Integrated and Sustainable Management of Post-industrial Coasts

The sustainable management of post-industrial coasts is a major emerging issue globally. Along such coasts, there may be a significant legacy of both contaminated land (including historic landfills and non-managed waste disposal) and contaminated sediments in and around urban and industrial areas, which require new strategies for cost-effective and integrated risk management under future sea-level rise and climate change scenarios. Here, we review current approaches to managing contamination in post-industrial coastlines, discuss emerging integrated management strategies (building on low input approaches to sustainable brownfields regeneration) and present an approach and framework for assessing and comparing different scenarios for coastal brownfield regeneration to soft re-use and other end-points. This framework can be applied to explore the opportunities for synergy and realization of wider environmental, economic and societal benefits between coastal protection, dredged material re-use and the management of brownfield land. As such, the approach we propose supports planning and options appraisal to realize maximum benefit and value from integrated coastal management strategies

North Flinders Reef (Coral Sea, Australia) Porites sp. corals as a candidate Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene Series

Corals are unique in the suite of proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) archives, as living organisms that produce aragonite exoskeletons preserved in the geological record that contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies. The GSSP candidate site North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia) is an offshore oceanic reef, and therefore less vulnerable to local human influences than those closer to the coast. Here, we present geochemical records from two Porites sp. corals sampled at an annual to pluri-annual (i.e. 3–5 years) resolution that shows clear global and regional human impacts. Atmospheric nuclear bomb testing by-products (14C,239+240Pu) show a clear increase in the Flinders Reef corals coincident with well-dated nuclear testing operations. By contrast, the radionuclides 241Am and 137Cs are present at low or undetectable levels, as are spheroidal carbonaceous fly-ash particles. Coral δ13C shows centennial variability likely influenced by growth effects in the 18th century and with a progression to lower values starting in 1880 and accelerating post-1970. The latter may be related to the Suess Effect resulting from 13C-depleted fossil fuel burning. Coral δ15N decreased between 1710 and 1954 with a reversal post-1954. Coral temperature proxies indicate prominent centennial variability with equally warm conditions in the 18th and end of 20th century. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for the mid-20th century changes in these parameters need to be scrutinised in further detail. Plain Language summary: This work proposes a candidate natural archive for the official marker of the Anthropocene that geologists will use to mark this important interval in time. Our candidate is a live coral from North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia), located 150 km east of the Great Barrier Reef, a location that is remote from direct local human influences. Corals are a unique archive of tropical ocean change because they incorporate the geochemical signature from seawater into their limestone skeleton during their long life-spans. Here we investigated a number of geochemical markers in yearly growth layers of the corals to define several markers for the Anthropocene based on changes in temperature, water chemistry, chemicals from pollution and fertilisers, radioactive products from nuclear bomb testing, and by-products from burning fossil fuels. We have detected clear human influences in several of these markers

Response to Merritts et al. (2023): The Anthropocene is complex. Defining it is not

Merritts et al. (2023) misrepresent Paul Crutzen's Anthropocene concept as encompassing all significant anthropogenic impacts, extending back many millennia. Crutzen's definition reflects massively enhanced, much more recent human impacts that transformed the Earth System away from the stability of Holocene conditions. His concept of an epoch (hence the ‘cene’ suffix) is more consistent with the strikingly distinct sedimentary record accumulated since the mid-20th century. Waters et al. (2022) highlighted a Great Acceleration Event Array (GAEA) of stratigraphic event markers that are indeed diverse and complex but also tightly clustered around 1950 CE, allowing ultra-high resolution characterization and correlation of a clearly recognisable Anthropocene chronostratigraphic base. The ‘Anthropocene event’ offered by Merritts et al., following Gibbard et al. (2021, 2022), is a highly nuanced concept that obfuscates the transformative human impact of the chronostratigraphic Anthropocene. Waters et al. (2022) restricted the meaning of the term ‘event’ in geology to conform with usual Quaternary practice and improve its utility. They simultaneously recognized an evidence-based Anthropogenic Modification Episode that is more explicitly defined than the highly interpretive interdisciplinary ‘Anthropocene event’ of Gibbard et al. (2021, 2022). The advance of science is best served through clearly developed concepts supported by tightly circumscribed terminology; indeed, improvements to stratigraphy over recent decades have been achieved through increasingly precise definitions, especially for chronostratigraphic units, and not by retaining vague terminology

