Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations in PM10 and PM2.5 particles were measured at 14 monitoring sites (12 for PM10 and 2 for PM2.5), located in the Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, from January to November 2013. High-volume air samplers with pretreated quartz filters were used to collect the particles. The analytical determination was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The most abundant PAHs were benzo[a]anthracene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene and acenaphthylene. Ratios obtained by correlating the concentration of some PAHs, both PM10 and PM2.5, suggest that gasoline and diesel vehicles are the main sources in the area being studied. This is consistent with the results obtained when applying the positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis, since vehicles accounted for 62–74% of total emissions in the area; burning wood fuel was the second source of emissions, contributing between 7 and 15%; and road dust was third, with almost 8%.

In this research, we examine the effects of PM10 and CO2 air pollutants on infant mortality and life expectancy at birth, in 60 developing countries during the period 1990–2010 by using unbalanced panel data and recursive simultaneous equations model. Our results show that the gains are obtained in the health status through the improvement in socio-economic conditions can be canceled by PM10 and CO2 air pollutants. Therefore, health policies which just focus on socio-economic aspects and ignore the adverse impacts of the air pollution may do little in efforts directed to improve the current health status of developing countries.

The present study aimed to geochemical speciation of metals in the surface sediments of the northern Persian Gulf. Metal contents in the sediment were observed in the order: Al>Fe>Cr>Ni>V>Zn>Cu>Co>As>Pb>Cd. The results of sequential extraction procedure revealed that all metals were predominantly associated with the residual fraction. Among the metals, Cu and As exhibited higher bioavailability. The risk assessment code (RAC) indicated that Cu, As and Cd had medium environmental risk at some sampling sites. Based on enrichment factor (EF), Cd and As had moderate to significant enrichment.

Surface sediments were collected near potential contamination sources impacting Ribeira Bay (Brazil), a system considered as a ‘reference site’ for trace metals. Physicochemical properties (pH and Eh), grain size and concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), total phosphorus (TP), acid-volatile sulfides (AVS) and simultaneously-extracted metals (Fe, Mn, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) were analyzed. Although relatively low metal concentrations were found, correlations of Zn and Ni with high TP levels suggested an association with sewage inputs, while other metals presented associations with specific geochemical carriers (TOC, Fe and Mn compounds). AVS levels exceeding those of the sums of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn (ΣSEM) by at least one order of magnitude and TOC-normalized differences between ΣSEM and AVS ((ΣSEM–AVS)/fOC) near to or below than −200μmolgOC−1 indicated that there were sufficient AVS and TOC levels to control trace metal bioavailability in sediment pore water.

‘Ramp-up’, or ‘soft start’, is a mitigation measure used in seismic surveys and involves increasing the radiated sound level over 20–40min. This study compared the behavioural response in migrating humpback whales to the first stages of ramp-up with the response to a ‘constant’ source, ‘controls’ (in which the array was towed but not operated) with groups in the absence of the source vessel used as the ‘baseline’. Although the behavioural response, in most groups, resulted in an increase in distance from the source (potential avoidance), there was no evidence that either ‘ramp-up’ or the constant source at a higher level was superior for triggering whales to move away from the source vessel. ‘Control’ groups also responded suggesting the presence of the source vessel had some effect. However, the majority of groups appeared to avoid the source vessel at distances greater than the radius of most mitigation zones.

In the present study, particulate matter (PM10) was collected from two different locations viz. Jogannapalem and Parawada sites of Visakhapatnam. During study period, PM10 concentrations were found in the range from 34.8 to 109.7 μg/m3 and from 32.3 to 137.3 μg/m3 at Jogannapalem and Parawada sites respectively. Chemical characterization of PM10 was carried out to estimate the concentration levels of various particle bound chemical species (Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Cd, Cl−, F-, NO3-, SO42−, Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+). Among different species, Al was observed to have highest average concentration (4.1 μg/m3 at Jogannapalem and 3.8 μg/m3 at Parawada) at both the sampling sites followed by K at Jogannapalem and Ca at Parawada. PM10 concentration as well as trace metals concentration (except Mn and Fe) was observed to have higher concentrations at Parawada site as compared to Jogannapalem site, indicating higher pollution at Parawada.Source apportionment study carried out using PMF (USEPA PMF5.0) receptor model identified six major sources at Jogannapalem and seven predominant sources at Parawada, which are contributing to collected PM. The two study locations share five common sources viz. crustal, sea salt spray, coal combustion, fuel oil combustion and metal industry. The other sources include biomass burning at Jogannapalem; road traffic and secondary aerosols at Parawada. At Jogannapalem, biomass burning (35%) is the predominant source, whereas coal combustion (22.6%) is dominating at Parawada. PMF factor profiles were observed to have similar elemental profiles obtained at different industrial locations of Visakhapatnam.

Several statistical methods are performed in this study to evaluate the effect of emission control measures on particulate matter (PM) concentrations during the 2014 Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in Beijing. The concentration of PM2.5 is reduced by 30%, 38% on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis during the APEC emission control period while PM10 reducing by 41% and 26% respectively. Considering from the impacts of the weather circulation types, PM2.5 and PM10 are both reduced by 34%.ANN model is considered to be appropriate with the ability of characterising non-linear phenomena. In this work an ANN model is built to predict the daily averaged PM concentrations. Comparing the observed PM concentrations and the predicted value which are forecasted by ANN model on condition that no emission control measures were carried out during the APEC, the reductions for PM2.5 and PM10 are 24%, 28% respectively. All these results suggest that strict emission control measures push down the pollution level effectively, and more observed data with long time could improve the accuracy of evaluation results. More stringent controls of regional emissions should be lasted for the continuous improvements of air quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The frequencies of micronuclei (MN), nuclear buds (NB) and nuclear buds on filament (NBf) were examined in 660 specimens of herring (Clupea harengus) collected in 2009–2014 at 65 study stations located mainly along the chemical munition transport routes in the Baltic Sea. The frequency of nuclear abnormalities was strongly increased in herring caught at four stations located close to chemical munition dumping sites, or CWAs — substances (chemical warfare agents) in sediments. Significant increase of MN, NB and NBf was observed in fish caught November 2010–2013 compared to 2009. The most significantly increased genotoxicity responses were recorded in fish caught at stations along CW (chemical weapons) transport routes, close to the Bornholm CW dumping area, in zones with CWAs in sediments and with oil–gas platforms.

Bacteria of genus Vibrio with multidrug resistance in shrimp farm environment were recurrent. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance profile of 70 strains of Vibrio isolated from water and sediment of Acaraú estuary, Ceará, Brazil. In order to achieve this goal, disk diffusion technique was used with the following antimicrobial agents: ampicillin (Amp), aztreonam (Atm), cephalothin (Cef), cefotaxime (Ctx), ceftriaxone (Cro), ciprofloxacin (Cip), chloramphenicol (Clo), florfenicol (Flo), nitrofurantoin (Nit), gentamicin (Gen), oxytetracycline (Otc), tetracycline (Tet), streptomycin (Str), nalidixic acid (Nal), and sulfazotrim (Sut). All Vibrio strains were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent, being verified as 17 multidrug-resistant profiles. All strains resistant to Otc and Tet were characterized to exhibit plasmidial resistance. Therefore, Vibrio strains from Acaraú estuary pose a risk to public health and aquatic culture.