The present study was conducted to evaluate a sediment toxicity and bioavailability test with the polychaete Arenicola marina as a potential tool to assess sediments contaminated by oil spills. A bioassay using the lugworm Arenicola marina was carried out in order to determine toxicity and bioaccumulation associated with the contaminants present in the fuel oil extracted from a sank tanker. After 10 and 21 days of exposure to sediments with different proportions of fuel oil (0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8%) polychaetes were sampled to determine the mortality and the levels of individual PAHs in the organisms. During the experiment, mortality was recorded and the concentration (percentage of fuel oil) that provokes the mortality of the 50% of the Arenicola marina population exposed was calculated for both sampling dates (LC50(10) = 6.4%; LC50(21) = 2.4%). Bioaccumulation was mainly produced for fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and benzo(k)fluoranthene, whereas phenantrene and anthracene where initially accumulated and then metabolized. The results obtained in the present study suggest Arenicola marina can be a suitable species for assessing PAHs toxicity and bioaccumulation as part of oil spill management.

Clinical outcome in assisted reproduction techniques (ARTs) is mainly influenced by the quality of gametes used. It is known that a high percentage of sperm DNA fragmentation (DNAf) decreases the success of ART clinical results. Therefore, techniques such as magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) help to improve results in cases of patients with a high percentage of DNAf. Cryopreservation of sperm in donor intrauterine insemination (D-IUI) treatments increases sperm DNAf, so patients using these sperm samples can benefit from using this technique. This prospective randomized national multicenter study analyzed clinical outcomes of 181 D-IUI treatments. MACS was performed after density gradient centrifugation (DGC) in 90 thawed semen donor samples (MACSG), whereas only DGC was performed in 91 thawed semen donor samples (CG). To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the effect of MACS on D-IUI cycles. Our results show no significant differences in gestation, live birth, or miscarriage rates between the two groups. We believe that further studies with a larger sample size are needed to evaluate the application of MACS in combination with standard IUI donor sperm preparations in fertility clinics.

La Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) comparte la tendencia latinoamericana del aceleradoproceso de urbanización de la pobreza, registrando altos niveles de exclusión social y segregaciónsocioespacial. Específicamente en materia habitacional, y pese a los compromisos asumidos,las políticas públicas que desarrolla el gobierno municipal en función de dar respuesta a losproblemas relacionados con el acceso a la vivienda resultan insuficientes, convirtiendo a lasmujeres de bajos ingresos en un grupo particularmente vulnerable a raíz del peso de susmúltiples roles culturalmente construidos (productivos, reproductivos y comunitarios). En estecontexto, el presente artículo se focaliza, desde una perspectiva que intercepta los conceptosde género y hábitat, en el Programa de Autogestión para la Vivienda del Gobierno de la Ciudadde Buenos Aires, a raíz de sus potencialidades a la hora de pensar en la calidad de vida de lasmujeres de sectores populares.

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