Halophytes as sources of metals in estuarine systems with low levels of contamination

Abstract

Abstract.Heavy metal concentrations present in the above-and beowground tissues of Scirpus maritimus L., Spartina maritima (Curtis) Fernald and Zostera noltii Hornem were analysed seasonally in the Mondego Estuary, Portugal. The sediments of the estuary were confirmed to contain only low concentrations of heavy metals. The belowground tissues of all three species showed higher heavy metal concentrations than the aboveground tissues. Although the sediments only contained low levels of contamination, because the area occupied by S. maritimus and Z. noltii was large, significant quantities of heavy metals were accumulated and exported to the surrounding water bodies. In contrast with observations of highly contaminated estuaries, it was found that in spite of the low level of contaminants in the sediments of the Mondego Estuary, aquatic vegetation functioned as a source of metals for nearby systems.

Systematic processes of land use/land cover change to identify relevant driving forces: Implications on water quality

“…At the same time, point-source pollution from wastewater, waste management, industry and contaminated land has also potentially increased. As a result, pesticides, pharmaceuticals (Leston et al, 2011;Santos et al, 2010), endocrine disruptors (Baptista et al, 2013;Nunes et al, 2011;Ribeiro et al, 2009), metals (Couto et al, 2013), organic material, salt, ammonia and other urban contaminants might have increased in the system, though treatment plants can be successful in removing some of them (EPA, 2010). Such alterations in the type and pattern of LULC driving forces could have implications not only on future management policies, but also on monitoring plans and on the selection of biological indicators.…”

Brazilian society of hepatology recommendations for the diagnosis and management of autoimmune diseases of the liver

“…Most of the cases described in the literature are AIHPBC overlap in adulthood, but AIHPSC overlap have also been described mainly in children with ALD (175,176) . Overlap syndromes can be considered as: 1) sequential presentation of two distinct ALD, 2) more than one clearlydefined disease, 3) a continuous spectrum of fluctuating clinical, laboratory and histological features of more than one ALD, 4) a clearcut clinical entity that can be defined as AIHPBC and AIHPSC overlaps, 5) presence of one betterdefined ALD with features of another ALD (68,175) .…”

“…Most of the cases described in the literature are AIHPBC overlap in adulthood, but AIHPSC overlap have also been described mainly in children with ALD (175,176) . Overlap syndromes can be considered as: 1) sequential presentation of two distinct ALD, 2) more than one clearlydefined disease, 3) a continuous spectrum of fluctuating clinical, laboratory and histological features of more than one ALD, 4) a clearcut clinical entity that can be defined as AIHPBC and AIHPSC overlaps, 5) presence of one betterdefined ALD with features of another ALD (68,175) . The definition of overlap syndromes of ALD is cumber some due to the absence of diagnostic criteria the could be used for their diagnosis, the presence of different synonyms employed for its designation, such as overlap, variant, mixed or marginal syndromes, as well as different terminology recently, applied to call AIHPSC overlap in children and AIHPBC overlap, such as autoimmune sclerosing cholangi tis (ASC) and autoimmune cholangitis (175,176) .…”

“…However, shared HLAlinked susceptibility was reported to occur in AIH, PSC and AIHPSC overlap (24,177) . The impact of those overlapping features of more than one ALD in prognosis is not entirely clear, but lower response to treatment, accelerated disease progression, higher risk of treatment failure including death and requirement for Adapted from (2,7,9,10) ; AIH: autoimmune hepatitis; PBC: primary biliary cirrhosis; PSC: primary sclerosing cholangitis; ULN: upper limit of normal; ANA: antinuclear antibody; SMA: anti--smooth muscle antibody; AMA: antimitochondrial antibody; SMA: anti-smooth muscle antibody; AAA: antiactin antibody; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; AST: aspartatoaminotransferase; ALT: alaninoaminotransferase; MRCP: magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography; ERC: endoscopic retrograde cholangiography LT were reported in subjects with AIH-PSC overlap, when compared to their counterparts with AIH (8,(175)(176)(177)(178) , but its prognosis was shown to be better when compared to pure PSC (176) . Regarding AIH-PBC overlap, several studies have shown lower response to ursodeoxicholic acid (UDCA), higher risk of disease progression and decompensation, when compared to classical PBC (139) .…”

“…Regarding AIH-PBC overlap, several studies have shown lower response to ursodeoxicholic acid (UDCA), higher risk of disease progression and decompensation, when compared to classical PBC (139) . More than three hundred patients with overlap syndromes have been reported in the literature, including case reports and cohorts of patients, due to the concurrent presence of patients with AIH with cholestatic or mixed biochemical profile, IgM elevation, bile duct lesions or granulomas at histology, absence of serological markers or alternatively presence of AMA or anti-M2, absence of response to IS, association with inflammatory bowel disease and cholangiographic findings typical of PSC, as well as PBC subjects with disproportionate elevation of aminotransferases, IgG elevation, presence of high-titer autoantibodies with the exception of AMA, prominent portal and lobular inflammation and response to IS; and large-duct or small-duct PSC patients with disproportionate elevation of aminotransferases, IgG elevation, presence of high-titer autoantibodies, prominent portal and/or lobular inflammation, granulomas and response to IS (8,(175)(176)(177)(178) . Several papers have been published with the intention to better characterize AIH-PBC overlap using several diagnostic descriptive criteria and scores, including Paris criteria ( Figure 3) (178) and the original, revised and simplified criteria of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Study Group (IAIHSG) (176) .…”