Development of functional consortia for the pretreatment of compostable lignocellulosic waste: A simple and effective solution to a large-scale problem.

Microorganisms drive the degradation of organic matter thanks to their enzymatic versatility. However, the structure of lignocellulose poses a great challenge for the microbiota inhabiting a compost pile. Our purpose was to increase the biodegradability of vegetable waste in the early stages of the composting process by applying a microbial consortium with lignocelllulolytic capacity. For this, a previous screening was performed among the culturable microbiota from different composting processes to find inoculants with ligninocellulolytic activity. Selected strains were applied as a pure culture and as a microbial consortium. The starting material was composed of tomato plant and pruning remains mixed in a ratio (50:50 v/v), whose humidity was adjusted to around 65%. To determine the ability of both treatments to activate the biodegradation of the mixtures, moisture, organic matter, ash, C/N ratio, 4-day cumulative respirometric index (AT4) and degradation rates of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were evaluated. Subsequently, a real composting process was developed in which the performance of the microbial consortium was compared with the composting process without inoculum (control). According to our tests, three microbial strains (Bacillus safensis, Bacillus licheniformis and Fusarium oxysporum) were selected. The results showed that the application of the bacteria strains at low doses (104 CFU g-1 on the complete residual material of the pile) resulted in higher rates of lignocelullose degradation after 10 days of treatment compared to that observed after application of the fungus in pure culture or untreated controls. The implementation of the strategy described in this work resulted in obtaining compost with better agronomic quality than the uninoculated controls. Therefore, the application of this consortium could be considered as an interesting tool for bioactivation of lignocellulosic waste prior to the composting process.

Biorecovery of olive mill wastewater sludge from evaporation ponds.

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) resulting from the olive oil extraction process is usually disposed of in evaporation ponds where it concentrates generating a sludge that pollutes the ponds nearby area. In this study, four bio-treatments were applied for the in-situ bioremediation and valorization of OMW sludge: Landfarming, phytoremediation, composting and vermicomposting. In all cases, the OMW sludge was added with organic residues (mushroom compost, rabbit manure, and chicken manure). The bio-treatments were carried out in duplicate, inoculated and non-inoculated, to determine the effect of a specialized fungal consortium (Aspergillus ochraceus H2 and Scedosporium apiospermum H16) on the efficacy of the bio-treatments. The evaluation of chemical parameters, toxicity, and functional microbial biodiversity revealed that the four techniques depleted the toxicity and favored the stimulation of functional microbiota. Landfarming and phytoremediation allowed the decontamination and improvement of soils. Composting and vermicomposting also offered high-quality products of agronomic interest. Inoculation improved the bioremediation effectiveness. Biological treatments are effective for the safe recovery of contaminated OMW sludge into high-quality services and products.

The Interplay Between Household Risk Perception of Parasitic Infections and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Practices: Evidence From an Urban Poor Community in the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: Parasitic diseases pose challenges in impoverished urban settlements with limited access to clean water, proper hygiene, and sanitation (WASH). This study assesses WASH practices and risk perceptions of parasitic infections among households in the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Corporation (BASECO) Compound in Manila, an urban poor community in the Philippines. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed to collect data through a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed to assess the sociodemographic profile, household WASH practices, and respondents' risk perception of parasitic infections. Linear regression analysis was utilized to examine the relationship between these variables. RESULTS: A survey was conducted with 363 households, of which 237 (65.3%) used distilled and purified water from the water refilling stations in the community for drinking. Meanwhile, 120 households (33.10%) consumed tap water. Boiling water was a commonly used method (n=146; 56.60%) for treating drinking water. Most households had flush toilets with septic tanks (n=244; 67.20%), water sources for handwashing (n=307; 84.57%) and soap for handwashing (n=356; 98.10%). On average, they washed their hands 6-10 times daily (n=159; 43.80%). Most households were aware that drinking untreated water (n=318; 87.6%), improper food washing (n=309; 85.1%), using contaminated water sources (n=301; 82.9%), and consuming raw or undercooked meat (n=298; 82.1%) could lead to parasitic infections. 316 respondents (87.1%) identified diarrhea as the most common symptom of parasitic infection. Relationships were found between access to drinking water and the number of household members (B=0.191; p-value=0.001), personal hygiene and the respondents' knowledge of parasitic infections (B=0.112; p-value=0.047), and the overall WASH score with household income (B=0.105; p-value=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: The WASH conditions in BASECO, Manila need improvement. Factors associated with their WASH practices include risk perception of parasitic diseases, socioeconomic disparity, and household overcrowding. These factors play a crucial role in identifying areas for improvement and promoting health policies for urban poor communities in the Philippines.

Mitigation of phytotoxic effect of compost by application of optimized aqueous extraction protocols.

