A Multidisciplinary Tool for the Development of a Regional-scale Geotechnical Model: A Case Study in the North-Western Adriatic Coastal Area

V. vulnificus is a Gram-negative bacterium, commonly found in estuarine and coastal habitats, that can infect humans through seafood consumption or wound exposure. This study represents the first attempt to correlate the genotype of Vibrio vulnificus strains isolated in the north-western Adriatic Sea coastal area, with their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. On the whole, 40 V. vulnificus strains, isolated from shellfish (n=20), different coastal water bodies (n=19), and the blood of a Carretta carretta turtle (n=1), were utilized. All strains were positive for the species-specific genes vvhA and hsp, with high variability for other markers: 55% (22 out of 40) resulted of the environmental (E) genotype (vcgE, 16S rRNA type A, CPS2 or CPS0), 10% (4 out of 40) of the clinical (C) genotype (vcgC, 16S rRNA type B, CPS1), and 35% (14 out of 40) of the mixed (M) genotype, possessing both E and C markers. The antimicrobial susceptibility was assayed by the diffusion method on agar, according to the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), utilizing the following commercial disks (Oxoid): ampicillin (AMP), ampicillin- sulbactam (SAM), piperacillin (PRL), cefazolin (KZ), cefotaxime(CTX), ceftazidime( CAZ), imipenem (IPM), meropenem (MEM), amikacin (AK), gentamicin(CN), tetracycline(TE), ciprofloxacin (CIP), levofloxacin (LEV), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT), and chloramphenicol (C). 75% of the strains, (n=30) including all C strains, was sensitive to all the tested antibiotics, whereas E strains showed intermediate sensitivity to AK (2 strains), CIP and CAZ (1 strain), TE (1 strain) and resistance to KZ (1 strain), and 4 M strains showed I to AK.

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Comparison of rockfall susceptibility assessment at local and regional scale: a case study in the north of Beijing (China)

Environmental Earth Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12665-014-3718-3 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 72 (11) ◽

pp. 4639-4652 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Xueliang Wang ◽

Luqing Zhang ◽

Jixin Ding ◽

Qingfeng Meng ◽

Javed Iqbal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Regional Scale ◽

Susceptibility Assessment ◽

The North ◽

Beijing China

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Waterborne Naturally Occurring Asbestos: a case study from Piedmont (NW Italy)

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19615 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Chiara Avataneo ◽

Elena Belluso ◽

Massimo Bergamini ◽

Silvana Capella ◽

Domenico Antonio De Luca ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

High Dose ◽

Precipitation Pattern ◽

The North ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Hydrogeological Characteristics ◽

Naturally Occurring Asbestos ◽

North Western

Water pollution by asbestos may result from anthropogenic sources, such as water passing in cement-asbestos aqueduct pipes, or natural sources. Referring to this second case, pollution could be due to the flow of superficial water or groundwater into naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) in rock formations like green stones and serpentinites.Asbestos-bearing rocks weathering is the principal natural cause of fibres water-dispersion. Despite the abundant occurrence of NOA rocks where water can flow (underground and superficially) in the North-Western part of the Alps, a few is known about the mechanism of fibres release in water and the correlation with the geolithological and hydrogeological characteristics of the area.Moreover, the knowledge on the eventual noxiousness of waterborne fibres have still to be deepened: in fact, they can come into contact with human being as airborne fibres after water vaporization, or by ingestion, especially if fibres are present in drinking water. While a lot is known about disease caused by airborne asbestos fibres high-dose respiration, not enough has been yet comprehended about potential noxiousness of fibre ingestion. Following some in vivo studies, US-EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) defined a maximum contaminant level of 7x106 ff/l in drinking water, but this limit is not fully shared by the whole scientific community.Against this background, it has become fundamental to clarify the main aspects related to waterborne fibres, in particular their natural occurrence in water and their transportation due to water flowing into NOA. Consequently, decision has been made to conduct a study on the former chrysotile mine of Balangero, in Piedmont (Italy), which was selected as a reference case study for its great significance in the North-Western Alps context. The case study was developed in collaboration with R.S.A. s.r.l., the company that is in charge of the site remediation.A sampling and analysis campaign regarding the superficial hydrographic network of the area was settled: 5 different sampling points were selected, 2 of them inside the principal site perimeter and 3 in the villages situated downstream of the site. They have been monitored for about one year, to evaluate the seasonal variability.The main aims of the research are:<ul><li>the evaluation of asbestos concentration in term of number of fibres per liter (ff/l);</li> <li>the correlation between the concentration variability and the precipitation pattern over the four seasons;</li> <li>the evaluation of asbestos concentration defined as mass per liter (pg/l), depending on fibres dimension;</li> <li>the study of fibres characteristics, such as their dimension, morphology and chemical composition;</li> <li>the study of a possible correlation between asbestos concentration in pg/l and ff/l;</li> <li>the potential presence of fibres bundles or aggregates which can constitute a problem in the evaluation of the asbestos concentration, in particular for the correlation between ff/l and pg/l.</li> </ul>Finally, an attempt to relate the number of waterborne fibres to those that can eventually be released in air is still ongoing.

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