There has been growing concern about potential health risks from exposure to PM2.5 (fine particulate matter). The importance of conducting simultaneous indoor and outdoor measurements emerged because people, especially in developed countries, spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Great spatial and temporal variations in human exposure to PM2.5 have recently been reported. This review aims to identify the main research areas that have attracted recent attention, any possible gaps in the measurements of PM2.5 in various microenvironments, and the relationships between indoor and outdoor concentrations. This study also provides recommendations for further studies on PM2.5 measurement methods and exposure levels. To achieve these goals, this review included articles published online from 2003 to 2013 in the Science Direct and Web of Science databases. In the initial screening stage, 113 abstracts selected while 61 articles were remained for full review. The reviewed studies consistently showed positive correlations between indoor and outdoor PM2.5. Sulfate/sulfur concentrations were used intensively for calculating the infiltration factor (FINF). The higher FINF indicated high infiltration of outdoor PM2.5 into indoor areas. Great percentage (42%) of the reviewed filter–based studies was conducted in Europe, followed by a similar amount (38%) in the USA, and 20% in Asia, indicating a lack in PM2.5 research in other parts of the world. It was difficult to conclude that ambient fixed–site monitoring provided accurate estimations of actual exposure to PM2.5– Studies shown trends of higher personal concentrations compared to indoor and outdoor ones. Higher indoor levels of OC (organic carbon), compared to outdoor levels, were consistently reported. The opposite trend was true for EC (elemental carbon), and there were higher indoor OC/EC ratios than outdoor OC/EC ratios. There was a consistent general trend of a high (r>0.70) correlation between indoor and outdoor EC, while the correlation between indoor and outdoor OC was much weaker (r=022–0.75). The higher indoor OC/EC ratios, compared to the outdoor OC/EC ratios, reflects multiple sources of indoor OC. Sulfate (SO42–), nitrate (NO3–), and ammonium (NH4+) were primary contributors to PM2.5 mass.

Investigations carried out on surface sediments collected from the Anaximander mud volcanoes in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to determine sedimentary and geochemical properties. The sediment grain size distribution and geochemical contents were determined by grain size analysis, organic carbon, carbonate contents and element analysis. The results of element contents were compared to background levels of Earth’s crust. The factors that affect element distribution in sediments were calculated by the nine push core samples taken from the surface of mud volcanoes by the E/V Nautilus. The grain size of the samples varies from sand to sandy silt. Enrichment and Contamination factor analysis showed that these analyses can also be used to evaluate of deep sea environmental and source parameters. It is concluded that the biological and cold seep effects are the main drivers of surface sediment characteristics from the Anaximander mud volcanoes.

Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846) and Eriphia verrucosa (Forskal, 1775) are the dominant benthic invertebrate species along the Thrace Coast of the western Black Sea. The aim of this study was to determine toxic metal (Hg, Cr, Cd, and Pb) accumulation levels in these species, as well as within littoral sediments from this area. Our results showed that all of the metals, except for Cd, were below that in average shale. The measured accumulation levels were mostly within the range of what is naturally found within the earth’s crust. However, some study stations did have increased concentrations, indicating anthropogenic pollution in these areas.The Cd contents of E. verrucosa collected from all our study stations were well above the limits set by the Turkish Food Codex, especially in Kıyıköy, whereas Pb content was close to the limit at all stations and exceeded the limit in Kıyıköy, but Hg content was below the limit at all stations. Cd content of R. venosa exceeded the limit only in Kumköy. Pb content was below the limit, and Hg was at or slightly above the limit at all stations.

The Antillean manatee inhabits coastal regions of North and Northeastern Brazil and currently is considered an endangered species in the country. Aiming to gather information for the development of public policies focusing on the conservation of manatees, the National Center for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Mammals of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing these mammals since the 1980s. Over the last 36years, 40 manatees were released by the CMA/ICMBio and four of them were rescued again due to debris ingestion. Two of these manatees died and the other two were taken back into captivity for a new rehabilitation process. The four mammals had confirmed diagnosis of plastic debris ingestion. These findings demonstrate that the environment where the manatees live after being released had a significant amount of garbage which may hinder the success of the species conservation in Brazil.

One way organic pollutants reach remote oceanic regions is by atmospheric transport. During the Malaspina-2010 expedition, across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, we analyzed the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) effects on oceanic microbial food webs. We performed perturbation experiments adding PAHs to classic dilution experiments. The phytoplankton growth rates were reduced by more than 5 times, being Prochlorococcus spp. the most affected. 62% of the experiments showed a reduction in the grazing rates due to the presence of PAHs. For the remaining experiments, grazing usually increased likely due to cascading effects. We identified changes in the slope of the relation between the growth rate and the dilution fraction induced by the pollutants, moving from no grazing to V-shape, or to negative slope, indicative of grazing increase by cascade effects and alterations of the grazers' activity structure. Our perturbation experiments indicate that PAHs could influence the structure oceanic food-webs structure.

