Molecular Characterization of Apricot Germplasm from an Old Stone Collection

Increasing germplasm erosion requires the recovery and conservation of traditional cultivars before they disappear. Here we present a particular case in Spain where a thorough prospection of local fruit tree species was performed in the 1950s with detailed data of the origin of each genotype but, unfortunately, the accessions are no longer conserved in ex situ germplasm collections. However, for most of those cultivars, an old stone collection is still preserved. In order to analyze the diversity present at the time when the prospection was made and to which extent variability has been eroded, we developed a protocol in apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) to obtain DNA from maternal tissues of the stones of a sufficient quality to be amplified by PCR. The results obtained have been compared with the results from the profiles developed from apricot cultivars currently conserved in ex situ germplasm collections. The results highlight the fact that most of the old accessions are not conserved ex situ but provide a tool to prioritize the recovery of particular cultivars. The approach used in this work can also be applied to other plant species where seeds have been preserved

Technical performance and environmental assessment of an ionic liquid-based CCS process for hydrogen production

Hydrogen (H2) production combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is anticipated to be an important technology contributing to reduce the carbon footprint of current fossil-based H2 production systems. This work addresses for the first time the techno-environmental assessment of a CCS process based on the ionic liquid [Bmim][Acetate] for H2 production by steam methane reforming (SMR) and the comparison to conventional amine-based systems. Two different SMR plants using MDEA or [Bmim][Acetate] for CO2 capture were rigorously modelled using Aspen Plus to compute material and energy needs and emissions. Literature and simulation results were then used to perform a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of these processes based on the ReCiPe model. Solvent synthesis, CCS process and hydrogen production stages were considered for the cradle-to-gate analysis. Results showed that although [Bmim][Acetate] is a priori more harmful to the environment than amines (in a kg-to-kg comparison), LCIAs carried out for both CCS processes showed from 5 to 17 % lower environmental impacts values for all estimated categories when using [Bmim][Acetate] due to a 9.4 % more energy-efficient performance than MDEA, which also reduced a 17.4 % the total utility cost. Indeed, if a typical amine loss rate of 1.6 kg/tCO2 is assumed, the values of the environmental impacts increase up to 14 % for the IL-based CCS plant, but still maintaining its favorable results over MDEA. As consequence, the SMR plant with the IL-based CCS system exhibited 3–20 % lower values for most of the studied impact categories. These results contribute to shed some light on evaluating the sustainability of ILs with respect to conventional solvents for CO2 capture and to guide the synthesis of new more sustainable ILs but also, they would be used to compare the environmental burdens from the synthesis and process performance of other promising ILs for CO2 capture that are not environmentally assed yetThe authors are grateful to Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion ´ of Spain (project PID2020-118259RB-I00) and Comunidad de Madrid (project P2018/EMT4348) for financial suppor

L'Imposex: el seu estudi i evolució en Bolinus brandaris

El seguiment del fenomen de l'imposex (aparició de caràcters masculins en les femelles a causa de la presència del tributilestany (TBT) a l'aigua del mar) ha estat estudiat durant onze anys, de l999 a 2008, en el gasteròpode Bolinus brandaris, capturat principalment a la localitat de St. Carles de la Ràpita. Durant els primers set anys es van trobar anomalies anatòmiques en més d'un 90 % dels casos, malgrat les normes dictades per la Conselleria de Medi Ambient a partir de 1990 per evitar aquesta contaminació. Anatòmicament, es van observar petites diferències entre els conductes deferents i el penis del mascle respecte als de la femella. En els darrers tres anys aquest fenomen ha disminuït, i pràcticament ha desaparegut en els exemplars procedents de St. Carles de la Ràpita.The present work represent a case study of the evolution of the imposex phenomena in the Mediterranean sea. The presence of males secondary sexual characters in females caused by the TBT pollution of the sea water has been monitored during the last 11 years in the gastropod Bolinus brandaris, a commercially exploited neogastropod species with a distribution area extending along the whole Mediterranean sea and nearby Eastern Atlantic coast. The provenience of the monitored animals were from St. Carles de la Ràpita (Tarragona, Northeast coast of Spain). During the first seven years, females with imposex made up more than 90% of the population, in spite of the application of restrictive laws prohibiting the extensive usage of antifouling paints with TBT. The results of the study reveal the existence of some differences among functional males and imposex affected females in the histology and ultrastructural organization of the penis and vas deferent. The results also show a trend in the decrease of the percentage of females exhibiting imposex in the last three years. Besides, available data from the present year point to its almost complete disappearance in St. Carles de la Ràpita

