The continuous exposure to conventional pesticides leads to severe health and environmental issues especially at prenatal stage during developmental period. Herein, we aimed to investigate the anomalies due to repeated exposure of pyriproxyfen in pregnant female mice and their neonates. Twenty-four pregnant female mice were repeatedly administered with pyriproxyfen at 30, 100, 300, and 1000 mg/kg by oral gauge from gestation day (GD) 7 to gestation day 17 and six females were given distilled water in the control group. All the live pups were euthanized at postnatal day (PND) 7 and their organs (heart, liver, kidney, and brain) were dissected out, weighed, and assessed for further histopathological examinations. The results exhibited a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in the body weight gain of all treated pregnant mice in comparison to the controls and a significant increase in the gestational length was observed in group IV (P < 0.01) and group V (P < 0.001). In addition, no live pups were born in groups IV and V and one pregnant female mouse was also found dead in both treatments. The body weights of the pups were significantly decreased in group II (P < 0.05) and group III (P < 0.001) and the relative organ (liver, heart, and kidney) weight of the pups was increased significantly (P < 0.001, P < 0.01, P < 0.05) due to prenatal exposure in group II as compared to group I. The relative brain weights of the pups were decreased significantly (P < 0.001) in groups II and III as compared to group I. The liver, kidney, heart, and brain sections exhibited various histological alterations in groups II and III by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining of the coronal sections of pup’s brain showed significant (P < 0.001) reduction in cortical radial thickness and total neural count in group II and III as compared to group I. Therefore, the prenatal exposure to pyriproxyfen provoked the damage to various organs in mice offspring and an increase in fetal death at higher doses.

Microplastics are widely recognized as a category of emergent pollutants that can cause complex ecotoxicological effects. Synthetic fibers released during the washing of textiles are a relevant source of microplastics, which reach aquatic ecosystems from sewer discharges, even when there is retention in wastewater treatment plants. In this paper, we determined microfiber emissions from washing of textiles in a domestic environment, by collecting wastewater from washings of a mix of clothing from a household of 4 people. It is the first time the characterization of microplastic emission from textiles washing is performed in real household conditions. Results estimated an average emission rate of 18,000,000 synthetic microfibers for a reference load of 6 kg of synthetic fibers. Only 7% of the synthetic fibers found were larger than 500 μm in length, 40% were between 100 and 500 μm, and 53% were between 50 and 100 μm.

A new eco-friendly compound was prepared for the treatment of textile wastewater containing mixed dyes with various ranges of toxicity. Porous silica was extracted from a black liquor by-product using a simple method and characterized by porous morphology (the pore size ranged between 12 and 41 nm). The silica is the main corrosive agent present in the black liquor; thus, the extraction of silica from the black liquor was considered detoxification process. The extracted porous silica was used as a precursor material to prepare the hybrid material based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder polymer and functionalized by nicotinic acid. The multifunction prepared hybrid was characterized by FT-IR, TGA, DTGA, SEM, and EDX. The porous size of the prepared hybrid varied from 96 nm to 620 nm and presents a high thermal stability in comparison with its parent materials. The adsorption of cationic and anionic dyes was carried out. The adsorption kinetics parameters were fitted with pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models for methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB), respectively. The adsorption parameters indicated that the Langmuir model is better to describe the adsorption of dyes on the hybrid material. The maximum adsorption capacity was 484 and 771 mg/g for MO and MB, respectively.

Campaign-style governance is one of the political methods adopted by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, which is usually used to make up for shortcomings when regular governance policies fail because the defined tasks are incompatible with other policy goals, especially in the field of environmental governance. An “Environmental Protection Interview (EPI)” is one of the campaign-style environmental governance methods that target local officials. In this paper, the causal relationship between the implementation of EPI and pollutant emission reduction was confirmed using the method of Time-Varying Difference-in-difference (Time-Varying DID) to compensate for endogeneity problem and ensure that the results are still valid after several robustness checks. Our regional heterogeneous analysis shows that the policy effects of EPI decrease from east to west in China and that they have different emission reduction effects on various types of pollutants. Unfortunately, the results also suggest that policy implementation only temporarily affects pollutant emission reduction, which could be attributed to the governance approaches of campaign-style enforcement according to the impact mechanism analysis. This paper implies that the EPI should be continued to be implemented in the future with some improvements on pollutant reduction mechanisms to ensure effective adoption.

