Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an often-fatal neonatal disease involving intestinal hyperinflammation leading to necrosis. Despite ongoing research, (1) conflicting results and (2) comorbidities ...of NEC patients make early NEC detection challenging and may complicate therapy development. Most research suggests that NEC pathogenesis is multifactorial, involving a combination of (1) gut prematurity; (2) abnormal bacterial colonization; and (3) ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. As neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) partially mediate I/R injury and drive inflammation in NEC, we hypothesized that NETs contribute to NEC development; particularly in cardiac patients.
A retrospective analysis of baseline characteristics, clinical signs, laboratory parameters, and imaging was conducted for surgically verified NEC cases over 10 years. Patients were stratified into two groups: (1) prior medically or surgically treated cardiac disease (cardiac NEC) and (2) no cardiac comorbidities (inflammatory NEC). Additionally, histology was reassessed for neutrophil activation and NETs formation.
A total of 110 patients (cNEC 43/110 vs. iNEC 67/110) were included in the study, with cNEC neonates being significantly older than iNEC neonates (
= 0.005). While no significant differences were found regarding clinical signs and imaging, laboratory parameters revealed that cNEC patients have significantly increased leucocyte (
= 0.024) and neutrophil (
< 0.001) counts. Both groups also differed in pH value (
= 0.011). Regarding histology: a non-significant increase in staining of myeloperoxidase within the cNEC group could be found in comparison to iNEC samples. Neutrophil elastase (
= 0.012) and citrullinated histone H3 stained (
= 0.041) slides showed a significant markup for neonates diagnosed with cNEC in comparison to neonates with iNEC.
The study shows that many standardized methods for diagnosing NEC are rather unspecific. However, differing leucocyte and neutrophil concentrations for iNEC and cNEC may indicate a different pathogenesis and may aid in diagnosis. As we propose that iNEC is grounded rather in sepsis and neutropenia, while cNEC primarily involves I/R injuries, which involves neutrophilia and NETs formation, it is plausible that I/R injury due to interventions for cardiac comorbidities results in pronounced neutrophil activation followed by a hyperinflammation reaction and NEC. However, prospective studies are necessary to validate these findings and to determine the accuracy of the potential diagnostic parameters.
This study reports on the behavior of two redox-sensitive elements, As and Sb, along the turbidity gradient in the freshwater reaches of the turbid Gironde Estuary. During a 17-month survey, surface ...water and suspended particulate matter (SPM) were sampled monthly at six sites representing both fluvial branches of the Gironde Estuary. Additionally, two longitudinal high resolution profiles were sampled along the fluvial estuary of the Garonne Branch during two contrasted seasons, i.e. with and without the presence of the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ). Seasonal variability and spatial distribution of dissolved (<0.2
μm; <0.02
μm) and particulate As, Sb and Fe were measured and combined with SPM data to understand metalloid behavior in the estuarine freshwater turbidity gradient.
