Características de las aguas minerales y medicinales de Cuba

Cuba cuenta con los acuíferos de agua mineral natural y mineromedicinal más importantes del Caribe. En este trabajo se presenta una compilación de sus características hidrogeológicas generales. Los acuíferos se encuentran predominantemente en rocas carbonatadas y terrígeno carbonatadas. En general, la recarga de la mayoría de los acuíferos de aguas minerales, mineromedicinales y termales en Cuba es el resultado de la infiltración de las aguas meteóricas. Las aguas minerales y mineromedicinales cubanas, de acuerdo al anión y al catión mayoritario, se clasifican en bicarbonatadas cálcicas, bicarbonatadas magnésicas y cloruradas sódicas. Los principales componentes medicinales son: sulfuro, bromo y silicio.Cuba has the most important aquifers of medicinal and natural mineral waters in the Caribbean area. In this work, we present an inventory of their hydrogeological characteristics. Aquifers are found in limestones and detritic carbonated rock formations. In general, the recharge of all the thermal, mineral and medicinal aquifers of Cuba has its origin by the infiltration of rainfall. According to the major anions and cations, these Cuban waters are classified as: calcium-bicarbonate, magnesium-bicarbonate and sodium- chloride facies. The main medical components are sulphurous, bromide and silica

Tailings desiccation process studied in environmental chamber experiment

Case studies and numerical simulations show that the long-term stability of tailings dams largely depends on the evolution of their water content. Therefore, desiccation is one of the critical processes influencing the tailing dam's safety. In this work, the air-drying of tailings, starting from a sludge condition, is studied using a fully instrumented column experiment, performed in an environmental chamber with temperature and relative humidity control. Based on the experimental observations, a conceptual model for the desiccation process is proposed. The model consists of the combination of two mechanisms driven by evaporation: shrinkage and capillary rise. The latter is only activated after a granular structure develops (shielding skeleton), capable of sustaining the suction-induced intergranular forces. This evidence explains the tendency of real deposits to develop an unsaturated, dry tailings crust enclosing a body of mud-consistency tailings. In addition, the role of dissolved salts in the desiccation process was observed. Solutes in pore water limit the evaporation rate throughout the test by increasing osmotic suction. Moreover, salt precipitation was observed to cause an interruption of the desiccation process on two occasions during the experiment: first, by the formation of a superficial precipitation crust and later by pore clogging within a shallow layer.The authors would like to thank Cristóbal García for the knowledge provided on the Cartagena - La Unión mining region, and the research team of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain for their collaboration in the collection of tailings samples at the San Cristóbal mine. We would also like to thank the staff of the Soil Mechanics Laboratory of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain. Finally, we would like to thank the European Commission (CORDIS) through the project FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-2008, Marie Curie Action "GEO-engineering EXChanges between Europe and Latin-America" for the financial collaboration in this work.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Environmental persistence, detection, and mitigation of endocrine disrupting contaminants in wastewater treatment plants – a review with a focus on tertiary treatment technologies

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are a group of contaminants that have severe effects on humans and animals when exposed, like cancer and alterations to the nervous and reproductive systems. The increasing concentrations of several endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment are strongly related to anthropogenic activities, and as the population grows this problem becomes more relevant. Thus, wastewater is one of the main sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals, and the technologies employed during primary and secondary treatment in wastewater treatment plants cannot remove these contaminants. Due to this, researchers have tried to develop more efficient technologies for tertiary treatment of wastewater and reduce the concentration of endocrine disrupting chemicals discharged into the environment. Some of the most promising technologies include adsorption, ultrafiltration, advanced oxidation processes and biodegradation. The use of nanomaterials as adsorbents, catalysts, membranes and supports has played a key role in enhancing the efficiency of these technologies. The results showed that these technologies have great potential on the lab-scale, and even some of them have already been employed at some wastewater treatment plants. However, there are still some challenges to achieving a global implementation of these technologies, related to reducing the costs of materials and enhancing their current performance. The use of biomass/waste derived carbon materials and implementing hybrid technologies are accessible approaches for their implementation in tertiary treatment.This work is part of the project entitled “Contaminantes emergentes y prioritarios en las aguas reutilizadas en agricultura: riesgos y efectos en suelos, producción agrícola y entorno ambiental” funded by CSIC-Tecnológico de Monterrey under the i-Link + program (LINKB20030). The author “Jesús Alfredo Rodríguez-Hernández” acknowledges Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) for awarding a scholarship for a PhD in nanotechnology (CVU: 924193). CONACyT is thankfully acknowledged for partially supporting this work under the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) program awarded to Rafael G. Araújo (CVU: 714118), Juan Eduardo Sosa-Hernández (CVU: 375202), Elda M. Melchor-Martínez (CVU: 230784), Manuel Martinez-Ruiz (CVU: 418151), Hafiz M. N. Iqbal (CVU: 735340) and Roberto Parra-Saldívar (CVU: 35753). The authors are also thankful to “Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo” in the Latin American development network “Lacasas Inmovilizadas para la Degradación de Compuestos Aromáticos en Aguas Residuales” (LIDA, project 318RT0552). All listed authors are also grateful to their representative universities/institutes for providing literature facilities and the Biorender online program for the elaboration of the graphical abstract and Fig. 1–5.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

