"And DPSIR begat DAPSI(W)R(M)!" - A unifying framework for marine environmental management.

The marine environment is a complex system formed by interactions between ecological structure and functioning, physico-chemical processes and socio-economic systems. An increase in competing marine uses and users requires a holistic approach to marine management which considers the environmental, economic and societal impacts of all activities. If managed sustainably, the marine environment will deliver a range of ecosystem services which lead to benefits for society. In order to understand the complexity of the system, the DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) approach has long been a valuable problem-structuring framework used to assess the causes, consequences and responses to change in a holistic way. Despite DPSIR being used for a long time, there is still confusion over the definition of its terms and so to be appropriate for current marine management, we contend that this confusion needs to be addressed. Our viewpoint advocates that DPSIR should be extended to DAPSI(W)R(M) (pronounced dap-see-worm) in which Drivers of basic human needs require Activities which lead to Pressures. The Pressures are the mechanisms of State change on the natural system which then leads to Impacts (on human Welfare). Those then require Responses (as Measures). Furthermore, because of the complexity of any managed sea area in terms of multiple Activities, there is the need for a linked-DAPSI(W)R(M) framework, and then the connectivity between marine ecosystems and ecosystems in the catchment and further at sea, requires an interlinked, nested-DAPSI(W)R(M) framework to reflect the continuum between adjacent ecosystems. Finally, the unifying framework for integrated marine management is completed by encompassing ecosystem structure and functioning, ecosystem services and societal benefits. Hence, DAPSI(W)R(M) links the socio-ecological system of the effects of changes to the natural system on the human uses and benefits of the marine system. However, to deliver these sustainably in the light of human activities requires a Risk Assessment and Risk Management framework; the ISO-compliant Bow-Tie method is used here as an example. Finally, to secure ecosystem health and economic benefits such as Blue Growth, successful, adaptive and sustainable marine management Responses (as Measures) are delivered using the 10-tenets, a set of facets covering all management disciplines and approaches.

Relationships between polychlorinated biphenyls in molluscs, hydrological characteristics and human pressures, within Basque estuaries (northern Spain).

Interannual variability of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), measured in the soft tissues of Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels and Crassostrea gigas oysters, collected from estuarine waters within the Basque Country (Bay of Biscay), are investigated. Samples were collected in the autumn, between 2002 and 2011. Sites located within the ports of Bilbao and Pasaia showed the highest PCBs concentrations in molluscs; the lowest were observed in the mouth of the Oka estuary, an area of low population and industrial activity. Congener profiles of PCBs in the tissues of molluscs reveal the predominance of hexachlorobiphenyls (CB153 and CB138). In addition, redundancy analysis has shown that residence time, river flow and a 'pressure index' explain 57% of the variability in the PCB congener concentrations (the higher the values of these variables, the higher the concentration). Finally, Σ7PCB median concentrations in molluscs and sediments, collected from nearby sampling sites, were found to be moderately correlated (r(2)=0.513, p<0.01).

Intercalibrating classifications of ecological status: Europe's quest for common management objectives for aquatic ecosystems.

Halting and reversing the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems requires concerted action across state boundaries and administrative barriers. However, the achievement of common management objectives is jeopardised by different national quality targets and ambitions. The European Water Framework Directive requires that quality classifications are harmonised via an intercalibration exercise, ensuring a consistent level of ambition in the protection and restoration of surface water bodies across the Member States of the European Union. We outline the key principles of the intercalibration methodology, review the achievements of intercalibration and discuss its benefits and drawbacks. Less than half of the required intercalibration has been completed, mostly due to a lack of national assessment methods. The process has fostered a scientific debate on ecological classification with important implications for environmental management. Despite a significant level of statistical abstraction, intercalibration yielded a fundamental and unified vision of what constitutes good ecology across Europe, in principle ensuring greater parity in the funds invested to achieve good ecological status.