The abuse of chemical fertilizers in recent decades has led the promotion of less harmful alternatives, such as compost or aqueous extracts obtained from it. Therefore, it is essential to develop liquid biofertilizers, which in addition of being stable and useful for fertigation and foliar application in intensive agriculture had a remarkable phytostimulant extracts. For this purpose, a collection of aqueous extracts was obtained by applying four different Compost Extraction Protocols (CEP1, CEP2, CEP3, CEP4) in terms of incubation time, temperature and agitation of compost samples from agri-food waste, olive mill waste, sewage sludge and vegetable waste. Subsequently, a physicochemical characterization of the obtained set was performed in which pH, electrical conductivity and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) were measured. In addition, a biological characterization was also carried out by calculating the Germination Index (GI) and determining the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5). Furthermore, functional diversity was studied using the Biolog EcoPlates technique. The results obtained confirmed the great heterogeneity of the selected raw materials. However, it was observed that the less aggressive treatments in terms of temperature and incubation time, such as CEP1 (48 h, room temperature (RT)) or CEP4 (14 days, RT), provided aqueous compost extracts with better phytostimulant characteristics than the starting composts. It was even possible to find a compost extraction protocol that maximize the beneficial effects of compost. This was the case of CEP1, which improved the GI and reduced the phytotoxicity in most of the raw materials analyzed. Therefore, the use of this type of liquid organic amendment could mitigate the phytotoxic effect of several composts being a good alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers.

Sustainable approach to the control of airborne phytopathogenic fungi by application of compost extracts.

The search for new sustainable alternatives for plant disease control has gained interest in the last decades. Compost extracts are nowadays considered a remarkable alternative to agrochemicals due to their biopesticidal properties. However, these properties could be affected by the different variables of extraction protocols and by starting compost. This work focused on the physicochemical and biological characterization of compost extracts obtained from a wide range of composted materials and different extraction protocols (CEP). CEP-1 and CEP-4 involved incubation at 20 °C for 48 h and 14 days, respectively; CEP-2 incubation for 24 h at 40 °C; while CEP-3 were incubated for 12 h at 70 °C. Electrical conductivity, pH, total organic carbon (TOC) and phenolic content were determined as well as the actinobacterial count and enzyme profiles related to plant pathogen suppression. Additionally, the influence of the different materials and protocols on the in vitro growth inhibition of Alternaria alternata and Botrytis cinerea was determined. The starting materials and extraction protocols significantly influenced the physicochemical and biological characteristics of extracts. Treatments based on long incubation times at 20 °C, as well as those based on short incubation times at 40 °C, resulted in extracts with increased suppressive properties. However, extracts derived from CEP-3 protocol were characterized by high phenolic and TOC content, low functional biodiversity, and a more discreet antagonistic capacity. Therefore, the development and optimization of suitable extraction protocols could lead to compost extracts with increased phytoprotective capacities, thus becoming an effective and sustainable alternative to chemical inputs.

Effects of aerobic exercise on urinary estrogens and progestagens in pre and postmenopausal women.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effect of 6 months of aerobic exercise on urinary excretion of female steroid hormones in pre and postmenopausal women and to check the basal values of urinary steroid. To this end, 20 premenopausal (age 45.56 ± 4.06 years) and 20 postmenopausal (age 52.27 ± 3.80 years) women, all sedentary, were studied before and after a supervised 6-month exercise training program (at 60-70% of maximal heart rate, 60 min/day, 3 days/week), based on aerobic dance. The exercise included standing on one leg, squatting, walking, and touching their heels. Before and after the program, anthropometric data and VO(2max) were measured and urine samples were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/Q-MS). Both, pre and postmenopausal women, improved their VO(2max) after the aerobic exercise program. Regarding the urinary steroids, on the one hand, important differences were observed between urinary estrogens and progestagens in pre and postmenopausal women in basal values. Estrone (P < 0.05), pregnanediol (P < 0.01), pregnanetriol (P < 0.05), and estriol (P < 0.01) levels were lower in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women. On the other hand, the aerobic exercise program did not affect postmenopausal women in the same way as premenopausal women. After the exercise program, no changes in urinary steroid levels were observed in premenopausal women. However, the aerobic exercise program caused an increase in urinary excretion of pregnanediol (P < 0.05) and pregnanetriol (P < 0.05) in postmenopausal women.

Design and validation of cyanobacteria-rhizobacteria consortia for tomato seedlings growth promotion.

