New insights into disruption of iron homeostasis by environmental pollutants

Among the numerous health conditions environmental pollutants can cause, chronic exposure to pollutants including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals has been shown to disturb a specific biological homeostatic process, the iron metabolism in human body. Disorders of iron metabolism are among the common diseases of humans and encompass a broad spectrum of diseases with different clinical manifestations, ranging from anemia to iron overload, and possibly to neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Hepcidin–ferroportin (FPN) signaling is one of the key mechanisms responsible for iron supply, utilization, recycling, and storage, and recent studies demonstrated that exposure to environmental pollutants including POPs and heavy metals could lead to disruption of the hepcidin–FPN axis along with disordered systemic iron homeostasis and diseases. This article introduces and highlights the accompanying review article by Drs. Xu and Liu in this journal, which elaborates in detail the adverse effects of environmental pollutants on iron metabolism, and the mechanisms responsible for these toxicological outcomes. It also points out the knowledge gaps still existing in this subject matter. Research that will fill these gaps will improve our understanding of the issue and provide useful information to prevent or treat diseases induced by environmental pollutants.     

环境持久性自由基及其介导的生物学损伤

近年来,新型环境风险物质环境持久性自由基（EPFRs）被发现广泛分布于不同来源的环境介质中,如燃烧颗粒物、土壤/沉积物、天然有机质等.因其稳定性、持久性,且可以随着环境介质迁移和转化,EPFRs的生态环境风险可能被忽视.基于此,本文系统总结了存在于环境介质中的EPFRs,并归纳其分布特征;阐述了其介导的组织损伤,包括肺损伤、心血管损伤、神经毒性损伤、DNA以及细胞色素等生物大分子损伤;详述了主要由氧化应激、炎症、免疫反应以及代谢异常引起的损伤机理;最后,总结并展望了有关研究所存在的问题和未来研究方向,以期为EPFRs的生态健康风险评价和政策标准制定提供参考.     

Air pollution policies in Europe: efficiency gains from integrating climate effects with damage costs to health and crops

Emissions of air pollutants cause damage to health and crops, but several air pollutants also have an effect on climate through radiative forcing. We investigate efficiency gains achieved by integrating climate impacts of air pollutants into air quality strategies for the EU region. The pollutants included in this study are SO₂, NH₃, VOC, CO, NO_x, black carbon, organic carbon, PM_2.5, and CH₄. We illustrate the relative importance of climate change effects compared to damage to health and crops, as well as monetary gains of including climate change contributions. The analysis considers marginal abatement costs and compares air quality and climate damage in Euros. We optimize abatement policies with respect to both climate and health impacts, which imply implementing all measures that yield a net benefit. The efficiency gains of the integrated policy are in the order of 2.5 billion Euros, compared to optimal abatement based on health and crop damage only, justifying increased abatement efforts of close to 50%. Climate effect of methane is the single most important factor. If climate change is considered on a 20- instead of a 100-year time-scale, the efficiency gain almost doubles. Our results indicate that air pollution policies should be supplemented with climate damage considerations.     

世界卫生组织(WHO)颁布环境健康基准的历程及对我国的借鉴

随着我国环境质量的不断改善,预防和控制由环境因素导致的健康风险正在成为环境管理制度的重要内容. 我国在环境基准理论和方法学领域取得了一些研究成果,而环境健康基准研究仍然存在不足,面临诸多挑战. 在回顾WHO启动环境健康基准项目背景,厘清起草、审阅和颁布环境健康基准的程序,系统总结244个环境健康基准核心内容的基础上,提出环境健康基准研究的几点建议:①运用组学和高时空人群精细化暴露评价等技术方法,开展环境致病因素和健康结局因果关系研究;②建立有效评价环境多因素暴露以及社会、经济发展状况相互作用产生健康风险的方法;③加强对影响我国居民健康,以及在环境介质中赋存量高的新型环境污染物健康基准研究;④推动建立符合我国环境质量管理需要的环境健康风险评价技术.      

Impact of ship-Breaking activities on the coastal environment of Bangladesh and a management system for its sustainability

Ship breaking or recycling in Bangladesh has been a catalyst for the economy by supporting the steel, shipbuilding, furniture, building construction, machinery and electrical industries since the 1980s. Although it has generated huge employment and provided 80–90% of the total steel consumption in the country, it has faced a host of challenges due to a number of negative environmental and social impacts that hinder the sustainable development of this blooming sector. The objective of this paper is to focus on how ship-breaking activities in Bangladesh affect the adjacent environment and the health and safety of workers, as well as management’s approach to the sustainability of the industry, by conducting a review of the available scientific literature. We found that grave environmental pollution, such as physiochemical properties, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), organotins, oil and grease pollution, asbestos and other atmospheric pollutants, and its impact on marine ecosystems, biodiversity, forestry, fisheries and human health are the main obstacles for the development of a sustainable ship-breaking industry. In addition, labour safety and occupational health problems, social unrest and conflicts have resulted from the development of the ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh. Inappropriate management practices and inadequate plans regarding ship-breaking activities and processes are the main reasons for these challenges. Effective management measures to mitigate the adverse environmental impact of the ship-breaking industry and to improve the health and safety of workers have now become an urgent requirement.     

红树林湿地有机污染生态学的研究评述

有机污染物广泛并持久地存在于天然环境中,能够破坏生态环境,危害人体健康。红树林具有特殊的生态和环境特性,是吸收和积累多种有机污染物的理想场所。本文介绍了红树林生态系统有机污染物的分布及来源,总结了有机污染物对红树植物和动物的影响;评述了有机污染物在红树植物中的积累以及根际微生物对其的降解。最后,提出未来可能的发展方向,主要包括:（1）开展并建立红树林大量有机污染物的基础数据库;（2）研究典型有机污染物在红树林生态系统中的形态及迁移转化规律,同时探究其对红树植物和顶级捕食者的潜在毒性。（3）建立有机污染物浓度与生态效应的量化关系,利用模型评估有机污染物的直接毒性效应和间接生态效应。（4）加强红树林湿地微生物多样性调查,探究沉积物微生物对典型有机污染物的降解机理。     

我国终点型生命周期影响评价模型及基准值初步研究

为了开展生命周期影响评价方法的本地化研究工作,基于终点损害模型方法,通过文献查阅损害因子、核算人均基准值、问卷调研权重,构建了适用于我国的终点损害类生命周期影响评价模型.结果表明:①模型选取了致癌作用、细颗粒物形成、气候变化、水资源消耗、光化学臭氧形成、生态毒性、酸化、富营养化、土地利用、矿产资源、化石燃料11个环境影响类别,对应的终点损害类别为人体健康、生态系统、资源.②通过文献查阅获得了上述11个环境影响类别下污染物（或资源、能源）的损害因子.③以2017年为基准年,以我国为基准区域,核算了人体健康、生态系统和资源的人均基准值分别为0.019 DALY（disability adjusted life years,伤残调整寿命年）、6.08×10-5 species、2 467.42 MJ.研究显示,构建的终点损害模型不仅可以通过归一化将不同污染物以及资源、能源消耗核算成一个数值来表征环境影响,还可以实现产品内、产品间的相互比较,识别对环境影响较大的环节,推动绿色发展.      

Phytoremediation and its models for organic contaminated soils

Soil pollution has been attracting considerable public attentions over the last decades.Sorts of traditional physiochemical methods have been used to remove th organic pollutants from soils.However,the enormous costs and low efficiencies associated with these remediation technologies limit their availabilities.Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that uses plants to cleanup pollutants in soils.As overwhelmingly positive results have been shown,phytoremediation is a most economical and effective remediation technique for organic contaminated soils.In this paper phytoremediation and its models for organic contaminated soils are viewed.The mechanisms of phytoremediation mainly include the direct plant uptake of organic pollutants,degradation by plant-derived degradative enzymes,and stimulated biodegradation in plat rhizosphere.Phytoremediation efficiency is close related to physicochemical properties of organic pollutants, environmental characteristics,and plant types.It is no doubt that soil amendments such as surfactants improve the solubilities and availabilities of organic pollutants in soils.However,little information is available about effects of soil amendments on phytoremediation efficiencies.Phytoremediation models have been developed to imulate and predict the environmental behavior of organic pollutants,and progress of models is illustrated.In many ways phytoremediation is still in its initial stage,and recommendations for the future for the future research on phytoremediation are presented.     

Phytoremediation and its models for organic contaminated soils

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河口-近海环境新污染物的环境过程、效应与风险

在全球变化和人类活动双重影响下,大量陆源污染物特别是备受各国政府和民众关注的微塑料、新型持久性有机污染物以及药物和个人护理品等新污染物进入水体环境并迁移扩散,对近海生态环境安全和人体健康产生了巨大影响.综述国内外微塑料、全/多氟化合物、抗生素和内分泌干扰物等新污染物在河口-近海环境中的污染来源、时空分布和迁移传输等环境过程及其影响因素,分析探讨近海水生生态系统中新污染物产生的不良生态效应和风险,提出未来研究重点应关注河口-近海环境中多种新污染物的相互作用和新污染物产生的联合生态毒理效应及造成的生态和健康风险等,为陆海统筹下的海洋污染防治和海洋经济的健康发展提供科学依据.     

