Pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are released into the environment by domestic, hospital, and pharmaceutical industry wastewaters. Conventional wastewater treatment technology does not guarantee ...effluents of high quality, and apparently clean water may be loaded with pollutants. In this study, we assess the performance and efficiency of free and immobilised cells of microalgae
sp. in removing four pharmaceuticals, chosen for their occurrence or persistence in the environment. These are paracetamol, ibuprofen, olanzapine and simvastatin. The results showed that free microalgae cells remain alive for a longer time than the immobilised ones, suggesting the inhibition of cell proliferation by the polymeric matrix polyvinyl alcohol. Both cells, free and immobilised, respond differently to each pharmaceutical. The removal of paracetamol and ibuprofen by
sp., after 24 h of culture, was significantly higher in immobilised cells. Free cells removed a significantly higher concentration of olanzapine than immobilised ones, suggesting a higher affinity to this molecule than to paracetamol and ibuprofen. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of
sp. free cells for removing olanzapine and
sp. immobilised cells for removing paracetamol and ibuprofen.
The present study aimed to evaluate whether a 14-day period of balneotherapy influences the inflammatory status, health-related quality of life (QoL) and quality of sleep, underlying overall health ...state, and clinically relevant benefits of patients with musculoskeletal diseases (MD). The health-related QoL was evaluated using the following instruments: 5Q-5D-5L, EQ-VAS, EUROHIS-QOL, B-IPQ, and HAQ-DI. The quality of sleep was evaluated by a BaSIQS instrument. Circulating levels of IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured by ELISA and chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, respectively. The smartband, Xiaomi MI Band 4, was used for real-time sensing of physical activity and sleep quality. MD patients improved the health-related QoL measured by 5Q-5D-5L (
< 0.001), EQ-VAS (
< 0.001), EUROHIS-QOL (
= 0.017), B-IPQ (
< 0.001), and HAQ-DI (
= 0.019) after balneotherapy; the sleep quality was also improved (BaSIQS,
= 0.019). Serum concentrations of IL-6 were markedly decreased after the 14-day balneotherapy (
< 0.001). No statistically significant differences were observed regarding the physical activity and sleep quality data recorded by the smartband. Balneotherapy may be an effective alternative treatment in managing the health status of MD patients, with a decrease in inflammatory states, along with positive effects on pain reduction, patient's functionality, QoL, quality of sleep, and disability perception status.
There is a growing need to recover degraded soils to restore their essential ecosystem services and limit damages of anthropic activities onto these systems. Safe and sustainable solutions for ...long-term recovery must be designed, ideally by recycling existing resources. Using ash from combustion of residual forest biomass at the pulp and paper industry is an interesting and sustainable strategy to recover mining soils. However, formulations must be found to limit the potential toxicity associated with soluble salts and chloride that ash contains. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of three field ash-based amendments for the recovery of three highly acidic soils from Portuguese abandoned mines. Three amendments were tested: an un-stabilized mixture of ash and biological sludge, granulated ash, and granulated ash mixed with composted sludge. One year after application in open field plots (in the scope of LIFE No_Waste project), soil health restoration was evaluated through (i) soil physico-chemical characterization and (ii) soil habitat functions though standardized ecotoxicological tests.
This study highlights that stabilized materials provided nutrients, organic matter and alkalinity that corrected soil pH and decreased metal bioavailability, while controlling the release of soluble salts and chloride from ash. This soil improvement correlated with improved soil model organisms’ reproduction and survival. For similar amendment, the native soil properties studied (as soil native electrical conductivity) affected the level of organism response.
This work provides evidence that ash stabilization, formulation and supplementation with organic matter could be sustainable strategies to restore highly degraded mining soils and to recover their ecological functions. It further highlights the importance of analyzing combined effects on soil physico-chemical properties and ecological function recovery to assess restoration strategy efficiencies in complex multi-stressor environments.
•Ash-based formulations improved physico-chemical conditions in highly degraded mining soils.•Invertebrate reproduction benefits from stabilized ash granules and composted sludge application.•Organic carbon addition with composted sludge promotes E. crypticus reproduction.•Ash granulation reduced EC and soluble chloride-related hazard for model invertebrates.
Ash-based amendments are a promising strategy to contribute to the recovery of mining soils’ capacity to support ecosystems function and to recycling nutrients in relevant waste streams.
A rapid reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of paracetamol, ibuprofen, olanzapine, simvastatin and ...simvastatin acid in the context of microalgae bioremediation. The method was validated according to the guidelines of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), and Eurachem with respect to system suitability, linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, limits of detection and quantification, ruggedness, selectivity and specificity. The estimated limits of detection and quantification were, respectively, 0.03 and 0.10 µg mL−1 for paracetamol, 0.03 and 0.09 µg mL−1 for ibuprofen, 0.04 and 0.13 µg mL−1 for olanzapine, 0.27 and 0.83 µg mL−1 for simvastantin, and 0.05 and 0.14 µg mL−1 for simvastantin acid. The inter-day and intra-day precision results were within the acceptance limit of relative standard deviation (%RSD) of less than 2, and the percentage recovery was found to be within the required limits of 80–110%. The developed method is rapid, linear, precise, robust and accurate, and has been successfully applied to the determination of the above common pharmaceutical products during microalgae bioremediation.
Display omitted
Candida albicans é um fungo comensal responsável por infeções no Homem, como as candidíases oral e vaginal. Por ser o agente causal de várias patologias, o seu estudo tem despertado um particular ...interesse uma vez que as infeções causadas por este fungo oportunista são umas das principais causas de morte em pacientes com imunodeficiência. Adicionalmente, C. albicans tem a particularidade de se adaptar facilmente a diferentes nichos biológicos e apresenta elevada resistência aos antifúngicos devido à sua capacidade de defesa antioxidante. O stresse oxidativo e a sua desintoxicação, através dos sistemas biológicos que agem de modo a remover ou reparar os danos causados pelas espécies reativas de oxigénio (ROS), pode ser desencadeado em C. albicans pelas defesas do hospedeiro ou por agentes químicos exógenos. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo compreender os mecanismos associados ao stresse oxidativo provocado pelo isotiocianato de benzilo (BITC) em C. albicans. Assim, dois isolados (O33 e O51) da mucosa oral de C. albicans e uma estirpe de coleção (C. albicans ATCC 90028) foram colocados a crescer em meio líquido Yeast Malt com e sem BITC (0,03 M) ao longo de 24 horas de ensaio, tendo sido avaliadas as suas respostas ao stresse oxidativo: de defesa antioxidante enzimática (superóxido dismutase, SOD, e catalase, CAT) e não enzimática (ROS totais, peróxido de hidrogénio, peroxidação lipídica, glutationa reduzida/glutationa oxidada, ácido eritro-ascórbico, compostos fenólicos totais e prolina), intra e extracelularmente. Em geral, na presença do BITC e no meio intracelular, a atividade das enzimas SOD (p < 0,001) e CAT (p < 0,05) aumentaram, diminuindo a concentração das ROS existentes (p < 0,001) e a peroxidação lipídica (p < 0,01). Contudo, as respostas não enzimáticas, como o ácido eritro-ascórbico, prolina e compostos fenólicos variam muito com a estirpe.Em conclusão, o BITC induz stresse oxidativo em C. albicans, sendo a intensidade e a resposta estirpe-dependente.
PDF