At the two main fluvial entries of the Gironde Estuary, dissolved As and Sb concentrations showed strong (by a factor of 2–4) seasonal variations, that were only partly controlled by discharge-related dilution. Seasonal addition of dissolved As and Sb was attributed to the degradation of particulate As and Sb carrier phases in bottom sediment and/or in the adjacent aquifers, rather than release from SPM. In the surface freshwater reaches of the Gironde Estuary, Sb behaved conservatively under all hydrological conditions. In contrast, As was strongly reactive in the presence of the MTZ, with opposite behaviors in the two fluvial branches of the estuary: in the Garonne Branch As was removed from the dissolved phase, whereas in the Dordogne Branch As was added. Redistribution of As between the dissolved and the particulate phases along the turbidity gradient in estuarine freshwater only affected the <0.02
μm fraction, as the 0.02–0.2
μm fraction remained constant (∼300
ng
L
−1 in September 2005). Accordingly, As removal seemed to be decoupled from concomitant “colloidal” (0.02–0.2
μm) Fe flocculation in the turbidity gradient. The contrasting behavior of dissolved As in the fluvial estuaries of the Garonne and Dordogne Branches was attributed to sorption processes during equilibration of river-borne dissolved As with estuarine SPM forming the MTZ. This equilibrium, described by a distinct distribution coefficient
K
d(As)
∼
11,000
L
kg
−1 in the MTZ, resulted in either As release (desorption; Dordogne Branch) or removal (adsorption; Garonne Branch) in the respective fluvial estuaries. A mixing experiment under controlled laboratory conditions tended to support that equilibration between the dissolved phase and MTZ particles may induce both As release and removal in the estuarine freshwater reaches, with As distribution evolving towards a distinct
K
d value for increasing SPM concentrations. The long-term survey allowed estimating annual (2004) dissolved fluxes of As and, for the first time Sb, at the main fluvial entries of the Gironde Estuary at 30.7
t
a
−1 and 3.2
t
a
−1 (Garonne River) and at 8.0
t
a
−1 and 2.3
t
a
−1 (Dordogne River), respectively.
Daily measurements of water discharges and suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentrations and monthly analyses for arsenic were conducted from 1999 to 2005 on the Garonne, Dordogne and Isle ...Rivers, the three main tributaries of the Gironde Estuary, France. Despite the known historical polymetallic pollution affecting the Lot–Garonne River system, the highest As concentration level was observed in the Isle River. This was explained by the geological context and various Au/As deposits in this watershed. In the three studied rivers, dissolved As concentrations showed important seasonal variations with maximum values in summer. The dissolved As concentrations were closely related to water temperature and their increase in spring/summer appeared to be induced by water temperatures above ∼
15 °C, independently from discharge. The reduction of As(V) to more soluble As(III) and/or destruction of solid As carrier phases by micro-organisms could explain this observation, suggesting that temperature-dependent biogeochemical processes play an important role in controlling As partition and speciation in fluvial systems.
Water and SPM fluxes in the Garonne River mainly control arsenic inputs into the Gironde Estuary and the downstream coastal zones. Based on the present data, we propose an empirical model to roughly estimate the annual dissolved and particulate As fluxes in the Garonne, Dordogne and Isle Rivers from annual water and SPM fluxes. The comparison of observed As fluxes and those estimated from the empirical model suggests that resuspension of historical, polluted reservoir sediments during a major flood accounted for ∼
50% of the annual As fluxes in 2003.
Although silver (Ag) has been listed as a priority pollutant for the aquatic environment by the European Union (Directive 2006/11/EC), the use of Ag-based products with antimicrobial effects is ...increasing in Europe, as well as North America and Asia. This study investigates personal care products (PCP) as a potential source of Ag in wastewater, as well as the dynamics and fate of Ag in the influent and effluent of a major urban wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located on the fluvial part of the Gironde Estuary. Typical household PCPs marked as using Ag contained concentrations of up to 0.4 mg kg−1 making them likely contributors to urban Ag released into the aquatic environment. Silver concentrations in influent wastewater generally occurred during mid-week working hours and decreased during the night and on weekends clearly indicating the dominance of urban sources. Up to 90% of the total Ag in wastewater was bound to particles and efficiently (>80%) removed by the treatment process, whereas 20% of Ag was released into the fluvial estuary. Silver concentrations in wastewater effluents clearly exceeded estuarine concentrations and may strongly amplify the local Ag concentrations and fluxes, especially during summer rainstorms in low river discharge conditions. Further work should focus on environmental effects and fate of urban Ag release due to immediate localized outfall and/or the adsorption on estuarine particles and subsequent release as dissolved Ag chloro-complexes within the estuarine salinity gradient.
•Analysis of Ag along the different steps of the water treatment process at hourly, daily and weekly timescales.•Quantification of potential NPAg inputs from personal care products (PCP).•Evaluation of the potential fate and impacts of Ag and NPAg concentrations and fluxes on a highly turbid fluvial estuary.•Comparison of Ag inputs from urban wastewater with non-urban sources.
