Modeling is a common practice to evaluate factors affecting water quality in environmental systems impaired by point and nonpoint losses of N and P. Nevertheless, in situations with inadequate ...information, such as ungauged basins, a balance between model complexity and data availability is necessary. In this paper, we applied a simplified analytical model to an artificially drained floodplain in central‐western Italy to evaluate the importance of different nutrient sources and in‐stream retention processes and to identify critical source areas. We first considered only a set of chemical concentrations in water measured from February through May 2008 and from November 2008 through February 2009. We then broadened available data to include water discharge and hydraulic‐head measurements to construct a hydrogeological model using MODFLOW‐2000 and to evaluate the reliability of the simplified method. The simplified model provided acceptable estimates of discharge (ranging from 0.03–0.75 m3 s−1) and diffuse nutrient inputs from water table discharge and in‐stream retention phenomena. Estimates of PO4–P and total P retention (ranging from 1.0 to 0.6 μg m−2 s−1 and from 1.18 to 0.95 μg m−2 s−1 for PO4–P and total P, respectively) were consistent with the range of variability in literature data. In contrast, the higher temporal variability of nitrate concentrations decreased model accuracy, suggesting the need for more intensive monitoring. The model also separated the dynamics of different reaches of the drainage network and identified zones considered critical source areas and buffer zones where pollutant transport is reduced.
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) dynamics have been particularly strong in the Mediterranean region, due to its historical development and to agro-pedoclimatic conditions favorable to human ...settlement. This area has undergone in the 1950s and the 1980s intense urbanization processes that has followed different trajectories. Urban expansion commonly occurs at the expense of agricultural land, leading to the fragmentation of natural areas and conflicts over access to land resources. These dynamics mainly concern the fringe between urban and agricultural land, e.g. the peri-urban areas usually included within functional urban regions. Here, to identify common features of LULCC in Western Mediterranean urban regions, we investigated two main features: direct changes due to urbanization and indirect changes affecting non-artificial land uses. We compared LULCC dynamics in 6 case studies from the north and south of the Western Mediterranean region: the urban regions of Montpellier and Avignon (France), Pisa (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Meknes (Morocco), and Constantine (Algeria), using a 30-year multitemporal spatial analysis (1980–2010). Two series of Landsat TM images were acquired for each case study and land cover data were analyzed both for dynamics and for land patterns, using landscape and class metrics. We found no significant north-south differences in LULCC dynamics between the investigated Western Mediterranean urban regions. Differences are more pronounced between small–medium cities and large metropolitan areas in type of urban diffusion, which is more sprawled in small–medium cities and more compact in large metropolitan areas. Rather, differences occur in LULCC not directly affected by urbanization, since in Northern Mediterranean urban regions afforestation and abandonment of agricultural areas are prevalent and closer to the urban areas, whereas transformation of natural areas into agricultural ones occurs mainly in Southern Mediterranean urban regions at a similar distance from urban areas than it happens for afforested or abandoned areas. In attempting for the first time to assess LULCC in these Mediterranean urban regions, we provide a preliminary comprehensive analysis that can contribute to the active LULCC research in the Mediterranean basin and that can be easily applied to other Mediterranean urban regions.
•LULCC of 6 Mediterranean urban regions were compared.•No significant north-south differences in urbanization were found.•Differences appeared for urban growths patterns in metropolitan and medium cities.•Agricultural abandonment occurs nearest to urban areas in the northern regions.
