A knowledge of the total amount of trace metals is not enough to assess the environmental impact of polluted soils. For this reason, the determination of metal species in solution is important to evaluate their behavior in the environment and their mobilization capacity. Soils contaminated by Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn found at Doñana National Park (Spain) were examined for total content. Sequential extraction schemes were used to determine the degree of pollution and to partition the trace elements in soils. The three areas studied (marshes, stabilized sand, and mine) have different contamination levels. The northern‐most marshes of Doñana National Park have the highest total levels of the four metals due to the influence of a mine located 40 km away. The stabilized sand was not polluted by the metals studied. The bioavailable fraction of Cd represents more than 50% of the total Cd found in soils, and this percentage is much greater than that of the other elements examined. Most of the Cu was present in the organic fraction, with only small amounts being associated with the crystalline Fe‐oxide fraction. Lead and Zn were associated mainly with the crystalline Fe‐oxide fraction, but the amount of Zn associated with the carbonates and amorphous Fe‐oxide fractions was also significant. The total amount of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn in the soils and their distribution in the five fractions depended on total metal contents, soil type, and soil properties (i.e., pH and percentage of sand, clay, organic matter, and carbonates). Mobility of soil metals were Cd > Zn > Pb > Cu.

Parental leave, Work–family balance, Gender equality, Simultaneous equations, Spain,

Disregard of gender and of women’s contributions in the higher education curriculum is still a widespread phenomenon. Building on feminist institutionalism, this article explores the forms and types of resistance that efforts to engender the higher education curriculum must contend with and discusses the ways in which resistance to curricular reform is entrenched in a web of both gender-specific and apparently gender-neutral academic informal (non-written) rules. In doing so, the authors use empirical evidence collected by an action-research project undertaken at a faculty of political and social sciences in a Catalan public university (Spain). The Spanish case is intriguing because mainstreaming gender in higher education has been prescribed by various national and regional laws that are nonetheless poorly implemented. The article also reflects on the positive feedback loop action-research projects can facilitate within gendered institutions such as universities and pinpoints the role of feminist agency in counteracting resistance to institutional change.

We studied the importance of the smooth vascular muscle endothelium in the vasodilator action of the decoction of olive (Olea europaea) leaf. The decoction caused relaxation of isolated rat aorta preparations both in the presence (IC50 1.12 +/- 0.33 mg/ml) and in the absence (IC50 1.67 +/- 0.16 mg/ml) of endothelium. The results indicate that the relaxant activity of the lyophilized decoction is independent of the integrity of the vascular endothelium. We also showed that oleuropeoside is a component responsible for vasodilator activity but, from the results, it seems likely that at least one other principle is to be found in the olive leaf which is either a vasodilator itself or else potentiates the relaxant effect of oleuropeoside.

This paper reports on the synthesis of triglycerides by enzymatic esterification of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with glycerol. A PUFA concentrate obtained from cod liver oil was used to optimize the reaction to favor triglyceride synthesis with lipases. The type and amount of lipase and organic solvent, glycerol content, temperature, water content, and amount and time of addition of molecular sieves were studied. The optimal reaction mixture and conditions were: 9 mL hexane, 60ºC, 0.5% (vol/vol) water, 1 g molecular sieves added after 24 h of reaction, glycerol/fatty acid molar ratio 1:3 and 100 mg of Novozym 435 (Novo Nordisk A/S) lipase. Under these conditions, an enriched triglyceride yield of 84.7% containing 27.4% eicosapentaenoic acid and 45.1% docosahexaenoic acid was obtained from a cod liver oil PUFA concentrate. JAOCS 75, 1329JAOCS 75, -1337JAOCS 75, (1998.KEY WORDS: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), lipase-catalyzed esterification, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), triglyceride synthesis.