Soil-borne diseases have become increasingly problematic for farmers producing crops intensively under protected agriculture. Although soil fumigants are convenient and effective for minimizing the impact of soil-borne disease, they are most often detrimental to beneficial soil microorganisms. Previous research showed that bio-activation of soil using biological control agents present in biofertilizers or organic fertilizers offered promise as a strategy for controlling soil-borne pathogens when the soil was bio-activated after fumigation. Our research sought to determine how bio-activation can selectively inhibit pathogens while promoting the recovery of beneficial microbes. We monitored changes in the soil’s physicochemical properties, its microbial community and reductions in soil-borne pathogens. We found that the population density of Fusarium and Phytophthora were significantly reduced and tomato yield was significantly increased when the soil was bio-activated. Soil pH and soil catalase activity were significantly increased, and the soil’s microbial community structure was changed, which may have enhanced the soil’s ability to reduce Fusarium and Phytophthora. Our results showed that soil microbial diversity and relative abundance of beneficial microorganisms (such as Sphingomonas, Bacillus, Mortierella and Trichoderma) increased shortly after bio-activation of the soil, and were significantly and positively correlated with pathogen suppression. The reduction in pathogens may have been due to a combination of fumigation-fertilizer that reduced pathogens directly, or the indirect effect of an optimized soil microbiome that improved the soil’s non-biological factors (such as soil pH, fertility structure), enhanced the soil’s functional properties and increased tomato yield.

Chloropicrin (CP) controls soil-borne plant diseases caused by pathogenic microbes, increases crop yield, but has a long-term inhibitory effect on beneficial soil microorganisms. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of biofumigation material fresh chicken manure (FCM) on soil microorganisms, and the duration of those effects in this experiment. Our results showed that in the laboratory, FCM significantly increased substrate-induced respiration (SIR) of soil microorganisms by 2.2–3.2 times at 80 d compared to the control, however, CP significantly inhibited the SIR of soil microorganisms. FCM and CP increased NH4+-N concentration within 40 days which then returned to the control level. FCM increased NO3--N by 2.82–5.78 times by 80 days, compared with the control, while the concentration of NO3--N in the CP treatment was not significantly different from the control at the 80 day. Although in the laboratory FCM inhibited the relative abundance of 16 S rRNA and the nitrogen cycle functional genes AOA amoA, AOB amoA, nirK and nosZ over a 40-day period, the taxonomic diversity of soil bacteria and fungi in the FCM treatment were restored to unfumigated level within 90 days in the field. However, CP treatment has a strong inhibitory effect on soil microorganisms after 90 days. Importantly, the relative abundance of some beneficial microorganisms that control soil-borne pathogenic microbes or degrade pollutants increased significantly in FCM, including Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces bacterial genera and Chaetomium and Mycothermus fungal genera. Noteworthy, like CP, FCM still had a strong inhibitory effect on Fusarium at 90 d. Our results indicated that FCM not only increased the content of inorganic nitrogen and improved the respiration rate of soil microorganisms, but it also shortened the recovery time of beneficial soil microorganisms and increased taxonomic diversity. Our previous reports showed that FCM and CP treatments had the same effect in disease control and crop growth. Combined with the results of this experiment, we believe that FCM has the potential to replace CP, which would eliminate CP's detrimental environmental impact, improve farmer safety and promote sustainable crop production.

To reduce the high disease burden caused by air pollution, World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new air quality guideline (AQG) on the 22nd September 2021. A timely quantitative assessment of health benefits by meeting these targets is a key measure to advocate and inform national and regional disease control policies. We collected daily major air pollution data in 315 Chinese cities from the 1st January to the 31st December 2019, and the corresponding annual population and mortality rate in the whole population of each city. Then, the mortality benefits were estimated when daily air pollution levels attained WHO's new AQG targets (15 μg/m³ for PM₂.₅, 25 μg/m³ for NO₂ and 100 μg/m³ for O₃) in 315 Chinese cities and 31 provinces by using pollutant- and cause-specific concentration-response functions. In total, 134,025 (95%CI: 92,768; 173,029) air pollution-associated non-accidental deaths could be avoided in 315 Chinese cities in 2019 by attaining WHO's new AQG targets, with 43,800 (95%CI: 29,945; 55,616) avoidable deaths from PM₂.₅, 58,070 (95%CI: 45,333; 70,714) from NO₂, and 32,155 (95%CI: 17,490; 46,699) from O₃. Cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases accounted for 72,698 (95%CI: 46,561; 101,680) and 17,726 (95%CI: 8603; 26,925) avoidable deaths, respectively. Health benefits from reduction in air pollution levels were 99.26 avoided non-accidental deaths per million population at national level, ranging from 12.48 per million in Tibet to 166.26 per million in Hebei. These findings suggest that the compliance with the WHO updated AQG standards would save substantial amount of air pollution-related premature deaths in China. More stringent air pollution control and management measures are urgently warranted to reduce the disease burden from air pollutants in China, particularly for the worsening O₃ pollution.

