Assessment of the Bioavailability and Speciation of Heavy Metal(loid)s and Hydrocarbons for Risk-Based Soil Remediation

For the assessment of the environmental and sanitary risks deriving from contamination of agricultural soils, it is crucial to identify and characterize the contaminants and study the soil chemical properties influencing their mobility and bioavailability. This information is essential for the selection of the best site remediation and securing strategy. The study site of this work is agricultural land of 6 ha in the province of Naples (Italy) subject to the past illegal burial of industrial wastes, principally from tanneries. With the aim of identifying the contaminants and assessing their mobility and bioavailability, the soil of the site was characterized for the main chemical and physical properties and for the concentration of potentially toxic elements and hydrocarbons. The readily and potentially bioavailable fractions of the main metal contaminants and their distribution in the soil geochemical fractions were determined by extraction in 1 M of NH4NO3, 0.05 M of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) pH 7, and European Community Bureau of Reference (EU-BCR) sequential fractionation. Further, the speciation of heavy hydrocarbons and chromium was carried out. The agricultural soil was widely contaminated by chromium, zinc, and heavy hydrocarbons (up to 4487, 1846, and 1800 mg/kg, respectively). In some sub-areas, contaminations by cadmium, lead, and copper (up to 283, 417, and 1183 mg/kg, respectively) were also observed. The chromium was found to be scarcely mobile and bioavailable and was mainly associated with the oxidizable, residual, and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 56%, 25%, and 19% of the total, respectively). However, chromium speciation revealed the presence of a significant amount of highly toxic Cr(VI) (above the legal threshold of 2 mg/kg), despite the low oxidizing power of the soil. Zinc was more mobile and bioavailable than chromium and was mainly distributed among the acetic acid-extractable and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 28% and 47% of the total, respectively). Cadmium was found to be very mobile and bioavailable, and was mainly distributed in the acetic acid-extractable and reducible fractions of the soil (on average 40% and 45% of the total). The speciation of heavy hydrocarbons showed that they consist almost entirely of long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, considered not very toxic and immobile. These results suggest that the use of not-edible plant coverage might be the best securing and remediation action for the study site, with the potential to preserve the soil ecosystem services, contain the risk of soil erosion and particle dispersion, and phytoextract the bioavailable metals

Spontaneous physical activity down-regulates Pax7 in cancer cachexia

Emerging evidence suggests that the muscle microenvironment plays a prominent role in cancer cachexia. We recently showed that NF-kB - induced Pax7 overexpression impairs the myogenic potential of muscle precursors in cachectic mice, suggesting that lowering Pax7 expression may be beneficial in cancer cachexia. We evaluated the muscle regenerative potential after acute injury in C26 colon carcinoma tumor-bearing mice and healthy controls. Our analyses confirmed that the delayed muscle regeneration observed in muscles form tumor-bearing mice was associated with a persistent local inflammation and Pax7 overexpression. Physical activity is known to exert positive effects on cachectic muscles. However, the mechanism by which a moderate voluntary exercise ameliorates muscle wasting is not fully elucidated. To verify if physical activity affects Pax7 expression, we hosted control and C26-bearing mice in wheel-equipped cages and we found that voluntary wheel running down-regulated Pax7 expression in muscles from tumor-bearing mice. As expected, down-regulation of Pax7 expression was associated with a rescue of muscle mass and fiber size. Our findings shed light on the molecular basis of the beneficial effect exerted by a moderate physical exercise on muscle stem cells in cancer cachexia. Furthermore, we propose voluntary exercise as a physiological tool to counteract the over-expression of Pax7observed in cancer cachexia

Comparative analysis of heterogeneity of primary photosynthetic processes within fruticose lichen thalli: Preliminary study of interspecific differences

