Wildlife contamination with fluoroquinolones from livestock: Widespread occurrence of enrofloxacin and marbofloxacin in vultures

There is much recent interest in the presence and impact of veterinary pharmaceuticals in wildlife. Livestock carcasses are often disposed of in supplementary feeding stations for avian scavengers, as a management and conservation tool for these species worldwide. In feeding stations, vultures and other scavengers can consume carcasses almost immediately after disposal, which implies the potential ingestion of veterinary pharmaceuticals as a non-target consequence of supplementary feeding. Using UPLC-MS/MS and HPLC-TOF, we evaluated the presence and concentration of fluoroquinolone residues in plasma of nestling vultures feeding on domestic livestock carrion. Three different fluoroquinolones (marbofloxacin, enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin) and a non-targeted β-lactam (nafcillin) were detected in vulture plasma. The high proportion of individuals (92%) with fluoroquinolone residues at variable concentrations (up to ∼20 μg L(-1) of enrofloxacin and ∼150 μg L(-1) of marbofloxacin) sampled in several geographically distant colonies and on different dates suggests that these and other drugs were potentially ingested throughout nestling development. Contamination with veterinary fluoroquinolones and other pharmaceuticals should be considered as an unintended but alarming consequence of food management in threatened wildlife.

Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices as a measure of cognitive functioning in Cerebral Palsy

BACKGROUND

Cognitive dysfunction is frequent in Cerebral Palsy (CP). CP motor impairment and associated speech deficits often hinder cognitive assessment, with the result being that not all CP studies consider cognitive dysfunction. Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices is a simple, rapid test which can be used in persons with severe motor impairment and speech limitations. We studied whether this test can offer a reliable measure of cognitive functioning in CP.

METHOD

Visuoperceptual, language, memory and frontal lobe functions were evaluated in 30 participants with severe motor impaired CP and a variety of speech difficulties. The relationship between Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and a variety of tests was analysed.

RESULTS

Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices performance was associated with visuoperceptual, language, visual and verbal memory but not with frontal functions. Receptive vocabulary and visuospatial measures were the best predictors of Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices raw scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices is a fast, easy-to-administer test able to obtain a measure related with linguistic, visuoperceptual, and memory cognitive functioning in persons with CP despite their motor and speech disorders.

Memory Performance in a Sample of Very Low Birth Weight Adolescents

Prematurely born participants with very low birth weight (VLBW) are at high risk of brain injury in the perinatal period and of later cognitive impairment. Studies of long-term memory sequelae in VLBW participants are scarce and focus on verbal and visual memory assessed by standard clinical memory tests. There is even less research into everyday memory, and the results obtained are contradictory. This study explores long-term memory deficits in VLBW adolescents using 2 standard clinical memory tests and 1 everyday memory test. Results show impairment only in everyday memory. These memory deficits are not specific; they are related to an impaired general cognitive performance. Unlike birth weight, gestational age is a good predictor of intelligence.

Differential cerebral and neuropsychological consequences in dizygotic twins with prenatal alcohol exposure

AIM

To relate structural and functional findings in one adolescent dizygotic twin pair with prenatal alcohol exposure.

METHOD

Neuropsychological and volumetric magnetic resonance studies were carried out on a 13-year-old preterm dizygotic twin pair with prenatal alcohol exposure.

RESULTS

Neuropsychological and brain structural findings differed between the twins. The child with the more affected phenotype had large-scale cognitive deficits and presented significant atrophy in several brain structures. Both subjects had white matter volume reductions relative to the whole cerebral volume.

CONCLUSION

The neuropsychological and neuroimaging data reflect long-term consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure.

Seasonal differences in SO2 ground-level impacts from a power plant plume on complex terrain

The objective of this study is to describe the seasonal differences in SO2 ground-level fumigations from a power plant situated on very complex terrain in the Iberian Peninsula within the Western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). The study area extends more than 80 km around the power plant on very complex semi-arid terrain. Considering different plume-rise schemes, by experimentation and modelling this study attempts to characterise the seasonal differences in both the plume footprint 80 km around the power plant and the turbulent regime (diurnal or nocturnal) driving the main contribution to the accumulated plume footprints at different distances from the power plant within a complex terrain region. Two markedly different SO2 ground-level distributions around the power plant are presented for the typical summer and winter dispersive scenarios in the area. Simulations show that the SO2 footprint of a plume being advected more than 450 m above ground level in complex terrain is highly dependent on the prevailing meteorological conditions and on the mesoscale perturbations of the synoptic flows within the lower layers of the troposphere. The results obtained show how on complex terrain, despite seasonal meteorological differences and under stable dispersive conditions, the simulated mechanical turbulence leeward of the mountain ranges reproduces highly concentrated SO2 fumigations on the ground more than 50 km away from the power plant. Besides, under summer convective activity, plume fumigations have been successfully simulated less than 15 km from the power plant. In conclusion, this study shows how measurements from air quality networks together with information obtained from atmospheric transport and diffusion models are able to characterise different transport scenarios. This is a clear advantage for the end-users and decision-makers who manage and optimise the regional air quality networks.