Soil, plant, and water, as well as trace elements they contain, can influence human health through the food chain. A survey
was conducted on distributions of trace elements in soils, plants, and drinking water in Rugao County, Jiangsu Province, China,
an agricultural area with a high level of centenarians and nonagenarians. The ratio of people over 90 years old per 100,000
inhabitants (90-rate) based on village (about 4,000 residents in 4 km2) was correlated with trace elements in soil, drinking water, and rice by means of correlation analysis and/or principal component
analysis. Although the average 90-rate in the whole area was as high as 277, the rates were not uniform across the entire
region. The 90-rate in the area of loamy and strongly-developed Anthrosols and Cambosols was about 330, significantly higher
than the 255 in the areas of sandy and strongly-developed Cambosols and of clayey and weakly-developed Cambosols. The concentrations
of available Se, B, Ni, and Mo in soils of the area with the high 90-rate were markedly greater than those in the area with
the low 90-rate. This was demonstrated by highly positive correlations between the 90-rate and available Se (r = 0.33), B (r = 0.21), Ni (r = 0.17) and Mo (r = 0.17) at the p < 0.01 level and high loadings of available Se (0.851), B (0.535), Ni (0.594) and Mo (0.394) in the longevous factor. Similar
relationships between the available elements in soils and elements in water and rice were found. These results suggest that:
(1) the available forms of elements in soil were more crucial to elemental bio-availability in the ecosystem and human health
than total elements in soil; and (2) the element association above might have affected the 90-rate positively and could be
an important environmental geochemical factor influencing the longevity of humans. 相似文献
Effect of different carbon sources on purification performance and change of microbial community structure in a novel A2N-MBR process were investigated. The results showed that when fed with acetate, propionate or acetate and propionate mixed (1:1) as carbon sources, the effluent COD, NH4+-N, TN and TP were lower than 30, 5, 15 and 0.5 mg?L–1, respectively. However, taken glucose as carbon source, the TP concentration of effluent reached 2.6 mg?L–1. Process analysis found that the amount of anaerobic phosphorus release would be the key factor to determine the above effectiveness. The acetate was beneficial to the growth of Candidatus Accumulibacter associated with biological phosphorus removal, which was the main cause of high efficiency phosphorus removal in this system. In addition, it could eliminate the Candidatus Competibacter associated with glycogen-accumulating organisms and guarantee high efficiency phosphorus uptake of phosphorus accumulating organisms in the system with acetate as carbon source.
Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the impact of cadmium (Cd) on survival of Diplostomum sp. cercariae. Freshly emerged cercariae were exposed to Cd solutions at concentrations ranging between 0.2 and 200 microg/l. The mortality patterns and mean survival times (MSTs) of the exposed parasites were determined by the Kaplan-Meier estimator and were compared (Log-Rank test) to corresponding patterns and estimators of the unexposed controls. Cd concentrations >20 microg/l caused statistically significant changes in the mortality pattern of Diplostomum sp. cercariae and reduced MST by at least five hours compared to the control group, where MST was 52 h. The results show that longevity of the free-living Diplostomum sp. cercariae can be reduced by direct exposure to heavy metals. Cd contamination of aquatic habitats thus potentially can have an impact on parasite populations and communities. 相似文献
