Source-separated, nitrified, and decontaminated human urine constitutes a promising plant fertilizer that contains a large share of the nitrogen and phosphorus in household wastewater, and other plant nutrients. However, human urine contains high levels of sodium and chloride that can affect salt-sensitive greenhouse crops. Replacing mineral fertilizer with nitrified urine fertilizer could reduce the environmental impact of lettuce production in hydroponic systems, if marketable yield, appearance, and produce quality are not affected. In the present study, a treatment combination of a nitrified urine fertilizer and mineral fertilizers was used to grow lettuce through the nutrient film technique. This was compared to a conventionally fertilized control treatment. No significant differences were observed regarding yield, phenotype, and contents of nitrate, heavy metals, phenolic acids, and chlorophyll in leaf tissue. Calcium content was significantly reduced and sodium was elevated in nitrified urine treatment. For the elements nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, a saving of 48%, 13%, and 15% was calculated, respectively. The calculated carbon footprint from the total fertilizer production was reduced by 20.52%, caused by the nitrified urine treatment. Based on these results, a nutrient solution composed of nitrified urine fertilizer combined with mineral fertilizer may be a promising alternative for growers to produce lettuce with a reduced environmental impact without loss of plant quantity and quality.

Fluorescence microscopy is a key driver of discoveries in the life-sciences, with observable phenomena being limited by the optics of the microscope, the chemistry of the fluorophores, and the maximum photon exposure tolerated by the sample. These limits necessitate trade-offs between imaging speed, spatial resolution, light exposure, and imaging depth. In this work we show how image restoration based on deep learning extends the range of biological phenomena observable by microscopy. On seven concrete examples we demonstrate how microscopy images can be restored even if 60-fold fewer photons are used during acquisition, how near isotropic resolution can be achieved with up to 10-fold under-sampling along the axial direction, and how tubular and granular structures smaller than the diffraction limit can be resolved at 20-times higher frame-rates compared to state-of-the-art methods. All developed image restoration methods are freely available as open source software in Python, F iji , and K nime .

Vegetables cultivated in cities, carry the risk of absorbing pollutants generated by anthropogenic activities, increasing the health risk of those who consume them. Heavy metal concentrations (As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb) were analyzed in water, soil and in plant parts of lettuce (roots and leaves) and cherry tomatoes (roots, stem, leaves and tomato fruit) lettuce and cherry tomatoes, cultivated in urban gardens in Mexico City. In none of the studied sites was the heavy metal concentration in the soil above the permitted limits. In irrigation water, Cr surpassed the permitted limit in 5 sites and that of Cd in one site. Ni surpassed the established limit for lettuce and cherry tomato in the rank among 0.7 and 31.15 mg kg-1 in 9 sites, Cr exceeded the allowed limits 1.45-38 mg kg-1 in 11 sites, As go beyond the established limits between 5-52 mg kg-1 in 4 sites and to a lesser extent, Pb was above the allowed limits between 15.5 and 26 mg kg-1. According to the translocation factor, lettuce and cherry tomato could be an important phytoextractors of Cr and Cd respectively. The compound risk value for lettuce (TTHQ) was greater than one in three sites for lettuce and five sites for cherry tomato. Also, in gardens A, D, E and J, the Hazard Index (HI) showed a potential risk (HI>1), which reveals the danger of consuming both vegetables given the conditions of soil, water and air and taking into account all paths of exposure.