Palm Island

This hepatotoxin first appeared in tropical and subtropical waters of Australia, resulting in an alkaloid hepatotoxin with a completely different mechanism of toxicity. The possible incidence of this cyanobacteria toxin was first reported by By th (1980). An outbreak of hepatoenteritis occurred in 1979 at Palm Island, Queensland, Australia, when the population was supplied with drinking water from a... 

Byth, S. 1980 Palm Island mystery disease. Med. J. Aust. 2 40-42. 

The cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, which is normally nontoxic, was found to be responsible for the outbreak of a hepatoenteritis epidemic on Palm Island, Queensland, Australia. The active principle proved to be the strongly hepatotoxic, tricyclic guanidinederivativeC. (C 5H2 N507S,Mr415.43, [a]p -31°). C. presumably exists in a lactim form. 

Cylindrospermopsin s existence was first realized after 149 people were poisoned on Palm Island off the north-east Australian coastline when their freshwater dam became contaminated by C. raciborskii. The molecular mechanism by which this toxin exerts its toxicity is yet to be elucidated. Liver toxicity, however, is the main toxic manifestation but lesions in the kidney, heart, and thymus occur when tested on mice and rats. Orally, cylindrospermopsin has a median lethal dose to mice of 6 mg kg whereas intraperitoneal injection of mice yields an LD50 of 0.2 mg kg Other whole organism assays used to measure cylindrospermopsin toxicity include the brine shrimp Artemia saUna (LD5o = 0.7pgml after 72 h) and the crustacean Thamnocephalus platyurus. 

Some contemporary projects are much more ambitious. In 1994, Kansai International Airport was the first general aviation commercial airport to be built completely on an artificial island, followed by Chubu Centrair International Airport in 2005 and the New Kitakyushu Airport and Kobe Airport in 2006. Also Dubai is home to some of the largest artificial island complexes in the world, including the three Palm Islands macroprojects. The World and the Dubai Waterfront macro-projects, the last of which will be the largest in geographical extent (Fig. 55.3). 

Luxury Launches. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from http //www.luxurylaunches.com uildings/ burj mubarak alkabir in kuwait will be the tallest building in the world.php Nakheel. Developer of the Palm islands. Retrieved September 25, 2008, from... 

Griffiths, D.J., Saker, M.L., 2003. The Palm Island mystery disease 20 years on a review of research on the cyanotoxin cylindrospermopsin. Environ. Toxicol. 18 (2), 78-93. 

As a result of the strong growth of the world s population and the subsequent urbanisation and economic development, in particular in densely populated coastal areas, the last decades have witnessed an ever-increasing demand for new land. This demand has resulted in a large number of reclamation projects ranging from numerous small-scale projects all over the world to well-known, large-scale projects such as the Palm Island Project in Dubai or the constmction of Maasvlakte 2 in Rotterdam Europoort, The Netherlands (see Figure 1.1). 

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