Promotion of manual drilling in Guinea

In the last decade UNICEF has supported manual drilling in several countries as a possible low cost and sustainable strategy to increase adequate water supply for the population. In partnership with local authorities and other stakeholders, UNICEF has implemented different activities to ensure high professional level in manual drilling: mapping of suitable zones, capacity building in construction of drilling tools and application of different drilling techniques, good practice in manual drilling, organization management. In Guinea manual drilling was unknown before 2011; at that time the joint program of SNAPE (National Water Authority) and UNICEF aiming to create an efficient manual drilling sector started, and after 3 years Guinea can be considered one of the most positive example of implementation of this program

Identification of suitable zones for manual drilling using borehole data, thematic maps and remote sensing

Manual drilling is a possible option to increase access to safe water with low cost techniques, but it can be applied only where hydrogeological conditions are suitable. To improve the method to produce maps of suitable zones for manual drilling, a research project has been carried out in Senegal and Guinea. The main objective is to elaborate a new method of interpretation of hydrogeological data and integrate indirect environmental information obtained from public data, available all over the world. The final results are more reliable and detailed maps to support manual drilling implementation, as well specific tools and method to process water point data. This paper presents the results obtained in Senegal and suggests some recommendations for future application

Heating Rate of Light Absorbing Aerosols: Time-Resolved Measurements, the Role of Clouds, and Source Identification

Light absorbing aerosols (LAA) absorb sunlight and heat the atmosphere. This work presents a novel methodology to experimentally quantify the heating rate (HR) induced by LAA into an atmospheric layer. Multiwavelength aerosol absorption measurements were coupled with spectral measurements of the direct, diffuse and surface reflected radiation to obtain highly time-resolved measurements of HR apportioned in the context of LAA species (black carbon, BC; brown carbon, BrC; dust), sources (fossil fuel, FF; biomass burning, BB), and as a function of cloudiness. One year of continuous and time-resolved measurements (5 min) of HR were performed in the Po Valley. We experimentally determined (1) the seasonal behavior of HR (winter 1.83 ± 0.02 K day^–1; summer 1.04 ± 0.01 K day^–1); (2) the daily cycle of HR (asymmetric, with higher values in the morning than in the afternoon); (3) the HR in different sky conditions (from 1.75 ± 0.03 K day^–1 in clear sky to 0.43 ± 0.01 K day^–1 in complete overcast); (4) the apportionment to different sources: HR_FF (0.74 ± 0.01 K day^–1) and HR_BB (0.46 ± 0.01 K day^–1); and (4) the HR of BrC (HR_BrC: 0.15 ± 0.01 K day^–1, 12.5 ± 0.6% of the total) and that of BC (HR_BC: 1.05 ± 0.02 K day^–1; 87.5 ± 0.6% of the total)

SDS-PAGE gel (10% w/v) representing human (lane 1) and swallow (lanes 2–4) plasma protein migration pattern after Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining.

<p>The black arrow indicates serum albumin. Molecular Weight Standards (M.W.) migration is shown on the left.</p

Linear models of oxidative damage biomarkers in relation to sex, breeding stage and sampling date.

<p>Where appropriate, models were run while controlling for heterogeneity of variances between levels of the fixed factors (see Materials and Methods for details). Terms shown in italics were removed from the model (see Materials and Methods for details).</p>a<p>: estimated mean values (s.e.): males, before laying = 1.81 (0.33), after laying = 0.74 (0.11); females, before laying = 3.62 (0.30), after laying = 0.81 (0.10).</p>b<p>: estimated slopes (s.e.): before laying =  −0.06 (0.02), <i>t</i> =  −2.71, <i>P</i> = 0.009; after laying = 0.01 (0.01), <i>t</i> = 0.99, <i>P</i> = 0.33.</p>c<p>: estimated mean values (s.e.): males = 1.43 (0.04); females = 1.77 (0.06).</p>d<p>: estimated mean values (s.e.): before laying = 1.51 (0.05); after laying = 1.69 (0.05).</p

Concentration of MDA-protein adducts (pmol/mg of protein) in relation to a) sampling date and breeding stage and b) breeding stage and sex.

<p>a) Linear regressions are shown (continuous line = before laying; broken line = after laying); b) bars represent mean+s.e.; numbers above bars denote sample size, while letters denote statistically significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) between groups at <i>post-hoc</i> tests from the model presented in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048955#pone-0048955-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p

Plasma PCO content (mean+s.e.) in relation to sex and breeding stage. Numbers above bars denote sample size.

