Location-Based Social Network Data for Exploring Spatial and Functional Urban Tourists and Residents Consumption Patterns

Urban tourist destinations’ increasing popularity has been a catalyst for discussion about the tourist activity geographical circumscription. In this context, Big Data and more specifically location-based social networks (LBSN), appear as a valuable source of information to approach tourist and residents spatial interactions from a renewed perspective. This paper focuses on approaching similarities and differences between tourists and residents’ geographical and functional use of urban economic units. A user classificatory algorithm has been developed and applied on YELP’s Dataset for that purpose. A residents and tourists integration ratio has then been calculated and applied by types of businesses categories and their associated spatial distribution of the of 11 metropolitan areas provided in the sample: Champaign (Illinois, US), Charlotte (North Carolina, US), Cleveland (Ohio, US), Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), Las Vegas (Nevada, US), Madison (Wisconsin, US), Montreal (Quebec, CA), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, US), Phoenix (Arizona, US), Stuttgart (DE) and Toronto (Ontario, CA). Business category results show strong similarities in tourists and residents functional coincidence in the use of urban spaces and leisure offer, while there is a clear geographical concentration of activity for both user types in all analysed case studies

Are patients with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorder so different?

Diagnosing hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) remains challenging, despite new 2017 criteria. Patients not fulfilling these criteria are considered to have hypermobile spectrum disorder (HSD). Our first aim was to evaluate whether patients hEDS were more severely affected and had higher prevalence of extra-articular manifestations than HSD. Second aim was to compare their outcome after coordinated physical therapy. Patients fulfilling hEDS/HSD criteria were included in this real-life prospective cohort (November 2017/April 2019). They completed a 16-item Clinical Severity Score (CSS-16). We recorded bone involvement, neuropathic pain (DN4) and symptoms of mast cell disorders (MCAS) as extra-articular manifestations. After a standardized initial evaluation (T0), all patients were offered the same coordinated physical therapy, were followed-up at 6 months (T1) and at least 1 year later (T2), and were asked whether or not their condition had subjectively improved at T2. We included 97 patients (61 hEDS, 36 HSD). Median age was 40 (range 18-73); 92.7% were females. Three items from CSS-16 (pain, motricity problems, and bleeding) were significantly more severe with hEDS than HSD. Bone fragility, neuropathic pain and MCAS were equally prevalent. At T2 (20 months [range 18-26]) 54% of patients reported improvement (no difference between groups). On multivariable analysis, only family history of hypermobility predicted (favorable) outcome (p = 0.01). hEDS and HDS patients showed similar disease severity score except for pain, motricity problems and bleeding, and similar spectrum of extra-articular manifestations. Long-term improvement was observed in > 50% of patients in both groups. These results add weight to a clinical pragmatic proposition to consider hEDS/HSD as a single entity that requires the same treatments

Accumulation of pollutants and plant wellness: bottleneck or key to a successful phytoremediation?

Plants have efficient mechanisms for detoxification and sequestration of xenobiotic chemicals and trace elements, basis of any efficient phytoremediation process. However the amount of pollutants that can be accumulated and detoxified without disrupting the normal plant metabolism and wellness is probably limited and specific to a particular plant species, ecotype or cultivar. For example, overloading a plant with a xenobiotic requiring oxidation by cytochrome P450 monooxygenases may compete with the physiological functions of these enzymes. An increase in their activity may also impose a major demand on cellular pools of oxygen and NAD(P)H, affecting plant redox and energy status, and possibly the complex respiratory chains of plant mitochondria. Molecules involved in conjugation of xenobiotics, like glutathione, also play a major role in normal plant metabolism. The presence of many xenobiotic compounds induces the biosynthesis of glutathione transferases and thus an increased use of glutathione. Plant glutathione level and redox status are thus affected under such conditions, with probable implications on sulphur requirement and assimilation. Finally many plant specific metabolites, often involved in plant interactions with its environment, have a structure similar to xenobiotics, and detoxification of the latter does probably use at least partially the metabolic pathways of the former. For example, most of the natural anthraquinones are glycosylated, whereas glycosyl-transferases are known to be involved in the conjugation of many xenobiotics. Xenobiotics metabolism seems to be integrated into the metabolism involved in the plant interactions with its environment, with probable crosstalks between detoxification and secondary metabolism

Phytoremediation of soils contaminated by organic compounds: hype, hope and facts

