The goal of this study was to assess biomarkers of exposure to glyphosate and assess potential associations with renal function in children. Glyphosate is used ubiquitously in agriculture worldwide. While previous studies have indicated that glyphosate may have nephrotoxic effects, few have examined potential effects on kidney function in children. We leveraged three cohorts across different phases of child development and measured urinary levels of glyphosate. We evaluated associations of glyphosate with three biomarkers of kidney injury: albuminuria (ACR), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), and kidney injury marker 1 (KIM-1). Multivariable regression analyses examined associations of glyphosate with kidney injury biomarkers controlling for covariates. We identified glyphosate in 11.1% of the total participants. The herbicide was detected more frequently in the neonate population (30%). Multivariable regression models failed to identify significant associations of log-transformed glyphosate with any of the kidney injury biomarkers, controlling for covariates age, sex, and maternal education. While we confirm detectability of glyphosate in children’s urine at various ages and stages of life, there is no evidence in this study for renal injury in children exposed to low levels of glyphosate. Further studies of larger sample size are indicated to better understand putative deleterious effects of the herbicide after different levels of exposure.

The presence of Eschericia coli O157:H7 in the natural environment is a serious threat to human health. The native microbial community in soil plays an important role in resisting E. coli O157:H7 invasion. This study examined the responses of soil microbial community to E. coli O157:H7 invasion during a 32-day incubation. The E. coli O157:H7 persisted longer in γ-irradiated soil than non-irradiated soil while glucose addition decreased its persistence in the irradiated soil which was associated with an increasing recovery of the native community. The invasion of E. coli O157:H7 increased soil organic carbon mineralization, an indicator of microbial activity, in both non-irradiated and irradiated soils, while glucose addition significantly promoted the carbon mineralization process. The 16S rRNA sequencing data showed the gradual recovery of the native bacterial population including specific taxa such as proteobacteria and actinobacteria following irradiation. It is concluded that soil microbial function and structure can affect persistence of E. coli O157:H7 and that lower biodiversity of the native community favors its persistence.

Fine particulate matter is one of the leading threats to cardiovascular health worldwide. The exploration of novel and sensitive biomarkers to detect damaging effect of fine particulate matter on cardiac tissues is of great importance in the better understanding of haze-caused myocardial injury. A link between heart failure and PPARα-regulated energy metabolism has been confirmed previously. Herein, the study intends to reveal the critical biomarkers of fine particulate matter induced myocardial damage from the PPARα-regulated energy metabolism. Ambient fine particulate matter induced severe pathological alterations in cultured cells, accompanied by the decrease in ATP content. Additionally, the expressions of CPT1/CPT2 and levels of CS and MDH, crucial members in β-oxidation and the TCA cycle, were significantly decreased. In direct contrast, fine particulate matter increased the biomarkers of glycolysis, as measured by the accumulation of pyruvate and lactate contents, and the enhanced activities of HK and PKM1/2. Importantly, fine particulate matter-exposed cardiomyocytes exhibited the reduced PPARα level, that increased when cardiomyocytes were co-incubation with WY-14643 and fine particulate matter. Simultaneously, the adverse impact of fine particulate matter on critical biomarkers were observed in β-oxidation, TCA cycle and glycolysis, associated with WY-14643 additional complement. Fine particulate matter caused the myocardial energy metabolism transformation through the regulation of PPARα expression and translation, which provided novel and critical biomarkers for haze particles-caused myocardial damage.

Household air pollution is the dominant contributor to population air pollutant exposure, but it is often of less concern compared with ambient air pollution. One of the major knowledge gaps in this field are detailed quantitative source contributions of indoor pollutants, especially for gaseous compounds. In this study, temporally, spatially, and vertically resolved monitoring for typical indoor gases including CO₂, CO, formaldehyde, methane, and the total volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was conducted to address pollution dynamics and major sources in an urban apartment. The indoor concentrations were significantly higher than the simultaneously measured outdoor concentrations. A new statistic approach was proposed to quantitatively estimate contributions of different sources. It was estimated that outdoor CO₂ contributed largely to the indoor CO₂, while main indoor sources were human metabolism and cooking. Outdoor infiltration and cooking contributed almost equally to the indoor CO. The contribution of outdoor infiltration to methane was much higher than that to formaldehyde. Cooking contributed to 24%, 19%, and 25% of indoor formaldehyde, methane, and VOCs, whereas the other unresolved indoor sources contributed 61%, 19%, and 35% of these pollutants, respectively. Vertical measurements showed that the uplifting of hot air masses led to relatively high concentrations of the pollutants in the upper layer of the kitchen and in the other rooms to a lesser extent.

