Cadmium (Cd) pollution in the environment could cause toxic damage to animals and humans. MAPK pathways could regulate their downstream inflammatory factors, and plays a crucial role in necrosis. Since the swine kidney tissue is an important accumulation site of Cd and target organ of its toxic damage, but the damage form of Cd to swine kidney and the role of MAPK pathways in it are still not clear, we selected six week old weaned piglets as the research object, and fed a diet supplemented CdCl₂ (20 mg/kg) to establish the model of liver injury induced by Cd. The expressions and phosphorylation of MAPK pathways (ERK, JNK, p38), expression levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, NF-κB, iNOS, COX-2 and PTGE) and necrosis related genes (MLKL, RIPK1, RIPK3 and FADD) and heat shock proteins (HSPs) were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. H.E. staining was used to determine the damage of kidney caused by Cd exposure. The results showed that Cd exposure could activate p38 and JNK pathway phosphorylation, rather than ERK 1/2, up regulated the expressions of inflammatory factors, finally induced programmed necrosis (increasing the expressions of MLKL, RIPK1, RIPK3 and FADD) in swine kidney. Our study elucidated the mechanism of Cd-damage to swine kidney and the relationship among MAPK pathways, inflammatory factors and programmed necrosis in swine.

Rice paddies are one of the largest greenhouse gases (GHGs) facilitators that are predominantly regulated by nitrogen (N) fertilization. Optimization of N uses based on the yield has been tried a long since, however, the improvement of the state-of-the-art technologies and the stiffness of global warming need to readjust N rate. Albeit, few individual studies started to, herein attempted as a systematic review to generalize the optimal N rate that minimizes global warming potential (GWP) concurrently provides sufficient yield in the rice system. To satisfy mounted food demand with inadequate land & less environmental impact, GHGs emissions are increasingly evaluated as yield-scaled basis. This systematic review (20 published studies consisting of 21 study sites and 190 observations) aimed to test the hypothesis that the lowest yield-scaled GWP would provide the minimum GWP of CH₄ and N₂O emissions from rice system at near optimal yields. Results revealed that there was a strong polynomial quadratic relationship between CH₄ emissions and N rate and strong positive correlation between N₂O emissions and N rate. Compared to control the low N dose emitted less (23%) CH₄ whereas high N dose emitted higher (63%) CH₄ emission. The highest N₂O emission observed at moderated N level. In total GWP, about 96% and 4%, GHG was emitted as CH₄ and N₂O, respectively. The mean GWP of CH₄ and N₂O emissions from rice was 5758 kg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹. The least yield-scaled GWP (0.7565 (kg CO₂ eq. ha⁻¹)) was recorded at 190 kg N ha⁻¹ that provided the near utmost yield. This dose could be a suitable dose in midseason drainage managed rice systems especially in tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. This yield-scaled GWP supports the concept of win–win for food security and environmental aspects through balancing between viable rice productivity and maintaining convincing greenhouse gases.

The typical alkyl organophosphorus flame retardant tributyl phosphate (TnBP) can leak from common products into the marine environment, with potential negative effects on marine organisms. However, risk assessments for TnBP regarding zooplankton are lacking. In this study, a marine rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, was used to analyze the effect of TnBP (0.1 μg/L, environmental concentration; 1 and 6 mg/L) on reproduction, population growth, oxidative stress, mitochondrial function and metabolomics. Mortality increased as the TnBP concentration rose; the 24-h LC₅₀ value was 12.45 mg/L. All tested TnBP concentrations inhibited B. plicatilis population growth, with reproductive toxicity at the higher levels. Microstructural imaging showed ovary injury, the direct cause of reproductive toxicity. Despite elevated glutathione reductase activities, levels of reactive oxygen species and malonyldialdehyde increased under TnBP stress, indicating oxidative imbalance. TnBP induced mitochondrial malformation and activity suppression; the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine alleviated this inhibition, suggesting an internal connection. Nontargeted metabolomics revealed 398 and 583 differentially expressed metabolites in the 0.1 μg/L and 6 mg/L treatments relative to control, respectively, which were enriched in the pathways such as biosynthesis of amino acids, purine metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis. According to metabolic pathway analysis, oxidative stress from purine degradation, mitochondrial dysfunction, disturbed lipid metabolism and elevated protein synthesis were jointly responsible for reproduction and population growth changes. This study echoes the results previously found in rotifer on trade-off among different life processes in response to environmental stress. Our systematic study uncovers the TnBP toxic mode of action.