The present opinion paper is focused on the phytoremediation of organic pollutants and is based on the lectures given by the author during the International Congress of Phytoremediation of Polluted Soils, held at Vigo, Spain, 29-30 July 2014. The aim of this position paper is (1) to highlight some progress made within the last few years (after the end of COST Action 859 in October 2009) in the phytoremediation of selected organic pollutants and (2) to suggest new research and approaches, which seem important and promising in the opinion of the author to make this environmentally friendly remediation technique more attractive and more successful. Depending on the type of soil to be treated, as well as on the xenobiotic contaminants, their concentration and ageing, different approaches can be considered and are briefly presented with some recent and successful applications, but also highlighting their limitations and needs for future developments: phytoextraction of hydrophobic xenobiotic compounds like polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), phytodegradation of xenobiotics and its possible impacts on primary and secondary metabolism of the plant and phytostimulation of rhizospheric microorganisms by root exudates for the rhizodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. Finally, some promising approaches are suggested for overcoming the bottlenecks and making phytoremediation a reliable, mature and sustainable technology: how to deal with mixed pollution; the potential of endophytic bacteria; possible improvements by soil amendments and co-cropping; validation of laboratory results by field experimentation; evolution of regulations from the total concentration of a pollutant to its bioavailable fraction; and the use of biomass for added-value products, fine chemicals and biofuels in biorefineries or the production of ornamental plants

Accumulation and detoxification of sulfonated aromatic compounds from dye and textile industries by different plant species

Sulfonated anthraquinones are precursors of a large family of synthetic dyes and pigments, recalcitrant to biodegradation and thus not eliminated by classical wastewater treatments. In the development of a phytotreatment to remove sulfonated aromatic compounds from dye and textile industrial effluents, it has been shown that rhubarb (Rheum rabarbarum) and common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) are the most efficient plants. Both species, producing natural anthraquinones, not only accumulate, but also transform these xenobiotic chemicals. Even if the precise biochemical mechanisms involved in the detoxification of sulfonated anthraquinones are not yet understood, they probably have cross talks with secondary metabolism, redox processes and plant energy metabolism. The aim of the present work was to investigate the possible role of cytochrome P450s and peroxidases in the detoxification of sulfonated anthraquinones. Several plant species were thus cultivated in a greenhouse under hydroponic conditions, with or without sulfonated anthraquinones. Plants were harvested at different times and either microsomal or cytosolic fractions were prepared. The monooxygenase activity of cytochrome P450 toward several sulfonated anthraquinones was tested using a new method based on the fluorimetric detection of oxygen consumed during cytochromes P450 catalyzed reactions. Peroxidase was measured by spectrophotometry, with guaiacol. Results indicate that the activity of cytochromes P450 and peroxidases increased in rhubarb leaves, but not in leaves from common sorrel, when plants were cultivated in the presence of sulfonated anthraquinones. On the other hand, cytochromes P450 were able to accept as substrates anthraquinones containing sulfonated group in different positions, indicating that this enzyme was probably the first step in the metabolism of these xenobiotic compounds. These results support the idea that natural biodiversity should be better studied to use the most appropriate plant species for the phytotreatment of a specific organic pollutant

From green to clean: a promising and sustainable approach to remove toxic metals from contaminated soils

Phytoextraction is an in situ decontamination technique using metal accumulating plants and appropriate soil amendments to transport and concentrate metals from the soil into the aboveground parts of plants, which are harvested with conventional agriculture methods. Since most of the metal hyperaccumulating plants only produce very low biomass, and most of plants producing high biomass accumulate only moderate amounts of metals, the current research is mainly focused on the overcoming of this deficiency to optimise metal phytoextraction. The main goal of our study aimed at improvement of phytoextraction through improved metal accumulation in sunflowers producing a high biomass. The potential use of their oil and biomass for technical purpose (biodiesel, biogas and energy) allows to produce an added value and to improve the economical balance of phytoextraction. Chemical mutagenesis (non-GMO approach) and appropriate fertilization treatments stimulating metal bioavailability in the soil were used as an alternative to genetic engineering to enhance both metal accumulation and extraction efficiency of oil crops. The effect of chemical mutagenesis on metal accumulation and extraction potential of two sunflower cultivars was directly assessed on a metal contaminated field. Theoretical calculations for phytoextraction potential of new variants show that the best sunflower mutants of the 2nd generation can produce up to 26 t dry matter yield per ha and remove 13.3 kg Zn per ha and year at the sewage sludge contaminated site; that is a gain factor of 9 compared to Zn removal of sunflower controls. Results of field experiments on the same metal contaminated site confirmed the improved yield, metal accumulation and metal extraction efficiency by new sunflower mutant lines in the 3rd and 4th generation. Sunflowers still showed a yield improvement by a factor of 4-6 and metal extraction by a factor of 3-4 for Cd, 5 for Zn and 5-6 for Pb

