Probabilistic health risk assessment of nitrosamines in drinking water of Shaoxing,Zhejiang, China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Nitrosamines (NAms) are potent genotoxic and carcinogenic but widely detected in drinking water. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of...     

Assessing heavy metal pollution in the surface soils of a region that had undergone three decades of intense industrialization and urbanization

Heavy metals in the surface soils from lands of six different use types in one of the world’s most densely populated regions, which is also a major global manufacturing base, were analyzed to assess the impact of urbanization and industrialization on soil pollution. A total of 227 surface soil samples were collected and analyzed for major heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) by using microwave-assisted acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Multivariate analysis combined with enrichment factors showed that surface soils from the region (>7.2?×?10⁴ km²) had mean Cd, Cu, Zn, and As concentrations that were over two times higher than the background values, with Cd, Cu, and Zn clearly contributed by anthropogenic sources. Soil pollution by Pb was more widespread than the other heavy metals, which was contributed mostly by anthropogenic sources. The results also indicate that Mn, Co, Fe, Cr, and Ni in the surface soils were primarily derived from lithogenic sources, while Hg and As contents in the surface soils were controlled by both natural and anthropogenic sources. The pollution level and potential ecological risk of the surface soils both decreased in the order of: urban areas?>?waste disposal/treatment sites?～?industrial areas?>?agricultural lands?～?forest lands?>?water source protection areas. These results indicate the significant need for the development of pollution prevention and reduction strategies to reduce heavy metal pollution for regions undergoing fast industrialization and urbanization.     

In vitro evaluation of inorganic and methyl mercury mediated cytotoxic effect on neural cells derived from different animal species

To extend the current understanding of the mercury-mediated cytotoxic effect,five neural cell lines established from different animal species were comparatively analyzed using three different endpoint bioassays:thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide,3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay(MTT),neutral red uptake assay(NRU),and Coomassie blue assay(CB).Following a 24-hr exposure to selected concentrations of mercury chloride(HgCl_2) and methylmercury(Ⅱ) chloride(MeHgCl),the cytotoxic effect on test cells was characterized by comparing their 50%inhibition concentration(IC_(50)) values.Experimental results indicated that both these forms of mercury were toxic to all the neural cells,but at very different degrees.The IC_(50)values of MeHgCl among these cell lines ranged from 1.15±0.22 to 10.31 ± 0.70 μmol/L while the IC_(50) values for HgCl_2 were much higher,ranging from 6.44 ± 0.36 to 160.97±19.63 μmol/L,indicating the more toxic nature of MeHgCl.The IC_(50) ratio between HgCl_2and MeHgCl ranged from 1.75 to 96.0,which confirms that organic mercury is much more toxic to these neural cells than inorganic mercury.Among these cell lines,HGST-BR and TriG44 derived from marine sea turtles showed a significantly high tolerance to HgCl_2 as compared to the three mammalian neural cells.Among these neural cells,SK-N-SH represented the most sensitive cells to both chemical forms of mercury.     

Lead (Pb) isotopic fingerprinting and its applications in lead pollution studies in China: A review

As the most widely scattered toxic metal in the world, the sources of lead (Pb) observed in contamination investigation are often difficult to identify. This review presents an overview of the principles, analysis, and applications of Pb isotopic fingerprinting in tracing the origins and transport pathways of Pb in the environment. It also summarizes the history and current status of lead pollution in China, and illustrates the power of Pb isotopic fingerprinting with examples of its recent applications in investigating the effectiveness of leaded gasoline phase-out on atmospheric lead pollution, and the sources of Pb found in various environmental media (plants, sediments, and aquatic organisms) in China. The limitations of Pb isotopic fingerprinting technique are discussed and a perspective on its development is also presented. Further methodological developments and more widespread instrument availability are expected to make isotopic fingerprinting one of the key tools in lead pollution investigation.     

