Evaluation of antimony availability in a mining context: Impact for the environment, and for mineral exploration and exploitation.

This work aims to establish Sb mobility, its transfer to biota and its effect on soil health in a semi-arid climate. The results show the presence of stibnite (Sb2S3) as the main primary Sb compound, bindhemite (Pb2Sb2O6(O,OH)), and minor proportions of stibiconite (Sb3+(Sb5+)2O6(OH)) as oxidised Sb species. This research also observes very high total Sb contents in mining materials (max: 20,000 mg kg−1) and soils (400–3000 mg kg−1), with physical dispersion around mining materials restricted to 450 m. The soil-to-plant transfer is very low, (bioaccumulation factor: 0.0002–0.1520). Most Sb remains in a residual fraction (99.9%), a very low fraction is bound to Fe and Mn oxy-hydroxides or organic matter, and a negligible proportion of Sb is leachable. The higher Sb mobility rates has been found under oxidising conditions with a long contact time between solids and water. The main factors that explain the poor Sb mobility and dispersion in the mining area are the low annual rainfall rates that slow down the Sb mobilisation process and the scarce formation of oxidised Sb compounds. All these data suggest poor Sb (III) formation and a low toxicological risk in the area associated with past mining activities. The low mobility of Sb suggests advantages for future sustainable mining of such ore deposits in a semi-arid climate and is also indicative of the limitations of geochemical exploration in the search for new Sb deposits

Novel Protein Biomarkers of Monoamine Metabolism Defects Correlate with Disease Severity

Background Genetic defects of monoamine neurotransmitters are rare neurological diseases amenable to treatment with variable response. They are major causes of early parkinsonism and other spectrum of movement disorders including dopa‐responsive dystonia. Objectives The objective of this study was to conduct proteomic studies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of patients with monoamine defects to detect biomarkers involved in pathophysiology, clinical phenotypes, and treatment response. Methods A total of 90 patients from diverse centers of the International Working Group on Neurotransmitter Related Disorders were included in the study (37 untreated before CSF collection, 48 treated and 5 unknown at the collection time). Clinical and molecular metadata were related to the protein abundances in the CSF. Results Concentrations of 4 proteins were significantly altered, detected by mass spectrometry, and confirmed by immunoassays. First, decreased levels of apolipoprotein D were found in severe cases of aromatic L‐amino acid decarboxylase deficiency. Second, low levels of apolipoprotein H were observed in patients with the severe phenotype of tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency, whereas increased concentrations of oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein were found in the same subset of patients with tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency. Third, decreased levels of collagen6A3 were observed in treated patients with tetrahydrobiopterin deficiency. Conclusion This study with the largest cohort of patients with monoamine defects studied so far reports the proteomic characterization of CSF and identifies 4 novel biomarkers that bring new insights into the consequences of early dopaminergic deprivation in the developing brain. They open new possibilities to understand their role in the pathophysiology of these disorders, and they may serve as potential predictors of disease severity and therapies. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Societ

XANES speciation of mercury in three mining districts - Almaden, Asturias (Spain), Idria (Slovenia)

The mobility, bioavailability and toxicity of mercury in the environment strongly depend on the chemical species in which it is present in soil, sediments, water or air. In mining districts, differences in mobility and bioavailability of mercury mainly arise from the different type of mineralization and ore processing. In this work, synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) has been taken advantage of to study the speciation of mercury in geological samples from three of the largest European mercury mining districts: Almadén (Spain), Idria (Slovenia) and Asturias (Spain). XANES has been complemented with a single extraction protocol for the determination of Hg mobility. Ore, calcines, dump material, soil, sediment and suspended particles from the three sites have been considered in the study. In the three sites, rather insoluble sulfide compounds (cinnabar and metacinnabar) were found to predominate. Minor amounts of more soluble mercury compounds (chlorides and sulfates) were also identified in some samples. Single extraction procedures have put forward a strong dependence of the mobility with the concentration of chlorides and sulfates. Differences in efficiency of roasting furnaces from the three sites have been found