An iron ore pelletizing plant in southeastern Brazil exposes the tropical coastal ecosystems known as restinga to emissions of dust, iron solid particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide (SO₂). We aimed to assess the effects of those emissions on the leaf morphology and anatomy of the restinga species Byrsonima sericea, Cordia verbenacea, and Psidium guineense by evaluating visual symptomatology and analyzing the anatomical and micromorphological alterations resulting from exposure. Leaves were collected from individuals growing at two sites: a restinga forest fragment located 800 m away from the pelletizing plant and a restinga conservation unit 20 km away, which served as reference site. In all three species, individuals growing near the pelletizing plant showed necrotic regions on the leaf and foliar micromorphological alterations like turgor loss of epidermal cells, cuticle and epicuticular wax erosion, stomatal obliteration, and rupture and plasmolysis of trichomes. Anatomically, we found cell collapse, cell hypertrophy, and formation of a wound tissue. C. verbenacea showed the most severe visual and anatomical damage, being thus considered the most sensitive species to emissions. Leaf structural features such as uniseriate epidermis, lack of hypodermis, and presence of trichomes contributed to the highest sensitivity of C. verbenacea. Our findings reinforce the importance of performing morpho-anatomical studies to elucidate how leaf structure determines differential sensitivity to airborne pollutants in native species.

Large areas of soils in China are contaminated with Cd and are deficient in Se. Therefore, here, we aimed to reduce Cd accumulation while increasing Se content in rice grain, and to elucidate the mechanisms associated. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to determine grain concentrations of Se and Cd upon foliar spraying of Se combined with the application of horse manure and/or fly ash to different contaminated soils containing Cd 0.51 (T1), 1.46 (T2), and 4.59 mg Cd kg⁻¹ (T3). The amount of Fe, Si, and Cd in root iron plaque, and concentrations of Cd and Si in rice tissues were also determined. Foliar spray of Se increased Se concentration in brown rice from approximately 0.04 to 0.15 mg kg⁻¹. Fly ash significantly reduced Cd concentration in brown rice from 0.07 to 0.05, 0.15 to 0.09, and 1.00 to 0.55 mg kg⁻¹ at the T1, T2, and T3 treatment levels, respectively, and soil Cd bioavailability (by at least 33.3%), while it increased Si content in rice roots and shoots by at least 34%. The increase of Si concentration in rice tissues inhibited Cd translocation to brown rice by at least 17%. Horse manure increased the formation of root Fe plaque by approximately 2.3-fold, which resulted in the significant reduction of Cd accumulation in brown rice, shoots, and roots by 36–56%. Thus, foliar spray of Se in combination with the application of fly ash and horse manure proved an effective method to produce Cd-low and Se-rich rice.

Manganese (Mn) is an essential heavy metal for living organisms. However, they tend to accumulate the excess of this element causing health problems. The increase of the environmental contamination by this heavy metal is mainly due to mining practices. This work aimed to isolate yeast from mining waters to evaluate its ability of removing Mn²⁺ ions for the development of further biotechnological and bioremediation applications. The growing interest of this study is because it could be effective in the biological treatment of contaminated water, which remains a major challenge for industry and environment. Yeasts were initially isolated from mining water and grown in YPD medium containing 1 to 54 mM Mn²⁺. Subsequently, the isolates were characterized biochemically and phylogenetically. Then, we evaluate the ability of the isolates of removing Mn²⁺ ion by SEM scanning electron microscopy coupled with SEM/EDX. Our results showed yeast growth up to 32 mM. There was no pH increase along the tests, suggesting a biological Mn²⁺ removal. Taken together, the morphological changes in the colony and the darkening of the culture medium suggest the yeast’s ability of oxidizing Mn²⁺. Five isolates remove these ions considerably, identified as Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. SEM/EDX analysis shows the ability to oxidize and adsorb Mn. The data obtained in this work allows us to conclude that R. mucilaginosa has an important role in the biogeochemical cycle of manganese and present potential biotechnological applications for bioremediation of water contaminated with Mn²⁺ ions.

