Role of membrane and compound properties in affecting the rejection of pharmaceuticals by different RO/NF membranes

This study was conducted to assess the merits and limitations of various high-pressure membranes, tight nanofiltration (NF) membranes in particular, for the removal of trace organic compounds (TrOCs). The performance of a low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) membrane (ESPA1), a tight NF membrane (NF90) and two loose NF membranes (HL and NF270) was compared for the rejection of 23 different pharmaceuticals (PhACs). Efforts were also devoted to understand the effect of adsorption on the rejection performance of each membrane. Difference in hydrogen bond formation potential (HFP) was taken into consideration. Results showed that NF90 performed similarly to ESPA1 with mean rejection higher than 95%. NF270 outperformed HL in terms of both water permeability and PhAC rejection higher than 90%. Electrostatic effects were more significant in PhAC rejection by loose NF membranes than tight NF and LPRO membranes. The adverse effect of adsorption on rejection by HL and ESPA1 was more substantial than NF270 and NF90, which could not be simply explained by the difference in membrane surface hydrophobicity, selective layer thickness or pore size. The HL membrane had a lower rejection of PhACs of higher hydrophobicity (log D>0) and higher HFP (>0.02). Nevertheless, the effects of PhAC hydrophobicity and HFP on rejection by ESPA1 could not be discerned. Poor rejection of certain PhACs could generally be explained by aspects of steric hindrance, electrostatic interactions and adsorption. High-pressure membranes like NF90 and NF270 have a high promise in TrOC removal from contaminated water.

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Recovery of rare and precious metals from urban mines—A review

Urban mining is essential for continued natural resource extraction. The recovery of rare and precious metals (RPMs) from urban mines has attracted increasing attention from both academic and industrial sectors, because of the broad application and high price of RPMs, and their low content in natural ores. This study summarizes the distribution characteristics of various RPMs in urban mines, and the advantages and shortcomings of various technologies for RPM recovery from urban mines, including both conventional (pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and biometallurgical processing), and emerging (electrochemical, supercritical fluid, mechanochemical, and ionic liquids processing) technologies. Mechanical/physical technologies are commonly employed to separate RPMs from nonmetallic components in a pre-treatment process. A pyrometallurgical process is often used for RPM recovery, although the expensive equipment required has limited its use in small and medium-sized enterprises. Hydrometallurgical processing is effective and easy to operate, with high selectivity of target metals and high recovery efficiency of RPMs, compared to pyrometallurgy. Biometallurgy, though, has shown the most promise for leaching RPMs from urban mines, because of its low cost and environmental friendliness. Newly developed technologies—electrochemical, supercritical fluid, ionic liquid, and mechanochemical—have offered new choices and achieved some success in laboratory experiments, especially as efficient and environmentally friendly methods of recycling RPMs. With continuing advances in science and technology, more technologies will no doubt be developed in this field, and be able to contribute to the sustainability of RPM mining.

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3种杀菌剂及其复配剂对斑马鱼的急性毒性

采用"半静态法"测定了3种农药及其复配剂对斑马鱼的24 h、48 h、72 h和96 h急性毒性,根据我国《化学农药环境安全评价实验准则》中毒性等级划分标准来划分它们对斑马鱼的毒性等级,发现35%精甲霜灵悬浮种衣剂的24 h、48 h、72 h和96 h-LC_(50)均超过10 a.i.mg·L~(-1),属"低毒"级,而25 g·L~(-1)咯菌腈悬浮种衣剂的24 h、48 h、72 h和96 h-LC_(50)分别为0.704 mg·L~(-1)、0.514 mg·L~(-1)、0.424 mg·L~(-1)、0.262 mg·L~(-1),根据0.100 a.i.mg·L~(-1)LC_(50)(96 h)≤1.00 a.i.mg·L~(-1)划分,属"高毒"级,80%嘧菌酯水分散粒剂的24 h、48 h、72 h和96 h-LC_(50)分别为9.803 mg·L~(-1)、5.175 mg·L~(-1)、4.328 mg·L~(-1)、2.326 mg·L~(-1),根据1.00 a.i.mg·L~(-1)LC_(50)(96 h)≤10.00 a.i.mg·L~(-1)划分,属于"中毒"级。11%精甲霜灵-咯菌腈-嘧菌酯悬浮种衣剂的24 h、48 h、72 h和96 h-LC_(50)分别为2.267 mg·L~(-1)、2.073 mg·L~(-1)、1.620 mg·L~(-1)、1.280 mg·L~(-1),根据1.00 a.i.mg·L~(-1)LC_(50)(96 h)≤10.00 a.i.mg·L~(-1)划分,属于"中毒",虽然11%精甲霜灵-咯菌腈-嘧菌酯悬浮种衣剂和80%嘧菌酯水分散粒剂同属"中毒",但比较具体数值,发现11%精甲霜灵-咯菌腈-嘧菌酯悬浮种衣剂毒性相对更大,原因是其中含有"高毒"的咯菌腈。     

