The Yangtze River, which is the largest in Euro-Asian, receives tremendous anthropogenic nitrogen input and is typically characterized by severe eutrophication and hypoxia. Two major processes, denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), play vital roles for removing nitrogen global in nitrogen cycling. In the current study, sediment samples were collected from both latitudinal and longitudinal transects along the coastal Yangtze River and the East China Sea (ECS). We investigated community composition and distributions of nosZ gene-encoded denitrifiers by high throughput sequencing, and also quantified the relative abundances of both denitrifying and anammox bacteria by q-PCR analysis. Denitrifying communities showed distinct spatial distribution patterns that were impacted by physical (water current and river runoffs) and chemical (nutrient availability and organic content) processes. Both denitrifying and anammox bacteria contributed to the nitrogen removal in Yangtze Estuary and the adjacent ECS, and these two processes shifted from coastal to open ocean with reverse trends: the abundance of nosZ gene decreased from coastal to open ocean while anammox exhibited an increasing trend based on quantifications of hzsB and 16S rRNA genes. Further correspondence correlation analysis revealed that salinity and nutrients were the main factors in structuring composition and distribution of denitrifying and anammox bacteria. This study improved our understanding of dynamic processes in nitrogen removal from estuarine to open ocean. We hypothesize that denitrification is the major nitrogen removal pathway in estuaries, but in open oceans, low nutrient and organic matter concentrations restrict denitrification, thus increasing the importance of anammox as a nitrogen removal process.

The ammonium (NH4+) pool in the water column of eutrophic lakes is dynamic and undergoes tightly coupled production and consumption processes because of the metabolism of bacterial and algal communities, particularly in summer. However, NH4+ recycling rates along nutrient gradients at river-lake transitional zones and the extent to which NH4+ regeneration can compensate for consumption have been poorly studied. In August (flood period) and November (normal period), 2016, NH4+ regeneration rates (REGs) and potential uptake rates (Upots) were measured in northwestern Lake Taihu and adjacent rivers. Results showed that the REGs ranged from 0.09 to 3.30 μmol N L−1 h−1 and the Upots ranged from 0.20 to 4.88 μmol N L−1 h−1, with higher recycling rates occurring at the river sites. Yet, the lake sites showed significantly higher water column NH4+ demand (WCAD) than that of the adjacent river sites during both seasons (p < 0.05), probably as a result of the low REGs and the lack of exogenous nitrogen (N) inputs. The flood period showed significantly higher REG and Upot values than those of the normal period (p < 0.05), probably controlled by higher water temperature and algal biomass. This study confirms that regenerated NH4+ was more important than the ambient NH4+ for sustaining cyanobacterial blooms in northwestern Lake Taihu and indicates that the river–lake transitional zones are key areas for N control in this hypereutrophic system.

Knowledge of distribution of toxic metal in crop is essential for studying toxic metal uptake, transportation and bioaccumulation, and it is important for environmental pollution monitoring. In this study, the macro spatial distribution of chromium in rice leaves was visualized by re-heating dual-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (DPLIBS) and chemometric methods. After the optimization of two important parameters (delay time and energy ratio) in DPLIBS, chromium prediction model was established based on global spectra. The global model achieved acceptable performance while slight overfitting for model was found because of numerous irrelevant variables. Feature variables including emissions from chromium and other elements were successfully selected by the values of regression coefficient in partial least square regression model. Best performance was achieved by using the feature variables and support vector machine, with correlation coefficient of prediction of 0.959, root mean square error of prediction of 13.4 mg/kg and residual predictive deviation of 3.6. Finally, the distribution of chromium in rice leaves was visualized with the best prediction model. The distribution image showed that chromium distributed approximately symmetrically along the vein and was likely to be accumulated in leaf apex. The preliminary results provide an approach for investigating the macro spatial distribution of elements in crops, which is important for environmental protection and food safety.

Rapid urbanization, which is closely related to economic growth, human health, and micro-climate, has resulted in a considerable amount of anthropogenic heat emissions. The lack of estimation data on long-term anthropogenic heat emissions is a great concern in climate and urban flux research. This study estimated the annual average anthropogenic heat fluxes (AHFs) in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in China between 1995 and 2015 on the basis of multisource remote sensing images and ancillary data. Anthropogenic heat emissions from different sources (e.g., industries, buildings, transportation, and human metabolism) were also estimated to analyze the composition of AHFs. The spatiotemporal dynamics of long-term AHFs with high spatial resolution (500 m) were estimated by using a refined AHF model and then analyzed using trend and standard deviation ellipse analyses. Results showed that values in the region increased significantly from 0.15 W· m−2 in 1995 to 1.46 W· m−2 in 2015. Heat emissions from industries, transportation, buildings, and human metabolism accounted for 64.1%, 17.0%, 15.5%, and 3.4% of the total anthropogenic heat emissions, respectively. Industrial energy consumption was the dominant contributor to the anthropogenic heat emissions in the region. During this period, industrial heat emissions presented an unstable variation but showed a growing trend overall. Heat emissions from buildings increased steadily. Spatial distribution was extended with an increasing tendency of the difference between the maximum and the minimum and was generally dominated by the northeast–southwest directional pattern. The spatiotemporal distribution patterns and trends of AHFs could provide vital support on management decision in city planning and environmental monitoring.

