Antimicrobial resistance of heterotrophic marine bacteria isolated from seawater and sands of recreational beaches with different organic pollution levels in southeastern Brazil: evidences of resistance dissemination

Antimicrobial resistance of marine heterotrophic bacteria to different antimicrobials agents were evaluated in seawater, dry and wet sands from three marine recreational beaches with different pollution levels. In all studied beaches, the greatest frequencies of resistance were found in relation to penicillin. on Gonzaguinha, the most polluted beach, 72.3% of all isolated strains showed simple resistance, whilst 8.33% had multiple resistance. The values found on Ilha Porchat beach, were 70.8% and 6.9% for simple and multiple resistances, respectively. on GuaraA(0), the less polluted beach, only 35.3% of isolated strains had simple resistance. Multiple resistance was not observed. While samples from Gonzaguinha and Ilha Porchat beach showed isolated strains resistant to seven and six different antimicrobial agents, respectively, samples from GuaraA(0) beach were resistant only to penicillin and erytromicin. The positive correlations obtained between the degree of seawater contamination and frequency and variability of bacterial resistance indicate that polluted marine recreational waters and sands are sources of resistant bacteria contributing thus, to the dissemination of bacterial resistance.

Changes in biomass, chemical composition and nutritive value of Spartina alterniflora due to organic pollution in the Itanhaém River Basin (SP, Brazil)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Longitudinal distribution and seasonality of macroalgae in a subtropical stream impacted by organic pollution

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Short terms effects of air pollution from biomass burning in mucociliary clearance of Brazilian sugarcane cutters

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

An overview of biodiesel soil pollution: Data based on cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assessments

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fish community alterations due to pollution and damming in Tiete and Paranapanema rivers (Brazil)

The Tiete River crosses the metropolitan region of São Paulo (Brazil) and receives a large amount of pollution, in contrast to Paranapanema River which runs in a less populated area. In the inferior portions of the basins of these rivers, a series of reservoirs has been built for hydroelectric energy generation which improve the water quality due to the decantation of suspended soils and aeration in the water spills.Twenty-nine sampling sites were established along the two rivers and in each sampling site, two groups of eight gillnets were used with standardized sizes in two seasons: winter (dry season: June-September 1994) and summer (rainy season: December-March 1995). The fishes were measured and weighed.Twenty-five parameters related. to the water were recorded. PCA and cluster analysis helped to identify two groups of sampling sites. The first one corresponds to the rainy season samples, while the second corresponds to the dry season samples, so evidencing strong seasonal environmental variation. However, the dry season group is still divided into polluted and non-polluted sites, showing that during drought there are larger effects of pollutant concentration due to the decreased flow.A total of 415 kg of fish were caught, corresponding to 8324 individuals belonging to 64 different species, in 22 families and four orders of Teleostei. The largest catches occurred in the middle Tiete River. The catches in the reservoirs of the Tiete River, during the rainy season are superior to those of the dry season. on the other hand, sampling sites located in running water presented an inverse pattern with the largest catches in the dry-season. In river Paranapanema, catches are lower than in the Tiete River, except in Rosana Reservoir during the rainy season. Fish diversity was shown to be a good-indicator of environmental stress. In Tiete River an expressive fall in species richness was detected in the polluted stretches, with dominance of one or two species. In the intermediary stretches, the presence of rapids increases the amount of dissolved oxygen, allowing the development of the most abundant and diverse fish community of the river. Fish communities in the reservoirs of the inferior stretch of Tiete River are more diverse. on the other hand, the damming of the superior reaches of Paranapanema River provoked a decrease in diversity. 0 the whole, types of local fish communities detected, showing different compositions and specific abundances, revealed different ecological situations. A discriminant analysis revealed that the parameters of the water influencing the fish community were: dissolved oxygen, conductivity, nitrogen (nitrate, ammoniacal and albuminoid), phosphate, alkalinity, hardness and iron. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Fish assemblage structure and aquatic pollution in a Brazilian stream: some limitations of diversity indices and models for environmental impact studies

The aim of this study was to describe and quantify the effect of aquatic pollution on the fish assemblage structure of the Corumbatai River (Brazil), by comparing two sites with different water quality characteristics. The results revealed that abundance of individuals was low at the polluted site (B). However, the two sites did not differ significantly in species richness (total and average). This fact contradicts theories stating that portions where the transverse area of the channel is larger should present a higher biological richness. It was also observed that the ichthyofauna of site B had higher evenness, and, consequently, a tendency to a higher diversity than that at site A. This demonstrates that diversity estimates should be used cautiously in environmental impact studies, as they do not necessarily indicate better conditions of communities living in more preserved environments.

