Silver nanoparticle antimicrobial activity explained by membrane rupture and reactive oxygen generation

Silver nanoparticles are widely used as antimicrobial compounds based on empirical observations. However, there is few knowledge on the mechanism ruling the antimicrobial activity and toxicity of Ag nanoparticles. Here, we investigated this mechanism. Nano-Ag was synthesised by thermal co-reduction. Mutagenicity analysis was performed using Salmonella typhimurium histidine auxotrophic strains TA 98 and TA 100 at nano-silver concentrations of 100 to 500 µg per plate. Dose-dependent analysis for reactive oxygen species generation has been performed using 2,7-dichlorofluorescein diacetate dye. Membrane integrity has been analyzed at 260 nm, before and after treatment. We also used scanning electron microscopy, membrane permeabilization test, and superoxide formation determinations. Results show that the average particle size of Ag nanoparticle is 60.4 ± 3.8 nm. The minimum inhibitory concentration of Ag nanoparticles for E.coli is 30 µg/mL; the minimum bactericidal concentration is 40 µg/mL. Ames mutagenicity tests showed negative results, which may be explained by the antimicrobial activity of nano-silver. Bacterial inner wall were indeed ruptured, and cytoplasmic content was released after 5 min of treatment in a dose-dependent manner. We thus propose that reactive oxygen generation and alteration of membrane integrity and permeability are the major mechanism of antimicrobial activity of nano-silver.     

Methyl jasmonate improves radical generation in macrophyte phytoremediation

Phytoremediation is the use of plants to decontaminate and improve waters and soils. Pleustonic macrophytes are plant models for research in waters. In a phytoremediation study, the elicitation of Pistia stratiotes with methyl jasmonate or salicylic acid suggests that oxytetracycline modification rate coefficients could be increased more than threefold. Here we present the elicitation of Pistia stratiotes apical primary root tips. We detected reactive oxygen species generation by X-band electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, using the spin trap α-(4-pyridyl-1-oxide)-N-tert-butylnitrone (POBN). Elicitation using 0.8 mM methyl jasmonate during 1 h increased the relative spin-trapped radical concentration by +12 %. Further, results indicate acute plant toxicity above 0.24 mM salicylic acid.     

Degradation of pharmaceuticals by ultrasound-based advanced oxidation process

Water pollution by pharmaceutically active compounds is an emerging issue. Toxicological studies reveal that pharmaceuticals are indeed toxic for living organisms. The lack of suitable treatment technology for the complete removal of pharmaceuticals is therefore a major challenge. Advanced oxidation processes are emerging removal techniques that have many advantages versus conventional technologies. Many studies indicate that advanced oxidation processes, either in single or in combination with other degradation techniques, can enhance the degradation of pharmaceuticals in aqueous solutions. Here, we review the degradation of pharmaceuticals by sonolysis, an oxidation processes using ultrasound. In this technique, hydroxyl radicals are generated by pyrolytic cleavage of water molecules. We review the influence of operational parameters, additives and hybrid techniques on the degradation of pharmaceuticals. The maximum degradation of organic compounds was observed in the frequency range of 100–1000 kHz, which is in the high-frequency medium-power ultrasound. Even though almost all the experiments presented more than 90 % removal and good biodegradability of the target compound, good mineralization and the toxicity removal were hardly achieved. The efficiency of the degradation varies with water matrixes and varying pH. Major pathways of degradation are hydroxylation, dehalogenation, demethylation, decarboxylation, deamination, etc. More hybrid techniques have to be developed to scale up the application of ultrasound.     

