The corresponding Author of this paper transferred to another institution. The correct affiliation is shown in this paper.

In this study, the eggs of 30 wild Black Sea whiting (Merlangius merlangus euxinus, Nordmann, 1840) and 30 farmed freshwater rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum, 1792) collected from Samsun Province in Turkey were analyzed to determine the level of contamination by nine organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), namely α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH), β-HCH, γ-HCH (lindane), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), aldrin, 2,4′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 4,4′-DDT, 2,4′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), 4,4′-DDE, and 15 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (PCB-28, -70, -74, -81, -99, -101, -118, -138, -153, -156, -170, -180, -183, -187, and -208), and their potential use as biomarkers to monitor levels of environmental contamination. OCPs and PCBs in the fat of fish eggs were extracted cryogenically and their concentrations were determined with a gas chromatography-electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The whiting eggs showed high OCP and PCB levels compared to the rainbow trout eggs. The median ∑ DDT values for whiting and rainbow trout eggs were 1601.62 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 824.87–5049.81) and 406.49 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 199.88–588.82); median ∑Indicator PCBs were 1264.24 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 520.05–6140.32) and 82.11 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 2.85–215.97); and median ∑ HCHs were 155.66 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 35.45–330.40) and 13.48 ng g⁻¹ fat (range 4.44–66.44), respectively. In the whiting eggs, the ∑Indicator PCB level was above the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 200 ng g⁻¹ fat stated in the European Commission Regulation (EC) and Turkish Food Codex (TFC). In addition, there was a significant difference between the contamination levels of the eggs of the two species. In conclusion, it appears that fish eggs can serve as a valuable biomarker for the level of contamination of persistent organochlorine contaminants in different aquatic environments.

In the current study, the bio-adsorption potential of Callinectes sapidus biomass for control of cadmium, nickel, and lead from the aqueous stream was assessed. Spectrum analysis of FTIR, AFM, EDAX, mapping, SEM, TEM, and XRF was used to study the properties of the C. sapidus biomass. The XRF analysis revealed that C. sapidus bio-adsorbent has various effective metal oxides that can be useful to adsorb pollutants. The best model to describe the equilibrium data was Freundlich isotherm. The Langmuir bio-adsorption capacity was reported at 31.44 mg g⁻¹, 29.23 mg g⁻¹, and 29.15 mg g⁻¹ for lead, cadmium, and nickel ions, respectively. Pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were studied to test the kinetic behavior of the process. An intra-particle diffusion model was used to determine the effective mechanisms involved in the bio-adsorption. Based on t₁/₂, it can be concluded that the equilibrium speed of the bio-adsorption process is high. The thermodynamic study showed that the metal bio-adsorption process using C. sapidus biomass is exothermic and spontaneous. The field applicability of the crab bio-adsorbent for eliminating concurrently several contaminants (metal ions, antibiotics, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium) from an actual wastewater was successfully examined.

Rapid growth in the incidence of liver disease is largely attributable to lifestyle and environmental contaminants, which are often overlooked as the leading causes of this problem. Thus, the possible contribution of arsenic (As) to high-fat diet (HFD)–induced liver damage was examined via microarray analysis. To perform this experiment, a total number of 40 healthy adult male NMRI mice (22–30 g) were used. To this end, these animals were randomly assigned to four groups of 10. Oxidative stress and histopathological parameters were also evaluated in the liver of the mice exposed to a minimally cytotoxic concentration of As (50 ppm) in drinking water while being fed with a HFD for 20 weeks. Subsequently, apoptosis gene expression profiling was utilized via real-time (RT) PCR array analysis. The results showed that As had increased the amount of HFD-induced liver damage and consequently amplified changes in oxidative stress factors, histopathological parameters, as well as apoptosis pathway genes. Investigating the expression profile of apoptosis pathway genes similarly revealed that caspase-8, as a main upstream contributor to the apoptosis pathway, might play an important role in the induction of apoptosis generated by As and HFD. Ultimately, this study highlighted that As in drinking water could increase sensitivity in mice to HFD-induced liver disease through strengthening apoptosis pathway.

