Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - Growing societal pressures, technological trends and government and industry actions are moving the world toward decarbonization and away from the... 相似文献
Parabens are used because of their antimicrobial effects, yet they have multiple adverse effects. The aim of this work was to evaluate the bactericidal activity and bacterial toxicity of the most common parabens: methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isopropylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben and phenylparaben. The bactericidal action was evaluated by means of the dilution-neutralization method against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and the biotest of inhibition of growth of E. coli was applied for the bacterial toxicity assay. Bactericidal concentrations were reached only for propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben. The toxicity study showed methylparaben to be the least toxic, whereas the most toxic one was phenylparaben. It can be concluded that the disinfectant activity of the parabens studied is insignificant against S. aureus and E. coli. Acute toxicity is very low, and the inhibitory effect is weak. Our results provide information about the risk–benefit balance of parabens use. 相似文献
Concerns over the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in farmland have prompted the development of agri-environment policy measures aimed at reducing farming pressure and maintaining semi-natural habitats in farmed landscapes. However, further knowledge is needed to guarantee successful agri-environment measures implementation. The current study assessed the quantity and the quality of semi-natural habitats in farms across a gradient of farming intensities in two contrasting regions in Ireland. Policy protection seemed fundamental for semi-natural habitats preservation. Habitats not protected by agricultural policy relied on extensive farming and are in danger of disappearing if they are intensified or abandoned. Due to the lack of policy incentives for habitat quality, no correlations were found between farming intensity and share of semi-natural habitats with habitat quality. Therefore, extensive farming and retention of habitats alone may not reverse the decline of farmland quality and biodiverisity and, thus, measures incentivising the environmental quality may be more successful.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01344-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
Natural products may be applied in a wide range of domains, from agriculture to food and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, the antioxidant properties and the capacity to inhibit some enzymatic activities of Euphorbia resinifera and Euphorbia officinarum aqueous extracts and honeys were assessed. The physicochemical characteristics were also evaluated. Higher amounts of iron, copper and aluminium were detected in E. officinarum honey, which may indicate environmental pollution around the beehives or inadequate storage of honey samples. This honey sample showed higher amounts of total phenols and better capacity for scavenging superoxide anion free radicals and DPPH free radicals as compared with E. resinifera honey, but poorer capacity for inhibiting lipoxygenase, acetylcholinesterase, tyrosinase and xanthine oxidase. The ratio plant mass:solvent volume (1:100) and extraction time (1 - 2 h) were associated with higher total phenols and better antioxidant activities and lipoxygenase, acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory activities, regardless of the plant species. The aqueous extracts had systematically higher in vitro activities than the respective honey samples.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We studied the removal of 61 emerging micropollutants, including illicit drugs, in a biofilter wastewater treatment plant located in the French Indies... 相似文献
Although pharmaceuticals have been detected in the environment only in the range from ng/L to g/L, it has been demonstrated that they can adversely affect the health status of aquatic organisms. Lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) has previously been applied as an indicator of cellular well-being to determine health status in bivalve mussels. The objective of this study is to evaluate LMS in Ruditapes philippinarum haemolymph using the neutral red retention assay (NRRA). Clams were exposed in laboratory conditions to caffeine (0.1, 5, 15, 50 μg/L), ibuprofen (0.1, 5, 10, 50 μg/L), carbamazepine and novobiocin (both at 0.1, 1, 10, 50 μg/L) for 35 days. Results show a dose-dependent effect of the pharmaceuticals. The neutral red retention time measured at the end of the bioassay was significantly reduced by 50% after exposure to environmental concentrations (p < 0.05) (caffeine = 15 μg/L; ibuprofen = 10 μg/L; carbamazepine = 1 μg/L and novobiocin = 1 μg/L), compared to controls. Clams exposed to these pharmaceuticals were considered to present a diminished health status (retention time < 45 min), significantly worse than controls (96 min) (p < 0.05). The predicted no environmental effect concentration (PNEC) results showed that these pharmaceuticals are very toxic at the environmental concentrations tested. Measurement of the alteration of LMS has been found to be a sensitive technique that enables evaluation of the health status of clams after exposure to pharmaceuticals under laboratory conditions, thus representing a robust Tier-1 screening biomarker. 相似文献
Noroviruses are one of important agents that cause acute viral gastroenteritis worldwide. These viruses are belonging to Caliciviridae
family and are genetically diverse. To date, there is no valuable data about prevalence of norovirus infection and the dominant
genogroup/genotype among Iranian population. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of norovirus infection
in Iranian patients with gastroenteritis referred to three hospitals of Tehran and to specify the dominant genogroup/genotype
of this virus among our study population. A total of 293 patients with acute gastroenteritis were included in the study. Detection
of norovirus was performed using RT-PCR method and confirmed by direct sequencing with specific designed primers for capsid
region of norovirus genome. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the neighbor-joining method. Norovirus strains identified
in our study were subsequently categorized according to previously defined genogroup/genotypes. Of these, norovirus GII was
dominant genogroup. Sixty-five percent (17 of 26) of positive samples were determined as GII and 35% (9 of 26) were determined
as GI, respectively, in 2008–2009. And among 8 sequenced strains of genogroup II the most frequent genotype was GII.3. The
results of this study indicated that norovirus must be considered as one of the infectious causes of acute gastroenteritis
among Iranian population. We also found that GII.3 is more prevalent in our study population. To the best of our knowledge
there is limited data about the role of noroviruses in children and adults’ acute gastroenteritis among Iranian patients and
this prevalence and genotyping report of norovirus infection could be remarkable for further studies. 相似文献
Environmental Management - The role of aquatic resources to food security is both promising and constrained since the global seafood consumption is increasing while marine fisheries approach the... 相似文献