Zn, Cu, Cd and Hg Binding to Metallothioneins in Harbour Porpoises Phocoena Phocoena from the Southern North Sea

BACKGROUND: Harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena from the southern North Sea are known to display high levels of Zn and Hg in their tissues linked to their nutritional status (emaciation). The question arises regarding a potential role of metallothioneins (MTs) with regard to these high metal levels. In the present study, metallothionein detection and associated Zn, Cd, Cu and Hg concentrations were investigated in the liver and kidney of 14 harbour porpoises collected along the Belgian coast. RESULTS: Metallothioneins seemed to play a key role in essential metal homeostasis, as they were shown to bind 50% of the total hepatic Zn and 36% of the total hepatic Cu concentrations. Renal MTs also participated in Cd detoxification, as they were shown to bind 56% of the total renal Cd. Hg was mainly found in the insoluble fraction of both liver and kidney. Concomitant increases in total Zn concentration and Zn bound to MTs were observed in the liver, whereas Zn concentration bound to high molecular weight proteins remained constant. Cu, Zn and Cd were accumulated preferentially in the MT fraction and their content in this fraction increased with the amount in the hepatocytosol. CONCLUSION: MTs have a key role in Zn and Cu homeostasis in harbour porpoises. We demonstrated that increasing hepatic Zn concentration led to an increase in Zn linked to MTs, suggesting that these small proteins take over the Zn overload linked to the poor body condition of debilitated harbour porpoises

INDICATEURS DE TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHIQUEMENT DÉSAGRÉGÉS POUR LA BELGIQUE

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Towards improved management of coastal submersion crises – CRISMA-WAVE solution as an example of CRISMA Framework application

Coping with various types of natural or man-made hazards the FP7 SECURITY CRISMA project (http://www.crismaproject.eu) has designed and developed an experimental software framework allowing building crisis management simulation application. One of the five pilot applications of CRISMA dealing with preparedness to the coastal submersions was developed and implemented using return of experience of the reference Xynthia storm surge event in the Charente Maritime County in France. The paper addresses the generic CRISMA Framework applicability to simulate mitigation effects of a coastal submersion through CRISMA-Wave implementation of a full modelling cycle. The CRISMA-Wave paradigm reflects user needs for simulation of “what-if” scenarios for short and long-term actions and the paper describes in particular its different components : *Simulation of submersion effects at a range of temporal and spatial scales, *Preparedness Planning, *Assessment of impacts depending on scenarios based on options for managing the inundation risks, *Cascading effects and *Evaluation of damages with comparison of submersion defence scenarios based on cost-benefit and multi criteria analysis

Integrated hydraulic and economical approach in the development of a decision-support tool for selecting adaptation measures to reduce the impacts of inundations induced by climate change: Managing Flood Risk, Reliability and Vulnerability

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Zn, Cu, Cd and Hg binding to metallothioneins in harbour porpoises from the southern North Sea-0

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Zn, Cu, Cd and Hg binding to metallothioneins in harbour porpoises from the southern North Sea"</p><p>BMC Ecology 2006;6():2-2.</p><p>Published online 7 Feb 2006</p><p>PMCID:PMC1434725.</p><p>Copyright © 2006 Das et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.</p>ght, 63 cm; diameter, 1.6 cm (Hg not detectable for this sample

ADAPT - Towards an Integrated Decision Tool for Adaptation Measures - Case study: Floods

ÂDAP

Development of an Environmental Information System for Odour using Citizen and Technology Innovative Sensors and Advanced Modelling

peer reviewedThe challenge of OMNISCIENTIS is to develop a community based odour monitoring and information system to mitigate odour annoyance and to foster citizens’ participation in environmental governance. The core is an information system collecting various data of odour emissions obtained by electronic noses and other sensors, meteorological conditions and observations by citizens acting as human sensors. A specific odour dispersion model is developed to use all this information and provide immediate feedback to all stakeholders. This work presents the architecture of the environmental information system, some first results from odour monitoring and model development and validation