Substantial epidemiological evidence has consistently reported that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes. PM2.5 is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets composed of multiple components, and there has been high interest in identifying the specific health-relevant physical and/or chemical toxic constituents of PM2.5. In the present study, we analyzed 8 heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Mn and Co) in the PM2.5 collected during four different seasons in Taiyuan, a typical coal-burning city in northern China. Our results indicated that total concentrations of the 8 heavy metals differed among the seasons. Zn and Pb, which are primarily derived from the anthropogenic source, coal burning, were the dominant elements, and high concentrations of these two elements were observed during the spring and winter. To clarify whether these heavy metals in the locally collected PM2.5 were associated with health effects, we conducted health risk assessments using validated methods. Interestingly, Pb was responsible for greater potential health risks to children. Because cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a main contributor to the mortality associated with PM2.5 exposure, we performed experimental assays to evaluate the myocardial toxicity. Our in vitro experiments showed that the heavy metal-containing PM2.5 induced season-dependent apoptosis in rat H9C2 cells through a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated inflammatory response. Our findings suggested that heavy metals bound to PM2.5 produced by coal burning play an important role in myocardial toxicity and contribute to season-dependent health risks.

Heavy metal pollution, as well as greenhouse effect, has become a serious threat today. Both heavy metal and heat stresses can arrest seed germination. What response can be expected for seed germination under both stress conditions? Here, the effects of heavy metals (Cu2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+) on maize seed germination were investigated at 20 °C and 40 °C. Compared with 20 °C, heat stress induced thermodormancy. However, this thermodormancy could be significantly alleviated by the addition of a low concentration of heavy metals. Heavy metals, as well as heat stress induced H2O2 accumulation in germinating seeds. Interestingly, this low concentration of heavy metal that promoted seed germination could be partly blocked by DMTU (a specific ROS scavenger), irrespective of temperature. Accordingly, H2O2 addition reinforced this promoting effect on seed germination, which was induced by a low concentration of heavy metal. Furthermore, we found that the NADPH oxidase derived ROS was required for seed germination promoted by the heavy metals. Subsequently, treatment of seeds with fluridone (a specific inhibitor of ABA) or ABA significantly alleviated or aggravated thermodormancy, respectively. However, this alleviation or aggravation could be partly attenuated by a low concentration of heavy metals. In addition, germination that was inhibited by high concentrations of heavy metals was also partly reversed by fluridone. The obtained results support the idea that heavy metal-mediated ROS and hormone interaction can finally affect the thermodormancy release or not.

Exposure to benzene is inevitable, and concerns regarding the adverse health effects of benzene have been raised. Most investigators found that benzene exposure induced hematotoxicity. In this regard, Our study aimed to explore a novel potential biomarker of adverse health effects following benzene exposure and the toxic mechanisms of benzene metabolites in vitro. This study consisted of 314 benzene-exposed workers and 288 control workers, an air benzene concentration of who were 2.64 ± 1.60 mg/m3 and 0.05 ± 0.01 mg/m3, respectively. In this population-based study, miR-34a expression was elevated in benzene-exposed workers. The correlation of miR-34a with the airborne benzene concentration, S-phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA) and trans, trans-muconic acid (t, t-MA), all of which reflect benzene exposure, was found. Correlation analysis indicated that miR-34a was associated with peripheral blood count, alanine transaminase (ALT) and oxidative stress. Furthermore, multivariate analysis demonstrated that miR-34a expression was strongly associated with white blood cell count (structure loadings = 0.952). In population-based study, miR-34a had the largest contribution to altered peripheral blood counts, which reflect benzene-induced hematotoxicity. The role of miR-34a in benzene toxicity was assessed using lentiviral vector transfection. Results revealed that 1,4-benzoquinone induced abnormal cell apoptosis and simultaneously upregulated miR-34a accompanied with decreased Bcl-2. Finally, inhibition of miR-34a elevated Bcl-2 and decreased 1,4-benzoquinone-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, miR-34a was observed to be involved in benzene-induced hematotoxicity by targeting Bcl-2 and could be regarded as a potential novel biomarker for benzene toxicity.

