Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous contaminants of great concern for the environment. MPs' presence and concentration in the air, soil, marine, and freshwater environments have been reported as a ...matter of priority in recent years. This review addresses the current knowledge of the main pathways of MPs in air, soil, and freshwater reservoirs in order to provide an integrated understanding of their behaviors in the continental environment. Therefore, MPs' occurrence (as particle counts), sources, and how their features as shape, size, polymer composition, and density could influence their transport and final sink were discussed. Wind resuspension and atmospheric fallout, groundwater migration, runoff from catchments, and water flow from rivers and effluents were pointed as the principal pathways. MPs' size, shape, polymer composition, and density interact with environmental variables as soil structure and composition, precipitation, wind, relative humidity, water temperature, and salinity. Sampling designs for MPs research should further consider soil characteristics, climate variability and extreme events, time lag and grasshopper effects, morphological and hydrological features of aquatic systems, and water currents, among others. Furthermore, long-term monitoring and lab experiments are still needed to understand MPs' behavior in the environment. This information will provide a unified understanding of the continental MPs pathways, including the key main findings, knowledge gaps, and future challenges to understand this emerging contaminant.
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•Continental MPs' presence and pathways in air, soils, and freshwater were addressed.•Atmospheric fallout, runoff, groundwater migration, and hydrodynamics are the main pathways.•MPs size, shape, polymer composition, and density interact with environmental variables.•Long-term monitoring and interdisciplinary research are still needed.
•We propose a model that separates the impact of conflict between violent shocks and uncertainty.•We test the model using a survey with information on presence of armed groups.•We find households ...learn to live amid conflict, albeit at a lower income trajectory.•If presence of armed actors prolongs, farmers shift to activities with short-term yields and low profitability.•If violence intensifies, farmers concentrate on subsistence activities.
This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small farmers. First, an inter-temporal model of agricultural production is developed in which the impact of conflict is transmitted through violent shocks and uncertainty brought about by conflict. We test the model using a unique household survey applied to 4800 households in four micro-regions of Colombia. Our findings suggest households learn to live amid conflict, albeit at a lower income trajectory. When presence of non-state armed actors prolongs, farmers shift to activities with short-term yields and lower profitability from activities that require high investments. If violence intensifies in regions with presence of non-state armed actors, farmers concentrate on subsistence activities.
This paper presents the results of a power quality study carried out in an industrial distribution system. The main objective of this study was to quantify the negative impact caused by voltage sags ...in industrial processes and its relationship to generated interruptions. A series of measurements of power quality variations were taken at the substation that feeds the circuit and at the point-of-common coupling of each industrial user. The new standard IEEE Std 1564-2014 "Guide for Voltage Sag Indices" was used to determine the indicators to assess the severity of voltage sags and also the calculation method. Sag severity was selected as it allows the calculation of the probability of voltage sags to generate interruptions in industrial processes or electrical equipment. Thus, an analysis of the quality of the supply voltage can be done. Severity was initially calculated at the substation that feeds the industrial circuit and later, at the point-of-common coupling of each user. Subsequently, the relationship between user interruptions and severity values was determined. Finally, recommendations of good engineering practices in industrial processes were done.
Microplastics (MPs) on lakes have been reported mainly from Europe, Asia, and North America. Then, this study aimed to address the quantification and identification of MPs in nine lakes from the ...Argentine Patagonian Region. Blue colored fibers were dominant, with a size range between 0.2 and <0.4 mm. The mean MPs concentration was 0.9 ± 0.6 MPs m−3, suggesting a low pollution state when compared to other worldwide lakes. Raman microscopy analysis showed a predominance of Indigo Blue Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles. The upper-gradient runoff from urban settlements, textiles, and fisheries were identified as the main MPs sources and levels positively correlated with the higher area, shallower depth, and with an end-position in the watershed. These findings fill a gap in the geographical distribution knowledge, setting a baseline that emphasizes the need for better treatment of urban and fisheries wastes in continental lakes.
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•Dominant microplastics were blue fibers with a size between 0.2 and <0.4 mm.•The mean concentration was 0.9 MPs m−3.•Patagonian lakes showed low MPs pollution when compared to lakes worldwide.•Fibers runoff or airborne deposition from urban settlements was the primary sources.•Raman identification yielded spectra compatible with Indigo Blue, PET, PU, PS and PP.