<p>Plasma PCO content (mean+s.e.) in relation to sex and breeding stage. Numbers above bars denote sample size.</p

Effect of GSH, Cys-SH, or NAC on CSE-induced Cys34 oxidation.

<p>(<b>A</b>) HSA-SH solutions (60 µM) were incubated with vehicle (control; filled circles) or 0.3 µM (triangles), 3 µM (squares) or 30 µM (open circles) GSH (molar ratio [GSH]/[HSA] = 0.005–0.05–0.5, respectively), for 30 min, before exposing protein solutions to 0%, 1%, 4% and 16% (v/v) CSE, for 60 min. (<b>B</b>) HSA-SH solutions (60 µM) were incubated with vehicle (control; filled circles) or 1 µM (triangles), 10 µM (squares) or 100 µM (open circles) Cys-SH (molar ratio [Cys-SH]/[HSA] = 0.016–0.16–1.6, respectively), for 30 min, before exposing protein solutions to 0%, 1%, 4% and 16% (v/v) CSE, for 60 min. (<b>C</b>) HSA-SH solutions (60 µM) were incubated with vehicle (control; filled circles) or 1 µM (triangles), 10 µM (squares) or 100 µM (open circles) NAC (molar ratio [NAC]/[HSA] = 0.016–0.16–1.6, respectively), for 30 min, before exposing protein solutions to 0%, 1%, 4% and 16% (v/v) CSE, for 60 min. (<b>D</b>) Experiment was performed as in (<b>A</b>) except that HSA solutions were exposed to CSE immediately after GSH addition. (<b>E</b>) Experiment was performed as in (<b>B</b>) except that HSA solutions were exposed to CSE immediately after Cys-SH addition. (<b>F</b>) Experiment was performed as in (<b>C</b>) except that HSA solutions were exposed to CSE immediately after NAC addition. Conditions of incubation and estimation of HSA Cys34 free sulfhydryl group by biotin–HPDP binding and Western blot analysis are described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. Densitometric analyses of biotin-HPDP incorporation are shown. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent determinations.</p

Reversibility of Cys34 oxidation as determined by biotin–HPDP binding and slot blot analysis.

<p>(<b>A</b>) HSA samples (60 µM) were treated with CSE and then incubated for 15 min with different concentrations of DTT as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. The biotinylation reaction was carried out as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. A series of control and CSE-treated HSA samples was added with 20 mM NEM and incubated for 30 min at 50°C before DTT addition (strips marked with NEM). In another series of control and CSE-treated HSA samples, reduction of HSA sulfhydryl modifications was obtained through a prolonged dialysis against 50 mM PBS, pH 7.4, added with 5 mM GSH (strips marked with GSH). After protein precipitation and resuspension in TBS, diluted protein solutions (3 µg total protein) were applied to each slot and the membrane was probed with HRP-conjugated streptavidin and developed by using enhanced chemiluminescence (strips a, c, e, g, i) as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. Strips marked with b, d, f, h, l show the corresponding duplicate slot-blot stained for proteins with Amido black. (<b>B</b>) Graph shows densitometric analysis of biotin-HPDP incorporation in HSA samples treated with CSE without further DTT, NEM or dialysis against GSH (filled circles) and in HSA samples treated with CSE and then dialyzed against GSH (open circles). Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent determinations.</p

Effect of CSE on HSA Cys34 free sulfhydryl group as determined by the Ellman assay.

<p>HSA-SH solutions (60 µM) were treated for 60 min with vehicle (control) or 1%, 4% and 16% (v/v) CSE and then exhaustively dialyzed. The concentration of Cys34 sulfhydryl groups in HSA samples was determined by the Ellman assay at 412 nm as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent measurements. Inset: Effect of CSE on HSA Cys34 free sulfhydryl group as determined by biotin-HPDP binding and Western blot analysis. HSA-SH solutions (60 µM) were treated for 60 min with vehicle (control) or 1%, 4% and 16% CSE, exhaustively dialyzed and then labeled at Cys34 with biotin-HPDP as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>. Proteins (10 µg/lane) were separated by SDS-PAGE and biotin-HPDP binding was detected by Western blot analysis using streptavidin-HRP as described under <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029930#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a> (immunoblot inset). Amido Black staining of the same PVDF membrane showed equal protein loading and transfer (not shown). Immunoblot shown is representative of three independent determinations. Bar-graph inset shows densitometric analysis of biotin-HPDP incorporation. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent determinations.</p