Effect of the chemical composition of organic extracts from environmental and industrial atmospheric samples on the genotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixtures

Particulate organic matter (PM) present in the atmosphere is a complex mixture of chemicals like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that may exert adverse health effects including respiratory and cardiovascular disturbances and cancer. In this study, airborne samples from environmental or industrial areas exhibiting different physicochemical composition were compared for their capacities to induce DNA damage in human hepatocytes HepG2. DNA strand breaks and DNA adducts formed by benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide (BPDE), the most reactive metabolite of the carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), were measured with the comet assay and by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/mass spectrometry, respectively. Cells were exposed to organic matter extracted from PM. Experiments were performed either at a constant concentration of B[a]P or at concentrations corresponding to fixed air volumes. Results show that industrial extracts tend to produce more benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide-N ²-2′-deoxyguanosine (BPDE-N ²-dGuo) DNA adducts than strand breaks, whereas the opposite was observed with environmental extracts. The chemical composition of the extracts significantly impacts the nature and levels of DNA damage. The amount of B[a]P and interaction with other contaminants in the extracts need to be considered to explain the formation of DNA damage. These results emphasize the use of in vitro tests as promising and complementary tools to widely used toxic equivalent factor (TEF) approach in order to assess health hazards related to chemical exposure of the general population.     

A comparison of two methods to observe the effects of dual metal exposure to the chironomus larvae

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of metal mixtures on the Chironomus plumosus. Two methods of preparing the mixtures were used, the Toxic Unit (TU) method and the parts per million (PPM) + PPM method. A comparison was undertaken between the two methods to observe the ease with which (1) experiment could be conducted and (2) whether LC₅₀ values could be obtained. In this study, it was noted that the PPM + PPM method was an easier method to conduct metal mixture experiments as the LC₅₀ values could be easily calculated for individual metals and compared with the LC₅₀ values of metals obtained from single metal experiments. The findings showed that the LC₅₀ value for zinc (Zn) was more toxic for chromium (Cr) when it was reduced from 9.6 to 0.3 mg L^?1, with silver the LC₅₀ value became 3.6 mg L^?1, 4.5 mg L^?1 with nickel (Ni). In the PPM + PPM method, the LC₅₀ value for Zn was observed to be 10.2 mg L^?1 when in mixture with chromium, 23.8 mg L^?1 with silver, and 13.4 mg L^?1 with Ni. Changes in the 96 h LC₅₀ value were found to be significant for all metals.     

拓展等效线图法评估离子液体与杀菌剂多果定之间的拮抗作用

等效线图法(isobologram)是评估化学混合物毒性相互作用的经典方法之一,然而该方法仅能评估混合物在某一特殊浓度效应水平(通常为50%的浓度效应水平,即EC50)的联合毒性作用情况。因此,拓展等效线图法并用于不同效应水平下混合物毒性的评估显得尤为必要。以杀菌剂多果定(Dod)和3种离子液体(ILs)包括溴化丁基吡啶([bpy]Br)、溴化己基吡啶([hpy]Br)和溴化辛基吡啶([opy]Br)为混合物组分,采用直线均分射线法设计3组二元混合物体系(Dod-[bpy]Br、Dod-[hpy]Br和Dod-[opy]Br)共15条射线,应用微板毒性分析法系统测定各污染物及其混合物射线对青海弧菌Q67(Vibro qinghaisiense sp. Q67,Q67)的毒性,应用拓展等效线图法分析15条混合物射线在5个不同效应水平(EC20、EC30、EC40、EC50和EC60)的毒性相互作用,并与经典等效线图法和浓度加和模型(CA)评估的结果进行比较。结果表明:以p EC50为毒性指标,3种吡啶ILs对Q67的毒性具有烷基链效应,即毒性大小顺序为Dod-[opy]BrDod-[hpy]BrDod-[bpy]Br; 3组二元混合物体系的15条射线的毒性,随农药Dod浓度比的减少而减弱;拓展等效线图法可以比较直观地表征3组Dod-ILs混合物体系在5个不同效应水平的拮抗作用,且拮抗作用强度随Dod浓度比的增加而变化,即先增强后减弱;拓展等效线图法可以有效地评估二元混合物在多个效应水平的联合毒性相互作用。     

储油条件下拱顶油罐的油气爆炸实验

为研究储油条件下拱顶油罐油气爆炸的发展过程,设计了中尺度拱顶油罐油气爆炸实验台架,并完成了储油条件下油罐油气爆炸试验。实验结果表明:储油条件下油气爆炸会导致罐顶破坏,超压发展分为多个阶段,并出现强烈的超压振荡和二次爆炸现象,最大超压由二次爆炸所产生;爆炸最大超压随着初始油气体积分数的降低而升高;在储油条件下,油罐油气爆炸后会诱导产生二次爆炸现象,第2次爆炸超压峰值和升压速率均远大于第1次爆炸的数值,且二次爆炸对外场的影响更加明显;火焰强度随时间的变化曲线具有2个明显的峰值,其形成原因分别为第1次爆炸和第2次爆炸。     

