Tramadol abuse among workers in an industrial city in mid-Nile Delta region,Egypt

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Tramadol abuse is an increasingly alarming phenomenon among Egyptian Community especially among workers and drivers. Study profile and factors...     

Foliar application of aspartic acid lowers cadmium uptake and Cd-induced oxidative stress in rice under Cd stress

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Cadmium (Cd) contamination of farmland soils is a widespread problem around the globe, and rice (Oryza sativa L.) tends to accumulate more Cd and is...     

Health risk assessment due to heavy metal exposure from commonly consumed fish and vegetables

Contamination of heavy metals in fish and vegetables is regarded as a major crisis globally, with a large share in many developing countries. In Bogra District of Bangladesh, concentrations of six heavy metals, i.e., chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), were evaluated in the most consumed vegetables and fish species. The sampling was conducted during February–March 2012 and August–September 2013. The levels of metals varied between different fish and vegetable species. Elevated concentrations of As, Cd and Pb were observed in vegetable species (Solanum tuberosum, Allium cepa and Daucus carota), and fish species (Anabas testudineus and Heteropneustes fossilis) were higher than the FAO/WHO permissible limits, indicating these three metals might pose risk from the consumption of these vegetable and fish species. The higher concentration of heavy metals in these vegetable species might be due to the higher uptake from soil and sediment ingestion behavior in fish species. Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) showed significant anthropogenic contributions of Cr, Ni, Cu and Pb in samples as the PCA axis scores were correlated with scores of anthropogenic activities. Target hazard quotients showed that the intakes of Cu, As and Pb through vegetables and fish were higher than the recommended health standards, indicated non-carcinogenic risk. Therefore, intakes of these elements via fish and vegetables for Bangladeshi people are a matter of concern.     

Carbon dioxide emission in relation with irrigation and organic amendments from a sweet corn field

Soil moisture and organic matter level affects soil respiration and microbial activities, which in turn impact greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of irrigation levels (75% [deficit], 100% [full], and 125% [excess] of reference crop evapotranspiration requirements), and organic amendments (OA) type (chicken manure [CM] and bone meal [BM]) and OA application rates (0,168, 336 and 672 kg total N ha^?1) on (i) soil physical properties (bulk density, organic matter content and soil moisture content) and (ii) soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from a highly weathered tropical Hawai'ian soil. Carbon dioxide readings were consistently taken once or twice a week for the duration of the cropping season. A drip irrigation system was used to apply the appropriate amount of irrigation water to the treatment plots. Treatments were randomly selected and corresponding organic amendments were manually incorporated into the soil. Plots were cultivated with sweet corn (Zea mays ‘SS-16’). Soil moisture content within and below the rootzone was monitored using a TDR 300 soil moisture sensor (Spectrum Technologies, Inc., Plainfield, IL, USA) connected with 12 cm long prongs. Soil bulk density and organic matter content were determined at the end of the cropping season. Analysis of variance results revealed that OA type, rate, and their interaction had significant effect on soil CO₂ flux (P < 0.05). Among the OA rates, all CM mostly resulted in significantly higher soil CO₂ fluxes compared to BM and control treatment (p < 0.05). The two highest rates of BM treatment were not significantly different from the control with regard to soil CO₂ flux. In addition, organic amendments affected soil moisture dynamics during the crop growing season and organic matter content measured after the crop harvest. While additional studies are needed to further investigate the effect of irrigation levels on soil CO₂ flux, it is recommended that in order to minimize soil CO₂ emissions, BM soil amendments could be a potential option to reduce soil CO₂ fluxes from agricultural fields similar to the one used in this study.     

Correction to: Small-scale on-site treatment of fecal matter: comparison of treatments for resource recovery and sanitization

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13658-3     

Optimizing different adaptive strategies by using crop growth modeling under IPCC climate change scenarios for sustainable wheat production

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Crop production is highly sensitive to climate. It is affected by long-term trends in average rainfall and temperature, inter-annual climate...     

Microbial biotransformation of furosemide for environmental risk assessment: identification of metabolites and toxicological evaluation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Some widely prescribed drugs are sparsely metabolized and end up in the environment. They can thus be a focal point of ecotoxicity, either themselves...     

