This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal).This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors-in-Chief.The authors have plagiarized part of a paper that had appeared in Plant, Cell & Environment, 29 (2006) 1532–1544. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2006.01531.x The images that were reused were: Fig. 1e, 1f, 1g, 1h, 2a, 2b, 2e, 2f.One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original and has not appeared in a publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process.

Major sources of petroleum hydrocarbons in the south of Caspian Sea (Anzali city) have been investigated through an approach which combines Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares chemometric methods. Terpane, catagenetic hopane and sterane hydrocarbons were analyzed in the street dust, filtered sediments of runoff, soluble runoff water and river sediment samples as well as in automobiles exhaust, tires, asphalt, engine oil, gasoline and diesel samples, as possible sources of these hydrocarbons. PCA and MCR-ALS results showed that a large part of the analyzed hydrocarbons in street dust, runoffs and in some of the river sediment samples can be explained by the proposed known sources, while the observed variation of hydrocarbon concentrations in many of the river sediment samples was not much affected by the proposed known sources, and they were most probably receiving other pollution sources not included in our study. This study also has shown that results obtained from hydrocarbon marker molecular ratios, to identify petroleum pollution sources in the environments, are in agreement with those obtained from pollution sources resolved by MCR-ALS simultaneous analysis of all samples and variables.

Benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) belong to an important group of aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are usually emitted from various sources. BTX play a vital role in the tropospheric chemistry as well as pose health hazard to human beings. Thus, an investigation of ambient benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) was conducted at urban and rural sites of Gorakhpur for a span of one year in order to ascertain the contamination levels. The sampling of BTX was performed by using a low-flow SKC Model 220 sampling pump equipped with activated coconut shell charcoal tubes with a flow rate of 250 ml/min for 20–24 h. The analysis was in accordance with NIOSH method 1501. The efficiency of pump was checked weekly using regulated rotameters with an accuracy of ±1%. The samples were extracted with CS₂ with occasional agitation and analyzed by GC-FID. The total BTX concentration ranged from 3.4 μg m⁻³ to 45.4 μg m⁻³ with mean value 30.95 μg m⁻³ and median 24.8 μg m⁻³. The mean concentration of total BTX was maximum during winter (39.3 μg m⁻³), followed by summer (28.4 μg m⁻³) and monsoon season (25.1 μg m⁻³). The mean concentration of BTX at urban site (11.8 μg m⁻³) was higher than that at rural site (8.8 μg m⁻³). At both the sites, T/B and X/B ratios were highest in monsoon and lowest in winters. Toluene against benzene plot shows R² value of 0.96 and 0.49 at urban and rural sites respectively. Higher R² value at urban site clearly indicates similar sources of emission for benzene and toluene. At both the sites, the estimated integrated lifetime cancer risk (ILTCR) for benzene exceeded the threshold value of 1E-06 whereas the individual hazard quotients (HQ) for BTX did not exceed unity at any of the sites.

Biochar has been used for immobilizing heavy metals in soils due to its abundant surface functional groups and mineral components. However, as carbonaceous material, biochar in soils is susceptible to natural aging, which could alter its structural properties and ability to retain heavy metals. In this study, the impacts of pre- and post-application aging on the properties of dairy manure and sawdust biochars and the significance of different mechanisms of complexation with surface functional groups and mineral precipitation for Cd immobilization in soils were investigated. The simulated natural aging including 25 dry-wet cycles and 25 freeze-thaw cycles decreased the pH of biochar from 8.2 to 10.7 to 7.5–9.7 while increased the release of dissolved organic carbon from 4.1 to 10.9 to 5.9–21.3 mg L⁻¹, O/C ratios from 0.09 to 0.30 to 0.17–0.33, and O-containing functional groups, especially -OH and -C=O groups. New minerals such as CaC₂O₄ and MgO·MgCO₃ were formed during freeze-thaw cycles. The capacity of pre-aged biochars to immobilize Cd in soils decreased from 57-70% to 53–63%, compared to that of fresh biochar, which was mainly due to decrease of CdCO₃ or Cd₃(PO₄)₂ precipitation as evidenced by XRD and MINTEQ modeling. By contrast, post-aging of biochar application in soil with dry-wet and freeze-thaw cycling had little effect on the biochar's alkalinity while increased the O/C ratios from 0.10 to 0.24 to 0.15–0.27 and intensity of O-containing functional groups. The immobilization capacity of biochars for Cd in soil increased from 44-68% to 59–73% due to the enhanced surface complexation with O-containing groups. In short, biochar subjected to pre-aging had a reduced capacity to immobilize Cd, while biochars with post-aging in soil increased its Cd immobilization capacity as a soil amendment.

The concentrations, profiles, and spatial distributions of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in soil and sediment samples from several typical plastic solid waste (PSW) recovery sites (particularly from areas in which PSW is burned openly) in China were investigated. The results showed that burning PSW directly influenced PCDD/F concentrations immediately around the burning area. All of the samples in which soil contained black burning residue, collected from immediately around burning areas, had PCDD/F concentrations (mean 21708 ng kg⁻¹) and toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentrations (mean 2140 ng I-TEQ kg⁻¹ or 1877 ng WHO₂₀₀₆-TEQ kg⁻¹) more than 100 times higher than the concentrations in samples collected away from burning areas (mean 222 ng kg⁻¹, 8.75 ng I-TEQ kg⁻¹, 7.96 ng WHO₂₀₀₆-TEQ kg⁻¹). Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that the PCDD/F concentrations in seven soil samples from near PSW burning areas were influenced by PSW burning but that the PCDD/Fs in these soil samples may have had other or multiple sources. PCDD/F distributions at PSW recovery sites have been investigated in few previous studies. The results presented here indicate that appropriate measures should be taken to decrease the ecological risks posed by PSW recovery and to prevent, control, and remediate PCDD/F and other chemical contamination caused by PSW recovery.