Mapping soil pollution by spatial analysis and fuzzy classification

Spatial analysis and fuzzy classification techniques were used to estimate the spatial distributions of heavy metals in soil. The work was applied to soils in a coastal region that is characterized by intense urban occupation and large numbers of different industries. Concentrations of heavy metals were determined using geostatistical techniques and classes of risk were defined using fuzzy classification. The resulting prediction mappings identify the locations of high concentrations of Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cu in topsoils of the study area. The maps show that areas of high pollution of Ni and Cu are located at the northeast, where there is a predominance of industrial and agricultural activities; Pb and Zn also occur in high concentrations in the northeast, but the maps also show significant concentrations of Pb and Zn in other areas, mainly in the central and southeastern parts, where there are urban leisure activities and trade centers. Maps were also prepared showing levels of pollution risk. These maps show that (1) Cu presents a large pollution risk in the north-northwest, midwest, and southeast sectors, (2) Pb represents a moderate risk in most areas, (3) Zn generally exhibits low risk, and (4) Ni represents either low risk or no risk in the studied area. This study shows that combining geostatistics with fuzzy theory can provide results that offer insight into risk assessment for environmental pollution.

Influence of sugarcane burning on indoor/outdoor PAH air pollution in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Atmospheric pollution effects on childhood health: an environmental study in the Paraíba Valley

OBJETIVOS: estimar as correlações entre os níveis de poluentes atmosféricos e o número de internações por doença respiratória em crianças, em hospital universitário. MÉTODOS: trata-se de um estudo ecológico de série temporal. Os dados sobre poluentes atmosféricos foram obtidos junto à CETESB e os dados sobre internação hospitalar, junto ao SAME do Hospital Universitário de Taubaté, Brasil. O estudo se refere a dados e internação do ano de 2001. Para estudar as correlações dos valores dos poluentes entre si e entre as internações, utilizou-se da técnica de correlação de Pearson. Foram estimados os riscos relativos para internação por doença respiratória comparando os quartis dos agentes poluentes com os valores do primeiro quartil. A significância estatística adotada foi alfa = 5%. RESULTADOS: foram internadas 158 crianças com doença respiratória no ano de 2001 (30% do total de internações no ano). Os poluentes estiveram correlacionados entre si e houve correlação positiva, entre o número de internação e dióxido de enxofre e material particulado; houve aumento de 25% no risco de internação comparando o quarto quartil e o primeiro quartil. CONCLUSÕES: houve correlação positiva entre número de internações por doenças respiratórias e poluentes atmosféricos.

Indoor NO2 air pollution and lung function of professional cooks

Studies of cooking-generated NO2 effects are rare in occupational epidemiology. In the present study, we evaluated the lung function of professional cooks exposed to NO2 in hospital kitchens. We performed spirometry in 37 cooks working in four hospital kitchens and estimated the predicted FVC, FEV1 and FEF25-75, based on age, sex, race, weight, and height, according to Knudson standards. NO2 measurements were obtained for 4 consecutive days during 4 different periods at 20-day intervals in each kitchen. Measurements were performed inside and outside the kitchens, simultaneously using Palm diffusion tubes. A time/exposure indicator was defined as representative of the cumulative exposure of each cook. No statistically significant effect of NO2 exposure on FVC was found. Each year of work as a cook corresponded to a decrease in predicted FEV1 of 2.5% (P = 0.046) for the group as a whole. When smoking status and asthma were included in the analysis the effect of time/exposure decreased about 10% and lost statistical significance. on predicted FEF25-75, a decrease of 3.5% (P = 0.035) was observed for the same group and the inclusion of controllers for smoking status and asthma did not affect the effects of time/exposure on pulmonary function parameter. After a 10-year period of work as cooks the participants of the study may present decreases in both predicted FEV1 and FEF25-75 that can reach 20 and 30%, respectively. The present study showed small but statistically significant adverse effects of gas stove exposure on the lung function of professional cooks.