Biomonitoring of metals under the water framework directive: detecting temporal trends and abrupt changes, in relation to the removal of pollution sources.

Temporal trends in metal concentrations, i.e. Ag, Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn, measured in soft tissues of Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels and Crassostrea gigas oysters collected from estuarine waters within the Basque Country (Bay of Biscay), have been investigated to determine if actions undertaken have improved the environmental quality of rivers and estuaries. Data compiled between 1990 and 2010 have been analysed statistically, applying the Mann-Kendall and the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests. Moreover, in those cases with significant trends, the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Adaptive (KZA) filter was applied to detect abrupt changes. Results showed significant decreasing trends for some metals, i.e. Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn, and differences between medians. Trend lines showed abrupt changes occurring between 1998 and 2002. Therefore, observed downward trends were related to increased wastewater treatment and diversions of discharges to ocean, implemented mainly during 2000-2002.

Water quality assessment using satellite-derived chlorophyll-a within the European directives, in the southeastern Bay of Biscay.

The implementation of water quality European Directives requires an intensification of water quality monitoring, within the limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone. Remote sensing technologies can provide a valuable tool for frequent, synoptic, water-quality observations, over large areas. The aim of this study is to assess the ecological status of Basque coastal water bodies using satellite imagery from MODIS sensor, together with optical and chlorophyll-ain situ measurements. Thus, sea surface satellite-derived chl-a algorithms, the OC3 M, OC5 and a Local empirical algorithm, were compared against in situ measurements using satellite in situ match-ups, 90th Percentile (P90) monthly values for the 2005-2010 period. The OC5 algorithm corresponded most accurately with in situ measurements performed in the area, hence, it was selected. A P90 chlorophyll-a map was created with this algorithm to apply the classification scheme required by the directives. The classification of water bodies, based upon satellite-derived chlorophyll-a, could improve considerably the assessment of water quality.

What are the costs and benefits of biodiversity recovery in a highly polluted estuary?

Biodiversity recovery measures have often been ignored when dealing with the restoration of degraded aquatic systems. Furthermore, biological valuation methods have been applied only spatially in previous studies, and not jointly on a temporal and spatial scale. The intense monitoring efforts carried out in a highly polluted estuary, in northern Spain (Nervión estuary), allowed for the economic valuation of the costs and the biological valuation of the benefits associated with a 21 years sewage scheme application. The analysis show that the total amount of money invested into the sewage scheme has contributed to the estuary's improvement of both environmental and biological features, as well as to an increase in the uses and services provided by the estuary. However, the inner and outer parts of the estuary showed different responses. An understanding of the costs and trajectories of the environmental recovery of degraded aquatic systems is increasingly necessary to allow policy makers and regulators to formulate robust, cost-efficient and feasible management decisions.

I Conferencia Nacional de Consenso sobre el Injerto Óseo del Seno Maxilar / 1st National Consensus Conference on maxillar sinus bone grafts

Objetivo: El objetivo de la I Conferencia Española de Consenso sobre el Injerto Óseo Sinusal era intentar llegar a puntos de acuerdo sobre las principales controversias de esta técnica, aplicada de forma muy variada y con el empleo de materiales muy diversos, y conseguir plasmar los mismos en un documento resumen consensuado por todos los autores. Material y método: Durante los días 17 y 18 de octubre de 2008 se celebró en Oviedo la citada conferencia, auspiciada por la Sociedad Española de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial. En ella se dieron cita un total de 50 ponentes de reconocido prestigio nacional e internacional que repasaron en 6 mesas de trabajo las principales controversias sobre los injertos óseos sinusales. Tras las conferencias de los ponentes, los moderadores establecían las principales conclusiones de cada mesa y se abría un turno de debate donde participaban todos los asistentes. Resultado: Este documento y sus conclusiones emanan de las presentaciones realizadas por los ponentes y de las deliberaciones y acuerdos de cada mesa de trabajo. Ambos han sido aprobados tras varias correcciones por todos los autores antes de ser enviados para su publicación. Además, han obtenido el reconocimiento científico oficial de la Sociedad Española de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial y deben servir como base para futuros estudios y reuniones científicas. Conclusiones: El objetivo fundamental cuando se realiza un injerto óseo sinusal es la formación de hueso vital en el seno maxilar, para conseguir la supervivencia a largo plazo de los implantes tras su carga protésica. Para ello, la técnica y la secuencia de tratamiento deben orientarse a conseguir resultados predecibles y estables en el tiempo, aunque esto suponga un mayor tiempo de espera hasta la colocación de la prótesis. La estabilidad inicial del implante es el factor clave para la osteointegración y debe ser el principal criterio para indicar implantes simultáneos o diferidos en el seno maxilar(AU)

