The liver is one of the vital and sensitive organs which are usually exposed against the toxicity of mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd). The main objective of the current study was to evaluate the potential toxicological effects of both Cd and Hg as individual and combined. Hepatotoxicity was evaluated by monitoring the biochemical parameters of the liver and their accumulation in the liver as well as therapeutic role of vitamin C in said toxicity in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). In this research, cadmium chloride (1.5 mg/kg), mercuric chloride (1.2 mg/kg), and vitamin C (150 mg/kg of body weight) were orally administered to treatment groups of the rabbits for 28 alternative days. Various biochemical parameters of the liver such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), total protein, and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) were estimated using blood samples. Some biochemical parameters like ASAT, ALAT, LDH, GGT, and bilirubin were significantly elevated (P ≤ 0.001) in individual Cd and Hg treatment groups, while the level of total protein was found to be significantly declined. The effects of Cd and Hg in the presence of vitamin C on these biochemical parameters were low as compared to metals-treated groups. Similar results were found when rabbits were treated with co-administration of both metals and vitamin C. Accumulation of Cd and Hg found to be higher in the liver. However, chemoprevention and chemotreatment with vitamin C significantly (P ≤ 0.01) minimized the toxicological effects of both metals but not regained the accumulation similar to that of the control group. The findings of this study provide awareness on accumulation of metals in the liver in rabbits and their toxicity tested through biochemical parameters as well as the therapeutic role of vitamin C in such alterations.

Construction and demolition waste (C&D waste) is a worldwide issue that concerns the sustainable development of the construction industry. In this paper, detailed formulas are listed for calculating the costs of four typical kinds of disposal routes of C&D waste. They are illegal dumping, controlled dumping (landfill), centralized recycling, and on-site recycling. Through the specific formulas, the costs of the new construction project in Guangzhou are also estimated. Then, a cost compensation model of construction waste disposal is constructed, which serves to calculate the amount of compensation that the government shall make to the contractor’s disposal cost. The results of this study include the following: (1) steps taken to ensure the appropriate measures for C&D waste disposal sites and recycling centers; (2) the on-site recycling will become the future trend of C&D waste disposal due to its lowest cost; (3) the brick cement mortar and scattered concrete take a relatively larger proportion in the total C&D waste generated during the new construction project, and their disposal costs are higher; (4) we find that the cost of illegal dumping is the lowest among four varieties of waste treatment options if only the direct cost of waste treatment is taken account. However, the cost of on-site recycling becomes the lowest if the total cost is considered; (5) according to the case study, the full estimated cost of construction waste disposal is 9074.56 CNY and the total cost compensation is 15,084.21 CNY. The amount of compensation is greater than the disposal cost and contractors make a profit, thus stimulating them to recycle and reuse construction waste. Based on the empirical findings, we make several policy proposals. The research puts forward some operational advice as a reference for decision-makers of C&D waste management.

Anthocyanin biosynthesis is one of the best studied secondary metabolisms. However, related pathways were generally concluded based on anthocyanin components; most studies focused on the backbone forming of anthocyanidins (cyanidin, delphinidin, and pelargonidin) of model or commercial plants, while anthocyanin modification was less discussed, and non-model plants with abundant colorations were less researched either. Ranunculus asiaticus L. has great diversity in flower colorations, not only indicating its value in researching anthocyanin biosynthesis but also implying it is unique in this regard. Based on transcriptome sequencing and gene annotation of three varieties (10 samples) of Ranunculus asiaticus L., 176 unigenes from 151,136 unigenes were identified as involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, among which, 74 unigenes were related to anthocyanin modification; 61 unigenes were responsible for glycosylation at C3 and C5 with 3-monosaccharides of glucose, 3-biosides of rutinose, sophorose, or sambubiose to form 3Gly-, 3Gly5Gly-, 3Gly3′Gly-, 3Gly2′′Gly-, 3Gly2′′Xly-, 3Gly2′′Rly-glycosylated anthocyanins, etc.; 2 unigenes transferred –CH₃; 11 unigenes of BAHD family catalyzd the aromatic or malonyl acylation at 6′′ / 6′′′′position of 3/5-O-glucoside. Based on gene composition, a putative pathway was established. The pathway was validated by flower colorations, and gene expression patterns where F3H, F3′H, 3GT, 5GT, and FMT2 were highly expressed in varieties colored as lateritious and carmine, while variety with purple flowers had high expression of F3′5′H and 3MAT. In view of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway of Ranunculus asiaticus L., great diversity in its flower colorations was illustrated via the complete branches (F3H, F3′H and F3′5′H) as well as complete modifications (glycosylation, methylation, and acylation), and besides, via the higher percentage of C3 glycosylation than C5 glycosylation.

