Toxicological hazards of natural environments: Clinical reports from Poison Control Centre of Milan

The belief that approaching nature can enhance well-being, widely promoted by mass media, is widespread. People explore parks and forests searching for wild herbs, berries and mushrooms that could be used as food or medicines, thinking that all things natural are healthy and harmless while picking up toxic species or encountering a snake is not so infrequent. To point out the Italian cases concerning these natural poisons, all cases handled between 2001 and 2005 by Poison Control Centre of Milan, the leading toxicological centre in Italy, have been reviewed. Regarding plants, 4432 records were collected; the patients most frequently involved were children that had picked poisonous species at home, at school or in other public places, but the most serious cases were related to wild plants used by adults for health enhancement: three deaths were recorded. Among 4289 calls concerning mushrooms several life-threatening cases, 6 transplants and 9 deaths were recorded. Eventually, 2072 records connected to snake bites were collected, among them at least 1061 were related to Vipera spp.: three patients died. These accidents can lead to severe or lethal poisonings that, requiring intensive medical cares and antidotes, have also a social and economic cost to the National Health Service. A public information campaign should be promoted to make people more aware of the risks of these events and of the detrimental consequences that this could have. Some cases of poisonings have arisen due to incorrect information conveyed through radio, television, press and the Internet; we highlight the need for better control on the content of messages diffused through mass media.     

Single and dual crop coefficients and water requirements for onion (Allium cepa L.) under semiarid conditions

The objectives of this study were to determine onion water requirements with a sprinkler irrigation system, the most usual irrigation method in Spain. A weighing lysimeter was used to measure single (Kc) and dual (Kcb + Ke) crop coefficient curves and obtain the relationship between Kc-ground cover (GC) and Kcb-GC. Experimental work was carried out in 2005 at “Las Tiesas” farm, located in Albacete (Central Spain). To determine actual onion evapotranspiration (ETc), we used a weighing lysimeter with continuous electronic data recording. Daily measured ETc values obtained by the lysimeter were compared to calculated ETc values obtained through the standard FAO methodology [Allen, R.G., Pereira, L.S., Raes, D., Smith, M., 1998. Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO Irrig. and Drain. Paper 56. Rome, Italy]. Seasonal evapotranspiration measured in the lysimeter (893.34 mm) was higher than the seasonal ETc calculated by FAO-56 method (832.90 mm). The percentage of GC was found through the supervised classification technique of digital photographic images with the maximum probability algorithm [Calera, A., Martínez, C., Melia, J., 2001. A procedure for obtaining green plant cover: relation to NDVI in a case study for barley. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 22, 3357-3362]. The values derived from lysimetric measurements are Kc ini: 0.65, Kc mid: 1.20 and Kc end: 0.75, similar to values given in FAO-56. Lysimetric measurements showed that the evaporative component was high during the growing season, due to the high frequency of irrigation and the fact that the onion crop does not completely cover the ground; maximum GC was 72%. Therefore, the dual crop coefficient was calculated, which allowed differentiation between crop transpiration (basal crop coefficient, Kcb) and evaporation from the soil (evaporation coefficient, Ke). With the aim of facilitating extrapolation of the results to other areas, Kc and Kcb were linearly correlated to fractional GC.     

Nitrogen and phosphorous budgets during a farming cycle of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum: An in situ experiment

In the Sacca di Goro lagoon a farming cycle of the Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum) was simulated seeding young molluscs in an unexploited sandy spot. The experimental area (2100 m²) consisted of three sectors: a control (C), almost devoid of clams (∼ 1600 m^− 2, ∼ 30 ind m^− 2), a low (L) density area (400 m², ∼ 300 ind m^− 2) and a high (H) density zone (∼ 110 m^− 2, ∼ 800 ind m^− 2). Water chemistry, external freshwater nutrient loads, molluscs filtration rates, biomass, elemental composition and nutrient recycling were analysed.Clam filtration rates and light and dark fluxes of nutrients were measured with intact core incubations. Three replicate cores (i.d. 20 cm) were collected from C, L and H in April, one month after the seeding, June, August and October 2003. External loads were calculated multiplying dissolved and particulate nutrients concentration by freshwater flow from the main lagoon tributaries. Direct excretion, filtration activity of clams and particulate matter deposition resulted in significantly higher ammonium (NH₄⁺) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) effluxes to the water column at L and H. For the entire farming cycle, particulate nitrogen (PN) uptake by clams from the water column was 1.7 (C), 9.1 (L) and 16.3 (H) mol m^− 2, whilst total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) fluxes were − 0.3 (C), 1.6 (L) and 6.9 (H) mol m^− 2. Particulate phosphorus (PP) uptake from the water column was 0.1 (C), 0.6 (L) and 1.0 (H) mol m^− 2, whilst total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) efflux was 0.2 (C), 0.5 (L) and 0.8 (H) mol m^− 2. At the end of the farming cycle, harvested N as mollusc flesh was negligible for C, 0.4 mol m^− 2 for L and 1.8 mol m^− 2 for H. Harvested P as mollusc flesh was negligible for C, 0.02 mol m^− 2 for L and 0.04 mol m^− 2 for H. Farmed areas seem to have a great potential for fast coupling between sedimentation (filter feeder mediated biodeposition) and benthic recycling. At the lagoon level, mollusc farming probably attenuates the export of particulate matter to the open sea. Our results show that a minor fraction of biodeposited N (∼ 6%) and P (∼ 3%) was exported as a commercial product at the end of the farming cycle, whilst a larger fraction was incorporated in the sediments or recycled as dissolved inorganic or organic forms.     