It has been suggested that the toxic effects of cadmium (Cd) may disrupt ovarian and uterine functions in adults. However, Cd exposure during gestation and lactation and its effects on the reproductive development in female offspring is still not clear, and the mechanisms underlying exposure toxicology remain mostly unexplored. To investigate how Cd exposure of female rats (F0) during gestation and lactation affects the reproductive development of their female offspring, we studied the steroidogenesis, folliculogenesis, puberty onset, and litter size of the first (F1) and second (F2) filial generations following F0 female rats which had been exposed to CdCl2. The mechanisms related to the early onset of puberty induced by such exposure in female offspring were explored. Maternal exposure to Cd dramatically increased the biosynthesis of steroid hormones in F1 female offspring by the activation of cAMP/PKA pathway and up-regulated expression of steroidogenesis related proteins such as StAR, CYP11A1, 3β-HSD and CYP19A1. The high levels of steroid hormones contributed to an early puberty onset, promoted the differentiation and maturation of follicles, and led to the proliferation of endometrium that resulted in a uterus weight gain. The increased number of antral follicles eventually caused a big litter size. Despite of being free from additional Cd exposure, the levels of CYP11A1 and CYP19A1 in the ovaries of F2 female rats were also high, which resulted in a high concentration of serum progesterone. These results suggested that hormonal changes induced by exposure to Cd in utero might have a lasting effect beyond the first generation. These findings may help to better understand the origin of female sexual dysfunction in the developmental stages in general.

Asian dust storms occur often and have a great impact on East Asia and the western Pacific in spring. Early warnings based on reliable forecasts of dust storms thus are crucial for protecting human health and industry. Here we explore the efficacy of 4-D variational method-based data assimilation in a chemical transport model for dust storm forecasts in East Asia. We use a 3-D global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and its adjoint model with surface PM₁₀ mass concentration observations. We evaluate the model for several severe dust storm events, which occurred in May 2007 and March 2011 in East Asia. First of all, simulated the PM₁₀ mass concentrations with the forward model showed large discrepancies compared with PM₁₀ mass concentrations observed in China, Korea, and Japan, implying large uncertainties of simulated dust emission fluxes in the source regions. Based on our adjoint model constrained by observations for the whole period of each event, the reproduction of the spatial and temporal distributions of observations over East Asia was substantially improved (regression slopes from 0.15 to 2.81 to 0.85–1.02 and normalized mean biases from −74%–151% to −34%–1%). We then examine the efficacy of the data assimilation system for daily dust storm forecasts based on the adjoint model including previous day observations to update the initial condition of the forward model simulation for the next day. The forecast results successfully captured the spatial and temporal variations of ground-based observations in downwind regions, indicating that the data assimilation system with ground-based observations effectively forecasts dust storms, especially in downwind regions. However, the efficacy is limited in nearby the dust source regions, including Mongolia and North China, due to the lack of observations for constraining the model.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are environmentally persistent chemicals that structurally resemble legacy pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PBDEs were added to consumer products for over 30 years, before being phased out due to evidence of toxicity. We examined temporal changes in prenatal exposure to PBDEs, as well as other sources of variation. We measured PBDEs in umbilical cord plasma from 327 minority infants born in New York City between 1998 and 2006. We used linear regression to examine changes in concentrations over time and in relation to lifestyle characteristics collected during pregnancy. We detected BDE-47 in 80% of samples with a geometric mean concentration of 14.1 ng/g lipid. Ethnicity was the major determinant of PBDE exposure; African American infants had 58% higher geometric mean cord plasma concentrations of BDE-47 (p < 0.01) compared to Dominican infants. Notably, African American mothers were more likely to be born in the United States, which itself was associated with 40% (p < 0.01) higher concentrations. We observed small decreases in PBDE concentrations by date of birth and no difference before and after their phase-out in 2004. Final multivariable models explained 8–12% of variability in PBDE concentrations depending on the congener. Our finding that prenatal exposure to PBDEs decreased only modestly between 1998 and 2006 is consistent with the persistent properties of PBDEs and their ongoing release from existing consumer products.

In this study, degradation affinities of 14 antibiotics and one metabolite were determined in batch experiments. A modelling framework was applied to decrypt potential ranges of abiotic, biotic and photolytic degradation coefficients. In detail, we performed batch experiments with three different sewages in the dark at 7 °C and 22 °C. Additionally, we conducted further batch experiments with artificial irradiation and different dilutions of the sewage at 30 °C – de novo three different sewages were used. The batch experiments were initially spiked with a stock solution with 14 antibiotics and one metabolite to increase background concentrations by 1 μg L−1 for each compound. The final antibiotic concentrations were sub-inhibitory with regard to sewage bacteria. The here presented modelling framework based on the Activated Sludge Model No. 3 in combination with adsorption and desorption processes. The model was calibrated with monitored standard sewage compounds before antibiotic degradation rates were quantified. The model decrypted ranges of abiotic, biotic and photolytic degradation coefficients. In detail, six antibiotics were not abiotic degradable at 7 °C, five antibiotics not at 22 °C and only 2 antibiotics at 30 °C. Finally, nine antibiotics were not significantly biodegradable at 7 °C and 22 °C. The model determined the link between adsorption characteristics and biodegradation rates. In detail, the rate was significantly affected by the bio-solid partition coefficient and the duration until adsorption was balanced. All antibiotics and the metabolite were photolytic degradable. In general, photolytic degradation was the most efficient elimination pathway of presented antibiotics except for the given metabolite and penicillin antibiotics.