Forest-stream ecosystems are widespread and biodiverse terrestrial landscapes with physical and social connections to downstream human activities. After radiocesium is introduced into these ecosystems, various material flows cause its accumulation or dispersal. We review studies conducted in the decade after the Fukushima nuclear accident to clarify the mechanisms of radiocesium transfer within ecosystems and to downstream areas through biological, hydrological, and geomorphological processes. After its introduction, radiocesium is heavily deposited in the organic soil layer, leading to persistent circulation due to biological activities in soils. Some radiocesium in soils, litter, and organisms is transported to stream ecosystems, forming contamination spots in depositional habitats. While reservoir dams function as effective traps, radiocesium leaching from sediments is a continual phenomenon causing re-contamination downstream. Integration of data regarding radiocesium dynamics and contamination sites, as proposed here, is essential for contamination management in societies depending on nuclear power to address the climate crisis.

Ambient particulate matter (APM) has been authenticated to exert hazards on human vascular endothelial cells, including abnormal autophagy. However, the potential reasons for autophagosome accumulation are still obscure. Since autophagy is a dynamic process, it is imperative to systemically consider the autophagic induction combined with its degradation to reflect realistic scenarios. Therefore, in the current study, different exposure durations were initially employed for the detection of autophagic marker proteins to assess the dynamic autophagic state preliminarily. Additionally, LC3 turn-over and autophagic flux assays were used to determine the specific cause of LC3II upregulation in EA.hy926 human vascular endothelial cells by a type of standard urban particulate matter, PM SRM1648a. As a result, PM SRM1648a stimulates excess autophagic vacuoles in EA. hy926 cells, in which the underlying causes are probably different at varying incubation endpoints. Intriguingly, LC3II upregulation was due to the intensifying autophagic initiation after 6 h of exposure, whereas as exposure period was extended to 24 h, overloaded autophagic vacuoles were attributed to the defective autophagy. Mechanistically, PM SRM1648a damages EA. hy926 cells by inducing lysosomal disequilibrium and resultant autophagic malfunction which are not directly mediated by oxidative stress. These data indicate that appropriate maintenance of lysosomal function and autophagic flux is probably a protective measure against APM-induced endothelial cell damage.

Porous carbons are appealing low-cost and metal-free catalysts in persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes. In this study, a family of porous biochar catalysts (ZnBC) with different porous structures and surface functionalities are synthesized using a chemical activation agent (ZnCl₂). The functional biochars are used to activate persulfate for sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. ZnBC-3 with the highest content of ketonic group (CO, 1.25 at%) exhibits the best oxidation efficiency, attaining a rate constant (kₒbₛ) of 0.025 min⁻¹. The correlation coefficient of the density of CO to kₒbₛ (R² = 0.992) is much higher than the linearity of the organic adsorption capacity to kₒbₛ (R² = 0.694), implying that CO is the intrinsic active site for persulfate activation. Moreover, the volume of mesopore (R² = 0.987), and Zeta potential (R² = 0.976) are also positive factors in PS adsorption and catalysis. In the mechanistic study, we identified that singlet oxygen is the primary reactive oxygen species. It can attack the –NH₂ group aligned to the benzene ring to form dimer products which could be adsorbed on the biochar surface to reach complete removal of the SMX. The optimal pH range is 4–6 which will minimize the electrostatic repulsion between ZnBCs and the reactants. The SMX degradation in ZnBC/PS system was immune to inorganic anions but would compete with organic impurities in the real wastewater. Finally, the biochar catalysts are filled in hydrogel beads and packed in a flow-through packed-bed column. The continuous system yields a high removal efficiency of over 86% for 8 h without decline, this work provided a simple biochar-based persulfate catalyst for complete antibiotics removal in salty conditions.