The Riou Mort watershed, strongly affected by former coal mining and Zn ore treatment, has been the major source of the historical polymetallic pollution of the Lot–Garonne–Gironde fluvial–estuarine ...system. Two decades after the end of ore treatment, the former industrial area still contributes important amounts of metals/metalloids from various, partly unidentified, sources to the downstream river system. This study presents the high spatial variability of metal/metalloid (Cd, Zn, As, Sb, U, V) concentrations in water and suspended particulate matter (SPM) from eight observation sites during a short, intense flood event. Despite important dilution effects, the observed concentration levels at the different sites suggested additional Cd and Zn inputs, probably from polluted groundwater. This formerly unknown metal source was then localized and characterized by sampling water and SPM along two longitudinal profiles during different hydrological situations. Groundwater inputs of “truly dissolved” (<0.02
μm) Cd and Zn occurred along ∼200
m, contributing 43% and 28% to the total annual (2004) Cd and Zn fluxes in the Riou Mort River. The estimated groundwater concentrations of Cd and Zn (2500–6700 and 83,000–170,000
μg
l
−1, respectively) in the source zone were consistent with values measured in samples from the near aquifer (5400–13,000 and 200,000–400,000
μg
l
−1). The present work induced concrete remediation actions (pumping and treatment of the polluted groundwater), that are expected to strongly reduce dissolved Cd and Zn emissions into the Riou Mort River.
Dissolved and particulate platinum (PtD and PtP, respectively) have been measured along the salinity gradient in surface water of the Gironde Estuary during two contrasting hydrological regimes; ...namely, moderate discharge (November 2012) and high discharge (March 2013). During both sets of conditions, PtD concentrations displayed maxima but at different locations along the salinity gradient. These observations are attributed to the addition of Pt from suspended particles traversing the estuary, an effect that is kinetically constrained and sensitive to discharge conditions. A minimum in PtD concentration in the low salinity range observed under high discharge conditions also suggests that Pt removal may occur in the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ). Particulate Pt also exhibited mid-estuarine maxima, an effect attributed to the presence of anthropogenic Pt in this region, but no clear trend for PtP–PtD distribution coefficients was evident during either sampling.
Estimated daily gross dissolved (PtD) and particulate Pt (PtP) fluxes at La Réole, the main fluvial entry to the Gironde Estuary, were 0.018–0.11molday−1 (3.6–22gday−1) and 0.001–0.18molday−1 (0.21–35gday−1) in November and March, respectively. Using Boyle's method, the daily net PtD fluxes from the Gironde Estuary to the coastal ocean were estimated at 0.03molday−1 (6.5gday−1) for moderate discharge and 0.17molday−1 (34gday−1) during high discharge, reflecting the regime-dependent magnitude of Pt remobilization along the salinity gradient. The findings of the study suggest that estuarine reactivity is of major importance for both the distributions of Pt in estuaries and its export to the global ocean.
•Dissolved and particulate platinum have been measured along the salinity gradient in surface water of the Gironde Estuary.•Dissolved and particulate platinum concentrations displayed maxima but at different locations along the salinity gradient.•No clear trend for particle–water distribution coefficients was evident.•Estuarine reactivity is of major importance for both the distributions of Pt in estuaries and its export to the global ocean.
In search for a new generation of spintronics hardware, material candidates for room temperature quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) have become a contemporary focus of investigation. Inspired by the ...original proposal for QSHE in graphene, several heterostructures have been synthesized, aiming at a hexagonal monolayer of heavier group IV elements promoting the QSHE bulk gap via increased spin-orbit coupling. So far, the monolayer/substrate coupling, which can manifest itself in strain, deformation, and hybridization, has proven to be detrimental to the aspired QSHE conditions for the monolayer. For stanene, the Sn analog of graphene, we investigate how an interposing buffer layer mediates between monolayer and substrate in order to optimize the QSHE setting. From a detailed density functional theory study, we highlight the principal mechanisms induced by such a buffer layer to accomplish quasifreestanding stanene in its QSHE phase. We complement our theoretical predictions by presenting attempts to grow a buffer layer on SiC(0001) on which stanene can be deposited.
