Phytochemicals is considered one of the most effective and safe alternative therapy against oxidative linked lung diseases. Ellagic acid (EA), an important component of fruits, nuts, and vegetables, are partly responsible for their beneficial health effects against oxidation-related diseases. In the present study, we investigated the ameliorative effect of EA on lung damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) in Wistar male albino rats. Thirty-six male rats (n = 36, 8-week old) were divided into 4 groups, each with 9 rats. The groups were: Control group: received standard diet; EA group: administered with EA (10 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneal); CCl₄ group: administered with CCl₄ (1.5 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneal); EA+CCl₄ group: administered with EA and CCl₄. . The rats were decapitated at the end of experimental period of 8 weeks and the lung tissues were examined. CCl₄-induced rats showed elevation in the expressions of inflammatory proteins, nuclear factor kappa b (NF-κB), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α); and the indicator of lipid peroxidation, malondialdehyde (MDA). Intraperitoneal administration of EA significantly reduced the levels of these markers. EA administration increased the protein expression levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) and enhanced the activity of glutathione (GSH) and catalase enzyme (CAT). In addition, EA administration increased the expression levels of the executioner protein of apoptosis, caspase-3, and decreasing pro-survival protein, B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2). In conclusion, these results establishes the protective role of EA in the treatment of lung damage and that in the future, this may have the potential to be used as a medication for the prevention or attenuation of lung diseases. Graphical abstract

Fluoride (F) is a necessary trace element in the human body, which would lead to some diseases if human body lacks or accumulates it excessively (1–1.5 mg d⁻¹). Fluoride contamination in sediments has become more and more serious, which has potential hazards to human body. In this paper, a novel sorbent (loess) was proposed to immobilize trace element F in sediment. The effectiveness of loess on F stabilization was evaluated by decreasing F bioavailability in contaminated sediment. The loess and the sediment were mixed at different proportions for stabilization. About 70 days after the application of loess, the soil column was subject to simulate acid rain leaching test to observe the leaching-migration of F, which can be used to predict the leaching migration of F in the study area. The results showed that when the loess dose was 5 kg, the loess converted highly effective fractions of F (i.e., water-soluble and exchangeable fractions) into a more stable state (i.e., residual state). After 30 days of leaching with HNO₃ solution with pH at 3.0, the lowest concentration of F was found in the leachate of soil column with 2 kg loess application. Correlation analysis showed that the F concentration in soil column profile was affected by CaCO₃, EC, pH, and OM, of which, pH and CaCO₃ have greater influence than other factors.

Malachite green (MG) is a triphenylmethane dye that is widely used in aquaculture as a fungicide, bactericide, ectoparasiticide, and antiprotozoal. There is great debate regarding the potential for this compound to trigger adverse effects. Here, we review the previous findings and then evaluate the lethal and sublethal effects of MG in the species Hemichromis bimaculatus (jewelfish). The lethal concentration for 50% of the fish in 96 h was 1 mg/L. We observed a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of fish mortality as well as physical and behavioral changes. We further found that the highest tested sublethal dose significantly increased the DNA damage index identified using the comet assay (74.97 ± 13.8 at a significant level of P < 0.05 for the 0.75 mg/L concentration), but did not significantly alter the results of the micronucleus test. Although our results suggest that MG confers risks on exposed fish, the findings were significant only at the highest exposure concentration (0.75 mg/L). At lower concentrations (0.25 mg/L and 0.5 mg/L), no adverse effect was observed. The maximum MG concentration recommended for use in ornamental fish farming is 0.2 mg/L. Therefore, our results suggest that, specifically for the parameters analyzed in this work, MG does not have any adverse effect when users strictly adhere to the recommended concentration criteria for ornamental fish.

Many organic dye pollutants have been identified in rivers and lakes around the world, and concern is growing with them as they cause serious changes in the ecological balance of aquatic environments. One of these dyes is rhodamine R6G, which is very water-soluble and has a high corrosive power. Therefore, Clitoria fairchildiana (CF) pods were used as a biosorbent to remove R6G from synthetic dye effluents. CF was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, Boehm titration, and zero charge point measurements. The influence of various factors, such as solution pH, contact time, adsorbent mass, and concentration of R6G, was studied using batch equilibrium experiments. The optimum contact time to reach equilibrium was found to be 15 min, while the optimum adsorbent dose was 8 g L⁻¹. The maximum adsorption capacity of CF (73.84 mg g⁻¹) was observed at pH 6.4 and 298.15 K. Adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order law, and the isotherm could be best fitted with a Liu model. The obtained thermodynamic parameters indicate that the adsorption of R6G is spontaneous and enthalpy-driven. We thus conclude that CF is an efficient, green, and readily available biosorbent for dye removal from wastewater.

