Effects of microplastics and drought on soil ecosystem functions and multifunctionality

1. Microplastics in soils have become an important threat for terrestrial systems as they may potentially alter the geochemical/biophysical soil environment and can interact with drought. As microplastics may affect soil water content, this could exacerbate the well-known negative effects of drought on ecosystem functionality. Thus, functions including litter decomposition, soil aggregation or those related with nutrient cycling can be altered. Despite this potential interaction, we know relatively little about how microplastics, under different soil water conditions, affect ecosystem functions and multifunctionality. 2. To address this gap, we performed an experiment using grassland plant communities growing in microcosms. Microplastic fibres (absent, present) and soil water conditions (well-watered, drought) were applied in a fully factorial design. At harvest, we measured soil ecosystem functions related to nutrient cycling (beta-glucosaminidase, beta-D-cellobiosidase, phosphatase, beta-glucosidase enzymes), respiration, nutrient retention, pH, litter decomposition and soil aggregation (water stable aggregates). As terrestrial systems provide these functions simultaneously, we also assessed ecosystem multifunctionality, an index that encompasses the array of ecosystem functions measured here. 3. We found that the interaction between microplastic fibres and drought affected ecosystem functions and multifunctionality. Drought had negatively affected nutrient cycling by decreasing enzymatic activities by up to similar to 39%, while microplastics increased soil aggregation by similar to 18%, soil pH by similar to 4% and nutrient retention by up to similar to 70% by diminishing nutrient leaching. Microplastic fibres also impacted soil enzymes, respiration and ecosystem multifunctionality, but importantly, the direction of these effects depended on soil water status. That is, under well-watered conditions, these functions decreased with microplastic fibres by up to similar to 34% while under drought they had similar values irrespective of the microplastic presence, or tended to increase with microplastics. Litter decomposition had a contrary pattern increasing with microplastics by similar to 6% under well-watered conditions while decreasing to a similar percentage under drought. 4. Synthesis and applications. Single ecosystem functions can be positively or negatively affected by microplastics fibres depending on soil water status. However, our results suggest that microplastic fibres may cause negative effects on ecosystem soil multifunctionality of a similar magnitude as drought. Thus, strategies to counteract this new global change factor are necessary

Recipient screening in IVF: First data from women undergoing anonymous oocyte donation in Dublin

BACKGROUND: Guidelines for safe gamete donation have emphasised donor screening, although none exist specifically for testing oocyte recipients. Pre-treatment assessment of anonymous donor oocyte IVF treatment in Ireland must comply with the European Union Tissues and Cells Directive (Directive 2004/23/EC). To determine the effectiveness of this Directive when applied to anonymous oocyte recipients in IVF, we reviewed data derived from selected screening tests performed in this clinical setting. METHODS: Data from tests conducted at baseline for all women enrolling as recipients (n = 225) in the anonymous oocyte donor IVF programme at an urban IVF referral centre during a 24-month period were analysed. Patient age at programme entry and clinical pregnancy rate were also tabulated. All recipients had at least one prior negative test for HIV, Hepatitis B/C, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis performed by her GP or other primary care provider before reproductive endocrinology consultation. RESULTS: Mean (±SD) age for donor egg IVF recipients was 40.7 ± 4.2 yrs. No baseline positive chlamydia, gonorrhoea or syphilis screening results were identified among recipients for anonymous oocyte donation IVF during the assessment interval. Mean pregnancy rate (per embryo transfer) in this group was 50.5%. CONCLUSION: When tests for HIV, Hepatitis B/C, chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis already have been confirmed to be negative before starting the anonymous donor oocyte IVF sequence, additional (repeat) testing on the recipient contributes no new clinical information that would influence treatment in this setting. Patient safety does not appear to be enhanced by application of Directive 2004/23/EC to recipients of anonymous donor oocyte IVF treatment. Given the absence of evidence to quantify risk, this practice is difficult to justify when applied to this low-risk population

Air Pollution, Aeroallergens, and Emergency Room Visits for Acute Respiratory Diseases and Gastroenteric Disorders among Young Children in Six Italian Cities

