A novel and affordable bioaugmentation strategy with microbial extracts to accelerate the biodegradation of emerging contaminants in different media.

This study describes a new bioaugmentation alternative based on the application of aqueous aerated extracts from a biomixture acclimated with ibuprofen, diclofenac and triclosan. This bioaugmentation strategy was assayed in biopurification systems (BPS) and in contaminated aqueous solutions to accelerate the removal of these emerging contaminants. Sterilized extracts or extracts from the initial uncontaminated biomixture were used as controls.

Global multidimensional poverty and COVID-19: A decade of progress at risk?

According to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), an internationally comparable measure, poverty in developing countries has fallen substantially over the last 15 years. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic contraction are negatively impacting multiple dimensions of poverty and jeopardising this progress. This paper uses recent assessments of food insecurity and school closures made by UN agencies to inform microsimulations of potential short-term impacts of the pandemic under alternative scenarios.

Innovative application of biobed bioremediation systems to remove emerging contaminants: Adsorption, degradation and bioaccesibility.

Biobed bioremediation systems (BBSs) are widely used to prevent point-source pesticide contamination of water. However, these systems have never been investigated for possible elimination of emerging contaminants (ECs). In this study, two biobed systems, involving biomixtures elaborated with soil and raw olive mill cake (SCP) or its vermicompost (SVP), were assayed to determine their effectiveness in removing the ECs diclofenac, ibuprofen and triclosan from effluent wastewater.

Biodegradation of high doses of commercial pesticide products in pilot-scale biobeds using olive-oil agroindustry wastes.

Biobeds systems containing soil, peat and straw (SPS) are used worldwide to eliminate pesticide point-source contamination, but implantation is difficult when peat and/or straw are not available. Novel biobeds composed of soil, olive pruning and wet olive mill cake (SCPr) or its vermicompost (SVPr) were assayed at pilot scale for its use in olive grove areas. Their removal efficiency for five pesticides applied at high concentration was compared with the biobed with SPS.

Bottom-up effects on herbivore-induced plant defences: a case study based on compositional patterns of rhizosphere microbial communities.

Below-ground soil microorganisms can modulate above-ground plant-insect interactions. It still needs to be determined whether this is a direct effect of single species or an indirect effect of shifts in soil microbial community assemblages. Evaluation of the soil microbiome as a whole is critical for understanding multi-trophic interactions, including those mediated by volatiles involving plants, herbivorous insects, predators/parasitoids and microorganisms.

Sorption potential of different biomass fly ashes for the removal of diuron and 3,4-dichloroaniline from water.

Hazardous contaminants in water and biomass fly ash spillage are causes for environmental and health concern. We selected five fly ashes generated from olive-mill (O,P, G and H) and greenhouse vegetable (I) waste used as biomass fuel in order to quantify their capacity to remove diuron and 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) from water. To understand the sorption processes involved, four kinetic models and two adsorption isotherms were assayed.

Fate and effect of imidacloprid on vermicompost-amended soils under dissimilar conditions: Risk for soil functions, structure, and bacterial abundance.

The fate and impact of pesticide on soil depend partly on the agricultural practices, such as prior treatment with pesticide and/or organic amendments. As a means of determining how the previous soil conditions can affect the fate of imidacloprid (IMI) and its effect on soil functions, experiments were made with soil samples, double-amended or not with either vine-shoot (W) or olive cake (O) vermicompost or contaminated or not with IMI. These soil samples, incubated for 3months, were placed in two microcosms (M1 with the pre-amended soils and M2 with the pre-exposed soils), treated with IMI and amended with vermicomposts and then incubated for 3months.

Enhancing pesticide degradation using indigenous microorganisms isolated under high pesticide load in bioremediation systems with vermicomposts.

In biobed bioremediation systems (BBSs) with vermicomposts exposed to a high load of pesticides, 6 bacteria and 4 fungus strains were isolated, identified, and investigated to enhance the removal of pesticides. Three different mixtures of BBSs composed of vermicomposts made from greenhouse (GM), olive-mill (OM) and winery (WM) wastes were contaminated, inoculated, and incubated for one month (GMI, OMI and WMI). The inoculums maintenance was evaluated by DGGE and Q-PCR.

Biodetection of potential genotoxic pollutants entering the human food chain through ashes used in livestock diets.

