Environ Sci Process Impacts
December 2024
Honey, traditionally known as a pure and natural substance, has become an unexpected reservoir for microplastic contamination. This study consisted of an experimental investigation to assess the occurrence of microplastics in honey produced by , a native bee species in Brazil. Our investigation covers eight areas (one sample per area), including built and vegetated areas located in São Paulo city, Brazil, to understand the distribution of microplastics in these environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Soc Bras Med Trop
August 2022
Background: The number of deaths and people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil has steadily increased in the first few months of the pandemic. Despite the underreporting of coronavirus cases by government agencies across the country, São Paulo has the highest rate among all Brazilian states.
Methods: To identify the highest-risk municipalities during the initial outbreak, we utilized daily confirmed case data from official reports between February 25 and May 5, 2020, which were aggregated to the municipality level.
The first case of COVID-19 in South America occurred in Brazil on February 25, 2020. By July 20, 2020, there were 2,118,646 confirmed cases and 80,120 confirmed deaths. To assist with the development of preventive measures and targeted interventions to combat the pandemic in Brazil, we present a geographic study to detect "active" and "emerging" space-time clusters of COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe coupling between ferrous iron and methane production has important global implications, with iron ions acting as electron acceptors for anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and inhibitors of methanogenesis in different environments, including floodplain soils. In this sense, we analyzed the relationship between Fe(II) concentration and methane production in soil layers collected at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm from flooded-forest and -agroforestry in Amazonian clear water floodplain incubated in anaerobic batch reactors using acetate, formate and glucose as organic sources. High throughput sequencing of archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA genes was employed to assess the abundance and composition of the active methanogenic and methanotrophic microbial groups potentially involved in Fe(III)-dependent AOM in the soil used as inoculum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquatic contamination by potentially toxic metals is a problem that has been aggravated, especially due to the quantity and the diversity of sources. Locating these sources is not always an easy task, especially because of the wide variety of possibilities. In this context, the application of geostatistical methods may represent an excellent tool to find out sources of metal contaminants in aquatic systems.
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