Application Of Molecular Fingerprinting For Analysis Of A Pah-contaminated Soil Microbiota Growing In The Presence Of Complex Pahs

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a group of priority pollutants which are present at high concentrations in the soils of many industrial contaminated sites. Pollution by these compounds may stimulate growth of organisms able to live in these environments causing changes in the structure of the microbial community due to some cooperative process of metabolization of toxic compounds. A long-term PAH-contaminated soil was stored for several years and used to analyze the native microbiota regarding their ability to grow on pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, as well as in mixtures of LMW-and HMW-PAHs. Molecular profiles of the microbial community was assessed by PCR-DGGE of 16S rRNA gene, and the number of bands observed in DGGE analyses was interpreted as dominant microbial members into the bacterial community. Results of PAH-contaminated soil microorganisms showed different profiles in the degradative dynamics when some nutrients were added. Predominant species may play a significative role while growing and surviving on PAHs, and some other metabolically active species have emerged to interact themselves in a cooperative catabolism of PAHs.3216369BOONCHAN, S., BRITZ, M.L., STANLEY, G.A., Degradation and mineralization of high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by defined fungal-bacterial cocultures (2000) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66 (3), pp. 1007-1019BOUCHEZ, M., BLANCHET, D., VANDECASTEELE, J.P., Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by pure strains and by defined strain associations:inhibition phenomena and cometabolism (1995) Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 43 (1), pp. 156-164CANET, R., BIRNSTINGL, J.G., MALCOLM, D.G., LOPEZ-REAL, J.M., BECK, A.J., Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by native microflora and combinations of white-rot fungi in a coaltar contaminated soil (2001) Bioresource Technology, 76 (5), pp. 113-117FORD, T.E., Response of marine microbial communities to anthropogenic stress (2000) Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Stress and Recovery, 7 (1), pp. 75-89GAUTHIER, E., DÉZIEL, E., VILLEMUR, R., JUTEAU, P., LÉPINE, F., BEAUDET, R., Initial characterization of new bacteria degrading high-molecular eright poycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons isolated from a 2-year enrichment in a two-liquid-phase culture system (2003) Journal of Applied Microbiology, 94 (1), pp. 301-311JUHASZ, A.L., STANLEY, G.A., BRITZ, M.L., Microbial degradation and detoxification of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strain VUN 10,003 (2000) Letters in Applied Microbiology, 30 (5), pp. 396-401KANALY, R.A., HARAYAMA, S., Bioregradation of high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by bacteria (2000) Journal of Bacteriology, 182 (8), pp. 2059-2067LAPARA, T.M., KLATT, C.G., CHEN, R., Adaptations in bacterial catabolic enzyme activity and community structure in membrane-coupled bioreactors fed simple synthetic wastewater (2006) Journal of Biotechnology, 121 (1), pp. 368-380LEE, P.H., DOICK, K.J., SEMPLE, K.T., The development of phenanthrene catabolism in soils amended with transformer oil (2003) FEMS Microbiology Letters, 228 (2), pp. 217-223LINDSTROM, J.E., BARRY, R.P., BRADDOCK, J.F., Long-term affect of microbial communities after a subartic oil spill (1999) Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 31 (12), pp. 1677-1689MARCOUX, J., DÉZIEL, E., VILLEMUR, R., LÉPINE, F., BISAILLON, J.G., BEAUDET, R., Optimization of high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degradation in a two-liquid-phase bioreactor (2000) Journal of Applied Microbiology, 88 (1), pp. 655-662MISHRA, S., JYOT, J., KUHAD, R.C., LAL, B., Evaluation of inoculum addition to stimulate in situ bioremediation of oily-sludge-contaminated soil (2001) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 67 (4), pp. 1675-1681NAKATSU, C.H., TORSVIK, V., OVREÅS, L., Soil community analysis using DGGE of 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction products (2000) Soil Science Society of America Journal, 64 (7), pp. 1382-1388OVREÅS, L., TORSVIK, V., Microbial diversity and community structure in two different agricultural soil communities (1998) Microbial Ecology, 36 (1), pp. 303-315PISKONEN, R., NYYSSÖNEN, M., RAJAMÄKI, T., ITÄVAARA, M., Monitoring and accelerated naphthalenebiodegradation in bioaugmented soil slurry (2005) Biodegradation, 16 (2), pp. 127-134RAMIREZ, N., CUTRIGHT, T., JU, L.K., Pyrene biodegradation in aqueous solutions and soil slurries by Mycobacterium PYR-1 and enriched consortium (2001) Chemosphere, 44 (5), pp. 1079-1086REID, B.J., FERMOR, T.R., SEMPLE, K.T., Feasibility of using muchroom compost for the bioremediation of PAH-contaminated soil (2002) Environmental Pollution, 118 (1), pp. 65-73SEI, K., INOUE, D., WADA, K., MORI, K., IKE, M., KOHNO, T., FUJITA, M., Monitoring behavior of catabolic genes and change of microbial community structures in seawater microcosms during aromatic compound degradation (2004) Water Resources, 38 (1), pp. 4405-4414TORSVIK, V., DAAE, F.L., SANDAA, R.A., OVREÅS, L., Novel techniques for analyzing microbial diversity in natural and perturbed environments (1998) Journal of Biotechnology, 64 (1), pp. 53-62VAN ELSAS, J.D., DUARTE, G.F., ROSADO, A.S., SMALLA, R.K., Microbiological and molecular biological methods for monitoring microbial inoculants and their effects in the soil environment (1998) Journal of Microbiological Methods, 32 (2), pp. 133-154VENOSA, A. D.STEPHEN, J. R.MACNAUGHTON, S. J.CHANG, Y.WHITE, D. C. Microbial population changes during bioremediation of an experimental oil spill. In: BELL, C. R.BRYLINSKY, M.JOHNSON-GREEN, P. (Ed.). Microbial biosystems: new frontiers. Kentville: Atlantic Canada Society for Microbial Ecology, 1999. p.759-765VIÑAS, M., SABATÉ, J., ESPUNY, M.J., SOLANAS, A.M., Bacterial community dynamics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation during bioremediation of heavily creosote-contaminated soil (2005) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71 (1), pp. 7008-701