Intercontinental transport of nitrogen oxide pollution plumes

We describe the first satellite observation of intercontinental transport of nitrogen oxides emitted by power plants, verified by simulations with a particle tracer model. The analysis of such episodes shows that anthropogenic NOx plumes may influence the atmospheric chemistry thousands of kilometers away from its origin, as well as the ocean they traverse due to nitrogen fertilization. This kind of monitoring became possible by applying an improved algorithm to extract the tropospheric fraction of NO2 from the spectral data coming from the GOME instrument.As an example we show the observation of NO2 in the time period 4-14 May, 1998, from the South African Plateau to Australia which was possible due to favourable weather conditions during that time period which availed the satellite measurement. This episode was also simulated with the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART which uses NOx emissions taken from an inventory for industrial emissions in South Africa and is driven with analyses from the European Centre for Medium-RangeWeather Forecasts. Additionally lightning emissions were taken into account by utilizing Lightning Imaging Sensor data. Lightning was found to contribute probably not more than 25% of the resulting concentrations. Both, the measured and simulated emission plume show matching patterns while traversing the Indian Ocean to Australia and show great resemblance to the aerosol and CO2 transport observed by Piketh et al. (2000).

Yeasts and others parameters of pollution of the Ribeirao Claro stream in Rio Claro, São Paulo

The main water source of the Rio Claro municipal district (DAAE) was analysed for determining the level of organic contamination. Temperature, pH, light penetration, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved phosphate, ortophosphate, ammonia, heterotrofic bacteria, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, total yeasts and fermentative yeasts were analysed during one year with samples being collected on a monthly basis. Bathing quality of the water from sites 1, 2 and 3 were classified, respectively, as Satisfactory, Very Good and Improper based on fecal coliform counts. Total yeast counts were appropriate as a complement for the appraisal of fresh water contamination by coliform counts. Seventeen yeast species belonging to genera Candida, Cryptococcus, Kloeckera, Pichia and Rhodotorula were found but none of them could be correlated with a level of contamination. Candida famata, C. robusta-like and C. colliculosa were isolated at all of the sites and between the five species found only at the more polluted site, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa was prevalent.

Modelling of the influence of the layer pollution thickness in high voltage polluted insulators

An experimental model and a mathematical model with the introduction of a ramp in the channel of Obenaus model are presented. The aim is to present a better reproduction of the real layer pollution deposited on the HV insulators. This better reproduction is obtained from two types of thickness variation: the introduction of a ramp (soft variation) and the introduction of a step (sudden variation). The computational simulations and the experimental data suggest that the introduction of the ramp is the better reproduction of the layer pollution. The ramp approximates to the real layer pollution more than the step.

Pollution by hexachlorobenzene and pentachlorophenol in the coastal plain of São Paulo state, Brazil

Organochlorine compounds were dumped by chemical industries during the 1970s in many areas of the coastal plain of São Paulo state in Brazil. These dumps, located on hillsides and in valleys, in both rural and urban environments, are responsible for soil and water pollution. The objective of this work was to determine how the pollutants have spread in an area occupied by a spodosol-type soil mantle. The study combines soil morphological observations with soil and water analysis of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) in soil toposequences. The results indicate that the highest pollutant concentrations are observed near the dump site and that the compounds contamination is increasing. A map integrating topography and chemical concentrations was created to visualize the spatial distribution of HCB levels in the landscape. Physical and chemical analyses were performed to measure HCB and PCP levels in the soil. Soil water appears to act as a vector of HCB, probably through complexation with and dispersal of dissolved organic matter. The persistence of HCB at the studied site is most likely due to the low pH values in combination with a high content of organic matter. HCB was consistently found in higher concentrations than PCP. It is plausible that the cause of this difference is that PCP is degraded more easily under sunlight than HCB and that degradation of PCP under acid conditions leads to the formation of HCB. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.