Antibiotic contamination in a typical water-rich city in southeast China: a concern for drinking water resource safety

Abstract

The occurrence and distribution in the aquatic environment of Nanjing of 49 antibiotics from seven therapeutic classes were investigated using an improved analytical method developed for multiclass target analysis. The results showed that these antibiotics are widely present in the water bodies of this city, with a total concentration of up to 1.958?μg L^?1. The most abundant class was tetracyclines, contributing 43.7% to the total antibiotic burden. Lincomycin was detected in all samples, and the detection rate of clindamycin was 90.5%. An exploratory analysis of the data points was performed by unsupervised pattern recognition (hierarchical cluster analysis, HCA) in an attempt to clarify the pollution level in different sampling areas, and robust cluster solutions grouped the data according to their different antibiotic contaminant profiles. The safety of drinking water resources was emphasized, and the rivers, as the main receiving water body for treated and untreated wastewater in this city, were more seriously contaminated than the surrounding lakes and reservoir, not only in concentration but also in detection frequency, in our study as well as in similar research studies. A correlation analysis between the presence of antibiotics and the environmental factors was conducted, and it was found that antibiotic contamination and water quality were closely connected; the better the water quality, the lower the antibiotic contamination. Positive correlations existed between the antibiotics and tested heavy metals, as well as between antibiotics and boron and arsenic. However, whether these correlations resulted from their reaction or a common source was difficult to determine, and the mechanism requires further exploration.     

Conservation prioritization with machine learning predictions for the black-necked crane Grus nigricollis,a flagship species on the Tibetan Plateau for 2070

Regional Environmental Change - Ongoing global climate change greatly alters the distribution of species, and such impacts are even amplified on the Tibetan Plateau. The black-necked crane (Grus...     

Characterization on the toxic mechanism of two fluoroquinolones to trypsin by spectroscopic and computational methods

Abstract

Ciprofloxacin (CPFX) and enrofloxacin (ENFX), two of the most widely used fluoroquinolones (FQs), pose a great threat to humans and the ecosystem. In this study, the toxic mechanisms between the two FQs and trypsin were evaluated by means of multiple spectroscopic methods, as well as molecular docking. During the fluorescence investigations, both FQs quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of trypsin effectively, which was due to the formation of moderately strong complexes (mainly through van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds). The binding of two FQs not only caused the conformational and micro-environmental changes of trypsin, but also changed its molecular activity; shown by the UV–Visible absorption spectroscopy, synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, and functional tests. The established methods in this work can help to comprehensively understand the transport of FQs in the human body.     

Distribution,source, and ecological risk assessment of PAHs among size and density fractions in contaminated sediments from the Yellow River of Henan section

This study investigated particle size and density distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in two surface sediments (JZ and KF), collected from the Yellow River of Henan section, China. The concentrations of Σ₁₅PAHs ranged from 35.6 to 45862?ng g^?1 dry wt, which were greatly elevated in coarse particles and low-density fractions. The Σ₁₅PAHs concentrations in low-density fractions were 533 (JZ) and 996 (KF) times higher than those in the corresponding high-density fractions. However, due to relatively less quantities of low-density fractions (0.27–2.33%), most of the PAHs were contributed by the high-density components. For both sediments, the influence factors of PAHs source in the environment were very complex, more so than the level of TOC and BC content. JZ sediment was dominated by 4-ring to 6-ring PAHs (61.5–75.1%), while, 2-ring to 3-ring PAHs were abundant in KF samples (39.8–72.6%). Ratios of specific PAHs reflected PAHs among the size- and density-fraction of each sediment may be contaminated by mixed of pyrolytic and petrogenic origin. Additionally, ecological risk assessment of PAHs suggested that total toxic equivalent values of PAHs in the low-density fractions were much higher than those of the corresponding high-density fractions in the studied area.     

The coupling of sand with ZVI/oxidants achieved proportional and highly efficient removal of arsenic

• Simply doping sands with ZVI achieved an even activation of ZVI by oxidants. • Sand doping facilitated proportional As trapping along the ZVI/oxidants column. • ZVI/sand/oxidants are highly efficient for arsenic removal. • ZVI/sand/oxidants reduced significantly the Fe²⁺ leaching and effluent turbidity. • More than 54% of arsenic was reduced to As(III) in ZVI/sand/oxidants system. The coupling of zero-valent iron (ZVI) with common oxidants has recently achieved very rapid and highly efficient removal of Heavy metals from wastewater. However, the uniform activation of ZVI throughout the column and the proportional removal of target contaminants are urgently required for the prevention of premature filter clogging and the extension of the effective column operational time. In this study, we successfully achieved this objective by simply doping granular sand with ZVI at appropriate weight ratios. When pure ZVI packed column was spiked with oxidants, the majority of As trapping occurred between the column inlet and the first sampling point. In a packed column with a 1:20 mixture of ZVI and sand, the average As removal efficiency was 36 (1st), 13.1 (2nd), 18.5 (3rd), 19.2 (4th) and 5.9% (5th outlet). The overall arsenic removal performance of the composite filling system of ZVI/sand was equally as efficient as that of the previous pure ZVI-packed system. Moreover, the leaching of Fe was significantly reduced with an increased sand ratio, resulting in clearer water with less turbidity. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that more than 54% of the arsenic was reduced to As(III). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the extensive corrosion of the ZVI surface, which resulted in various species of iron oxyhydroxides responsible for the highly efficient sequester of arsenic through reduction, adsorption, and coprecipitation.     