Evidence shows that the majority of aquatic field microplastics (MPs) could be microfibers (MFs) which can be originated directly from massive sources such as textile production and shedding from ...garments, agricultural textiles and clothes washing. In addition, wear and tear of tyres (TRWPs) emerges as a stealthy major source of micro and nanoplastics, commonly under-sampled/detected in the field. In order to compile the current knowledge in regards to these two major MPs sources, concentrations of concern in aquatic environments, their distribution, bulk emission rates and water mitigation strategies were systematically reviewed. Most of the aquatic field studies presented MFs values above 50%. MPs concentrations varied from 0.3 to 8925 particles m−3 in lakes, from 0.69 to 8.7 × 106 particles m−3 in streams and rivers, from 0.16 to 192000 particles m−3 estuaries, and from 0 to 4600 particles m−3 in the ocean. Textiles at every stage of production, use and disposal are the major source of synthetic MFs to water. Laundry estimates showed an averaged release up to 279972 tons year−1 (high washing frequency) from which 123000 tons would annually flow through untreated effluents to rivers, streams, lakes or directly to the ocean. TRWPs in the aquatic environments showed concentrations up to 179 mg L−1 (SPM) in runoff river sediments and up to 480 mg g−1 in highway runoff sediments. Even though average TRWR emission is of 0.95 kg year−1 per capita (10 nm- 500 μm) there is a general scarcity of information about their aquatic environmental levels probably due to no-availability or inadequate methods of detection. The revision of strategies to mitigate the delivering of MFs and TRWP into water streams illustrated the importance of domestic laundry retention devices, Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) with at least a secondary treatment and stormwater and road-runoff collectors quality improvement devices.
Tumors have aberrant proteomes that often do not match their corresponding transcriptome profiles. One possible cause of this discrepancy is the existence of aberrant RNA modification landscapes in ...the so-called epitranscriptome. Here, we report that human glioma cells undergo DNA methylation-associated epigenetic silencing of NSUN5, a candidate RNA methyltransferase for 5-methylcytosine. In this setting, NSUN5 exhibits tumor-suppressor characteristics in vivo glioma models. We also found that NSUN5 loss generates an unmethylated status at the C3782 position of 28S rRNA that drives an overall depletion of protein synthesis, and leads to the emergence of an adaptive translational program for survival under conditions of cellular stress. Interestingly, NSUN5 epigenetic inactivation also renders these gliomas sensitive to bioactivatable substrates of the stress-related enzyme NQO1. Most importantly, NSUN5 epigenetic inactivation is a hallmark of glioma patients with long-term survival for this otherwise devastating disease.
Plastic use and production have dramatically increased globally over the past 65 years with the improvement of life quality by the daily use of plastic products. Still, around 50% of the plastic ...produced is disposable products that generate substantial waste. Several reports pointed out the adverse effects of plastic litter in coastal environments in recent years, emphasizing single-use plastics (SUP). In this manner, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) coastal environments are highly vulnerable due to wastewater treatment facilities scarcity and poor plastic waste management strategies. Since COVID-19 pandemic, the single-use plastic waste/person rate is expected to rise due to the use of personal protective equipment and SUP as health care measures. Based on literature research and the review of plastic waste regulations, this paper will assess the main COVID-19 plastic pollution threats and LAC beaches' regulations to suggest possible measures to abate this problem. The main findings suggest that unifying the ongoing fragmented and overlapped policies is key to abate plastic pollution, including plastic industry regulations and circular economies. In addition, increasing public risk perception about plastic pollution is critical to reducing plastic waste generation. Research advances in the adverse effects of plastic debris could improve the public's perception of plastic pollution risk, pushing forward global marine plastic governance.
•Plastic pollution threatens LAC beaches sustainability.•COVID-19 pandemic measures contribute to global plastic pollution.•Public risk perception of plastic pollution is critical.•Enhanced collaboration between policy, industry, and the scientific community is needed.