Déficits en immunoglobulines en cas de rhinosinusite chronique

La rhinosinusite chronique (RSC) présente une prévalence élevée (>10%) et une morbidité considérable. Elle pourrait être associée à des déficits immunitaires, notamment en immunoglobulines. La méta-analyse a permis de déterminer la prévalence des déficits en immunoglobulines à 13% en cas de RSC résistant au traitement standard, et à 23% dans les formes les plus sévères de RSC. Les déficits en immunoglobulines pourraient donc avoir un impact cliniquement significatif, et doivent faire l'objet de mesures diagnostiques et thérapeutiques en cas d'échec du traitement standard. Une étude cas-contrôle a été planifiée dans le but de déterminer de manière prospective l'association entre les déficits en immunoglobulines et la RSC

Toward the sustainable cultivation of microalgae to produce renewable biofuels and fine chemicals

Microalgae are considered as renewable feedstock for the production of next-generation biofuels. However to achieve the financial sustainability to the algal biofuel production, it will be necessary to integrate it with the processing of high-value products in the biorefinery concept. Carotenoids have been proposed as added-value compounds that could contribute to make microalgal biofuel production economically feasible. Therefore, the viability and sustainability of extracting carotenoids before the hydrothermal treatment of the remaining biomass to produce syngas were investigated. On the other hand, harvesting microalgae cells remains a technical challenge and typically contributes to 20-30% of biomass production costs and represents more than 50% of the total cost of algal biofuels. The potential of co-culture of filamentous fungal species with microalgae in a lichenization process as a strategy to reduce the cost and energy consumption of harvesting and of the whole process seems promising and was thus investigated. In submerged cultures, filamentous microorganisms actually aggregate and grow as loosely packed pellets or compact granules. Microalgae cells were immobilized in these pellets and easily removed as an aggregate with the fungal cells. Pellet formation is strain specific and highly dependent on operational conditions during cultivation. This study especially was focused on lichen pellet formation during the co-culture of Chlorella sorokiniana and of an unidentified filamentous fungus, which was eventually characterized. While algae growth was optimal between pH 6 and 10, the highest pellet formation was observed in the pH range of 4-7, thus requiring a strict control of pH during the whole cultivation. The effect of such a co-cultivation on the production of added-value chemicals (carotenoids) and on the biofuel potential of the remaining biomass is under evaluation, and will be compared to results obtained with cultivation of microalgae only

Plant accumulation of pollutants versus plant wellness: insoluble conundrum or key to a successful green clean-up?

Because plants are static and live in a competitive and sometimes hostile environment, they have evolved mechanisms that protect them from abiotic and biotic stress. These mechanisms include detoxification and sequestration of xenobiotic compounds and of heavy metals, exploited in any phytoremediation process. However there must be a limit on the amount of pollutants that can be accumulated and detoxified without disrupting the normal plant metabolism and wellness. Enzymes involved in xenobiotics detoxification are often linked to the redox chemistry of the cell. The activities of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, peroxidase and glutathione transferase have implications on the regulation of cellular redox status, closely related to mitochondrial respiration, also involved in maintaining the energy balance. Factors that disturb plant redox or energy status can thus affect both primary and secondary metabolism. For example, overloading a plant with high concentrations of xenobiotics requiring oxidation by P450 may compete with the normal functions of these enzymes. An increase in their activity may impose a major demand on both O2 and NAD(P)H pools. This could have significant effects on the overall redox and energy balance, thus compromising the primary and secondary metabolic processes in the plant and its survival. Molecules involved in conjugation of xenobiotics, like glutathione, also play a major role in normal plant metabolism. The presence of xenobiotic compounds induces the biosynthesis of glutathione transferases and thus an increased use of glutathione. Plant glutathione level and redox status are thus affected under such conditions, with probable implications on sulfur metabolism. A link does also exist between the degree of accumulation and tolerance of metals, the redox status and the antioxidant capacity of a plant. The lecture will highlight some well known or still unknown features, of utmost importance for a successful implementation of phytoremediation