Ash derived from energy generation is used as a source of minerals in livestock feeds. The microbial biosensor recApr-Luc2 was built to detect genotoxic hazard in recycled ash. Escherichia coli SOS gene (recA, lexA, dinI and umuC) expression in response to cisplatin-induced DNA damage led to the selection of the recA promoter.

Winery vermicomposts to control the leaching of diuron, imidacloprid and their metabolites: role of dissolved organic carbon content.

Soil organic amendment addition is an effective practice in Mediterranean areas due to its associated high agricultural benefits and its potential to reduce the pesticide impact on water resources. However, their metabolites have received scarce attention, even when they may pose more risk than their parent compounds. Two winery vermicomposts obtained from spent grape marc (V1) and the mixture vine shoot-biosolid vinasses (V2) have been investigated as low cost organic amendments to minimize the leaching of diuron, imidacloprid and their metabolites in columns packed with a sandy loam (S1) and a silty-clay loam soil (S2) under steady state flow conditions.

Application of a set of complementary techniques to understand how varying the proportion of two wastes affects humic acids produced by vermicomposting.

A better understanding of how varying the proportion of different organic wastes affects humic acid (HA) formation during vermicomposting would be useful in producing vermicomposts enriched in HAs. With the aim of improving the knowledge about this issue, a variety of analytical techniques [UV-visible spectroscopic, Fourier transform infrared, fluorescence spectra, solid-state cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CPMAS) (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, and thermal analysis] was used in the present study to characterize HAs isolated from two mixtures at two different ratios (2:1 and 1:1) of tomato-plant debris (TD) and paper-mill sludge (PS) before and after vermicomposting. The results suggest that vermicomposting increased the HA content in the TD/PS 2:1 and 1:1 mixtures (15.

[Passive tactile stimulation and its clinical and neurophysiological repercussions (P300) in blind children with symptoms of attention deficit disorder].

Introduction: Tactile stimulation is key for the posterior brain re-organization activity and attention processes, however the impact of tactile stimulation on attention deficit disorder (ADD) in blind children remains unexplored.

Subjects And Methods: We carried out a study with children having or not ADD (four per group). The subjects have been exposed during six months to tactile stimulation protocol consisting in two daily sessions (morning and afternoon sessions) of 30 minutes each.

Biodegradation of 3,4 dichloroaniline by fungal isolated from the preconditioning phase of winery wastes subjected to vermicomposting.

A hazardous contaminant, 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) is widespread in the environment due to its extensive use in the manufacture of chemicals and its application in different sectors. The ability of fungi grow on in winery wastes in the preconditioning period of vermicomposting to degrade DCA was investigated. Three filamentous fungi (F1, F2, and F3) were isolated and one identified as Aspergillus niger and two as Fusarium sp.

Dynamics of microbial communities related to biochemical parameters during vermicomposting and maturation of agroindustrial lignocellulose wastes.

Scarce information is available on the changes in abundance of microbial taxa during vermicomposting. Quantitative PCR and DGGE analysis were used to monitor variations in the microbial structure, relative abundance of four bacterial classes and fungi over the vermicomposting and maturation period of wet olive cake (O) and vine shoots (W). Multivariate correlation analysis between microbial structure and abundance, earthworm biomass and enzyme activities revealed similar and divergent interactions in both processes.

[Is the early brain organisation of spatial information conveyed by tactile stimuli performed in different ways in congenital and acquired blind children? A pilot study].

Cortical reorganization after congenital blindness is not sufficiently known yet it does offer an optimum window of opportunity to study the effects of absolute sensorial deprivation. Cross-modality in people with blindness has been documented, but it may differ in congenital blindness and in early blindness. Vibrotactile passive stimulation of lines and letters generates different electroencephalographic patterns with different source localizations in two children with blindness, aged 9 and 10, respectively with congenital blindness and early blindness with some remnants of vision.

Use of DGGE and COMPOCHIP for investigating bacterial communities of various vermicomposts produced from different wastes under dissimilar conditions.

This study describes the use of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and COMPOCHIP (i.e. a microarray targeting typical bacteria of stabilized organic materials and pathogenic bacteria) for investigating the bacterial communities of four different vermicomposts.

Role of vermicompost chemical composition, microbial functional diversity, and fungal community structure in their microbial respiratory response to three pesticides.

