Ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) concentration is often used as an exposure surrogate to estimate PM₂.₅ health effects in epidemiological studies. Ignoring the potential variations in the amount of outdoor PM₂.₅ infiltrating into indoor environments will cause exposure misclassification, especially when people spend most of their time indoors. As it is not feasible to measure the PM₂.₅ infiltration factor (Fᵢₙf) for each individual residence, we aimed to build models for residential PM₂.₅Fᵢₙf prediction and to evaluate seasonal Fᵢₙf variations among residences. We repeated collected paired indoor and outdoor PM₂.₅ filter samples for 7 continuous days in each of the three seasons (hot, cold and transitional seasons) from 48 typical homes of Shanghai, China. PM₂.₅-bound sulfur on the filters was measured by X-ray fluorescence for PM₂.₅Fᵢₙf calculation. We then used stepwise-multiple linear regression to construct season-specific models with climatic variables and questionnaire-based predictors. All models were evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R²) and root mean square error (RMSE) from a leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV). The 7-day mean (±SD) of PM₂.₅Fᵢₙf across all observations was 0.83 (±0.18). Fᵢₙf was found higher and more varied in transitional season (12–25 °C) than hot (>25 °C) and cold (<12 °C) seasons. Air conditioning use and meteorological factors were the most important predictors during hot and cold seasons; Floor of residence and building age were the best transitional season predictors. The models predicted 60.0%–68.4% of the variance in 7-day averages of Fᵢₙf, The LOOCV analysis showed an R² of 0.52 and an RMSE of 0.11. Our finding of large variation in residential PM₂.₅Fᵢₙf between seasons and across residences within season indicated the important source of outdoor-generated PM₂.₅ exposure heterogeneity in epidemiologic studies. Our models based on readily available data may potentially improve the accuracy of estimates of the health effects of PM₂.₅ exposure.

Telomere length (TL) is an index of cellular aging and can predict the incidences of many age-related diseases. Change of TL might be affected by environmental pollution and individual's genetic background. In this cohort study, we aimed to evaluate the associations between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure and longitudinal TL shortening, and investigate whether genetic variations in TERT-CLPTM1L can modify these associations. We measured the baseline concentrations of twelve urinary PAH metabolites and genotyped six variants at TERT-CLPTM1L among 1243 coke-oven workers. The relative leukocyte TL was detected in both baseline and follow-up (4 years later) visits. The TL shortening were estimated by TL decline and TL ratio. We found that the urinary level of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) had significant dose-response relationships with increased TL decline [β(95%CI) = 0.078(0.023, 0.133), P = 0.005] and TL ratio [β(95%CI) = 0.096(0.037, 0.155), P = 0.002]. Besides, urinary 1-hydroxynaphthalene (1-OHNa) was marginally dose-related with elevated TL decline [β(95%CI) = 0.053(-0.001, 0.107), P = 0.055] and TL ratio [β(95%CI) = 0.057(-0.002, 0.116), P = 0.058]. Analyses of TERT-CLPTM1L variants showed that the rs401681 and rs465498 could modify the effect of 1-OHP on increasing TL decline (Pᵢₙₜₑᵣₐcₜᵢₒₙ = 0.012 and 0.035, respectively) and TL ratio (Pᵢₙₜₑᵣₐcₜᵢₒₙ = 0.014 and 0.067, respectively), which were pronounced among rs401681TT and rs465498CC carriers, but not seen among rs401681TC + CC and rs465498CT + TT carriers. In conclusion, elevated exposure to PAHs can accelerate the TL shortening and this effect can be modified by TERT-CLPTM1L variants. These results may add potential evidence for gene-environment interactions on dynamic changes of telomere length. Further studies are warranted to validate these findings and uncover the underlying mechanisms.

Atmospheric PM₂.₅ pollution has become a global issue, and is increasingly being associated with social unrest. As a resource reliant local economy and heavy industry cluster, the North China region has become China's greatest emitter, and the source of much pollution spillover to outside regions. To address this issue, the current study investigates the transfers of embodied PM₂.₅ emissions to and from the North China region (which is taken to include Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi, and is referred to here as HHSS). The study uses a top-down pollutant emission inventory and environmentally extended multi-regional input-output (EE-MRIO) model. The results indicate that the HHSS area exported a total of 660 Gg of embodied PM₂.₅ to other domestic provinces, mainly producing outflows to China's central coastal area (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai) and the Beijing-Tianjin region. HHSS also imported 224 Gg of embodied PM₂.₅ from other domestic regions, primarily from Inner Mongolia and the northeast. Furthermore, the transfer of embodied emissions often occurred between geographically adjacent areas to save costs; Beijing and Tianjin mainly transferred embodied pollution to Hebei and Shanxi, whilst Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang tended to import embodied air pollutants from Shandong and Henan. At the sectoral level, the melting and pressing of metals, the production of non-metallic products, and electric and heat power production were the three dominant economic sectors for PM₂.₅ emissions, together accounting for 81% of total discharges. Capital formation played a key role in outflows (75%) in all sectors. Moreover, the virtual pollutant emissions exported to foreign countries also significantly affected HHSS′ discharges significantly, making up 340 Gg. Allocating responsibility for some proportion of HHSS′ emissions to the Beijing-Tianjin area and the central coastal provinces may be an effective approach for mitigating releases in HHSS.

