Flooding by sea and brackish waters enhances mobility of Cd, Zn and Pb from airborne dusts in coastal soils

Sea level rise and extreme weather conditions caused by climatic changes enhance the frequency and length of submersion events in coastal soils, causing deposited airborne dusts to get in contact with marine salts. The behaviour of Cd, Zn and Pb from pedogenetic minerals and from dusts from mining and smelting activities, added to two soils under different agricultural management (arable and grassland) was examined after soil flooding for 1, 7 and 30 days with waters of increasing salinities (0, 4.37, 8.75, 17.25 and 34.5 g L-1). A rain water event following 1 d flooding released an extra amount of metals. Concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTE), pH, dissolved inorganic and organic C were measured in solutions collected by gravity from soil columns. Speciation distribution of leached metals and oversaturation parameters were calculated by Visual Minteq 3.0 and showed that complexation by chloride ions for Cd and fulvic acids for Pb were the drivers of solubilisation, while Zn interacted with both. Results showed that marine salts enhance up to 300 times leaching of Cd, and several times that of Zn and Pb from contaminated soils and that airborne toxic elements are much more mobilized than pedogenic ones. Smelter exhaust metals, particularly Pb, were made more mobile than those in mine tailings (up to 55 against 0.7 ng μg-1 Pb). Soil management strongly also influence mobilization by saline water: much lower amounts were leached from the grassland soil. Soil organic matter quality (DOC and humification) affects the extent of mobilization. The length of the flooding period did not result in coherent time trend patterns for the three metals, probably because of the multiple changes in solution parameters, but leached metals were always highly linearly correlated negatively with pH and positively with DOC.

Evaluation of Bacillus clausii CSI08, Bacillus megaterium MIT411 and a Bacillus cocktail on gastrointestinal health: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study

In the present study, the safety, tolerance and impact of 1×10⁹ cfu Bacillus clausii CSI08, 1×10⁹ cfu Bacillus megaterium MIT411 and a probiotic cocktail containing Bacillus subtilis DE111^®, Bacillus megaterium MIT411, Bacillus coagulans CGI314, and Bacillus clausii CSI08 with a total count of 2.0×10⁹ cfu administered daily were assessed as compared with a maltodextrin containing placebo control. A total of 98 study participants received daily doses for 45 days, followed by a washout period of 2 weeks. A questionnaire to capture the incidence and duration of upper respiratory tract, urinary tract and/or gastrointestinal complaints and a diary to capture stool regularity and consistency was kept daily to record compliance throughout the 45 days. Faecal and blood samples were collected for microbiological and haematological analysis at the start and end of the treatment period. The probiotic cocktail significantly decreased the incidence of loose stools throughout the entire study. The recorded respiratory, urinary and gastrointestinal symptoms, defecation frequency and other stool consistency were not influenced. No clinically relevant changes in blood parameters, such as liver and kidney function and no serious adverse events appeared during and after administration. There were no changes in symptoms including sadness, irritability, energy, appetite, tension, stress, sleep, cardiovascular events, aches and pains, and dizziness as determined by a mood questionnaire administered to participants at baseline and at the end of the treatment period. Similarly, the measured inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant levels, cholesterol, triglycerides, free amino acids or minerals remained unaffected. There were no negative changes in alpha or beta diversity of the microbiota with any of the treatment groups. These promising data suggest that these treatments were safe and well tolerated, and further work with larger cohorts are justified to determine the efficacy of these potential probiotics in select demographic groups. Trial registration number with clinicaltrials.gov at NCT04758845.

Acute physiological effects following Bacillus subtilis DE111 oral ingestion - a randomised, double blinded, placebo-controlled study

Previous studies using ileostomy samples from study participants demonstrated that the spore-forming probiotic Bacillus subtilis DE111® can germinate in the small intestine as early as 4 hours after ingestion. Metabolomics, proteomics and sequencing technologies, enabled further analysis of these samples for the presence of hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihypertensive molecules. In the DE111 treatment group, the polyphenols trigonelline and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, orotic acid, the non-essential amino acid cystine and the lipokine 12,13-diHome were increased. DE111 also reduced acetylcholine levels in the ileostomy samples, and increased the expression of leucocyte recruiting proteins, antimicrobial peptides and intestinal alkaline phosphatases of the brush border in the small intestine. The combination of B. subtilis DE111 and the diet administered during the study increased the expression of the proteins phosphodiesterase ENPP7, ceramidase ASAH2 and the adipokine Zn-alpha-2-glycoprotein that are involved in fatty acid and lipid metabolism. Acute B. subtilis DE111 ingestion had limited detectable effect on the microbiome, with the main change being its increased presence. These findings support previous data suggesting a beneficial role of DE111 in digestion, metabolism, and immune health that appears to begin within hours of consumption.

Comparison and risk stratification of patients presenting with syncope in emergency department

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: None.

Introduction :

Syncope is the sudden loss of consciousness, associated with an inability to maintain postural tone, with immediate and spontaneous recovery without requiring electrical or chemical cardioversion. It is a common condition associated with frequent hospitalization or visits to the emergency department. It has a prevalence of 40%, considering a lifetime of 70 years and an annual incidence of 6%. The prognosis after syncope ranges from relatively benign for vasovagal to poor for ventricular tachyarrhythmia, but invariably creates anxiety and potentially life-changing disruption demanding timely resolution Overall, morbidity and mortality in syncope patients are low, but 1-year mortality can reach significantly higher in certain subgroups.