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

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Estudio experimental de flujo y transporte de cromo, niquel y manganeso en residuos de la zona minera de Moa (Cuba): Influencia del comportamiento hidromecánico

En la actualidad, el impacto ambiental de las actividades minero-metalúrgicas y los residuos generados por éstas, se han convertido en temas de especial atención en el estudio de la problemática ambiental que generan sobre las masas de aguas continentales y marinas. Sin embargo, el estudio de la influencia del factor hidromecánico en el flujo y transporte de contaminantes no ha sido prácticamente estudiado en los residuos minero-metalúrgicos. El objetivo fundamental de esta tesis es estudiar los factores físicos, hidromecánicos, hidrogeológicos y geoquímicos que condicionan el flujo y el transporte de contaminantes metálicos (Cr, Ni, Mn) en residuos mineros y en segundo lugar realizar una evaluación del impacto ambiental de estos residuos sobre las aguas superficiales y subterráneas. Para llevar a cabo el estudio se utilizaron los residuos de la zona minera de Moa (Cuba). El trabajo se realizó en dos etapas, una de campo, donde se efectuó el muestreo y reconocimiento en el terreno de la zona de estudio y una segunda parte en el laboratorio. Se desarrollo un cuidadoso programa de ensayos de laboratorio donde se incluye una caracterización física, mineralógica, química, hidromecánica y geoquímica de estos residuos. Los ensayos de flujo y transporte de trazador, Cr, Ni y Mn por el medio poroso homogéneo saturado se realizaron con dos columnas de 5 y 10 cm de longitud y 1.6 cm de diámetro. Las curvas de llegada de los tres metales en los dos residuos para las condiciones de flujo y concentración en que se realizaron los ensayos exhiben un comportamiento no ideal, caracterizadas por la presencia de asimetría y grandes colas. Los resultados de los ensayos de flujo y transporte se simularon con el modelo s "UFBTC" desarrollado por la Universidad de Florida, EUA que incorpora la isoterma de adsorción no lineal y condiciones de no equilibrio debido a la histéresis del proceso de sorción. Los resultados de la modelación muestran que la causa de que el transporte de solutos no sea ideal es la no linealidad del proceso de adsorción debido en primer lugar a la adsorción física (más del 70%) y en segundo lugar la adsorción química.Para evaluar el efecto del comportamiento hidromecánico sobre el flujo y el transporte de solutos se ha construido y puesto a punto un equipo automatizado, con control de succión, humedad relativa, variación del contenido volumétrico de agua, temperatura, evaporación y retracción.Los resultados de los ensayos de flujo y transporte del trazador y el Ni por el medio fracturado son coherentes con el modelo conceptual de flujo y transporte advectivo a través de las grietas de desecación, combinado con la difusión del soluto en el agua relativamente inmóvil que ocupa los poros de la matriz del medio poroso. Esto queda confirmado por las características de las curvas de llegada del trazador y la del níquel, que experimentan una subida muy rápida durante el proceso de adsorción y una gran cola durante la desorción. Este doble proceso también se observa en la concentración de Ni medida en la matriz adyacente a la zona de fractura, donde la masa de Ni adsorbida decrece exponencialmente con la distancia del punto muestreado a la zona de la grieta más cercana.El comportamiento hidromecánico de los residuos desempeña un papel muy importante en el flujo y transporte de contaminantes por el medio poroso. En el caso de los residuos mineros estudiados, las grietas de desecación condicionan el régimen de infiltración y constituyen una zona preferencial de flujo de indudable importancia, reduciendo el tiempo de tránsito de los contaminantes por el medio poroso, debido a que la conductividad hidráulica se incrementa en casi tres órdenes de magnitud con relación al medio poroso no agrietado. Este es un aspecto a tener en cuenta en el almacenamiento y gestión de los residuos minero-metalúrgicos por la problemática ambiental que conlleva

Mechanical behaviour of a tailing from nickel mining (Cuba)

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la caracterización mecánica de un residuo metalúrgico (RM), depositado en las terraza aluvial del río Moa (Cuba). El RM de acuerdo a su granulometría se clasifica como un limo. Está compuesto por minerales de hierro y metales pesados con ausencia de minerales del grupo de las arcillas. Aunque predominan las partículas de limo presenta un comportamiento poco plástico, cohesión nula y un ángulo de fricción interna muy alto de 36 grados. Adicionalmente este material es susceptible de licuefactar cuando se aplica una carga cíclica en un ensayo triaxial.Postprint (published version