Biotests conducted with plants are presently used to estimate metal bioavailability in contaminated soils. But when plants are grown in soils, especially the plants with fine roots, root collection is easily biased and tedious. Indeed, at harvest, small amounts of soil can adhere to roots, resulting in overestimation of root metal content, and the finest roots are often discarded from the analysis because of their difficult and almost impossible recovery. This report presents a novel method for assessing the bioavailability of heavy metals in soils using microalgae. Two species of green unicellular microalgae were isolated from two highly contaminated soils and identified by phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses as Chlorella sp. RBM and Chlorella sp. RHM. These two cultures were used to determine the metal uptake from metal-contaminated soils of South Australia as a novel, cost-effective, simple and rapid method for assessing the bioavailability of heavy metals in soils. The suggested method is an attempt to achieve a realistic estimate of bioavailability which overcomes the inherent drawback of root metal contamination in the bioavailability indices so far reported.

In the present study, landfill leachate of three landfill sites of Delhi, India, was toxico-chemically analyzed for human risk assessment. Raw leachate samples were collected from the municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills of Delhi lacking liner systems. Samples were characterized with relatively low concentrations of heavy metals while the organic component exceeded the upper permissible limit by up to 158 times. Qualitative analysis showed the presence of numerous xenobiotics belonging to the group of halogenated aliphatic and aromatic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters, and other emerging contaminants. Quantitative analysis of PAHs showed that the benzo(a)pyrene-toxic equivalence quotient (BaP-TEQ) ranged from 41.22 to 285.557 ng L⁻¹. The human risk assessment methodology employed to evaluate the potential adverse effects of PAHs showed that the cancer risk level was lower than the designated acceptable risk of 10⁻⁶. However, significant cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of leachates on HepG2 cell line was observed with MTT EC₅₀ value ranging from 11.58 to 20.44 % and statistically significant DNA damage. Thus, although the leachates contained low concentrations of PAHs with proven carcinogenic potential, but the mixture of contaminants present in leachates are toxic enough to cause synergistic or additive cytotoxicity and genotoxicity and affect human health.

Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs) are a group of halogenated aromatic compounds and serious environmental pollutants. In the present study, sediment and water samples from eight sites in Nanjing section of the Yangtze River were characterized with 15 congeners of PCDEs. Concentrations and distributions of these PCDEs in water phase and sediments were analyzed by GC/MS. Results demonstrated that ∑PCDE concentrations were higher in the low water period (1.15–1.80 μg/L) than those in the high water period (0.73–1.30 μg/L) in water phase. Moreover, ∑PCDE concentrations were higher in the low water period (1.58–3.98 μg/kg) than those in the high water period (1.24–3.48 μg/kg) in sediments. A significant linear relationship existed between the ∑PCDE concentrations and TOC contents in sediments, but a poor linearity was found between ∑PCDE concentrations and DOC contents in water phase. Furthermore, the comparison of the percentage compositions in sediments and in water phase showed that CDE-30 (2,4,6-tri-CDE) was the predominant congener in the studied sites, and higher chlorinated congeners accounted for a larger proportion in sediments than those in water phase. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated the prevalent contamination by PCDEs in sediments and water from the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River.

Eruption of blue-green algal blooms occurs frequently in eutrophic lakes and fish ponds, with associated unpleasant odor and horrid scums. In the present study, we conducted a pre-test experiment in 3 m³ outdoor concrete ponds to determine the optimum concentration of aluminum sulfate (alum) required for reduction of the cyanobacterial blooms without negative effect on fish growth. As a consequence, 10 mg L⁻¹ alum was named as the optimum concentration that was applied in 1000 m³ earthen fish ponds. Obtained results showed that Secchi disc values significantly increased from 10 to 24 cm after 14 days of alum application. Alum-treated ponds showed a reduction in total phytoplankton counts by 94 and 96 % compared to the corresponding controls after 10 and 14 days, respectively. Abundance of blue-green algae in the treated ponds was decreased by 98 % compared to the corresponding control after 14 days of alum application. Consequently, dissolved oxygen, pH, total phosphorus, orthophosphate, and chlorophyll “a” content declined significantly. Our study revealed that using 10 mg L⁻¹ of alum is an effective way to control cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic waters, especially in fish ponds, without negative effect in water quality.

The purpose of this work was the isolation and cultivation of cellulolytic and xylanolytic microorganisms extracted from the gut of the lower termite Reticulitermes santonensis. Microcrystalline cellulose (with and without lignin) and beech wood xylan were used as diets instead of poplar wood in order to select cellulose and hemicellulose-degrading fungi. The strain Sarocladium kiliense (Acremonium kiliense) CTGxxyl was isolated from the termites fed on xylan, while the strain Trichoderma virens CTGxAviL was isolated from the termites fed on cellulose (with and without lignin). Both molds were cultivated in liquid media containing different substrates: agro-residues or purified polymers. S. kiliense produced maximal β-glucosidase, endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase, exo-1,4-β-D-glucanase and endo-1,4-β-D-xylanase activities of 0.103, 3.99, 0.53, and 40.8 IU/ml, respectively. T. virens produced maximal β-xylosidase, endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase, exo-1,4-β-D-glucanase, and endo-1,4-β-D-xylanase activities of 0.38, 1.48, 0.69, and 426 IU/ml. The cellulase and the xylanase of S. kiliense, less common than T. virens, were further investigated. The optimal activity of the xylanase was observed at pH 9–10 at 60 °C. The cellulase showed its maximal activity at pH 10, 70 °C. Zymography identified different xylanases produced by both molds, and some fragment sizes were highlighted: 35, 100, and 170 kDa for S. kiliense and 20, 40, 80, and 170 kDa for T. virens. In both cases, endo-1,4-β-D-xylanase activities were confirmed through mass spectrometry.

