Fish farming water quality and environmental concerns in Argentina: a Regional approach

In spite of the steady increase in fish farming in Argentina, studies on water quality are scarce. Eight fish farms from two different regions in the northeast and east of Argentina were studied to explore source and effluent water quality. Ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3-), and nitrite (NO2-) levels were measured. High nitrate concentrations in water source were observed in the eastern region farms. An increase in NH4-, NO3-, and NO2- in effluent water was determined in most of the sampled farms. Heavy metals (i.e.,cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, and zinc) and arsenic concentrations were analyzed. Heavy metal concentrations were below the detection limit in the northern region. However, As was detected in the water source of five farms and was over the recommended limit (100 lgl-1) for aquaculture in one. An increase in Mn and Zn concentrations in effluent water was observed in two farms. The lack of treatment of the effluent water in these farms leads to an increase of nutrients and heavy metal concentrations in the surrounding areas. Environmental effects of fish-farming practices in Argentina are discussedFil: Schenone, Nahuel Francisco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Centro de Estudios Transdisciplinarios del Agua; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; ArgentinaFil: Vackova, Lenka. Institute Of Chemical Technology Prague; República ChecaFil: Fernandez Cirelli, Alicia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Centro de Estudios Transdisciplinarios del Agua; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; Argentin

Polyunsaturated fatty acids metabolism, purine metabolism and inosine as potential independent diagnostic biomarkers for major depressive disorder in children and adolescents

Major depressive disorder (MDD) in children and adolescents is a recurrent and disabling condition globally but its pathophysiology remains poorly elucidated and there are limited effective treatments available. We performed metabolic profiling of plasma samples based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with quadrupole time-offlight mass spectrometry to explore the potential biomarkers of depression in children and adolescents with MDD. We identified several perturbed pathways, including fatty acid metabolism—particularly the polyunsaturated fatty acids metabolism, and purine metabolism—that were associated with MDD in these young patients. In addition, inosine was shown as a potential independent diagnostic biomarker for MDD, achieving an area under the ROC curve of 0.999 in discriminating drug-naive MDD patients and 0.866 in discriminating drug-treated MDD from healthy controls. Moreover, we found evidence for differences in the pathophysiology of MDD in children and adolescents to that of adult MDD, specifically with tryptophan metabolism. Through metabolomic analysis, we have identified links between a framework of metabolic perturbations and the pathophysiology and diagnostic biomarker of child and adolescent MDD