Objective: The objectives of the first Spanish Consensus Conference on Sinus Bone Graft were trying to reach agreements points on the major controversies of this technique, and translate them in a summary document. Material and method: During the 17th and 18th of October of 2008 took place in Oviedo (Spain) the Conference, sponsored by the Spanish Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. There, 50 national and international speakers reviewed in 6 workshops the major controversies of sinus bone grafts. Following the conferences, the moderators proposed the main conclusions of each workshop and opened a round of discussion where all attendees participated. Results: This document and its conclusions emanate from the presentations made by the speakers and the discussions and agreements of each workshop. Both have been approved after several corrections by all authors before being submitted for publication. They have also obtained the official scientific recognition of the Spanish Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and should serve as a basis for future scientific studies and meetings. Conclusions: The main objective when we perform a sinus bone graft is vital bone formation in the maxillary sinus, to achieve long-term survival of the implants after prosthetic loading. To do this, the technique and sequence of treatment should aim to achieve predictable and stable results over time, although this involves a longer waiting time. The initial implant stability is the key factor for osseointegration and should be the main criterion to indicate simultaneous or delayed implants in the maxillary sinus(AU)

Assessing ecological integrity in marine waters, using multiple indices and ecosystem components: challenges for the future.

During the last decade, there have been substantial scientific advances in the development of indices that measure the condition of biological ecosystem elements in coastal and estuarine waters. Though successful, these advances were only the initial steps and a special session on use of indices in ecological integrity assessments was held at the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation meeting to focus the field on the most appropriate directions for the next decade. The session identified four primary scientific challenges: (i) reduce the array of indices by identifying the index approaches that are most widely successful; (ii) establish minimum criteria for index validation; (iii) intercalibrate methods to achieve uniform assessment scales across geographies and habitats; and (iv) integrate indices across ecosystem elements. Where an explosion of indices characterized the last decade, the next decade needs to be characterized by consolidation. With increased knowledge and understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of competing index approaches, the field needs to unify approaches that provide managers with the simple answers they need to use ecological condition information effectively and efficiently.

Dissolved metal background levels in marine waters, for the assessment of the physico-chemical status, within the European Water Framework Directive.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) has, as its ultimate aim, a reduction in the concentrations of hazardous substances in the marine environment, i.e. 'background' values. Hence, the determination of natural background levels of heavy metals, to distinguish between natural element concentrations and anthropogenically-influenced concentrations, is highly relevant. Some studies have shown the convenience in the derivation of local background levels, especially if they are necessary for environmental assessment. Nevertheless, although such studies exist for sediments, there are only a few previous investigations on metal background values in sea water. Likewise, there is not any standard procedure to determine such levels in waters, nor general agreement on the statistical methodologies to be applied. In this contribution, background levels of heavy metals (As, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn), in estuarine and coastal waters within the Basque Country (northern Spain), according to ranges in salinity, are estimated using statistical tools. Ni and Pb have been considered elsewhere (2455/2001/EC) as priority substances under the WFD. Hence, this approach can assist further in the determination of water reference conditions, to assess chemical and physico-chemical status in other European countries; this, affects, ultimately, the ecological status, as defined within the WFD.