遥感与GIS辅助下的非点源模型空间参数提取

非点源模型的应用面临着数据收集和管理困难等难题，本文以SWAT模型在芦溪小流域的应用为例，阐述了遥感与GIS技术在非点源研究中的应用，主要包括利用TM影像提取土地利用信息，利用GIS进行插值，划分子流域和信息提取。研究表明，遥感与GIS能够在相当程度上解决非点源模型应用中的数据收集、分析和管理困难。遥感能经济快速获取空间信息。GIS在空间数据综合分析、空间数据的插值中发挥着重要作用。建议在今后的研究工作中加强研究空间数据对非点源模型模拟结果的误差传递。     

Isolation and characterization of two actins of the Pacific white shrimp, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Litopenaeus vannamei</Emphasis>

Two actin genes named actinT1 and actinT2 were isolated and sequenced from the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, by screening from a shrimp eyestalk cDNA library. L. vannamei actinT1 cDNA has a 1,128-bp open reading frame encoding for 376 amino acids while L. vannamei actinT2 cDNA has a 1,131-bp open reading frame coding for 377 amino acids. Alignment of the actinT1 and actinT2 cDNA sequences showed that these two actin genes share a sequence identity of 86% at amino acid residues. When compared with actins of several other invertebrate and vertebrate species, the nucleotide sequence of actinT1 is highly homologous (97–100%) with beta-actins, while actinT2 shares 86–95% identity with alpha-actins on the nucleotide level. Phylogenetic analysis and BLAST searches indicated that the ActinT1 protein is identical to crustacean beta-actins, while the ActinT2 protein is highly homologous to crustacean alpha-actins. Constitutive expression of the actinT1 and actinT2 genes were detected by RT-PCR in all adult shrimp organs, including brain, eye-stalk, gill, heart, hemolymph, hepatopancreas, muscle, swimming legs, and stomach, as well as in the shrimp zygote, nauplius, and mysis life stages. These data will facilitate attempts to clone and identify more shrimp genes and constitutive shrimp promoters.     

Curbing dioxin emissions from municipal solid waste incineration in China: Re-thinking about management policies and practices

As one of the countries with large amounts of dioxin releases, the control of dioxins is a major challenge for China. Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration should be considered a high priority source of dioxin emissions because it is playing an increasingly more important role in waste management. MSW incineration in China has much higher emission rates of dioxins than in the developed countries, partially resulting from the gaps in the technologies of incineration and flue gas cleaning. Moreover, the current management policies and practices also contribute significantly to the problem. We recommend lowering dioxin emission standard, strengthening fly ash management, and improving regulation enforcement to reduce dioxin releases into the environment from MSW incineration. We also propose that alternative strategies should be considered on dioxin control and call for an expansion of economic instruments in waste management to reduce waste generation and thus the need for incineration.     

Detection of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) from O'ahu, Hawai;i

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been detected for the first time at a range from 231.58 to 685.61 ng g(-1) lipid weight in the muscles of tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) collected from O'ahu, an island of the geographically isolated Hawaiian archipelago.     

Detection and quantitative analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in tilapia from Hawaiian waters

The purpose of this study was to investigate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) collected from the Manoa stream and Ala Wai Canal of O'ahu, an island of the geographically isolated Hawaiian archipelago. Our results show that the average concentrations of PCBs varied from 51.90 to 89.42 ng g(-1) lipid weight for the sampling sites. Relative toxic potencies (RTPs) and toxic equivalencies (TEQs) were determined to be 20.38-40.60 ng TCDDg(-1) lipid weight and 2.89-4.17 ng TEQ g(-1) lipid weight by 7-ethoxy-resorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity analysis and calculation of PCB concentrations based on toxic equivalency factors (TEFs), respectively. Penta-chlorinated congeners were found to be predominant, which revealed that Aroclor 1254 was a possible major source of PCBs in our fish samples. PCB 118, an indicator PCBs, constituted more than 55% and 30% of the total PCBs and TEQs, respectively. In addition, PCB 118 was found to have a linear correlation to the total PCBs (R=0.975) and TEQs (R=0.782). Detection of concentrated PCBs in Hawaiian waters suggests a potentially adverse impact of this pollutant on human health, as well as ecological systems, and suggests the necessity of environmental monitoring and hazard assessment of PCBs within the Hawaiian Islands.     

干旱区哈密瓜生长和产量与气候要素的关系

农业是气候变化最敏感的领域之一,气候变化将对农作物产量产生巨大影响.探讨气候变化对干旱区哈密瓜(Cucumis melo L.)生长和产量的影响,明确关键影响气象因子,可为合理有效利用气候资源和防灾减灾提供科学依据.选取1981—2019年哈密瓜生长年气候因子、生长季内气象要素和1999—2019年发育期及产量资料,分...