SOIL POLLUTION BY HEAVY METAL AND MICROELEMENT MONITORING IN URBAN AREA.

Soil contamination by heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead, chromium, copper, zinc, mercury and arsenic, is a matter of great concern. Heavy metals are present naturally in the soil, but their levels are increased by industry (non-ferrous industries, power plants, iron, steel and chemical industries), agriculture (irrigation with polluted water, use of mineral fertilisers), waste incineration, combustion of fossil fuels and road traffic. Reduction of heavy metal emissions is the most direct way to decrease the atmospheric deposition of these elements and their build-up in the soil. In order to evaluate soil pollution in urban areas a monitoring activities focused on the soil-plant system were led in the last 2 years by our study group. Urban parks were investigated and used as indicator of soil contamination by heavy metal due to wet and dry atmospheric deposition. Heavy metal deposits on soils remain predominantly in the top few centimetres and can cause health risks for children and old people that usually frequent this green areas. The same approach was used to monitoring the land surrounding an incineration in the municipality of Granarolo dell'Emilia (Bologna province). The monitoring activities, focused on the soil-plant system, included seasonal sampling of topsoil, leaves, turfs and musks, at 12 sites located within a 3 km range from the incinerator and 6 urban parks in 3 different city of Emilia Romagna Region ( Bologna, Ferrara, Cesena). Each monitoring program lasted one year, during which four sampling campaigns were conducted in correspondence of seasonal changes. The samples collected were suitably treated and analysed by means of optical emission spectrometry using a CCD detector (ICP-OES, Spectro CIR.O.S.CCD). Integrated analysis of the different environmental matrixes permitted identification of the most critical sites, from an environmental standpoint, with respect to the content of heavy metals and microelements and the data repeatability. In addition a correlation between soil pollution and atmospheric deposition on leaves (broadleaf and conifer) and musks (Hypnum cupressiforme) were found. In particular the zones of the urban parks, directly connected with the main street, show critical concentrations of some elements (Zn and Pb) exceeding the limits established by current laws and directly connected with vehicular emissions

Development and evaluation of a decellularized membrane from human dermis

Interest is increasing in biological scaffolds for tissue regeneration, such as extracellular matrix (ECM) membranes, developed through soft tissue decellularization. The present study describes the development of a chemicophysical decellularization method applied to allogenic human-derived dermis (HDM). To evaluate the absence of viable cells and the maintenance of ECM structure, biological, histological and ultrastructural assessments were performed on the HDM membrane. Residual DNA content and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collagen contents were quantified. Growth factor (GF) release was directly measured on HDM extracts and indirectly measured by assessing cell proliferation after administering extract to cultures. Tensile tests were performed to measure the effect of the decellularization technique on the mechanical properties of tissue. Histocompatibility was investigated after subcutaneous implantation in rats. Residual DNA, GAG and collagen content measurements, vitality index, histology and electron microscopy showed the efficiency of the decellularization process and preservation of ECM matrix and bioactivity. In HDM extracts, among the tested GFs, transforming growth factor-\u3b21 showed the highest concentration. HDM extracts significantly increased the proliferation rate of L929 fibroblasts in comparison with controls (p\u2009<\u20090.005, p\u2009<\u20090.05 and p\u2009<\u20090.0005). Maximum load and stiffness of HDM were significantly higher than those of cellularized dermis (p\u2009<\u20090.0005, p\u2009<\u20090.005). Histological and histomorphometric analysis of explanted samples showed that the membrane was integrated with host tissues in the absence of inflammatory reactions. Our results show that the decellularization method allowed the development of a human allograft dermal matrix that might be useful for soft tissue regeneration

Cells tracking in a live zebrafish embryo

We designed a set of procedures for achieving the tracking of cell nuclei and the identification of cell divisions in live zebrafish embryos using 3D+time images acquired by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Our strategy includes image signal enhancement with feature preserving denoising algorithm, automated identification of the nuclei position, extraction of the optical flow from 3D images sequences and tracking of nucle