Two species of fruticose lichens from different habitats and of distinct color, Usnea antarctica and Stereocaulon vesuvianum, were compared using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in order to study the distribution of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli. The thallus of U. antarctica is yellow with black tips: in this species chlorophyll containing cells were mostly located in the middle region of the thallus and the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the middle to basal region, as shown by the FV/FM and PhiPSII values. No chlorophyll fluorescence was detected in the apical part of the thallus, indicating that little or no photosynthesis takes place in these tissues. The lichen S. vesuvianum is homogeneously pale grayish green and chlorophyll containing cells are distributed along the thallus with maximum concentration in the middle region. In S. vesuvianum, the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the apical to middle region of the thallus, while the basal portion was found to have the lowest efficiency of primary photochemical reactions. Quenching analysis data confirmed the uneven patterns of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli of these fruticose lichens.Byly porovnany primarni fotosynteticke procesy dvou druhu lisejniku s kerickovitym morfotypem stelky.Two species of fruticose lichens from different habitats and of distinct color, Usnea antarctica and Stereocaulon vesuvianum, were compared using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in order to study the distribution of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli. The thallus of U. antarctica is yellow with black tips: in this species chlorophyll containing cells were mostly located in the middle region of the thallus and the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the middle to basal region, as shown by the FV/FM and PhiPSII values. No chlorophyll fluorescence was detected in the apical part of the thallus, indicating that little or no photosynthesis takes place in these tissues. The lichen S. vesuvianum is homogeneously pale grayish green and chlorophyll containing cells are distributed along the thallus with maximum concentration in the middle region. In S. vesuvianum, the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the apical to middle region of the thallus, while the basal portion was found to have the lowest efficiency of primary photochemical reactions. Quenching analysis data confirmed the uneven patterns of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli of these fruticose lichens

Comparative analysis of heterogeneity of primary photosynthe-tic processes within fruticose lichen thalli: Preliminary study of interspecific differences ( Short Communication )

Two species of fruticose lichens from different habitats and of distinct color, Usnea antarctica and Stereocaulon vesuvianum, were compared using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in order to study the distribution of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli. The thallus of U. antarctica is yellow with black tips: in this species chlorophyll containing cells were mostly located in the middle region of the thallus and the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the middle to basal region, as shown by the FV/FM and ΦPSII values. No chlorophyll fluorescence was detected in the apical part of the thallus, indicating that little or no photosynthesis takes place in these tissues. The lichen S. vesuvianum is homogeneously pale grayish green and chlorophyll containing cells are distributed along the thallus with maximum concentration in the middle region. In S. vesuvianum, the highest PS II efficiency was detected in the apical to middle region of the thallus, while the basal portion was found to have the lowest efficiency of primary photochemical reactions. Quenching analysis data confirmed the uneven patterns of primary photosynthetic processes within the thalli of these fruticose lichens

Mucoadhesive tablets for buccal administration containing sodium nimesulide.

The possibility of improving the flux of nimesulide across the buccal mucosa using the drug in the form of a sodium salt was investigated in our study. The salt form may increase to flux across buccal membrane, starting from a suspension; its lower permeation coefficient is compensated by a higher concentration gradient. The salt was inserted into a mucoadhesive tablet for buccal administration. The tablets were designed to prevent the loss of the drug into the saliva by means of a protective layer and placed on the area not in contact with the mucosa. Ten volunteers were used. The in vitro release from mucoadhesive tablets was examined through a porcine buccal mucosa, using a standard Franz cell, modified for present purposes. The advantages of a higher concentration gradient for the flux, related to a higher solubility of the salt, and to a sufficiently high permeation coefficient of the drug, despite the ionized form, could not be completely exploited, because the composition of the formulation destroys the chemical form of the drug

Comparative assessment of autochthonous bacterial and fungal communities and microbial biomarkers of polluted agricultural soils of the Terra dei Fuochi

Organic and inorganic xenobiotic compounds can affect the potential ecological function of the soil, altering its biodiversity. Therefore, the response of microbial communities to environmental pollution is a critical issue in soil ecology. Here, a high-throughput sequencing approach was used to investigate the indigenous bacterial and fungal community structure as well as the impact of pollutants on their diversity and richness in contaminated and noncontaminated soils of a National Interest Priority Site of Campania Region (Italy) called “Terra dei Fuochi”. The microbial populations shifted in the polluted soils via their mechanism of adaptation to contamination, establishing a new balance among prokaryotic and eukaryotic populations. Statistical analyses showed that the indigenous microbial communities were most strongly affected by contamination rather than by site of origin. Overabundant taxa and Actinobacteria were identified as sensitive biomarkers for assessing soil pollution and could provide general information on the health of the environment. This study has important implications for microbial ecology in contaminated environments, increasing our knowledge of the capacity of natural ecosystems to develop microbiota adapted to polluted soil in sites with high agricultural potential and providing a possible approach for modeling pollution indicators for bioremediation purposes

