The sorption of selenite from aqueous solutions by pyrite

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace nutrient for mammals; however, the range between deficit and toxic levels is narrow. In this study, the potential sorption of selenite onto pyrite particles from an aqueous solution was investigated. An intraparticle diffusion model was used to describe kinetic data of sorption, yielding diffusivity values of 5 × 10^?7 cm²/s. The Langmuir isotherm equation could be used to describe the experimental data. The fitting results indicated that b and {Se(IV)}_max have values of 0.37 L/mg and 3.49 mg/g, respectively. The sorption of selenite onto the surface of pyrite particles was dependent on a pH range of 2–12, and the quantity of sorption onto pyrite was negatively correlated with pH; that is, the amount of sorption onto pyrite increased with a decrease in pH. In addition, organic matter did not exert a significant effect on removal of selenite. With a reaction time greater than 1 week, sorption of selenite onto pyrite particles was found to partially reduce the amount of elemental Se.     

Fecal DDA as a biomarker of DDT exposure in chickens

Despite the largely theoretical risks for human morbidity from exposure to DDT (p, p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), the reality that it is inexpensive and highly effective in reducing morbidity and mortality from malaria vectors has encouraged its continued use. Here we present data indicating that domestic fowl are potentially excellent sentinel species for detecting possible human exposures to DDT. In addition to measuring residues of DDT in chicken blood or eggs, a potential alternate analyte indicative of recent DDT exposure is the definitive metabolic product DDA (2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)acetic acid) in feces.     

炼金区土壤中汞形态分布及其生物有效性

采用修正的Tessier方法和回归、偏相关等分析技术,研究了某金矿附近土壤中汞的赋存状态及其相互转化关系和生物可利用性.结果显示该区土壤中各形态汞的含量趋势为:有机结合态残渣态可交换态铁锰氧化态碳酸盐结合态,其中有机结合态汞所占比重最大在60%以上,是最重要的赋存形态;土壤中各形态汞不是独立存在的,内部存在一定的转化关系,如碳酸盐结合态汞可以转化成铁锰氧化态、残渣态的汞,而铁锰氧化态的汞与残渣态的汞之间却存在着一定的竞争关系,这种转化关系在外界条件的影响下处于一种动态平衡状态;土壤中的可交换态和有机结合态是较容易被植物吸收利用有效态的汞,其他形态汞被植物吸收较少.     

典型河谷城市儿童土壤与灰尘铅暴露风险

为定量评价河谷型城市土壤与灰尘铅对城市儿童健康的影响与风险,结合野外调查的基础上,以陕西渭河谷地典型工业城市宝鸡、西安、渭南和铜川为研究区域,以定量分析河谷型城市儿童环境铅暴露为核心,收集4个城市土壤与灰尘分析样品总计243个。利用X射线荧光光谱法测定了4个城市土壤与灰尘铅的含量;采用BCR连续形态分级法探究了城市土壤与灰尘重金属铅地球化学形态分布与迁移特征;根据US EPA污染物暴露与健康风险评价模型对城市儿童铅暴露进行了评价。研究结果表明渭河谷地典型城市宝鸡、铜川、西安和渭南城市土壤与灰尘铅浓度(X±SD)分别为(409.2±52.54)和(624.70±66.15)mg·kg-1、(357.47±41.37)和(592.60±36.78)mg·kg-1、(61.4±13.31)和(78.42±14.89)mg·kg-1、(46.71±12.11)和(64.7±13.76)mg·kg-1,均高出陕西省土壤铅背景值;污染水平依次为宝鸡铜川西安渭南。4个河谷型城市土壤与灰尘重金属铅发生整体迁移的趋势为:宝鸡城市灰尘(90.71%)西安城市灰尘(84.74%)≥宝鸡城市土壤(83.12%)渭南城市灰尘(74.89%)≥西安城市土壤(74.50%)铜川城市灰尘(72.49%)铜川城市土壤(57.50%)渭南城市土壤(53.79%)。可见,铅在均在城市灰尘中的迁移趋势远大于相应的城市土壤。4个城市土壤与灰尘均表现出较大的儿童暴露致癌风险,宝鸡和铜川城市儿童土壤与灰尘铅暴露也分别存在非致癌风险,风险程度依次为宝鸡铜川西安渭南。儿童铅暴露致癌与非致癌风险程度与其城市土壤和灰尘中铅可氧化态分布呈相似的规律,表明碱性的城市土壤与城市灰尘(p H7)中可氧化态铅可能是导致河谷型城市儿童铅暴露风险和儿童血铅污染的主要形态和因素。由此,城市燃煤排放与含铅制品的加工等活动可能是渭河谷地河谷型城市儿童血铅与铅暴露最主要的贡献源,必须采取长期有效的监测与控制措施。     

