Notes

[Ultrasound's suggestions as well as pitfalls].
The occurrence of chemical and biological contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) was investigated in treated wastewater intended for reuse in agriculture. An agarose hydrogel diffusion-based passive sampler was exposed to the outlet of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in Cyprus, which is equipped with membrane bioreactor (MBR). Passive samplers in triplicate were exposed according to a time-series exposure plan with maximum exposure duration of 28 days. Composite flow-proportional wastewater samples were collected in parallel with the passive sampling exposure plan and were processed by solid phase extraction using HORIZON SPE-DEX 4790 and the same sorbent material (Oasis HLB) as in the passive sampler. The analysis of passive samplers and wastewater samples enabled (i) the field-scale calibration of the passive sampler prototype by the calculation of in situ sampling rates of target substances, and (ii) the investigation of in silico predicted transformation products of the four most ecotoxicolog analysis are required to assure safe application of wastewater reuse and avoid spread and crop uptake of potentially hazardous chemicals. A unique terrace with sharp gradient of environmental conditions was selected to study the microbial response and survival strategies to the extreme environments introduced by acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination. A combination of geochemical analyses, metagenomic sequencing, ex-situ microcosm setups, and statistical analyses were used to investigate the environment-microbe interactions. The microbial communities and metabolic potentials along the terrace were studied by focusing on the genes associated with important biogeochemical processes (i.e., C, N, S cycling and metal resistance). Results show that the variations of geochemical parameters substantially shaped the indigenous microbial communities. Sharp environmental gradients also impacted the microbial metabolic potentials, especially for C, N, and S cycling. Although the relative abundances of carbon fixing genes did not significantly vary along the environmental gradients, the taxa for carbon fixation varied significantly in more contaminated fields versus less contaminated fields, indicating the effects of AMD contamination on the autotrophic microbial communities. AMD input also influenced the N cycling, especially for nitrogen fixation and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). In addition, ex situ experiments were undertaken to evaluate the effects of AMD contamination on nitrogen fixation rates. Random Forest (RF) analysis indicated that nitrate, pH, total N, TOC exhibited positive correlations with the rates of nitrogen fixation while total Fe, Fe(III), and sulfate showed negative effects. Two co-occurrence networks at taxonomic and genomic levels indicated that geochemical parameters such as pH, TOC, total N, total S, and total Fe substantially influenced the innate microbial communities and their metabolic potentials. The current study provides an understanding for microbial response to AMD contamination and lays the foundation for future potential AMD bioremediation. Few studies have assessed the association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure during pregnancy and infancy and pediatric rheumatic diseases (PRDs). The goal of this study was to investigate the association of PM2.5 with PRDs, and to explore sensitive windows of exposure. see more Therefore, we conducted a cohort-based case-control study to investigate the association between weekly exposure to PM2.5 and PRDs in Taiwan. Our birth cohort consisted of infants born in 2004-2014 (n = 1,991,592) who were followed from conception to the end of 2015. There were 2363 cases of incident PRDs in children, and 23,630 children served as controls using density matching (110) based on date of birth, gender, and gestational week. We used a linear mixed effect (LME) model to incorporate the aerosol optical depth (AOD), meteorological variables, and land-use data to predict daily PM2.5 concentrations. We also performed conditional logistic regression with distributed lag non-linear models (DLNMs) to assess the effects of weekly average PM2.5 on PRDs, as well as dose-response relationships. In DLNMs, exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy (11-40 weeks) or infancy (1-14 weeks after birth) was associated with incident PRDs adjusting for potential confounding factors, and for carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. In the dose-response association, the odds ratios of PRDs were significantly increased for PM2.5 exposures between 26 and 54 μg/m3. In addition, exposure to PM2.5 above 81 μg/m3 dramatically increased the risk of PRDs. In conclusions, our study provides new data to suggest that PM2.5 exposure from 11-40 gestational weeks to 1-14 weeks after birth can increase the risk for PRDs in a non-linear dose-response fashion. Spasticity is the velocity-dependent hypertonia frequently encountered in patients affected by Upper Motor Neuron Syndrome. It is due to a tonic stretch reflex, which is evoked in patients at rest. The aim of this study, performed using surface electromyography (EMG), was to investigate stretch reflex excitability in the hamstrings muscles of patients affected by progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and to correlate EMG results with clinical findings. Thirty patients and 20 age-matched healthy controls were investigated. EMG activity was recorded from biceps femoris muscle with the patient at rest. To stretch hamstrings muscles, the patient's leg was manually moved from maximal flexion to maximal extension at 3 different velocities to investigate both phasic and tonic stretch reflex. Only 7 patients were affected by hypertonia of the hamstrings; 4 of them showed muscle contracture. A tonic stretch reflex was present in the vast majority of the recruited patients, whether they presented hypertonia of the hamstrings or not. Tonic stretch reflex is often present in the hamstrings muscles of progressive MS patients without producing increased muscle tone. This "ghost spasticity" is likely to be, for its intrinsic features, an important risk factor for the development of contractures in the hamstrings muscles.
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