有害结局路径(AOP)框架在水体复合污染监测研究中的应用

水体复合污染包含低浓度、种类复杂的毒害化学污染物,威胁人类健康和生态安全。监测并识别水体关键毒害污染因子是进行水质管理的前提,也是复合污染研究的难点。目前国内外在水复合污染毒性监测研究上主要基于动物活体试验或者生物体外测试。由于受限于毒理学测试方法,常见的应用通常仅关注于某方面的毒性效应或者少数的分子指标,因而受到质疑和挑战。有害结局路径(Adverse outcome pathway,AOP)的概念将化学污染物的结构、致毒的分子启动事件和生物毒性的有害结局建立关联,为污染物的毒性测试、预测和评估提供了新的模式。本文旨在论述有害结局路径在复合污染毒性评估和关键毒害物质鉴别中的指导性价值和意义。在有害结局路径的指导框架下,借助于生物体外高通量测试技术、化学分析的靶向和非靶向分析技术和生物信息学技术,可以系统地分析化学混合物在分子、细胞水平上健康相关指标的响应水平,评估水体中复杂结构污染物,与不同生态和健康有害结局之间的关联,为水环境评价和优先污染物的筛选管理提供有效支撑。本文通过综述AOP框架在复合水体中毒害物质风险研究的现状和优势,对AOP在水环境环境管理上的应用前景提出展望。     

Soil effects of six different two-species litter mixtures that include Ulmus pumila

The tree species that contribute to decomposed leaf litter can have important effects on soil properties and thus nutrient cycling and interactions between tree species. We examined ground leaf litter and soil mixtures consisting of leaves from Ulmus pumila (Up) combined individually with leaves from one of six other species: Betula platyphylla (Bp), Quercus liaotungensis (Ql), Salix matsudana (Sm), Hippophae rhamnoides (Hr), Caragana microphylla (Cm), and Amorpha fruticosa (Af). The soil–litter mixtures were incubated for 120 days to analyse the effects of their decomposition on soil properties and to determine the interactions between the different types of litter within each mixture. The decomposed litter mixtures were composed of Up combined with Sm- or Hr-improved soil fertility relative to the pure Up mixture, but the decomposed litter mixtures were composed of Up combined with Cm-, Af-, or Ql-diminished soil properties. Three leaf mixture treatments, namely Up?×?Bp, Up?×?Sm, and Up?×?Hr, exhibited synergistic effects on soil properties (i.e. soil properties exceeding the predicted values); however, three other treatments, namely Up?×?Ql, Up?×?Cm, and Up?×?Af, exhibited antagonistic effects (i.e. properties below the predicted values). Therefore, litter from Bp, Sm, or Hr should be mixed with Up to improve soil fertility and production in plantations.     

Flammability hazard analysis of imidazolium-based ionic liquid binary mixtures under high temperatures

Ionic liquid (IL) mixtures are promising because they can optimize the involved properties according to industrial needs. It has already been demonstrated that IL flammability is due mainly to IL decomposition generating flammable substances. Four different ILs, 1-Butylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BIM][BF₄]), 1-butylimidazolium nitrate ([BIM][NO₃]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate([BMIM][BF₄]), and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate ([BMIM][NO₃]), were selected as the parent salts to form the different imidazolium-based IL binary mixtures. These mixtures were tested via isothermal thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) at different temperatures (120, 150, 180, 210, and 240 °C), then tested by the flash point analyzer after isothermal heating pretreatment at the above temperatures. Results show that the mixtures' flash point values decrease with the heating temperature increase. Vaporization of the IL mixtures’ decomposition products results in a higher concentration of flammable gases and a flash point decrease, which lead to the flammability hazard increasing. Moreover, results show that the flash points of the studied binary imidazolium IL mixtures are more similar to those of the more unstable IL in their parent ILs. Also, the flammability hazard of IL binary mixtures may obviously increase under the high temperature environment for a long time.     

Dynamics of explosion venting in a compartment with methane-air mixtures

A series of experiments on explosion venting of methane-air mixtures are performed to scrutinize the pressure evolution as well as the flame dynamics and morphology at various vent conditions. Specifically, a premixed flame is ignited at the center of a polycarbonate cylindrical compartment, with three various vent areas considered (with negligible vent relief pressure). As expected, the highest maximum pressure is observed in the case of the smallest vent area. For all three cases, the pressure evolution experiences two major peaks, associated with the instants (i) when the maximum flame front surface area in the chamber is reached and (ii) when an external explosion occurs due to venting of unburned gases, respectively. For the fuel-rich mixtures, a flashback is observed subsequent to the external explosion, constituting the key outcome of the present work. The flame tip velocities show two general trends, namely, exponential acceleration towards the vent, while a flame propagates towards the blocked side of the compartment with no acceleration, which is important to know in the fire/explosion safety applications.     

Selective and sensitive extractive spectrophotometric determination of micro amounts of palladium(II) in spiked samples: using a new reagent N-ethyl-3-carbazolecarbaxaledehydethiosemicarbazone

N-Ethyl-3-cabazolecarboxaldehydethiosemicarbazone (ECCT) is proposed as a new, sensitive and selective complexing reagent for the separation and extractive spectrophotometric determination of palladium(II) at pH: 4.0 to form a yellowish orange colored 1:1 chelate complex, which is very well extracted in to n-butanol. The absorbance was measured at a maximum wavelength, 410 nm. This method obeys Beer’s law in the concentration range 0.0–6.6 μg mL⁻¹ and the correlation coefficient of Pd(II)-ECCT complex is 0.998, which indicates an excellent linearity between the two variables with good molar absorptivity and Sandell’s sensitivity, 1.647 × 10⁴ l mol⁻¹cm⁻¹, 6.49 × 10⁻³ μg cm⁻², respectively. The instability constant of complex calculated from Edmond’s method, 2.724 × 10⁻⁵ was in good agreement with the value calculated from Asmus’ method 2.624 × 10⁻⁵, at room temperature. The precision and accuracy of the method is checked with calculation of relative standard deviation (n = 5), 0.839. Edmond’s method was observed to be a more selective method in the presence of EDTA, oxalate and phosphate ions. The method was successfully applied for the determination of Pd(II) in water samples, synthetic mixtures and hydrogenation catalysts, employing an atomic absorption spectrometer for comparing these results.