The role of afforestation species as a driver of Hg accumulation in organic horizons of forest soils from a Mediterranean mountain area in SW Europe.

Forest areas are a primary sink of atmospheric mercury (Hg) within terrestrial ecosystems, whereas forest vegetation plays a key role in atmospheric Hg transfer to soil horizons. This study assessed variations in total Hg contents (HgT) and accumulation (HgRes) in the soil organic horizons of a forest area in NE Portugal, where post-wildfire afforestation led to the substitution of the native deciduous species (Quercus pyrenaica) by fast-growing coniferous species (Pseudotsuga menziesii and Pinus nigra). The study also evaluated, for each species, the links between Hg contents and other biophilic elements of soil organic matter (C, N, S) present in organic subhorizons (OL, OF, OH). Mean HgT in the organic horizons of the different tree species follow the sequence: P. nigra (88 µg kg-1) < Q.pyrenaica (101 µg kg-1)

Social violence: a case for classification as a sub-phenomenon of community in the ICNP.

The study is intended to illustrate that the nursing phenomenon, Violence, exists as a phenomenon of the aggregate and should thus be classified, under the higher level phenomenon, Community, in the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP), published by the International Council of Nurses. This proposition was confirmed during a meeting of an international team of psychiatric nurses to plan reality-based postgraduate modules for the nine countries they represented. Substantiating data, based on the team's module, Violence, clinical investigation and a review of the literature, evolved from a classroom project in north-east Brazil. The Master's Degree nursing students conducted observations and interviews based on identified factors of the phenomenon on children in two municipal day-care centres in targeted neighbourhoods in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. Data were gleaned from observations and verbalizations regarding their individual drawings depicting sadness and happiness, from school records and observations of these children by their teachers. The data, evolving from the time-limited classroom project, are too sparse to be considered valid, but pave the road for further studies. Professional and lay-literature substantiates the occurrence of violence in the Brazilian society.

Physico-chemical characterization of meglumine antimoniate.

The leishmanicidal drug, meglumine antimoniate (MA), has been synthesized by the reaction of antimony oxyhydrated and N-methyl glucamine. Infrared and solid state NMR 13C analysis of MA and the ligand strongly suggests that antimony binds to N-methyl glucamine through the oxygen of C-3 carbon. Potentiometric titration indicated that, between pH 4.5 and 7.5, MA exists in the zwitterionic form.