This study reports the physicochemical characterization of clover (Trifolium hybridum) and citrus (Citrus sinensis) honeys produced in Fayoum, Egypt, by evaluating the analysis of moisture content, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), electric conductivity (EC), total sugars, crude protein, ash content, total acidity, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and total phenolic compounds (TPC). Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of honey extracts and their flower extracts were determined. The results clearly indicated that ethanol gave the highest extraction yield of both clover and citrus flowers, while ethyl acetate showed the highest extraction recovery for the phenolic compounds, with TPC amounting to 338.5 and 536.4 mg gallic acid equivalent kg⁻¹ fresh weight in clover and citrus flower extracts, respectively. Honey samples have less TPC than their flowers. The results showed that the TPC of citrus honey and its flowers was higher than clover honey and its flowers, respectively. Antioxidant activity was higher in extracts obtained from citrus flower than extracts of clover flower. The same trend was noticed for honey samples. Both clover and citrus honeys showed antimicrobial effects against tested microorganisms. HPLC analysis showed that p-coumaric acid was the main phenolic component in ethanol extracts of clover and citrus honeys, contributing about 83.0% and 52.2%, respectively. In citrus and clover flower extracts, syringic acid and quercetin were the main phenolics, respectively. It would be expected that characteristics of honey samples are mainly depended on the floral origin of nectar foraged by bees.

Vegetable oils are characterized by their bioactive phytochemicals including fatty acids, tocols, and phenolic compounds. In the current study, turnip (Brassica rapa) oil was evaluated for its fatty acid profiles, tocol composition, and total phenolic content. The radical scavenging properties of oil against DPPH· and galvinoxyl radicals were also evaluated. Turnip oil efficiency in treating osteoporosis was tested in rats. Fifty adult female Sprague-Dawley albino rats were divided to five groups (n = 10/group). An osteoporotic rat model was prepared by two separate 5-day (5 days on/9 days off) courses of methotrexate subcutaneous injection. Osteoporotic rats were orally gavaged with turnip oil (200 and 400 mg/kg/day) for 28 days. Turnip oil efficiency in treating osteoporosis was studied by evaluation of Osterix, Cath K, and TNF-α transcript expression levels that involved in bone remodeling in femoral bones. Minerals and vitamin D were estimated in blood serum. Femoral bone histological and morphometric analyses were investigated in osteoporotic and turnip oil-treated rats. In vitro assays revealed strong antiradical potential of turnip oil. Treatment with turnip oil regulated the levels of Osterix, Cath K, and TNF-α mRNA that was accompanied with elevating the levels of calcium, phosphorous, bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), and vitamin D in osteoporotic rats. The histological and morphometric inspection revealed that turnip oil displayed progress in the osteoporotic rat bone formation that was clear in the enhancement of thickness of femur shaft cortical bone and femur head trabecular bone. Above-mentioned findings indicated that turnip oil has the potential to share in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Rainfall runoff pollution is one of the main causes of water quality deterioration in urban water system. Setting up initial rainwater storage tank could be one of the rapid and effective methods to control runoff pollution. In order to speed up the water environment management processes, the Chinese government has adopted the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode in the water environment treatment to deal with the shortage of funds. Ensuring water quality and controlling water environment management cost are key to PPP projects. Therefore, factors such as pollutant accumulation characteristics of the catchment, land space availability, sewage treatment plants capacity, and river water management cost should be considered during the design of the initial rainwater storage tank on the premise of ensuring water quality. The empirical design method can hardly meet these requirements simultaneously. Under the background of PPP water environment treatment project, a constrained economic optimization model of the initial rainwater storage tank was presented in this paper. The relationship between the total cost of the water environment management and the interception rate of the initial rainwater storage tanks was established by means of Artificial Neural Network (ANN), while the penalty function was used to transform the constrained optimization problem into an unconstrained optimization problem. The interception rate of the initial rainwater storage tanks was then optimized by means of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and the designed volume of the storage tanks was calculated according to the relationship between the interception rate of the storage tank and the cumulative runoff of the related catchment. Finally, a case study of a PPP demonstration project in a plain city in China was conducted. The results demonstrated that compared with the specification method, the total volume of the initial rainwater storage tank increased by 38.7%, the interception rate increased by 68.4%, and the total cost of river water treatment decreased by 5.7% under the constraints of land space availability and sewage treatment capacity. In addition, the optimized method proposed in this paper could reflect the pollutant accumulation characteristics of the catchment. It not only reduce the total cost of the water environment management but also effectively reduce the impact of non-point source pollution on urban water system, and could be more widely used in other areas and PPP projects.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of salinity on the acute and sub-chronic toxicity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in Persian sturgeon. This was evaluated by exposing Persian sturgeon to AgNPs in three salinities: freshwater (F: 0.4 ppt), brackish water 1 (B₁: 6 ± 0.2 ppt), and brackish water 2 (B₂: 12 ± 0.3 ppt) for 14 days, which was followed by analysis of alterations in plasma chemistry and histopathology of the gills, liver, and intestine. Values of 96-h median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) were calculated as 0.89 mg/L in F, 2.07 mg/L in B₁, and 1.59 mg/L in B₂. After sub-chronic exposures, plasma cortisol, glucose, potassium, and sodium levels illustrated no significant changes within each salinity level. In F, 0.2 mg/L AgNP caused the highest levels of alkaline phosphatase and osmolality levels. In B₁, 0.6 mg/L AgNP induced the highest level of alkaline phosphatase and elevated plasma osmolality was recorded in all AgNP-exposed treatments in comparison with the controls. The B₂ treatment combined with 0.6 mg/L AgNP significantly reduced plasma chloride level. The results showed elevating salinity significantly increased osmolality, chloride, sodium, and potassium levels of plasma in the fish exposed to AgNPs. The abundance of the tissue lesions was AgNP concentration-dependent, where the highest number of damages was observed in the gills, followed by liver and intestine, respectively. The histopathological study also confirmed alterations such as degeneration of lamella, lifting of lamellar epithelium, hepatic vacuolation, pyknotic nuclei, and cellular infiltration of the lamina propria elicited by AgNPs in the gills, liver, and intestine of Persian sturgeon. In conclusion, the stability of AgNPs in aquatic environments can be regulated by changing the salinity, noting that AgNPs are more stable in low salinity waters.