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the maintenance of water quality when using chitosan foam filters in water recirculation systems during the cultivation of Nile tilapia and to verify the zootechnical performance and the hepatic and branchial histopathological changes, in comparison with the use of biological filter with bioballs. Two Nile tilapia cultivation trials were carried out (trial 1: 35-L tanks; trial 2: 130-L tanks), using six individual water recirculation systems, consisting of a culture tank, decantation tank, submerged pump for recirculation, aeration and external filter. The physical and chemical parameters related to water quality were evaluated every 48 h. At the end of each trial, the fish biometrics was performed to obtain final weight, feed conversion, and survival. In trial 2, the histopathological analysis of the hepatopancreas and gills was performed and the organ index was calculated. The daily averages of the physical and chemical parameters of the water quality, the zootechnical performance of the fish, and the organ indexes of the treatments of trials 1 and 2 were compared by the t test (p ≤ 5%). There were no significant differences in final weight, feed conversion, survival, or organ indexes between treatments (p > 0.05) in relation to the two trials. It was observed that the use of the filter with chitosan foam in the water recirculation systems resulted in lower or equal concentrations of total ammonia, nitrate, and dissolved orthophosphate, and maintained the same or higher alkalinity than in tanks with bioball biological filter. It is recommended to change the chitosan foam every 30 days of cultivation. The use of water recirculation systems with treatment using filters filled with chitosan foam during the cultivation of Nile tilapia is equally effective or better than the use of a biological filter with bioballs.

Air pollutants originated from natural and anthropogenic sources and able to bio-magnify and bio-accumulate in the trophic levels, thus increase toxicity in the food chain. Various air pollutants (particulate matters (PMs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), inorganic air pollutants (IAP), persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals, and black carbon) resulted in adverse effects on environmental and human health after prolonged exposure. These airborne particles can travel in gaseous form for long distance and deteriorate the air quality of downstream areas. Air pollution abatement can be implemented by reducing emissions at source and purifying pollutants with remediation techniques. However, air pollution remained as the dominant issue to cause burden in human and ecosystem well-being. Due to drawbacks like expensive, high maintenance, and likelihood for pollutants’ reemission, existing conventional remediation technologies is insufficient for air pollutants mitigation. Phytoremediation enters the picture of air pollution control as a cost-effective, energy-saving, and environmental-friendly technology in remediating air pollutants. In phytoremediation, plant organs and associating microbes in the phyllosphere and rhizosphere interacted with each other to remediate air pollutants. Phytoremediation of air pollutants involves the rhizosphere of plants as pollutants may deposit in the soil during leaf fall and precipitation. Additionally, the phytoremediation mechanisms involve phytoextraction, phytovolatilization, phytodegradation, phytostabilization, rhizodegradation, and rhizofiltration. A brief overview of phytoremediation mechanisms for each air pollutants is presented. In short, the benefits of phytoremediation and its associated gaps in air pollution control are described.

In this study, the occurrence, spatial distribution, sources, and ecological risks of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the surface waters of the Lingang hybrid constructed wetland were systematically investigated. Twenty-three PFASs were analyzed from 7 representative sampling zones. The obtained results indicated that PFBA, PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFBS, PFOS, and HFPO-DA were frequently detected; and PFBA, PFOA, and PFOS were the dominant PFASs with the relative abundances in ranges of 26.91 to 52.26%, 11.79 to 28.79%, and 0 to 31.98%, respectively. The total concentrations of 8 PFASs (Σ₈PFASs) ranged from 25.9 to 56.6 ng/L, and the highest concentration was observed in subsurface flow wetland. Moreover, HFPO-DA with high toxicity was detected in wetlands for the first time. Based on the principal component analysis-multiple linear regression (PCA-MLR) analysis, three sources and their contributions were fluoropolymer processing aids (67.6%), fluororesin coatings and metal plating (17.9%), and food packaging materials and atmospheric precipitation (14.5%), respectively. According to the risk quotients (RQs), the ecological risk of 8 PFASs was low to the aquatic organisms.