Discordant Gene Expression Signatures and Related Phenotypic Differences in Lamin A- and A/C-Related Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS)

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a genetic disorder displaying features reminiscent of premature senescence caused by germline mutations in the LMNA gene encoding lamin A and C, essential components of the nuclear lamina. By studying a family with homozygous LMNA mutation (K542N), we showed that HGPS can also be caused by mutations affecting both isoforms, lamin A and C. Here, we aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis in both, lamin A- (sporadic) and lamin A and C-related (hereditary) HGPS. For this, we performed detailed molecular studies on primary fibroblasts of hetero- and homozygous LMNA K542N mutation carriers, accompanied with clinical examinations related to the molecular findings. By assessing global gene expression we found substantial overlap in altered transcription profiles (13.7%; 90/657) in sporadic and hereditary HGPS, with 83.3% (75/90) concordant and 16.7% (15/90) discordant transcriptional changes. Among the concordant ones we observed down-regulation of TWIST2, whose inactivation in mice and humans leads to loss of subcutaneous fat and dermal appendages, and loss of expression in dermal fibroblasts and periadnexial cells from a LMNAK542N/K542N patient further confirming its pivotal role in skin development. Among the discordant transcriptional profiles we identified two key mediators of vascular calcification and bone metabolism, ENPP1 and OPG, which offer a molecular explanation for the major phenotypic differences in vascular and bone disease in sporadic and hereditary HGPS. Finally, this study correlates reduced TWIST2 and OPG expression with increased osteocalcin levels, thereby linking altered bone remodeling to energy homeostasis in hereditary HGPS

Combination of probenecid-sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy

The antifolate sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) has been used in the intermittent prevention of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp). SP is an ideal choice for IPTp, however, as resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to SP increases, data are accumulating that SP may no longer provide benefit in areas of high-level resistance. Probenecid was initially used as an adjunctive therapy to increase the blood concentration of penicillin; it has since been used to augment concentrations of other drugs, including antifolates. The addition of probenecid has been shown to increase the treatment efficacy of SP against malaria, suggesting that the combination of probenecid plus SP may prolong the useful lifespan of SP as an effective agent for IPTp. Here, the literature on the pharmacokinetics, adverse reactions, interactions and available data on the use of these drugs in pregnancy is reviewed, and the possible utility of an SP-probenecid combination is discussed. This article concludes by calling for further research into this potentially useful combination

Toward the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System

Plastics and other artificial materials pose new risks to the health of the ocean. Anthropogenic debris travels across large distances and is ubiquitous in the water and on shorelines, yet, observations of its sources, composition, pathways, and distributions in the ocean are very sparse and inaccurate. Total amounts of plastics and other man-made debris in the ocean and on the shore, temporal trends in these amounts under exponentially increasing production, as well as degradation processes, vertical fluxes, and time scales are largely unknown. Present ocean circulation models are not able to accurately simulate drift of debris because of its complex hydrodynamics. In this paper we discuss the structure of the future integrated marine debris observing system (IMDOS)thatisrequiredtoprovidelong-termmonitoringofthestateofthisanthropogenic pollution and support operational activities to mitigate impacts on the ecosystem and on the safety of maritime activity. The proposed observing system integrates remote sensing and in situ observations. Also, models are used to optimize the design of the system and, in turn, they will be gradually improved using the products of the system. Remote sensing technologies will provide spatially coherent coverage and consistent surveying time series at local to global scale. Optical sensors, including high-resolution imaging, multi- and hyperspectral, fluorescence, and Raman technologies, as well as SAR will be used to measure different types of debris. They will be implemented in a variety of platforms, from hand-held tools to ship-, buoy-, aircraft-, and satellite-based sensors. A network of in situ observations, including reports from volunteers, citizen scientists and ships of opportunity, will be developed to provide data for calibration/validation of remote sensors and to monitor the spread of plastic pollution and other marine debris. IMDOS will interact with other observing systems monitoring physical, chemical, and biological processes in the ocean and on shorelines as well as the state of the ecosystem, maritime activities and safety, drift of sea ice, etc. The synthesized data will support innovative multi-disciplinary research and serve a diverse community of users