The article Cellular distribution of cadmium in two amaranth (Amaranthus mangostanus L.) cultivars differing in cadmium accumulation, written by Keyu Chi, Rong Zou, Li Wang, Wenmin Huo and Hongli Fan, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink)

Water environment monitoring is of great importance to human health, ecosystem sustainability, and water transport. Unlike traditional water quality monitoring problems, this paper focuses on visual perception of water environment. We first introduce the development of a customized aquatic sensor node equipped with an embedded camera sensor. Based on this platform, we present an efficient and holistic contamination detection approach, which can automatically adapt to the detection of floating debris in dynamic waters or the identification of salient regions in static waters. Our approach is specifically designed based on compressed sensing theory to give full consideration to the unique challenges in water environment and the resource constraints on sensor nodes. Both laboratory and field experiments demonstrate the proposed method can fast and accurately detect various types of water pollutants and is a better choice for camera sensor-based water environment monitoring compared with other methods.

Confined animal feeding operations generate high levels of airborne antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including pathogenic strains that may pollute the local environment or pose a health risk to both animals and workers. However, the communities of airborne antibiotic-resistant bacteria in such operations are not fully understood, especially in fine particles that penetrate deeply into the respiratory system. To address these gaps, manures and aerosols from inside and outside of animal houses were collected, and the characteristics of antibiotic-resistant bacteria were analyzed using Illumina MiSeq sequencing to amplify the V3–V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA. The results indicated that animal species was the main factor that influenced the bacterial community of both manure and aerosol samples, while antibiotic selection was the major factor that influenced the bacterial community of aerosol samples from the inside of animal houses. An obvious clustering difference was detected between manure and aerosol samples. No significant difference in both alpha- and beta-diversity indices was detected between fine and coarse particles. As a key genus, Staphylococcus was found to drive the difference in the bacterial community of tetracycline-resistant bacteria to total culturable bacteria and erythromycin-resistant bacteria and also the difference in the bacterial community from aerosol to manure samples. Current data would help in evaluating the risk to human and livestock health and tracing the source of airborne antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animal farms.

The linkage between financial development and energy consumption is widely investigated in the literature. However, the non-linear relationship between financial development and energy demand is still under debate. Therefore, this study aims to examine the non-linear relationship between financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption in OECD countries. The study uses the Driscoll–Kraay standard errors panel regression model for spanning from 1980 to 2016. The empirical findings indicate that an inverted U-shape relationship exists between financial development and energy consumption as well as between economic growth and energy consumption. Moreover, the feedback hypothesis is found between financial development and energy use. Additionally, income and energy use granger cause each other. The innovative findings contribute to extant literature, which is of special interest to the country’s policymakers regarding energy efficiency.