This work focuses on practical research in the field of Bluetooth 5.0 and the maximum number of Bluetooth sensors nodes in a wireless body area network (WBAN) for human activity recognition (HAR). As ...network topology M:1 multi-pairing is used. For the best of our knowledge no direct related work in this field can be found. We investigated how many Bluetooth connections can be simultaneously connected with different smartphones (iOS) with real sensor data and in which time intervals the data can still be processed and stored. Our results show that a maximum of 14 Bluetooth devices can be connected under practical conditions. A stable transmission with 48 bytes per package are found with most reliability in an minimal interval of 40 ms per node.
The partitioning of particulate trace metals was investigated during one year of monthly sampling of suspended particulate matter (SPM) at eight sites along the Lot–Garonne fluvial system, known for ...its polymetallic pollution. The chemical partitioning in five operationally defined fractions (exchangeable/carbonate, Fe/Mn oxides, organic matter/sulfides, acid soluble, residual) was determined using a multiple single extraction approach. This approach showed that Cd, Zn, Pb and Cu were mainly associated with acid soluble phases (84–95%, 65–88%, 61–82% and 55–80% of the respective total metal content), and therefore showed a high mean potential of mobilization and bioavailability. In the Riou-Mort River, draining the smelting-wastes, Zn, Cd and Mn showed high mobility as they were little associated with the residual fraction (1–2%) and mainly bound to the ‘exchangeable’ fraction of SPM (60–80%), probably weakly adsorbed on amorphous freshly-precipitated sulfide and/or oxide phases. Upstream and downstream of the anthropogenic source of metallic pollution, Mn and Cd, and Zn to a lesser extent, remained highly reactive. The other trace metals were mainly associated with the residual fraction and thus less mobile. However, the multiple single extraction scheme revealed that the most reactive transport phases were non-selectively extracted by the conventional extractants used here. These selectivity problems could not have been observed if sequential extraction was used.
Human activities have altered estuarine environments leading to increased presence of different pollutants including metals. Although the implementation of new environmental policies has caused a ...considerable decrease in trace metal concentrations in estuaries around the Bay of Biscay, some elements such as copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) are still present in relatively high concentrations. Oysters have been widely used in environmental biomonitoring programs as sentinel organisms. Oysters Crassostrea gigas from an uncontaminated estuary were exposed to sublethal, environmentally relevant concentrations of Cu (2000ng Cu/L) and Ag (500ng Ag/L) during 14days in brackish water (S=18). A battery of cell and tissue level (exposure) biomarkers at different levels of biological complexity was applied and integrated into the Integrative Biological Response (IBR) index including: metallothionein contents, intralysosomal metal accumulation, digestive gland atrophy and digestive gland tissue integrity. Condition Index (CI) was incorporated into the IBR index as a complementary parameter that reflects the general physiological condition of oysters (organism level). Results indicated an increase in intralysosomal metal accumulation after 7 and 14days of exposure to Ag together with an increase in the digestive epithelium atrophy and lipofuscin content after 7days of exposure to Ag. The responses detected with the aid of biomarkers integrated in the IBR index showed higher toxicity in oysters exposed to Ag, inducing the clear onset of detoxification processes which also occurred, to a lower extent, in Cu-exposed oysters.
Display omitted
•Direct exposure of oysters to low concentrations of Cu and Ag in brackish waters•Highest toxicity of Ag in comparison with Cu in low salinity conditions•IBR Index provided straightforward indication of the health status of oysters.
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