亚热带水库沉积物钻孔中有机质的历史记录及其环境意义

氢指数(HI)是重要的有机质评价参数,能够反映沉积有机质中脂肪大分子物质的相对含量,并用于反演水生生态系统的历史初级生产力,有助于研究藻类生产力对污染物的富集作用。为了探讨氢指数的环境指示作用,选择了亚热带的3座水库作为研究对象,采用Rock-Eval热解与生物标志物-中性糖方法相结合的研究技术,研究了沉积钻孔有机质的来源与特征;并结合210Pb和137Cs定年技术,综合运用氢指数和总糖含量对水库的初级生产力进行了重建。结果表明:中富营养的增塘和联安水库沉积有机质主要来源于浮游藻类,且受降解的程度较小,而贫营养的新丰江水库钻孔下层有机质主要是受降解作用或陆源高等植物等的影响。近年来,3个水库的HI值都有显著性的增加,且与其对应的总糖含量以及近50年来的滑动平均温度都高度的相关,说明这些水库都经历了气候变暖所引起的初级生产力增长。同时,升高的水库生产力扩大了沉积物剖面中重金属和多环芳烃的累积。     

条斑紫菜中磷和钙的亚细胞分布及其与富集砷的关系

研究条斑紫菜中磷和钙的亚细胞分布,并探讨其与条斑紫菜富集砷的关系。结果表明:条斑紫菜吸收磷、钙主要分布在细胞壁组分中,平均占总磷含量的53.9%,占总钙含量的61.25%,其次为细胞液。与对照组相比(砷暴露浓度0.5 mg·L~(-1)),在添加磷浓度为0.1 mg·L~(-1)和1.0 mg·L~(-1)处理组中,条斑紫菜中磷、砷之间呈现协同效应;当添加磷浓度为5.0 mg·L~(-1)和10.0 mg·L~(-1)时,条斑紫菜中磷、砷之间则呈现拮抗作用,砷的富集量分别比照组下降61.37%和72.73%。经添加钙液暴露过的条斑紫菜,当钙暴露浓度为1 000 mg·L~(-1)时其对砷的富集量比对照组减少15.51%。可知,5.0 mg·L~(-1)磷处理条斑紫菜,条斑紫菜对砷的富集受到明显的抑制。     

重金属污染下龟壳攀鲈组织中ACP和AKP的活力比较

龟壳攀鲈是一种在极端污染水域中具备生存优势的鱼类,收集重污染区和轻污染区的龟壳攀鲈,并通过比较其体内各组织中的酸性磷酸酶(ACP)及碱性磷酸酶(AKP)活性来揭示其耐污能力。贵屿作为重污染区有4个采样点:大陇村、市上村、联堤村和北林村;潮州作为轻污染区有2个采样点:卧石村和洗马桥。水质结果表明,贵屿采样地水中的Pb、Cd、Cr、As、Hg含量分别是潮州采样点的27.6倍、3.9倍、5.8倍、3.9倍和3.5倍,说明贵屿采样地的污染远高于潮州的。酶活结果表明,在龟壳攀鲈所有组织中,内脏组织(胃肠、性腺、肝脏、脾脏、肾脏)中的ACP和AKP活力均高于外周组织(肌肉、鳞片、鳃);重金属污染均能提高攀鲈体内所有组织的ACP和AKP活力;AKP活性更容易受到重金属的影响,各组织的AKP活力增幅普遍超过ACP活力增幅;其中,受重金属影响最大的组织是脾脏,ACP和AKP活力可增长到2.37倍和6.21倍。这些结果说明了龟壳攀鲈可以通过显著升高内脏组织(如肠胃、肝脏、肾脏等)中ACP和AKP活性,以便更好地应对高污染环境;其中AKP更容易受到重金属的影响,适合用于作为评估污染的指标。     

Chemical characteristics of fine particulate matter emitted from commercial cooking