Reduction of Nitrate and Ammonium Adsorption Using Microscale Iron Particles and Zeolitite

Nitrate contamination of groundwater represents a threat to human health. Many researchers have studied zerovalent iron as a mean to remediate nitrate contamination. However, the application of such method is limited by ammonium production. This work investigates the use of microscale iron particles in association with zeolitite, a natural material containing zeolite, to remove nitrate and ammonium from groundwater. The association of the two materials is shown to lower the nitrate concentration in both deionized water and groundwater under the limit suggested by the European Union and to significantly reduce the ammonium concentration. The method is potentially applicable in water filtration.     

Characterisation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoma tracheiphila</Emphasis> by RAPD-PCR,microsatellite-primed PCR and ITS rDNA sequencing and development of specific primers for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in planta</Emphasis> PCR detection

Thirty six isolates of Phoma tracheiphila from Italy, the causal agent of the mal secco disease on Citrus species, were characterised by different molecular tools in comparison with representative isolates of other phytopathogenic Phoma species. These included analysis of the distribution of RAPD and microsatellite markers and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear rRNA genes. The results obtained with 12 RAPD primers (92 markers) and 7 microsatellite primers (56 markers) suggest that Italian isolates of P. tracheiphila are genetically homogeneous, leading to identical patterns upon amplification with all the tested primers. Accordingly, ITSI-5.8S-ITS2 sequences were highly conserved (98–100% identity along a 544-characters alignment) among all the isolates of P. tracheiphila. A neighbor-joining analysis of ITS sequences of P. tracheiphila in comparison with those of other Phoma species, as well as with alignable sequences from anamorphic and teleomorphic taxa retrieved in BLAST searches, revealed a close relationship between P. tracheiphila and Leptosphaeria congesta. A pair of P. tracheiphila-specific primers was designed on the consensus sequence (555 residues) obtained from the alignment of the newly generated P. tracheiphila ITS sequences. A PCR-based specific assay coupled to electrophoretic separation of amplicons made it possible to detect P. tracheiphila in naturally infected Citrus wood tissue collected from both symptomatic and symptomless plants. The limit of detection was 10 pg of genomic DNA and 5 fg of the ITS target sequence.     

Spin crossover in ferropericlase at high pressure: a seismologically transparent transition?

Seismic discontinuities in Earth typically arise from structural, chemical, or temperature variations with increasing depth. The pressure-induced iron spin state transition in the lower mantle may influence seismic wave velocities by changing the elasticity of iron-bearing minerals, but no seismological evidence of an anomaly exists. Inelastic x-ray scattering measurements on (Mg(0.83)Fe(0.17))O-ferropericlase at pressures across the spin transition show effects limited to the only shear moduli of the elastic tensor. This explains the absence of deviation in the aggregate seismic velocities and, thus, the lack of a one-dimensional seismic signature of the spin crossover. The spin state transition does, however, influence shear anisotropy of ferropericlase and should contribute to the seismic shear wave anisotropy of the lower mantle.     

Long-range order in electronic transport through disordered metal films

Ultracold atom magnetic field microscopy enables the probing of current flow patterns in planar structures with unprecedented sensitivity. In polycrystalline metal (gold) films, we observed long-range correlations forming organized patterns oriented at +/-45 degrees relative to the mean current flow, even at room temperature and at length scales larger than the diffusion length or the grain size by several orders of magnitude. The preference to form patterns at these angles is a direct consequence of universal scattering properties at defects. The observed amplitude of the current direction fluctuations scales inversely to that expected from the relative thickness variations, the grain size, and the defect concentration, all determined independently by standard methods. Ultracold atom magnetometry thus enables new insight into the interplay between disorder and transport.     

Sequestering ability of butylated hydroxytoluene,propyl gallate,resveratrol, and vitamins C and E against ABTS,DPPH, and hydroxyl free radicals in chemical and biological systems

The antioxidant capacity of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT; 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol), propyl gallate (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid n-propyl ester), resveratrol (trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene), and vitamins C (l-ascorbic acid) and E [(+)-alpha-tocopherol] was studied in chemical and biological systems. The chemical assays evaluated the capacity of these antioxidants to sequester 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS.) and 1,1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH.). A new colorimetric method to determine hydroxyl radical scavenging is also described. The biological tests use the eucaryotic cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae treated with the antioxidants in the presence of the stressing agents apomorphine, hydrogen peroxide, and paraquat dichloride (methylviologen; 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium dichloride). The results in chemical systems showed that all of the antioxidants were able to significantly inhibit the oxidation of beta-carotene by hydroxyl free radicals. The assays in yeast showed that the antioxidant activity of the tested compounds depended on the stressing agent used and the mechanism of action of the antioxidant.