The efficient capture of CO₂ is a critical problem for porous adsorbents. The inadequacy of conventional adsorbents has low adsorption capacity towards CO₂ removal. Metal organic frame work has been considered as very effective for CO₂ adsorption as it shows higher rate of CO₂ adsorption at room temperature. In conventional amine processes, a comparatively high energy penalty is required, whereas a novel class of metal-organic framework by the combination of amine solvent have improve the potential of adsorption process and also the efficiency of separation. Amine-functionalized MOFs become more fascinated due to strong interaction between carbon dioxide and amine-functionalized MOF. A renewable green γCD-MOF was synthesized by using vapor diffusion method. Post-synthetic modification of γCD-MOF was done with piperazine and analyzed to expose its crystalline structure, morphology, and porous structure. The main aim of this paper is to enhance the CO₂ adsorption by functionalization of inexpensive, green, nanoporous γCD-MOF and also to highlight the effects of amine-based functionalization towards potential application. Gravimetric CO₂ adsorption isotherms for γCD-MOF, pip-γCD-MOF are reported up to 60 °C and found to follow a pseudo-second-order reaction. The pip-γCD-MOF confirms comparatively increased rapid adsorption rate of CO₂ than that of γCD-MOF and desorption of CO₂, and need less energy for regeneration. These results are the complete evidence of piperazine as an efficient amine group for increasing the CO₂ adsorption uptake capacity.

The widespread use of thiram has raised concerns for health and its toxic effects, but the underlying toxicity mechanism on platelets and bones is poorly defined. Here, we found a significant increase in the number of platelets in chickens with the thiram intake, due to the increased expression of thrombopoietin mRNA in the dysfunction liver. Furthermore, the decreased vascular distribution and cell death of chondrocytes in the tibial growth plates (TGPs) were observed, resulting in bone growth inhibition, which is associated with the abnormal activation of platelets leading to the extraordinary decrease of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and angiopoietin-1 protein were released and their corresponding receptors VEGFR2 and Tie-2 expressions were also reduced in the TGPs. Taken together, these findings revealed that thiram has an adverse effect on bones and platelets, which may have a high risk of thrombosis and osteoarthritis.

Abiotic stress can influence the interactions between a pathogen and its host. In this paper, we analyzed the effects of salicylic acid (SA) and pH on the morphological development and pathogenicity of Magnaporthe oryzae, the pathogen that causes rice (Oryza sativa) blast. A strain of rice blast that overexpresses biotrophy-associated secreted protein 1 (BAS1) and a wild-type (WT) strain were pretreated with different levels of pH and different concentrations of SA to analyze M. oryzae colony growth, sporulation, spore germination, dry weight of hypha, and appressorium formation. Disease incidence and the expression of defense-related genes in infected rice were analyzed after pretreatment with pH 5.00 or pH 8.00 and 200 μM SA. The results showed that both SA and pH had some influence on morphological development, including sporulation and appressorium formation of the BAS1-overexpression strain. In the 200 μM SA pretreatment, there was a lower incidence of disease and higher expression levels of the rice defense-related genes PR1a, PAL, HSP90, and PR5 on leaves inoculated with the BAS1-overexpession strain compared with the WT strain, whereas, LOX2 appeared to be downregulated in the BAS1-overexpession strain compared with the WT. In both pH treatments, disease incidence and expression of HSP90 were higher and the expression of PR1a and PR10a and LOX2 and PAL was lower in leaves inoculated with the BAS1-overexpression strain compared with leaves inoculated with the WT strain. We conclude that SA and pH affect morphological development of the BAS1-overexpression blast strain, but that these factors have little influence on the pathogenicity of the strain, indicating that BAS1-overexpression may have enhanced the tolerance of this rice blast strain to abiotic stressors. This work suggests new molecular mechanisms that exogenous SA and pH affect the interactions between M. oryzae and rice.

