Search results for "contamination"
showing 10 items of 916 documents
Optimal placement of quality sensors in water distribution systems
2019
Water supply infrastructures are crucial for the sustainable existence and development of modern cities [1,2]. Water distribution systems (WDSs) are complex structures formed by many elements designed and erected to transport water of sufficient quality from water sources to consumers. The amount of the above elements, which can reach up to tens of thousands of links and junctions, their frequently wide spatial dispersion and the WDS characteristic of being very dynamic structures make the management of real WDSs a complex problem [3-5]. Moreover, although the main objective is to supply water in the quantity and quality required, other requirements are essential, namely maintaining conditi…
In-Depth Investigation of the Safety of Wooden Shelves Used for Traditional Cheese Ripening
2021
ABSTRACT The main goal of this research was to characterize the bacterial diversity of the wooden boards used for aging traditional Sicilian cheeses and to evaluate whether pathogenic bacteria are associated with these surfaces. Eighteen cheese dairy factories producing three traditional cheese typologies (PDO Pecorino Siciliano, PDO Piacentinu Ennese, and Caciocavallo Palermitano) were selected within the region of Sicily. The wooden shelf surfaces were sampled by a destructive method to detach wood splinters as well as by a nondestructive brushing to collect microbial cells. Scanning electron microscopy showed the presence of almost continuous bacterial formations on the majority of the s…
An ITS-RFLP method to identify black Aspergillus isolates responsible for OTA contamination in grapes and wine
2006
Ochratoxigenic mycobiota in grapes from representative wine regions in Valencia was identified. Black aspergilli were predominant among the different Aspergillus spp. isolated. Restriction digestion analysis of the ITS products was tested as a rapid method to identify isolates of black Aspergillus species from grapes. Restriction endonuclease digestion of the ITS products using the endonucleases HhaI, NlaIII and RsaI, distinguished five types of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) corresponding to Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus tubingensis, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus aculeatus species. In addition, a new RFLP type in the A. niger aggregate was identified. The fragme…
Analysis of Contaminants in Beverages
2019
Abstract The main purpose of our researches, in the last years, was to develop reliable methods for the determination of emerging and old contaminants (Pt, Rh, V, Mo, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), etc.), at trace levels, in the solutions obtained from the mineralization or extraction of environmental and food matrices, because, in particular for metals, some of them cannot be readily analyzed using traditional method, for example, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometry techniques. Few data are available on the evaluations of Pt, Rh, V, and Mo concentrations, in food matrices, because have ever been carried ou…
Mercury in fish products: what’s the best for consumers between bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna?
2017
A total of 205 bluefin and yellowfin tuna samples were examined for mercury detection in order to verify possible differences and have a detailed risk assessment of the two tuna species. The results showed significant higher mercury concentration in muscle tissue of bluefin tuna respect yellowfin tuna (p < 0.001) with mean concentration of 0.84 mg/kg and maximum value of 1.94 mg/kg. These differences can be due the different biological and ecological aspects of the two tuna species and to different oceanographic aspects between Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean sea. The results obtained in this study suggest an advisable containment of the sources of pollution and further studies on the c…
Monitoring of atrazine treatment on soil bacterial, fungal and atrazine-degrading communities by quantitative competitive PCR
2003
We report the development of quantitative competitive (QC) PCR assays for quantifying the 16S, 18S ribosomal and atzC genes in nucleic acids directly extracted from soil. QC-PCR assays were standardised, calibrated and evaluated with an experimental study aiming to evaluate the impact of atrazine application on soil microflora. Comparison of QC-PCR 16S and 18S results with those of soil microbial biomass showed that, following atrazine application, the microbial biomass was not affected and that the amount of 16S rDNA gene representing 'bacteria' increased transitorily, while the amount of 18S rDNA gene representing fungi decreased in soil. In addition, comparison of atzC QC-PCR results wit…
Laboratory leaching studies of oryzalin and diuron through three undisturbed vineyard soil columns
2004
Article de revue (Article scientifique dans une revue à comité de lecture); International audience; The leaching of diuron and oryzalin through undisturbed soil columns was studied in the laboratory using three vineyard soils from Vosne-Romanée (Burgundy): a rendosol, a calcosol and a vegetated calcosol. After 845 mm of simulated rainfall in 15 days, soil leachates contained higher amounts of diuron (3.2%, 11.8% and 18.8% of applied diuron, respectively) than oryzalin (0.2%, 4.9%, 3.7%, respectively). A greater proportion of soil extractable residues was obtained for diuron (42.5%, 26.8% and 32.2%, respectively) than for oryzalin (14.7%, 12% and 15.5%, respectively). The greater mobility of…
Degradation of 2,4‐D, 2,4‐Dichlorophenol, and 4‐Chlorophenol in Soil after Sorption on Humified and Nonhumified Organic Matter
1999
Soil organic matter (SOM) primarily governs sorption processes and therefore affects the availability of organic chemicals to degrading microorganisms. Transformations of 14 C-ring-labeled 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D); 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP); and 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) sorbed on organic materials with increasing degrees of humification (wood, fresh straw, composted straw, ligain, and humic acid) and on a reference mineral sorbent (Al-oxide) were studied during soil incubation experiments. Chemicals previously sorbed on the different sorbents were applied to the soil. Mineralization kinetics, analysis of water and methanol extracts and measurements of the nonextractable radioa…
Modeling lead input and output in soils using lead isotopic geochemistry
2004
The aim of this study is to model downward migration of lead from the plow layer of an experimental site located in Versailles (about 15 km southwest of Paris, France). Since 1928, samples have been collected annually from the topsoil of three control plots maintained in bare fallow. Thirty samples from 10 different years were analyzed for their lead and scandium contents and lead isotopic compositions. The fluxes are simple because of the well-controlled experimental conditions in Versailles: only one output flux, described as a first-order differential function of the anthropogenic lead pool, was taken into account; the inputs were exclusively ascribed to atmospheric deposition. The combi…
Leaching of oryzalin and diuron through undisturbed vineyard soil columns under outdoor conditions
2006
12 pages; International audience; Field studies monitoring herbicide pollution in the vineyards of Burgundy (France) have revealed that drinking water reservoirs are contaminated with several pre-emergence herbicides. An assessment of the leaching of two such herbicides, diuron and oryzalin, was therefore performed using lysimeters, under outdoor conditions, from May 2001 to May 2002. Four vineyard soils from Vosne-Roman?(Burgundy) were chosen along a topolithosequence: a rendosol and three calcosols. After 673 mm of rainfall, greater amounts of diuron than oryzalin were measured in percolates: respectively 0.10-0.84% and 0.02-0.43% of applied herbicide, depending on soils. Measurements for…