Evaluation of amendments in the rehabilitation of sulfide mine tailings from São Domingos

RAMIRAN International ConferenceThe São Domingos mining area is located in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, SE Portugal, and represents a serious environmental hazard (Matos and Martins, 2006). Exploitation dated back to pre-roman and roman times with extraction of Ag, Au and Cu exploitation, mainly in the gossan (resulting from the ore weathering). The intense exploitation started in the middle of 19th century, both in the gossan and sulfide ore-containing Cu, Zn, As and Pb, and lasted until 1960, with the exhaustion of the ore (Quental et al., 2002). Different types of waste materials were left: gossan, host rocks (volcanic with shales, and shales), roman and modern slags, smelting ashes and brittle and blocks of pyrite (Matos, 2004; Álvarez-Valero et al., 2008). All sulfide mine wastes are typically heterogeneous and contain high amounts of trace elements, acidic pH and small contents of organic matter and nutrients. The large dumps containing pyrite and other metal sulfides generate, by oxidation, acidic mine drainage (AMD) which increases the availability of trace elements for microorganisms and plants in the surrounding soils. All of these characteristics contribute towards a system that is barely capable of supporting the establishment or survival of plants. The use of amendments and spontaneous colonization (vegetation) from mining areas (phytostabilization) are cost-effective and environmentally sustainable methods to rehabilitate these contaminated and degraded areas even in arid and semi-arid conditions (Tordoff et al., 2000; Mendez and Maier, 2008). Thus, the preparation of Technosols from mixtures of organic and inorganic wastes can be an attractive option to rehabilitate mining areas because they can improve physical, chemical and biological properties contributing, at the same time, towards a strategy of wastes valorisation (Macías, 2004). The use of mixtures composed of residues with different C:N ratios can be used to manipulate the rate of mineralization. Nevertheless, the amendments used should also promote other soil functions (Arbestain et al., 2008). The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of cost-effective organic and inorganic amendments, available in the region, in the rehabilitation of sulfide materials from the São Domingos mine are

Radioactive Decay Studies of Nuclei Produced from Bombardment by Intermediate-Energy Neutrons

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant PHY 76-84033 and Indiana Universit

Studies of 49≤Z≤51 and N≥50 Nuclei at Intermediate Energies

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant PHY 75-00289 and Indiana Universit

Radioactive Decay Studies of Nuclei Produced from Bombardment by Intermediate-Energy Neutrons

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant PHY 75-00289 and Indiana Universit

Planck 2015 results. XXVII. The Second Planck Catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich Sources

We present the all-sky Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) sources detected from the 29 month full-mission data. The catalogue (PSZ2) is the largest SZ-selected sample of galaxy clusters yet produced and the deepest all-sky catalogue of galaxy clusters. It contains 1653 detections, of which 1203 are confirmed clusters with identified counterparts in external data-sets, and is the first SZ-selected cluster survey containing > $10^3$ confirmed clusters. We present a detailed analysis of the survey selection function in terms of its completeness and statistical reliability, placing a lower limit of 83% on the purity. Using simulations, we find that the Y5R500 estimates are robust to pressure-profile variation and beam systematics, but accurate conversion to Y500 requires. the use of prior information on the cluster extent. We describe the multi-wavelength search for counterparts in ancillary data, which makes use of radio, microwave, infra-red, optical and X-ray data-sets, and which places emphasis on the robustness of the counterpart match. We discuss the physical properties of the new sample and identify a population of low-redshift X-ray under- luminous clusters revealed by SZ selection. These objects appear in optical and SZ surveys with consistent properties for their mass, but are almost absent from ROSAT X-ray selected samples

Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology

1. Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance. 2. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. 3. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Using a set of criteria designed to identify realistic and achievable research goals, we selected questions from a pool submitted by the international palaeoecology research community and relevant policy practitioners. 4. The integration of online participation, both before and during the workshop, increased international engagement in question selection. 5. The questions selected are structured around six themes: human–environment interactions in the Anthropocene; biodiversity, conservation and novel ecosystems; biodiversity over long time-scales; ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling; comparing, combining and synthesizing information from multiple records; and new developments in palaeoecology. 6. Future opportunities in palaeoecology are related to improved incorporation of uncertainty into reconstructions, an enhanced understanding of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and processes and the continued application of long-term data for better-informed landscape management

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362