The irrigation with sewage water can be useful if it has no negative effects on food crop yield, soil pollution, and health of humans. However, it includes various types of contaminants like heavy metals that pollute the soil and crops. In this regard, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possible health risks of heavy metals in forages. Forages both of summer and winter were grown with different water treatments (sewage water and tap water) in Department of Botany, University of Sargodha. The concentration of iron (Fe) in water, soil, and plant samples was determined. The Fe values in tap and sewage water were observed as 0.090 and 0.115 mg/L, respectively. The highest mean concentration of Fe was 9.608 mg/kg in the soil where Trifolium alexandrinum is grown, and the lowest mean concentration was 0.154 mg/kg which occurred in the soil where Trifolium resupinatum is grown in winter. The maximum mean concentration of Fe in the root samples of plants was observed as 2.483 mg/kg in Pennisetum typhoideum, and the minimum mean concentration occurred as 0.390 mg/kg in Zea mays grown in summer. The maximum bioconcentration factor value of Fe was observed for T. resupinatum (5.259) grown in winter. The maximum pollution load index value of Fe was observed for T. alexandrinum (0.1688). The maximum value of daily intake of metals was observed as 0.0731 in Medicago sativa, and the maximum health risk index value was determined as 0.1091 in P. typhoideum.

To determine the concentration of particulate matters (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀), 36 samples were collected from indoor/outdoor air of hookah cafés (HS), cigarette cafés (CS), both hookah and cigarette (HCS), and no-smoking building (NS) in Tehran City from December 2017 to March 2018. The mean ± SD of PM₁₀ concentration in the indoor air of the cafés in terms of HS, CS, HCS, and NS sites has been 702.35, 220.20, 1156.60, and 60.12 μg/m³, while for PM₂.₅, the values have been 271.92, 111.80, 619.10, and 22.25 μg/m³, respectively. It was also found that the PM concentration inside the cafés was higher during weekend session (with a higher number of active smokers), than during the weekday sessions. Moreover, the PM levels in the indoor air of the cafés were considerably higher than those of the outdoors (p < 0.05). Based on path analysis, the number of “active smokers” had the highest influence on production of PM inside the cafés, followed by the tobacco type. Finally, the mean excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) for PM₂.₅ in the indoor air of cafés was observed in the range of 0.64 × 10⁻⁵–14.98 × 10⁻⁵. Also, the mean of hazard quotient (HQ) for PM2.5 and PM₁₀ was calculated in range of 0.82–18.4 and 0.16–3.28, respectively, which corresponds to an unacceptably high risk for human health. The PM levels in the indoor air of smoking cafés in Tehran are significantly high, such that it can cause serious risks for the health of both the customers and personnel. Thus, it is necessary that suitable controlling strategies be adopted for this public health threat.

In this study, the influences of organic carbon sources (OCS, including xylose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, and starch) and inorganic and organic nitrogen sources (INS, including ammonia chloride and sodium nitrate; ONS, including arginine, alanine, proline, and valine) and metal ions (including Na⁺, K⁺, Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Cu²⁺) on the growth, lipid accumulation, and nitrogen and phosphorus (N&P) removal capabilities of oleaginous Scenedesmus sp. LX1 under heterotrophic conditions were investigated. The results showed that glucose was the only OCS for Scenedesmus sp. LX1 to grow well with specific growth rate of 0.935 days⁻¹, maximum biomass of 1.72 g L⁻¹, and largest removal rates of N&P and organic carbon reaching 72.228%, 93.034%, and 19.208%, respectively. After 11 days of cultivation, the maximal biomass reached in the group with starch or glucose while maximal lipid and triacylglycerol (TAG) yields reached in the groups with maltose and sucrose, respectively. Sodium nitrate was best nitrogen source as the largest algal density, maximal yields of lipids and TAGs, and highest N&P removal rates reached up to 1.105 × 10⁷ cells·mL⁻¹, 196.70 mg L⁻¹, 5.19 mg L⁻¹, 89.61% and 100%, respectively. Scenedesmus sp. LX1 was found to have great tolerance to Na⁺, K⁺, Mn²⁺, and Zn²⁺ while 0.5 mg L⁻¹ Cu²⁺ had a strong inhibition on growth and N&P removal rate of Scenedesmus sp. LX1. Concentration increasing of five metal ions all caused the yield increases of microalgal lipid and TAGs. Graphical abstract

