Search results for "Environmental Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 609 documents
Patch test results with the metalworking fluid series of the German Contact Dermatitis Research Group (DKG).
2004
Based on the information of the interdisciplinary task force on allergy diagnostics in the metal branch, in 2001, the German Contact Dermatitis Research Group (DKG) compiled two metalworking fluid (MWF) test series with currently and previously used components, respectively. After 2 years of patch testing, we present results obtained with these series, based on data of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK). 251 metalworkers who were patch tested because of suspected MWF dermatitis in 2002 and 2003 were included in this retrospective data analysis. Of these, 206 were tested with the current MWF series and 155 with the historical MWF series. Among the current MWF allerg…
Leishmaniasis in Norway Rats in Sewers, Barcelona, Spain.
2019
We detected Leishmania infantum in 98 Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) trapped in parks and sewers of Barcelona, Spain. The 84 rats from the sewers showed a prevalence of 33.3% and up to 2,272 estimated parasites. These results, in the most abundant potential reservoir in cities, is of public health concern.
Fate of microplastics in agricultural soils amended with sewage sludge: Is surface water runoff a relevant environmental pathway?
2021
Abstract Sewage sludge used as agricultural fertilizer has been identified as an important source of microplastics (MPs) to the environment. However, the fate of MPs added to agricultural soils is largely unknown. This study investigated the fate of MPs in agricultural soils amended with sewage sludge and the role of surface water runoff as a mechanism driving their transfer to aquatic ecosystems. This was assessed using three experimental plots located in a semi-arid area of Central Spain, which were planted with barley. The experimental plots received the following treatments: (1) control or no sludge application; (2) historical sludge application, five years prior to the experiment; and …
Nile Red lifetime reveals microplastic identity
2020
Microplastic pollution is recognized as a worldwide environmental problem. The increasing daily use and release of plastics into the environment have led to the accumulation of fragmented microplastics, with potentially awful consequences for the environment, and animal and human health. The detection and identification of microplastics are of utmost importance, but available methods are still limited. In this work, a new approach is presented for the analysis of microplastics based on hydrophobic fluorescence staining with Nile Red, using spectrally resolved confocal fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). Significant differences were observed in the em…
Identification of microplastics using 4‐dimethylamino‐4′‐nitrostilbene solvatochromic fluorescence
2021
In this work, we introduce the use of 4-dimethylamino-4'-nitrostilbene (DANS) fluorescent dye for applications in the detection and analysis of microplastics, an impendent source of pollution made of synthetic organic polymers with a size varying from less than 5 mm to nanometer scale. The use of this dye revealed itself as a versatile, fast and sensitive tool for readily discriminate microplastics in water environment. The experimental evidences herein presented demonstrate that DANS efficiently absorbs into a variety of polymers constituting microplastics, and its solvatochromic properties lead to a positive shift of the fluorescence emission spectrum according to the polarity of the poly…
Supramolecular complexation for environmental control
2012
Supramolecular complexes offer a new and efficient way for the monitoring and removal of many substances emanating from technical processes, fertilization, plant and animal protection, or e.g. chemotherapy. Such pollutants range from toxic or radioactive metal ions and anions to chemical side products, herbicides, pesticides to drugs including steroids, and include degradation products from natural sources. The applications involve usually fast and reversible complex formation, due to prevailing non-covalent interactions. This is of importance for sensing as well as for separation techniques, where the often expensive host compounds can then be reused almost indefinitely. Immobilization of …
Detecting ni(ii) in aqueous solution by 3-(2-pyridyl)-[1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-a]pyridine and dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin
2013
Abstract A new supramolecular sensitizer for nickel(II) ion in aqueous solution based on a pyridyltriazolopyridine-cyclodextrin inclusion complex is proposed. The inclusion complexation behavior, characterization and binding ability of pyridyltriazolopyridine (PTP) with dimethyl-β-cyclodextrin (DMβCD) has been investigated both in solution and solid state by means of absorption, fluorescence, 1H NMR, DSC, and molecular modeling methods. The stoichiometry of the inclusion complex is 1:1, and the thermodynamic studies indicate that the inclusion of PTP is mainly an entropic driven process. The 2D NMR studies revealed that the pyridyl-triazolopyridine is included by both sides of cyclodextrin …
Speciation of vanadium in urban, industrial and volcanic soils by a modified Tessier method
2016
Vanadium (V) concentrations in industrial, urban and volcanic soils were sequentially extracted using a modified Tessier's method. The voltammetric technique was used to determine V concentrations in solutions obtained from the various extraction steps. At the reference stations, the V concentrations (sum of four individual fractions) in soils ranged from 0.72 to 0.24 g kg(-1) dry weight (d.w.) with a mean value of 0.18 g kg(-1) d.w. V concentrations in soils of the Palermo urban area ranged from 0.34 to 2.1 g kg(-1) d.w., in the Milazzo (industrial) area between 0.26 and 5.4 g kg(-1) d.w. and in the volcanic area near Mt. Etna from 0.91 to 2.9 g kg(-1) d.w. When the V concentrations around…
Determining suitable fish to monitor plastic ingestion trends in the Mediterranean Sea
2019
The presence of marine litter is a complex, yet persistent, threat to the health and biodiversity of the marine environment, and plastic is the most abundant, and ubiquitous type of marine litter. To monitor the level of plastic waste in an area, and the prospect of it entering the food chain, bioindicator species are used extensively throughout Northern European Seas, however due to their distribution ranges many are not applicable to the Mediterranean Sea. Guidance published for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive suggests that the contents of fish stomachs may be analyzed to determine trends of marine plastic ingestion. In order to equate transnational trends in marine plastic ingest…
Parasite communities in the red mullet, Mullus barbatus L., respond to small-scale variation in the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in the Wester…
2012
We examined parasite populations and communities in the Mediterranean sentinel fish species, Mullus barbatus, sampled at a small-scale PCB gradient at the shelf sediments off Catalonian coasts of the Western Mediterranean. A recurrent feature at both the population and community level was the differentiation of the samples along the increasing PCB levels simultaneously registered in the sediments. Both directly transmitted ectoparasites and endoparasites with complex life-cycles transmitted via food chains exhibited a decrease in abundance with the increase in PCB levels. Parasite numerical responses translated into significant differences in infracommunity structure with decreasing predict…