In order to control bacterial adhesion and metal corrosion in the circulating cooling water system, it is necessary to prepare a nanocomposite-modified coating with antibacterial and anticorrosive functions. Copper and zinc composite oxide (CuZnO) was synthesized to prepare CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites. The antibacterial mechanism of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites was investigated using gram-negative bacteria E. coli and gram-positive bacteria S. aureus as the two model microorganisms. The antibacterial properties of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites on mixed bacteria were researched in the cooling water system. In addition, the CuZnO@RGO waterborne polyurethane (WPU) composite coating (CuZnO@RGO/WPU) was synthesized. The antibacterial performance, hardness, and corrosion inhibition performance of CuZnO@RGO/WPU composite coating in the cooling water system were also investigated. The results showed that after adding CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites to E. coli or S. aureus suspension, the protein leakage after 20 h was 9.3 times or 7.2 times higher than that in the blank experiment. The antibacterial rate of CuZnO@RGO nanocomposites in circulating cooling water reached 99.70% when the mass fraction of RGO was 15%. When the mass fraction of CuZnO@RGO accounting for CuZnO@RGO/WPU composite coating was 2%, the antibacterial rate, hardness, and corrosion inhibition efficiency were 94.35%, 5H, and 93.30%, respectively.

The increase of salt concentrations in influent wastewaters will be a consequence of the sea level rises in coastal areas due to climate change and the future use of seawater to flush toilets as a cost-attractive option for alternative water resources. Yet, little is known about the salinity effect on full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) performance and on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as nitrous oxide (N₂O). This study aimed at quantifying the N₂O emissions of a full-scale biological aerated filter (BAF) and to correlate the dynamic behavior of the emissions with the process conditions and the periods of infiltration of seawater. A full-scale BAF was monitored for 3 months to assess both their gaseous and liquid N₂O fluxes. The total average daily N₂O emissions of the plant were 6.16 g N–N₂O/kg of NH₄–N removed. For the first time at full-scale, a correlation between the N₂O emissions and the wastewater influent conductivity (salinity) was found, in which the increase in seawater infiltration in the sewer at high tide augments the daily N₂O production and emission to 13.78 g N–N₂O/kg of NH₄–N removed. The proportional increase in influent conductivity and the N₂O emission factor in this WWTP suggested that periods of high conductivity could serve as an indicator of increased N₂O emissions by the plant. Furthermore, the operational conditions and the wastewater influent characteristics that influence the N₂O emissions were identified as being the dissolved oxygen (DO) dynamics due to the filter washing steps, leading to rapid transitions from oxic to sub-oxic conditions, as well as the (re-)adaptation of microbial consortia due to the dynamics of the biofilm thickness associated to the daily washing process. This study shows the impact that the washing process and seawater infiltration has on the N₂O emissions of a BAF and contributes to a better understanding of the operational conditions impacting the emissions in WWTPs.

The discharge of organic dye into environment is the threat to hydrosphere and biosphere. On the other hands, the agriculture solid wastes such walnut and almond shells pose serious pollutions in lithosphere and atmosphere when burned. The aim of present investigation is to fabricate microporous activated carbon from agriculture waste shells by microwave irradiation as efficient adsorbent to overcome these problems. Firstly, zinc chloride was impregnated into milled shell particles, 300 μm, by conventional and microwave-assisted techniques and then the dry precursors were heated in the closed and open ceramic vessels in air and nitrogen atmospheres. The experimental investigation was carried out to understand the roles of different fabrication factors such as shell particle size, catalyst impregnation ratio, microwave power, carbonization temperature, and atmosphere on cationic dye removal from wastewater. The mentioned factors efficiently affect the dye removal onto obtained activated carbon. The increase in the microwave power up to 600 W could effectively increase the dye removal. However, the higher powers inversely affect the removal efficiency. The equilibrium data were well fitted by Langmuir equation with high linear regression coefficients in which the maximum adsorption capacities of activated carbon produced by walnut and almond shells were determined to be 98 and 114 mg/g, respectively. The most prominent advantage of activated carbon produced from almond shell is lower content of catalyst employed in impregnation stage. Although the larger particles of solid waste were applied, the spongy nature with average pore diameter of 2.4 nm is the unique characteristic of activated carbon fabricated from almond shell which improves the performance of adsorbent in wastewater treatment.