The relationships between vermicompost chemical features, enzyme activities, community-level physiological profiles (CLPPs), fungal community structures, and its microbial respiratory response to pesticides were investigated. Fungal community structure of vermicomposts produced from damaged tomato fruits (DT), winery wastes (WW), olive-mill waste and biosolids (OB), and cattle manure (CM) were determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 18S rDNA. MicroResp™ was used for assessing vermicompost CLPPs and testing the microbial response to metalaxyl, imidacloprid, and diuron.

Recruitment of occipital cortex during sensory substitution training linked to subjective experience of seeing in people with blindness.

Over three months of intensive training with a tactile stimulation device, 18 blind and 10 blindfolded seeing subjects improved in their ability to identify geometric figures by touch. Seven blind subjects spontaneously reported 'visual qualia', the subjective sensation of seeing flashes of light congruent with tactile stimuli. In the latter subjects tactile stimulation evoked activation of occipital cortex on electroencephalography (EEG).

Impact of imidacloprid residues on the development of Eisenia fetida during vermicomposting of greenhouse plant waste.

Pesticide application in agriculture causes residues in post-harvest plant waste at different concentrations. Knowledge concerning how pesticide concentrations in such waste affect earthworms is essential for recycling greenhouse plant debris through vermicomposting. Here, we have evaluated the effects of imidacloprid (IMD) residues on earthworms (Eisenia fetida) during the vermicomposting of plant waste from greenhouse crops in Spain.

Feasibility of vermicomposting for vegetable greenhouse waste recycling.

This study was conducted in order to evaluate the feasibility of Eisenia andrei for vermicomposting heterogeneous-plant (HP), tomato-plant (P), and damaged tomato-fruit (T) greenhouse vegetable wastes. Earthworm growth and reproduction were monitored over a 12-week period, and variations in chemical parameters, enzyme activity, phytotoxicity test, and genetic fingerprinting of bacterial communities were evaluated. While high rates of salinity prevented earthworm survival in HP and P (>10 dS m(-1)), T was vermicomposted recording an adequate earthworm growth and cocoon production.

Continuous-feeding vermicomposting as a recycling management method to revalue tomato-fruit wastes from greenhouse crops.

Huge quantities of discarded fruits generated from greenhouse crops represent a worldwide environmental problem. The aim of this work was to assess the efficiency of vermicomposting as a recycling management option for biotransforming tomato-fruit wastes from greenhouses into an organic nutrient-rich product available for agricultural purposes. A pilot vermireactor was constructed.

Bioconversion of wastes from olive oil industries by vermicomposting process using the epigeic earthworm Eisenia andrei.

The present work evaluates the possible bioconversion of wet olive cake by low-cost biostabilization (vermicomposting process). Wet olive cake fresh (WOC), precomposted (WOCP), or mixed with biosolids (WOCB), were vermicomposted for 6 months to obtain organic amendments for agricultural and remediation purposes. The results showed initial differences depending on previous treatment.

Solvent tolerance acquired by Brevibacillus brevis during an olive-waste vermicomposting process.

In this work, a cultivable, Gram-positive, solvent-resistant bacterium was isolated from vermicomposted olive wastes (VOW). The highest 16S rRNA sequence similarity (99%) was found in Brevibacillus brevis. The genome of the isolate, selected for trichloroethylene (TCE)-tolerance, contained a nucleotide sequence encoding a conserved protein domain (ACR_tran) ascribable to the HAE1-RND family.

Effect of vermicomposts from wastes of the wine and alcohol industries in the persistence and distribution of imidacloprid and diuron on agricultural soils.

The persistence and distribution of diuron (D) and imidacloprid (I) in soils amended or not with winery vermicomposts were recorded for several months. Sandy loam (S1) and silty clay loam (S2) soils with organic carbon contents of <1% were selected. After incubation, around 78% of I remained in the soil and no metabolites were found.

Availability and consumption of competitive foods in US public schools.

Background: With ongoing efforts to develop and implement school wellness policies, there is a need for information about the availability and consumption of competitive foods in schools.

Objective: To describe the availability of competitive foods in US public schools, consumption of competitive foods by children, and contributions of competitive foods to energy intakes.

Design: The study used data from the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study, a cross-sectional study that included a national sample of public school districts, schools, and children in the 2004-2005 school year.