An upsurge in global population due to speedy urbanization and industrialization is facing significant challenges such as rising energy-demand, enormous waste-generation and environmental deterioration. The waste-to-energy nexus based on the 5R principle (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery, and Restore) is of paramount importance in solving these Gordian knots. This review essentially concentrates on latest advancements in the field of ‘simultaneous waste reduction and energy production’ technologies. The waste-to-energy approaches (thermal and biochemical) for energy production from the agricultural residues are comprehensively discussed in terms environmental, techno-economic, and policy analysis. The review will assess the loopholes in order to come up with more sophisticated technologies that are not only eco-friendly and cost-effective, but also socially viable. The waste-to-energy nexus as a paradigm for sustainable development of restoring waste is critically discussed considering future advancement plans and agendas of the policy-makers.

Recent increased use of agricultural machines elevated the atmospheric pollutant emissions in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in eastern China. Given the potentially large environmental and health impacts in busy seasons with enhanced machinery usage, it is important to accurately estimate the magnitude, spatial and temporal distributions of the emissions. We developed a novel method to estimate the real-world in-use agricultural machinery emissions, by combining satellite data, land and soil information, and in-house investigation. The machinery usage was determined based on the spatial distribution, growing and rotation pattern of the crops. The varied requirement of machinery power by heterogeneous soil texture, which was ignored in the previous studies, was considered in our methodology. The spatiotemporal pattern of machinery usage was determined based on the explored quantitative correlation between the local agricultural activity duration and the geographic location of the activity. A “grid-based” (30 × 30 m) inventory with daily emissions was then obtained, achieving significant improvement on spatial and temporal resolution. It substantially diminished the bias of previous inventories based on the machinery population or power installation census data. The emissions of NOX, PM₂.₅, CO and THC were estimated at 36300, 2000, 36900 and 8430 metric tons in YRD, with the majority contribution from Anhui and Jiangsu. Ten cities locating in northern and central Anhui and Jiangsu contributed the largest machinery emissions, accounting for 60% of the total emissions in YRD. Harvesting was found to have the largest emissions, followed by tilling and planting. Regarding the crops, the emissions from wheat and rice related machinery usage were the largest. In the busy seasons (spring and autumn), larger daily NOX and PM₂.₅ emissions were found from machinery than on-road vehicles in 42% of counties in Anhui and Jiangsu, highlighting the necessity of careful strategy making on controls of priority emission source.

Recently, we reported that hypoxia disrupts the endocrine system and causes metabolic abnormalities in prawns. Although transgenerational impairment effects of hypoxia have become a hot topic in vertebrate, it is unknown whether hypoxia could exert cross-generational effects on testicular function crustaceans. The present study aimed to investigate hypoxia’s toxic effects on the testicular function of oriental river prawns (Macrobrachium nipponense) and offspring development. Hypoxia disrupted testicular germ cells quality, caused sex hormone imbalance (testosterone and estradiol), and delayed testicular development. The F1 generation derived from male prawns exposed to hypoxia showed retarded embryonic development, and reduced hatching success and larval development, despite not being exposed to hypoxia. Analysis of the transcriptome the F0 generation (exposed to hypoxia) showed that the impaired testicular functions were associated with changes to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, apoptosis, and steroid biosynthesis. Interestingly, quantitative real-time PCR confirmed that hypoxia could significantly suppress the expression of antioxidant and gonad development-related genes in the testis of the F1 generations, with and without continued hypoxia exposures. In addition, paternal exposure to hypoxia could result in a higher production of reactive oxygen species in offspring testis tissue compared with those without hypoxia exposure. The cross-generational effects of testicular function implied that the sustainability of natural freshwater prawn populations would be threatened by chronic hypoxia.

