Relationships between airborne pollen grains, wind direction and land cover using GIS and circular statistics.

Airborne bio-aerosol content (mainly pollen and spores) depends on the surrounding vegetation and weather conditions, particularly wind direction. In order to understand this issue, maps of the main land cover in influence areas of 10km in radius surrounding pollen traps were created. Atmospheric content of the most abundant 14 pollen types was analysed in relation to the predominant wind directions measured in three localities of SW of Iberian Peninsula, from March 2011 to March 2014. Three Hirst type traps were used for aerobiological monitoring. The surface area for each land cover category was calculated and wind direction analysis was approached by using circular statistics. This method could be helpful for estimating the potential risk of exposure to various pollen types. Thus, the main land cover was different for each monitoring location, being irrigated crops, pastures and hardwood forests the main categories among 11 types described. Comparison of the pollen content with the predominant winds and land cover shows that the atmospheric pollen concentration is related to some source areas identified in the inventory. The study found that some pollen types (e.g. Plantago, Fraxinus-Phillyrea, Alnus) come from local sources but other pollen types (e.g. Quercus) are mostly coming from longer distances. As main conclusions, airborne particle concentrations can be effectively split by addressing wind with circular statistics. By combining circular statistics and GIS method with aerobiological data, we have created a useful tool for understanding pollen origin. Some pollen loads can be explained by immediate surrounding landscape and observed wind patterns for most of the time. However, other factors like medium or long-distance transport or even pollen trap location within a city, may occasionally affect the pollen load recorded using an air sampler.

Metabolic responses in root nodules of Phaseolus vulgaris and Vicia sativa exposed to the imazamox herbicide.

Alterations on growth, amino acids metabolism and some antioxidant enzyme activities as result of imazamox treatment were examined in determinate and indeterminate nodules, formed by Phaseolus vulgaris and Vicia sativa, respectively. Young seedlings of both legumes were inoculated with their respective microsymbionts and grown under controlled conditions. At vegetative growth, plants were treated with imazamox (250µM) in the nutrient solution and harvested 7days after. Imazamox was mainly accumulated in V. sativa where concentrations were more than six fold higher than those detected in P. vulgaris. Nodule dry weight and total nitrogen content were reduced by the herbicide treatment: the highest decrease of nodule biomass (50%) and nitrogen content (40%) were registered in V. sativa and P. vulgaris, respectively. The concentration of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) did not change in neither determinate nor indeterminate nodules even though the acetohydroxyacid synthase activity decreased in root and nodules of both symbioses with the herbicide application. Based on this last result and taking into account that total free amino acids increased in roots but not in nodules of common vetch, a possible BCAA translocation from root to nodule could occur. Our results suggest that the maintenance of BCAA balance in nodule become a priority for the plant in such conditions. The involvement of activities glutathione-S-transferase, guaiacol peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in the response of the symbioses to imazamox are also discussed.

[Fulminant hepatic insufficiency]. / Insuficiencia hepática fulminante.

We studied the patients admitted to the Intensive Medicine Department of the "Carlos Haya" Regional Hospital of Málaga (Spain) with a diagnosis of fulminant liver failure (IHF) between 1980 and October 1986. There were 7 patients, 6 women and one man: 5 had a picture of fulminant hepatitis, one pregnant female had fatty liver, and the man had fulminant hepatitis due to accidental inhalation of carbon tetrachloride. The average age of the group was 32 years. Six patients (85%) died; their average stay was 4.6 days, ranging from 10 hours to 7 days. The woman who survived spent 17 days in the unit. Postmortem studies were made in 4 patients. In the pregnant patient with fatty liver, 36 weeks gestation, a cesarean was performed and a live female fetus of 2,720 g. weight was extracted. Some pathogenic aspects of the disease are discussed, such as the incidence of superinfection by other viruses (delta virus), the influence of immunological factors on the development of fulminant liver failure, morphological findings, therapeutic results and the need for multicenter studies.

Shunt nephritis: a report on five children.

Of 5 children with glomerulonephritis with infected ventriculoatrial shunt, 3 had improved renal function after antibiotic therapy and removal of the infected shunt. 1 patient with endoextracapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis with 70% glomerular crescents developed a rapidly progressive renal insufficiency. Renal failure was successfully managed by hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. 1 patient died from extrarenal causes in the course of a septic episode.