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) filled with different kinds of ZnO whisker was prepared by chemical cross-linking reaction. It was found that the ZnO whiskers dispersed uniformly after being modified by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The PVA/tetrapod-shaped ZnO (PVA/tetra-ZnO) composites showed better adsorption performance than other kinds of PVA/ZnO composites. The framework-supported pore-channel structure was beneficial for the transmission and adsorption of heavy metal ions, and the formation of “brush” pore-channel of PVA/tetra-ZnO composites can effectively retain and capture the heavy metal ions. The PVA/tetra-ZnO composites presented well adsorption on Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(III) ions than Ni(II) and showed relatively selective removal on Pb(II) and Cr(III) ions. The adsorbed heavy metal ions presented gradient distribution with high content in the out layer and low content in the inner layer. Pb(II) adsorption capacity qₑ increased gradually with the increase of initial solution concentration and contact time which tended to be stable at 400 mg/L and 800 min. The maximal adsorption capacity qₘ obtained by nonlinear fitting reached to about 116 mg/g which was very close to the experiment data. Adsorption isotherm results indicated the monolayer adsorption process of the Langmuir model and the adsorption kinetics data fitted well to the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption process was spontaneous and the high temperature was in favor of adsorption. The adsorption mechanism was explored as the combination of coordination and ion exchange. Besides, the PVA/tetra-ZnO composites exhibited better stress stability, thermo stability, and favorable regeneration than neat PVA.

The Jialing River is the second largest headwater tributary of the Yangtze River in China, therefore, the river water has been contaminated and water quality is deteriorated. Hence, this study aims to find the main controling factors of riverine chemistry. 52 water samples were collected for the determination of major ions and environmental isotopes of δ¹⁸O and δ²H. Stoichiometry of geochemical data with mixing end members and multivariate statistical analysis were employed with integrated GIS approach for data interpretations. The δ¹⁸O and δ²H of the Jialing River Basin (JRB) were used to define the origin of river water from meteoric water and water in the spring season is affected by high evaporation and evaporates dissolution. The average TDS 301 mg/L that is higher than the Yangtze River. In the JRB, 80% of the anion in water samples represented HCO₃⁻ (207 mg/L) and SO₄²⁻ (80 mg/L) while 80% of the cations were accounted by Ca²⁺ (59.8 mg/L) and Mg²⁺ (17.9 mg/L). The water chemistry mainly derived from the water rock interaction. Piper plot indicated that Ca-Mg-HCO₃⁻ was the most dominant water type and most ions derived from carbonate weathering by H₂SO₄ and H₂CO₃. The stoichiometry results further confirmed carbonate weathering is dominant than silicate weathering. Evaporate ions were modified by anthropogenic sources. Agricultural inputs are higher than the industry and atmospheric inputs. Redundancy analysis showed that most contributive land-use type in explaining riverine chemistry was the cultivate land (62.6, 66.4, and 67.9%) at all buffer scales of 30, 20, and 10 km, respectively. Forest and grasslands mostly correlate with Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, EC, pH, and HCO₃⁻ while anthropogenic land-use types such as cultivated and construction lands correlate with Na⁺, K⁺, Cl⁻, and NO₃⁻. These results revealed that the lithology of the basin mainly controlled the upstream water chemistry while downstream riverine chemistry was controlled by both lithology and anthropogenic inputs. Nevertheless, this study suggested that explicitly determining the controlling factors of riverine chemistry involves a complex process and combination of different chemical constituents and factors on river water. However, this study managed to provide useful information to further understanding of the geochemical process in JRB.