The contribution of diesel exhaust to atmospheric pollution is a major concern for public health, especially in terms of occurrence of lung cancers. The present study aimed at addressing the toxic effects of a repeated exposure to these emissions in an animal study performed under strictly controlled conditions. Rats were repeatedly exposed to the exhaust of diesel engine. Parameters such as the presence of a particle filter or the use of gasoil containing rapeseed methyl ester were investigated. Various biological parameters were monitored in the lungs to assess the toxic and genotoxic effects of the exposure. First, a transcriptomic analysis showed that some pathways related to DNA repair and cell cycle were affected to a limited extent by diesel but even less by biodiesel. In agreement with occurrence of a limited genotoxic stress in the lungs of diesel-exposed animals, small induction of γ-H2AX and acrolein adducts was observed but not of bulky adducts and 8-oxodGuo. Unexpected results were obtained in the study of the effect of the particle filter. Indeed, exhausts collected downstream of the particle filter led to a slightly higher induction of a series of genes than those collected upstream. This result was in agreement with the formation of acrolein adducts and γH2AX. On the contrary, induction of oxidative stress remained very limited since only SOD was found to be induced and only when rats were exposed to biodiesel exhaust collected upstream of the particle filter. Parameters related to telomeres were identical in all groups. In summary, our results point to a limited accumulation of damage in lungs following repeated exposure to diesel exhausts when modern engines and relevant fuels are used. Yet, a few significant effects are still observed, mostly after the particle filter, suggesting a remaining toxicity associated with the gaseous or nano-particular phases.

Exposure of wildlife to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) is likely to occur but studies of risk are limited. One exposure pathway that has received attention is trophic transfer of APIs in a water-fish-osprey food chain. Samples of water, fish plasma and osprey plasma were collected from Delaware River and Bay, and analyzed for 21 APIs. Only 2 of 21 analytes exceeded method detection limits in osprey plasma (acetaminophen and diclofenac) with plasma levels typically 2–3 orders of magnitude below human therapeutic concentrations (HTC). We built upon a screening level model used to predict osprey exposure to APIs in Chesapeake Bay and evaluated whether exposure levels could have been predicted in Delaware Bay had we just measured concentrations in water or fish. Use of surface water and BCFs did not predict API concentrations in fish well, likely due to fish movement patterns, and partitioning and bioaccumulation uncertainties associated with these ionizable chemicals. Input of highest measured API concentration in fish plasma combined with pharmacokinetic data accurately predicted that diclofenac and acetaminophen would be the APIs most likely detected in osprey plasma. For the majority of APIs modeled, levels were not predicted to exceed 1 ng/mL or method detection limits in osprey plasma. Based on the target analytes examined, there is little evidence that APIs represent a significant risk to ospreys nesting in Delaware Bay. If an API is present in fish orders of magnitude below HTC, sampling of fish-eating birds is unlikely to be necessary. However, several human pharmaceuticals accumulated in fish plasma within a recommended safety factor for HTC. It is now important to expand the scope of diet-based API exposure modeling to include alternative exposure pathways (e.g., uptake from landfills, dumps and wastewater treatment plants) and geographic locations (developing countries) where API contamination of the environment may represent greater risk.

Mercury (Hg) is a persistent and widespread heavy metal with neurotoxic effects in wildlife. While bioaccumulation of Hg has historically been studied in aquatic food webs, terrestrial consumers can become contaminated with Hg when they feed on aquatic organisms (e.g., emergent aquatic insects, fish, and amphibians). However, the extent to which dietary connectivity to aquatic ecosystems can explain patterns of Hg bioaccumulation in terrestrial consumers has not been well studied. Bats (Order: Chiroptera) can serve as a model system for illuminating the trophic transfer of Hg given their high dietary diversity and foraging links to both aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Here we quantitatively characterize the dietary correlates of long-term exposure to Hg across a diverse local assemblage of bats in Belize and more globally across bat species from around the world with a comparative analysis of hair samples. Our data demonstrate considerable interspecific variation in hair total Hg concentrations in bats that span three orders of magnitude across species, ranging from 0.04 mg/kg in frugivorous bats (Artibeus spp.) to 145.27 mg/kg in the piscivorous Noctilio leporinus. Hg concentrations showed strong phylogenetic signal and were best explained by dietary connectivity of bat species to aquatic food webs. Our results highlight that phylogeny can be predictive of Hg concentrations through similarity in diet and how interspecific variation in feeding strategies influences chronic exposure to Hg and enables movement of contaminants from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems.