Ecological status assessment in the lower Eo estuary (Spain). The challenge of habitat heterogeneity integration: a benthic perspective.

The implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires evaluation of the ecological status (ES) of benthic communities in coastal and transitional water systems, and the intercalibration of assessment methodologies therefore becomes a research challenge. Our aim was to test the suitability of applying the M-AMBI index to assess the status of the Eo estuary (northern coast of Spain). Our results showed that M-AMBI was influenced by the natural variability of benthic communities, and presented an apparent dependence on habitat characteristics. Consequently, the definition of homogeneous areas in transitional water systems should be based on the salinity gradient combined with other factors. To achieve an accurate ES assessment, habitat-specific reference conditions should then be defined prior to the application of M-AMBI; this necessitates dividing an estuary into several sections, which may be classified as different ESs. From this perspective, a novel approach to integrate habitat heterogeneity in a global ES assessment was tested.

Maximum likelihood mixture estimation to determine metal background values in estuarine and coastal sediments within the European Water Framework Directive.

Some of the recently derived European Directives, such as the Water Framework and Marine Strategy, have, as ultimate aims, to achieve concentrations of hazardous substances in the marine environment near background values. Hence, the determination of natural background levels, in marine sediments, is highly relevant. The present study proposes the use of the maximum likelihood mixture estimation (MLME) to determine regional background levels and upper threshold of metal concentration, with the Basque Country as a case study (with a data set of 575 samples, from estuarine and littoral areas, including both intertidal and subtidal sediments). The heuristic procedure is applied with unimodal data distributions (Cd, Cr, Fe and Ni) and the mixture density estimations, based upon maximum likelihood, are carried out with polypopulational data distributions (As, Cu, Mn, Hg, Pb and Zn). The upper limits of the distribution are proposed, as the limits between 'High Status' and 'Good Status' (according to the Water Framework Directive terminology). The regional upper limits were 0.45 microg g(-1) for Cd, 71 microg g(-1) for Cr, 53,542 microg g(-1) for Fe, 57 microg g(-1) for Ni, 24 microg g(-1) for As, 64 microg g(-1) for Cu, 447 microg g(-1) for Mn, 0.27 microg g(-1) for Hg, 66 microg g(-1) for Pb, and 248 microg g(-1) for Zn. The results from this study can assist further in the determination of sediment reference conditions, to assess chemical status, within the above-mentioned directives; likewise, it will be studied as a useful methodology in determining regional metal backgrounds in other European countries.

Assessing reference conditions and physico-chemical status according to the European Water Framework Directive: a case-study from the Basque Country (Northern Spain).

The European Water Framework Directive requires the development of new and accurate methodologies, addressing the assessment of the physico-chemical status of transitional and coastal waters; these are considered by the Directive as the supporting elements for the final evaluation of the Ecological Quality Status. This contribution develops new approaches in the determination of the physico-chemical status, solving some problems detected in previous contributions, i.e.: (a) fitting the classification of water bodies and typologies, by means of the stretching of the typologies, according to the natural salinity gradient of types; (b) defining reference conditions, based upon the new approach to typologies, (c) proposing accurate multivariate methodologies, in determining the physico-chemical status of the transitional and coastal waters, based upon the defined typologies and references; and (d) discussion of the results obtained by reference to methodological aspects and water quality evolution in the Basque Country, Spain (as a case-study), during the last decade.

The application of a Marine Biotic Index to different impact sources affecting soft-bottom benthic communities along European coasts.