The fraction of cancer attributable to ways of life, infections, occupation, and environmental agents in Brazil in 2020

Many human cancers develop as a result of exposure to risk factors related to the environment and ways of life. The aim of this study was to estimate attributable fractions of 25 types of cancers resulting from exposure to modifiable risk factors in Brazil. The prevalence of exposure to selected risk factors among adults was obtained from population-based surveys conducted from 2000 to 2008. Risk estimates were based on data drawn from metaanalyses or large, high quality studies. Population-attributable fractions (PAF) for a combination of risk factors, as well as the number of preventable deaths and cancer cases, were calculated for 2020. The known preventable risk factors studied will account for 34% of cancer cases among men and 35% among women in 2020, and for 46% and 39% deaths, respectively. The highest attributable fractions were estimated for tobacco smoking, infections, low consumption of fruits and vegetables, excess weight, reproductive factors, and physical inactivity. This is the first study to systematically estimate the fraction of cancer attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in Brazil. Strategies for primary prevention of tobacco smoking and control of infection and the promotion of a healthy diet and physical activity should be the main priorities in policies for cancer prevention in the country. \ua9 2016 Azevedo e Silva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Extreme Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy of the Lower Solar Atmosphere During Solar Flares

The extreme ultraviolet portion of the solar spectrum contains a wealth of diagnostic tools for probing the lower solar atmosphere in response to an injection of energy, particularly during the impulsive phase of solar flares. These include temperature and density sensitive line ratios, Doppler shifted emission lines and nonthermal broadening, abundance measurements, differential emission measure profiles, and continuum temperatures and energetics, among others. In this paper I shall review some of the advances made in recent years using these techniques, focusing primarily on studies that have utilized data from Hinode/EIS and SDO/EVE, while also providing some historical background and a summary of future spectroscopic instrumentation.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Solar Physics as part of the Topical Issue on Solar and Stellar Flare

A Quantum-mechanical Approach for Constrained Macromolecular Chains

Many approaches to three-dimensional constrained macromolecular chains at thermal equilibrium, at about room temperatures, are based upon constrained Classical Hamiltonian Dynamics (cCHDa). Quantum-mechanical approaches (QMa) have also been treated by different researchers for decades. QMa address a fundamental issue (constraints versus the uncertainty principle) and are versatile: they also yield classical descriptions (which may not coincide with those from cCHDa, although they may agree for certain relevant quantities). Open issues include whether QMa have enough practical consequences which differ from and/or improve those from cCHDa. We shall treat cCHDa briefly and deal with QMa, by outlining old approaches and focusing on recent ones.Comment: Expands review published in The European Physical Journal (Special Topics) Vol. 200, pp. 225-258 (2011

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc