434 research outputs found
Scotland's groundwater monitoring network : its effectiveness for monitoring nitrate
Scotland has had a national groundwater quality monitoring network since the year 2000.
One of the main functions of this network is to monitor nitrate concentrations. Nitrate can be
elevated in the environment due to modern agricultural practice. Initially there were 150
monitoring sites, but these have been added to, and in 2005, the number of groundwater
monitoring points for nitrate was 219, comprising 139 boreholes, 51 springs and 27 wells;
67% of these sites are in agricultural areas.
In order to have confidence in the interpretation of data gathered from the network it is
important to know the context of the sample points, and in particular whether any sites are
compromised by surface contamination or nearby point sources. Prior to this study, many of
the sites had not undergone a formal risk assessment and their condition was unclear. In order
to improve confidence in the network, and to help act as a baseline before improving the
network, the British Geological Survey and the Macaulay Institute were commissioned by the
Scottish Executive to carry out a review during the period February-July 2005.
The core of the project was to undertake field assessments for 151 sites where no formal
assessment had been made previously. Using criteria developed in this project, a judgement
was made as to whether the monitoring point was adequate, required improvement or further
assessment, or should be considered for removal. For all 219 sites on the network, a zone of
influence was estimated using a semi-quantitative method. These zones were used to help
focus the field surveys and also to characterise each site using national datasets; for example
the monitoring site would be assigned the land use that occupied more than 60% of the zone.
These data were then used to conduct an analysis of the factors controlling nitrate
concentrations across the network and to help evaluate how effective the network is at
monitoring nitrate in Scottish groundwater.
Below is a summary of the main results from the project:
1. The fieldwork and analysis of the 151 previously unassessed sites indicated that:
âą 61 of the 151 sites are adequate and can continue to be monitored with no
improvements.
âą There are serious concerns about 29 of the 151 sites (19% of the sites assessed and
13% of the total nitrate network). These sites should be considered for removal
from the network. The sources found to be least reliable were shallow large
diameter wells. However, there is little evidence to suggest that the data from
these sources collected from 2000 â 2005 has been seriously compromised by
point source pollution.
âą 30 sites require further assessment before being judged suitable. Most of these
sites are springs and require additional work to identify the precise source.
âą 31 sites require improvements to the monitoring points â the improvements range
from better sampling protocols to improving the headworks through simple
engineering.
2. There is a clear difference between nitrate concentrations measured in the areas
designated as nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) and other areas. Within the NVZs, the
mean concentration is 25 mg-NO3 l-1 and the median 17 mg-NO3 l-1; outside the
NVZs, the mean concentration is 9 mg-NO3 l-1 and the median 4.4 mg-NO3 l-1.
The data from the network indicate that land use has a large influence on the nitrate
concentrations measured in the monitoring network: arable areas, mixed cultivation of
both arable and grassland, and areas where dairy, pigs and poultry are reared
contribute to the highest nitrate concentrations, with 18% of sites in these areas
exceeding 50 mg-NO3 l-1. The most significant control on nitrate concentrations in the
monitoring network is the presence of dairy, pigs or poultry within the zone of
influence.
4. A considerable number of monitoring sites have lower nitrate concentrations than
would be expected from the nitrate pressure. This can be attributed to dilution from
rainfall, mixing with older low nitrate waters, denitrification, or the presence of low
permeability soil and superficial deposits which slow the movement of high nitrate
water into the aquifers.
5. A âgapsâ analysis which compared the current network with an idealised network
based on nitrate pressures across Scotland indicated that overall the distribution of the
current network is generally good. However, there are significant gaps in the improved
grassland areas of the Midland Valley and Ayrshire and in the arable areas of
Aberdeenshire, while Mid and East Lothian and the Borders are currently overrepresented.
The following recommendations are made for the nitrate groundwater quality network in
Scotland:
1. Consideration should be given to removing or replacing 29 of the 219 sites, and
undertaking further assessments on 30 sites. A further 31 sites would benefit from
improvements to the headworks or sampling arrangements.
2. Further statistical analysis should be undertaken to help understand the factors that
control the nitrate concentrations in groundwater â particularly the environmental
factors that help to reduce the measured nitrate.
3. The network should continue to be concentrated on nitrate pressured areas in
Scotland, with approximately 75% of the network in high nitrate areas, and 25% used
to monitor background nitrate concentrations in less pressured areas.
