Dry Sand Quality: The Case Study of a Touristic Beach from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Coastal contamination became a growing public health concern. Enteric illness outbreaks, and the occurrence of dermatitis and mycoses during the summer season in leisure areas, were usually related to seawater pollution. Pathogenic microorganisms can reach coastal areas through sewage discharges, compromising marine water, and beach quality. Although sand transmission of enteric illness is still unclear, there is an expressed concern that sand may act as reservoirs or vectors for humans infection. In this context, the main hypotheses of this study were: (i) fecal coliforms density changes within beach compartments; (ii) dry sand is the most contaminated beach compartment; (ii) fecal coliforms densities are within international standard limits for sand. Therefore, this case study quantified and compared within three months total fecal bacteria (TC) and thermotolerant coliforms (TEC) densities in seawater, wet, and dry sand of a chosen touristic beach from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Furthermore, to contribute to coastal beach management, sand contamination data surveyed were compared with the standard limits ruling worldwide until April 2018 to check suitableness. Vermelha beach should be considered as a reference beach for sand monitoring in Brazil. Despite being a buffer zone from the MONA Pão Açucar conservation unit, it is subjected to intense touristic pressure. Even though, fecal bacteria densities quantified in Vermelha beach were within the standards of “excellent” quality sand and water according to current legislation/guidelines. However, dry sand was the most contaminated compartment, followed by seawater and wet sand. The bacterial density in dry sand was up to 4,600 times higher than wet sand. Except for Rio de Janeiro city, recreational guidelines for beach quality is exclusive for seawater contamination. There are no established parameters for recreational beach sand classification, only recommendations, including Portugal. Monitoring recreational beach dry sand is critical to reducing the risk of beachgoer exposure to pathogens.A contaminação costeira tornou-se uma crescente preocupação de saúde pública. Surtos de doenças entéricas e a ocorrência de dermatites e micoses durante o verão nas áreas de lazer estão geralmente associados à poluição da água do mar. Os microorganismos patogênicos podem atingir áreas costeiras através de descargas de esgoto, comprometendo a água do mar e a qualidade da praia. Embora a transmissão de doenças entéricas pela areia ainda não esteja clara, existe uma preocupação de que a areia possa atuar como reservatório ou vetor da infecção para seres humanos. Nesse contexto, as principais hipóteses deste estudo foram: (i) alterações na densidade dos coliformes fecais nos compartimentos da praia; (ii) areia seca é o compartimento de praia mais contaminado; (ii) as densidades de coliformes fecais estão dentro dos limites do padrão internacional para areia. Portanto, este estudo de caso quantificou e comparou por três meses as densidades de colformes totais (CT) e termotolerantes (TEC) na água do mar, areia molhada e seca de uma praia turística escolhida do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Além disso, para contribuir para o gerenciamento das praias costeiras, os dados de contaminação da areia pesquisados foram comparados com os limites padrão vigentes em todo o mundo até abril de 2018 para verificar a adequação. A praia Vermelha deve ser considerada uma praia de referência para o monitoramento de areia no Brasil. Apesar de ser uma zona tampão da unidade de conservação MONA Pão Açúcar, está sujeita a intensa pressão turística. Mesmo assim, as densidades de bactérias fecais quantificadas na praia Vermelha estavam dentro dos padrões de “excelente” areia e água de qualidade, de acordo com a legislação / diretrizes vigentes. No entanto, a areia seca foi o compartimento mais contaminado, seguido pela água do mar e areia úmida. A densidade bacteriana na areia seca foi até 4.600 vezes maior que a areia úmida. Exceto na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, as diretrizes recreativas para a qualidade das praias são exclusivas para a contaminação da água do mar. Não existem parâmetros estabelecidos para a classificação de areia recreativa na praia, apenas recomendações, incluindo Portugal. O monitoramento da areia seca na praia é fundamental para reduzir o risco de exposição dos banhistas a estes patógenos

Ciência para agir: experiências do primeiro ano de programa

Com objetivo de fomentar o interesse científico no jovem e discutir com a sociedade os problemas relacionados ao meio ambiente e saúde, este programa busca uma integração entre pesquisa, ensino e extensão. No ano de 2017, as atividades extensionistas focaram no tema “qualidade da água”, buscando divulgar os principais resultados de pesquisa desenvolvidos pelos pesquisadores extensionistas nas comunidades atendidas. A parceria com a ONG O Nosso Papel, permitiu que as oficinas fossem desenvolvidas nas entidades beneficiadas pelo Ponto de Cultura Fazendo diferença em Paquetá. A participação de estudantes da UNIRIO nas atividades favorece que o conhecimento adquirido através das nossas atividades se transforme em ação e mudança. Com objetivo de fomentar o interesse científico no jovem e discutir com a sociedade os problemas relacionados ao meio ambiente e saúde, este programa busca uma integração entre pesquisa, ensino e extensão. No ano de 2017, as atividades extensionistas focaram no tema “qualidade da água”, buscando divulgar os principais resultados de pesquisa desenvolvidos pelos pesquisadores extensionistas nas comunidades atendidas. A parceria com a ONG O Nosso Papel, permitiu que as oficinas fossem desenvolvidas nas entidades beneficiadas pelo Ponto de Cultura Fazendo diferença em Paquetá. A participação de estudantes da UNIRIO nas atividades favorece que o conhecimento adquirido através das nossas atividades se transforme em ação e mudança

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used