The use of rhizobacteria provide great benefits in terms of nitrogen supply, suppression of plant diseases, or production of vitamins and phytohormones that stimulate the plant growth. At the same time, cyanobacteria can photosynthesize, fix nitrogen, synthesize substances that stimulate rhizogenesis, plant aerial growth, or even suppose an extra supply of carbon usable by heterotrophic bacteria, as well as act as biological control agents, give them an enormous value as plant growth promoters. The present study focused on the in vitro establishment of consortia using heterotrophic bacteria and cyanobacteria and the determination of their effectiveness in the development of tomato seedlings. Microbial collection was composed of 3 cyanobacteria (SAB-M612 and SAB-B866 belonging to Nostocaceae Family) and GS (unidentified cyanobacterium) and two phosphate and potassium solubilizing heterotrophic bacteria (Pseudomonas putida-BIO175 and Pantoea cypripedii-BIO175). The results revealed the influence of the culture medium, incubation time and the microbial components of each consortium in determining their success as biofertilizers. In this work, the most compatible consortia were obtained by combining the SAB-B866 and GS cyanobacteria with either of the two heterotrophic bacteria. Cyanobacteria GS promoted the growth of both rhizobacteria in vitro (increasing logarithmic units when they grew together). While Cyanobacteria SAB-B866 together with both rhizobacteria stimulated the growth of tomato seedlings in planta, leading to greater aerial development of the treated seedlings. Parameters such as fresh weight and stem diameter stood out in the plants treated with the consortia (SAB-B866 and both bacteria) compared to the untreated plants, where the values doubled. However, the increase was more discrete for the parameters stem length and number of leaves. These results suggest that the artificial formulation of microbial consortia can have positive synergistic effects on plant growth, which is of enormous agro-biotechnological interest.

Seed biopriming with cyanobacterial extracts as an eco-friendly strategy to control damping off caused by Pythium ultimum in seedbeds.

This work highlights the ability of various cyanobacterial extracts from Anabaena spp., Tolypothrix spp., Nostoc or Trichormus, among others genera, to control the incidence of damping-off caused by Pythium ultimum in cucumber seedlings. Protocols applied aimed at the preliminary characterization of the cyanobacterial collection were very useful for predicting their phytotoxic, phytostimulating and biopesticidal capacity. First, the phytostimulatory or phytotoxic potential of a collection of 31 sonicated cyanobacterial extracts was analyzed by calculating the germination index in watercress seeds and the increase or loss of seedling weight. Likewise, the collection was characterized according to its ability to inhibit the growth of P. ultimum by dual culture bioassays and detached-leaf test. Finally, after selecting the most effective extracts, a preventive damping-off bioassay was performed based on cucumber seed biopriming. The strain SAB-M465 showed to be the most efficient strain against the in vitro growth of P. ultimum, while SAB-B912 was more discreet in this regard, but proved to be the most effective as a germination stimulator. Seed biopriming strategy with sonicated extracts of cyanobacteria revealed a remarkable promoter effect in the early stages of plant development, although only SAB-M465 was positioned as an effective control agent against damping-off caused by P. ultimum in cucumber seedbeds.

Prospection of cyanobacteria producing bioactive substances and their application as potential phytostimulating agents.

This work clarifies some of the substances involved with the biostimulant effect shown by 28 cyanobacteria isolated from different aquatic environments. The production of salicylic acid, cytokinins, siderophores and phosphate solubilization were analyzed in vitro, as well as the phytostimulant/phytotoxic effect on watercress seeds at two different extract concentrations (0.5 and 0.2 mg mL-1). The most prominent plant growth promoting cyanobacteria were verified in vivo at two different doses (0.5 and 0.1 mg mL-1). 21.4 % and 7.1 % of the tested strains produced siderophores or phosphate solubilization, respectively. The production of salicylic acid was stood out for the strains Calothrix SAB-B797, Nostoc SAB-B1300 and Nostoc SAB-M612, while Nostoc SAB-M251 and Trichormus SAB-M304 were noticeable regard to cytokinin production. The highest values of germination occurred when the extracts were applied in low dose (0.5 mg mL-1). Nostoc SAB-M612 provoked the stimulation of aerial and radicular growth in cucumber seedlings.

Evaluation of bacterial adhesion in exposed orbital implants using electron microscopy and microbiological culture. / Valoración de la adhesión bacteriana en implantes orbitarios expuestos mediante microscopia electrónica y cultivo microbiológico.

Three cases are presented of anophthalmic patients with exposed orbital implants. Although only one patient showed evident clinical signs of infection, all three implants were studied to determine the presence of microorganisms adhered to their surface using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microbiological culture. The SEM allowed the visualisation of microorganisms adhered to the three implants, although only one of them showed growth in the microbiological cultures. In addition, the SEM technique used in case No.3 achieved a better orientation and appreciation of the microorganisms with respect to the images of cases No.1 and2. These findings support the idea that the surface of exposed orbital implants is colonised by microorganisms, even when they still do not show obvious signs of infection. Therefore, mechanical removal of the exposed surface of the implant is necessary before covering it with grafts or flaps.

Mortality due to acute adverse drug reactions: opiates and cocaine in Barcelona, 1989-93.

