Sources, transport and fate of PAHs in sediments and superficial water of a chronically polluted semi-enclosed body of seawater: linking of compartments.

This paper describes a study of the occurrence, levels and temporal evolution of PAHs in a bay characterized by persistent chronic impacts. A total of 40 samples, 20 of sediment and 20 of water, were taken at each of five different stations, in four sampling campaigns. Analyses of pollutants have been made using GC-MS. Results indicate that in a coastal environment subjected to chronic pollution by pyrolytic PAHs, episodes of petrogenic pollution, like oil-spills, can be identified by the combination of different source ratios. Results also indicate that, in the study area, PAHs are transported from superficial water to sediment. This conclusion is based on the degree of coincidence found in the presence/absence of individual PAHs in both compartments and in their petrogenic/pyrolytic nature, the positive sedimentation rate in the study area, together with the performance of the analyses of unfiltered water and the distribution of sources of PAHs found

The Zoning of Semi-Enclosed Bodies of Water According to the Sediment Pollution: The Bay of Algeciras as a Case Example

This paper reports a study of the occurrence and levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a bay characterised by a chronic persistent impact. A total of 55 sediment samples were taken at different depths up to 111 m in two sampling campaigns. Chemical analyses were carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The results indicate that: (1) significant spatial variations exist, (2) levels of PAHs are related more strongly to the spatial distribution of sediments than to mineralogy/granulometry, (3) the sediments are slightly-to-moderately contaminated by PAHs, and (4) these PAHs derive from pyrolytic and petrogenic sources. Through use of an innovative data classification system (proposed according to depth and spatial location of sampling points), and using factorial and cluster techniques, five zones have been differentiated depending on the contamination level and source

Author Correction: Floating macrolitter leaked from Europe into the ocean (Nature Sustainability, (2021), 4, 6, (474-483), 10.1038/s41893-021-00722-6)

During the preparation of the Supplementary Data spreadsheet “S. Data 3_Regression data,” the mean and median confidence intervals (CI) of FML (items yr−1) were misplaced in relation to their corresponding river names. The Supplementary Data file has now been updated in the HTML version of the article. This update does not alter the results or conclusions of this article.Correction to: Nature Sustainability https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00722-6, published online 10 June 2021. During the preparation of the Supplementary Data spreadsheet “S. Data 3_Regression data,” the mean and median confidence intervals (CI) of FML (items yr−1) were misplaced in relation to their corresponding river names. The Supplementary Data file has now been updated in the HTML version of the article. This update does not alter the results or conclusions of this article.Peer reviewe

Floating macro litter in European rivers - top items

The JRC exploratory project RIMMEL provides information about litter, mainly plastic waste, entering the European Seas through river systems. RIMMEL has collected data on riverine floating macro litter inputs to the sea. Data acquisition was based on the Riverine Litter Observation Network (RiLON) activities, which collected data from rivers in the European marine basins over a period of one year (September 2016 – September 2017). Data was collected by visual observations and documented with the JRC Floating Litter Monitoring Application for mobile devices, allowing a harmonized reporting, compatible with the MSFD Master List of Categories for Litter Items. This report includes the Top Items lists of riverine floating macro litter, based on the total amount of litter items identified during RiLON activities and ranked by abundance. Top Items lists have been elaborated considering the whole database for the European Seas and further detailed for each individual European regional sea: Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North-East Atlantic. The North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea regions showed similar litter categories in their Top 20 Items. These two regions provided most of the available data, influencing the general Top Items list. In the Black Sea and Baltic Sea regions, where data availability was limited, the Top Items lists showed more differences among the different regions. Overall, the general Top Items list for the European Seas showed a predominance of plastic item categories (artificial polymer materials). As a whole, plastic items made up to 80.8% of all objects, with plastic and polystyrene fragments comprising 45% of the identified items in the database. Additionally, Single Use Plastics such as bottles, cover/packaging and bags were also ranked among the most frequently found floating litter. The similarities in the Top 10 and Top 20 items for the different regions, and the appearance of Single Use Plastics scoring high in the ranking, support the need for common actions against plastic pollution at EU level.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

COVID-19 vaccine failure

COVID-19 affects the population unequally with a higher impact on aged and immunosuppressed people. Hence, we assessed the effect of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in immune compromised patients (older adults and oncohematologic patients), compared with healthy counterparts. While the acquired humoral and cellular memory did not predict subsequent infection 18 months after full immunization, spectral and computational cytometry revealed several subsets within the CD8+ T-cells, B-cells, NK cells, monocytes and CD45RA+ CCR7- Tγδ cells differentially expressed in further infected and non-infected individuals not just following immunization, but also prior to that. Of note, up to 7 subsets were found within the CD45RA+ CCR7- Tγδ population with some of them being expanded and other decreased in subsequently infected individuals. Moreover, some of these subsets also predicted COVID-induced hospitalization in oncohematologic patients. Therefore, we hereby have identified several cellular subsets that, even before vaccination, strongly related to COVID-19 vulnerability as opposed to the acquisition of cellular and/or humoral memory following vaccination with SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines.This study has been funded through Programa Estratégico Instituto de Biología y Genética Molecular (IBGM Junta de Castilla y León. Ref. CCVC8485), Junta de Castilla y León (Proyectos COVID 07.04.467B04.74011.0) and the European Commission – NextGenerationEU (Regulation EU 2020/2094), through CSIC's Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global; SGL21-03-026 and SGL2021-03-038)N