Aiming the simultaneous determination of widely used organic plastic additives in complex marine matrices, this work proposes a fast and “green” analytical protocol based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) technology. The validation of this innovative method on real matrices (i.e., sediments, mussel, fish, and Posidonia oceanica) indicated a general good performance in all of them for phthalate esters (PAEs), with low blank levels and average method recoveries varying from 54 ± 11 to 71 ± 12%. The best method performance for organophosphate ester (OPE) flame retardants and plasticizers was in biotic matrices (recoveries 52 ± 31 to 86 ± 38%). This application represents an innovative QuEChERS sequence of two dispersive solid-phase extraction (SPE) steps enabling this approach for the determination of important families of organic plastic additives in the marine environment. Indeed, our method allowed the fast screening and simultaneous determination of OPE and PAEs in various sites and matrices subject to different anthropogenic pressure in coastal NW Mediterranean Sea for the first time. ∑₇PAE and ∑₉OPE concentrations of 19–83 and 27–116 ng g⁻¹ dw (fish), of 80–714 and 42–71 ng g⁻¹ dw (mussels), of 192–908 and 47–151 ng g⁻¹ dw (Posidonia oceanica), and of 11–328 and 4–10 ng g⁻¹ dw (sediment) were measured, respectively. Our approach was sensible enough as to detect differences in the (bio)accumulation patterns of the target compounds in various species and/or sites. This application opens new perspectives for environmentally friendly marine environment monitoring and screening campaigns for organic plastic additives. Graphical abstract

The uptake and distribution of four heavy metals, including copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn), and those of total phosphorus (TP) in 30 plants in North China were investigated through pot trial experiments. Accumulation and distribution of heavy metals or TP were associated with plant species, tissues, metal elements and pollutant loading. The highest amount of heavy metal and TP accumulation was found in the whole plants of Hylotelephium erythrostictum (Miq.) H. Ohba (C1) and Chlorophytum laxum R. Br. (L4), respectively. Considering the biological concentration factor, translocation factor, retention factor and biomass indices, C1 is the suitable plant for Cd and Cu uptake, whereas Hosta plantaginea (Lam.) Aschers (L3) and Viola verecunda A. Gray (V1) are the suitable plants for Pb removal. Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaetn.) Libosch. ex Fisch. (S1) and L4 can be chosen for Zn and TP removal, respectively. Cluster analysis was applied to select suitable plants for heavy metal and TP removal. Results showed that C1, L4 and Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Spreng (G1) have a good capability of accumulating heavy metals and TP. Results demonstrated that the plant species rather than the families considerably influenced the accumulation of pollutants.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is widely used as food additive and flavor enhancer; however, consumption of high dose of MSG provokes oxidative stress in many organs and its safety and side effects on the body are still controversial. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the long-lasting effects of MSG on cardiac muscle functions and structure. Forty male Wister albino rats were assigned into 3 groups. Control group was injected intraperitoneally with physiological saline for 7 days. Second group was injected intraperitoneally with MSG at a dose of 4 mg/g b.w/day for 7 consecutive days and then kept without any treatment till 45th day of the experiment. Third group was injected intraperitoneally with MSG at a dose of 6 mg/g b.w/day for 7 consecutive days and then kept without any treatment till 45th day of the experiment. Monosodium glutamate significantly reduced body weight, force of cardiac muscle contractility, serum level of high-density lipoprotein, and superoxide dismutase activity in cardiac muscle, while it significantly elevated heart rate, serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, triacylglycerides, atherogenic index and troponin T, activities of serum lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase-MB, malondialdehyde concentration, and P53 protein expression in cardiac muscle. In addition, it induced myocardial degeneration, cellular infiltration, deposition of collagen in cardiac muscle, and periodic acid–Schiff staining reaction. This study indicated that MSG exerted long-lasting functional and structural alterations in the heart of male albino rats through induction of oxidative stress, atherogenesis, and apoptosis.