Stroke rates were found to have seasonal variations. However, previous studies using air temperature, humidity, or air pressure separately were not adequate, and the study catchment was not clearly drawn. Therefore, here we proposed to use a thermal index called physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) that incorporates air temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, air pressure and radiation flux from a biometeorological approach to estimate the effect of weather as physiologically equivalent on ischemic stroke onsets in an Austrian population. Eight thousand four hundred eleven stroke events in Vienna registered within the Austrian Stroke Unit Register from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2010 were included and were correlated with the weather data, obtained from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in the same area and study time period and calculated as PET (°C). Statistical analysis involved Poisson regression modeling. The median age was 74 years, and men made up 49 % of the entire population. Eighty percent had hypertension while 25.4 % were current smokers. Of note, 26.5 % had diabetes mellitus, 28.9 % had pre-stroke, and 11.5 % had pre-myocardial infarction. We have observed that onsets were higher on the weekdays than on the weekend. However, we did not find any significant association between PETs and ischemic stroke onsets by subtypes in Vienna. We did not observe any significant associations between PETs and ischemic stroke onsets by subtypes in Vienna. Hospital admission peaks on the weekdays might be due to hospital administration reasons.

Atrazine (ATZ) is a commonly used herbicide that has recently come under scrutiny due to potential environmental toxicity and contamination. In this study, we found that the administration of ATZ indeed leads to reduction of photosynthesis and oxidative stress in Phaeodactylum tricornutum at the treated doses higher than 100 μg L⁻¹ after 48 h. We further explored the effect of ATZ on photosystem II (PSII) and gene expression of electron transport chain. Collectively, our results may suggest that ATZ entered the chloroplasts in alga depending on ATZ’s liposolubility and directly attacked on the electron transport chain, especially PSII, contributing to reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst. The increasing ROS could act as signals to induce or disturb the expression of photosynthesis-related genes, resulting in the imbalance of antioxidation and pro-oxidation in the alga.

We evaluated the antibiogram profile of Escherichia coli (n = 300) isolated from selected rivers in Osun State, Nigeria. The identities of the E. coli isolates were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Susceptibility of the isolates to 20 antibiotics conventionally used in clinical cases was assessed in vitro by the standardized agar disc-diffusion method. All the isolates were susceptible to imipenem, meropenem, amikacin and gatilofloxacin. The isolates were variously susceptible to the other antibiotics as follows: ciprofloxacin (96 %), kanamycin (95 %), neomycin (92 %), streptomycin (84 %), chloramphenicol (73 %), nalidixic acid (66 %), nitrofurantoin (64 %), gentamycin (63 %), doxycycline (58 %), cefepime (57 %), tetracycline (49 %) and cephalothin (42 %). The multiple antibiotic resistance indexing ranged from 0.50 to 0.80 for all the sampling locations and exceeded the threshold value of 0.2, suggesting the origin of the isolates to be of high antimicrobial usage. Our findings signify an increase in the incidence of antimicrobial resistance of E. coli towards conventionally used antibiotics necessitating proper surveillance programmes towards the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance determinants in water bodies.

Bacterioplankton are important components of freshwater ecosystems and play essential roles in ecological functions and processes; however, little is known about their geographical distribution and the factors influencing their ecology, especially in stream ecosystems. To examine how geographical and environmental factors affect the composition of bacterioplankton communities, we used denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and clone sequencing to survey bacterioplankton communities in 31 samples of streamwater from seven nature reserves in Fujian province, southeast China. Our results revealed that dominant bacterioplankton communities exhibited a distinct geographical pattern. Further, we provided evidence for distance decay relationships in bacterioplankton community similarity and found similar community gradients in response to elevation and latitude. Both redundancy analyses and Mantel tests showed that bacterioplankton community composition was significantly correlated with both environmental (electrical conductivity, total phosphorus, and PO₄-P) and geographical factors (latitude, longitude, and elevation). Variance partitioning further showed that the joint effect of geographical and environmental factors explained the largest proportion of the variation in distribution of bacterioplankton communities (13.6 %), followed by purely geographical factors (11.2 %), and purely environmental factors (0.6 %). The Betaproteobacteria were the most common taxa in the streams, followed by Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria. Therefore, our results suggest that the biogeographical patterns of stream bacterioplankton communities across the Fujian nature reserves are more influenced by geographical factors than by local physicochemical properties.

Studying plastic characteristics in the marine environment is important to better understand interaction between plastics and the environment. In the present study, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene terephalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) samples were collected from the coastal environment in order to study their surface properties. Surface properties such as surface functional groups, surface topography, point of zero charge, and color change are important factors that change during degradation. Eroded HDPE demonstrated an altered surface topography and color and new functional groups. Eroded PET surface was uneven, yellow, and occasionally, colonized by microbes. A decrease in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) peaks was observed for eroded PET suggesting that degradation had occurred. For eroded PVC, its surface became more lamellar and a new FTIR peak was observed. These surface properties were obtained due to degradation and could be used to explain the interaction between plastics, microbes, and pollutants.