Several negative health effects have been associated with environmental pollution. Coal mining activities are related to DNA damage. However, the impact of lifestyle as well as environmental exposure must be considered when evaluating the extent of DNA damage. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyze nutritional status, dietary patterns, and the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) among coal miners as well as to investigate the correlation of these variables with DNA damage. We used a questionnaire to assess demographics, health, and dietary habits. The nutritional status was measured in terms of BMI (body mass index) and DNA damage was assessed by the comet assay. The sample population was composed of 158 coal miners from the largest coal mining company in South of Brazil, and majority of them were classified as overweight (51.3%) or obese (28.5%). Hypertension was the most common CNCD (50.6%) and a majority of these workers consumed all groups of foods three or more times a week. There was a significant positive correlation between BMI and DNA damage (r = 0.1646, p = 0.04) and this association was stronger (r = 0.2556, p = 0.04) in coal miners with some CNCD. There was no significant correlation between dietary patterns and DNA damage in coal miners. These results suggest that the nutritional status and CNCD increase the extent of DNA damage in coal miners. Since this population is at high occupational risk, specific strategies should be designed to improve the health of these workers, aiming to achieve health equity.

The possibility of replacing traditional toxic solvents normally employed during the preparation of polymeric membranes with greener alternatives represents a great challenge for safeguarding the human health and protecting the environment. In this work, an improved and pleasant-smelling version of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), i.e., DMSO EVOL™, was used as “greener solvent” for the preparation of polyethersulfone (PES) microfiltration (MF) membranes using a combination of non-solvent and vapor-induced (NIPS and VIPS, respectively) phase separation technique for the first time. The effect of two different additives polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (Pluronic®) together with polyethylene glycol (PEG) on membrane properties and performances has been also evaluated. The membranes were characterized in terms of morphology, mechanical resistance, pore size, and water permeability. The obtained results show that DMSO EVOL™ is able to replace 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), which is a more toxic solvent normally used for the preparation of PES membranes. Furthermore, it was possible to tune the produced membranes in the range of MF (0.1–0.6 μm).

The Brazilian legislation does not establish limits or methodology for the measurement of aldehydes in the exhaust of heavy diesel engines. No conclusive studies on aldehyde emissions by such engines have been found in the literature available. This work measured the aldehyde emissions from a P7 diesel cycle engine (EURO V), which was tested on an engine test bench according to ETC (European Transient Cycle) and ESC (European Stationary Cycle) cycles using fuels with 5, 7 and 20% v/v of biodiesel and 10 and 500 ppm of sulphur. The results showed that biodiesel participation in the mixture did not significantly affect the aldehyde emissions of the tested engine and that the emission level generated in the ETC cycle is higher than that obtained with the ESC cycle. The diesel content in the blend was weakly and negatively correlated with the pollutant emissions, and the inverse pattern was observed for biodiesel. This finding indicates that an increase in biodiesel content causes a slight increase in pollutant emissions. Regarding the sulphur content, positive correlations between the sulphur content and particulate matter, NOx, CO and total hydrocarbon emissions were observed. When comparing the test cycles, the results were significantly different, with higher values for the ETC cycle.

The proper disposal of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWI FA) is necessary due to the presence of hazardous metals (Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺). The solidification/stabilization through alkali-activated cementitious materials (having aluminosilicates) is regarded as one of the best methods for its disposal. In this paper, an uncalcined coal gangue–based alkali-activated cementitious material was used to solidify the MSWI FA. The compressive strength of these cementitious materials was evaluated through different contents of alkali activators, SiO₂/Na₂O molar ratios, liquid/solid ratios and curing temperatures by utilizing a single-factor experiment. The specimens with the highest compressive strength (31.37 MPa) were used for solidification of MSWI FA. The results indicated that compressive strength decreased with the addition of MSWI FA which caused the higher leaching of heavy metals. The solidification efficiencies of Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ were more than 95%. In addition, leaching concentrations had not surpassed the critical limit up to 20% addition of MSWI FA in solidified samples and representing the potential application of these samples for construction and landfill purposes. Heavy metals in MSWI FA were solidified through physical encapsulation and chemical bonding which was verified by speciation analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry analyses.