Microbial biofilms can rapidly colonize plastic debris in aquatic environments and subsequently, accumulate chemical pollutants from the surrounding water. Here, we studied the microbial colonization of different plastics, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene (PE) exposed in three freshwater systems (the Qinhuai River, the Niushoushan River, and Donghu Lake) for 44 days. We also assessed the biofilm mass and associated metals attached to plastics. The plastics debris characteristics, such as contact angle and surface roughness, greatly affected the increased biofilm biomass. All types of metal accumulation onto the plastic substrate abundances significantly higher than the concentrations of heavy metal in the water column, such as Ba (267.75 μg/g vs. 42.12 μg/L, Donhu Lake), Zn (254 μg/g vs. 0.023 μg/L the Qinhuai River), and Cr (93.75 μg/g vs. 0.039 μg/L, the Niushoushan River). Compared with other metals, the heavy metal Ba, Cr and Zn accumulated easily on the plastic debris (PET, PP, PVC, and PE) at all incubation sites. Aquatic environmental factors (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended solids concentrations) largely shaped metal accumulation onto plastic debris compared with plastic debris properties.

Emissions from burning of biomass in the Amazon region have adverse effects on the environment and human health. Herein, particulate matter (PM) emitted from biomass burning in the Amazon region during two different periods, namely intense and moderate, was investigated. This study focused on: i) organic characterization of nitro- and oxy-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); ii) assessment of the excess lifetime cancer risk (LCR); and iii) assessment of the in vitro mutagenic effects of extractable organic matter (EOM). Further, we compared the sensitivity of two mutagenicity tests: Salmonella/microsome test and cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) with human lung cells. Among the nitro-PAHs, 2-nitrofluoranthene, 7-nitrobenz[a]anthracene, 1-nitropyrene, and 3-nitrofluoranthene showed the highest concentrations, while among oxy-PAHs, 2-metylanthraquinone, benz[a]anthracene-7,12-dione, and 9,10-anthraquinone were the most abundant. The LCR calculated for nitro-PAH exposure during intense biomass burning period showed a major contribution of 6-nitrochrysene to human carcinogenic risk. The EOM from intense period was more mutagenic than that from moderate period for both TA98 and YG1041 Salmonella strains. The number of revertants for YG1041 was 5–50% higher than that for TA98, and the most intense responses were obtained in the absence of metabolic activation, suggesting that nitroaromatic compounds with direct-acting frameshift mutagenic activity are contributing to the DNA damage. Treatment of cells with non-cytotoxic doses of EOM resulted in an increase in micronuclei frequencies. The minimal effective dose showed that Salmonella/microsome test was considerably more sensitive in comparison with CBMN mainly for the intense burning period samples. This was the first study to assess the mutagenicity of EOM associated with PM collected in the Amazon region using Salmonella/microsome test. The presence of compounds with mutagenic effects, particularly nitro- and oxy-PAHs, and LCR values in the range of 10⁻⁵ indicate that the population is potentially exposed to an increased risk of DNA damage, mutation, and cancer.

Cadmium (Cd) exposure is recognized as an important risk factor for psychological health, but suitable physical activity may relieve depression. However, it remains unknown whether physical activity (PA) can reduce the effect of cadmium exposure on depression. Therefore, a cross-sectional data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2018 was used. The Nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression among the participants. PA was calculated according to the metabolic equivalent (MET), weekly frequency, and duration of each activity. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were used to examine the associations of Cd and depression. A total of 5560 adults aged 20 years and above were finally included in this study. The results indicated a positive correlation between blood Cd and depression. The multivariate-adjusted ORs (95% CI) of the highest quartile were 2.290 (1.754–2.990) for depression, which was still significant after controlling other heavy metals (P < 0.05). Under Cd exposure, the high intensity of physical activity group had the lowest risk of depression (OR = 2.226, 95%CI: 1.447–3.425), while the group with no physical activity had the highest risk (OR = 2.443, 95%CI: 1.382–4.318). Our results indicate that inner Cd exposure may be a risk factor for depression, and physical activity can moderate this relationship to some degree.

One of the fundamentals in the ecotoxicological studies is the need of data comparison, which can be easily reached with the help of a standardized biological model. In this context, any biological model has been still proposed for the biomonitoring and risk evaluation of freshwaters until now. The aim of this review is to illustrate the ecotoxicological studies carried out with the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha in order to suggest this bivalve species as possible reference organism for inland waters. In detail, we showed its application in biomonitoring, as well as for the evaluation of adverse effects induced by several pollutants, using both in vitro and in vivo experiments. We discussed the advantages by the use of D. polymorpha for ecotoxicological studies, but also the possible limitations due to its invasive nature.

We monitored 108 children ≤5 years on a 6-month basis for up to 5 years in a major urban setting. Samples (n ∼ 7000) included blood, urine, handwipes (interior, and after exterior playing), 6-day duplicate diet, drinking water, interior house and day care dust-fall accumulation using petri dishes, exterior dust-fall accumulation, exterior dust sweepings, paint, soil and urban air. The geometric mean blood Pb (PbB) was 2.1 μg/dL and blood Mn (MnB) was 10.0 μg/L. Following a path modelling approach, mixed model analyses for a fully adjusted model showed the strongest associations for PbB were with interior house dust and soil; for MnB there were no significant associations with any predictors. Predictor variables only explained 9% of the variance for Pb and 0.7% for Mn. Relationships between environmental measures and PbB in children are not straightforward; soil and dust sweepings contribute only about 1/5th of the amounts to PbB found in other studies.

