Determination of gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by a simple direct method using thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

In the last decade, the development of novel analytical methodologies enabled the identification of several environmental pollutants responsible for health problems associated with indoor exposure. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the potential hazardous chemicals present in ambient air. Due to their bioaccumulation potential and carcinogenic/mutagenic effects, 16 PAHs are currently listed as priority air pollutants. The main goal of this work was to implement a new and simple method for sampling and determination of PAHs in air by using a thermal desorption (TD) technique followed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry analysis. A detailed study was carried out to optimise the experimental method in each of its phases, including (active) sampling, TD and chromatographic analysis. The results demonstrate that this approach allowed the detection and quantification of the six more volatile PAHs, namely, naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and anthracene. Acceptable precision and good linearity over the explored range were obtained. No carry-over was observed during experimental tests and the method provided a reproducible answer. The applicability of the novel methodology was tested in real environment, namely, on the roof of a building in an urban area, in a domestic kitchen and in a collective car garage. The method enabled the identification of two PAHs in the field samples, specifically, naphthalene (two rings) and phenanthrene (three rings). With regard to PAHs sample composition, the most abundant PAH found, in the three different locations, was naphthalene, accounting for about 84–100 % of the total PAH mass detected.     

Assessment of contamination by heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments of Montevideo Harbour (Uruguay)

As part of the first environmental assessment within Montevideo Harbour, in summer and winter of 1998, sediments samples were collected at eight locations to determine the spatial distribution of anthropogenic pollutants. Muddy sediments with high organic matter content dominate the study area. Heavy metal levels indicated that sediments were highly polluted with Zn (overall mean: 312+/-102 microg g(-1) dry sediment), Pb (85+/-31), Cu (89+/-25), Cr (162+/-62), and Hg (0.63+/-0.3) and moderately with Ni (30+/-2) and Ag (1.2+/-0.4). Depending on location and season, aliphatic hydrocarbons reached from 21 to 120 microg g(-1), while the unresolved complex mixture represented up to 76% of the total aliphatic fraction. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 1.56 to 90.44 microg g(-1); except at one location, petroleum derivatives were identified as main local source. The results pointed out that almost all the harbour area presented some substances that can cause adverse biological effects, especially in the inner region where all metals are above PEL levels. Principal components analysis confirmed that the inner harbour region is most severely affected by the pollutants and it was possible to differentiate three regions according to their environmental quality.     

Exposure to moderate concentrations of tropospheric ozone impairs tree stomatal response to carbon dioxide

With rising concentrations of both atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) and tropospheric ozone (O₃), it is important to better understand the interacting effects of these two trace gases on plant physiology affecting land-atmosphere gas exchange. We investigated the effect of growth under elevated CO₂ and O₃, singly and in combination, on the primary short-term stomatal response to CO₂ concentration in paper birch at the Aspen FACE experiment. Leaves from trees grown in elevated CO₂ and/or O₃ exhibited weaker short-term responses of stomatal conductance to both an increase and a decrease in CO₂ concentration from current ambient level. The impairement of the stomatal CO₂ response by O₃ most likely developed progressively over the growing season as assessed by sap flux measurements. Our results suggest that expectations of plant water-savings and reduced stomatal air pollution uptake under rising atmospheric CO₂ may not hold for northern hardwood forests under concurrently rising tropospheric O₃.     

Dosing low-level ferrous iron in coagulation enhances the removal of micropollutants, chlorite and chlorate during advanced water treatment

Drinking water utilities are interested in upgrading their treatment facilities to enhance micropollutant removal and byproduct control. Pre-oxidation by chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) followed by coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is one of the promising solutions. However, the chlorite (ClO₂^–) formed from the ClO₂ pre-oxidation stage cannot be removed by the conventional coagulation process using aluminum sulfate. ClO₂^– negatively affects the post-UV/chlorine process due to its strong radical scavenging effect, and it also enhances the formation of chlorate (ClO₃^–). In this study, dosing micromolar-level ferrous iron (Fe(II)) into aluminum-based coagulants was proposed to eliminate the ClO₂^– generated from ClO₂ pre-oxidation and benefit the post-UV/chlorine process in radical production and ClO₃^– reduction. Results showed that the addition of 52.1-µmol/L FeSO₄ effectively eliminated the ClO₂^– generated from the pre-oxidation using 1.0 mg/L (14.8 µmol/L) of ClO₂. Reduction of ClO₂^– increased the degradation rate constant of a model micropollutant (carbamazepine) by 55.0% in the post-UV/chlorine process. The enhanced degradation was verified to be attributed to the increased steady-state concentrations of HO^· and ClO^· by Fe(II) addition. Moreover, Fe(II) addition also decreased the ClO₃^– formation by 53.8% in the UV/chlorine process and its impact on the formation of chloro-organic byproducts was rather minor. The findings demonstrated a promising strategy to improve the drinking water quality and safety by adding low-level Fe(II) in coagulation in an advanced drinking water treatment train.     

Plasma esterases in the tegu lizard Tupinambis merianae (Reptilia, Teiidae): impact of developmental stage, sex, and organophosphorus in vitro exposure

Purpose  

In this study, we determined normal serum butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and carboxylesterase (CbE) activities in Tupinambis merianae in order to obtain reference values for organophosphorus pesticide monitoring.     

Evaluation of concentration efficiency of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage PP7 in various water matrixes by different methods

Enteric viruses monitoring in surface waters requires the concentration of viruses before detection assays. The aim of this study was to evaluate different methods in terms of recovery efficiencies of bacteriophage PP7 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, measured by real-time PCR, using it as a viral control process in water analysis. Different nucleic acid extraction methods (silica–guanidinium thiocyanate, a commercial kit (Qiagen Viral RNA Kit) and phenol–chloroform with alcohol precipitation) exhibited very low recovery efficiencies (0.08–4.18 %), being the most efficient the commercial kit used for subsequent experiments. To evaluate the efficiency of three concentration methods, PBS (as model for clean water) and water samples from rivers were seeded to reach high (HC, 10⁶ pfu ml^?1) and low concentrations (LC, 10⁴ pfu ml^?1) of PP7. Tangential ultrafiltration proved to be more efficient (50.36?±?12.91, 17.21?±?9.22 and 12.58?±?2.35 % for HC in PBS and two river samples, respectively) than adsorption–elution with negatively charged membranes (1.00?±?1.34, 2.79?±?2.62 and 0.05?±?0.08 % for HC in PBS and two river samples, respectively) and polyethylene glycol precipitation (15.95?±?7.43, 4.01?±?1.12 and 3.91?±?0.54 %, for HC in PBS and two river samples, respectively), being 3.2–50.4 times more efficient than the others for PBS and 2.7–252 times for river samples. Efficiencies also depended on the initial virus concentration and aqueous matrixes composition. In consequence, the incorporation of an internal standard like PP7 along the process is useful as a control of the water concentration procedure, the nucleic acid extraction, the presence of inhibitors and the variability of the recovery among replicas, and for the calculation of the sample limit of detection. Thus, the use of a process control, as presented here, is crucial for the accurate quantification of viral contamination.