纳米Al_2O_3和Cd联合暴露对铜锈环棱螺体内Cd的生物积累和抗氧化酶活性的影响

金属氧化物纳米颗粒的广泛应用导致它们大量地释放到水环境中,其独特的理化性质有可能改变水环境中其他共存污染物(如重金属)的生态毒性。为评价沉积物中纳米氧化铝(Al2O3-NPs)对重金属Cd生态毒性的影响,采用底栖生物慢性暴露研究了Al2O3-NPs存在条件下Cd在底栖动物铜锈环棱螺体内生物积累的变化和Cd对肝胰脏抗氧化防御系统关键成分超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)与脂质过氧化指标丙二醛(MDA)以及Ⅱ相反应的关键酶谷胱甘肽-S-转移酶(GST)的影响。结果表明,低Cd浓度(5μg·g-1)时,Al2O3-NPs对Cd生物积累没有影响;中、高Cd浓度(25、100μg·g-1)时,Al2O3-NPs显著促进Cd的生物积累,Al2O3-NPs对Cd的生物转运具有明显的携带效应。低Cd浓度时,无Al2O3-NPs处理组和Al2O3-NPs处理组的SOD活性与对照组相比均没有显著差异;中Cd浓度时,SOD活性显著升高,而高Cd浓度时,SOD活性显著下降,而且Al2O3-NPs处理组的SOD活性显著低于无Al2O3-NPs处理组,Al2O3-NPs的存在加重了Cd对肝胰脏细胞的氧化胁迫或损伤。高Cd浓度时,无Al2O3-NPs处理组和Al2O3-NPs处理组的MDA水平均显著升高,但Al2O3-NPs处理组的MDA水平显著低于无Al2O3-NPs处理组,进一步证明Al2O3-NPs对Cd氧化损伤的增强作用。中、高Cd浓度时,无Al2O3-NPs处理组和Al2O3-NPs处理组的GST活性均显著下降,但Al2O3-NPs处理组的GST活性均显著低于无Al2O3-NPs处理组,同样说明了Al2O3-NPs对Cd毒性的增强作用。本研究提供了在沉积物-底栖动物体系中Al2O3-NPs促进重金属生物积累的证据,而且Cd毒性的变化与肝胰脏中Cd的生物积累水平的变化基本一致,在中、高Cd浓度下,由于Al2O3-NPs的存在显著促进了Cd的生物积累,因而增强了Cd对铜锈环棱螺的生态毒性。     

全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)和多壁碳纳米管(MWCNTs)复合对斑马鱼外周血红细胞DNA的损伤

为了评价全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)和多壁碳纳米管(MWCNTs)对水环境及鱼类的影响,以斑马鱼为模式生物,研究了PFOS和MWCNTs复合对斑马鱼外周血红细胞的DNA损伤。将成年斑马鱼暴露于PFOS(0.2、0.4、0.8、1.6 mg·L-1)、MWCNTs(50 mg·L-1)、PFOS+MWCNTs(0.2+50、0.4+50、0.8+50、1.6+50 mg·L-1)和对照溶液中30 d后,断尾取血进行微核试验和彗星试验。结果表明:PFOS和MWCNTs均可造成斑马鱼外周血红细胞的DNA损伤。1.6 mg·L-1PFOS处理组的微核率、Olive尾矩及尾长分别为(36.3±0.25)‰、(87.91±14.90)μm和(250.49±34.71)μm。PFOS与MWCNTs复合后,斑马鱼外周血红细胞的DNA损伤效应明显降低。复合处理组斑马鱼外周血红细胞的微核率、Olive尾矩及尾长均低于PFOS单独处理相。1.6 mg·L-1复合处理组的微核率、Olive尾矩及尾长比PFOS单独处理组分别降低了24.7%、68.9%、52.4%。因此,在实验浓度范围内,MWCNTs可以降低PFOS对斑马鱼外周血红细胞的DNA损伤。     

