In this study, a rapid and accurate ultra-fast liquid chromatography–tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UFLC–MS/MS) method coupled with the isotope internal standard dilution technique was established and validated to determine trace dicyandiamide (DCD) in mussels. The sample was extracted by acetonitrile, and chromatographic separations were performed on an Acquity UPLC BEH Amide column by using water–acetonitrile (9:91, v/v) as the mobile phase within 3 min. DCD was determined by using DCD-¹⁵N₄as an internal standard. The results showed that the recoveries were between 96.2 and 103 % with relative standard deviations (RSDs) in the range of 0.6–6.0 %. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.05 μg/kg. This method can be applied to the routine analysis for the rapid and sensitive determination of trace DCD in mussels. Overall, the data reiterate the importance of investigating the presence of DCD in marine biological samples, which can act as food quality controls for human health.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are found in indoor air, and many of these can affect human health (e.g. formaldehyde and benzene are carcinogenic). Plants affect the levels of VOCs in indoor environments, thus they represent a potential green solution for improving indoor air quality that at the same time can improve human health. This article reviews scientific studies of plants’ ability to remove VOCs from indoor air. The focus of the review is on pathways of VOC removal by the plants and factors affecting the efficiency and rate of VOC removal by plants. Laboratory based studies indicate that plant induced removal of VOCs is a combination of direct (e.g. absorption) and indirect (e.g. biotransformation by microorganisms) mechanisms. They also demonstrate that plants’ rate of reducing the level of VOCs is influenced by a number of factors such as plant species, light intensity and VOC concentration. For instance, an increase in light intensity has in some studies been shown to lead to an increase in removal of a pollutant. Studies conducted in real-life settings such as offices and homes are few and show mixed results.

In an effort to assess the occurrence and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the ambient air of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, PM₁₀samples were collected during December 2010. Diagnostic PAH concentration ratios were used as a tool to identify and characterize the PAH sources. The results reflect high PM₁₀and PAH concentrations (particulate matter (PM) = 270–1,270 μg/m³). The corresponding average PAH concentrations were in the range of 18 ± 8 to 1,003 ± 597 ng/m³and the total concentrations (total PAHs (TPAHs) of 17 compounds) varied from 1,383 to 13,470 ng/m³with an average of 5,871 ± 2,830 ng/m³. The detection and quantification limits were 1–3 and 1–10 ng/ml, respectively, with a recovery range of 42–80 %. The ratio of the sum of the concentrations of the nine major non-alkylated compounds to the total (CPAHs/TPAHs) was 0.87 ± 0.10, and other ratios were determined to apportion the PM sources. The PAHs found are characteristic for emissions from traffic with diesel being a predominant source.

Traffic has long been recognized as the major contributor to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emissions to the urban atmosphere. Stationary combustion sources, including residential space heating systems, are also a major contributor to PAH emissions. The aim of this study was to determine the profile and concentration of PAHs in stack flue gas emissions from different kinds of space heaters in order to increase the understanding of the scale of the PAH pollution problem caused by this source. This study set out to first assess the characteristics of PAHs and their corresponding benzo[a]pyrene equivalent emissions from a few types of domestic heaters and central heating systems to the urban atmosphere. The study, enabled for the first time, the characterization of PAHs in stationary combustion sources in the city of Damascus, Syria. Nine different types of heating systems were selected with respect to age, design, and type of fuel burned. The concentrations of 15 individual PAH compounds in the stack flue gas were determined in the extracts of the collected samples using high-performance liquid chromatography system (HPLC) equipped with ultraviolet–visible and fluorescence detectors. In general, older domestic wood stoves caused considerably higher PAH emissions than modern domestic heaters burning diesel oil. The average concentration of ΣPAH (sum of 15 compounds) in emissions from all types of studied heating systems ranged between 43 ± 0.4 and 316 ± 1.4 μg/m³. Values of total benzo[a]pyrene equivalent ranged between 0.61 and 15.41 μg/m³.

Dimethylformamide (DMF) is a broad solvent used in the production of synthetic leather. Decades of year's research have been focused on workers in leather factories suffering from the release of DMF. However, little attention was paid on general population. Here, we examined the relationship between consistent DMF exposure and annual hospitalizations of local residents in Longwan, China, in 2008. We found a positive correlation with a relative risk (RR) increase of 1.110 for total hospitalizations. When the data were stratified by sex, we observed a higher correlation for female hospitalizations than for male hospitalizations, with RR values of 1.55 and 1.084, respectively. This might be attributed to the differences in genotypes of oxidant enzyme between gender. The significance of the correlations did not disappear after we excluded the extreme value of DMF or adjusted for SO₂, NO₂, and PM₁₀. Population living near the leather factory has experienced almost constant DMF exposure, and real concern should be raised regarding such exposure. Governments should take responsibility for the protection of not only occupational workers but also residents, especially women.