The acute and chronic toxicity of 3 common pesticides, namely, amitraz, chlorpyrifos and dimethoate, were tested in Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. Acute oral toxicity LC50 values were calculated after 24 h of exposure to contaminated syrup, and chronic toxicity was tested after 15 days of exposure to 2 sublethal concentrations of pesticides. The toxicity of the tested pesticides to A. mellifera and A. cerana decreased in the order of dimethoate > chlorpyrifos > amitraz. A. mellifera was slightly more sensitive to chlorpyrifos and dimethoate than A. cerana, while A. cerana was more sensitive to amitraz than A. mellifera. Chronic toxicity tests showed that 1.0 mg/L dimethoate reduced the survival of the two bee species and the food consumption of A. mellifera, while 1.0 mg/L amitraz and 1.0 mg/L chlorpyrifos did not affect the survival or food consumption of the two bee species. The treatment of syrup with amitraz at a concentration equal to 1/10th of the LC50 value did not affect the survival of or diet consumption by A. mellifera and A. cerana; however, chlorpyrifos and dimethoate at concentrations equal to 1/10th of their respective LC50 values affected the survival of A. cerana. Furthermore, intestinal bacterial communities were identified using high-throughput sequencing targeting the V3V4 regions of the 16S rDNA gene. All major honey bee intestinal bacterial phyla, including Proteobacteria (62.84%), Firmicutes (34.04%), and Bacteroidetes (2.02%), were detected. There was a significant difference in the microbiota species richness of the two species after 15 days; however, after 30 days, no significant differences were found in the species diversity and richness between A. cerana and A. mellifera exposed to 1.0 mg/L amitraz and 1.0 mg/L chlorpyrifos. Overall, our results confirm that acute toxicity values are valuable for evaluating the chronic toxicity of these pesticides to honey bees.

Bacterial endotoxins are a component of particulate matter (PM) with anticipated health implications, yet we know little about how host reception of endotoxin through toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is affected by its association with other PM components. Subsequently, we investigated the relationship between endotoxin concentration (recombinant Factor C (rFC) assay) and host recognition (HEK Blue-TLR4 NF-kB reporter cell line based assay) in various compositions of urban PM, including road traffic, industrial and urban green land use classes. While the assays did not correlate strongly between each other, the TLR4 reporter cell line was found to be better correlated to the IL-8 response of PM. Furthermore, the ability of the quantified endotoxin (rFC assay) to stimulate the TLR4/MD-2 complex was significantly affected by the urban land use class, where traffic locations were found to be significantly higher in bioactive endotoxin than the industrial and green locations. We subsequently turned our attention to PM composition and characterized the samples based on transition metal content (through ICP-MS). The effect of nickel and cobalt – previously reported to activate the hTLR4/MD-2 complex – was found to be negligible in comparison to that of iron. Here, the addition of iron as a factor significantly improved the regression model between the two endotoxin assays, explaining 77% of the variation of the TLR4 stimulation and excluding the significant effect of land use class. Moreover, the effect of iron proved to be more than a correlation, since dosing LPS with Fe²⁺ led to an increase up to 64% in TLR4 stimulation, while Fe²⁺ without LPS was unable to stimulate a response. This study shows that endotoxin quantification assays (such as the rFC assay) may not always correspond to human biological recognition of endotoxin in urban PM, while its toxicity can be synergistically influenced by the associated PM composition.