磺化石墨烯对小麦幼苗生长及生理生化指标的影响

随着石墨烯生产量和使用量的不断增大,其对生态环境的风险逐渐引起了环境学家的关注。采用水培试验,探究了磺化石墨烯(SGO)对小麦幼苗的生长、抗氧化酶活性及脂质过氧化的影响。结果表明:在培养10 d后,低浓度磺化石墨烯对小麦根系的生长有显著促进作用(P0.05),200 mg·L-1浓度处理与对照处理相比提高了84.3%,随着浓度增加促进作用逐渐减弱,1 000 mg·L-1时与对照相比提高了19.9%。但对小麦地上部的生长没有影响。磺化石墨烯处理的小麦幼苗根系和叶片组织中超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、过氧化物酶(POD)及丙二醛(MDA)都呈现先下降后上升的趋势。当磺化石墨烯浓度低于200 mg·L-1时,处理组小麦抗氧化酶的活性及MDA含量相对于对照处理大都有所降低,说明低浓度时磺化石墨烯没有对小麦的生长产生氧化胁迫,这与磺化石墨烯可能具有一定的抗氧化能力有关,而高浓度时由于产生氧化胁迫使各项生理生化指标逐渐上升。本实验结果为石墨烯材料对植物的毒理学研究提供了基础数据。     

Mass concentrations and temporal profiles of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 near major urban roads in Beijing

Mass concentrations of PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and PM₁ were measured near major roads in Beijing during six periods: summer and winter of 2001, winter of 2007, and periods before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Since the control efforts for motor vehicles helped offset the increase of emissions from the rapid growth of vehicles, the averaged PM_2.5 concentrations at roadsides during the sampling period between 2001 and 2008 fluctuated over a relatively small range. With the implementation of temporary traffic control measures during the Olympics, a clear “V” shaped curve showing the concentrations of particulate matter and other gaseous air pollutants at roadsides over time was identified. The average concentrations of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, CO and NO decreased by 31.2%, 46.3%, 32.3% and 35.4%, respectively, from June to August; this was followed by a rebound of all air pollutants in December 2008. Daily PM₁₀ concentrations near major roads exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (Grade II) for 61.2% of the days in the non-Olympic periods, while only for 12.5% during the Olympics. The mean ratio of PM_2.5/PM₁₀ near major roads remained relatively stable at 0.55 (±0.108) on non-Olympic days. The ratio decreased to 0.48 (±0.099) during the Olympics due to a greater decline in fine particles than in coarse-mode PM. The ratios PM₁/PM_2.5 fluctuated over a wide range and were statistically different from each other during the sampling periods. The average ratios of PM₁/PM_2.5 on non-Olympic days were 0.71.     

Development of pretreatment protocol for DNA extraction from biofilm attached to biologic activated carbon (BAC) granules

The biologic activated carbon (BAC) process is widely used in drinking water treatments. A comprehensive molecular analysis of the microbial community structure provides very helpful data to improve the reactor performance. However, the bottleneck of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction from BAC attached biofilm has to be solved since the conventional procedure was unsuccessful due to firm biomass attachment and adsorption capacity of the BAC granules. In this study, five pretreatments were compared, and adding skim milk followed by ultrasonic vibration was proven to be the optimal choice. This protocol was further tested using the vertical BAC samples from the full-scale biofilter of Pinghu Water Plant. The results showed the DNA yielded a range of 40 μg·g^-1 BAC (dry weight) to over 100 μg·g^-1 BAC (dry weight), which were consistent with the biomass distribution. All results suggested that the final protocol could produce qualified genomic DNA as a template from the BAC filter for downstream molecular biology researches.     

Sorption of tetracycline to sediments and soils: assessing the roles of pH,the presence of cadmium and properties of sediments and soils

Batch sorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the sorption behavior of tetracycline (TC, H₃L) on sediments and soils in the presence and absence of cadmium (Cd), as affected by pH and properties of sediments and soils. The results indicated stronger nonlinearity and higher capacity of TC sorption on sediments than on soils. Sorption of TC also strongly depended on environmental factors and sediment/soil properties. Lower pH facilitated TC sorption through a cation exchange mechanism, which also took place at pH values above 5.5, where TC existed as a zwitterion (H₂L⁰) or anions (HL^- and L^2-). When pH was above 7, however, ligand-promoted dissolution of TC might occur due to TC weakening the Al-O bond of aluminum oxide and the Fe-O bond of iron oxide. Natural organic matter (NOM) plays a more important role in TC sorption than cation exchange capacity (CEC) and clay contents. The presence of Cd (II) increased TC sorption on both sediments and soils, which resulted from the decrease of equilibrium solution pH caused by Cd²⁺ exchange with H⁺ ions of sediment/soil surfaces. The increase of TC sorption was also related to the formation of TC-Cd complexes, where Cd²⁺ acted as a bridge between the sediment/soil and TC.