Long-term exposure to primary traffic pollutants may be harmful for health but few studies have investigated effects on mortality. We examined associations for six primary traffic pollutants with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in 2003–2010 at small-area level using linear and piecewise linear Poisson regression models. In linear models most pollutants showed negative or null association with all-cause, cardiovascular or respiratory mortality. In the piecewise models we observed positive associations in the lowest exposure range (e.g. relative risk (RR) for all-cause mortality 1.07 (95% credible interval (CI) = 1.00–1.15) per 0.15 μg/m³ increase in exhaust related primary particulate matter ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5)) whereas associations in the highest exposure range were negative (corresponding RR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91–0.96). Overall, there was only weak evidence of positive associations with mortality. That we found the strongest positive associations in the lowest exposure group may reflect residual confounding by unmeasured confounders that varies by exposure group.

The interaction of pollutants with Cultural Heritage materials leads to artworks and materials degradation and loss, causing an unpriceless damage. This works aims to estimate the impacts of air pollution and meteorological conditions on limestone, copper and bronze and represents the European risk assessment for corrosion of Cultural Heritage materials. The measures and policies for atmospheric pollution reduction have cut off the SO2 concentration and consequently its impact on materials is drastically reduced. Indeed, in 1980 the number of UNESCO sites in danger was extremely high (94% for limestone, 54% for copper and 1% for bronze) while in 2010 these sites did not exceed the tolerable value of surface recession and corrosion. However, some problem related to air pollution persists. In particular, Random Forest Analysis (RFA), highlights PM10 as the main responsible for materials corrosion, in 2010. Two scenarios in 2030 have been tested, highlighting that the corrosion levels of limestone, copper and bronze exceed the tolerable limits only in the Balkan area and Turkey. Our results show the importance in the air quality modelling as a powerful tool for the UNESCO sites conservation.

The shift from rural lifestyles to urban living has dramatically altered the way humans interact and live across the globe. With over 50% of the world’s populations living within cities, and significant increases expected over the next 50 years, it is critical that changes to social, economic and environmental sustainability of cities globally be implicit. Protecting and enhancing aquatic ecosystems, which provide important ecosystem services, is challenging. A number of factors influence pollutants in urban waterways including changes in land-use, impervious area and stormwater discharges, with sediment-bound pollution a major issue worldwide. This work aimed to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of trace metals in freshwater sediments from six urbanised catchment over a 30-year period. It provides an estimate of pollution using a geoaccumulation index and examines possible toxicity using a probable effect concentration quotient (mPECq). Results showed significant temporal changes in metal concentrations over time, with lead generally decreasing in all but one of the sites, attributed to significant changes in environmental policies and the active elimination of lead products. Temporal changes in other metals were variable and likely dependent on site-specific factors. While it is likely that diffuse pollution is driving changes in zinc, for metals such as lead, chromium and copper, it is likely that watershed landuse and/or point sources are more important. The results clearly indicated that changes to watershed landuse, environmental policy and pollution abatement programs are all driving changes in sediment quality, highlighting the utility of long-term sediment monitoring for assessment of urban watershed condition. While this study has demonstrated the utility of detecting long-term changes in metal concentrations, this approach could easily be adapted to detect and assess future trends in other hydrophobic contaminants and emerging chemicals of concern, such as synthetic pyrethroids, providing essential information for the protection of catchment.

Phosphatization of ZnO nanoparticles (ZNPs) at various pHs and its influence on subsequent lead sorption were investigated. Results showed that, in presence of phosphate, both the chemical speciation and crystalline phase of ZNPs were pH dependent that most of them were converted to crystalline Zn3(PO4)2 at acidic pHs, but only little amorphous hopeites can be formed under alkaline condition. Phosphatization process significantly enhanced subsequent lead sorption with the order of acidic process > alkaline > pristine ZNPs. Spectroscopic analysis including ATR-FTIR and XPS revealed main mechanisms of lead phosphate precipitation and inner-sphere complexes for lead sorption on acidic and alkaline treatment products, respectively. The potential toxicity of ZNPs and heavy metals in eutrophic aquatic ecosystems would thus be reduced due to the ubiquitous phosphatization process. This study highlights the importance of environmental variables in exploring the environmental behavior and fate of heavy metals as well as nanoparticles in natural waters.