Marine plastic waste has become an ever-increasing environmental threat in the world’s ocean largely due to their unique properties and ubiquitous occurrence. They include diverse forms of land- and ocean-based sources of plastics and are estimated to account for up to 85% of marine debris worldwide. As secondary pollutants, marine microplastic particles (<5 mm) are derived from pellet loss and degradation of macroplastics. Up to now, several reports have proposed negative impacts of both macro-sized and micro-sized plastics on marine biota. As one of the rapidly growing economies, China is the topmost contributor of plastic waste in the world. China’s massive impact on the plastic levels of the ocean are a definite cause of concern and is developing multiple economic, environmental and biological complications. The research of plastics impact on coastal environments in China is only incipient. Here we review the available information on plastic waste, their impacts on marine biota and human health, and Chinese government policies and management initiatives. Although Chinese coastal environments (surface water, coastal sediments, water column) are affected by microplastics pollution, both from land-based and sea-based activities, their impacts on marine biota remain to be elucidated. Though national-level policies are modern and well suited for minimizing the impacts of plastic pollution, there is hardly any legislation for containment of microplastic pollution. Our objective is to review and summarize the information about the occurrence, impacts, and management of plastic pollution in the Chinese coastal environments in order to comprehend their widespread repercussions.Microplastics are increasingly being detected and quantified in Chinese coastal environments and legislation for containment of such pollution is highly recommended.

Tight junctions (TJs) in the epithelium play a critical role in the formation of a paracellular epithelial barrier against the extracellular environment. Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) disrupt the epithelial barrier. The aim of this study was to investigate how DEPs disrupt the epithelial barrier and whether Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is involved in DEP-induced epithelial barrier dysfunction in primary human nasal epithelial (PHNE) cells.PHNE cells were cultured at an air–liquid interface (ALI) to create a fully differentiated in vivo-like model of the epithelium and then exposed to DEPs (particulate matter <4 μm) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone (mono-exposure) and DEPs plus LPS (co-exposure) at the apical side of the PHNE. TJ formation and integrity were monitored by measuring transepithelial electric resistance (TEER) and fluorescently labeled dextran permeability. The expression of TJ proteins was assessed by confocal microscopy and a biochemical assay.PHNE cell viability was reduced in a time- and dose-dependent manner following DEP exposure. TEER was significantly decreased at ALI day 20 but not at day 12 following DEP exposure. The dextran permeability of the PHNE was significantly increased at both ALI day 12 and day 20 following DEP exposure. The increased dextran permeability recovered to that of the control following co-exposure to DEPs plus LPS. In the presence of DEPs, the membrane expression of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) was dramatically increased, and the expression of occludin, ZO1, claudin-1, and E-cadherin was significantly decreased. Co-exposure to DEPs plus LPS significantly reduced membrane MLCK, claudin-1, and E-cadherin but increased occludin and ZO1 expression at ALI day 12.The activation of TLR4 by LPS inhibits MLCK trafficking to the plasma membrane, and this increased during DEP exposure, resulting in increased occludin expression at the plasma membrane that partially recovered TJ barrier dysfunction following DEP exposure.

A mass balance approach to quantify methane (CH4) emission of four co-located landfills by means of airborne measurements and dispersion modelling was proposed and assessed. By flying grids at different heights above the landfills, atmospheric CH4 densities and wind components were measured along the edges and inside the study atmospheric volume, in order to calculate mass flows in the along- and across-wind directions. A steady-state Gaussian dispersion model was applied to build the concentration fields associated to unit emission from each landfill, while the contribution of each one to the total emission was assessed using a General Linear Model approach, minimizing the difference between measured and modeled mass flows. Results showed that wind spatial and temporal variability is the main factor controlling the accuracy of the method, as a good agreement between measured and modeled mass flows was mainly found for flights made in steady wind conditions. CH4 emissions of the entire area ranged from 213.5 ± 33.5 to 317.9 ± 90.4 g s−1 with a mean value of 252.5 ± 54.2 g s−1. Contributions from individual sources varied from 17.5 to 40.1 g m−2 day−1 indicating a substantial heterogeneity of the different landfills, which differed in age and waste composition. The proposed method was validated against tower eddy covariance flux measurements made at one of the landfills, revealing an overall agreement within 20%.

Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), persistent organic pollutants in food chains and environment, exerts negative effects on children's cognitive function. To study the long-term effects, we examined cognitive functions in the male children of women with substantial PCB exposure in Taiwan during 1978–1979 and investigated neural basis of cognitive function changes through structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI), which included resting-state and task-activated fMRI with two paradigms: a 2-back task and a picture rotation task. Ten men aged 30.0 ± 3.7 years with prenatal exposure to PCBs and 11 unexposed controls aged 28.1 ± 3.1 years participated. Both groups had similar cognitive phenotypes and behavioral results. Structural MRI analysis results showed that the PCB group had increased cortical thickness over the right inferior parietal lobule. In the resting-state study, the PCB group showed alterations in the default mode network. During the tasks, the PCB group showed decreased task-induced deactivation signals in cognition–associated brain areas during the 2-back task but enhanced deactivations during the picture rotation task. This study demonstrated altered structural MRI as well as resting and task-related fMRI in men with prenatal PCB exposure, suggesting altered brain plasticity and compensatory neuropsychological performance.