Environmental impact assessment, from Rio-92 to Rio+20 and beyond

The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was of paramount importance in the consolidation and international dissemination of environmental impact assessment, officially recognized as a tool for informed decision-making towards sustainable development (Principle 17, Rio Declaration) and for protection of biodiversity (Article 14, Convention on Biological Diversity). A significant development afterwards was the strengthening of strategic environmental assessment in the design of policies, plans and programs. Both forms of impact assessment can establish the necessary connections between one goal of the Rio+20 Conference - reaching an agreement on the transition to a green economy - and the underpinning decision making processes. Although the Rio+20 Summit has faced challenges to acknowledge its potential, impact assessment should be strengthened in support of both government and business decisions.

Effects of atrazine and picloram on grass carp: acute toxicity and histological assessment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute toxicity of atrazine and picloram separately to grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Firstly, fingerlings were exposed to nominal concentrations of these herbicides to determine the lethal concentration (LC50) (96 h). After this, the animals were treated with sub-acute concentrations of the herbicides to measure the effects on gill histology. The LC50 (96 h) of the atrazine and picloram were, respectively, 37mg L-1 and 4.4 mgL(-1). Four types of alterations were found in gills exposed to atrazine, which were epithelial lifting, partial cell proliferation, lamellar fusion, and aneurysm. Nominal concentrations of picloram caused epithelial lifting, partial cell proliferation, and lamellar fusion.

Audiological and electrophysiological assessment of professional pop/rock musicians

In the present study, we evaluated peripheral and central auditory pathways in professional musicians (with and without hearing loss) compared to non-musicians. The goal was to verify if music exposure could affect auditory pathways as a whole. This is a prospective study that compared the results obtained between three groups (musicians with and without hearing loss and non-musicians). Thirty-two male individuals participated and they were assessed by: Immittance measurements, pure-tone air conduction thresholds at all frequencies from 0.25 to 20 kHz, Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions, Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), and Cognitive Potential. The musicians showed worse hearing thresholds in both conventional and high frequency audiometry when compared to the non-musicians; the mean amplitude of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions was smaller in the musicians group, but the mean latencies of Auditory Brainstem Response and Cognitive Potential were diminished in the musicians when compared to the non-musicians. Our findings suggest that the population of musicians is at risk for developing music-induced hearing loss. However, the electrophysiological evaluation showed that latency waves of ABR and P300 were diminished in musicians, which may suggest that the auditory training to which these musicians are exposed acts as a facilitator of the acoustic signal transmission to the cortex.