A mini review of fluoride-induced apoptotic pathways

Fluorine or fluoride can have toxic effects on bone tissue and soft tissue at high concentrations. These negative effects include but not limited to cytotoxicity, immunotoxicity, blood toxicity, and oxidative damage. Apoptosis plays an important role in fluoride-induced toxicity of kidney, liver, spleen, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, cecal tonsil, and cultured cells. Here, apoptosis activated by high level of fluoride has been systematically reviewed, focusing on three pathways: mitochondrion-mediated, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated, and death receptor-mediated pathways. However, very limited reports are focused on the death receptor-mediated apoptosis pathways in the fluoride-induced apoptosis. Therefore, understanding and discovery of more pathways and molecular mechanisms of fluoride-induced apoptosis may contribute to designing measures for preventing fluoride toxicity.     

Mechanism of the intermittent motion of two-phase debris flows

A typical two-phase debris flow exhibits a high and steep flow head consisting of rolling boulders and cobbles with intermittent or fluctuating velocity. The relative motion between the solid phase and the liquid phase is obvious. The motion of a two-phase debris flow depends not only on the rheological properties of the flow, but also on the energy transmission between the solid and liquid phases. Several models have been developed to study two-phase debris flows. An essential shortcoming of most of these models is the omission of the interaction between the two phases and identification of the different roles of the different materials in two-phase debris flows. The tracer particles were used for the velocity of solid phase and the velocity of liquid phase was calculated by the water velocity on the surface of the debris flow in the experiments. This paper analyzed the intermittent feature of two-phase debris flows based on videos of debris flows in the field and flume experiments. The experiments showed that the height of the head of the two-phase debris flow increased gradually in the initiation stage and reached equilibrium at a certain distance from the start of the debris flow. The height growth and the velocity of the flow head showed fluctuating characteristics. Model equations were established and the analyses proved that the average velocity of the two-phase debris flow head was proportional to the flood discharge and inversely proportional to the volume of the debris flow head.     

肠道微生物对土壤中铜、锌、锰生物可给性的影响

为了更全面、准确地评价土壤中金属元素对人体的健康风险,研究土壤中金属元素在结肠阶段的生物可给性具有重要意义。通过采集我国一些地区的6种土壤,利用in vitro方法(PBET和SHIME联用)研究土壤中Cu、Zn、Mn在胃、小肠、结肠阶段的生物可给性。研究显示,土壤中Cu、Zn、Mn在胃阶段的生物可给性分别为23.8%~63.0%、21.2%~64.4%、11.7%~35.6%;从胃阶段到小肠阶段,土壤中Cu的生物可给性提高了0.4%~14.4%,而土壤中Zn在小肠阶段的生物可给性降低了6.7%~38.7%。结肠阶段,土壤中Cu、Zn、Mn的生物可给性分别为2.4%~12.9%、5.7%~18.7%、6.2%~18.9%,与小肠阶段相比,分别降低了21.7%~56.9%、0.4%~36.8%、4.5%~19.1%。结果表明,在肠道微生物存在的情况下,土壤中Cu、Zn、Mn在结肠阶段有较低的人体健康风险。     

Degradation of the potential rodent contraceptive quinestrol and elimination of its estrogenic activity in soil and water

Quinestrol has shown potential for use in the fertility control of the plateau pika population of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. However, the environmental safety and fate of this compound are still obscure. Our study investigated degradation of quinestrol in a local soil and aquatic system for the first time. The results indicate that the degradation of quinestrol follows first-order kinetics in both soil and water, with a dissipation half-life of approximately 16.0 days in local soil. Microbial activity heavily influenced the degradation of quinestrol, with 41.2 % removal in non-sterile soil comparing to 4.8 % removal in sterile soil after incubation of 10 days. The half-lives in neutral water (pH 7.4) were 0.75 h when exposed to UV light (λ?=?365 nm) whereas they became 2.63 h when exposed to visible light (λ?>?400 nm). Acidic conditions facilitated quinestrol degradation in water with shorter half-lives of 1.04 and 1.47 h in pH 4.0 and pH 5.0 solutions, respectively. Moreover, both the soil and water treatment systems efficiently eliminated the estrogenic activity of quinestrol. Results presented herein clarify the complete degradation of quinestrol in a relatively short time. The ecological and environmental safety of this compound needs further investigation.     

单标多点校正组合英蓝超滤测定地表水中多种阴离子

建立了利用组合单标多点校正和英蓝超滤单元的离子色谱法测定地表水中F-、C1-、NO3-、S0424—4-种离子的方法,方法操作简便,灵敏度高,线性范围广,抗干扰能力强,可同时快速测定不同数量级浓度的离子,降低了配置标准品和样品前处理的复杂性,减少了因前处理带来的干扰。     

The OH-induced degradation mechanism of 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) with two forms in the water: a DFT comparison

The initial degradation mechanisms of OH and 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) including molecular form and anionic form are studied at the MPWB1K/6-311+G(3df, 2p)//MPWB1K/6-31+G(d, p) level. Possible reaction pathways of H-atom abstraction and OH addition are considered in detail. By result comparison analysis, it is found that the reaction mechanisms for OH and two forms of MCPA are different, and most reactions for anionic MCPA are easier than those for molecular MCPA. For H-atom abstraction reactions, the calculated energies show that OH abstracting H-atom from -CH₃ group of molecular MCPA is the most kinetically favorable process; the potential energy surface for anionic MCPA indicates that H-atom in -CH₂ group is slightly easier to be abstracted than that in -CH₃ group. For OH addition reactions, the addition of OH to the C1 site is the initial step for molecular MCPA and the predominant product is 4-chloro-2-methylphenol (denoted P3), while the C4 site is the most reactive site for anionic MCPA and the primary product results from the hydroxylation of the aromatic ring, which is in good agreement with the experimental observation. In additional, results from PCM calculations show that most reactions in water phase are more kinetically favorable than those in gas phase, though the mechanisms discussed above will not be changed.     