Urbanizations have increased the loadings of reactive nitrogen in urban riverine environments. However, limited information about dissimilatory nitrate reduction processes and associated contributions to nitrogen removal is available for urban riverine environments. In this study, sediment slurry experiments were conducted with nitrogen isotope-tracing technique to investigate the potential rates of denitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) and their contributions to nitrate reduction in sediments of urban river networks, Shanghai. The potential rates of denitrification, anammox and DNRA measured in the study area ranged from 0.193 to 98.7 nmol N g−1 h−1 dry weight (dw), 0.0387–23.7 nmol N g−1 h−1 dw and 0–10.3 nmol N g−1 h−1 dw, respectively. Denitrification and DNRA rates were higher in summer than in winter, while anammox rates were greater in winter than in summer for most sites. Dissolved oxygen, total organic carbon, nitrate, ammonium, sulfide, Fe(II) and Fe(III) were found to have significant influence on these nitrate reduction processes. Denitrification contributed 11.5–99.5%% to total nitrate reduction, as compared to 0.343–81.6% for anammox and 0–52.3% for DNRA. It is estimated that nitrogen loss of approximately 1.33 × 105 t N year−1 was linked to both denitrification and anammox processes, which accounted for about 20.1% of total inorganic nitrogen transported annually into the urban river networks of Shanghai. Overall, these results show the potential importance of denitrification and anammox in nitrogen removal and provide new insight into the mechanisms of nitrogen cycles in urban riverine environments.

The cycling of sulfur (S), iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) in sediments and pore water can impact the water quality of overlying water. In a heavily polluted river estuary (Yantai, China), vertical profiles of fluxes of dissolved sulfide, Fe2+ and dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in sediment pore water were investigated by the Diffusive Gradients in Thin films technique (DGT). Vertical fluxes of S, Fe, P in intertidal sediment showed the availability of DRP increased while the sulfide decreased with depth in surface sediment, indicating that sulfide accumulation could enhance P release in anoxic sediment. In sites with contrasting salinity, the relative dominance of iron and sulfate reduction was different, with iron reduction dominant over sulfate reduction in the upper sediment at an intertidal site but the reverse true in a freshwater site, with the other process dominating at depth in each case. Phosphate release was largely controlled by iron reduction.

Magnetic biochars (MW) prepared by chemical co-precipitation of Fe2+/Fe3+ on water hyacinth biomass followed by pyrolysis exhibited important potential in aqueous As(V) elimination. In comparison, MW2501 outperformed other MWs and exhibited the highest As(V) sorption capacity which was estimated to be 7.4 mg g−1 based on Langmuir-Freundlic model. With solution pH ranging from 3 to 10, As(V) removal efficiency by MW2501 kept stable and consistently higher than 90%. Besides, ∼100% removal of 0.5 mM As(V) can be obtained in the presence of P ≤ 0.1 mM or Cr/Sb ≤ 0.5 mM, indicating a wide applicability of MW2501 for treatment of As-containing water. The predominance of Fe3O4 on MW2501 surface was evidenced by XRD. Ligand exchange between As(V) anion and the hydroxylated surface of Fe3O4 as well as H bond was largely responsible for As(V) sorption as suggested by FTIR. XPS analysis further revealed the dominance of As(V) in the sorbed As on MW2501 surface with co-occurrence of a minor proportion of As(III) (11.45%). In parallel, oxidative transformation of Fe3O4 to Fe2O3 was also suggested by XPS. By a lab-scale column test, the potential and suitability of MW2501 in As-containing water treatment was further confirmed, which could also provide an alternative way to manage and utilize this highly problematic invasive species.

Methylmercury (MeHg), a neurotoxin, is a global concern because of its potential risk to human and ecological health. Elevated mercury (Hg) concentrations were recently reported in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) due to increasing Hg input from distant regions, yet little is known about MeHg production and distribution in the terrestrial ecosystems of the TP. Here, we report longitudinal occurrence of MeHg and the factors regulating net MeHg production in 23 grassland sites from eastern to western TP. The soil MeHg content varied from 0.002 to 0.058 ng g−1, with different distribution patterns between the eastern and western TP. There was a positive correlation between the MeHg concentration and the longitude after 90 °E, which is similar to the distribution patterns of the total mercury (THg), water and organic carbon in this region. Average MeHg concentration in topsoil is generally higher than that in subsoil. Our results show that MeHg concentration in soils of the TP is directly affected by soil water, potential microbial methylators and THg, while indirectly regulated by soil organic carbon through the microbial community and the longitude-dependent precipitation through soil water. Our study suggests that soil water is the most important driver regulating net MeHg production in the grasslands of the TP. These findings have important implications for unraveling the mechanism of net production of MeHg in high-altitude environments.

