Experimental studies on the biokinetics of 134Cs and 24Am in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis).

The biokinetics of 134Cs and 241Am in mussel species contaminated through water pathway has been studied under laboratory conditions. At equilibrium, the concentration factors for 134Cs and 241Am in small and large mussels were 2.80 and 2.57 and 200 and 150, respectively. The concentration factor of 134Cs in soft parts of the mussels was significantly high than whole body and shell tissue. However, the concentration factors of 241Am in soft parts and shell tissue samples were found to have similar rates. The depuration kinetics of the radionuclides were described by two-component exponential models. The biological half-lives at slow components between small and large mussels did not change significant, and were found to be 46.8-46.5 and 72.2-75.3 days for 134Cs and 241Am. The depuration kinetics of 134Cs and 241Am in soft parts described a single-component exponential model and the biological half-lives were found to be 29.4 and 41.1 days, respectively.     

Environmental analysis of Turkey’s aggregated and sector-level CO2 emissions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Turkey’s ecological footprint has recently been increasing, while its biocapacity has been decreasing. Furthermore, the country’s CO2...     

Using of leaching reactant obtained from mill scale in hydrometallurgical copper extraction

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study, which covered a set of leaching processes at a few stages, investigated the inclusion of iron found in mill scale, which is a waste of the...     

江西省环境与经济耦合关系研究

根据江西省环境与经济的发展状况,综合运用熵值法和线性加权法对区域环境与经济发展水平作出评价,并利用协同论和容量耦合概念建立两种数学模型对江西省环境与经济耦合关系进行研究.结果表明:江西省经济实力在不断增强,环境质量先快速下降后略微上升,环境与经济的耦合关系在不断增强,15年内一直处于协调发展水平,且发展水平在不断提高.对比分析两种模型,发现两模型用于评价区域环境与经济耦合关系均具有一定的科学性和合理性,但基于协同论的协调度和协调发展度模型更能反映江西省环境与经济的耦合关系.     

Influence of pesticides on activities of invertase,amylase and level of adenosine triphosphate in organic soil

Laboratory tests showed that none of the pesticide treatments inhibited invertase and amylase activities. With the exception of nitrapyrin at the low level, all treatments inhibited ATP in the soil for 1 day and then showed a rapid recovery.     

Evaluation of a fetus at risk for dihydropteridine reductase deficiency by direct mutation analysis using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

Dihydropteridine reductase (DHPR) is an enzyme involved in the recycling of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH₄), which is an obligate co-factor of the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases. DHPR deficiency is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the QDPR gene. DHPR-deficient patients are diagnosed by a lack of response to a low phenylalanine diet and by severe neurological symptoms. Final diagnosis is made by measurements of neurotransmitters and pterin metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and urine, in addition to DHPR enzyme activity, which can be assessed in whole red blood cells. Treatment of DHPR deficiency can be difficult and the outcome is not always satisfying, even if all treatment strategies are followed. Therefore prenatal diagnosis is of great importance in affected families. Prenatal diagnosis is possible by measuring DHPR activity in different cell types but this is time consuming. More than 25 different mutations have to date been identified in the QDPR gene and direct identification of a mutation in a fetus would be easy and rapid. We have developed a method based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) for the analysis of the QDPR gene. The method is useful for rapid and simultaneous scanning of all exons and flanking intronic sequences of the QDPR gene. We describe the first prenatal diagnosis conducted using this method. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of pesticides on activities of enzymes and microorganisms in a clay soil

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of 32 pesticides applied at 2 levels on populations of microorganisms, activities of urease, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and nitrogenase in a clay loam incubated for 1 week. Results indicated that a decrease in bacterial number was observed with thiram for 2 days and stimulation with chlorpyrifos after 7 days. Some fungicides and fumigants inhibited fungal numbers for 2 days. The recovery was rapid and stimulatory effects on microbial numbers were evident in many samples. None of the pesticides inhibited soil urease drastically. Formazan formation was not suppressed vigorously by the treatments. With the exception of DD and Vorlex at a high level, none of the treatments inhibited phosphatase in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl disodium orthophosphate. A temporary decrease in nitrogenase activity in acetylene (C2H2) reduction was observed with many pesticides. The low amount of pesticides applied to the clay loam is unlikely to have detrimental effects on soil microbes and the enzymes important to soil fertility.     

Efficient microwave-assisted photocatalytic degradation of endocrine disruptor dimethyl phthalate over composite catalyst ZrOx/ZnO

A highly active ZrOx/ZnO catalyst for microwave-assisted photocatalytic (MW/PC) degradation of endocrine disruptor dimethyl phthalate (DMP) has been prepared via cetyltrimethylammonium assisted hydrothermal method. The ZrOx/ZnO was characterized by XPS, XRD, UV-Vis, BET and SEM techniques. The XPS result showed that Zr oxides with different valences (+2, +3, +4) co-existed in ZrOx/ZnO. By using the ZrOx/ZnO (0.1 g), the TOC removal efficiency of DMP (100 mL of 50 mg/L) was 88% after 30 min reaction, which was about 15% higher than P25 TiO2. It was found that the removal process of DMP by MW/PC followed pseudo first-order kinetics in all cases, and ZrOx/ZnO significantly accelerated the degradation of DMP. The degradation half-life time of DMP was shortened 45% compared with P25 TiO2. A possible catalytic mechanism was proposed based on microwave response and interfacial charge transfer. ZrOx/ZnO could be reused for six times without obvious decrease in catalytic activity. The study offers new insights into designing highly efficient catalysts for MW/PC process and is applicable for MW/PC environmental remediation.