Following the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), the authors proposed, in a previous contribution, a Marine Biotic Coefficient (BC) to establish the ecological quality of soft-bottom benthos within European estuarine and coastal environments. The present study examines the application of the BC to the Atlantic (North Sea; Bay of Biscay; South of Spain) and Mediterranean (Spain and Greece) European coasts. The investigation assesses also the usefulness of the BC, in relation to different impact sources (e.g. drilling cuts with ester-based mud, submarine outfalls, heavy metals, industrial and mining wastes, jetties and sewerage works). The results obtained are consistent with those obtained using several methods and parameters, such as richness, diversity, evenness, Abundance-Biomass comparison plots and univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. The BC values provide a simple and clearly defined way to establish the ecological quality of soft-bottom benthos, complementary to the above mentioned methods.

[Intraoral non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Presentation of 4 clinical cases]. / Linfoma no-Hodgkin intraoral. Presentación de 4 casos clínicos.

The non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) represent an heterogeneous group of malignancies of lymphoreticular histogenesis. In most cases, they initially arise within lymph nodes but so-called extranodal lymphomas are also found. The NHL has low incidence in the oral cavity. It may involve bone and/or soft tissues as a primary or secondary manifestation. We present a review of the literature and four clinical cases of intraoral NHL. The first couple of cases are primary forms, the third one is associated to HIV infection and the last one is an oral presentation as a component of more widely disseminated disease.

Linfoma no-Hodgkin intraoral. Presentación de 4 casos clínicos / Intraoral no-Hodgkin lymphoma. Presentation of 4 clinical cases

Los linfomas no-Hodgkin (LNH) incluyen un grupo heterogéneo de malignidades de histogénesis linforreticular. La mayoría de casos inician en los nódulos linfáticos, aunque existe también la forma extraganglionar. En la cavidad oral el LNH tiene baja incidencia. Puede afectar a los maxilares y/o tejidos blandos como manifestación primaria o secundaria de la enfermedad. Presentamos una revisión de la literatura y cuatro casos clínicos de LNH intraoral, con el propósito de describir sus características clínicas e histológicas. Los dos primeros casos son linfomas intraorales primarios, un tercero asociado a infección VIH y por último una manifestación oral como parte de la diseminación de la enfermedad (AU)

The non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) represent an heterogeneous group of malignancies of lymphoreticular histogenesis. In most cases, they initially arise within lymph nodes but so-called extranodal lymphomas are also found. The NHL has low incidence in the oral cavity. It may involve bone and/or soft tissues as a primary or secondary manifestation. We present a review of the literature and four clinical cases of intraoral NHL. The first couple of cases are primary forms, the third one is associated to HIV infection and the last one is an oral presentation as a component of more widely disseminated disease (AU)

Rearrangements of the cytoskeleton and cell contacts induce process formation during differentiation of conditionally immortalized mouse podocyte cell lines.

Mature podocytes are among the most complex differentiated cells and possess a highly branched array of foot processes that are essential to glomerular filtration in the kidney. Such differentiated podocytes are unable to replicate and culturing of primary podocytes results in rapid growth arrest. Therefore, conditionally immortalized mouse podocyte clones (MPC) were established, which are highly proliferative when cultured under permissive conditions. Nonpermissive conditions render the majority of MPC cells growth arrested within 6 days and induce many characteristics of differentiated podocytes. Both proliferating and differentiating MPC cells express the WT-1 protein and an ordered array of actin fibers and microtubules extends into the forming cellular processes during differentiation, reminiscent of podocyte processes in vivo. These cytoskeletal rearrangements and process formation are accompanied by the onset of synaptopodin synthesis, an actin-associated protein marking specifically differentiated podocytes. In addition, focal contacts are rearranged into an ordered pattern in differentiating MPC cells. Most importantly, electrophysiological studies demonstrate that differentiated MPC cells respond to the vasoactive peptide bradykinin by changes in intracellular calcium concentration. These results suggest a regulatory role of podocytes in glomerular filtration. Taken together, these studies establish that conditionally immortalized MPC cells retain a differentiation potential similar to podocytes in vivo. Therefore, the determinative steps of podocyte differentiation and process formation are studied for the first time using an inducible in vitro model.