Research on the environmental fate and behavior of novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) remains limited, especially in the remote alpine regions. In this study, the concentrations and distributions of NBFRs were investigated in soils and mosses collected from two slopes of Shergyla in the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), to unravel the environmental behaviors of NBFRs in this background area. The total NBFR concentrations (∑₇NBFRs) ranged from 34.2 to 879 pg/g dw in soil and from 72.8 to 2505 pg/g dw in moss. ∑₇NBFRs in soil samples collected in 2019 were significantly higher than those in 2012 (p < 0.05). Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) was the predominant NBFR, accounting for 90% of ∑₇NBFRs on average. The ratio of the concentrations in moss and soil showed significantly positive correlations with LogKOA except for DBDPE (p < 0.05), indicating that the role of mosses as accumulators compared to soils are more pronounced for more volatile NBFRs. In addition, the concentrations of NBFRs generally decreased with increasing altitude on the south-facing slope, whereas on the north-facing slope some NBFRs exhibited different trends, suggesting concurrent local and long-range transport sources. Normalization based on total organic carbon/lipid concentrations strengthened the correlation with altitude, implying that the altitude gradient of the mountain slope and forest cover could jointly affect the distribution of NBFRs in the TP. Furthermore, principal components analysis (PCA) with multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA) showed that the average contribution of the mountain cold trapping effect (MCTE) accounted for the major (77%) contribution and forest filter effect (FFE) has only a modest contribution to the deposition of NBFRs in soil.

Enormous wastewater discharges have significantly impeded the sustainable development. As several economic belt has been formed in China, systematic analysis of multi-regional wastewater metabolic system is required for advancing wastewater mitigation effectively and efficiently. In this study, a distributive environmental input-output model (DEIO) is developed for the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) to provide bases for supporting sustainable development from inter-regional and inter-sectoral perspectives. The discharges and flows of wastewater and related pollutants (i.e., chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (AN)) among sectors and regions are analyzed to providing solid bases for wastewater management within the YREB. The results show that the industrial wastewater mitigation in YREB is desired urgently. The industrial wastewater discharges in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are numerous, while Hunan and Yunnan provinces are more inclined to suffer from serious COD and AN pollution. In addition, the manufacture of food, tobacco, chemical materials, and pharmaceutical are the typical sectors with a large amount of direct wastewater discharge, and the tertiary industry is ranked at the first in indirect wastewater discharge. According to the analysis, the implementation of the “Supply-side Structure Reform” and the “Replace Subsidies with Rewards” policy can benefit the wastewater mitigation in the YREB.

Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as plasmids or integrative conjugative elements (ICEs) are widely involved in the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), but their environmental host-range and reservoirs remain poorly known, as mainly assessed through the analysis of culturable and clinical bacterial isolates. In this study, we used a gradual approach for determining the environmental abundance and host-range of ICEs belonging to the SXT/R391 family, otherwise well known to bring ARGs in Vibrio spp. epidemic clones and other pathogens. First, by screening a set of aquatic bacteria libraries covering 1794 strains, we found that almost 1% of the isolates hosted an SXT/R391 element, all belonging to a narrow group of non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae. However, when SXT/R391 ICEs were then quantified in various aquatic communities, they appeared to be ubiquitous and relatively abundant, from 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻³ ICE copies per 16 S rDNA. Finally, the molecular exploration of the SXT/R391 host-range in two river ecosystems impacted by anthropogenic activities, using the single-cell genomic approach epicPCR, revealed several new SXT/R391 hosts mostly in the Proteobacteria phylum. Some, such as the pathogen Arcobacter cryaerophilus (Campylobacteraceae), have only been encountered in discharged treated wastewaters and downstream river waters, thus revealing a likely anthropogenic origin. Others, such as the non-pathogenic bacterium Neptunomonas acidivorans (Oceanospirillaceae), were solely identified in rivers waters upstream and downstream the treated wastewaters discharge points and may intrinsically belong to the SXT/R391 environmental reservoir. This work points out that not only the ICEs of the SXT/R391 family are more abundant in the environment than anticipated, but also that a variety of unsuspected hosts may well represent a missing link in the environmental dissemination of MGEs from and to bacteria of anthropogenic origin.