The identification of novel biomarkers for early breast cancer detection would be a great advance. Because of their role in tumorigenesis and stability in body fluids, microRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging ...as a promising diagnostic tool. Our aim was to identify miRNAs deregulated in breast tumors and evaluate the potential of circulating miRNAs in breast cancer detection.
We conducted miRNA expression profiling of 1919 human miRNAs in paraffin-embedded tissue from 122 breast tumors and 11 healthy breast tissue samples. Differential expression analysis was performed, and a microarray classifier was generated. The most relevant miRNAs were analyzed in plasma from 26 healthy individuals and 83 patients with breast cancer (36 before and 47 after treatment) and validated in 116 healthy individuals and 114 patients before treatment.
We identified a large number of miRNAs deregulated in breast cancer and generated a 25-miRNA microarray classifier that discriminated breast tumors with high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Ten miRNAs were selected for further investigation, of which 4 (miR-505-5p, miR-125b-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-96-5p) were significantly overexpressed in pretreated patients with breast cancer compared with healthy individuals in 2 different series of plasma. MiR-505-5p and miR-96-5p were the most valuable biomarkers (area under the curve 0.72). Moreover, the expression levels of miR-3656, miR-505-5p, and miR-21-5p were decreased in a group of treated patients.
Circulating miRNAs reflect the presence of breast tumors. The identification of deregulated miRNAs in plasma of patients with breast cancer supports the use of circulating miRNAs as a method for early breast cancer detection.
In recent years, significant efforts have been dedicated to measuring and comprehending the impact of microplastics (MPs) in the ocean. Despite harmonization guidelines for MPs research, ...discrepancies persist in the applied methodologies and future challenges, mostly for the smaller fractions (< 100 μm). Whether intentional or accidental, ingesting plastic particles by zooplankton can lead to incorporating this pollutant into aquatic food chains. Therefore, zooplankton can serve as a suitable proxy tool for assessing the presence of plastic particles in ocean waters. However, reliable information is essential for conducting experimental laboratory studies on the impact of MPs ingestion by zooplankton organisms. Using zooplankton as a research tool for MPs offers numerous advantages, including similar sampling methodologies and study techniques as MPs and particle data integration over space and time. The scientific community can gain novel perspectives by merging zooplankton studies with MPs research. This review explores key aspects of using zooplankton as a tool for MPs research in water samples, encompassing various views such as particles ingestion in natural environments, particle quantification in zooplankton samples (past and future), ecotoxicological and toxicology model studies. By leveraging the potential of zooplankton research, advancements can be made in developing innovative techniques for MPs analysis.
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•Zooplankton and microplastic synergistic research align methodologies.•Zooplankton studies integrates microplastic dynamics across time and space.•Collaborative research generates novel scientific understanding.•Zooplankton can improve small microplastics research and understanding.•Improving organisms' exposure studies to develop predictive models is key.
Sex determination (SD) shows huge variation among fish and a high evolutionary rate, as illustrated by the Pleuronectiformes (flatfishes). This order is characterized by its adaptation to demersal ...life, compact genomes and diversity of SD mechanisms. Here, we assembled the Solea senegalensis genome, a flatfish of great commercial value, into 82 contigs (614 Mb) combining long‐ and short‐read sequencing, which were next scaffolded using a highly dense genetic map (28,838 markers, 21 linkage groups), representing 98.9% of the assembly. Further, we established the correspondence between the assembly and the 21 chromosomes by using BAC‐FISH. Whole genome resequencing of six males and six females enabled the identification of 41 single nucleotide polymorphism variants in the follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr) consistent with an XX/XY SD system. The observed sex association was validated in a broader independent sample, providing a novel molecular sexing tool. The fshr gene displayed differential expression between male and female gonads from 86 days post‐fertilization, when the gonad is still an undifferentiated primordium, concomitant with the activation of amh and cyp19a1a, testis and ovary marker genes, respectively, in males and females. The Y‐linked fshr allele, which included 24 nonsynonymous variants and showed a highly divergent 3D protein structure, was overexpressed in males compared to the X‐linked allele at all stages of gonadal differentiation. We hypothesize a mechanism hampering the action of the follicle stimulating hormone driving the undifferentiated gonad toward testis.
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