Quantification of changes in zero valent iron morphology using X-ray computed tomography

Morphological changes within the porous architecture of laboratory scale zero valent iron （ZVI） permeable reactive barriers （PRBs）, after exposure to different groundwater conditions, have been quantified experimentally for different ZVI/sand ratios （10%, 50% and 100%, W/W） with the aim of inferring porosity changes in field barriers. Column studies were conducted to simulate interaction with different water chemistries, a synthetic groundwater, acidic drainage and deionised （DI） water as control. Morphological changes, in terms of pore size and distribution, were measured using X-ray computed tomography （CT）. CT image analysis revealed significant morphological changes in columns treated with different water chemistries. For example, 100% ZVI （W/W） columns had a higher frequency of small pores （0.6 mm） was observed in ZVI grains reacted with typical groundwater, resulting in a porosity of 27%, compared to 32% when exposed to DI water. In comparison, ZVI grains treated with the acidic drainage had higher porosity （44%） and larger average pore size （2.8 mm）. 10% ZVI PRB barrier material had the highest mean porosity （56%） after exposure to any water chemistry whilst 100% ZVI （W/W） columns always had the lowest （34%） with the 50% ZVI （W/W） in between （40%）. These results agree with previously published PRB field data and simultaneously conducted geochemical monitoring and mass balance calculation, indicating that both the geochemical and hydraulic environment of the PRB play an important role in determining barrier lifespan. This study suggests that X-ray CT image analysis is a powerful tool for studying the detailed inter pores between ZVI grains within PRBs.     

Effect of application rate and irrigation on the movement and dissipation of indaziflam

Indaziflam is a new preemergence herbicide for the control of annual grass and broadleaf weeds in various cropping systems including pecan orchards. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the mobility and dissipation of indaziflam and (2) evaluate herbicide efficacy in a flood-irrigated pecan orchard in southern New Mexico, USA. Indaziflam was applied at 0, 36.5, and 73.1 g/ha in areas with (impacted) and without (unimpacted) tree injury symptoms. Soil samples were collected at 0–15, 15–30, and 30–46 cm depths 26, 63, 90, and 126 days after the first herbicide application. Additional soil samples were collected 4, 30, and 56 days after the second application. Indaziflam was detected in soil samples collected at each depth, suggesting movement with irrigation water. Indaziflam concentrations decreased with increasing soil depth and time. Indaziflam mass recoveries were greater in the unimpacted area than in the impacted area after the first and second applications. Dissipation half-lives of indaziflam in the soil ranged from 30 to 86 days for total indaziflam recovered from the entire soil profile after the first and second applications in both areas. The percent weed control was similar in the impacted and unimpacted areas for both rates of indaziflam on 26 and 63 days after application; however, on 90 days after the application, percent weed control was lower in the impacted than unimpacted area.     

TIC-Tox: A preliminary discussion on identifying the forcing agents of DBP-mediated toxicity of disinfected water

The disinfection of drinking water is a major public health achievement; however, an unintended consequence of disinfection is the generation of disinfection by-products (DBPs). Many of the identified DBPs exhibit in vitro and in vivo toxicity, generate a diversity of adverse biological effects, and may be hazards to the public health and the environment. Only a few DBPs are regulated by several national and international agencies and it is not clear if these regulated DBPs are the forcing agents that drive the observed toxicity and their associated health effects. In this study, we combine analytical chemical and biological data to resolve the forcing agents associated with mammalian cell cytotoxicity of drinking water samples from three cities. These data suggest that the trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids may be a small component of the overall cytotoxicity of the organic material isolated from disinfected drinking water. Chemical classes of nitrogen-containing DBPs, such as the haloacetonitriles and haloacetamides, appear to be the major forcing agents of toxicity in these samples. These findings may have important implications for the design of epidemiological studies that primarily rely on the levels of THMs to define DBP exposure among populations. The TIC-Tox approach constitutes a beginning step in the process of identifying the forcing agents of toxicity in disinfected water.     

The impact of iodinated X-ray contrast agents on formation and toxicity of disinfection by-products in drinking water

The presence of iodinated X-ray contrast media (ICM) in source waters is of high concern to public health because of their potential to generate highly toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs). The objective of this study was to determine the impact of ICM in source waters and the type of disinfectant on the overall toxicity of DBP mixtures and to determine which ICM and reaction conditions give rise to toxic by-products. Source waters collected from Akron, OH were treated with five different ICMs, including iopamidol, iopromide, iohexol, diatrizoate and iomeprol, with or without chlorine or chloramine disinfection. The reaction product mixtures were concentrated with XAD resins and the mammalian cell cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of the reaction mixture concentrates was measured. Water containing iopamidol generated an enhanced level of mammalian cell cytotoxicity and genotoxicity after disinfection. While chlorine disinfection with iopamidol resulted in the highest cytotoxicity overall, the relative iopamidol-mediated increase in toxicity was greater when chloramine was used as the disinfectant compared with chlorine. Four other ICMs (iopromide, iohexol, diatrizoate, and iomeprol) expressed some cytotoxicity over the control without any disinfection, and induced higher cytotoxicity when chlorinated. Only iohexol enhanced genotoxicity compared to the chlorinated source water.     