Regolith as Baseline to a Future Space Farm

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Compost and microbial biostimulant applications improve plant growth and soil biological fertility of a grass-based phytostabilization system

In this work, a grass-based phytoremediation system integrated with an organic amendment and biostimulants was evaluated for remediating contaminated sites. Plant growth and biological fertility were monitored to assess the efficacy of a vegetative cap used as a safety measure to reduce sanitary and environmental risks of industrially contaminated soils and soil-washing sludges. Both matrices were potentially contaminated with Pb and Zn with an ecological risk index from low to moderate. According to potentially toxic elements (PTEs) bioaccessibility tests, the exposure to the released fine particulate matter may cause serious risks to human beings, in particular to children. The grass mixture was well adapted to both the substrates and a low PTEs mobility was detected, thus, reducing the leaching risk to ground water sources. Compost addition augmented significantly nitrogenase reductase (nifH) and ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene expression abundance in both substrates. Furthermore, a positive interaction between compost fertilization and a Trichoderma-based biostimulant inoculation was recorded in sludges resulting in a significant stimulation of nitrogen-fixing and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. The application of compost and biostimulant increased soil fertility and plant growth. Furthermore, there was a slight reduction in PTE bioaccessibility, thus, improving the efficiency of the phytostabilization, limiting the resuspension and dispersion of the health-risk soil particulate

Browsing Isolated Population Data

BACKGROUND: In our studies of genetically isolated populations in a remote mountain area in the center of Sardinia (Italy), we found that 80–85% of the inhabitants of each village belong to a single huge pedigree with families strictly connected to each other through hundreds of loops. Moreover, intermarriages between villages join pedigrees of different villages through links that make family trees even more complicated. Unfortunately, none of the commonly used pedigree drawing tools are able to draw the complete pedigree, whereas it is commonly accepted that the visual representation of families is very important as it helps researchers in identifying clusters of inherited traits and genotypes. We had a representation issue that compels researchers to work with subsets extracted from the overall genealogy, causing a serious loss of information on familiar relationships. To visually explore such complex pedigrees, we developed PedNavigator, a browser for genealogical databases properly suited for genetic studies. RESULTS: The PedNavigator is useful for genealogical research due to its capacity to represent family relations between persons and to make a visual verification of the links during family history reconstruction. As for genetic studies, it is helpful to follow propagation of a specific set of genetic markers (haplotype), or to select people for linkage analysis, showing relations between various branch of a family tree of affected subjects. AVAILABILITY: PedNavigator is an application integrated into a Framework designed to handle data for human genetic studies based on the Oracle platform. To allow the use of PedNavigator also to people not owning the same required informatics infrastructure or systems, we developed PedNavigator Lite with mainly the same features of the integrated one, based on MySQL database server. This version is free for academic users, and it is available for download from our sit

Biological and geochemical markers of the geographical origin and genetic identity of potatoes

There is a growing interest in agriculture productions combining safety and quality attributes with clear regional identity. In the last few years several methods have been employed for food authentication and traceability. In this study we tested geochemical data for elemental concentrations of Mn, Cu, Zn, Rb, Stand Cd and strontium isotope ratio in combination with biological data of 11 secondary metabolites and DNA as markers for the authentication of the origin of early potatoes at small geographical scale levels in Italy. DNA fingerprints through 12 SSR (simple sequence repeat) primer pairs allowed cultivar identification, confirming the discrimination power of molecular markers. Element concentrations, strontium isotope ratio and secondary metabolite data, through multivariate statistics (partial least squares discriminant analysis. PLS-DA), made it possible to clearly assign all the potato samples to the respective administrative regions of cultivation. The validation of the models was successful. It included external prediction tests on 20% of the data randomly selected from each administrative province and a study on the robustness of these multivariate data treatments to uncertainties on measurement results