Drug-related deaths have become a major source of premature mortality. This paper presents an analysis of deaths due to acute adverse drug reactions caused by opiates or cocaine in the city of Barcelona over a 5-year period during which figures were stable. Annual mortality rates due to adverse drug reactions of city residents for the 1989-93 period were estimated to be 15.3 per 100,000 people in the 15-49-year age group. Mortality rates for men (25.0) are consistently higher than mortality rates for women (5.8). Mortality rates by age group show different patterns by gender. Males in the 25-29-year group have the highest mortality rate (62.8), almost doubling the rates for the 20-24 (36.1) and 30-34 (33.3)-year groups. The highest differential in age-specific mortality by gender is seen in the 35-39-year age group, where mortality rates for men (21.5) are eight times higher than for women (2.6 per 100,000). The distribution by place of residence, stratifying data across city neighbourhoods and municipal districts displays wide differences between districts in the mean annual rates, ranking between 77.3 and 8.3 per 100,000, a nine-fold magnitude. Differences are even steeper when we break down data by neighbourhood. Although all areas with high adverse drug reactions mortality are areas of low socio-economic level, a more complex association between deprivation and drug use must exist, as other areas with similarly low socio-economic indicators do not suffer from such high mortality. A cross-tabulation of place of residence and district of death shows that for most adverse drug reaction deaths, death takes place in the district of residence but patterns related to districts who attract drug-related deaths and districts who export them may be observed. These results provide new insights into the epidemiology of substance abuse in Barcelona, where it follows patterns that may be similar to those of other major urban areas in Spain, but also in other Southern European countries.

Centrifugal partition chromatography directly interfaced with mass spectrometry for the fast screening and fractionation of major xanthones in Garcina mangostana.

Xanthones are well known for their interesting phytochemical properties, which make them attractive to the pharmaceutical and medicinal industry. We have therefore developed a method to analyse the major xanthones in Garcina mangostana. The xanthones were extracted by pressurized liquid extraction with ethanol and separated at the semi-preparative scale by centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) with a biphasic solvent system consisting of heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (2:1:2:1, v/v/v/v). A CPC-electrospray ionisation MS coupling was performed and used to simultaneously separate and identify the compounds. Thanks to a variable flow splitter and an additional stream of ethanol/1 mol L(-1) ammonium acetate (95:5, v/v), all the compounds were ionised, detected and monitored whatever the solvents used in mobile phase for the CPC separation. The dual mode or elution-extrusion which are less solvent-consuming and faster than the elution mode were used without loss of ionisation and detection.

Preparative purification of antiamyloidogenic stilbenoids from Vitis vinifera (Chardonnay) stems by centrifugal partition chromatography.

Five stilbenoids, E-resveratrol, E-piceatannol, (+) E-(epsilon)-viniferin, (+)-ampelopsin A and vitisin C were isolated from methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) stem extract of Vitis vinifera (Chardonnay cv). Their purification on a preparative scale was obtained by centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) using quaternary Arizona solvent systems composed of n-heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water. We tested 23 Arizona solvent systems to partition the extract and found that systems K and M (Hept/EtOAc/MeOH/water, 1:2:1:2 and 5:6:5:6, respectively; v/v) were the best to separate the stilbenes mentioned above. This support-free liquid-liquid chromatographic procedure made it possible to isolate ampelopsin A from V. vinifera for the first time. The antiamyloidogenic activity of the isolated stilbenes was evaluated versus beta-amyloid fibrils. E-resveratrol and (+)-ampelopsin A were found to be the most active compounds with 63 and 46% inhibition at 10microM, respectively. These findings suggest that E-resveratrol and (+)-ampelopsin A may function as attractive new candidates for protecting against brain cell dysfunction in vivo in AD by inhibiting the aggregation of Abeta.

The ectomycorrhizal fungus Scleroderma bermudense alleviates salt stress in seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera L.) seedlings.

The purpose of this study was to test the capacity of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungus, Scleroderma bermudense, to alleviate saline stress in seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera L.) seedlings. Plants were grown over a range (0, 200, 350 and 500 mM) of NaCl levels for 12 weeks, after 4 weeks of non-saline pre-treatment under greenhouse conditions. Growth and mineral nutrition of the seagrape seedlings were stimulated by S. bermudense regardless of salt stress. Although ECM colonization was reduced with increasing NaCl levels, ECM dependency of seagrape seedlings increased. Tissues of ECM plants had significantly increased concentrations of P and K but lower Na and Cl concentrations than those of non-ECM plants. Higher K concentrations in the leaves of ECM plants suggested a higher osmoregulating capacity of these plants. Moreover, the water status of ECM plants was improved despite their higher evaporative leaf surface. The results suggest that the reduction in Na and Cl uptake together with a concomitant increase in P and K absorption and a higher water status in ECM plants may be important salt-alleviating mechanisms for seagrape seedlings growing in saline soils.