Detailed soil gas surveys were conducted at two mine districts to understand gas migration mechanisms from deposits buried at different depths. The Tolfa (Lazio, Central Italy) and Neves-Corvo (Baixo ...Alentejo, Portugal) mine districts have different characteristics: the former is relatively shallow (30–100m) whereas the latter is at a depth of 400–500m and covered by low-permeability metamorphic rocks. The studied gases included major (N2, O2, CO2) and trace (4He, 222Rn) gases, hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H6 and C3H8) and S compounds (H2S, COS, SO2). The measured concentrations (some examples of max values at Tolfa: Rn 233Bq/L, CO2 9.5%, CH4 12.3ppm, COS 3.7ppm; and at Neves-Corvo: Rn 130Bq/L, CO2 24.3%, CH4 0.1%) indicate that gases migrate preferentially through zones of brittle deformation by advective processes, as suggested by the relatively high rate of migration needed to obtain anomalies of short-lived 222Rn in the soil pores. Considering the different depths of the two ore deposits, obtained results can be considered as features of near-field (Tolfa) and far-field (Neves-Corvo) gas migration.
•Soil-gas technique is applied to study gas migration over two mine districts.•The association Rn–CO2 confirms the presence of high gas microseeps.•Gas release on the surface is controlled mainly by zones of enhanced permeability (faults/fractures).
The aim of this research is to study the effects of different storage conditions on Spanish (alkaline debittering) and natural (directly brined) green olives. Laboratory-processed olives were stored ...in 6% brine or in a vacuum bag without brine, at 6 or 20degreesC. After 18 months, natural olives showed higher microbial and olive oil stability than NaOH-treated olives. The lower pH (<4.80) and higher total phenol content (0.2 g/100 g wet pulp) influenced positively the long shelf life of natural olives. The packaging in 6% NaCl brine and in a vacuum bag stored at 20degreesC gave better performance, while growth of psychrophilic spoilage bacteria occurred at cold temperature. Keywords: microbial count, natural green olives, oil oxidation, phenols, sensory profile
The percentage of people without children over their lifetime is approximately 25% in men and 20% in women. Individual diseases have been linked to childlessness, mostly in women, yet we lack a ...comprehensive picture of the effect of early-life diseases on lifetime childlessness. We examined all individuals born in 1956-1968 (men) and 1956-1973 (women) in Finland (n = 1,035,928) and Sweden (n = 1,509,092) to the completion of their reproductive lifespan in 2018. Leveraging nationwide registers, we associated sociodemographic and reproductive information with 414 diseases across 16 categories, using a population and matched-pair case-control design of siblings discordant for childlessness (71,524 full sisters and 77,622 full brothers). The strongest associations were mental-behavioural disorders (particularly among men), congenital anomalies and endocrine-nutritional-metabolic disorders (strongest among women). We identified new associations for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Associations were dependent on age at onset and mediated by singlehood and education. This evidence can be used to understand how disease contributes to involuntary childlessness.
Geochemical and geophysical surveys were carried out in the Cagno valley (Sila massif, central-northern Calabria, Italy) to investigate the gas bearing properties of a seismogenic fault (Lakes Fault, ...LF), discovered by paleoseismological analysis. Soil gas measurements (N2, O2, Rn, CO2, CH4 and light hydrocarbons) and exposure to γ radiations were performed along two detailed profiles (about 150m long), trending almost parallel to a trench crossing the LF. The highest values of Rn, γ radiation, CO2, CH4 and light hydrocarbons were detected in the area around the LF and 100m far away. In the central part of the profiles, where a hanging valley is present, geo-gas distribution is likely controlled by both lithology (colluvial deposits and peaty silt deposits, characterized by medium to low permeability) and the presence of a local cold aquifer. In particular, water table influences the circulation of the gas species in the sub-surface environment, as well as their distribution at the surface by playing a sort of sealing effect for the gas migration. In the area located about 100m westward of the fault, characterized by soils originated from altered granodiorites, the occurrence of a previously unknown blind fault is supposed. The multidisciplinary approach of this work allows to better understand the relationship between geochemical and geophysical analyses linked to migration processes of deep fluid through preferential leakage pathways providing some hints on the spatial influence of active tectonic.
Methane concentrations and carbon stable isotopic ratios (δ
13C
CH4), oxygen concentrations and hydrographic parameters (CTD) were investigated in the water column of the north-western Black Sea ...during the summers of 2003 and 2004. Water samples were collected along a transect which crosses three methane seep areas in 90, 220, and 600
m water depth. These active seeps strongly influence methane distribution in the overlying anoxic and oxic water column. Methane concentration and stable isotope (δ
13C
CH4) patterns indicate that water column stratification and microbial methane oxidation efficiently hamper the transfer of methane to the sea surface. Only the shelf seep site in 90
m water depth acts as a direct source of atmospheric methane. Microbial methane oxidation and/or gas stripping seem to cause oxygen depletion above the two shallower seep areas. The methane flux from the 90
m site into the water column is estimated to have been 0.599
×
10
6
mol
yr
−
1
(9.6 t yr
−
1
) in 2003 and 0.347
×
10
6
mol
yr
−
1
(5.6 t yr
−
1
) in 2004. Comparison of results from the two years shows different water column methane inventories in the deep part of the transect, implying a variable methane source strength at the 600
m deep site. The flux from this area is estimated to have been 11.35
×
10
6
mol
yr
−
1
in 2003.
