Integrated chemical/biological treatment of paint stripper mixed waste: Metals toxicity and separation

The DOE complex has generated vast quantities of complex heterogeneous mixed wastes. Paint stripper waste (PSW) is a complex waste that arose from decontamination and decommissioning activities. It contains paint stripper, cheesecloth, cellulose-based paints with Pb and Cr, and suspect Pu. Los Alamos National Laboratory has 150--200 barrels of PSW and other national laboratories such as Rocky Flats Plant have many more barrels of heterogeneous waste. Few technologies exist that can treat this complex waste. Our approach to solving this problem is the integration of two established technologies: biodegradation and metals chelation

LY6E impairs coronavirus fusion and confers immune control of viral disease.

Zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs) are substantial threats to global health, as exemplified by the emergence of two severe acute respiratory syndrome CoVs (SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2) and Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV) within two decades1-3. Host immune responses to CoVs are complex and regulated in part through antiviral interferons. However, interferon-stimulated gene products that inhibit CoVs are not well characterized4. Here, we show that lymphocyte antigen 6 complex, locus E (LY6E) potently restricts infection by multiple CoVs, including SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. Mechanistic studies revealed that LY6E inhibits CoV entry into cells by interfering with spike protein-mediated membrane fusion. Importantly, mice lacking Ly6e in immune cells were highly susceptible to a murine CoV-mouse hepatitis virus. Exacerbated viral pathogenesis in Ly6e knockout mice was accompanied by loss of hepatic immune cells, higher splenic viral burden and reduction in global antiviral gene pathways. Accordingly, we found that constitutive Ly6e directly protects primary B cells from murine CoV infection. Our results show that LY6E is a critical antiviral immune effector that controls CoV infection and pathogenesis. These findings advance our understanding of immune-mediated control of CoV in vitro and in vivo-knowledge that could help inform strategies to combat infection by emerging CoVs

Contaminação por mercúrio em sedimento e em moluscos do Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brasil Mercury contamination in sediment and in molluscs of Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil

<abstract language="eng">The total level of mercury detected in the sediment and in the tissues of molluscs from the Bento Gomes basin, although low, have shown that the mercury used in the gold mining activities in the Poconé wetlands has contaminated those aquatic habitats in Pantanal. From 69 sediment samples analyzed, 26 % (N = 18) have shown levels ranging from 0.01 to 0.25µg.g-1 of mercury (moist weight). Mercury levels analyzed in 54 samples of mollusc tissues (Ampullaria scalaris Orbigny, 1835; A. canaliculata Lamarck, 1819 and Marisa planogyra Pilsbry, 1933) have shown that 30% (N = 16) were contaminated with levels ranging from 0.02 to 1.16µg.g-1 moist weight. This study shows that the mercury used in digs for gold mining and released into the environment has reached the habitats of Pantanal spread from the sediment into the molluscs living in the region

In situ immune response and mechanisms of cell damage in central nervous system of fatal cases microcephaly by Zika virus

Abstract Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently caused a pandemic disease, and many cases of ZIKV infection in pregnant women resulted in abortion, stillbirth, deaths and congenital defects including microcephaly, which now has been proposed as ZIKV congenital syndrome. This study aimed to investigate the in situ immune response profile and mechanisms of neuronal cell damage in fatal Zika microcephaly cases. Brain tissue samples were collected from 15 cases, including 10 microcephalic ZIKV-positive neonates with fatal outcome and five neonatal control flavivirus-negative neonates that died due to other causes, but with preserved central nervous system (CNS) architecture. In microcephaly cases, the histopathological features of the tissue samples were characterized in three CNS areas (meninges, perivascular space, and parenchyma). The changes found were mainly calcification, necrosis, neuronophagy, gliosis, microglial nodules, and inflammatory infiltration of mononuclear cells. The in situ immune response against ZIKV in the CNS of newborns is complex. Despite the predominant expression of Th2 cytokines, other cytokines such as Th1, Th17, Treg, Th9, and Th22 are involved to a lesser extent, but are still likely to participate in the immunopathogenic mechanisms of neural disease in fatal cases of microcephaly caused by ZIKV