Metal Uptake by Plants from Soil Contaminated by Thin-Film Solar Panel Material

Various metals, including zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), gallium (Ga), lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and indium (In), may be released and cause contamination when scrapped end-of-life (EoL) Cu(InGa)Se2 thin-film solar panel (CIGS TFSP) is buried in the soil. In this study, we grew Brassica parachinensis L. H. Bariley (VegBrassica) in three different types of soils, namely, a commercial soil, a Mollisol, and an Oxisol, which had been contaminated by CIGS TFSP to various extents. The concentrations of contaminants in these soils were positively correlated with both the amount of CIGS TFSP added and the burial period. Plants grew well in commercial soil and Mollisol, but those in Oxisol showed prominent signs of chlorosis and died after 30 days. The bioaccumulation factor (BF) and concentration of Zn in VegBrassica grown in commercial soil with 10% of CIGS TFSP added were 3.61 and 296 mg/kg, respectively, while the BF and concentration of In of VegBrassica grown in Mollisol were 3.80 and 13.72 mg/kg, respectively. The results showed that soils were contaminated by metals released from CIGS TFSP, and different adsorption patterns were observed for VegBrassica?depending on which types of metals associated with the soil properties.

Seismic pounding and collapse behavior of neighboring buildings with different natural periods

Seismic pounding phenomena, particularly the collision of neighboring buildings under long-period ground motion, are becoming a significant issue in Japan. We focused on a specific apartment structure called the Nuevo Leon buildings in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City, which consisted of three similar buildings built consecutively with narrow expansion joints between the buildings. Two out of the three buildings collapsed completely in the 1985 Mexican earthquake. Using a finite element code based on the adaptively shifted integration (ASI)-Gauss technique, a seismic pounding analysis is performed on a simulated model of the Nuevo Leon buildings to understand the impact and collapse behavior of structures built near each other. The numerical code used in the analysis provides a higher computational efficiency than the conventional code for this type of problem and enables us to address dynamic behavior with strong nonlinearities, including phenomena such as member fracture and elemental contact. Contact release and recontact algorithms are developed and implemented in the code to understand the complex behaviors of structural members during seismic pounding and the collapse sequence. According to the numerical results, the collision of the buildings may be a result of the difference of natural periods between the neighboring buildings. This difference was detected in similar buildings from the damages caused by previous earthquakes. By setting the natural period of the north building to be 25% longer than the other periods, the ground motion, which hada relatively long period of 2 s, first caused the collision between the north and the center buildings. This collision eventually led to the collapse of the centerbuilding, followed by the destruction of the north building.

Action-oriented obesity counseling attains weight stabilization and improves liver enzymes among overweight and obese children and adolescents

Introduction: Pediatricians are encouraged to promote behavior modification to reduce childhood obesity and its co-morbidities, yet the effectiveness of office counseling is unclear. We aimed to evaluate if a low-intensity intervention (action-oriented counseling) in a clinic setting results in weight stabilization, and if the effect is modified by a diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We hypothesized that patients with NAFLD would be more motivated to adhere to the lifestyle goals set in clinic, due to the diagnosis of an obesity-related condition;and, would therefore achieve greater weight reduction compared to similarly overweight and obese patients without a diagnosis of NAFLD. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on 73 (35 male, 38 female) overweight and obese patients (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) attending a pediatric GI clinic between January 2006 and October 2011. Analysis was conducted to determine if lifestyle goals discussed with the patient at each clinic visit were associated with improved BMI, BMI z-score, and liver enzymes. Treatment outcomes among NAFLD patients and similarly obese patients without NAFLD were compared using t-tests and chi-square tests. Results: Of the children evaluated, 74.0% achieved a reduction or stabilization in BMI z-score after 3 months of follow-up. Among NAFLD patients, liver enzymes improved in 72% of those who were able to stabilize or reduce their BMI and among 43% of those who gained weight. Treatment outcome did not significantly differ based on having a diagnosis of NAFLD, although there was a trend towards greater improvements. Conclusion: Our study suggests that action oriented counseling including goal-setting in a low intensity, clinic based approach is effective in improving patient BMI, in the presence or absence of an obesity-related co-morbidity, such as NAFLD. Further, we demonstrated that lifestyle modification led to improvement of liver enzymes in NAFLD patients and may result in other clinically relevant improvements. Longer studies will be needed to determine if the improvements are sustained.

Seagrass Meadows under the Changing Climate:A Review of the Impacts of Climate Stressors

Seagrass meadows provide important ecological functions,particularly by serving as carbon sinks and breeding grounds for marine species.Climate change has threatened seagrass communities,causing their replacement,loss and increased vulnerability.This review examined scholarly articles published between 2010-2021 to comprehensively present the impacts of climate change on seagrass meadows.It shows that ocean warming negatively affects seagrass communities by favouring communities of lower structuring capacities,thus reducing the effectiveness of their ecological functions.Ocean warming also promotes the propagation and spread of invasive species,and changes the trophic structures leading to further loss of seagrasses of value.Higher seawater temperature is associated with shoot mortality and retarded growth of certain seagrasses.Sea level rise causes more wave energy to be received by coastal seagrass communities,thus,creating more damage to the communities.Deepening sea limits light penetration and alters distribution of seagrass meadows.Carbon dioxide enrichment of seawater increases photosynthetic rate of seagrasses but ocean warming and acidification counteract this beneficial effect.Carbon dioxide enrichment affects different seagrass species and different parts of a seagrass species differently,and,where beneficial to seagrass communities,could enhance their ecological services.Temperature extremes could kill seagrasses while marine heatwaves and flooding could act synergistically to increase carbon demand of certain seagrasses and unfavourably change their biomass.These impacts are often aggravated by anthropogenic activities.This review calls for more studies and conservation efforts to understand the impacts of climate change on seagrass communities and future-proof them against the changing climate.

A review of traditional and novel detection techniques for melamine and its analogues in foods and animal feed

Melamine,a nitrogen-rich chemical,has received much attention in recent years due to a series of highly publicized food safety incidents,including 2007 pet food recalls in North America and 2008 melamine contamination in milk,infant formula,and other milkderived products in China.Current analytical methods for testing melamine are time-consuming,expensive,and labor-intensive.Therefore,there is an increasing interest in the food science and analytical chemistry field to develop simple,quick,sensitive,and cost-effective methods for detection of melamine and its analogues(e.g.,cyanuric acid,melamine cyanurate,ammelide,and ammeline)in food ingredients,processed food,and animal feed.This review aims to summarize traditional and novel analytical techniques that have been used or show great potential to detect,characterize,and quantify melamine and its analogues in foods and animal feed.