Potential metal-binding ability of proteins in the extracellular slime of Laccaria bicolor exposed to excessive Cu and Cd

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Ectomycorrhizal fungi can enhance the tolerance of plants to heavy metal stress by reducing the accumulation of heavy metals in the aerial parts of...     

Quantification of the Exposure–Lag–Response Association Between Air Pollution and Respiratory Disease Morbidity in Chongqing City,China

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - The health effects of air pollution on respiratory disease morbidity and mortality commonly vary with air pollutants’ intensity and latency after...     

Efficient production of hydrogen peroxide in microbial reverse-electrodialysis cells coupled with thermolytic solutions

● Appreciable H₂O₂ production rate was achieved in MRCs utilizing NH₄HCO₃ solutions. ● Carbon black outperformed activated carbon as the catalyst for H₂O₂ production. ● The optimum carbon black loading for H₂O₂ production on air-cathode was 10 mg/cm². ● The optimum number of cell pairs was determined to be three. ● A maximum power density of 980 mW/m² was produced by MRCs with 5 cell pairs. H₂O₂ was produced at an appreciable rate in microbial reverse-electrodialysis cells (MRCs) coupled with thermolytic solutions, which can simultaneously capture waste heat as electrical energy. To determine the optimal cathode and membrane stack configurations for H₂O₂ production, different catalysts, catalyst loadings and numbers of membrane cell pairs were tested. Carbon black (CB) outperformed activated carbon (AC) for H₂O₂ production, although AC showed higher catalytic activity for oxygen reduction. The optimum CB loading was 10 mg/cm² in terms of both the H₂O₂ production rate and power production. The optimum number of cell pairs was determined to be three based on a tradeoff between H₂O₂ production and capital costs. A H₂O₂ production rate as high as 0.99 ± 0.10 mmol/(L·h) was achieved with 10 mg/cm² CB loading and 3 cell pairs, where the H₂O₂ recovery efficiency was 52 ± 2% and the maximum power density was 780 ± 37 mW/m². Increasing the number of cell pairs to five resulted in an increase in maximum power density (980 ± 21 mW/m²) but showed limited effects on H₂O₂ production. These results indicated that MRCs can be an efficient method for sustainable H₂O₂ production.     

Associations between co-exposure to multiple metals and renal function: a cross-sectional study in Guangxi,China

The association between co-exposure to multiple metals and renal function is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the individual and joint effects of metal exposure on renal function in this study. We performed a cross-sectional study including 5828 participants in Guangxi, China, in 2019. Urine concentrations of 17 metals were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Logistic regression model and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were applied to investigate the association of individual metal exposure with renal dysfunction. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to assess the co-exposure effects of the metals. Participants with the highest quartile of urinary Cu were at 1.84-fold (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20–2.87) increased risk of renal dysfunction compared with the lowest quartile. The highest quartiles of urinary Sr, Cs, V, Ba, and Se were associated with 0.27-fold (95% CI: 0.17–0.43), 0.33 (95% CI: 0.19–0.53), 0.41 (95% CI: 0.25–0.65), 0.58 (95% CI: 0.36–0.90), and 0.33 (95% CI: 0.19–0.56) decreased risk of renal dysfunction compared with their lowest quartile, respectively. Furthermore, urinary Ba and Cu were non-linearly correlated with renal dysfunction. The WQS analysis showed that mixed metal exposure was inversely associated with renal dysfunction (OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.35–0.62), and Sr accounted for the largest weight (52.2%), followed by Cs (32.3%) in the association. Moreover, we observed a potential interaction between Cu, Cs, and Ba for renal dysfunction in BKMR model. Exposure to Se, Sr, Cs, V, and Ba is associated with decreased risk of renal dysfunction, whereas an increased risk is associated with Cu exposure. Co-exposure to these metals is negatively associated with renal dysfunction, and Sr and Cs are the main contributors to the associations.

     

Nano-MnO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-mediated transformation of triclosan with humic molecules present: kinetics,products, and pathways

It has been shown that manganese dioxide (MnO₂) can mediate transformation of phenolic contaminants to form phenoxyl radical intermediates, and subsequently, these intermediates intercouple to form oligomers via covalent binding. However, the reaction kinetics and transformation mechanisms of phenolic contaminants with humic molecules present in nano-MnO₂-mediated systems were still unclear. In this study, it was proven that nano-MnO₂ were effective in transforming triclosan under acidic conditions (pH 3.5–5.0) during manganese reduction, and the apparent pseudo first-order kinetics rate constants (k?=?0.0599–1.5314 h^?1) increased as the pH decreased. In particular, the transformation of triclosan by nano-MnO₂ was enhanced in the presence of low-concentration humic acid (1–10 mg L^?1). The variation in the absorption of humic molecules at 275 nm supported possible covalent binding between humic molecules and triclosan in the nano-MnO₂-mediated systems. A total of four main intermediate products were identified by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), regardless of humic molecules present in the systems or not. These products correspond to a suite of radical intercoupling reactions (dimers and trimers), ether cleavage (2,4-dichlorophenol), and oxidation to quinone-like products, triggered by electron transfer from triclosan molecules to nano-MnO₂. A possible reaction pathway in humic acid solutions, including homo-coupling, decomposition, oxidation, and cross-coupling, was proposed. Our findings provide valuable information regarding the environmental fate and transformation mechanism of triclosan by nano-MnO₂ in complex water matrices.     

Three-dimensional simulation of reservoir temperature and pollutant transport by the lattice Boltzmann method

Predicting the three-dimensional (3D) transport processes of reservoir temperature and pollutants is essential for water environmental protection and restoration, and introducing the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method into this prediction is necessary because of its simple algorithm, straightforward implementation of boundary conditions, and high computation efficiency. In this paper, a triple-distribution function (TDF) LB model for flow-temperature-concentration coupling simulations is introduced. Some essential techniques for implementing this method in 3D reservoirs are also described, including the treatment of water surface fluctuation, the consideration of surface heat exchange, and the hardware acceleration using the graphics processing unit (GPU). Two cases verified the proposed model, and then, the temporal-spatial variations of flow, temperature, and pollutants in the upper reservoir of a pumped-storage power station during both pumping and generating modes were analyzed to demonstrate its applicability. In the reservoir, the water forms several circulations, the cold water from the inlet flows as an undercurrent firstly, and then spread laterally, and the spreading of pollutants directly relates to the flow velocity. The results of flow, temperature, and concentration fields in different working conditions are consistent with model tests and physical laws, which shows good prospects of the proposed LB model.

     

Response relationships between abrupt seasonal temperature changes/warming (cooling) hiatuses in China and their influencing factors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The mechanisms of abrupt seasonal temperature changes and warming (cooling) hiatuses remain unclear. Clarifying how they respond to various...     

NLRP3 inflammasome is involved in the mechanism of mitigative effect of selenium on lead-induced inflammatory damage in chicken kidneys

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Lead (Pb) is a kind of widespread toxic environmental pollutant which can cause harm to organisms. Selenium (Se) has the property of mitigating Pb...