The chemical characteristics of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) emitted from commercial cooking were explored in this study. Three typical commercial restaurants in Shanghai, i.e., a Shanghai-style one (SHS), a Sichuan-style one (SCS) and an Italian-style one (ITS), were selected to conduct PM_2.5 sampling. Particulate organic matter (POM) was found to be the predominant contributor to cooking-related PM_2.5 mass in all the tested restaurants, with a proportion of 69.1% to 77.1%. Specifically, 80 trace organic compounds were identified and quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which accounted for 3.8%–6.5% of the total PM_2.5 mass. Among the quantified organic compounds, unsaturated fatty acids had the highest concentration, followed by saturated fatty acids. Comparatively, the impacts of other kinds of organic compounds were much smaller. Oleic acid was the most abundant single species in both SCS and ITS. However, in the case of SHS, linoleic acid was the richest one. ITS produced a much larger mass fraction of most organic species in POM than the two Chinese cooking styles except for monosaccharide anhydrides and sterols. The results of this study could be utilized to explore the contribution of cooking emissions to PM_2.5 pollution and to develop the emission inventory of PM_2.5 from cooking, which could then help the policymakers design efficient treatment measures and control strategies on cooking emissions in the future.     

The prediction of adsorption isotherms of ester vapors on hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbent

Adsorption isotherms of methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, isopropyl acetate and ethyl propionate on hypercrosslinked polymeric resin (ND- 100) were measured at 303K, 318K and 333K,respectively, and well fitted by Dubinin–Astakhov (DA) equation. The plots of the adsorbed volume (q _v ) versus the adsorption potential (ε) at three different temperatures all fell basically onto one single curve for every ester. A predicted model based on DA equation was obtained on the basis of adsorption equilibrium data of methyl acetate, ethyl acetate and ethyl propionate at 318K. The model equation successfully predicted the adsorption isotherms of methyl acetate, ethyl acetate and ethyl propionate on ND-100 at 303K, and 333K, and also gave accurate predictive results for adsorption isotherms of the other two ester compounds (propyl acetate and isopropyl acetate) on ND-100 at 303K, 318K and 333K. The results proved the effectiveness of DA model for predicting the adsorption isotherms of ester compounds onto ND-100. In addition, the relationship between physico-chemical properties of adsorbates and their adsorption properties was also investigated. The results showed that molecular weight, molar volume and molar polarizability had good linear correlations with the parameter E (which represents adsorption characteristic energy) of DA equation.     

Changes of microbial composition during wastewater reclamation and distribution systems revealed by high-throughput sequencing analyses

This study employed 454-pyrosequencing to investigate microbial and pathogenic communities in two wastewater reclamation and distribution systems. A total of 11972 effective 16S rRNA sequences were acquired from these two reclamation systems, and then designated to relevant taxonomic ranks by using RDP classifier. The Chao index and Shannon diversity index showed that the diversities of microbial communities decreased along wastewater reclamation processes. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum in reclaimed water after disinfection, which accounted for 83% and 88% in two systems, respectively. Human opportunistic pathogens, including Clostridium, Escherichia, Shigella, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium, were selected and enriched by disinfection processes. The total chlorine and nutrients (TOC, NH₃-N and NO₃-N) significantly affected the microbial and pathogenic communities during reclaimed water storage and distribution processes. Our results indicated that the disinfectant-resistant pathogens should be controlled in reclaimed water, since the increases in relative abundances of pathogenic bacteria after disinfection implicate the potential public health associated with reclaimed water.     

Is there an inverted U-shaped curve? Empirical analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in agrochemicals

As the largest contributor to water impairment, agriculture-related pollution has attracted the attention of scientists as well as policy makers, and quantitative information is being sought to focus and advance the policy debate. This study applies the panel unit root, heterogeneous panel cointegration, and panel-based dynamic ordinary least squares to investigate the Environmental Kuznets Curve on environmental issues resulting from use of agricultural synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and film for 31 provincial economies in mainland China from 1989 to 2009. The empirical results indicate a positive long-run co-integrated relationship between the environmental index and real GDP per capita. This relationship takes on the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve, and the value of the turning point is approximately 10,000–13,000, 85,000–89,000 and over 160,000 CNY, for synthetic fertilizer nitrogen indicator, fertilizer phosphorus indicator and pesticide indicator, respectively. At present, China is subject to tremendous environmental pressure and should assign more importance to special agriculture-related environmental issues.