美国1961～2000年氮使用量的变化及未来趋势预测

从1961～1997年,因人类活动而输入到美国的氮翻了一番,特别是在上个世纪60年代和70年代,其增长量最大.尽管无机氮肥的使用量增长最大,但矿物燃料燃烧所造成的NOx排放,也有明显的增加.1961年,美国农业生产系统中的生物固氮量是活性氮的最大来源;到了1997年,尽管生物固氮量也有增加,但相比而言,无机氮肥的使用和NOx的排放增加得更快,成为两个最大的氮源.1961～1997年,在输入到美国的活性氯中,有2/3发生了脱氮反应或者是被贮存在土壤与生物群落之中,有1/3输出到境外.在输出到境外的这部分氮中,通过河流流到海洋中的分量最大,其次是通过粮食和饲料出口而到其它国家以及通过大气平流传输到了海洋中.动物性蛋白的消费是美国农业系统中氮使用的主要驱动因子,如果饮食方式或农业生产方式不发生改变,在未来30年的时间里,美国肥料的使用量将继续增长,流向海洋中的氮通量将可能再增长30%,但也有可能出现下降.     

A simple procedure for obtaining fetal chromosome preparations from bloodstained amniotic fluid

Two patients undergoing amniocentesis are described in which the resulting amniotic fluid was unavoidably bloodstained. The results suggest that it may be beneficial in such cases to reserve a small volume of bloodstained liquor for culture with phytohaemagglutinin since the presence of a few fetal lymphocytes can lead to a prenatal diagnosis within 72 h.     

东盟环境合作

本文从国际准则和政治的角度就东南亚各国对环境问题的看法进行了探讨，并对东南亚地区污染的具体情况和相应的区域性解决方法中出现的具体趋势，以及东盟的具体政策作了介绍。     

Potential effects of environmental contamination on Yuma Myotis demography and population growth.

Unplanned natural and anthropogenic disasters provide unique opportunities for investigating the influence of perturbations on population vital rates and species recovery times. We investigated the potential effects of a major pesticide spill by comparing annual survival rates using mark-recapture techniques on a riparian bat species, Yuma Myotis (Myotis yumanensis). Demography and population dynamics for most bat species remain poorly understood despite advances in mark-recapture estimation and modeling techniques. We compared survival and population growth rates of two roost populations exposed to a large chemical (metam sodium) spill in the upper Sacramento River in Northern California with two roost populations outside the contaminated area from 1992 to 1996. Hypotheses about long-term effects of the spill on female juvenile and adult survival were tested using an information-theoretic approach (AIC). Working hypotheses included effects of age, chemical spill, and time trend on survival. Female adult survival was higher than female juvenile survival across all sites, suggesting stage-specific mortality risks. Model-averaged estimates of female juvenile survival in the contaminated area (0.50-0.74) were lower than in control roosts (0.60-0.78) for each year in the study, suggesting that the spill may have reduced juvenile survival for several years. Female adult survival (0.73-0.89) did not appear to be strongly affected by the spill during the years of the study. There was an increase in survival for both stage-classes across all populations during the study period, which may have been caused by the end of an extended drought in California in the winter of 1993. The spill-affected population was in decline for the first year of the study as indicated by an estimated growth rate (lambda) < 1, but population growth rates increased during the four-year period.     

Genetic structure of hybrid mussel populations in the west of Ireland: two hypotheses revisited

In Ireland, mussels on exposed rocky shores constitute an interbreeding mixture of two forms of mussels, the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, and the Mediterranean mussel, M. galloprovincialis. Results from an Irish study in the 1980s, using partially diagnostic allozyme markers, indicated that mussels higher up the shore were more galloprovincialis-like than those lower down. In this study we set out to test two hypotheses: (a) recruits arriving on the shore are composed of genetically distinct cohorts that settle preferentially at different levels on the shore, and maintain genetic distinctiveness into adulthood; (b) recruits are genetically homogeneous, but once settled they diverge genetically over time, due to within-habitat site specific-selection. The diagnostic Me 15/16 DNA marker was used to analyse the genetic composition of newly-settled spat recruiting to artificial substrates, which were placed at two-week intervals from May–October 2002, on the mid- and low shore areas of two exposed sites in Galway Bay. Adult mussels were also collected on each sampling date. Results did not support the preferential settlement hypothesis, i.e., the genetic composition of primary settlers (≤ 500 μm) was similar between tidal heights and shores. Neither was there evidence of post settlement selective mortality, as adults were genetically similar to settling spat. In spat and adults the frequency of the M. galloprovincialis allele was high (0.56–0.80), due to high frequencies of M. galloprovincialis (> 37%) and hybrid (> 33%) genotypes, and correspondingly low frequencies of the M. edulis genotype (< 11%). Adult mussels from a nearby sheltered estuarine site, while significantly different to exposed shore mussels, still had low frequencies of the M. edulis genotype (< 17%), indicating no apparent advantage for the genotype in this environment. There are indications that the genetic composition of mussels may be changing on the Atlantic coasts of Ireland.