Intensive aquaculture has largely changed the global phosphorus (P) flow and become one of the main reasons for the eutrophication of global aquatic ecosystem. Artificial planting submerged macrophytes has attracted enormous interest regarding the restoration of eutrophic lakes. However, few large-scale (>80 km²) studies have focused on the restoration of aquatic vegetation in the subtropical lakes, and the mechanism underlying the restrain of sediment P release by macrophytes remains unknown. In this study, field surveys and the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique were used to elucidate the effects of macrophytes on internal P loading control in a typical eutrophic aquacultural lake. Results showed that half of the P content in overlying water and sediments, particularly dissolved P in overlying water and calcium bound P (Ca–P) in sediment, were removed after restoration. Temperature, as well as dissolved oxygen (DO) and P concentration gradients near the sediment-water interface (SWI) jointly controlled the release of labile P from surface sediments. Submerged macrophytes can effectively inhibit the release of sediment P into the overlying water, which depended on DO concentration in the bottom water. Future restoration projects should focus on the temperature response of submerged macrophytes of different growth forms (especially canopy-forming species) to avoid undesirable restoration effects. Our results complement existing knowledge about submerged macrophytes repairing subtropical P-contaminated lakes and have positive significance for lake restoration by in situ phytoremediation.

Manganese (Mn) transporter OsNRAMP5 was widely reported to regulate cadmium (Cd) uptake in rice. However, the relationship between OsNRAMP5 expression level and Cd accumulation, impacts of external ion activities on OsNRAMP5 expression level and Cd accumulation are still unclear. Investigations of the relationship between OsNRAMP5 expression level and Cd accumulation in three indica rice genotypes were conducted under various external Mn²⁺ activities ranging from Mn deficiency to toxicity in EGTA-buffered nutrient solution. Results in this work indicated that OsNRAMP5 expression level in roots significantly up-regulated at Mn phytotoxicity compared to that at Mn deficiency, which may stimulate by the increasing uptake of Mn. Our work also demonstrated that root Cd concentration of all the tested rice decreased notably when external Mn²⁺ activity reached the level of toxicity. This may explain by the increasing competition between the excess Mn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ as well as the disorder of element absorption caused by root damage at Mn toxicity. Our work also revealed that the relationship between OsNRAMP5 expression level in roots and Cd accumulation in roots was insignificant for all the tested genotypes. Besides, OsNRAMP5 expression level in roots seemed more related to root Mn accumulation. The fact that function of OsNRAMP5 mainly focuses on Mn uptake, together with the fact that many transporter genes involved in Cd uptake might result in the insignificant correlation between OsNRAMP5 expression level and Cd accumulation in roots. At last, multi-level regulating and processing of the process from gene expression to protein translation might account for the inconsistent relationship between root OsNRAMP5 expression level and Cd accumulation in roots.

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution has been implicated in the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. However, evidence on the effects of PM2.5-derived chemical constituents on gestational blood pressure (BP) is limited, and the potential mechanisms underlying the association remain unclear. In this study, we repeated three consecutive 72-h personal air sampling and BP measurements in 215 pregnant women for 590 visits during pregnancy. Individual PM2.5 exposure level was assessed by gravimetric method and 28 PM2.5 chemical constituents were analyzed by ED-XRF method. Plasma biomarkers of endothelial function and inflammation were measured using multiplexed immunoassays. Robust multiple linear regression models were used to estimate the associations among personal PM2.5 exposure and chemical constituents, BP changes (compared with pre-pregnancy BP) and plasma biomarkers. Mediation analyses were performed to evaluate underlying potential pathways. Result showed that exposure to PM2.5 was significantly associated with increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in the early second trimester. Meanwhile, elevated concentration of lead (Pb) constituent in PM2.5 was significant associated with increases in DBP and MAP after adjusting for PM2.5 total mass. PM2.5 and Pb constituent also presented positive associations with plasma biomarkers of endothelial function (ET-1, E-selectin, ICAM-1) and inflammation (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα) significantly. After multiple adjustment, elevated ET-1 and IL-6 were significantly correlated with increased gestational BP, and respectively mediated 1.24%–25.06% and 7.01%–10.69% of the increased BP due to PM2.5 and Pb constituent exposure. In conclusion, our results suggested that personal exposure to PM2.5 and Pb constituent were significantly associated with increased BP during pregnancy, and the early second trimester might be the sensitive window of PM2.5 exposure. The endothelial dysfunction and elevated inflammation partially mediated the effect of PM2.5 and Pb constituent on BP during pregnancy.

Studying the physiologic effects of components of fine particulate mass (PM2.5) could contribute to a better understanding of the nature of toxicity of air pollution.We examined the relation between acute changes in cardiovascular and respiratory function, and PM2.5-associated-metals.Using generalized linear mixed models, daily changes in ambient PM2.5-associated metals were compared to daily changes in physiologic measures in 59 healthy subjects who spent 5-days near a steel plant and 5-days on a college campus.Interquartile increases in calcium, cadmium, lead, strontium, tin, vanadium and zinc were associated with statistically significant increases in heart rate of 1–3 beats per minute, increases of 1–3 mmHg in blood pressure and/or lung function decreases of up to 4% for total lung capacity.Metals contained in PM2.5 were found to be associated with acute changes in cardiovascular and respiratory physiology.

The objective of this study was to compare the toxicological effects of different source-related ambient PM10 samples in regard to their chemical composition. In this context we investigated airborne PM from different sites in Aachen, Germany. For the toxicological investigation human alveolar epithelial cells (A549) and murine macrophages (RAW264.7) were exposed from 0 to 96 h to increasing PM concentrations (0–100 μg/ml) followed by analyses of cell viability, pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress responses. The chemical analysis of these particles indicated the presence of 21 elements, water-soluble ions and PAHs. The toxicological investigations of the PM10 samples demonstrated a concentration- and time-dependent decrease in cell viability and an increase in pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress markers.