Mosquitoes are well-known vectors of disease and threaten the health of millions of people annually. While synthetic insecticides have been relied on to combat these diseases, insecticide resistance and environmental concerns have directed attention towards novel and more targeted mosquitocides derived from botanicals. Research on the activity of botanical derivatives has focused on mosquito larvae and adults with little attention given to their potential as oviposition deterrents against gravid female mosquitoes. This review explores the influence of chemical and biological factors on deterrence and examines issues relating to environmental persistence and non-target effects. With very few discoveries of new insecticide pathways, the answer to effective mosquito control may well reside within other ancient plant-based organisms that have co-resided and evolved with this ubiquitous pest.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be critical regulators in many types of tumors. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of miR-760 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We demonstrated that the expression of miR-760 was downregulated in NSCLC tissues compared with the adjacent normal tissues. We also demonstrated that the expression of miR-760 was downregulated in the NSCLC cell lines. Overexpression of miR-760 suppressed the NSCLC cell proliferation, cell cycle, and migration. Moreover, we identified that ROS1 was a direct target of miR-760 in the NSCLC cell. Elevated expression of miR-760 suppressed ROS1 expression in the NSCLC cell. We also demonstrated that the expression of ROS1 was higher in the NSCLC tissues than in the adjacent lung tissues. MiR-760 expression level was reversely associated with the expression level of ROS1 in the NSCLC tissues. In summary, we showed that miR-760 suppressed the NSCLC cell proliferation, cell cycle, and migration through regulating the ROS1 expression. These data suggested that miR-760 may act as a tumor suppressor gene in the NSCLC partly through regulating ROS1 expression.

Antibiotics are ubiquitous pollutants in aquatic systems and can exist as different dissociated species depending on the water pH. New knowledge of their multivariate photochemical behavior (i.e., the photobehavior of different ionized forms) is needed to improve our understanding on the fate and possible remediation of these pharmaceuticals in surface and waste waters. In this study, the photochemical degradation of aqueous tetracycline (TC) and its dissociated forms (TCH₂⁰, TCH⁻, and TC²⁻) was investigated. Simulated sunlight experiments and matrix calculations indicated that the three dissociated species had dissimilar photolytic kinetics and photooxidation reactivities. TC²⁻ photodegraded the fastest due to apparent photolysis with a kinetic constant of 0.938 ± 0.021 min⁻¹, followed by TCH⁻ (0.020 ± 0.005 min⁻¹) and TCH₂⁰ (0.012 ± 0.001 min⁻¹), whereas TCH⁻ was found to be the most highly reactive toward •OH (105.78 ± 3.40 M⁻¹ s⁻¹), and TC²⁻ reacted the fastest with ¹O₂ (344.96 ± 45.07 M⁻¹ s⁻¹). Water with relatively high pH (e.g., ~ 8–9) favors the dissociated forms of TCH⁻ and TC²⁻ which are most susceptible to photochemical loss processes compared to neutral TC. The calculated corresponding environmental half-lives (t₁/₂,E) in sunlit surface waters ranged from 0.05 h for pH = 9 in midsummer to 3.68 h for pH = 6 in midwinter at 45° N latitude. The process was dominated by apparent photolysis (especially in summer, 62–91%), followed by ¹O₂ and •OH oxidation. Adjusting the pH to slightly alkaline conditions prior to UV or solar UV light treatment may be an effective way of enhancing the photochemical removal of TC from contaminated water. Graphical abstract Aqueous multiple photochemical behavior of dissociated tetracycline (TCH₂⁰, TCH⁻, and TC²⁻) is first comprehensively reported on revealing the phototransformation kinetics and implications for the fate in surface waters.

Unfortunately, the original publication of this paper contains a mistake. The correct name of the 1st Author is Ming-Wei Wang.

The increasing demand for and reliance on plastics as an everyday item, and rapid rise in their production and subsequent indiscriminate disposal, rise in human population and industrial growth, have made the material an important environmental concern and focus of interest of many research. Historically, plastic production has increased tremendously to over 250 million tonnes by 2009 with an annual increased rate of 9%. In 2015, the global consumption of plastic materials was reported to be > 300 million tonnes and is expected to surge exponentially. Because plastic polymers are ubiquitous, highly resistant to degradation, the influx of these persistent, complex materials is a risk to human and environmental health. Because microplastics are principally generated from the weathering or breakdown of larger plastics (macroplastics), it is noteworthy and expedient to discuss in detail, expatiate, and tackle this main source. Macro- and microplastic pollution has been reported on a global scale from the poles to the equator. The major problem of concern is that they strangulate and are ingested by a number of aquatic biota especially the filter feeders, such as molluscs, mussels, oysters, from where it enters the food chain and consequently could lead to physical and toxicological effects on aquatic organisms and human being as final consumers. To this end, in order to minimise the negative impacts posed by plastic pollution (macro- and microplastics), a plethora of strategies have been developed at various levels to reduce and manage the plastic wastes. The objective of this paper is to review some published literature on management measures of plastic wastes to curb occurrence and incidents of large- and microplastics pollution in the marine environments.