This study was performed to evaluate the abundance and diversity of Enterococcus sp. and the distribution of biomarker genes in Enterococcus faecalis in Port Blair Bay, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Enterococcus sp. densities at the seven sampling stations were highly influenced by tidal fluctuations and season. The distributions and diversities of species varied in the inner and outer regions of Port Blair Bay. Among the 1816 total isolates, the occurrence of fecal Enterococcus was high (1.78×104CFU/100mL) in Phoenix Bay. Moreover, 67.76% of the isolates were identified as Enterococcus, and the most frequently identified species were E. hirae, E. avium and E. faecalis. Assessments of antibiotic resistance and biomarker genes revealed the maximum occurrence in the Aberdeen Bay isolates. The most prevalent biomarker genes observed in the E. faecalis isolates were gelE and asa1, whereas cyl was not found among the isolates. In silico sequence analysis of biomarker genes of E. faecalis also revealed that they are evolutionarily well conserved with those of earlier reports. Further, multivariate analysis distinguished the JB, PB and OS stations from the other stations according to distinctive microbial densities and compositions. In addition, the Shannon-Wiener diversity indices and box-whisker plots further facilitated and supported the multivariate results.

Spatial distribution modeling of CO in Tehran can lead to better air pollution management and control, and it is also suitable for exposure assessment and epidemiological studies. In this study MARS (Multi–variate Adaptive Regression Splines) is compared with typical interpolation techniques for spatial distribution modeling of hourly and daily CO concentrations in Tehran, Iran. The measured CO data in 2008 by 16 monitoring stations were used in this study. The Generalized Cross Validation (GCV) and Cross Validation techniques were utilized for the parameter optimization in the MARS and other techniques, respectively. Then the optimized techniques were compared based on the mean absolute of percentage error (MAPE). Although the Cokriging technique presented less MAPE than the Inverse Distance Weighting, Thin Plate Smooth Splines and Kriging techniques, MARS exhibited the least MAPE. In addition, the MARS modeling procedure is easy. Therefore, MARS has merit to be introduced as an appropriate method for spatial distribution modeling. The number of air pollution monitoring stations is very low (16 stations for 22 zones) and the distribution of stations is not suitable for spatial estimation, hence the level of errors was relatively high (more than 60%). Consequently, hourly and daily mapping of CO provides a limited picture of spatial patterns of CO in Tehran, but it is suitable for estimation of relative CO levels in different zones of Tehran. Hence, the map of mean annual CO concentration was generated by averaging daily CO distributions in 2008. It showed that the most polluted regions in Tehran are the central, eastern and southeastern parts, and mean annual CO concentration in these parts (zones 6, 12, 13,14 and 15) is between 4.2 and 4.6 ppm.

In this study, reusable poly(alkoxysilane) organogels with high absorption capacities were synthesized by the condensation of a cyclo aliphatic glycol (UNOXOL™) and altering the chain length of the alkyltriethoxysilanes. The structural and thermal properties of cross-linked poly(alkoxysilane) polymers were determined by FTIR, solid-state 13C and 29Si CPMAS NMR and TGA. The oil absorbency of poly(alkoxysilane)s was determined through oil absorption tests, absorption and desorption kinetics. Results showed that the highest oil absorbency capacities were found to be 295% for hexane, 389% for euro diesel, 428% for crude oil, 652% for gasoline, 792% for benzene, 792% for toluene, 868% for tetrahydrofuran, and 1060% for dichloromethane for the poly(alkoxysilane) gels based on UNOXOL™ and dodecyltriethoxysilane. Owing to their hydrophobic structure, the poly(alkoxysilane) organogels can selectively absorb crude oil from water. The reusability of the absorbents was quantitatively investigated, demonstrating that absorbents can be used effectively at least nine times.

A method based on sample preparation by accelerated solvent extraction and analysis by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was validated and used for determination of seven typical lipophilic marine toxins (LMTs) in marine sediment samples collected from three typical coastal bays in China. Satisfactory specificity, reproducibility (RSDs≤14.76%), stability (RSDs≤17.37%), recovery (78.0%–109.0%), and detection limit (3.440pg/g–61.85pg/g) of the developed method were achieved. The results obtained from the analysis of samples from Hangzhou Bay revealed okadaic acid as the predominant LMT with concentrations ranging from 186.0 to 280.7pg/g. Pecenotoxin-2 was quantified in sediment samples from Laizhou Bay at the concentrations from 256.4 to 944.9pg/g. These results suggested that the proposed method was reliable for determining the typical LMTs in marine sediments and that the sediments obtained from Hangzhou Bay, Laizhou Bay and Jiaozhou Bay were all contaminated by certain amounts of LMTs.

The spatial and vertical distribution of heavy metals and the sediment characteristics of beaches in Kerala, India (the upper surface sediments and the first, second and third one-foot-thick strata) were assessed in this study. The concentrations of most of the studied metals were highest at sampling site S1 (Cochin). The measured concentrations were compared with background and toxicological reference values. The results show that definite adverse biological effects are possible at most of the sampling sites due to the high Pb levels. Three different indexes were calculated to investigate the potential toxicity level. Most of the studied metals and all calculated indexes were highest in the third foot of sediment. Multivariate statistical analyses were performed and suggested that particular heavy metals, e.g., Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni, may represent contamination from a common source. The Cd and Pb concentrations and all the calculated index values show a relationship with the content of organic matter. The results of the present study suggest the recommendation that a systematic analysis is needed to monitor heavy metal levels in the studied area.