In the actual environment, temperatures fluctuate drastically through season or global warming and are thought to affects risk of pollutants for aquatic biota; however, there is no report about the effect of water temperature on toxicity of widely used herbicide diuron to fresh water microalgae. The present research investigated inhibitory effect of diuron on growth and photosynthetic activity of a green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata at five different temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C) for 144 h of exposure. As a result, effective diuron concentrations at which a 50 % decrease in algal growth occurred was increased with increasing water temperature ranging from 9.2 to 20.1 μg L–¹for 72 h and 9.4–28.5 μg L–¹for 144 h. The photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (Fᵥ/Fₘratio) was significantly reduced at all temperatures by diuron exposure at 32 μg L–¹after 72 h. Inhibition rates was significantly increased with decreased water temperature (P < 0.01). Intracellular H₂O₂levels as an indicator of oxidative stress were also decreased with increasing temperature in both control and diuron treatment groups and were about 2.5 times higher in diuron treatment groups than that of controls (P < 0.01). Our results suggest water temperatures may affect the toxicokinetics of diuron in freshwater and should therefore be considered in environmental risk assessment.

To investigate the response of the tributyltin-degrading fungal strain Cunninghamella elegans to the organotin, a comparative lipidomics strategy was employed using an LC/MS-MS technique. A total of 49 lipid species were identified. Individual phospholipids were then quantified using a multiple reaction monitoring method. Tributyltin (TBT) caused a decline in the amounts of many molecular species of phosphatidylethanolamine or phosphatidylserine and an increase in the levels of phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylcholine. In the presence of TBT, it was observed that overall unsaturation was lower than in the control. Lipidome data were analyzed using principal component analysis, which confirmed the compositional changes in membrane lipids in response to TBT. Additionally, treatment of fungal biomass with butyltin led to a significant increase in lipid peroxidation. It is suggested that modification of the phospholipids profile and lipids peroxidation may reflect damage to mycelium caused by TBT.

Soil is a complex natural resource that is considered non-renewable in policy frameworks, and it plays a key role in maintaining a variety of ecosystem services (ES) and life-sustaining material cycles within the Earth's Critical Zone (CZ). However, currently, the ability of soil to deliver these services is being drastically reduced in many locations, and global loss of soil ecosystem services is estimated to increase each year as a result of many different threats, such as erosion and soil carbon loss. The European Union Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection alerts policy makers of the need to protect soil and proposes measures to mitigate soil degradation. In this context, the European Commission-funded research project on Soil Transformations in European Catchments (SoilTrEC) aims to quantify the processes that deliver soil ecosystem services in the Earth's Critical Zone and to quantify the impacts of environmental change on key soil functions. This is achieved by integrating the research results into decision-support tools and applying methods of economic valuation to soil ecosystem services. In this paper, we provide an overview of the SoilTrEC project, its organization, partnerships and implementation.

Some relevant shortcomings have been identified in the current approach for the classification of ecological status in marine water bodies, leading to delays in the fulfillment of the Water Framework Directive objectives. Natural variability makes difficult to settle fixed reference values and boundary values for the Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR) for the biological quality elements. Biological responses to environmental degradation are frequently of nonmonotonic nature, hampering the EQR approach. Community structure traits respond only once ecological damage has already been done and do not provide early warning signals. An alternative methodology for the classification of ecological status integrating chemical measurements, ecotoxicological bioassays and community structure traits (species richness and diversity), and using multivariate analyses (multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis), is proposed. This approach does not depend on the arbitrary definition of fixed reference values and EQR boundary values, and it is suitable to integrate nonlinear, sensitive signals of ecological degradation. As a disadvantage, this approach demands the inclusion of sampling sites representing the full range of ecological status in each monitoring campaign. National or international agencies in charge of coastal pollution monitoring have comprehensive data sets available to overcome this limitation.

Unlike conventional pollutants, pharmaceutical residues are continuously discharged at low levels (low to mid ng l⁻¹concentrations), which results in the chronic contamination of non-target organisms, but little is known about the effects of these residues. The purpose of this study was to provide the first assessment of the ecotoxicity of five antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs] fluoxetine and sertraline, tricyclic antidepressants [TCAs] clomipramine and amitriptyline, and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor [SNRI] duloxetine) at a wide range of concentrations from 0.1 to 100,000 μg l⁻¹on two early life stages in the Pacific oyster. The toxicity was quantified in D-shaped larvae after 36 h of exposure, and in 21-day-old pediveliger larvae after 24 h of exposure using the percentage of normal larval development and the metamorphosis rate as endpoints, respectively. The embryotoxicity assays reported that the EC₅₀values were within the same range of concentrations (67 to 192 μg l⁻¹) for all of the tested molecules. The metamorphosis tests revealed that the antidepressants can be ranked along an increasing severity gradient: clomipramine < amitriptyline < duloxetine ~ fluoxetine. Sertraline appeared to be the less toxic molecule on this endpoint; however, a different concentration range was used. The embryotoxicity test was more sensitive than the metamorphosis bioassay for three of the five molecules tested, but the latter test showed more practical benefits. Overall, the obtained toxicity values were at least 10,000-fold higher than the reported environmental concentrations.