Purpose :

To compare the mortality rates in men and women so that management of the disease and comorbidities can be done accordingly.

Methods :

Anyone who presented to the ED with transient loss of consciousness (TLOC) between 2015 and 2018 (n = 11,718) underwent evaluation for syncope. Initial evaluation included history, physical exam, orthostatic blood pressure, heart rate measurement and a 12-lead ECG with or without echocardiogram. All patients were followed up from their initial ED visit until either April 30, 2019, or death, whichever occurred first.

Results :

Among the patients who presented to the ED, 1,011 (8.62%) females and 1,391 (11.87%) males were admitted to inpatient facilities. The median age of females at the time of diagnosis was 49 years as compared to 54 years for males. Moreover, females had fewer comorbidities (67.9% with Charlson/Deyo comorbidity score of 0) as compared to males (61.8% with Charlson/Deyo comorbidity score of 0). At 30 days, among those admitted, females had a mortality rate of 2.2% vs. 5.1% for males, and among those discharged, females had a mortality rate of 0.1% vs. 0.6% for males (P < .001 for both). At 1 year, among those admitted, females had a mortality rate of 10.9% vs. 15.6% for males, and among those discharged, females had a mortality rate of 1.8% vs. 3.2% for males (P < .001 for both). All data were analyzed on SPSS version 20 and it was found that males had a 1.2 fold greater risk for death at 1 year compared to females.

Conclusion : By comparing the mortality rates of males and females presenting in the emergency department with syncope, we concluded that the mortality rate is higher in males. This finding will help us to manage the high-risk patients of syncope accordingly.

Survey on recent developments in automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a disease facilitated by the rapid spread of diabetes worldwide. DR can blind diabetic individuals. Early detection of DR is essential to restoring vision and providing timely treatment. DR can be detected manually by an ophthalmologist, examining the retinal and fundus images to analyze the macula, morphological changes in blood vessels, hemorrhage, exudates, and/or microaneurysms. This is a time consuming, costly, and challenging task. An automated system can easily perform this function by using artificial intelligence, especially in screening for early DR. Recently, much state-of-the-art research relevant to the identification of DR has been reported. This article describes the current methods of detecting non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, exudates, hemorrhage, and microaneurysms. In addition, the authors point out future directions in overcoming current challenges in the field of DR research.

Sequential treatment of paper and pulp industrial wastewater: Prediction of water quality parameters by Mamdani Fuzzy Logic model and phytotoxicity assessment

Recycling of industrial wastewater meeting quality standards for agricultural and industrial demands is a viable option. In this study, paper and pulp industrial wastewater were treated with three biological treatments viz. aerobic, anaerobic and sequential (i.e. 20 days of anaerobic followed by 20 days of aerobic cycle), associated with simulation modeling by Mamdani Fuzzy Logic (MFL) model of some selected parameters. Electric air diffuser and minimal salt medium in sealed plastic bottles at control temperature were used for aerobic and anaerobic treatments, respectively. The significant reduction in chemical (COD: 81%) and biological oxygen demand (BOD: 71%), total suspended (TSS: 65%), dissolved solids (TDS: 60%) and turbidity (68%) was recorded during sequential treatment. The treated water was irrigated to determine its phytotoxic effects on seed germination, vigor and seedling growth of mustard (Brassica campestris). Sequential treatment greatly reduced phytotoxicity of wastewater and showed the highest germination percentage (90%) compared to aerobic (60%), anaerobic (70%) treatments and untreated wastewater (30%). Regression analysis also endorsed these findings (R² = 0.76-0.95 between seed germination, seedling growth and vigor). MFL technique was adopted to simulate sequential treatment process. The results support higher performance of MFL model to predict TDS, TSS, COD, and BOD based on the physico-chemical water quality parameters of raw wastewater, time of treatment and treatment type variation. Based on these findings, we conclude that the sequential treatment could be a more effective strategy for treatment of pulp and paper industrial wastewater with efficiency to be used for agricultural industry without toxic effects.

Homotypic and heterotypic immune responses to group A rotaviruses in parenterally immunized sheep

Immune responses to human rotaviruses were investigated in sheep with a view to obtaining antibodies for passive immunotherapy of humans. Eighteen adult sheep with previous natural exposure to rotavirus serotypes G3 and G6 were immunized parenterally with purified preparations of either individual rotavirus serotypes G1, G2, G3, G4 and G8, or a mixture thereof. Two additional sheep were kept as control animals with the flock. The antibody responses were measured on serial serum samples by neutralization tests. The homotypic antibody response ranged from 100-fold (rarely) up to 100,000-fold increases in titre. Heterotypic responses against serotypes G3 and G6 were demonstrated in 7/12 and 15/18 sheep, respectively, but the increases in titre were lower than the homotypic responses, ranging from 10- to 100-fold in most cases and were 1000-fold in two sheep. Interestingly, no heterotypic response against the human rotavirus serotypes was raised after 3 months; moderate titres of cross-neutralizing antibodies for the human serotypes were only observed after a third inoculation.