We aimed to determine whether lead exposure was associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and risk factors in Chinese adults. Five thousand three hundred and forty-eight subjects were enrolled from 16 sites in China. Blood lead level (BLL) was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. Cardiovascular diseases included coronary heart disease, stroke, and myocardial infarction. Cardiovascular risk factors included body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipid profile, and blood pressure. We found that 5.9% of the study population had prevalent CVD. Medians (interquartile range) of BLLs were 44.00 μg/L (29.00–62.48) for men and 37.70 μg/L (25.00–54.60) for women. The prevalence of CVD gradually and markedly increased with increasing BLL quartiles in women (P for trend < 0.01), but not in men. After adjustment for age, current smoking, and drinking, BLLs were independently associated with cardiovascular risk factors including BMI, FPG, and blood pressure in women (all P < 0.05), but not in men. Binary logistic regression showed that increased quartiles of BLL were significantly and positively associated with increased odds ratio of prevalent CVD (P for trend < 0.01) in women. This association was independent of age, smoking, drinking, education, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and lipid profile. In conclusion, BLL in the range currently considered acceptable is independently associated with CVD, which is the leading cause of death in China. Further practical and cost-effective efforts to reduce lead exposure may be warranted.

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the main adsorbent for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the principal aggregating agent for soil aggregation that can affect PAH bioavailability and bioaccessibility in soils. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between PAH dissipation and variation in soil aggregate–size distribution in two field-contaminated soils with different soil organic C (SOC) content (Anthrosols, 1.41% SOC; Phaeozems, 8.51% SOC) in phytoremediation with alfalfa. The results showed that there were significant reductions of 10.2 and 15.4% of the total PAHs in unplanted and planted treatments, respectively, for Anthrosols. However, there was no significant reduction of total PAHs in either unplanted or planted treatment for Phaeozems. For Anthrosols, mass percentages of coarse sand and fine sand were significantly reduced while coarse silt and fine silt were significantly increased for the planted soil compared to the initial soil (p < 0.05). For Phaeozems, there was no significant variation in aggregate–size distribution among different treatments except that coarse silt in planted and unplanted soil was slightly reduced. The main reason for the dissipation of PAHs in Anthrosols could be that macroaggregates were broken into microaggregates, which made some trapped PAHs become bioaccessible to soil microorganisms.

X-ray analysis was applied to estimate the percentages of heavy metals in ovarian tissues of the tenebrionid beetle, Blaps polycresta. Calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, cadmium, copper, and zinc were the most common detected metals in ovaries of insects collected from reference and polluted sites. Only cadmium showed significantly higher percentages in the polluted ovaries compared with the reference ones. Ultrastructure investigation revealed severe alterations in polluted ovaries both in the tropharium and in the vitellarium. Contraction of nuclear membrane of trophocytes was observed; therefore, cavities and spaces appeared in the cytoplasm followed by nuclear pyknosis. In the vitellarium, fragmentation of chromatin materials in nuclei of the follicular cells was detected. The cytoplasm was poor in the rough endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. Damage of yolk bodies occurred in addition to break off in the layer of microvilli. Accumulation of electron-dense vesicles and multivesicular bodies were observed in both reference and polluted ovaries. These alterations in ovarian ultrastructure of B. polycresta show the severe impact of cadmium pollution on cell organelles of insects and could be used as an interesting tool for monitoring heavy metals inside the body organs due to soil pollution.