Are Landscape Configuration Metrics Worth Including When Predicting Specialist and Generalist Bird Species Density? A Case of the Generalised Additive Model Approach

Due to the complexity of factors that influence species density on a large geographical scale, the effectiveness of the species distribution model (SDM) is still debatable. That is why the buffer zone (the area within 100 m from the outside edge of the patch), the core, i.e. (patches excluding the 100 m buffer zone from the patch’s edge) and patch shape are explored in this study to see how they affect the density of habitat specialist and generalist bird species. Two sets of generalised additive models were generated separately for each of the four bird species: One set of models contained landscape configuration metrics as an additional predictor variable, and the other did not. The results showed that models including the core, the buffer zone and the shape of patches turned out to be definitely better than models without them. Specialist species, the Corn bunting and the Wood nuthatch, are more likely to occur in the core of the preferred patches, and they choose those of a simple shape; while generalist species, the Whinchat and the Tree pipit, are more probable to be present in the buffer zone of a more complicated shape. Thus, the results clearly show that specific landscape configuration models can improve the predictive power of SDMs and can be used as an effective tool for predicting species density and functional bird diversity (specialist and generalist). Furthermore, from the applied ecology perspective, detailed landscape configuration metrics can be considered as a surrogate of elusive habitat conditions.     

Performance of Streptomyces pactum–assisted phytoextraction of Cd and Pb: in view of soil properties,element bioavailability,and phytoextraction indices

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microbe-assisted phytoremediation provides an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to reclaim Cd- and Pb-contaminated soils. In this work,...     

油基岩屑热脱附处理工艺参数优化

为了探究热脱附装置降低能耗的方法,对新疆油田某井油基岩屑热脱附处理工艺参数进行了研究。结果表明:在残渣的含油率≤2%的标准下,当加热温度、停留时间、油基岩屑固相含量这3个关键因素变量分别为350～550℃、35～55 min、60%～90%时,油基岩屑热脱附处理后残渣的含油率能达到标准要求;在以上条件下,以能耗为考核指标,通过响应曲面法研究发现,单因素变量的交互项均对能耗影响显著;将加热温度由550℃降低至430℃时,停留时间由45 min降至40 min,能耗可节约17.47%,残渣的含油率0.3%;通过调整热脱附工艺参数,可在油基岩屑热脱附处理后残渣的含油率达标的基础上,实现节能降耗。上述研究结果可为合理设置油基岩屑热脱附装置的运行工艺参数提供参考。     

水产养殖水、沉积物中抗生素检测方法优化及残留特征研究

抗生素作为疾病预防和促进生长的药物被广泛用于水产养殖业中,不可避免地造成了周围环境抗生素的残留,从而带来各种潜在风险。为了对水产养殖水和沉积物中的抗生素残留特征进行研究,建立了环境样品中抗生素的富集方法。对沉积物中抗生素的提取溶剂、HLB小柱活化溶剂和洗脱溶剂进行了筛选,利用高效液相色谱串联质谱仪对15种抗生素进行检测分析,并检测了上海市某水产养殖区7个养殖塘2018年9、12月抗生素的残留水平。结果表明,选用乙腈/磷酸盐缓冲溶液(V∶V=1∶1)作为提取溶剂,依此用甲基叔丁基醚、甲醇和超纯水作为活化溶剂,甲醇作为洗脱溶剂时目标抗生素的回收率最高;在养殖塘水体中共检测出10种抗生素,检出浓度中间值依次为:磺胺类>甲氧苄啶>阿莫西林>氟喹诺酮类>喹乙醇>四环素类和呋喃唑酮。养殖塘沉积物中共检测出13种抗生素,检出浓度中间值依次为:氟喹诺酮类>四环素类>磺胺类>甲氧苄啶>喹乙醇>阿莫西林和呋喃唑酮;不同品种的养殖塘中抗生素的检出种类均不相同,其中青鱼塘和白水鱼塘10种、虾塘9种、扣蟹塘仅5种。对比抗生素检出浓度发现:氟喹诺酮类抗生素在鱼类养殖塘中检出浓度最高,磺胺甲恶唑仅在蟹塘检出,喹乙醇在虾塘检出浓度达3 612.85 ng·L~(-1)。9月与12月抗生素的残留水平也存在差异,抗生素在9月的平均含量比12月高。