Linking analyses and environmental Kuznets curves for aggregated material flows in the EU

The relationship between economy and environmental impacts has been an essential topic in the discussion on environmental problems for a long time. From the 1990s, this relationship has gained a position in environmental policy as well. De-coupling the use of natural resources from economic growth has been set as one of the policy goals in the sixth Environmental Action Programme by the European Commission. In the scientific discussion, the concept of environmental Kuznets curve deals closely with the de-coupling or de-linking phenomenon. Aggregated material flows, on the other hand, have often been considered as a macro-level proxy of environmental degradation. Different methods or approaches have been designed for “sustainability” or “carrying capacity” evaluation as well. The objective of this article is (i) to discuss the possibilities and limitations of using environmental and economic indicators in the sustainability analysis at the macro level, (ii) to present a theoretical framework for the linking analysis including a classification of the degrees of de-linking/re-linking environmental impacts from/to economic growth, and (iii) to give an empirical example by using indicators of direct material flows as a proxy of environmental degradation and by applying the framework into the European Union and its 15 member countries. The results show that the trend in the European Union is a weak de-linking of material flows from economic growth during the years 1980–2000. In other words, material intensity of the economy has generally decreased due to increased efficiency, but the absolute amount of material use has increased, although at a lower rate of increase than economic growth. On the other hand, there is a quite large variation between different EU member countries. However, absolute decrease in the use of materials cannot be found as a continuous trend between the years 1980 and 2000 in any of the studied EU member countries.     

Acid deposition and its effects in China: an overview

Acid rain is an increasing environmental problem in China. At present SO₂ emission is about 20–22 million tons. However with a growing number of large power plants the long-range transport of air pollutants is expected to increase. The highest acid deposition is near the emission sources. Wind-blown, alkaline soil dust is important in neutralizing the acidity of the emissions, especially in large parts of northern China. In the south, where alkaline soil dust contributes less to acid neutralization, the annual pH in precipitation was below 4.5 at monitoring stations in several provinces and as low as 4.1 in some urban areas. Total sulfur deposition has been estimated to be about 10 g S m−² year⁻¹ in heavily exposed areas. Negative effects on forests, including die-back, have been reported for relatively small areas near large cities. Since large, regional surveys have not been carried out, there are large uncertainties about effects on a regional level. The high concentrations of gaseous pollutants, especially within and near the cities, are likely to have severe effects on human health as well as on materials and vegetation. Several field and laboratory studies, as well as computer simulations, indicate that acidification of soil and soil water has occurred in the past few decades. This has probably caused elevated concentrations of toxic aluminum in soil water. At present, the toxic effect of Al is likely to be counteracted by high concentrations of calcium at many places. The Chinese authorities have recognized air pollution and acid rain as serious environmental problems, however, there are difficulties in implementing effective measures to reduce the problems. With respect to ecological effects we lack a comprehensive regional overview of the extent of the acid deposition problem in China. Such information is necessary before effective countermeasures can be developed.     

Addressing the environmental risk of persistent organic pollutants in China

The Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was adopted in 2001. This year is the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention. Until now, 22 chemicals or chemical categories have been listed as POPs in the Stockholm Convention. The POPs Research Center was established in Tsinghua University in the same year when the Convention was adopted. In the last ten years, much work has been done by Chinese researchers to understand the environmental risk of POPs in China. This article aims to review the recent research progress of our POPs Research Center and some other Chinese researchers’ studies in addressing the environmental risk of POPs, including the priority screening and inventory study of POPs, monitoring and modeling of POPs pollution and exposure, and environmental risk assessment and modeling of POPs. Although great advances in addressing the environmental risk of POPs have been made in recent years, we are still facing quite a few problems, such as data scarcity and uncertainty in environmental risk assessment of POPs. The study on the effect of POPs mixtures is in its infancy and currently POPs are usually assessed from legal perspective by risk assessment of single chemicals. These problems should be well addressed by further efforts. Further studies should also be taken in future to study environment risk of POPs by considering aspects of coupled dynamics between climate processes and POPs. Such sound scientific, riskbased information can support decision-making aiming to effectively minimize the risk level of POPs.     

建材与室内空气质量关系的评价方法

室内污染是对人体健康的五大环境危险之首，相当多的建筑材料在使用过程中含有人体有害成分，构成了室内污染的主体。文章对建筑材料对室内窑品质的直接和间接影响论述，并在此基础上提出了建筑材料对室内空气品质的影响的评价原则及方法。     

纳米零价铁在水处理中的应用研究综述

纳米零价铁(nZVI)作为最常用的纳米颗粒之一,在去除环境水体中的污染物方面开展了大量的研究.本篇综述通过系统全面地总结nZVI的相关进展,介绍nZVI的各个方面进而指导其发展方向.其中,研究内容主要包括制备方法、改性方式、去除不同水中污染物的作用机理和催化机理、在场地研究中的应用以及毒性作用机制.本文发现,纳米零价铁仍存在缺少综合评价方法、应用受限、各项研究不同步等问题.nZVI未来的发展,应具备考虑反应性、稳定性、迁移性、毒性的评价方法,避免同一改性材料在不同研究方向的时间差异性,让nZVI的应用更好地适用实地研究.     