The present work designs a low-cost biological treatment strategy consisting of constructed wetlands (CWs) followed by entrapped algae (EA) for removing nutrients (PO₄³⁻, NO₃⁻, and NH₄⁺) and organic matters from high-strength wastewater. The CWs are efficient means for organic pollutant removal but face challenges in nutrient removal. Algae have a high growth rate and nutrient uptake capabilities from wastewater. The severe challenge that limits the use of algae for nutrient removal from wastewater is its post-treatment separation from wastewater. This work presents a strategy to address the described problems of CWs and algae-based system. It also assesses the performance of the system using synthetic wastewater. A combined system of CW followed by EA (CW-EA) was able to treat 86.0% of phosphate, 95.0% of nitrate, 74.0% of ammonium, and 87.0% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from high-strength wastewater.

Dredging and disposal of sediments onto land sites is a common practice in urban and industrial areas that can present environmental and health risks when the sediments contain metallic elements. The aim of this study was to characterise and study the environmental and toxicological availability of Cd and Pb in anthroposols from dredged river sediments. To do this, 67 surface samples spread over 12 sediment disposal sites in northern France were studied. The results showed substantial heterogeneity for this matrix in terms of physicochemical parameters and contamination degree; however, ascending hierarchical clustering made it possible to classify the samples into eight groups. For each group, the mobile fraction of Cd and Pb was studied using single EDTA extraction, solid-phase distribution was analysed with sequential extractions and toxicological availability was assessed with the oral bioaccessibility test. The results showed that (i) Cd had a higher environmental and toxicological availability than Pb; (ii) this availability depends on the physicochemical characteristics of the matrix; and (iii) it is necessary to take into account the environmental and toxicological availability of contaminants when requalifying these sites in order to propose appropriate management measures. In the first years after sediment disposal, it would appear that the environmental and toxicological availability of Cd and Pb increased (from 52.5 to 71.8% and from 28.9 to 48.9%, respectively, by using EDTA and from 50.2 to 68.5% for Cd with the bioaccessibility test). Further studies would therefore be required to confirm this trend and understand the mechanisms involved.

Lignocellulosic biomass waste is a cheap, eco-friendly, and sustainable raw material for a wide array of applications. In the present study, an easy, fast, and economically feasible route has been proposed for the preparation of different zero-valent metal nanoparticles (ZV-MNPs) based on Cu, Co, Ag, and Ni NPs using empty fruit bunch (EFB) biomass residue as support material. The catalytic efficiency of ZV-MNPs/EFB catalyst was investigated against five model pollutants, such as methyl orange (MO), congo red (CR), methylene blue (MB), acridine orange (AO), and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) using NaBH₄ as a source of hydrogen and electron. Comparative study revealed that among as-prepared ZV-MNPs/EFB catalysts, Cu-NPs immobilized onto EFB (Cu/EFB) exhibited maximum catalytic efficiency towards pollutant abasement. Degradation reactions were highly efficient, and were completed within a short time (4 min) in case of MO, CR, and MB, whilst AO and 4-NP were reduced in less than 15 min. Kinetic investigation revealed that the degradation rate of model pollutants accorded with pseudo-first order model. Furthermore, supported catalysts were easily recovered after the completion of experiment by simply pulling the catalyst from reaction system. Recyclability tests performed on Cu/EFB revealed that more than 97% of the reduction was achieved in case of MO dye for four successive cycles of reuse. The as-prepared heterostructure showed multifunctional properties, such as enhanced uptake of contaminants, high catalytic efficiency, and easy recovery, hence, offers great prospects in wastewater purification.