La renovación de la palabra en el bicentenario de la Argentina : los colores de la mirada lingüística

El libro reúne trabajos en los que se exponen resultados de investigaciones presentadas por investigadores de Argentina, Chile, Brasil, España, Italia y Alemania en el XII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística (SAL), Bicentenario: la renovación de la palabra, realizado en Mendoza, Argentina, entre el 6 y el 9 de abril de 2010. Las temáticas abordadas en los 167 capítulos muestran las grandes líneas de investigación que se desarrollan fundamentalmente en nuestro país, pero también en los otros países mencionados arriba, y señalan además las áreas que recién se inician, con poca tradición en nuestro país y que deberían fomentarse. Los trabajos aquí publicados se enmarcan dentro de las siguientes disciplinas y/o campos de investigación: Fonología, Sintaxis, Semántica y Pragmática, Lingüística Cognitiva, Análisis del Discurso, Psicolingüística, Adquisición de la Lengua, Sociolingüística y Dialectología, Didáctica de la lengua, Lingüística Aplicada, Lingüística Computacional, Historia de la Lengua y la Lingüística, Lenguas Aborígenes, Filosofía del Lenguaje, Lexicología y Terminología

Removing Disturbing Matrix Constituents from Biota Extracts from Total Extraction and Silicone‐Based Passive Sampling

Contaminant analysis in biota extracts can be hampered by matrix interferences caused by, for example, co‐extracted lipids that compromise the quality of the analytical data and require frequent maintenance of the analytical instruments. In the present study, using gas chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (GC‐HRMS), we aimed to develop and validate a straightforward, robust, and reproducible cleanup method with acceptable recoveries for diverse compound classes with a wide range of physicochemical properties representative of pollutant screening in biota extracts. We compared Oasis PRiME HLB cartridges, Agilent Captiva EMR‐Lipid cartridges, and “Freeze‐Out” with salmon lipids spiked with 113 target chemicals. The EMR‐Lipid cartridges provided extracts with low matrix effects at reproducible recoveries of the multi‐class target analytes (93 ± 9% and 95 ± 7% for low and high lipid amounts, respectively). The EMR‐Lipid cartridges were further tested with spiked pork lipids submitted to total extraction or silicone‐based passive sampling. Reproducible recoveries were achieved and matrix residuals were largely removed as demonstrated gravimetrically for both types of extracts. Ion suppression of halogenated compounds was not as efficiently removed by the cleanup of total and silicone‐based extracts of pork lipids as for the salmon lipids. However, the samples with clean up provided better instrument robustness than those without cleanup. Hence, EMR‐Lipid cartridges were shown to be efficient as a cleanup method in multi‐class monitoring of biota samples and open up new possibilities as a suitable cleanup method for silicone extracts in biota passive sampling studies using GC‐HRMS analysis. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2693–2704. © 2021 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.H2020 European Research Council http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/10001066

Estimating baseline toxicity of PAHs from marine chronically polluted sediments and bioaccumulation in target organs of fish hypothetically exposed to them: a new tool in risk assessment.

In soils and sediments contaminated by Hydrophobic Organic Compounds (HOCs), the total concentrations are less indicative of potential exposure and distribution than the associated freely dissolved concentrations (Cfree) or chemical activity. Therefore, these two parameters are increasingly used to assess sediment contamination with regard to their (1) partitioning into the water column, (2) bioaccumulation and (3) baseline toxic potential. In this work, sediments from a chronically polluted coastal area, with similar total PAH concentrations, were studied using PDMS coated glass jars (obtaining Cfree(SW) and chemical activity) to predict baseline toxicity and potential bioaccumulation from these sediments. The results indicate that, on the one hand, the chemical activity of the sediments differed by up to one order of magnitude and was below the level at which lethal baseline toxicity is expected, but is still a cause for concern due to the presence of other pollutants and different mechanisms of action. On the other hand, the combination of Cfree measurements and Biota to Sediment Accumulation Factors (BSAFs) allowed concentrations in different target organs of benthic flatfish, hypothetically exposed to these chronically polluted sediments, to be estimated. This new approach allows us to predict the concentration in biological tissues under the study of Cfree(SW) in sediments, as a useful tool in risk assessment