Chemical reactivities of ambient air samples in three Southern California communities

The potential adverse health effects of PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) and vapor samples from three communities that neighbor railyards, Commerce (CM), Long Beach (LB), and San Bernardino (SB), were assessed by determination of chemical reactivities attributed to the induction of oxidative stress by air pollutants. The assays used were dithiothreitol (DTT)- and dihydrobenzoic acid (DHBA)-based procedures for prooxidant content and a glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) assay for electrophiles. Prooxidants and electrophiles have been proposed as the reactive chemical species responsible for the induction of oxidative stress by air pollution mixtures. The PM_2.5 samples from CM and LB sites showed seasonal differences in reactivities, with higher levels in the winter, whereas the SB sample differences were reversed. The reactivities in the vapor samples were all very similar, except for the summer SB samples, which contained higher levels of both prooxidants and electrophiles. The results suggest that the observed reactivities reflect general geographical differences rather than direct effects of the railyards. Distributional differences in reactivities were also observed, with PM_2.5 fractions containing most of the prooxidants (74–81%) and the vapor phase most of the electrophiles (82–96%). The high levels of the vapor-phase electrophiles and their potential for adverse biological effects point out the importance of the vapor phase in assessing the potential health effects of ambient air.

Implications:?PM_2.5 and its corresponding vapor phase, containing semivolatile organics, were collected in three communities in the Los Angeles Basin and examined with toxicologically relevant chemical assays. The PM_2.5 phase contained most of the prooxidants and the vapor phase contained most of the electrophiles, whose content was highest in summer samples from a receptor site that reflected greater photochemical processing of the air parcel during its transport. As electrophiles initiate both adverse and adaptive responses to foreign substances by biological systems, their presence in the vapor phase emphasizes the importance of this phase in the overall health effects of ambient air.     

ChemChar process for carbon re-activation

The ChemChar reverse-burn gasification process was evaluated to determine its feasibility for use in the regeneration of spent activated carbon. This non-incinerative, thermochemical gasification process pyrolyzes the sorbed wastes and restores the sorptive capacity of the carbon in one energy-efficient step. The effects of moisture and supplemental fuel addition on regeneration were determined with a laboratory-scale reactor and a flow-through assay method was developed for determining regeneration effectiveness. The process produces good quality regenerated carbon simply and inexpensively with a minimum of carbon loss. Carbons can be regenerated several times and the method is non-polluting.     

Landfill leachate effects on sorption of organic micropollutants onto aquifer materials

The effect of dissolved organic carbon as present in landfill leachate, on the sorption of organic micropollutants in aquifer materials was studied by laboratory batch and column experiments involving 15 non-polar organic chemicals, 5 landfill leachates and 4 aquifer materials of low organic carbon content. The experiments showed that hydrophobic organic micropollutants do partition into dissolved organic carbon found in landfill leachate potentially increasing their mobility. However, landfill leachate interacted with aquifer materials apparently increases the sorbent affinity for the hydrophobic micropollutants. The combination of these two mechanisms affected the observed distribution coefficients within a factor of two, in some cases increasing and in other cases decreasing the sorption of the chemicals. No means for prediction of the effect is currently available, but from a practical point of view, the effect of landfill leachate on retardation of organic micropollutants in aquifer material seems limited.     

Poliovirus and Other Enteroviruses from Environmental Surveillance in Italy, 2009–2015

Within the initiatives for poliomyelitis eradication by WHO, Italy activated an environmental surveillance (ES) in 2005. ES complements clinical Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance for possible polio cases, detects poliovirus circulation in environmental sewage, and is used to monitor transmission in communities. In addition to polioviruses, the analyses comprised: (i) the monitoring of the presence of non-polio enteroviruses in sewage samples and (ii) the temporal and geographical distribution of the detected viruses. From 2009 to 2015, 2880 sewage samples were collected from eight cities participating in the surveillance. Overall, 1479 samples resulted positive for enteroviruses. No wild-type polioviruses were found, although four Sabin-like polioviruses were detected. The low degree of mutation found in the genomes of these four isolates suggests that these viruses have had a limited circulation in the population. All non-polio enteroviruses belonged to species B and the most frequent serotype was CV-B5, followed by CV-B4, E-11, E-6, E-7, CV-B3, and CV-B2. Variations in the frequency of different serotypes were also observed in different seasons and/or Italian areas. Environmental surveillance in Italy, as part of the ‘WHO global polio eradication program’, is a powerful tool to augment the polio surveillance and to investigate the silent circulation or the re-emergence of enteroviruses in the population.     

Large-Scale Survey of Human Enteroviruses in Wastewater Treatment Plants of a Metropolitan Area of Southern Italy

Human enteroviruses (HEVs) occur in high concentrations in wastewater and can contaminate receiving environmental waters, constituting a major cause of acute waterborne disease worldwide. In this study, we investigated the relative abundance, occurrence, and seasonal distribution of polio and other enteroviruses at three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Naples, Southern Italy, from January 2010 to December 2014. Influent and effluent samples from the three WWTPs were collected monthly. One hundred and sixty-one of the 731 wastewater samples collected (22.0%) before and after water treatment were CPE positive on RD cells; while no samples were positive on L20B cells from any WWTPs. Among the 140 non-polio enterovirus isolated from inlet sewage, 69.3% were Coxsackieviruses type B and 30.7% were Echoviruses. Among these, CVB3 and CVB5 were most prevalent, followed by CVB4 and Echo6. The twenty-one samples tested after treatment contained 6 CVB4, 5 CVB3, 3 Echo11, and 2 Echo6; while other serotypes were isolated less frequently. Data on viral detection in treated effluents of WWTPs confirmed the potential environmental contamination by HEVs and could be useful to establish standards for policies on wastewater management.     

Sources,Fate and Distribution of Organic Matter on the Western Adriatic Continental Shelf,Italy

In the framework of the EUROSTRATAFORM projects, a multidisciplinary research was focused on processes that involve transport and deposition of riverine material in the Adriatic Sea. The aim of our contribution was to increase a more complete understanding of organic matter deposition on the Adriatic shelf, also taking into account the role of Apennine rivers beyond the Po influence. In order to characterize origin, fate and variability of sedimentary organic carbon we utilized elemental and stable carbon isotope data in surficial sediments along shallow cross-shelf transects on the western Adriatic shelf.     

Regional Lake Trophic Patterns in the Northeastern United States: Three Approaches

N   = 11,076). Results were compared to a large, nonrandomly sampled data set for the same area compiled by Rohm and others and contrasted with lake trophic state information published in the National Water Quality Inventory: 1994 Report to Congress [305(b) report. Lakes across the entire Northeast were identified by EMAP data as 37.9% (±8.4%) oligotrophic, 40.1% (±9.7%) mesotrophic, 12.6% (±7.9%) eutrophic, and 9.3% (±6.3%) hypereutrophic. Lakes in the ADI and NEU generally are at a low, nearly identical trophic state (96% oligotrophic/mesotrophic), while those in the CLP are much richer (45% eutrophic). EMAP results are similar to results of the Rohm data set across the entire region. In the CLP, however, EMAP identified approximately 45% of the lakes as eutrophic/hypereutrophic, while the Rohm data set identified only 21% in these categories. Across the entire Northeast, the 305(b) report identified a much higher proportion (32.2%) of lakes in eutrophic condition and a much smaller proportion (19.8%) in oligotrophic condition than did the EMAP survey data (12.5% ± 7.9% and 37.9% ± 8.5%, respectively). Probability sampling has several advantages over nonrandom sampling when regional resource condition assessment is the goal.     

Directionality of the cricket ear: A property of the tympanal membrane

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