Atmospheric wet deposition of base cations (BCs) plays a significant role in providing plant nutrients and buffering acidification. However, the temporal dynamic of wet BC deposition in China during the past two decades remain unclear. Here, we used long-term monitoring and literature data since 2000 to assess the temporal dynamics (seasonal and inter-annual variation), spatial patterns, main influencing factors, source apportionment, and capacity to neutralize the acidity of wet BC depositions at site, regional, and national scales. The results showed that total wet deposition of BCs was, on average, 2.12 keq ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, where Ca²⁺ accounted for 65.57% of the total deposition, followed by Na⁺ (13.21%), Mg²⁺ (13.68%), and K⁺ (7.55%). Qinghai-Tibet had significantly lower BC deposition fluxes than northern, southern, and central China, as well as Inner Mongolia. Exchangeable BCs in soil, PM₁₀ in the atmosphere, energy consumption, and cement production are significantly related to wet BC deposition, which account for 79.17% of the variation in the spatial deposition of BC. Influenced by the strategies to control acid rain and particulate matter in China, interannual variations showed a stabilization trend after a continuous decline from 2000 to 2017, which can be explained by inter-annual changes in PM₁₀, energy consumption and cement production. Statistical methods confirmed that 45.95% of wet BC deposition was derived from crustal contributions, 27.78% from sea salt sources, and 26.27% from anthropogenic sources. Furthermore, we found that wet deposition of BCs neutralized 84.85% of the acidity due to NO₃⁻ and SO₄²⁻ depositions. Under the emissions reduction strategy, there has been a decrease in the deposition of BC. However, SO₄²⁻ and NO₃⁻ depositions decreased faster than BC deposition, which buffered a higher proportion of acidic depositions. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of wet BC deposition in China, an evaluation of their capacity to neutralize acidity, and important parameters for acidification models.

Food products are inevitably contaminated by flame retardants throughout their lifecycle (i.e., during production, use, and disposal). In order to evaluate the dietary intake of legacy and emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) in typical market food in China, we investigate the distribution and profile of 27 legacy polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 16 emerging HFRs (EHFRs) in 9 food categories (meat, poultry, aquatic food, eggs, dairy products, cereals, vegetables, nuts and fruits, and sugar). A total of 105 food samples collected from three markets in Nanjing, eastern China were included for evaluation. The highest concentrations of PBDEs and EHFRs were found in aquatic foods (means of 0.834 ng/g wet weight (ww) and 0.348 ng/g ww, respectively), and the lowest concentrations were found in sugar (means of 0.020 ng/g ww for PBDEs and 0.014 ng/g ww for EHFRs). 2,2′,4-tribromodiphenyl ether (BDE-17), a legacy HFR, and hexabromobenzene (HBBz), an EHFR, were the predominant pollutants in the investigated food samples. Concentrations of HBBz and 2,3-dibromopropyl tribromophenyl ether (DPTE) were comparable to those of some PBDEs in certain food samples. The concentrations of the total EHFRs and total PBDEs found in animal-based food samples were significantly greater than those in plant-based food samples. Comparison of the estimated total dietary intake of HFRs and their corresponding non-cancer reference dose (United States Environmental Protection Agency) suggests a low overall health risk. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to simultaneously determine 27 PBDEs and 16 EHFRs in representative foods from Chinese markets. BDE-17, HBBz, and DPTE were the predominant congeners among the 43 investigated HFRs and meat and aquatic foods were the primary sources of PBDEs and EHFRs to the total local dietary intake.

The ammonium sulphate ((NH₄)₂SO₄) in-situ leaching process is the most widely used extraction technology for weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores (WCED-REOs). Highly concentrated (NH₄)₂SO₄, a representative leaching agent, is often used in the leaching process of WCED-REOs. However, this in-situ leaching process causes nitrogen pollution in the soil, surrounding surface and ground water due to the high concentrations of (NH₄)₂SO₄ solutions used as a long term leaching agent. To date, the mechanism behind the variations in ammonia nitrogen (AN) in deep soil profiles is unclear. We conducted vertical and lateral soil sampling and analyzed the collected samples for soil moisture, pH, ammonia forms, and AN contents in soil profiles deeper than 500 cm in an in-situ leaching mining area of Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, southern China. The results show that primary chemical pollutants in the soil are derived from residual leaching agents with high acidities and concentrations of AN. Twelve years after the mining process was completed, the mean pH values of the tailings in the mining area were 3.90 and 4.87 in its lower reaches. Due to the presence of chemical residues, the AN concentration was 12–40 times higher than that of the raw ore soil before it was mined. The percentages of different ammonium forms in the rare earth tailing soil were 65%, 30%, and 5% for the water-soluble, exchangeable, and fixed ammonium forms, respectively. The results of this study support effective prevention and remediation treatment of environmental problems caused by AN pollution of the soil in WCED-REOs.