三氯卡班可以影响肾小管上皮细胞的屏障功能

三氯卡班(TCC)是一种被广泛应用于个人护理用品中的广谱型亲脂性杀菌剂,已在多种环境介质和生物体中检出。因其潜在的环境蓄积、生物累积和生物毒性效应,日益受到学者们的关注。借助TCC对NRK-52E(大鼠肾小管上皮细胞)的毒性暴露实验,通过检测细胞活力、以及与跨膜电阻和紧密连接相关的连接黏附分子1(JAM~(-1),junctional adhesion molecule 1)的蛋白表达水平,研究了TCC潜在的肾脏毒性效应。结果显示,10μmol·L~(-1)TCC处理48 h时培养细胞呈现不规则的集落;10μmol·L~(-1)和20μmol·L~(-1)TCC处理NRK-52E 24 h、48 h和72 h后可以显著抑制细胞生长;3.57μmol·L~(-1)TCC(生长抑制的48 hIC20)处理NRK-52E 48 h可以显著抑制细胞间紧密连接蛋白JAM~(-1)的表达量,并降低跨膜电阻,影响肾脏的屏障功能。本研究的结果能够为进一步揭示TCC对动物的毒害机制、评估其对动物的健康风险提供数据支持。     

环境有毒有害物质快速鉴别方法与应用

频发的污染事故严重影响环境质量,危害人群健康,事故的源解析和修复成为了关键问题。而传统的靶向分析方法无法胜任实际工作需求。因此,本研究建立了1)有毒有害物质清单;2)一种针对有毒有害物质的快速高效鉴别方法。将上述方法应用于某场地污染事件,成功筛查鉴定出30种环境高关注度物质,通过数据库比对进一步鉴定了6种危废物质,通过购买标准样品成功验证了4种物质。同时,还通过文献查阅与标样比对确认了另外2种有毒物质。因此,本研究建立的有毒有害物质快速筛查方法为实际环境中的污染物快速鉴别提供了一种可靠的、可行的方法。     

有机磷农药二元混合物联合效应评价新方法的研究

以敌敌畏、乐果联合作用于线虫的毒理学实验为基础,基于FH插值法理论,通过较少的实验数据建立有机磷农药二元混合物联合效应模型,求解作用效应表达式并绘制联合效应三维曲面图;基于合并用药分析公式,计算联合作用评价q值并绘制农药浓度与q值的联合作用评价三维曲面图,结果表明敌敌畏与乐果混合物联合作用不仅表现为相加作用,而且还在局部低浓度表现为拮抗作用,与多元统计分析结果一致。上述研究表明FH插值法理论可作为二元有机磷农药联合效应分析及评价的一种新方法。     

气溶胶中抗生素抗性基因研究进展:以养殖场和医院为例

抗生素在医药和养殖业的大量使用导致耐药菌的出现,加速了抗生素抗性基因(antibiotic resistance genes,ARGs)在不同环境介质中的传播扩散,抗生素耐药性已成为目前全球卫生、食品安全和发展的最大威胁之一。气溶胶作为ARGs的潜在储存库缺乏系统的研究数据,而通过空气传播具有较高抗生素抗性水平的细菌可能是引起重要疾病的主要传播途径。本文针对养殖场和医院2个抗生素大量使用的典型场所,对气溶胶中ARGs的污染现状、样品采集与检测技术进行综述,并探讨了这一环境污染的潜在风险,表明开展气溶胶中ARGs研究的必要性,并为以后需开展的工作提出几点建议。     

不同暴露途径下有机污染物对大鼠急性毒性的相关性研究

不同暴露途径下有机物在生物体内的吸收分布不同,导致毒性效应亦不同,研究化学品在不同暴露途径下对生物体的毒性,对化学品的安全性评价有实际意义。本文通过研究静脉注射、腹腔注射、肌肉注射与经口灌胃4种暴露途径下527个有机物对大鼠的急性毒性数据相关性,比较了不同暴露途径下大鼠对有机污染物的敏感度顺序,结果为:静脉注射>腹腔注射>肌肉注射>经口灌胃途径,静脉注射途径下log1/LD50与其他几种注射途径下的log1/LD50有较显著的相关性,但是与灌胃途径下毒性值之间的相关性较差,相关系数r的范围为0.82~0.97。通过逐项分析研究不同暴露途径下化合物对大鼠的急性毒性与生物利用度、吸收速率、消除速率以及代谢过程的关系,结果表明,导致这种差异的原因主要是有机污染物在大鼠体内的吸附动力学过程不同所致。     

Urinary metabolomic profiling in rats exposed to dietary di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS)

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is an omnipresent environmental chemical with widespread nonoccupational human exposure through multiple ways. Although considerable efforts have been invested to investigate mechanisms of DEHP toxicity, the key metabolic biomarkers of DEHP toxicity remain to be identified. The aim of this study was to assess the urinary metabonomics of dietary DEHP in rats using the technique of ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS). Fourteen female Wistar rats were divided into two groups and given increasing dietary doses of DEHP for 30 consecutive days. The urinary metabolite profile was studied using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) enabled clusters to be clearly separated. Eleven principal urinary metabolites were identified as contributing to the clusters. The clusters in the positive electrospray ionization (ESI) mode were xanthurenic acid, kynurenic acid, nonate, N6-methyladenosine, and L-isoleucyl-L-proline. The clusters in the negative ESI mode were hippuric acid, tetrahydrocortisol, citric acid, phenylpropionylglycine, cPA(18:2(9Z, 12Z)/0:0), and LysoPC(14:1(9Z)). The urinary metabonomic changes indicated that exposure to dietary DEHP can affect energy-related metabolism, liver and renal function, fatty acid metabolism, and cause DNA damage in rats. The findings of this study on the urinary metabolites and metabolic pathways of DEHP may form the basis for future studies on the mechanisms of toxicity of this commonly found environmental chemical.