The genetic predisposition to a long-term efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α treatment in seronegative spondyloarthritis (SpA) was investigated by analysing the possible correlation ...between several single nucleotide gene polymorphisms and the retention rate of anti-TNFα therapies. We compared patients needing to switch the first anti-TNFα (Sw, No. 64) within at least 12 months of follow-up with patients not needing to switch (NSw, No. 123), observing at least 6 months of treatment to establish anti-TNFα failure, leading to treatment change. Response to treatment was evaluated by standardised criteria (BASDAI for axial involvement, DAS28-EULAR for peripheral involvement). The TNFα -308 A allele and the interleukin (IL)-6 -174GG homozygosis resulted as independent biomarkers predicting survival of the first anti-TNFα therapy in SpA patients (P=0.007, odds ratio (OR): 4.4, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.5-13.1 and P=0.035, OR: 2.1, 95% CI=1.1-4.4). Also, the male gender (P=0.001, OR: 3.4, 95% CI=1.6-7.1) associated with the NSw phenotype, whereas no association was found either with the specific diagnosis or the predominant joint involvement.
This article reports on the application of independent component analysis (ICA) to line-of-sight, cycle-resolved images of luminosity during combustion, acquired in an optically accessible engine. ...The experiments are conducted on a port fuel injection spark ignition (PFI SI) engine. The analysis identifies the independent components related to the underlying phenomena of the combustion process. The components, along with their corresponding time dependent coefficients, are used to characterize the morphological evolution of the luminous combustion during a single cycle and over a number of cycles. When ICA is applied to a single cycle, independent structures are identified, clearly separated in time, and related to the spatial distribution in the high-luminosity zone. The corresponding coefficients correlate well with the integral flame luminosity, and characterize the time evolution of the combustion morphological pattern in the chamber. The analysis over several cycles shows that independent components contain information about the dominant luminosity shapes of the cyclic variations. Mutual correlation of the corresponding components for successive cycles is found to be relatively low as expected, due to the high spatial variability of the combustion process in spark ignition engines. This is mainly due to the combustion of fuel pockets segregating in the combustion chamber as a consequence of the erratic behavior of the port-fuel injection process. The procedure is applied to more than one sequence of cycles under different experimental conditions. The method proves to be a relatively fast and detailed new means of non-intrusive analysis of the complex combustion processes taking place in the engine.
Background
Brazil requires the performance of both a test for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and a test for antibodies to the core of hepatitis B for blood donor screening. Blood centres in ...regions of high HBV endemicity struggle to maintain adequate stocks in face of the high discard rates due to anti‐HBc reactivity. We evaluated the potential infectivity of donations positive for anti‐HBc in search of a rational approach for the handling of these collections.
Study Design and Methods
We tested anti‐HBc reactive blood donations from the state of Amazonas for the presence of HBV DNA and for titres of anti‐HBs. The study population consists of village‐based donors from the interior of Amazonas state.
Results
Among 3600 donations, 799 were anti‐HBc reactive (22·2%). We were able to perform real‐time PCR for the HBV S gene on specimens from 291 of these donors. Eight of these samples were negative for HBsAg and positive for HBV DNA and were defined as occult B virus infections (2·7%). Six of those eight specimens had anti‐HBs titres above 100 mIU/ml, indicating the concomitant presence of the virus with high antibody titres.
Conclusion
A small proportion of anti‐HBc reactive donors carry HBV DNA and anti‐HBs testing is not useful for predicting viremia on them. This finding indicates the possibility of HBV transmission from asymptomatic donors, especially in areas of high HBV prevalence. Sensitive HBV DNA nucleic acid testing may provide another level of safety, allowing eventual use of anti‐HBc reactive units in critical situations.
Discovering the nature of Dark Matter (DM) is one of the fundamental challenges of the modern physics. Indirect searches of DM are devoted to look for non-gravitational signals of its presence in the ...highly DM dominated cosmic regions. Within the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) scenario, we expect very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emissions resulting from annihilation and/or decay of DM particles. Since the beginning of operations, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes are carrying out deep observations of several promising DM targets, with the aim of detecting such signals or alternatively setting stringent constrains to DM particle models in the TeV mass region. In this contribution we present the latest indirect DM search results achieved by MAGIC on several targets, such as dwarf satellites - where MAGIC reached the strongest constraints on DM annihilation searches above few hundreds of GeV -, galaxy clusters, and the Galactic Center.
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