Risk assessment and prioritization of pollutants in continental Mediterranean waters based on hazard quotients

The input of chemical pollutants into the aquatic environment is growing but their potential adverse effects on the ecosystem still remain largely unknown. Therefore the development of appropriate risk assessment procedures capable to provide a prioritization of potential pollutants becomes necessary. Here we identify priority compounds specific to Mediterranean rivers and compare them to those found in other rivers worldwide. To this purpose hazard quotients (HQ) defined as the ratio of measured environmental concentration (MEC) to predicted non effect concentration (PNEC) referred to different trophic levels were calculated for different compounds selected from different existing prioritization schemes, as well as 15 priority substances identified under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and compared for cases of Mediterranean vs. North European and USA rivers. [Contrib Sci 10:125-134 (2014)

Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health of Oncology Healthcare Workers and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic has caused serious health crises around the world such as psychological reactions of health workers. The way we work (stress, anxiety) and the activities assigned to pharmacists, such as vaccination, have changed. In addition to these problems, numerous ethical questions and moral doubts are increasingly emerging are inevitable during the treatment and care of patients in this extremely difficult situation. Work in the oncology department is stressful even when there is no epidemic/pandemic. Constant changes in hospital protocols, reorganization of work, influx of patients, work in intensive conditions and other new challenges of adaptation to the new situation affect both the physical and mental health of healthcare workers. Together with physicians and nurses, pharmacists were one of the professional categories most exposed to the risk of SARS- CoV-2 infection since the pandemic onset. Together with this crisis, pharmaceutical care entered a new phase demonstrating the ability of pharmacists to be competent and accessible providers of public health. Preserving the mental health of healthcare workers are very important so that they can perform their work with quality and conscientiousness. Health care corporations should consider providing coverage for mental health treatment for employees who experience COVID-19 traumas

Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs

Dogs were the first domestic animal, but little is known about their population history and to what extent it was linked to humans. We sequenced 27 ancient dog genomes and found that all dogs share a common ancestry distinct from present-day wolves, with limited gene flow from wolves since domestication but substantial dog-to-wolf gene flow. By 11,000 years ago, at least five major ancestry lineages had diversified, demonstrating a deep genetic history of dogs during the Paleolithic. Coanalysis with human genomes reveals aspects of dog population history that mirror humans, including Levant-related ancestry in Africa and early agricultural Europe. Other aspects differ, including the impacts of steppe pastoralist expansions in West and East Eurasia and a near-complete turnover of Neolithic European dog ancestry

Overview of the use of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer with a focus on Montenegro

The project examines the current state-of-the-art and use of radiation therapy in treatment of cancer patients. It surveys which modalities are currently available and how and when they are used, and the advantage and disadvantages of the various treatments used with a specific emphasis on Montenegro and South - Eastern Europe (SEE). This status has been looked at in terms of the current practices in Montenegro and SEE region. There is a detailed analysis of hadron therapy (HT) field both in terms of technology and the possible benefits since the idea is to explore the scope for HT in the SEE region and what is needed to make this a reality

Sustainable Arenas for Weedy Sociality | Distributed Wilderness

Introduction: The desert of the real The process of globalization is causing a rapid decrease of diversity in the social, biological and cultural habitats, due to the dominant economic powers, such as proprietary communication technologies and transnational 'life industries'. Physical public spaces, as arenas for a wide range of interaction and social change are losing their importance, as the global marketplace has shifted its locus from the accessible public markets to the dispersed and abstract global networks. Those physical spaces that remain have largely become ornamental simulacra of common living space - voids and deserts. In fact to call the city's voids deserts would do injustice to the harsh vitality of the desert habitats. Wastelands might be a more appropriate term in this context. It is not reality but the imaginary that we propose to grow again, in the heart of our cities. How? By seeding the city's empty spaces with 'weeds', by cracking the crystal lattices of the urb

Risk assessment and prioritization of pollutants in continental Mediterranean waters based on hazard quotients

The input of chemical pollutants into the aquatic environment is growing but their potential adverse effects on the ecosystem still remain largely unknown. Therefore the development of appropriate risk assessment procedures capable to provide a prioritization of potential pollutants becomes a must. Here we identify priority compounds specific to Mediterranean rivers and compare them to those found in other rivers worldwide. To this purpose hazard quotients (HQ) defined as the ratio of measured environmental concentration (MEC) to predicted non effect concentration (PNEC) referred to different trophic levels were calculated for different compounds selected from different existing prioritization schemes, as well as 15 priority substances identified under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and compared for cases of Mediterranean vs. North European and USA rivers. [Contrib Sci 10:125-134 (2014)

Consciousness Reframed III

This paper focuses on the potential applications of hybrid reality in the cultural sphere, where media and technologies can be used for multisensory stimulation and interaction. We investigate the capacity of hybrid spaces to incite alternative states of consciousness, similar to what mystics, alchemists and shamans describe as a journey towards rapture (a state of overwhelming emotion). The two projects that we discuss here, GoTo and T-Garden, explore the notion of sensual communication that occurs when the virtual and the physical intermingle in the same reality. The media become tangible and the senses distributed. Distancing ourselves from the modernist ideals of an independent mind, we strive towards embodied, actualised imaginaries, through which people navigate following a corporeal language. Keywords language, hybrid reality, tactility, transmutation, mysticism, alchemy, shamanism Unity, Transmutation and Rapture "Among medieval philosophers love rose from the soul toward th

Artful Media

this article, we learn of the exciting work done by the group FoAM, in which entire environments are transformed into responsive spaces where people are inextricably part of influencing their environment by their presence, actions, and even intentions. FoAM offers a small window into the future of presence technology---where a person's intentions, as well as their actions, can effect chang

Ecotoxicological risk assessment of chemical pollution in four Iberian river basins and its relationship with the aquatic macroinvertebrate community status

Ecotoxicological risk assessment of chemical pollution in four Iberian river basins (Llobregat, Ebro, Júcar and Guadalquivir) was performed. The data set included more than 200 emerging and priority compounds measured at 77 sampling sites along four river basins studied. The toxic units (TU) approach was used to assess the risk of individual compounds and the concentration addition model (CA) to assess the site specific risk. Link between chemical pollution and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in situ was examined by using four biological indexes; SPEAR ("Species at Risk Index") as the indicator of decline of sensitive species in relation to general organic (SPEAR) and pesticides (SPEAR) pollution; and Shannon and Margalef biodiversity indexes. The results of the study suggested that organic chemicals posed the risk of acute effects at 42% of the sampling sites and the risk of chronic effects at all the sites. Metals posed the acute risk at 44% of the sites. The main drivers of the risk were mainly pesticides and metals. However, several emerging contaminants (e.g. the antidepressant drug sertraline and the disinfectant triclosan) were contributing to the chronic effects risk. When risk associated with metals and organic chemicals was compared, the latter dominated in 2010, mainly due to the presence of highly toxic pesticides, while metals did in 2011. Compounds that are not regulated on the European level were posing the risk of chronic effects at 23% of the sites. The decline of sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa expressed in terms of SPEAR index was correlated with the increase of toxic stress related to organic compounds Biodiversity indexes were negatively correlated with the metals and the urban land use type in the catchment