Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues. Recycling is a potential means of reducing plastic pollution in the environment. However, plastic fragments are still likely released to the aquatic environment during mechanical recycling processes. Here, we examined the plastic inputs and effluent outputs of three mechanical recycling facilities in Vietnam dealing with electronic, bottle, and household plastic waste, and we found that large quantities of microplastics (plastics <5 mm in length) are generated and released to the aquatic environment during mechanical recycling without proper treatment. Comparisons with literature data for microplastics in wastewater treatment plant effluents and surface water indicated that mechanical recycling of plastic waste is likely a major point source of microplastics pollution. Although there is a mismatch between the size of the microplastics examined in the present study and the predicted no-effect concentration reported, it is still possible that microplastics generated at facilities pose risks to the aquatic environment because there might be many plastic particulates smaller than 315 μm, as suggested by our obtained size distributions. With mechanical recycling likely to increase as we move to a circular plastics economy, greater microplastics emissions can be expected. It is therefore an urgent need to fully understand not only the scale of microplastic generation and release from plastic mechanical recycling but also the environmental risk posed by microplastics in the aquatic environment.

The excessive arsenic (As) accumulation in plant tissues enforced toxic impacts on growth indices. So, the utilization of As-contaminated food leads to risks associated with human health. For the reduction of As concentrations in foods, it is obligatory to fully apprehend the take up, accretion, transportation and toxicity mechanisms of As within plant parts. This metalloid impairs the plant functions by disturbing the metabolic pathways at physio-biochemical, cellular and molecular levels. Though several approaches were utilized to reduce the As-accumulation and toxicity in soil-plant systems. Recently, engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) such a zinc oxide (ZnO), silicon dioxide or silica (SiO₂), iron oxide (FeO) and copper oxide (CuO) have emerged new technology to reduce the As-accumulation or phytotoxicity. But, the mechanistic approaches with systematic explanation are missing. By knowing these facts, our prime focus was to disclose the mechanisms behind the As toxicity and its mitigation by ENPs in higher plants. ENPs relives As toxicity and its oxidative damages by regulating the transporter or defense genes, modifying the cell wall composition, stimulating the antioxidants defense, phytochelatins biosynthesis, nutrients uptake, regulating the metabolic processes, growth improvement, and thus reduction in As-accumulation or toxicity. Yet, As-detoxification by ENPs depends upon the type and dose of ENPs or As, exposure method, plant species and experimental conditions. We have discussed the recent advances and highlight the knowledge or research gaps in earlier studies along with recommendations. This review may help scientific community to develop strategies such as applications of nano-based fertilizers to limit the As-accumulation and toxicity, thus healthy food production. These outcomes may govern sustainable application of ENPs in agriculture.

Quinolone antibiotics (QNs) pollution in lake environments is increasingly raising public concern due to their potential combined toxicity and associated risks. However, the spatiotemporal distribution and trophodynamics of QNs in transit-station lakes for water diversion are not well documented or understood. In this study, a comprehensive investigation of QNs in water, sediment, and aquatic fauna, including norfloxacin (NOR), ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENR), and ofloxacin (OFL), was conducted in Luoma Lake, a major transit station for the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China. The target QNs were widely distributed in the water (∑QNs: 70.12 ± 62.79 ng/L) and sediment samples (∑QNs: 13.35 ± 10.78 ng/g dw) in both the non-diversion period (NDP) and the diversion period (DP), where NOR and ENR were predominant. All the QNs were detected in all biotic samples in DP (∑QNs: 80.04 ± 20.59 ng/g dw). The concentration of ∑QNs in the water in NDP was significantly higher than those in DP, whereas the concentration in the sediments in NDP was comparable to those in DP. ∑QNs in the water-sediment system exhibited decreasing trends from northwest (NW) to southeast (SE) in both periods; however, the Kₒc (organic carbon normalized partition coefficients) of individual QNs in DP sharply rose compared with those in NDP, which indicated that water diversion would alter the environmental fate of QNs in Luoma Lake. In DP, all QNs, excluding NOR, were all biodiluted across the food web; whereas their bioaccumulation potentials in the SE subregion were higher than those in the NW subregion, which was in contrast to the spatial distribution of their exposure concentrations. The estimated daily QN intakes via drinking water and aquatic products suggested that residents in the SE side were exposed to greater health risks, despite less aquatic pollution in the region.