4. Any future sites added to the network must undergo a risk assessment similar to
the one developed for this study to ensure that the network remains of good quality.
5. The network must continue to reflect the diverse hydrogeological, soil and land use
conditions in Scotland. Therefore, both bedrock and superficial aquifers should be
monitored in a variety of soil conditions. The network should continue to include
different types of sources, although less emphasis should be given to wells, which are
generally poor monitoring points.
6. In the future, the data from the network will require to be actively interpreted: an
inevitable outcome from having a diverse network is that the results of the monitoring
must be interpreted not only in terms of agricultural practice, but in light of the other
factors such as geological and environmental conditions. In practice this could mean a
regular detailed review (maybe every 2-3 years) of the data from the network.
7. The network will also need to be actively managed to account for various changes in
monitoring sites, for example the land use, the condition of the headworks and the
pumping rate. This will involve SEPA hydrogeologists having an overview of the
network; individual sources being periodically reviewed using a simple checklist; and additional new sources being sought, possibly through the ongoing BGS/SEPA study
of baseline groundwater chemistry across Scotland.
8. Wellhead measurements should be taken periodically to help identify denitrification
or mixing with older waters. The limited samples taken during this study proved
invaluable for interpreting apparently anomalous nitrate concentrations. To undertake
this successfully, dedicated sample taps may have to be introduced.
9. A separate programme of focussed monitoring should be developed in tandem with
the national groundwater monitoring network to give information on the effects of the
action programmes within the NVZs. These sites should be in a controlled
environment that will respond rapidly to changes in agricultural practice. The results
from these studies can then be upscaled to help interpret changes in the national
network as well as be used on their own to help understand the success of the Action
Programmes
Clostridioides difficile infections; new treatments and future perspectives
Purpose of review
As a significant cause of global morbidity and mortality, Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs) are listed by the Centres for Disease Control and prevention as one of the top 5 urgent threats in the USA. CDI occurs from gut microbiome dysbiosis, typically through antibiotic-mediated disruption; however, antibiotics are the treatment of choice, which can result in recurrent infections. Here, we highlight new treatments available and provide a perspective on different classes of future treatments.
Recent findings
Due to the reduced risk of disease recurrence, the microbiome-sparing antibiotic Fidaxomicin has been recommended as the first-line treatment for C. difficile infection. Based on the success of faecal microbiota transplantations (FMT) in treating CDI recurrence, defined microbiome biotherapeutics offer a safer and more tightly controlled alterative as an adjunct to antibiotic therapy. Given the association between antibiotic-mediated dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota and the recurrence of CDI, future prospective therapies aim to reduce the dependence on antibiotics for the treatment of CDI.
Summary
With current first-in-line antibiotic therapy options associated with high levels of recurrent CDI, the availability of new generation targeted therapeutics can really impact treatment success. There are still unknowns about the long-term implications of these new CDI therapeutics, but efforts to expand the CDI treatment toolbox can offer multiple solutions for clinicians to treat this multifaceted infectious disease to reduce patient suffering
A hidden crisis: strengthening the evidence base on the sustainability of rural groundwater supplies: results from a pilot study in Uganda
Extending and sustaining access to rural water supplies remains central to improving the health and
livelihoods of poor people, particularly women, in Africa, where 400 million rural inhabitants have no
form of utility provided water, and universal access to water hinges on accelerated development of
groundwater (UN 2013). The âfuture proofingâ of groundwater investments is therefore vital,
especially in the context of global and local trends including demographic shifts, environmental
impacts of human activity and climate change (Taylor et al. 2013).
The emphasis, in recent years, on accelerating access to new infrastructure has obscured a hidden
crisis of failure. More than 30% of sources are nonâfunctional within a few years of construction
(Rietveld et al. 2009, RWSN 2009, Lockwood et al. 2011) and a greater number are seasonal (for
example 50% in Sierra Leone) (MoEWR 2012). The accumulated costs to governments, donors, and,
above all, rural people, are enormous. The original benefits generated by the new infrastructure â
improved health, nutrition, time savings, education, particularly for the poorest â are lost if
improved services cannot be sustained. The cumulative effect of rural water supply failure in Africa
over the past 20 years has been estimated by the World Bank to represent a lost investment in
excess of $1.2 billion.
Critically, there is limited data or analysis on why sources are nonâfunctional and therefore little
opportunity to learn from past mistakes.