B cells contribute to produce inflammatory cytokines and antibodies, to present autoantigens, and to interact with T cells, which lead to body defense and disease control. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2(Nrf2) is responsible for gene expression of antioxidant enzymes to protect cells from oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species(ROS) production. Bisphenol A(BPA) may not be safe due to the effect on body’s physiological functions. The chemicals that substitute for BPA may still have similar effects in the body. Tritan™ copolyester is a novel plastic form using BPA substitutes, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol(CHDM), dimethyl terephthalate(DMT), and 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol(TMCD). Isosorbide(ISO) was also used as a substitute for TMCD and DMT. Here, we investigated whether B cell viability is influenced by BPA and its substitutes via Nrf2 induction using WiL2-NS human B lymphoblast cells. When cytotoxicity was measured by using assays with MTT, CellTiter-Glo, trypan blue and propidium iodide, cytotoxicity by BPA was higher than that by substitutes. BPA and its substitutes showed significant cytotoxicity and ROS production, which were attenuated by the treatment with N-acetylcysteine(NAC), a ROS scavenger. In addition, BPA treatment enhanced gene expression of antioxidant enzymes, heme oxygenase(HO)-1, catalase, superoxide dismutase(SOD) 1 and 2. As H₂O₂ treatment induced cell death and Nrf2 amount in WiL2-NS cells, BPA treatment increased Nrf2. Cell death by H₂O₂ was increased in doxycycline-inducible Nrf2-knockdown(KD) cells. In Cytotoxicity by the treatment with BPA or its substitutes was also enhanced in Nrf2-KD cells but that was reduced by Nrf2 overexpression compared to control cells. Taken together, these results implicate that B cell cytotoxicity by substitutes should be lower than BPA and Nrf2 can prevent B cells from BPA- or BPA substitutes-induced cytotoxicity via ROS production. Data suggest that the comprehensive studies or evaluation could be necessary to replace BPA in manufacture by other substitutes.

The current global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a tremendous public health challenge globally. While the respiratory transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been established, evolving reports on the impact of the gastrointestinal system and the prolonged faecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 show the likelihood of faecally mediated transmission. The increasing evidential presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and faecal material poses a significant public health threat which may potentiate global vulnerability to high risk of human exposure through environmental drivers especially in less developed countries. While extensively exploring the likelihood of faecally mediated SARS-CoV-2 transmission, infection control and prevention measures aimed at mitigating this pandemic should holistically include environmental drivers.

In 2006, a controlled infection study was performed in the ‘Kranzberger Forst’ to address the following questions: (1) Will massive artificial inoculation with Apiognomonia errabunda override the previously observed inhibitory effect of chronic ozone? (2) Can biochemical or molecular markers be detected to account for the action of ozone? To this end six adult beech trees were chosen, three ozone fumigated (2× ozone) and three control trees (ambient = 1× ozone). Spore-sprayed branches of sun and shade crown positions of each of the trees, and uninoculated control branches, were enclosed in 100-L plastic bags for one night to facilitate infection initiation. Samples were taken within a five-week period after inoculation. A. errabunda infestation levels quantified by real-time PCR increased in leaves that were not fumigated with additional ozone. Cell wall components and ACC (ethylene precursor 1-amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) increased upon ozone fumigation and may in part lead to the repression of fungal infection. Chronic sublethal ozone exposure reduces both natural and artificial infestation of beech leaves by the endophytic fungus Apiognomonia errabunda.

Taenia saginata, Ascaris suum, current research on inactivation of ova in sewage sludge by means of heated anaerobic digestion: United Kingdom

Taenia saginata and other pathogens likely to cause problems resulting from agricultural use of sewage sludge, laboratory and field trials testing efficacy of DF 955 (formalin based compound) as a means of chemical destruction