We describe two concurrent outbreaks of
Serratia marcescens and
Klebsiella pneumoniae in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Over a 16-month period, a total of 27 infants were either colonized (
...N=14) or infected (
N=13). There were 15 cases of
S. marcescens and 11 cases of
K. pneumoniae. Both micro-organisms were involved in one fatal case. Seven preterm babies developed septicaemia, two had bacteraemia, three had respiratory infections and one had purulent conjunctivitis. The
S. marcescens and
K. pneumoniae isolates were investigated by three molecular methods: enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction (PCR), arbitrary primed PCR with M13 primer, and random amplification of polymorphic DNA. Different patterns were found in the 16
S. marcescens epidemic isolates from 16 newborn infants. The major epidemic-involved genotype was linked to the first nine cases and this was subsequently replaced by different patterns. Eight different typing profiles were also determined for the 13
K. pneumoniae isolates from 12 newborn infants. Four
K. pneumoniae bacteraemic strains proved to be identical. In conclusion, the typing results revealed that two different micro-organisms (
S. marcescens and
K. pneumoniae) were simultaneously involved in invasive nosocomial infections in preterm newborns. Two simultaneous clusters of cases were documented. Heterogeneous genotypes among both species were also demonstrated to be present in the NICU at the same time. A focal source for both micro-organisms was not identified but cross-transmission through handling was probably an important route in this outbreak. Strict adherence to handwashing policies, cohorting, isolation of colonized and infected patients, and rigorous environmental hygiene were crucial measures in the containment of the epidemic.
We report the first worldwide case of Usutu virus (USUV) neuroinvasive infection in a patient with diffuse large B cell lymphoma who presented with fever and neurological symptoms and was diagnosed ...with meningoencephalitits. The cerebrospinal fluid was positive for USUV, and USUV was also demonstrated in serum and plasma samples by RT-PCR and sequencing. Partial sequences of the premembrane and NS5 regions of the viral genome were similar to the USUV Vienna and Budapest isolates.
We report nine cases of clinical manifestations by Toscana virus (TOSV) diagnosed at the Centre for the Diagnosis of Viral Diseases of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, in the inhabitants ...of Modena province (Emilia Romagna region), in the triennium 1999-2001. TOSV was involved in six cases of meningitis, two of meningoencephalitis and one case of febrile erythema without meningeal manifestations. Six TOSV-infected patients had stayed for a few days in a different area of the Tuscany region before the onset of clinical manifestations so, only three cases of infections by TOSV had an autochthonous origin.
Background and aims: Herpesviruses infect the liver and cause minor hepatitis. Our aim is to verify the presence of herpesviruses in the liver from hepatitis C patients and the possible influence of ...these viruses in the liver disease.
Methods: We searched for herpesvirus DNA in liver biopsies from patients with hepatitis C and from a control group without hepatitis by means of nested polymerase chain reaction. Serological investigations were carried out as well.
Results: Thirty-four liver specimens from hepatitis C patients were examined, 12 of which (35.3%) were positive for at least one herpesvirus DNA, whereas among the 19 control specimens only two were positive (10.5%;
P=0.049). Liver biopsies from seven patients, three with acute hepatitis of unknown origin, three with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and one with autoimmune hepatitis were also investigated and three positive samples were found.
Conclusions: The prevalence of herpesvirus DNA was found higher in patients with hepatitis C than in individuals without hepatitis. The influence of herpesviruses on the clinical course of hepatitis C is considered.
Routine search for herpesvirus types 1-5 by nested polymerase chain reaction revealed Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ten out of seventy-nine patients with human ...immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and central nervous system (CNS) disorders not associated with the presence of primary CNS lymphomas. One out of the ten CSF samples was positive for EBV DNA only, six were also positive for microbial agents of recognised neurological pathogenicity while the remaining three samples had a high content of HIV p24 Ag. When six available CSF samples out of the ten EBV DNA positive specimens were investigated for an intrathecal EBV antibody response, all six samples proved EBV antibody-free. The concurrent detection of neurotropic infectious agents and the absence of EBV antibodies in the CSF contribute to the uncertainty on the role of EBV in the neurological illness of the patients studied. One hypothesis considered is that the presence of EBV DNA in the CSF of a large fraction of the ten patients under study is an incidental event associated with EBV reactivation in the host's peripheral blood monocytes, but not related to the genesis of neurological disorders.
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