Recycling glass-polishing sludge and aluminum anodising sludge in polyurethane and cement composites: fire performance and mechanical properties

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This article aims to study the mechanical strength and fire resistance of polyurethane/cement (PuCem) composites containing glass sludge and sludge...     

Changes of hematological parameters in Prochilodus lineatus (Pisces, Prochilodontidae) exposed to sublethal concentration of cypermethrin

Freshwater fish Prochilodus lineatus were exposed to sublethal concentrations of cypermethrin (0.3 and 0.6 microg/l) for 2, 5 and 8 days. It was observed that with the increase of exposure time total erythrocyte (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Ht) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) values decreased but mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values increased. These reports indicate that hematological parameters, may be useful as a diagnostic test for cypermethrin exposure in aquatic organisms.     

Multiple biomarkers responses in Prochilodus lineatus allowed assessing changes in the water quality of Salado River basin (Santa Fe, Argentina)

This field study assessed water quality of Salado River basin by using a set of biomarkers in the fish Prochilodus lineatus. Multiple biomarkers were measured, including morphological indexes (condition factor, liver somatic index), hematological (red and white blood cells) and biochemical (glucose, total protein and cholinesterase activity) parameters. Besides, detoxication and oxidative stress markers (antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation) were measured in liver, gills and kidney. Despite water quality assessment did not show marked differences among sites, biomarkers responses indicate that fish are living under stressful environmental conditions. According to multivariate analysis glucose, glutathione S-transferase activity, lipid peroxidation levels and the count of white blood cells are key biomarkers to contribute to discrimination of sites. So, we suggest use those biomarkers in future monitoring of freshwater aquatic systems.     

Recovery of plasmatic cholinesterase activity in a neotropical fish Prochilodus lineatus (Pisces,Curimatidae) exposed to organophosphorous pesticides

The objective was to determine the plasmatic enzyme cholinesterase recovery, after being inhibited by an organophosphorous in juveniles of Prochilodus lineatus. Fish were exposed 12 h to a sublethal concentration of 1 mg/l of monocrotophos, and immediately placing in clean water during 12, 24, 48 and 96 h to detoxification. After this period, blood was extracted and plasma were used for the quantification of cholinesterase. The results showed a enzymatic inhibition of 91.9%, 55.1%, 50.4% and 33.4% with 12, 24, 48 and 96 h of recovery, respectively. The enzymatic activity spreads to be normalized with the course of hours and the degree of inhibition obtained initially was very high and sustained in the first 48 h.     

A low-cost towed video camera system for underwater surveys: comparative performance with standard methodology

Technological advances in the field of underwater video have led to an exponential increase in the use of drifting cameras (DC) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to monitor the diversity, abundance, and size structure of marine life. Main advantages of DCs relative to ROVs are their lower costs and the much simpler logistics required to operate them. This study compares the performance of a new low-cost DC system equipped with a novel measuring device with that of a standard DC bearing an array of laser pointers. The new DC, which can be operated from a small boat, carries a pair of parallel steel “whiskers” that are dragged on the seabed within the field of view of the camera, providing a scale for measuring and estimating the density of benthic biota. An experiment conducted using an array of objects of known sizes laid on the bottom showed that its performance in terms of both size and density estimation was similar to that of the standard technique based on laser pointers. Measurement errors had a negligible negative bias (??2.3%) and a standard deviation that ranged between 13 and 8% for objects from 25 to 110 mm in size. The whiskers offered a simplified method for density estimation that avoids the need to calculate the width of the field of view, thus reducing the video processing time by around 60% with respect to the standard method. Briefly, the new system offers an efficient low-cost alternative for benthic ecology studies conducted on soft or non-irregular bottoms.     

Growth pattern of the sea urchin, Loxechinus albus (Molina, 1782) in southern Chile: evaluation of growth models

The growth pattern of Loxechinus albus in southern Chile was studied using size-at-age data obtained by reading growth bands on the genital plates. The scatter plots of sizes-at-age for samples collected in three different locations indicated that growth is linear between ages 2 and 10. Five different growth models, including linear, asymptotic and non-asymptotic functions, were fitted to the data, and model selection was conducted based on the Akaike information criteria (AIC) and the Bayesian information criteria (BIC). The AIC identified the Tanaka model as the most suitable for two of the three sites. However, the BIC led to the selection of the linear model for all zones. Our results show that the growth pattern of L. albus is different from the predominantly asymptotic pattern that has been reported for other sea urchin species.     

Lethal effects of elevated pH and ammonia on juveniles of neotropical fish Colosoma macropomum (Pisces, Caracidae)

Ammonia is the main nitrogenous waste material excreted by gills, then is oxided first to nitrite and then to nitrate. The proportion of ionized-un-ionized ammonia depends on pH and temperature, when this variables increase in a solution containing ammonia the equation goes to left, so the proportion of NH3 increases and the solution becomes more toxic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute lethal effects of elevated pH and ammonia on tambaqui juveniles. With a constant ammonia concentration of 5.0 mg/l NH3, there was no mortality a pH of 6.0 (control) and 7.0; but was of 10-20% a pH of 8.0 and 100% at 9.0. The lethal effects of elevated pH and un-ionized ammonia should be recognized as a potential factor contributing to the variable success of tambaqui production ponds, but this species is highly resistant in comparison with other freshwater fish.