While (N-ethyl perfluorooctanesulfonamido ethanol)-based phosphates (SAmPAPs) have been proposed as a group of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) precursors, investigation of their occurrence and fate has been limited to SAmPAP diester. In this study, SAmPAP diester and triester were simultaneously determined in freshwater sediment from Taihu Lake using a newly developed UPLC-MS/MS method, and their biotransformation to PFOS in lake sediment was investigated. SAmPAP diester and triester were detected in sediments with a detection frequency of 56% and 88%, and their mean concentrations were 0.24 ± 0.11 ng/g dry weight (dw) and 0.12 ± 0.03 ng/g dw, respectively. The SAmPAP diester/triester ratio in sediment was 1.1 ± 4.2, much lower than that (6.7) observed in the technical product, and the positive correlation was found between the concentrations of SAmPAP diester and PFOS in sediments (r² = 0.45, p = 0.01), suggesting that SAmPAP diester would be biotransformed to PFOS in the lake sediment. The microbial degradation test in the lake sediments further clarified that SAmPAP diester was biodegraded to PFOS, but SAmPAP triester was highly recalcitrant to microbial degradation. This study suggests that the occurrence of SAmPAP diester in freshwater lake sediments may be an important precursor of PFOS.

We investigated how different carbonized materials, or chars (olive mill pomace biochar (BC) and urban greens pruning residues hydrochar (HC)) affect an important member of soil fauna, the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber. The selection behavior of isopods towards chars after a 48 h exposure was studied in (i) soil-char amended tests with single and multiple choices, and (ii) tests with chars offered as pure material. Finally, we exposed the isopods to char-amended soils for a period of 14 days to follow the effect on food consumption, body mass and activities of enzymes that are commonly altered upon stressor exposure (acetylcholinesterase, AChE, and glutathione S-transferase, GST). We showed that isopods are able to select between char amended and un-amended soil and different forms of char amendments: a clear preference for BC, and avoidance of HC were evidenced. The preferences remained the same when the chars were sterilized leading to the conclusion that initial microorganism composition was not the reason for selection, but selection was governed by other chars’ physico-chemical properties. It remains to be elucidated which of these properties were the dominant reason for the selection. We also showed that isopods intentionally use BC as food at a similar rate to alder leaves. Medium-term exposure to HC resulted in adverse effects on isopods because it led to reduced feeding and growth, in addition to increasing GST activity, although no alterations in AChE activity were found. We suggest that behavioral tests with P. scaber could be used as a fast, reliable and economically feasible screening method for determining the safety of chars for the soil environment. Results represent significant contribution in the field of char toxicity testing, highlighting the importance of tests with isopods as important members of soil meso fauna, with the aim of influencing environmental policies and quality standards.

Six different approaches are applied in the present study to apportion the sources of precipitation nitrogen making use of precipitation data of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, including NO3− and NH4+), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and δ15N signatures of DIN collected at six sampling sites in the mountain region of Southwest China. These approaches include one quantitative approach running a Bayesian isotope mixing model (SIAR model) and five qualitative approaches based on in-situ survey (ISS), ratio of NH4+/NO3− (RN), principal component analysis (PCA), canonical-correlation analysis (CCA) and stable isotope approach (SIA). Biomass burning, coal combustion and mobile exhausts in the mountain region are identified as major sources for precipitation DIN while biomass burning and volatilization sources such as animal husbandries are major ones for DON. SIAR model results suggest that mobile exhausts, biomass burning and coal combustion contributed 25.1 ± 14.0%, 26.0 ± 14.1% and 27.0 ± 12.6%, respectively, to NO3− on the regional scale. Higher contributions of both biomass burning and coal combustion appeared at rural and urban sites with a significant difference between Houba (rural) and the wetland site (p < 0.05). The RN method fails to properly identify sources of DIN, the ISS and SIA approach only respectively identifies DON and DIN sources, the PCA only tracks source types for precipitation N, while the CCA identify sources of both DIN and DON in precipitation. SIAR quantified the contributions of major sources to precipitation NO3− but failed for precipitation NH4+ and DON. It is recommended to use ISS and SIAR in combination with one or more approaches from PCA, CCA and SIA to apportion precipitation NO3− sources. As for apportioning precipitation NH4+ sources, more knowledge is needed for local 15N databases of NH3 and DON and 15N fractional mechanisms among gaseous, liquid and particulate surfaces in this mountain region and similar environments.

Chlorinated polyfluoroalkyl ether sulfonic acids (Cl-PFESAs) caused great concerns recently as novel fluorinated alternatives. However, information on their bioconcentration, bioaccumulation and biomagnification in marine ecosystems is limited. In this study, 152 biological samples including invertebrates, fishes, seabirds and mammals collected from Bohai Sea of China were analyzed to investigate the residual level, spatial distribution, bioaccumulation and biomagnification of Cl-PFESAs. 6:2 Cl-PFESA was found in concentrations ranging from <MDL (method detection limit) to 3.84 ng/g ww and it is the dominant congener when compared with concentrations of 8:2 Cl-PFESA. Compared with other bays and regions, levels of 6:2 Cl-PFESA are relatively high in bivalves and fishes from Liaodong Bay. These levels were also found to tend to increase as compared with those in 2010–2014. Logarithm bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for 6:2 Cl-PFESA ranged from 2.23 to 4.21, implying the bioaccumulation of this compound. The trophic magnification factor (BMF) for 6:2 Cl-PFESA was determined to be 3.37 in the marine food web, indicating biomagnification potential along the marine food chain.