Many contaminants were carried by dust, a common environment media that is easy to contact with human beings, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) as an emergency pollutant also harbor in dust and pose serious threats to human health especially those carried by opportunistic pathogens because inactivation of antibiotics caused by ARGs may enhance pathogenicity. Considering there is a gap of investigation of dust ARGs, 16 S rRNA gene sequences and high-throughput quantitative PCR were employed to obtain information of microbial communities and accumulated ARGs in dust from different urban places, including the malls, hospitals, schools and parks, to investigate the distribution and influencing factors of ARGs and discover the potential hosts of ARGs in dust. Here, 9 types of ARGs such as sulfonamide, tetracycline, and beta-lactamase and 71 subtypes of ARGs like sul1, tetM-01, and drfA1 were detected in dust. ARGs had varying distribution in different public places and seasons in dust. The abundances of total ARGs, MLSB and tetracycline genes were higher in spring than summer. The diversity of ARGs was highest in malls, follow by hospitals, schools, and parks. Additionally, multi-drug resistance genes in dust were more abundant in hospitals than in schools and parks. The microbes were distinguished as the most important driving factors for ARGs in dust, followed by the mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and different places, while dust physicochemical parameters only exert a negligible impact. Notably, several opportunistic pathogens like the Streptococcus, Vibrio, and Pseudomonas were inferred as potential hosts of high-risk ARGs such as mecA, tetM-02, and tetO-01 in dust because of strongly positive co-occurrence. These results imply that dust is likely an important reservoir of ARGs. We should realize that ARGs may be harbored in some opportunistic pathogens occur in dust and endanger human health because of dust contacting to human easily.

A high demand exists in bisphenols (BPs) screening studies for quick, reliable and straightforward analytical methods that generate data faster and simultaneously. Herein, we describe a combination of enzymatic probe sonication (EPS) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) for quick extraction and simultaneous quantification of eight important BPs in animal-derived foods. Results obtained demonstrated that the ultrasonic probe power could not only enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency, but also accelerate the liquid-liquid extraction procedure. Under optimized EPS parameters, one sample could be exhaustively extracted within 120 s, as compared with 12 h needed for the conventional enzymatic extraction which is more suitable for high-throughput analysis. The method was successfully applied to analyze residual BPs in animal-derived foods collected from Beijing, China. Widespread occurrence of BPA, BPS, BPF, BPAF, BPP, and BPB were found, with detection frequencies of 65.2%, 42.4%, 33.7%, 29.4%, 28.3%, and 27.2%, respectively. The highest total concentration levels of BPs (sum of the eight BPs analyzed, ΣBPs) were found in chicken liver (mean 12.2 μg/kg), followed by swine liver (6.37 μg/kg), bovine muscle (3.24 μg/kg), egg (2.03 μg/kg), sheep muscle (2.03 μg/kg), chicken muscle (1.45 μg/kg), swine muscle (1.42 μg/kg), and milk (1.17 μg/kg). The estimated daily intake (EDI) of BPs, based on the mean and 95th percentile concentrations and daily food consumptions, was estimated to be 5.687 ng/kg bw/d and 22.71 ng/kg bw/d, respectively. The human health risk assessment in this work suggests that currently BPs do not pose significant risks to the consumers because the hazard index (HI) was <1.

This systematic review aims to discover the plausible mechanism of Ozone in A.D., to boost translational research. The main focus of our review lies in understanding the effects of ozone pollution on the human brain and causing degenerative disease. Owing to the number of works carried out as preclinical evidence in association with oxidative stress and Alzheimer's disease and the lack of systematic review or meta-analysis prompted us to initiate a study on Alzheimer's risk due to ground-level ozone. We found relevant studies from PubMed, ScienceDirect, Proquest, DOAJ, and Scopus, narrowing to animal studies and the English language without any time limit. The searches will be re-run before the final analysis. This work was registered in Prospero with Reg ID CRD42022319360, followed the PRISMA-P framework, and followed the PICO approach involving Population, Intervention/Exposure, Comparison, and Outcomes data. Bibliographic details of 16 included studies were studied for Exposure dose of ozone, duration, exposure, and frequency with control and exposure groups. Primary and secondary outcomes were assessed based on pathology significance, and results were significant in inducing Alzheimer-like pathology by ozone. In conclusion, ozone altered oxidative stress, metabolic pathway, and amyloid plaque accumulation besides endothelial stress response involving mitochondria as the critical factor in ATP degeneration, caspase pathway, and neuronal damage. Thus, ozone is a criteria pollutant to be focused on in mitigating Alzheimer's Disease pathology.