This study aimed to investigate the oxidative stress process and bioaccumulation the racemic/(−)-/(+)- 2,2ʹ,3,4ʹ,6-pentachlorobiphenyl were administered to adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) after prolonged exposure of 56-days uptake and 49-days depuration experiments. Stereoselective accumulation was observed in adult samples after racemic exposure as revealed by decreased enantiomer fractions. The two enantiomers of PCB91 accumulated at different rates with logBCFk values close to 3.7, suggesting that they were highly hazardous and persistent pollutants. Exposure to racemic/(−)-/(+)- PCB91 stereoselectively induced oxidative stress owing to changes in reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde contents, antioxidant enzyme activities and gene expressions in brain and liver tissues. In addition, the stereoselective relationship between bioconcentration and oxidative stress were also presented in this study. Our findings might be helpful for elucidating the environmental risk of the two enantiomers of PCB91 that induce toxicity in aquatic organisms.

While the knowledge of the underlying mechanisms by which air pollution-derived particulate matter (PM) exerts its harmful health effects is still incomplete, detailed in vitro studies are highly needed. With the aim of getting closer to the human in vivo conditions and better integrating a number of factors related to pre-existing chronic pulmonary inflammatory, we sought to develop primary cultures of normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-diseased human bronchial epithelial (DHBE) cells, grown at the air-liquid interface. Pan-cytokeratin and MUC5AC immunostaining confirmed the specific cell-types of both these healthy and diseased cell models and showed they are closed to human bronchial epithelia. Thereafter, healthy and diseased cells were repeatedly exposed to air pollution-derived PM4 at the non-cytotoxic concentration of 5 μg/cm2. The differences between the oxidative and inflammatory states in non-exposed NHBE and COPD-DHBE cells indicated that diseased cells conserved their specific physiopathological characteristics. Increases in both oxidative damage and cytokine secretion were reported in repeatedly exposed NHBE cells and particularly in COPD-DHBE cells. Diseased cells repeatedly exposed had lower capacities to metabolize the organic chemicals-coated onto the air-pollution-derived PM4, such as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), but showed higher sensibility to the formation of OH-B[a]P DNA adducts, because their diseased state possibly affected their defenses. Differential profiles of epigenetic hallmarks (i.e., global DNA hypomethylation, P16 promoter hypermethylation, telomere length shortening, telomerase activation, and histone H3 modifications) occurred in repeatedly exposed NHBE and particularly in COPD-DHBE cells. Taken together, these results closely supported the highest responsiveness of COPD-DHBE cells to a repeated exposure to air pollution-derived PM4. The use of these innovative in vitro exposure systems such as NHBE and COPD-DHBE cells could therefore be consider as a very useful and powerful promising tool in the field of the respiratory toxicology, taking into account sensitive individuals.

Modified clay-based solid-phase phosphorous (P) sorbents are increasingly used as lake geoengineering materials for lake eutrophication control. However, some still dispute the feasibility of using these materials to control internal P loading from shallow eutrophic lakes. The lack of information about P behavior while undergoing frequent sediment resuspension greatly inhibits the modified minerals’ use. In this study, a sediment resuspension generating system was used to simulate the effect of both moderate winds (5.1 m/s) and strong winds (8.7 m/s) on the stability of sediment treated by two geoengineering materials, Phoslock® (a lanthanum modified bentonite) and thermally-treated calcium-rich attapulgite. This study also presents an analysis of the P dynamics across the sediment-water interface of two shallow eutrophic lakes. In addition, the effect of wind velocity on P forms and P supply from the treated sediment were studied using chemical extraction and diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique, respectively. Results showed that adding geoengineering materials can enhance the stability of surface sediment and reduce the erosion depth caused by wind accordingly. All treatments can effectively reduce soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentration in overlying water when sediment is capped with thermally-treated calcium-rich attapulgite, which performs better than sediment mixed with modified attapulgite but not as well as sediment treated with Phoslock®. However, their efficiency decreased with the increase in occurrences of sediment resuspension. The addition of the selected geoengineering materials effectively reduced the P fluxes across sediment-water interface and lowered P supply ability from the treated sediment during sediment resuspension. The reduction of mobile P and enhancement of calcium bound P and residual P fraction in the treated sediment was beneficial to the long-term lake internal P loading management. All of the results indicated that the studied geoengineering materials are suitable for application in shallow eutrophic lakes with frequent sediment resuspension activity.