In this study, we investigated the interactions between household pollutants and dietary habits on children’s respiratory health. Our cross-sectional study collected self-reported information including health symptoms (allergy-like, asthma-like, and flu-like symptoms), home characteristics, dietary habits, and demographic information from questionnaires administered to parents of 280 school children in Romania. Unconditional logistic regression and stratified analyses were used to assess the interactions between dietary factors and environmental exposures on health symptoms among children, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and co-exposures. We found that frequency of fruit consumption had significant interaction with residing near heavy traffic on allergy-like symptoms among children (p = 0.036). However, no association was observed by frequency of fruit consumption. Although no significant interaction was observed, we found that students with infrequent fruit consumption and residing near heavy traffic roads had elevated odds of asthma-like (POR 6.37; 95% CI 1.22, 33.29) and flu-like symptoms (POR 3.75; 95% CI 1.12, 11.86) than those who frequently consumed fruits. Likewise, low vegetable consumption was associated with increased asthma-like symptoms (POR 2.93; 95% CI 1.04, 8.24). Increased odds of asthma-like symptoms were observed among school children that resided near heavy traffic roads and frequently consumed milk (POR 2.80; 95% CI 1.24, 6.31) and yoghurt (POR 2.86; 95% CI 1.05, 7.75) compared to those that infrequently consumed dairy. Our findings suggest that frequent fruit and vegetable consumption may mitigate the negative effects of exposure to heavy traffic near dwelling on respiratory symptoms in Romanian children.

As part of the ChArMEx project (Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment, http://charmex.lsce.ipsl.fr), one year of continuous filter sampling was conducted from August 2012 to August 2013 at a rural (coastal) site in Algeria aiming to better document fine aerosol seasonal variability and chemical composition in the Southern part of the Mediterranean. Over 350 filters have been collected, weighted, and analyzed for the main ions and organic and elemental carbon. The obtained mass concentrations varied between 2.5 and 50.6 μg/m³ for PM₂.₅. The annual modulations of PM₂.₅ showed higher concentrations in the end summer 2012 and the early summer 2013 (28.50 μg/m³ in August 2012, 20.23 μg/m³ in September 2012, 20.19 μg/m³ in July 2013, and 17.88 μg/m³in August 2013). The particulate organic matter (POM) presented the greatest contribution (50%), followed by the secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA, 27%). The average organic carbon OC concentrations ranged from 1.66 to 6.05 μgC/m³. The average elemental carbon EC concentrations ranged from 0.92 to 3.49 μgC/m³ and contributed 7% of the PM₂.₅ mass to Bou-Ismail. The average value of the OC /EC ratio was close to 5.1 in Bou-Ismail, and was close to that found in Finokalia 4 (Greece 2004, 2006) but was lower than that of Montseny 11 (Spain 2002–2007) Western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). The concentrations of water-soluble organic carbon WSOC in the PM₂.₅ ranging from 0.66 to 3.70 μg/m³ recorded the minimum level in March 2013, and the maximum level in August 2012, with an average of 2.02 μg/m³.