Most studies on the behavior and toxicity of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) have been conducted in artificial water with well-controlled conditions, which are dramatically different from natural waters with complex compositions. To better understand the fate and toxicity of NPs in the natural water environment, physicochemical transformations of four NPs (TiO2, ZnO, Ag, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)) and their toxicities towards a unicellular green alga (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) in four fresh water and one seawater sample were investigated. Results indicated that water chemistry had profound effects on aggregation, dissolution, and algal toxicity of the NPs. The strongest homoaggregation of the NPs was associated with the highest ionic strength, but no obvious correlation was observed between the homoaggregation of NPs and pH or dissolved organic matter content of the water samples. The greatest dissolution of ZnO NPs also occurred in seawater with the highest ionic strength, while the dissolution of Ag NPs varied differently from ZnO NPs. The released Zn²⁺ and especially Ag⁺ mainly accounted for the algal toxicity of ZnO and Ag NPs, respectively. The NP-cell heteroagglomeration occurred generally for CNTs and Ag NPs, which contributed to the observed nanotoxicity. However, there was no significant correlation between the observed nanotoxicity and the type of NP or the water chemistry. It was thus concluded that the physicochemical transformations and algal toxicities of NPs in the natural water samples were caused by the combined effects of complex water quality parameters rather than any single influencing factor alone. These results will increase our knowledge on the fate and effects of NPs in the aquatic environment.

Exposure to 4-tert-octylphenol (tOP) has been linked with adverse health outcomes in animals and humans, while epidemiological studies about associations between prenatal exposure to tOP and fetal growth are extremely limited. We measured urinary tOP concentrations in 1100 pregnant women before their delivery, and examined whether tOP levels were associated with birth outcomes, including weight, length, head circumference and ponderal index at birth. tOP could be detected in all samples, and the median uncorrected and creatinine-corrected tOP concentrations were 0.90 μg/L (range from 0.25 to 20.05 μg/L) and 1.33 μg/g creatinine (range from 0.15 to 42.49 μg/g creatinine), respectively. Maternal urinary log-transformed tOP concentrations were significantly negatively associated with adjusted birth weight [β (g) = −126; 95% confidence interval (CI): −197, −55], birth length [β (cm) = −0.53; 95% CI:−0.93, −0.14], and head circumference [β (cm) = −0.30; 95% CI: −0.54, −0.07], respectively. Additionally, considering sex difference, these significant negative associations were also found among male neonates, while only higher maternal tOP concentrations were associated with a significant decrease in birth weight among female neonates. This study suggested significant negative associations between maternal urinary tOP concentrations and neonatal sizes at birth, and they differed by neonatal sex. Further epidemiological studies are required to more fully elaborate the associations between prenatal tOP exposure and birth outcomes.

As one of the most notorious atmospheric pollutants, NOx not only promotes the formation of ozone but also has adverse health effects on humans. It is therefore of great importance to study the sources of NOx and its effects on human health. The Comprehensive Air Quality Model (CAMx) modeling system and ozone source apportionment technology (OSAT) were used to study the contribution of NOx from different emission sources over southern China. The results indicate that heavy duty diesel vehicles (HDDVs) and industrial point sources are the two major local NOx sources, accounting for 30.8% and 18.5% of local NOx sources, respectively. In Hong Kong, marine emissions contributed around 43.4% of local NOx in 2011. Regional transport is another important source of this pollutant, especially in February and November, and it can contribute over 30% of ambient NOx on average. Power plant point emission is an significant regional source in Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Foshan. The total emission sources are estimated to cause 2119 (0–4405) respiratory deaths and 991 (0–2281) lung cancer deaths due to long-term exposure to NOx in the Pearl River Delta region. Our results suggest that local governments should combine their efforts and vigorously promote further reduction of NOx emissions, especially for those sources that make a substantial contribution to NOx emissions and affect human health: HDDV, LDGV, industrial point sources and marine sources.