典型工程纳米材料对微藻的毒性效应研究进展

近年来,随着纳米技术的快速发展,工程纳米材料由于其良好的物理化学特性而广泛应用于各行各业。然而,在生产、使用和丢弃含有工程纳米材料产品的过程中不可避免地导致纳米材料释放到水环境中。工程纳米材料已在世界多地的水环境中被检测到,给水生态系统和人体健康带来潜在风险。由于水环境的复杂性,工程纳米材料在水体中的环境行为、毒性效应等生态风险还未得到充分的研究。本文以微藻为模型生物,总结了典型工程纳米材料,包括纳米金属、纳米氧化物、碳纳米材料以及量子点的毒性效应。探讨了工程纳米材料在水中的环境行为以及与其它污染物的复合毒性效应,讨论了工程纳米材料自身理化性质和环境因素对其毒性的影响。从生理指标和组学指标出发分析了工程纳米材料对微藻的毒性机制,并展望了工程纳米材料毒性研究的发展方向,以期为工程纳米材料的毒性评价提供一定的理论依据,促进纳米材料的绿色发展。     

我国钢铁行业环境现状分析与对策研究

钢铁工业是我国国民经济的重要基础产业和实现新兴工业化的支柱产业,同时存在能源消耗和环境污染的一系列问题。通过对钢铁行业的能源消耗和环境保护的现状及特点进行总结,归纳了该行业突出存在的环境问题,提出相应的环境保护对策,并指导钢铁行业未来的发展;提出了提高生产装备水平、控制污染物排放总量和严格环评准入等方面的建议。     

中国环境科学理论研究及发展

主要介绍20年来中国环境科学基本理论研究及其发展。即大气和水环境科学与环境生态学和环境管理学主要理论研究及其发展。20年来中国环境科学发展甚为迅速,根据环境流体力学基本理论,研究污染物在大气和水环境中迁移扩散规律,与国际上同类研究并驾齐驱。大气环境化学研究中,对光化学烟雾和酸雨形成条件和机理;水环境化学中,对重金属形态转化和氮、磷转化规律取得许多基本结论。与国外同类研究尚有一定差距。特别污染有机化学基本理论研究甚为薄弱。环境生态学20年来做了大量研究工作,积累了许多资料,对一些巨大环境生态问题,如富营养化作用、赤潮等问题形成机理尚待突破。环境管理学成就最大,从实践中已探索出中国环境管理学研究的道路。已为1992年在巴西召开的“联合国环境与发展会议”所肯定。中国自然环境复杂,经济迅速在发展,会出现许多新的环境问题,其形成规律和防治途经有待全国环境科学研究者研究。     

空气污染对气候变化影响与反馈的研究评述

气候变化和空气污染都是人类面临的重要环境问题,其影响与反馈已成为空气污染和气候变化领域的研究热点. 总结了空气污染与气候变化相互作用机理,系统梳理了国内外有关空气污染对气候变化影响及反馈的研究成果,并且重点评述了黑碳和硫酸盐气溶胶辐射强迫及其气候效应、气候变化对近地面臭氧和颗粒物影响等领域的研究进展. 分析指出,现阶段尚没有一个能够综合考虑气象条件、排放源、下垫面等诸多因子对空气污染的影响机理过程模型,无法定量描述大气组分在不同气象条件作用下的演变过程等. 提出未来研究中应深化对机理机制的认识,减少模式的不确定性,加强在排放清单的编制、立体观测网的构建、互馈机理的试验、模式的集成耦合等方面的研究.      

物质流分析视角下北京市物质代谢研究

作为"重大国家战略"的"京津冀一体化"日益引起社会各界的高度重视,推动其进程的加快,首先要解决的就是该区域的资源环境问题,而北京作为该经济圈的核心,其资源环境问题的解决更是起着关键性的作用.在提高城市环境质量、改善人们生存环境方面,北京市仍任重而道远.运用物质流分析方法(EW-MFA)可以深入探讨社会经济发展与资源消耗及环境污染之间的关系,从而为社会经济发展过程中资源环境问题的解决提供科学依据.因此,本文采用欧盟物质流核算框架(EW-MFA)建立了北京市"吞吐"状态的物质代谢模型.结果表明:1992—2014年北京市的物质输入与输出总体呈上升趋势,矿物和化石燃料是北京市物质输入的主要组成部分;受社会经济发展水平的影响,北京市的物质投入强度表现出先上升后下降的趋势;研究期间内物质代谢效率不断提高.针对北京市的资源环境问题,应转变传统发展理念,不能一味地追求物质财富的增加而忽略生态环境的影响,且不断推动技术的革新和产业结构的调整应成为实现社会经济可持续发展的有效路径.