This paper makes a first empirical attempt at estimating the effects of environmental regulation on air pollution, total factor productivity (TFP), and factor structure based on a quasi-natural experiment method using a novel dataset of 216 prefectural-level cities during the years 1998–2016 in China. Specifically, we are focused on the policy impact of the listed key environmental protection (KEP) prefectures which subject to more stringent environmental regulations than non-KEP prefectures. Our empirical results show that the PM₂.₅ intensity, environmental performance, and TFP of the KEP prefectures are significantly lower than the non-KEP prefectures. The environmental policy also affects the factor structure of KEP cites. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the policy significantly lowered the PM₂.₅ for central and western cities while it is unclear for eastern cities. Our findings also document that the policy effects are unclear in the long term. Various robustness checks confirm the internal validity. These estimation results are instructive to the policymakers. We suggest that the central government should measure the effectiveness of policies within 5 years of policy formulation. Governments at all levels should make targeted adjustments based on actual impact effects. The central government should be granted local governments more speaking power and flexibility in policy implementation when formulating environmental regulatory policies. Otherwise, the central government also needs to improve the communication medium with provincial governments.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) has been recognized as a serious water quality problem in natural water bodies receiving pollution loads from point and nonpoint sources. The present study investigates the spatiotemporal variability of DOM composition in the Kushiro River and its tributaries (Eastern Hokkaido, Japan) impacted by the Kushiro wetland. Water samples were collected in the wet and dry seasons from several locations of the river and analyzed for DOM characteristics by UV–visible and excitation–emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy techniques and by developing water quality index. Rather than the spatial effect, significant seasonal impacts on DOM pollution in the Kushiro River were observed. Overall concentrations of DOM decreased during the dry season. The increase of specific ultraviolet absorbance in the dry season indicated an increasing trend of humification, aromaticity and molecular weight of DOM. Five fluorescent peaks, including peaks A, C, M, B, and T were predicted by EEM spectra. Peaks A and C were found to be the most dominating peaks in both the seasons and indicated enrichment of humic-like matters in river water. The intensities of poly-aromatic humic substances as well as DOM components of microbial origin increase in the wet season and proteins like autochthonous DOM increase during the dry season. The study recognized the contribution of freshly produced DOM component by the decomposition of wetland plants in wet season and effect of snowfall in the dry season. Analysis of three fluorescence indices revealed that the river water primarily contains terrestrially dominated DOM. A significant impact of the adjacent WWTPs and wetland to the river water DOM were also observed. The water quality index of river water DOM showed low to medium levels of DOM pollution in the Kushiro River.

Embracing energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) is essential for improving environmental quality. This research investigates the asymmetric impacts of EE, RE, and other factors on CO₂ emissions in BRICS (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries from 1990 to 2014. In contrast to previous studies, the present study considers EE as a major cause of CO₂ emissions in BRICS countries. By using the new hidden panel cointegration and nonlinear panel autoregressive distributive lag model, this study is the first of its kind that unfolds the asymmetric links among EE, RE, and CO₂ emissions. Findings clearly explain that the impact of the selected variables on CO₂ emissions is asymmetric, and both EE and RE help to lower CO₂ emissions in BRICS countries. In the long run, positive shocks in EE and RE can significantly mitigate CO₂ emissions in BRICS economies. In particular, a 1% fluctuation in the positive sum of EE reduces CO₂ emissions by 0.783% in the long run. On the other hand, a 1% fluctuation in the positive component of RE reduces CO₂ emissions by 0.733%. Moreover, individual country estimates suggest the heterogeneous effects among BRICS countries. Based on the empirical findings, policymakers should consider the asymmetric behavior of the EE, RE, and economic growth while formulating, energy, environment, and growth policies of BRICS countries. Graphical abstract

Rivers are critical ecosystems for protecting and harboring high biodiversity. Tropical rivers particularly are unique for facing extreme climatic events under the current accelerated disruption from human activities. The Bobos-Nautla river basin is exposed to climatic events and disturbances from anthropogenic impacts that stress aquatic organisms. We assessed the health condition of this river system using a non-conventional biomonitor, Corydalus sp., with a set of early-warning biomarkers including lipid peroxidation levels (LPO) and antioxidant activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and the neurotransmitter acetylcholinesterase (AChE) considering their spatial and temporal variations. Biomarkers and water quality parameters were analyzed, and the integrated biomarker response (IBR) was assessed as a stress index. Biomarkers showed no significant spatial differences; however, a high-stress period during the rainy season was detected, evidenced by the highest LPO levels; this period is related to the leaching of allochthonous materials from agricultural and urban zones. The peak IBR value during the rainy season confirmed the seasonality of biomarkers. A slight increase in IBR was recorded in lowlands, seemingly associated with agricultural land and human settlements. A principal component analysis showed nutrient enrichment during the rainy season and depletion during the cold-dry season, together with a peak activity of antioxidant enzymes. These results highlight the importance of climatic events such as the rainy season on the health condition of Corydalus sp., which is highly sensitive to the complex mixtures of pollutants that enter the waterbody during extreme climatic events, promoting oxidative stress. Our results also showed the ability of Corydalus sp. to recover and return to a basal level.