This report provides a summary of the work undertaken by the UKâfunded UPGro research
programme ('Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater for the Poor') for subâSaharan Africa (SSA)
funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DfID). The Catalyst Grant project
âA Hidden Crisisâ was aimed at developing a methodology and toolbox to investigate the causes of
failure in groundwaterâbased water services in SSA, which could form the foundation for more
substantial and largerâscale research in the future to develop a statistically significant evidence base
to examine water point functionality and the underlying causes of failure across a range of physical,
social, institutional and governance environments in SSA. To test the toolbox and methodology
developed, a pilot study was conducted in northeast Uganda
Overall, the approach and methods developed in the catalyst project have been shown to make a
significant step towards developing a replicable and robust methodology which can be used to
generate a systematic evidence base for supply failure. The work has gone a significant way to
encapsulating the complexity of the interlinked aspects of the problem, balancing the natural science
and engineering (âtechnicalâ) aspects of the research with those concerning the ability of
communities to manage and maintain their water points (the âsocialâ aspects). The multiplicity of
interlinked causes of water point failure was explicitly acknowledged and taken into account through
the use of multiâdisciplinary field and analytical methods within the toolbox and in selection of the
research team. The multiâdisciplinary methods of investigation used were highly practical and
appropriate to the information sought, and based on detailed observational science
A hidden crisis: strengthening the evidence base on the current failure of rural groundwater supplies
New ambitious international goals for universal access to safe drinking water depend critically on the ability of development partners to accelerate and sustain access to groundwater. However, available evidence (albeit fragmented and methodologically unclear) indicates >30% of new groundwater-based supplies are non-functional within a few years of construction. Critically, in the absence of a significant systematic evidence base or analysis on supply failures, there is little opportunity to learn from past mistakes, to ensure more sustainable services can be developed in the future. This work presents a new and robust methodology for investigating the causes of non-functionality, developed by an interdisciplinary team as part of a UK-funded development research project. The approach was successfully piloted within a test study in NE Uganda, and forms a basis for future research to develop a statistically significant systematic evidence base to unravel the underlying causes of failur
Contribution of physical factors to handpump borehole functionality in Africa
Handpumps are the main water supply for rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa. However, studies show that >25 % of handpumps are non-functional at any time. We present results from a systematic field study of handpump borehole functionality. The study was designed to investigate the contribution of physical factors to functionality outcomes, including; hydrogeology, borehole configuration, and handpump components. To achieve this, we deconstructed and examined 145 handpump boreholes in Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi. Pumping tests showed that 19 % of boreholes were located in aquifers with transmissivity below the minimum required to sustain a handpump. Water levels, measured during the dry season, had a complex relationship with borehole configuration and transmissivity. The handpump cylinder was <10 m below the water table at 38 % of sites, which increases the risk of the handpump running dry during intensive use and/or in areas of low transmissivity. The water column was <20 m at 23 % of sites and screens were <10 m long at 29 % of sites and often sub-optimally positioned in the borehole. Borehole depth had no clear relationship with functionality. Using multinomial regression and four functionality categories (functional; unreliable; low yield; unreliable and low yield) as dependant variables, we found that transmissivity is a significant risk factor for the classification of handpump boreholes as low yield. The configuration of the borehole (e.g. cylinder position, screen/casing configuration and water column) is a statistically significant risk factor for the classification of handpump boreholes as unreliable. Handpump components were in poor overall condition but rising main pipes were a particular problem with 53 % of galvanised pipes corroded and 82 % of uPVC pipes damaged, with implications for handpump performance. Our study highlights the importance of; understanding aquifer properties, investing in borehole siting, construction (including supervision) and commissioning, and improving the quality of components and maintenance of handpumps
Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS
We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a
significant distance from their production point into a final state containing
charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is
conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV
and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS
detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles
is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We
observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of
supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the
neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino
masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final
version to appear in Physics Letters
Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and
W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and
the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto
the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions
f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV
and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw
> 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour,
are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017
+/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second
include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables,
revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS
The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS
detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4
fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to
Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks
corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new
structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is
also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes.
This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table,
corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in âs = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fbâ1 of protonâproton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data
A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production
of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)
= 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges
|eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV.
The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured
using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the
hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon
selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four
orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final
version published in Physics Letters
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