Past studies reported evidence of associations between air pollution and respiratory symptoms and morbility for children. Few studies examined associations between air pollution and emergency room (ER) visits for wheezing, and even fewer for gastroenteric illness. We conducted a multicity analysis of the relationship between air pollution and ER visits for wheezing and gastroenteric disorders in children 0-2 years of age.BACKGROUND: Past studies reported evidence of associations between air pollution and respiratory symptoms and morbidity for children. Few studies examined associations between air pollution and emergency room (ER) visits for wheezing, and even fewer for gastroenteric illness. We conducted a multicity analysis of the relationship between air pollution and ER visits for wheezing and gastroenteric disorder in children 0-2 years of age. METHODS: We obtained ER visit records for wheezing and gastroenteric disorder from six Italian cities. A cityspecific case-crossover analysis was applied to estimate effects of particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide, adjusting for immediate and delayed effects of temperature. Lagged effects of air pollutants up to 6 prior days were examined. The cityspecific results were combined using a random-effect meta-analysis. RESULTS: CO and SO2 were most strongly associated with wheezing, with a 2.7% increase [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.5-4.9] for a 1.04 \u3bcg/m3 increase in 7day average CO and a 3.4% (95% CI, 1.5-5.3) increase for an 8.0 \u3bcg/m3 increase in SO2. Positive associations were also found for PM with aerodynamic diameter 64 10 \u3bcg and NO2. We found a significant association between the 3day moving average CO and gastroenteric disorders [3.8% increase (95% CI, 1.0-6.8)]. When data were stratified by season, the associations were stronger in summer for wheezing and in winter for gastroenteric disorders. CONCLUSION: Air pollution is associated with triggering of wheezing and gastroenteric disorders in children 0-2 years of age; more work is needed to understand the mechanisms to help prevent wheezing in children

Can animal manure be used to increase soil organic carbon stocks in the Mediterranean as a mitigation climate change strategy?

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role on improving soil conditions and soil functions. Increasing land use changes have induced an important decline of SOC content at global scale. Increasing SOC in agricultural soils has been proposed as a strategy to mitigate climate change. Animal manure has the characteristic of enriching SOC, when applied to crop fields, while, in parallel, it could constitute a natural fertilizer for the crops. In this paper, a simulation is performed using the area of Catalonia, Spain as a case study for the characteristic low SOC in the Mediterranean, to examine whether animal manure can improve substantially the SOC of agricultural fields, when applied as organic fertilizers. Our results show that the policy goals of the 4x1000 strategy can be achieved only partially by using manure transported to the fields. This implies that the proposed approach needs to be combined with other strategies.Comment: Proc. of EnviroInfo 2020, Nicosia, Cyprus, September 2020. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2006.0912

Detectability of testosterone esters and estradiol benzoate in bovine hair and plasma following pour-on treatment

The abuse of synthetic esters of natural steroids such as testosterone and estradiol in cattle fattening and sports is hard to detect via routine urine testing. The esters are rapidly hydrolysed in vivo into substances which are also endogenously present in urine. An interesting alternative can be provided by the analysis of the administered synthetic steroids themselves, i.e., the analysis of intact steroid esters in hair by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). However, retrospective estimation of the application date following a non-compliant finding is hindered by the complexity of the kinetics of the incorporation of steroid esters in hair. In this study, the incorporation of intact steroid esters in hair following pour-on treatment has been studied and critically compared with results from intramuscular treatment. To this end animals were pour-on treated with a hormone cocktail containing testosterone cypionate, testosterone decanoate and estradiol benzoate in different carriers. The animals were either treated using injection and pour-on application once or three times having 1 week between treatments using injection and pour-on application. Animals were slaughtered from 10–12 weeks after the last treatment. Both hair and blood plasma samples were collected and analysed by LC/MS/MS. From the results, it is concluded that after single treatment the levels of steroid esters in hair drop to CCβ levels (5–20 µg/kg) after 5–7 weeks. When treatment is repeated two times, the CCβ levels are reached after 9–11 weeks. Furthermore, in plasma, no steroid esters were detected; not even at the low microgramme per litre level but—in contrast with the pour-on application—after i.m. injection, significant increase of 17β-testosterone and 17β-estradiol were observed. These observations suggest that transport of steroid esters after pour-on application is not only performed by blood but also by alternative fluids in the animal so probably the steroid esters are already hydrolysed and epimerized before entering the blood