The bioavailability of heavy metals strongly depends on their speciation in the environment. Adsorption (ADS) and coprecipitation (CPT) on amorphous metal hydroxides are important processes, controlling the fates of heavy metals in an aqueous environment. This work studied the bioavailability of Cu, Cd, Ni, and Pb adsorbed on and/or coprecipitated with amorphous iron and iron/aluminum mixed hydroxides to the wetland plant Phragmites australis. After a 13-day treatment, there was an apparent uptake of the heavy metals by the plant, and the amount of metal bioaccumulation was measurably different for different association forms (ADS vs. CPT). The bioaccumulation of Cd associated with Fe₀.₅Al₀.₅(OH)₃ was greater than that with Fe(OH)₃; the adsorbed metals were found to be more bioavailable than the coprecipitated forms for most of the treatments while the aging treatment significantly reduced the bioaccumulation of ADS metals. In the single metal treatment, root metal concentrations in the Fe(OH)₃ ADS system followed the order Ni (68 mg kg⁻¹) > Cu (32 mg kg⁻¹) > Cd (28 mg kg⁻¹) > Pb (9 mg kg⁻¹), while the CPT system followed the order of Cu (30 mg kg⁻¹) > Ni (22 mg kg⁻¹) > Pb (9 mg kg⁻¹) > Cd (7 mg kg⁻¹). The order of metal accumulation in a combined metal treatment was similar to that for single metal treatments, but observed Ni concentration declines by 22 and 71 % and Cu and Cd concentrations increase by 30 and 50 % (for CPT and ADS treatments, respectively), while Pb concentrations increased by 30~50 % in both of them. When treated with low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs), metal desorption, indicative of metal oxide bonding strength and metal bioavailability, was consistent with metal accumulation in the plant.

A highly sensitive, specific, simple, and rapid chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) was developed for the determination of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) by using strategies for oriented immobilization of functionally intact polyclonal antibodies on chitosan surface. Several physicochemical parameters such as metal ion adsorption, hexahistidine-tagged Protein G sorption, the dilution ratio polyclonal antibody concentration, and peroxidase-labeled MC-LR concentration were studied and optimized. The sorption in batch system of G-histidine and G-proteins was studied on a novel sorbent consisting of chitosan/divalent metal ions. Transition metals as Ni⁺⁺ and Zn⁺⁺ were immobilized through interaction with –NH₂ groups of chitosan in order to supply a material capable to efficiently remove the proteins from aqueous solutions. The maximum uptake of divalent metals onto the chitosan material was found to be 230 mg g⁻¹ for Zn⁺⁺ and 62 mg g⁻¹ for Ni⁺⁺. Experimental data were evaluated using the Langmuir and Freundlich models; the results were well fitted with the Langmuir model; chitosan/Ni⁺⁺ foam was found to be the best sorbent for G-protein, maximum sorption capacity obtained was 17 mg g⁻¹, and chitosan/Zn⁺⁺ was found to be the best for G-histidine with a maximum sorption capacity of 44 mg g⁻¹. Kinetic data was evaluated with pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order models; the sorption kinetics were in all cases better represented by a pseudo-second-order model. Under optimum conditions, the calibration curve obtained for MC-LR gave detection limits of 0.5 ± 0.06 μg L⁻¹, the 50 % inhibition concentration (IC50) was 2.75 ± 0.03 μg L⁻¹, and the quantitative detection range was 0.5–25 μg L⁻¹. The limit of detection (LOD) attained from the calibration curves and the results obtained demonstrate the potential use of CLEIA with chitosan support as a screening tool for the analysis of pollutants in environmental samples.

We examine the feasibility of phytoremediation as an alternative strategy to limit the exposure of asbestos in site with asbestos-containing materials. We collected soils from four locations from two sites—one with naturally occurring asbestos, and another, a superfund site, where asbestos-containing materials were disposed over decades—and performed ecotoxicology tests. We also performed two experiments with crop cultivar and two grasses from serpentine ecotype and cultivar to determined best choice for phytoremediation. Asbestos concentrations in different size fractions of soils varied by orders of magnitude. However, different asbestos concentrations had little effect on germination and root growth. Presence of co-contaminants such as heavy metals and lack of nutrients affected plant growth to different extents, indicating that several of these limiting factors should be considered instead of the primary contaminant of concern. Crop cultivar survived on asbestos-contaminated soil. Grasses from serpentine ecotype did not show higher biomass than the cultivar. Overall, these results showed that soil conditions play a critical role in screening different crop species for phytoremediation and that asbestos concentration has limited to no effect on plant growth. Our study provided a framework for phytoremediation of asbestos-contaminated sites to limit long-term asbestos exposure.

