Sediment geochemistry of streams draining abandoned lead / zinc mines in central Wales: the Afon Twymyn

Purpose Despite the decline of metal mining in the UK during the early 20th century, a substantial legacy of heavy metal contamination persists in river channel and floodplain sediments. Poor sediment quality is likely to impede the achievement of ’good’ chemical and ecological status for surface waters under the European Union Water Framework Directive. This paper examines the environmental legacy of the Dylife lead/zinc mine in the central Wales mining district. Leachable heavy metal concentrations in the bed sediments of the Afon Twymyn are established and the geochemical partitioning, potential mobility and bioavailability of sediment-associated heavy metals are established. Materials and methods Sediment samples were collected from the river bed and dry-sieved into two size fractions (<63 μm and 64–2,000 μm). The fractionated samples were then subjected to a sequential extraction procedure to isolate heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Fe, Mn) in three different geochemical phases. Sediment samples were then analysed for heavy metals using ICP-AES. Results and discussion The bed sediment of the Afon Twymyn is grossly polluted with heavy metals. Within the vicinity of the former mine, Pb concentrations are up to 100 times greater than levels reported to have deleterious impacts on aquatic ecology. Most heavy metals exist in the most mobile easily exchangeable and carbonate-bound geochemical phases, potentially posing serious threats to ecological integrity and constituting a significant, secondary, diffuse source of pollution. Metal concentrations decrease sharply downstream of the former mine, although there is a gradual increase in the proportion of readily extractable Zn and Cd. Conclusions Implementation of sediment quality guidelines is important in order to achieve the aims of the Water Framework Directive. Assessments of sediment quality should include measurements of background metal concentrations, river water physico-chemistry and, most importantly, metal mobility and potential bioavailability. Uniformity of sediment guidelines throughout Europe and flexibility of targets with regard to the most heavily contaminated mine sites are recommended

Worldwide comparison of survival from childhood leukaemia for 1995–2009, by subtype, age, and sex (CONCORD-2): a population-based study of individual data for 89 828 children from 198 registries in 53 countries

Background Global inequalities in access to health care are reflected in differences in cancer survival. The CONCORD programme was designed to assess worldwide differences and trends in population-based cancer survival. In this population-based study, we aimed to estimate survival inequalities globally for several subtypes of childhood leukaemia. Methods Cancer registries participating in CONCORD were asked to submit tumour registrations for all children aged 0-14 years who were diagnosed with leukaemia between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2009, and followed up until Dec 31, 2009. Haematological malignancies were defined by morphology codes in the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third revision. We excluded data from registries from which the data were judged to be less reliable, or included only lymphomas, and data from countries in which data for fewer than ten children were available for analysis. We also excluded records because of a missing date of birth, diagnosis, or last known vital status. We estimated 5-year net survival (ie, the probability of surviving at least 5 years after diagnosis, after controlling for deaths from other causes [background mortality]) for children by calendar period of diagnosis (1995-99, 2000-04, and 2005-09), sex, and age at diagnosis (< 1, 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 years, inclusive) using appropriate life tables. We estimated age-standardised net survival for international comparison of survival trends for precursor-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Findings We analysed data from 89 828 children from 198 registries in 53 countries. During 1995-99, 5-year agestandardised net survival for all lymphoid leukaemias combined ranged from 10.6% (95% CI 3.1-18.2) in the Chinese registries to 86.8% (81.6-92.0) in Austria. International differences in 5-year survival for childhood leukaemia were still large as recently as 2005-09, when age-standardised survival for lymphoid leukaemias ranged from 52.4% (95% CI 42.8-61.9) in Cali, Colombia, to 91.6% (89.5-93.6) in the German registries, and for AML ranged from 33.3% (18.9-47.7) in Bulgaria to 78.2% (72.0-84.3) in German registries. Survival from precursor-cell ALL was very close to that of all lymphoid leukaemias combined, with similar variation. In most countries, survival from AML improved more than survival from ALL between 2000-04 and 2005-09. Survival for each type of leukaemia varied markedly with age: survival was highest for children aged 1-4 and 5-9 years, and lowest for infants (younger than 1 year). There was no systematic difference in survival between boys and girls. Interpretation Global inequalities in survival from childhood leukaemia have narrowed with time but remain very wide for both ALL and AML. These results provide useful information for health policy makers on the effectiveness of health-care systems and for cancer policy makers to reduce inequalities in childhood survival

Indigenous research methodologies and listening the Dadirri way

Researchers who want to undertake projects that amplify First Nations perspectives face a range of complex methodological and ethical considerations. This chapter explores how some of these challenges can be addressed by working with Indigenous epistemologies. Dadirri is the language of the Ngangikurungkurr people of Northern Australia and also a foundational concept that involves deep listening and underpins how they live, act, understand, and feel. Engoori is a set of diplomatic protocols for resolving conflict that belong to the Mithaka people of South-West Queensland. The chapter concludes that working with Indigenous knowledge can not only shift ways of seeing and hearing, but the collaborations we form, the questions we ask, the findings we make, and the actions that flow from this

Genetic relationships among NE Turkish Lilium L. (Liliaceae) species based on Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting was used to study species boundaries in six closely related NE Turkish Lilium (Liliaceae) taxa of the section Liriotypus. The investigated taxa were L. ciliatum, L. akkusianum, L. ponticum, L. kesselringianum, L. armenum, and L. szovitsianum. Of the 108 primers screened, 11 provided polymorphic and reproducible bands. A total of 93 polymorphic bands were scored for 122 individuals from 18 populations of the six Lilium taxa and principle coordinate analysis and neighbour-joining cluster analysis based on these RAPD profiles were performed. The results demonstrate a clear distinction between the two species L. ciliatum and L. akkusianum, and the other four species. While populations of the two species groups are found to be allopatrically distributed, the two species groups overlap in their geographical ranges. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that nearly half of the total molecular variance is found within the individual populations and that the molecular variance among species is as high as the variance within the individual species, indicating that genetic differentiation of the species is rather weak