Monitoring and assessment of seasonal land cover changes using remote sensing: a 30-year (1987–2016) case study of Hamoun Wetland,Iran

The availability of Landsat data allows improving the monitoring and assessment of large-scale areas with land cover changes in rapid developing regions. Thus, we pretend to show a combined methodology to assess land cover changes (LCCs) in the Hamoun Wetland region (Iran) over a period of 30-year (1987–2016) and to quantify seasonal and decadal landscape and land use variabilities. Using the pixel-based change detection (PBCD) and the post-classification comparison (PCC), four land cover classes were compared among spring, summer, and fall seasons. Our findings showed for the water class a higher correlation between spring and summer (R²?=?0.94) than fall and spring (R²?=?0.58) seasons. Before 2000, ~?50% of the total area was covered by bare soil and 40% by water. However, after 2000, more than 70% of wetland was transformed into bare soils. The results of the long-term monitoring period showed that fall season was the most representative time to show the inter-annual variability of LCCs monitoring and the least affected by seasonal-scale climatic variations. In the Hamoun Wetland region, land cover was highly controlled by changes in surface water, which in turn responded to both climatic and anthropogenic impacts. We were able to divide the water budget monitoring into three different ecological regimes: (1) a period of high water level, which sustained healthy extensive plant life, and approximately 40% of the total surface water was retained until the end of the hydrological year; (2) a period of drought during high evaporation rates was observed, and a mean wetland surface of about 85% was characterized by bare land; and (3) a recovery period in which water levels were overall rising, but they are not maintained from year to year. After a spring flood, in 2006 and 2013, grassland reached the highest extensions, covering till more than 20% of the region, and the dynamics of the ecosystem were affected by the differences in moisture. The Hamoun wetland region served as an important example and demonstration of the feedbacks between land cover and land uses, particularly as pertaining to water resources available to a rapidly expanding population.     

A novel application of cultural consensus models to evaluate conservation education programs

Conservation professionals recognize the need to evaluate education initiatives with a flexible approach that is culturally appropriate. Cultural‐consensus theory (CCT) provides a framework for measuring the extent to which beliefs are communally held and has long been applied by social scientists. In a conservation‐education context, we applied CCT and used free lists (i.e., a list of items on a topic stated in order of cultural importance) and domain analysis (analysis of how free lists go together within a cultural group) to evaluate a conservation education program in which we used a children's picture book to increase knowledge about and empathy for a critically endangered mammal, the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus). We extracted free lists of keywords generated by students (n = 580 in 18 schools) from essays they wrote before and after the education program. In 2 classroom sessions conducted approximately 18 weeks apart, we asked students to write an essay about their knowledge of the target species and then presented a book and several activities about slow loris ecology. Prior to the second session, we asked students to write a second essay. We generated free lists from both essays, quantified salience of terms used, and conducted minimal residuals factor analysis to determine presence of cultural domains surrounding slow lorises in each session. Students increased their use of words accurately associated with slow loris ecology and conservation from 43% in initial essays to 76% in final essays. Domain coherence increased from 22% to 47% across schools. Fifteen factors contributed to the domain slow loris. Between the first and second essays, factors that showed the greatest change were feeding ecology and slow loris as a forest protector, which increased 7‐fold, and the humancentric factor, which decreased 5‐fold. As demonstrated by knowledge retention and creation of unique stories and conservation opinions, children achieved all six levels of Bloom's taxonomy of learning domains. Free from the constraints of questionnaires and surveys, CCT methods provide a promising avenue to evaluate conservation education programs.     

Quality of tube well water intended for irrigation and human consumption with special emphasis on arsenic contamination at the area of Punjab,Pakistan

In the present study, the tube well water quality and the associated health risks, emphasizing on arsenic contamination, were investigated in rural and urban samples from Tehsil Mailsi located in Punjab, Pakistan. Arsenic concentrations (μg/L) were ranged from 12 to 448.5 and which exceeded the WHO recommended limit (10 μg/L) in all cases. The calculated average daily dose (3.3 × 10^?0.4 to 1.2 × 10^?0.2 mg/kg day) and hazard quotient (1.1–40) reflected the potential health risk to local population due to tube well water consumption as drinking purpose. Sodium percent (Na%), sodium absorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate, Kelly’s index and magnesium absorption ratio were also determined to assess the suitability of tube well water for irrigation purpose. The resulting piper plot revealed the Na–Ca–HCO₃ type water chemistry of the area and generally alkaline environment. The spatial distribution of arsenic in the tube well waters pinpoints the significant contribution of anthropogenic activities to arsenic pollution. Nevertheless, different statistical tools, including principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and correlation matrices, revealed the contribution of both natural and anthropogenic activities and alkaline type of aquifers toward the high level of arsenic contamination.