We investigate this study to examine the relationship between economic growth, freight transport, and energy consumption for 63 developing countries over the period of 1990–2016. In order to make the panel data analysis more homogeneous, we apply the income level of countries to divide the global panel into three sub-panels, namely, lower-middle income countries (LMIC), upper-middle income countries (UMIC), and high-income countries (HIC). Using the generalized method of moments (GMM), the results prove evidence of bidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and freight transport for all selected panels and between economic growth and energy consumption for the high- and upper-middle income panels. For the lower-middle income panel, the causality is unidirectional running from energy consumption to economic growth. Also, the results indicate that the relationship between freight transport and energy use is bidirectional for the high-income countries and unidirectional from freight transport to energy consumption for the upper-middle and lower-middle income countries. Empirical evidence demonstrates the importance of energy for economic activity and rejects the neo-classical assumption that energy is neutral for growth. An important policy recommendation is that there is need of advancements in vehicle technology which can reduce energy intensity from transport sector and improve the energy efficiency in transport activity which in turn allows a greater positive role of transport in global economic activity.

The use of plants for the improvement of soils contaminated with hydrocarbons has been a primary research focus in phytoremediation studies. Obtaining insights regarding genes that are differentially induced by petroleum hydrocarbon stress and understanding plant response mechanisms against petroleum hydrocarbons at molecular level is essential for developing better phytoremediation strategies to remove these hazardous contaminants. The purpose of this study was to analyze the transcriptomal profile changes under hydrocarbon stress in maize plants and identify the genes associated with the phytoremediative capacity. Zea mays GeneChips were used to analyze the global transcriptome profiles of maize treated with different concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons. In total, 883, 1281, and 2162 genes were differentially induced or suppressed in the comparisons of 0 (control) vs. 1% crude petroleum, 1 vs. 5% crude petroleum, and 0 vs. 5% crude petroleum, respectively. The differentially expressed genes were functionally associated with the osmotic stress response mechanism, likely preventing the uptake of water from the roots, and the phytoremediative capacity of plants, e.g., secretory pathway genes. The results presented here show the regulatory mechanisms in the response to petroleum hydrocarbon pollution in soil. Our study provides global gene expression data of Z. mays in response to petroleum hydrocarbon stress that could be useful for further studies investigating the biodegradation mechanism in maize and other plants.

This study was carried out to evaluate the potential antibacterial and immunomodulatory effects of the dietary acidifier propionic acid (PA) when given alone or in combination with oxytetracycline (OTC) on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Apparently healthy O. niloticus (n = 240; 52 ± 3.75 g) were randomly allocated into four equal groups (n = 60/group): control group fed a basal diet alone and the other three groups fed basal diets supplemented with either PA (200 mg /kg of diet, PA group) or OTC (500 mg/kg of diet, OTC group) alone or in combination (PA + OTC group). Each group was subdivided into two subgroups (n = 30/subgroup, each subgroup had triplicate of 10 fish); subgroup (A) was used to evaluate the antibacterial effects with the aforementioned 2 weeks feeding regime, and subgroup (B) was used to evaluate the immunomodulatory effects against Aeromonas hydrophila infection with similar 2 weeks feeding regime. Among the four groups, PA + OTC group showed the highest significant (p < 0.0001) antibacterial activity as indicated by widest inhibition zones against A. hydrophila and lowest total gastrointestinal bacterial counts. Additionally, this group had the best immunomodulatory effect as noticed by a significant (p < 0.05) increase in total serum protein, globulin, IgM, phagocytic activity and index, lysosome activity, and significant (p < 0.05) upregulation in the expression levels of immunity-related genes (MHC I, MHC IIA, MHC IIB, Tlr7, IgM heavy chain, TNFα, and IL1β) in head-kidney. Notably, the combined dietary PA and OTC improved the hematological parameters and reduced the oxidative damage of hepatopancreas and head-kidney induced by OTC. This data suggests dietary PA as potential adjuvant to OTC in O. niloticus diets to get maximal antibacterial and immunomodulatory effects.

We previously described a MgO-based binder for treating fine sediment and simultaneously store CO₂. Here, we describe a study of the physical/mechanical characteristics and carbonation reactions of the MgO-based binder used to solidify/stabilize fine sediment in atmospheres containing different CO₂ concentrations. Carbonation of the sediment treated with the MgO-based binder at the atmospheric CO₂ concentration markedly improved the compressive strength of the product. The compressive strength was 4.78 MPa after 365 days of curing, 1.3 times higher than the compressive strength of sediment treated with portland cement. This improvement was caused by the formation of carbonation products, such as hydromagnesite, nesquehonite, and lansfordite, and the constant high pH (~ 12) of the specimen, which favored the growth of hydration products such as calcium silicate hydrates and portlandite. Very low compressive strengths were found when 50 and 100% CO₂ atmospheres were used because of excessive formation of carbonation products, which occupied 78% of the specimen depth. Abundant carbonation products increased the specimen volume and decreased the pH to 10.2, slowing the growth of hydration products. The absence of brucite in specimens produced in a 100% CO₂ atmosphere indicated that MgO carbonation is favored over hydration at high CO₂ concentrations.

The current study presents results concerning the effect of a static magnetic field (SMF) on synthetic wastewater biodegradation by activated sludge and on dehydrogenase activity of microorganisms of activated sludge. The highest process efficiency was obtained for a SMF of 0.0075 T among the tested magnetic flux density values of 0.005–0.14 T. Decrease in COD was 25% higher for the bioreactor exposed to SMF compared with control experiments. The positive effect of SMF 0.0075–0.0080 T was confirmed in experiments on the dehydrogenase activity of activated sludge. It was also shown that a SMF of 0.007 T increased p-nitroaniline removal from wastewater and influenced the recombination frequency in a streptomycin-resistant bacteria strain of Eschercihia coli.