorm moeten geven. Derrick Gosselin en Bruno Tindemans pleiten om ons land de gepaste instrumenten te geven om gefundeerd over deze toekomst te kunnen nadenken

L. plantarum WCFS1 enhances Treg frequencies by activating DCs even in absence of sampling of bacteria in the Peyer Patches

Probiotics such as L. plantarum WCFS1 can modulate immune responses in healthy subjects but how this occurs is still largely unknown. Immune-sampling in the Peyer Patches has been suggested to be one of the mechanisms. Here we studied the systemic and intestinal immune effects in combination with a trafficking study through the intestine of a well-established immunomodulating probiotic, i.e. L. plantarum WCFS1. We demonstrate that not more than 2-3 bacteria were sampled and in many animals not any bacterium could be found in the PP. Despite this, L. plantarum was associated with a strong increase in infiltration of regulatory CD103+ DCs and generation of regulatory T cells in the spleen. Also, a reduced splenic T helper cell cytokine response was observed after ex vivo restimulation. L. plantarum enhanced Treg cells and attenuated the T helper 2 response in healthy mice. We demonstrate that, in healthy mice, immune sampling is a rare phenomenon and not required for immunomodulation. Also in absence of any sampling immune activation was found illustrating that host-microbe interaction on the Peyer Patches was enough to induce immunomodulation of DCs and T-cells

Surveillance of endoscopes : comparison of different sampling techniques

OBJECTIVE: To compare different techniques of endoscope sampling to assess residual bacterial contamination. DESIGN: Diagnostic study. SETTING: The endoscopy unit of an 1,100-bed university hospital performing similar to 13,000 endoscopic procedures annually. METHODS: In total, 4 sampling techniques, combining flushing fluid with or without a commercial endoscope brush, were compared in an endoscope model. Based on these results, sterile physiological saline flushing with or without PULL THRU brush was selected for evaluation on 40 flexible endoscopes by adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurement and bacterial culture. Acceptance criteria from the French National guideline (<25 colony-forming units [CFU] per endoscope and absence of indicator microorganisms) were used as part of the evaluation. RESULTS: On biofilm-coated PTFE tubes, physiological saline in combination with a PULL THRU brush generated higher mean ATP values (2,579 relative light units [RLU]) compared with saline alone (1,436 RLU; P=.047). In the endoscope samples, culture yield using saline plus the PULL THRU (mean, 43 CFU; range, 1-400 CFU) was significantly higher than that of saline alone (mean, 17 CFU; range, 0-500 CFU; P<.001). In samples obtained using the saline+PULL THRU brush method, ATP values of samples classified as unacceptable were significantly higher than those of samples classified as acceptable (P=.001). CONCLUSION: Physiological saline flushing combined with PULL THRU brush to sample endoscopes generated higher ATP values and increased the yield of microbial surveillance culture. Consequently, the acceptance rate of endoscopes based on a defined CFU limit was significantly lower when the saline+PULL THRU method was used instead of saline alone