Browsing by Author "Mejias, Enrique"

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    Biological applications of honeys produced by Apis mellifera
    (2013) Montenegro, Gloria; Mejias, Enrique
    Honey is a natural product with many attributes that are useful for humans. The consumption of honey is increasing because of its beneficial biological properties, including antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Even though honey is produced worldwide, many variants of this product have not been studied and their biological potential for alternative uses has not been evaluated. Because of its varied endemic native flora, Chile produces several types of honey. It is likely that these apian products have important biological properties inherited from specific floral sources, but it is absolutely necessary to conduct further chemical analyses to identify and characterize these biological attributes. Sadly, the potential antimicrobial and antitumor activities of Chilean honeys remain unproven at the present time. Further studies are needed to identify these attributes. In addition, the impact of human activities on the natural production of honey by bees should be considered. The use of honey as an environmental marker of pollution should also be considered, and care must be taken to diminish the effect of industry and human procedures on natural environments
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    CONTENT OF HEAVY METALS IN SOILS NEAR A CHILEAN COPPER MINING TAILING
    (2009) Montenegro, Gloria; Fredes, Carolina; Mejias, Enrique; Bonomelli, Claudia; Olivares, Luis
    In Chile, heavy metals pollution occurs mainly near copper mines in the northern and central regions of the country. Here, agricultural soils have been found to be polluted by heavy metals several kilometers from the source. The objective of this study was to analyze the contents of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Cr, Cd and Pb and chemical variables (pH, EC, OM and CEC) of soils found near copper mine tailing in the north of the country. Available heavy metals were determined using AAS, and total heavy metals were determined with ICP-OES. Soils were grouped into three sectors, according to their proximity to the tailing, the course of an estuary, and the direction of the wind. Cu was the heavy metal found in the highest average concentrations relative to the rest of the elements determined. The samples that followed the course of the estuary had the highest average contents of Cu, with significant (p <= 0.05) statistical differences from the other sectors. Principal components analysis of the heavy metal contents of the 24 samples analyzed indicated that three principal components explained 75.5% of the data variability. In the dispersion graph of the first two components, a group of soils close to the interception axis and four distant soils, which had the highest contents of Fe (276.6 mg kg(-1)), Cu (375.1 mg kg(-1)), Mn (56.7 mg kg(-1)), Zn (21.7 mg kg(-1)), Cr (45.0 mg kg(-1)) and Pb (129.3 mg kg(-1)), are observed.