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This study focuses on the assessment of the environmental profile of a milk farm, representative of the dairy sector in Northeast Spain, from a cradle-to-gate perspective. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) principles established by ISO standards together with the carbon footprint guidelines proposed by International Dairy Federation (IDF) were followed. The environmental results showed two critical contributing factors: the production of the livestock feed (e.g., alfalfa) and the on-farm emissions from farming activities, with contributions higher than 50% in most impact categories. A comparison with other LCA studies was carried out, which confirmed the consistency of these results with the values reported in the literature for dairy systems from several countries. Additionally, the Water Footprint (WF) values were also estimated according to the Water Footprint Network (WFN) methodology to reveal that feed and fodder production also had a predominant influence on the global WF impacts, with contributions of 99%. Green WF was responsible for remarkable environmental burdens (around 88%) due to the impacts associated with the cultivation stage. Finally, the substitution of alfalfa by other alternative protein sources in animal diets were also proposed and analysed due to its relevance as one of the main contributors of livestock feed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many consumers are unable to enjoy the benefits of milk due to intolerance or even allergy to lactose. This inability to digest lactose is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme β-Galactosidase in the digestive tract, which performs the hydrolysis of lactose to form glucose and galactose, two sugars which are easily absorbed into the bloodstream. This study reports the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) outcomes of the β-Galactosidase production in an industrial -scale facility from a cradle-to-gate perspective. Among the different alternatives of the production process of the β-Galactosidase enzyme, the use of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast expressing the lacA gene of Aspergillus niger was considered due to its higher production yield in comparison with wild strains. The primary source of environmental impact is the downstream processing related subsystem, specially attributed to the separation, concentration and purification of the enzyme as well as Cleaning-in-Place activities, required to maintain aseptic and sterile operational conditions. The use of alternative chemicals to the conventional ones in this latter stage could imply environmental improvements of the production process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arterial hypertension (HT) and other vascular pre-existing conditions (PEC) generate asymptomatic brain damage which increases the occurrence of stroke and cognitive decline. The aim of this work was to explore if serum antibodies against the NR2 subunit of the NMDA receptor (NR2Ab) could predict subclinical brain damage (SBD) in hypertensive patients with PEC. Forty seven neurologically asymptomatic hypertensive subjects were classified according to the number of PEC (retinopathy, overweight/obesity, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia). NR2A/B Ab were measured in serum employing an ELISA method. 3.0-T Brain MRI imaging was performed, and visual ratings of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and counts of dilated Virchow-Robin spaces (DVRS) and lacunes were obtained. Brain atrophy was evaluated with cortical thickness measurements and linear measures. Higher levels of NR2Ab were associated with more severe periventricular WMH (PWMH), more DVRS and more severe SBD; while greater frontal interhemispheric fissure width (IHFW), as a linear measure of frontal atrophy, was inversely related with NR2Ab. Overall and regional cortical thickness were not significantly associated with NR2 Ab. A multivariate analyses showed that IHFW and PWMH were the only variables independently associated with serum NR2Ab concentration. ROC analysis revealed that NR2Ab (cutoff: 1.7 ng/ml) predicted PWMH with a sensitivity and specificity of 65% and 87% respectively. Conclusions Serum NR2Ab levels may reflect SBD in HT subjects with PEC, especially in younger populations at risk, where age-related cortical atrophy has not yet been fully established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is the manufacture and use of functional structures that have at least one characteristic dimension measured in nanometers. Among the wide range of applications nanoparticles (NPs) may present, they can be used as a catalyst or as carrier to immobilize biological catalysts, such as enzymes. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) presents as main advantage over other alternatives the fact that they can be easily separated by the application of a magnetic field, facilitating their recovery from the reaction medium. In parallel with the increasing interest in the production of nanomaterials, there is a general consensus about their potential health and environmental risks associated. This paper aims to perform the evaluation of different synthesis routes considered for the production of mNPs from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. Specifically, different approaches of mNPs synthesis were evaluated; from simple forms such as sterically-stabilized magnetite and oleic-acid mNPs to production schemes that consider the coating of a shell on the preformed nanoparticles such as PEI-coated mNPs and silica-coated mNPs for the increased stability of the nanoparticle. When merely assessing the outcomes from the LCA study, we observed that the manufacturing stage is dominated by the environmental impacts associated to energy and chemical use, especially relevant for the type of silica-coated mNPs. However, the selection of the optimal support for enzyme immobilization must comply with additional requirements such high immobilization yield. According to the results, a compromise solution for the selection of the support is obtained for PEI-coated mNPs, with satisfactory results in the indicators of enzyme immobilization and limited environmental impact. Moreover, this work highlights two main challenges currently encountered with the application of LCA to nanoproducts: lack of comparable reports and data availability, both imply uncertainties associated with the estimation of the environmental impacts of NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Forest activities are receiving special attention in recent years concerning the quantification of their environmental profiles in order to be competitive. This study aims to evaluate the environmental profile of the production of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) biomass in France under two different management scenarios (an intensive scenario: IMS and an extensive one: EMS), representative of the real practices in the country. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the environmental loads from a cradle-to-gate perspective. According to the results, the choice of the best management scenario will depend on the impact category considered. Thus, IMS has lower fuel requirements and it is the best option in categories directly related to fuel consumption by forest machineries, such as abiotic resources depletion, cumulative energy demand, global warming potential and photochemical oxidants formation. On the contrary, EMS will be preferred in terms of acidification and eutrophication potentials with reductions of up to 26%. The reason behind these reductions is based on the fact that these categories are considerably affected by the fertilizing process, which is not conducted under extensive conditions. Regardless the scenario, the logging stage and specially, the final cutting process, can be considered as the main environmental key factors, playing a major role in all categories. Both the production of the triple superphosphate and pruning processes play leading roles in the IMS and EMS, respectively. The comparison of these environmental profiles with those corresponding to maritime pine in Portugal highlights that the differences observed between both scenarios are related to the intensity of the forest practices as well as the biomass yield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study focuses on the potential energetic and environmental impacts associated with the production of wheat grain-based bioethanol in Lombardia (Italy), with a “seed-to-wheel” approach (i.e. taking into account the production and use phase). Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) were estimated through the CML 2 baseline 2000 methodology counting the CO2 equivalent emissions, while the energy flow indicator was estimated using the Ecoindicator 95 methodology. The impact of the different phases involved in the production and use of bioethanol have been analysed: the agricultural production of wheat grain, its transformation into bioethanol, the production of gasoline and the use of 5 different blends (from pure gasoline to pure ethanol). The results show that ethanol fuel, used in the form of blends in gasoline, can help reduce energy use and GHGs. In particular, the use of pure ethanol was found to be the best alternative presenting the lowest GHGs (saving about 32% of CO2eq emissions in comparison to gasoline) and the minor energy use (63% saving). Differences between low-ethanol blends and gasoline are minimal and dependent on the specific fuel consumption of the vehicle. The sensitivity analysis performed to test the robustness of results through the change of some basic assumptions (specific fuel consumption, N2O emissions from agricultural phase, allocation method) shows the sensitivity of GHGs saving to the adopted allocation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The great amount of pollutants released from kraft pulp processes, mainly from cooking and bleaching stages, is one of the most relevant environmental problems in this type of industry. New bleaching sequences are being studied based on the use of oxidative enzymes from fungal cultures. In this study, the bleaching systems consisting of Laccase and different mediators such as 1-hydroxybenzotriazole, violuric acid, syringaldehyde and methyl syringate in the bleaching sequence of Eucalyptus globulus kraft pulp were applied. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the aerobic and anaerobic biodegradability and toxicity to Vibrium fischeri of generated L-stage and total bleaching sequence effluents. The highest levels of aerobic and anaerobic degradation of the generated effluents were achieved for treatments with laccase plus violuric acid, with 80% of aerobic degradation and 68% of anaerobic biodegradation. V. fischeri toxicity was remarkably reduced for all the effluents after aerobic degradation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Poster: Physics track: Radiobiological and predictive modelling, and radiomics PO-1533: Feature selection methods improve accuracy in radiation toxicity prediction for lung cancer F. Núñez-Benjumea, S. González-GarcÃ-a, J. Moreno-Conde, A. Moreno-Conde, J. Cacicedo, B.D. Delgado, M. Borrego, S. Perez Luque, C.L. Parra-Calderón, J.L. Lopez Guerra. [Extracted from the article]

The environmental assessment of a pig farming system from a cradle-to-farm gate perspective was carried out in this study. To do so, two separated farms destined to the weaning and fattening of pigs were analysed in Galicia (Northwest Spain). The standard framework of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was followed to assess the environmental performance of the global process. Six impact categories were selected, including climate change (CC), terrestrial acidification (TA), freshwater eutrophication (FE), marine eutrophication (ME), agricultural land occupation (ALO) and fossil depletion (FD). The edible protein energy return on investment ratio (ep-EROI) was also considered. The fattening farm related activities were the main contributor to the global environmental burdens in almost all impact categories, with contributions higher than 72%. Both concentrate feed production and on-farm emissions were detected as the principal hotspots , mainly due to the burdens associated with concentrate feed ingredients production as well as those derived from the manure management process, respectively. The characterisation results in terms of CC (3.4 kg CO 2 eq), FD (12.5 MJ) and ALO (5.0 m 2 yr) were consistent with similar European LCA studies on pigmeat production while uncertainty in LCA choices was the main responsible of minor variability on TA, FE and ME. The ep-EROI value (7.3%) was also in line with published data. Due to the relevance of concentrate feed production on the global environmental profile, several feeding strategies were proposed as potential environmental improvements, of which the introduction of local ingredients seemed the most promising alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of livestock manure on agricultural land is being restricted due to its significant content of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), leading to eutrophication. At the same time, the growing demand for N and P mineral fertilizers is increasing their production costs and causing the depletion of natural phosphate rock deposits. In the present work, seven technologically feasible treatment schemes for energy (biogas) and nutrient recovery (e.g., struvite precipitation) and/or removal (e.g., partial nitritation/anammox) were evaluated from an environmental perspective. In general, while approaches based solely on energy recovery and use of digestate as fertilizer are commonly limited by community regulations, strategies pursuing the generation of high-quality struvite are not environmentally sound alternatives. In contrast, schemes that include further solid/liquid separation of the digestate improved the environmental profile, and their combination with an additional N-removal stage would lead to the most environmental-friendly framework. However, the preferred scenario was identified to be highly dependent on the particular conditions of each site, integrating environmental, social and economic criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]