Combined use of ISCR and biostimulation techniques in incomplete processes of reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated solvents

Pools of chloroethenes are more recalcitrant in the transition zone between aquifers and basal aquitards than those elsewhere in the aquifer. Although biodegradation of chloroethenes occur in this zone, it is a slow process and a remediation strategy is needed. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that combined strategy of biostimulation and in situ chemical reduction (ISCR) is more efficient than the two separated strategies. Four different microcosm experiments with sediment and groundwater of a selected field site where an aged perchloroethene (PCE)-pool exists at the bottom of a transition zone, were designed under i) natural conditions, ii) biostimulation with lactic acid, iii) in situ chemical reduction (ISCR)with zero valent iron (ZVI) and under iv) a combined strategy with lactic acid and ZVI. Biotic and abiotic dehalogenation, terminal electron acceptor processes and evolution of microbial communities were investigated for each experiment. The main results where: i) limited reductive dehalogenation of PCE occurs under sulfate-reducing conditions; ii) biostimulation with lactic acid promotes a more pronounced reductive dehalogenation of PCE in comparison under natural conditions, but resulted in an accumulation of cis-dichloroethene (cDCE); iii) ISCR with zero-valent iron (ZVI) facilitates a sustained dehalogenation of PCE and its metabolites to non-halogenated products, however, the iv) combined strategy results in the fastest and sustained dehalogenation of PCE to non-halogenated products in comparison of all four set-ups. These findings suggest that biostimulation and ISCRwith ZVI are the most suitable strategy for a complete reductive dehalogenation of PCE-pools in the transition zone

Assessment of bio-ionic liquids as promising solvents in industrial separation processes: Computational screening using COSMO-RS method

The use of organic solvents in the chemical industry for gas-liquid absorption or liquid-liquid extraction operations is still unavoidable. The search of “greener” solvents to replace fossil-based counterparts is a challenge for the scientific community. Biocompatible ionic liquids (bio-ILs) emerged as a sustainable approach for the development of greener processes. In this work, bio-ILs based on choline as common cation are evaluated as promising solvents in typical industrial separation processes such as gas absorption (refrigerants, CO2, H2S, NH3, or acetone) and liquid-liquid extraction (hydrocarbon separations, denitrogenation, desulfurization, and recovery of value-added compounds and/or contaminants from aqueous streams) by means of COSMO-RS method. Some bio-ILs show competitive behavior compared to the benchmark common ILs solvents for all the solutes evaluated. None of the solvents evaluated is predicted to form two liquid phases in aqueous solutions, so future work should be conducted on finding hydrophobic bio-ILs to perform these separations. On the other hand, bio-ILs in hydrocarbon separations by means of liquid-liquid extraction show competitive results in terms of selectivities (benzoate-based) and partition coefficients (bicarbonate-based) compared to benchmark sulfolane and common ILs previously testedThe authors are grateful to Comunidad de Madrid (project SUSTEC P2018/EMT-4348) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (project CTQ2017-89441-R) for its financial support and Centro de Computación Científica de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (CCC) for its computational resources. Rubén Santiago thanks Ministerio Universidades for his Margarita Salas contract (CA1/RSUE/2021-00585

The role of ecotones in the dehalogenation of chloroethenes in alluvial fan aquifers