Human health risks brought by fine atmospheric particles raise scholarly and policy awareness about the role of urban trees as bio-filters of air pollution. While a large number of empirical studies have focused on the characteristics of vegetation leaves and their effects on atmospheric particle retention, the dry deposition of particles on branches, which plays a significant role in capturing and retaining particles during the defoliation period and contributes substantially to total removal of atmospheric particles, is under-investigated. To fill in this knowledge gap, this case study examined the dry deposition velocities (Vd) of submicron particulate matters (PM₁) on the branches of six common deciduous species in Shanghai (China) using laboratory experiments. And the association between Vd and key branch anatomical traits (including surface roughness, perimeter, rind width proportion, lenticel density, peeling, and groove/ridge characteristics) was explored. It was found that surface roughness would increase Vd, as a rougher surface significantly increases turbulence, which is conducive to particle diffusion. By contrast, peeling, branch perimeter, and lenticel density would decrease Vd. Peeling represents the exfoliated remains on the branch surfaces which may flutter considerably with airflow, leading to particle resuspension and low Vd. When branch perimeter increases, the boundary layer of branches thickens and a wake area appears, increasing the difficulty of particles to reach branch surface, and reducing Vd. While lenticels can increase the roughness of branch surface, their pointy shape would uplift airflow and cause a leeward wake area, lowering Vd. This finely wrought study contributes to a better understanding of branch dry deposition during leaf-off seasons and potential of deciduous trees serving as nature-based air filters all year round in urban environments.

Surface water quality monitoring programs have been developed to examine traditional contaminants, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). However, urbanization, which is increasing around the world, is increasing discharge of treated wastewater and raw sewage in many regions. Pharmaceuticals and their metabolites represent typical markers of such trajectories in urbanization. We selected an ongoing monitoring program, which was designed for routine surveillance of nonionizable POPs in different aquatic matrices, to examine the occurrence of 67 pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in water and multiple bioindicator matrices: benthic invertebrates, juvenile fish, and adult fish (plasma and muscle tissue) from ten river systems with varying levels of watershed development. In addition, we placed zebra mussels and passive samplers in situ for a fixed period. A statistically significant relationship between pharmaceutical levels in passive samplers and biota was found for caged zebra mussels and benthic invertebrates, while only a few pharmaceuticals were identified in fish matrices. Invertebrates, which have received relatively limited study for pharmaceutical bioaccumulation, accumulated more pharmaceuticals than fish, up to thirty different substances. The highest concentration was observed for sertraline in zebra mussels and telmisartan in benthic invertebrates (83 and 31 ng/g ww, respectively). Our results across diverse study systems indicate that ongoing surface water quality monitoring programs, which were originally designed for traditional organic pollutants, need to be revised to account for bioaccumulation dynamics of pharmaceuticals and other ionizable contaminants. Aquatic monitoring programs routinely examine accumulation of nonionizable organic pollutants; however, we identified that these efforts need to be revised to account for bioaccumulation of ionizable contaminants, which reached higher levels in invertebrates than in fish.

Carbon capture has become an important technology to mitigate ever-increasing CO₂ emissions worldwide, and alkali waste is a potential source of CO₂ capture material. Slagging-gasification is a novel technology for treating municipal solid waste (MSW), and the gasification fly ash (GFA) is the only solid residue that is not reused at present due to its high heavy metal content. GFA contains high amounts of Ca(OH)₂ and Ca(OH)Cl, making it protentional for CO₂ capture. In this study, GFA and washed gasification fly ash (WGFA) were treated with CO₂ for different treatment periods. Weight changes of samples were recorded to evaluate the efficiency of CO₂ capture. To assess the properties of treated GFA, pH value, leached heavy metal concentration, mineral composition, and microscopic morphology were studied. The results revealed that GFA and WGFA could adsorb 18.8% and 23.7% CO₂ of their weights, respectively. Carbonation could immobilize heavy metals including Pb, Zn, and Cu when a proper treatment period was applied. An excessive treatment period decreased the efficiency of heavy metal immobilization. Pre-washing is recommended as a pre-treatment method for GFA carbonation, which increased the efficiency to adsorb CO₂, improved the pH of carbonated GFA, and enhanced the effect to immobilize heavy metals.

Arsenic (As) is among the most dangerous metalloids and is harmful to human wellbeing. In this laboratory study, Al(III)-modified kapok fibres (Al-Kapok) were used to remove As(V) from water. The sorbent was characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Batch experiments were performed to observe the performance of Al-Kapok in the removal of As(V) and to examine the effects of pH, temperature, adsorbent dose, and coexisting ions on the adsorption process. The surface of the sorbent changed after aluminium modification, and the results of the batch experiments showed that the adsorption of As(V) occurred mainly via endothermic-spontaneous chemisorption at the solution and solid interface of Al-Kapok. The As(V) removal efficiency was approximately 76%–84%, and it was slightly affected at pH levels below 8.0. Further study showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of Al-Kapok for As(V) was 118 μg/g at 30 °C and pH 6, and notable adverse effects were caused by the presence of SO42−and PO43−. It was also found that the boundary layer and film diffusion contributed more to As(V) adsorption. After five adsorption/desorption cycles, regeneration recovered approximately 92% of the adsorption capacity of Al-Kapok used. Overall, Al-Kapok appears to be a suitable adsorbent material for the purification of As-contaminated water.