This study was focused on the phosphorus mobility among sediments, water and cyanobacteria in eutrophic Lake Dianchi. Four conditions lake water, water and algae, water and sediments, and three objects together were conducted to investigate the effects of cyanobacteria growth on the migration and transformation of phosphorus. Results showed a persistent correlation between the development of cyanobacterial blooms and the increase of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in the lake water under the condition of three objects together. Time-course assays measuring different forms of phosphorus in sediments indicated that inorganic phosphorus (IP) and NaOH-P were relatively more easier to migrate out of sediment to the water and cyanobacteria. Further studies on phosphorus mobility showed that up to 70.2% of the released phosphorus could be absorbed by cyanobacteria, indicating that sediment is a major source of phosphorus when external loading is reduced. Time-course assays also showed that the development of cyanobacterial blooms promoted an increase in pH and a decrease in the redox potential of the lake water. The structure of the microbial communities in sediments was also significantly changed, revealed a great impaction of cyanobacterial blooms on the microbial communities in sediments, which may contribute to phosphorus release. Our study simulated the cyanobacterial blooms of Lake Dianchi and revealed that the cyanobacterial blooms is a driving force for phosphorus mobility among sediments, water and cyanobacteria. The outbreak of algal blooms caused deterioration in water quality. The P in the sediments represented a significant supply for the growth of cyanobacteria.

It has been hypothesised that, if ingested, plastic debris could act as vector for the transfer of chemical contaminants from seawater to organisms, yet modelling suggest that, in the natural environment, chemical transfer would be negligible compared to other routes of uptake. However, to date, the models have not incorporated consideration of the role of gut surfactants, or the influence of pH or temperature on desorption, whilst experimental work has shown that these factors can enhance desorption of sorbed contaminants several fold. Here, we modelled the transfer of sorbed organic contaminants dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), phenanthrene (Phe) and bis-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) from microscopic particles of polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) to a benthic invertebrate, a fish and a seabird using a one-compartment model OMEGA (Optimal Modelling for EcotoxicoloGical Applications) with different conditions of pH, temperature and gut surfactants. Environmental concentrations of contaminants at the bottom and the top of published ranges were considered, in combination with ingestion of either 1 or 5% by weight of plastic. For all organisms, the combined intake from food and water was the main route of exposure for Phe, DEHP and DDT with a negligible input from plastic. For the benthic invertebrate, predictions including the presence of contaminated plastic resulted in very small increases in the internal concentrations of DDT and DEHP, while the net change in the transfer of Phe was negligible. While there may be scenarios in which the presence of plastic makes a more important contribution, our modelling study suggests that ingestion of microplastic does not provide a quantitatively important additional pathway for the transfer of adsorbed chemicals from seawater to biota via the gut.

Sediment cores and soil samples were taken from nine lakes and their catchments across England with varying degrees of direct human disturbance. Mercury (Hg) analysis demonstrated a range of impacts, many from local sources, resulting from differing historical and contemporary site usage and management. Lakes located in industrially important areas showed clear evidence for early Hg pollution with concentrations in sediments reaching 400–1600 ng g−1 prior to the mid-19th century. Control of inputs resulting from local management practices and a greater than 90% reduction in UK Hg emissions since 1970 were reflected by reduced Hg pollution in some lakes. However, having been a sink for Hg deposition for centuries, polluted catchment soils are now the major Hg source for most lakes and consequently recovery from reduced Hg deposition is being delayed.