The presence of ecotones in transition zones between geological strata (e.g. layers of gravel and sand interbedded with layers of silt in distal alluvial fan deposits) in aquifers plays a significant role in regulating the flux of matter and energy between compartments. Ecotones are characterised by steep physicochemical and biological gradients and considerable biological diversity. However, the link between organic pollutants and degradation potential in ecotones has scarcely been studied. The aim of this study is to relate the presence of ecotones with the dehalogenation of chloroethenes. A field site was selected where chloroethene contamination occurs in a granular aquifer with geological heterogeneities. The site is monitored by multilevel and conventional wells. Groundwater samples were analysed by chemical, isotopic, and molecular techniques. The main results were as follows: (1) two ecotones were characterised in the source area, one in the upper part of the aquifer and the second in the transition zone to the bottom aquitard, where the aged pool is located; (2) the ecotone located in the transition zone to the bottom aquitard has greater microbial diversity, due to higher geological heterogeneities; (3) both ecotones show the reductive dehalogenation of perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene; and (4) these ecotones are the main zones of the reductive dehalogenation of the pollutants, given the more reductive conditions at the centre of the plume. These findings suggest that ecotones are responsible for natural attenuation, where oxic conditions prevailed at the aquifer and bioremediation strategies could be applied more effectively in these zones to promote complete reductive dehalogenation

First principles study of the adsorption of C60 on Si(111)

The adsorption of C60 on Si(111) has been studied by means of first-principles density functional calculations. A 2x2 adatom surface reconstruction was used to simulate the terraces of the 7x7 reconstruction. The structure of several possible adsorption configurations was optimized using the ab initio atomic forces, finding good candidates for two different adsorption states observed experimentally. While the C60 molecule remains closely spherical, the silicon substrate appears quite soft, especially the adatoms, which move substantially to form extra C-Si bonds, at the expense of breaking Si-Si bonds. The structural relaxation has a much larger effect on the adsorption energies, which strongly depend on the adsorption configuration, than on the charge transfer.Comment: 4 pages with 3 postscript figures, to appear in Surf. Science. (proceedings of the European Conference on Surface Science ECOSS-19, Sept 2000

Impact of non-neurological complications in severe traumatic brain injury outcome

Introduction: Non-neurological complications in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are frequent, worsening the prognosis, but the pathophysiology of systemic complications after TBI is unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze non-neurological complications in patients with severe TBI admitted to the ICU, the impact of these complications on mortality, and their possible correlation with TBI severity. Methods: An observational retrospective cohort study was conducted in one multidisciplinary ICU of a university hospital (35 beds); 224 consecutive adult patients with severe TBI (initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) < 9) admitted to the ICU were included. Neurological and non-neurological variables were recorded. Results: Sepsis occurred in 75% of patients, respiratory infections in 68%, hypotension in 44%, severe respiratory failure (arterial oxygen pressure/oxygen inspired fraction ratio (PaO2/FiO(2)) < 200) in 41% and acute kidney injury (AKI) in 8%. The multivariate analysis showed that Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) at one year was independently associated with age, initial GCS 3 to 5, worst Traumatic Coma Data Bank (TCDB) first computed tomography (CT) scan and the presence of intracranial hypertension but not AKI. Hospital mortality was independently associated with initial GSC 3 to 5, worst TCDB first CT scan, the presence of intracranial hypertension and AKI. The presence of AKI regardless of GCS multiplied risk of death 6.17 times (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.37 to 27.78) (P < 0.02), while ICU hypotension increased the risk of death in patients with initial scores of 3 to 5 on the GCS 4.28 times (95% CI: 1.22 to15.07) (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Low initial GCS, worst first CT scan, intracranial hypertension and AKI determined hospital mortality in severe TBI patients. Besides the direct effect of low GCS on mortality, this neurological condition also is associated with ICU hypotension which increases hospital mortality among patients with severe TBI. These findings add to previous studies that showed that non-neurological complications increase the length of stay and morbidity in the ICU but do not increase mortality, with the exception of AKI and hypotension in low GCS (3 to 5)