In this study, we analyzed the concentrations of metals in sediments and Corbicula fluminea in China’s Dongting Lake to assess the suitability of C. fluminea as an effective biomonitor of metal contamination in sediments and food safety. We analyzed the biota-accumulation capacity by calculating the biota-sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) and assessed the potential human health risk of metals exposure via consumption of C. fluminea using the target hazard quotient (THQ) and total target hazard quotient (TTHQ). The results showed that the average concentrations of As (31.93 mg kg⁻¹), Cd (5.54 mg kg⁻¹), Cr (105.50 mg kg⁻¹), Cu (32.53 mg kg⁻¹), and Zn (207.89 mg kg⁻¹) in sediments were higher than their respective standard set by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China. The sediment metals, which were mainly anthropogenic in origin, were at high levels and pose a relatively high ecological risk. Cadium (Cd) showed very high potential ecological risk levels and should be included in the prior pollutants list in the studied area. The mean levels of As (0.81 mg kg⁻¹) in C. fluminea were 1.62-times higher than that set by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. BSAF values of the soft tissues of C. fluminea were between 0.05 and 2.14, with higher values for Cu (2.14), Cd (1.77), Zn (1.60), and Ni (1.27). Soft tissues of C. fluminea were able to reflect spatial differences in Sr within sediments around Dongting Lake. The results indicated that C. fluminea could be an potential biomonitor for sediment metals assessment in biomonitoring programs, especially for Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni, and Sr. The mean values for THQ and TTHQ of all the analyzed metals were below 1.0, indicating that the intake of metals via comsumption of C. fluminea does not result in an appreciable risk to human health.

Erhai is a famous tectonic rift lake in China. In this study, the distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus species in Erhai sediment cores and their ecology risk were evaluated. The total nitrogen (TN) in the sediment cores ranged from 1583.3 to 8018.5 mg/kg. Nitrogen (N) was still accumulating in the sediment. For depths of 0 to 25 cm, the TN decreased dramatically and for deeper depths the TN got stabilized. The proportions of various N fractions in the sediments of the study areas ranked as follows: the strong oxidation extractable N (SOEF-N) > the weak acid extractable N (WAEF-N) > the strong alkali extractable N (SAEF-N) > the ion-exchangeable N (IEF-N). The total phosphorus (TP) ranged from 814.9 to 1442.3 mg/kg. The vertical distribution of each fraction of phosphorus showed that there were different sources of sediment phosphorus around the Erhai Lake. The results of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution evaluation in sediments by single pollution standard index method showed that the standard index of the TN (STN) ranged from 4.29 to 14.01, and the standard index of the TP (STP) ranged from 1.69 to 2.18. It illustrated that N and P in the sediments were the serious ecological pollution risks in Erhai Lake.

The dissemination of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) genes through gene transfer attracts wide attention. Bentonite is widely used as a feed additive in an animal-breeding environment. In order to obtain a better understanding of the effect of bentonite on Escherichia coli carrying ESBL gene, proteomic analysis was carried out to screen the key proteins. The results showed that a total of 31 proteins were differentially expressed, including 21 up-regulated proteins and 10 down-regulated proteins. These proteins were involved in biosynthetic process, metabolic process, stress response, transport, anaerobic respiration, proteolysis, hydrolase, protein folding, transcription, salvage, and other. The transcriptional level of four genes (mipA, gntY, tldD, and arcA) was in consensus with proteomic results. This study revealed the differentially expressed proteins involved when E. coli was incubated under bentonite and PBS condition, which implied the possibility that bentonite may promote the transfer of ESBL gene between E. coli.

Breastfeeding is a gold standard of neonate nutrition because human milk contains a lot of essential compounds crucial for proper development of a child. However, milk is also a biofluid which can contain environmental pollution, which can have effects on immune system and consequently on the various body organs. Polychlorinated biphenyls are organic pollutants which have been detected in human milk. They have lipophilic properties, so they can penetrate to fatty milk and ultimately to neonate digestive track. Another problem of interest is the presence in milk of heavy metals—arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury—as these compounds can lead to disorders in production of cytokines, which are important immunomodulators. The toxicants cause stimulation or suppression of this compounds. This can lead to health problems in children as allergy, disorders in the endocrine system, end even neurodevelopment delay and disorder. Consequently, correlations between pollutants and bioactive components in milk should be investigated. This article provides an overview of environmental pollutants found in human milk as well as of the consequences of cytokine disorder correlated with presence of heavy metals. Graphical abstract