Activated carbons with high specific surface areas were produced, utilizing waste polyester textiles as carbon precursor by magnesium oxide (MgO) template method. Magnesium chloride (MgCl₂), magnesium citrate (MgCi), and MgO were employed as MgO precursors to prepare activated carbons (AC-MgCl₂, AC-MgCi, and AC-MgO). Thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry was conducted to investigate the pore-forming mechanism, and N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms, XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM, FTIR and pHₚzc were achieved to analyze physicochemical characteristics of the samples. The specific surface areas of AC-MgCl₂ (1173 m²/g) and AC-MgCi (1336 m²/g) were much higher than that of AC-MgO (450 m²/g), and the pores sizes of which were micro-mesoporous, mesoporous, and macropores, respectively, due to the formation of MgO crystal with different sizes. All activated carbons had abundant acidic oxygen groups. In addition, batch adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorptive characteristics of the prepared activated carbons toward Cr(VI). The adsorption kinetics fitted well with the pseudo-second order, and the adsorptive capacity of AC-MgCl₂ (42.55 mg/g) was higher than those of AC-MgCi (40.93 mg/g) and AC-MgO (35.87 mg/g).

Vibrio bacteria live in both marine and freshwater habitats and are associated with aquatic animals. Vibrio vulnificus is a pathogenic bacterium that infects people and livestock. It is usually found in offshore waters or within fish and shellfish. This study presents a comparative proteomic analysis of the outer membrane protein (OMP) changes in V. vulnificus proteins after stimulation with sewage from sewage drains. Using two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF MS/MS, 32 protein spots with significant differences in abundance were identified and characterized. These identified proteins were found to be involved in various functional categories, including catalysis, transport, membrane proteins progresses, receptor activity, energy metabolism, cytokine activity, and protein metabolism. The mRNA expression levels of 12 differential proteins were further assessed by qRT-PCR. Seven genes including carboxypeptidase, hemoglobin receptor, succinate dehydrogenase iron-sulfur subunit, ATP synthase subunit alpha, thioredoxin, succinyl-CoA synthetase subunit, and alanine dehydrogenase were downregulated upon stimulation, whereas the protein expression levels HupA receptor, type I secretion outer membrane protein, glutamine synthetase, superoxide dismutase, OmpU, and VuuA were upregulated. ¹H NMR spectra showed 18 dysregulated metabolites from V. vulnificus after the sewage stimulation and the pathogenicity was enhanced after that.

Storage of bottled waters in varying ambient conditions affects its characteristics. Different storage conditions cause changes in the initial chemical composition of bottled water which lead to the occurrence of precipitates with various morphologies. In order to assess the relationship between water composition, storage conditions and precipitate morphology, a study of four brands of Slovenian bottled water stored in PET bottles was carried out. Chemical analyses of the main ions and measurements of the physical properties of water samples were performed before and after storage of water samples at different ambient conditions. SEM/EDS analysis of precipitates was performed after elapsed storage time. The results show that the presence of Mg²⁺, SO₄ ²⁻, SiO₂, Al, Mn and other impurities such as K⁺, Na⁺, Ba and Sr in the water controlled precipitate morphology by inhibiting crystal growth and leading to elongated rhombohedral calcite crystal forms which exhibit furrowed surfaces and calcite rosettes. Different storage conditions, however, affected the number of crystallization nuclei and size of calcite crystals. Hollow calcite spheres composed of cleavage rhombohedrons formed in the water with variable storage conditions by a combination of evaporation and precipitation of water droplets during high temperatures or by the bubble templating method.