Toxicological effect of MPA-CdSe QDs exposure on zebrafish embryo and larvae

Cadmium selenium (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals that hold wide range of applications and substantial production volumes. Due to unique composition and nanoscale properties, their potential toxicity to aquatic organisms has increasingly gained a great amount of interest. However, the impact of CdSe QDs exposure on zebrafish embryo and larvae remains almost unknown. Therefore, the lab study was performed to determine the developmental and behavioral toxicities to zebrafish under continuous exposure to low level CdSe QDs (0.05-31.25 mg L⁻¹) coated with mercaptopropionic acid (MPA). The results showed MPA-CdSe exposure from embryo to larvae stage affected overall fitness. Our findings for the first time revealed that: (1) The 120 h LC₅₀ of MPA-CdSe for zebrafish was 1.98 mg L⁻¹; (2) embryos exposed to MPA-CdSe resulted in malformations incidence and lower hatch rate; (3) abnormal vascular of FLI-1 transgenic zebrafish larvae appeared after exposure to MPA-CdSe including vascular junction, bifurcation, crossing and particle appearance; (4) larvae behavior assessment showed during MPA-CdSe exposure a rapid transition from light-to-dark elicited a similar, brief burst and a higher basal swimming rate; (5) MPA-CdSe induced embryos cell apoptosis in the head and tail region. Results of the observations provide a basic understanding of MPA-CdSe toxicity to aquatic organisms and suggest the need for additional research to identify the toxicological mechanism.     

Harvesting of Chlorella sp. using hollow fiber ultrafiltration

Introduction

The suitability of the application of ultrafiltration (UF) to harvest Chlorella sp. from the culture medium was examined. We investigated the effects of two improved UF system, forward air?Cwater flushing and backwash with permeate, on the concentration process.

Materials and methods

Backwash with permeate was selected as an optimization of the improved UF system, which was more effective for permeate flux recovery. Moreover, the hollow fiber UF system by adding periodical backwash with permeate was examined for Chlorella sp. harvesting.

Results and discussion

It was found that Chlorella sp. could be concentrated with high recovery in a lab-scale experiment. An overall algal biomass recovery of above 90% was achieved when the volume concentration factor was 10. For an original biomass of 1.3?±?0.05?g/L, 1?min backwash followed by 20?min forward concentrating was more effective, which resulted in a recovery of 94% and a high average flux of 30.3?L/m²/h. In addition, the algal recovery was highly correlated to the volume concentration factor and the initial biomass. A high concentration factor or a high initial biomass resulted in a low biomass recovery.     

Enhanced degradation of azo dye alizarin yellow R in a combined process of iron–carbon microelectrolysis and aerobic bio-contact oxidation

Purpose

With the aim of enhanced degradation of azo dye alizarin yellow R (AY) and further removal of the low-strength recalcitrant matter (LsRM) of the secondary effluent as much as possible, our research focused on the combination of aerobic bio-contact oxidation (ABO) with iron/carbon microelectrolysis (ICME) process.

Materials and methods

The combined ABO (with effective volume of 2.4?l) and ICME (with effectively volume of 0.4?l) process were studied with relatively short hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 or 6?h.

Results

At the HRT of 6?h with the reflux ratio of 1 and 2, the AY degradation efficiency in the final effluent was >96.5%, and the total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency were 69.86% and 79.44%, respectively. At the HRT of 4?h and the reflux ratio of 2, TOC removal efficiency and AY degradation efficiency were 73.94% and 94.89%, respectively. The ICME process obviously enhanced the total AY removal and the generated micromolecule acids and aldehydes then that wastewater backflow to the ABO where they were further biodegraded.

Conclusion

The present research might provide the potential options for the advanced treatment azo dyes wastewater with short HRT and acceptable running costs.     

零价铁复合有机膨润土处理染料废水的研究

针对目前印染废水处理现状及膨润土在水处理中回收困难等问题,提出将零价铁复合到有机膨润土中制成零价铁复合有机膨润土(ZVI-OB),以达到高效吸附并降解污染物的目的。以染料废水(Orange II) 作为研究对象,考察了废水中染料的初始浓度、pH以及吸附时间对ZVI-OB去除染料效率的影响,并研究了吸附后降解过程中时间和pH对污染物降解的影响以及降解前后膨润土层结构的变化。研究结果表明,ZVI-OB相对于CTMAB改性的有机膨润土而言,其吸附量有所降低,但ZVI-OB在吸附污染物之后能有效降解有机物。ZVI-OB在饱和吸附Orange II后经催化氧化,总有机碳含量降低为原来的19%,可以重复利用。