Desalinisation of seawater in Spain: Aspects to be considered in the design of the drainage system to protect the marine environment

RESUMEN. La puesta en marcha del vigente Plan Hidrológico Nacional implica un aumento significativo de la desalinización de agua marina como fuente de recurso hídrico en las cuencas costeras españolas, y con ello, del caudal de salmuera generado y vertido al Mar Mediterráneo, con riesgo de afección negativa sobre sus hábitats. El presente artículo ofrece a técnicos y gestores una visión completa y un análisis sobre los principales aspectos a considerar en los estudios de vertido al mar de la salmuera: efectos y umbrales críticos de salinidad para ecosistemas del Mar Mediterráneo, sistemas de descarga, comportamiento del efluente en el medio receptor, formulaciones matemáticas, herramientas y software de modelización disponibles y planes de vigilancia. Se concluye con una serie de recomendaciones de utilidad para el diseño de estos sistemas de vertido.ABSTRACT. The introduction of the new National Water Plan has implied a significant increase in the desalinisation of seawater as a source of water supply to the Spanish coastal basins. This has, in turn, generated a flow of brine that is discharged into the Mediterranean with potentially negative effects for the marine environment. The present article offers technicians and administrators a complete view and analysis of the main aspects to be considered in studies on the drainage of brine into the sea: the effects and critical thresholds of salinity for the ecosystems of the Mediterranean; drainage systems; behaviour of the effluent in the receiving medium; mathematical formulae, available modelling tools and software; and monitoring plans. The article concludes with a series of recommendations for the design of these drainage systems

Decreased salivary lactoferrin levels are specific to Alzheimer's disease

Background: Evidences of infectious pathogens in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains may suggest a deteriorated innate immune system in AD pathophysiology. We previously demonstrated reduced salivary lactoferrin (Lf) levels, one of the major antimicrobial proteins, in AD patients. Methods: To assess the clinical utility of salivary Lf for AD diagnosis, we examine the relationship between salivary Lf and cerebral amyloid-beta (A beta) load using amyloid-Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) neuroimaging, in two different cross-sectional cohorts including patients with different neurodegenerative disorders. Findings: The diagnostic performance of salivary Lf in the cohort 1 had an area under the curve [AUC] of 0.95 (0.911-0.992) for the differentiation of the prodromal AD/AD group positive for amyloid-PET (PET+) versus healthy group, and 0.97 (0.924-1) versus the frontotemporal dementia (FTD) group. In the cohort 2, salivary Lf had also an excellent diagnostic performance in the health control group versus prodromal AD comparison: AUC 0.93 (0.876-0.989). Salivary Lf detected prodromal AD and AD dementia distinguishing them from FTD with over 87% sensitivity and 91% specificity. Interpretation: Salivary Lf seems to have a very good diagnostic performance to detect AD. Our findings support the possible utility of salivary Lf as a new non-invasive and cost-effective AD biomarker.This study was supported by Dr. Carro grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS15/00780, FIS18/00118), FEDER, Comunidad de Madrid (S2017/BMD-3700; NEUROMETAB-CM), and CIBERNED (PI2016/01). This study was also supported by research grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF201785310-R to Dr. Cantero, PSI2017-85311-P to Dr. Atienza); International Centre on ageing CENIE-POCTEP (0348_CIE_6_E to Dr. Atienza); and CIBERNED (CB06/05/1111 to Dr. Cantero). Dr. Bueno receives research funding from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (PIE16/00021, PI17/01799). The H2H-Spain Study was supported in Spain by grant PIE16/00021 from Instituto Carlos III, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and additional funds from the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC). The CNIC is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the Pro CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence (SEV-2015-0505). The funders had no role in the conceptualisation, study design, data collection analysis and preparation of this manuscript

Experimental and numerical optimization of brine discharges in the marine environment

RESUMEN: Los vertidos al mar de la salmuera de las plantas desaladoras es una reciente preocupación medio ambiental para la que no existe normativa. Esta Tesis trata de solventar esta carencia, desarrollando una Guía Metodológica para el diseño de los vertidos al mar de la salmuera, minimizando su impacto sobre el medio marino. El desarrollo de esta guía ha requerido profundizar en algunos aspectos en los que existen vacíos de conocimiento científico, como es el comportamiento de estos vertidos con flotabilidad negativa y su predicción mediante modelado. Para ello, en el marco de esta Tesis, se han realizado ensayos experimentales con técnicas ópticas avanzadas, PIV y PLIF, analizando sus resultados para comprender los procesos hidrodinámicos y de mezcla del flujo. Además, se han analizado de forma crítica y validado los modelos comerciales más utilizados en la simulación de vertidos de salmuera con el fin de evaluar su fiabilidad. Finalmente, se han desarrollado nuevas herramientas de modelado numérico, “brIHne”, como una alternativa mejorada a los modelos comerciales, haciéndolas accesibles a potenciales usuarios a través de un portal web.ABSTRACT: Brine discharge into seawaters is a recent environmental concern for which at the moment there is no regulation in place, causing uncertainties in the environmental evaluation of this type of discharges. This thesis aims to solve this lack by developing a methodology to design brine discharges aiming to minimize the potential impact on the marine environment. The development of this guide has required to deep in some aspects with gaps in scientific knowledge, especially those related to the behavior of negatively buoyant effluents and its prediction by modeling. Therefore, in this thesis framework, a set of experimental tests has been carried out by using PIV and PLIF advanced optical techniques. The experimental results have been analyzed to better understand the hydrodynamic and mixing processes within the flow. Furthermore, the most used commercial models to simulate brine discharges have been critically analyzed and validated with experimental data in order to assess their reliability and feasibility in the simulation of brine discharges. Furthermore, new numerical tools, “brIHne”, have been developed within the Thesis, as an improved alternative to commercial models, making them available to end users through a website

Subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin for prevention of disease in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trialResearch in context

Summary: Background: Anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin (hIG) can provide standardized and controlled antibody content. Data from controlled clinical trials using hIG for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 outpatients have not been reported. We assessed the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin 20% (C19-IG20%) compared to placebo in preventing development of symptomatic COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We did a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in asymptomatic unvaccinated adults (≥18 years of age) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 days between April 28 and December 27, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a blinded subcutaneous infusion of 10 mL with 1 g or 2 g of C19-IG20%, or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who remained asymptomatic through day 14 after infusion. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of individuals who required oxygen supplementation, any medically attended visit, hospitalisation, or ICU, and viral load reduction and viral clearance in nasopharyngeal swabs. Safety was assessed as the proportion of patients with adverse events. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of potential benefit in the target population in a planned interim analysis conducted in December 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT04847141. Findings: 461 individuals (mean age 39.6 years [SD 12.8]) were randomized and received the intervention within a mean of 3.1 (SD 1.27) days from a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. In the prespecified modified intention-to-treat analysis that included only participants who received a subcutaneous infusion, the primary outcome occurred in 59.9% (91/152) of participants receiving 1 g C19-IG20%, 64.7% (99/153) receiving 2 g, and 63.5% (99/156) receiving placebo (difference in proportions 1 g C19-IG20% vs. placebo, −3.6%; 95% CI -14.6% to 7.3%, p = 0.53; 2 g C19-IG20% vs placebo, 1.1%; −9.6% to 11.9%, p = 0.85). None of the secondary clinical efficacy endpoints or virological endpoints were significantly different between study groups. Adverse event rate was similar between groups, and no severe or life-threatening adverse events related to investigational product infusion were reported. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that administration of subcutaneous human hyperimmune immunoglobulin C19-IG20% to asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe but did not prevent development of symptomatic COVID-19. Funding: Grifols