The release of the organochlorine pesticide lindane (γ-hexachlorocyclohexane) from several types of contaminated building materials was studied to assess inhalation hazard and decontamination requirements in response to accidental and/or intentional spills. The materials included glass, polypropylene carpet, latex-painted drywall, ceramic tiles, vinyl floor tiles, and gypsum ceiling tiles. For each surface concentration, an equilibrium concentration was determined in the vapour phase of the surrounding air. Vapor concentrations depended upon initial surface concentration, temperature, and type of building material. A time-weighted average (TWA) concentration in the air was used to quantify the health risk associated with the inhalation of lindane vapors. Transformation products of lindane, namely α-hexachlorocyclohexane and pentachlorocyclohexene, were detected in the vapour phase at both temperatures and for all of the test materials. Their formation was greater on glass and ceramic tiles, compared to other building materials. An empiric Sips isotherm model was employed to approximate experimental results and to estimate the release of lindane and its transformation products. This helped determine the extent of decontamination required to reduce the surface concentrations of lindane to the levels corresponding to vapor concentrations below TWA.

The objective of this study was to evaluate (qualitatively and quantitatively) the occurrence of antibiotic residue in pasteurized milk in Brazil. Pasteurized milk samples (n = 252) were collected monthly from Nov. 2010–Oct. 2011 from 21 commercial establishments (brands). A screening test (Delvotest® SP-NT) was applied to those samples. In positive (n = 19) and/or suspect samples (n = 24), we quantified oxytetracycline (OTC) and tetracycline (TC) by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). OTCs were detected in all positive samples and TCs in six. In the 24suspected samples, OTCs were detected in 23 and TCs were not found in 8. Of the milk brands evaluated (n = 21), the presence of antibiotic residue was not detected in 4; in the other brands, both positive and suspect samples were verified. Results indicate the presence of antibiotic residue above legal limits. According to actual milk consumption in Brazil (441 mL/kg BW/day), in only 9 of the 17 brands of milk with antibiotic residue, the estimated daily intake was at or less than the maximum recommended by the European Union. The screening test used was effective to identify the presence of antibiotic residue (OTC and TC), confirmed by HPLC-DAD. The OTC is the predominant antimicrobial used by dairy farmers. Ingestion of contaminated milk by OTC and TC can increase the resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics.

Rare earth element accumulation in the soil and elevated ultraviolet (UV)-B radiation (280–315 nm) are important environmental issues worldwide. To date, there have been no reports concerning the combined effects of lanthanum (La)(III) and elevated UV-B radiation on plant roots in regions where the two issues occur simultaneously. Here, the combined effects of La(III) and elevated UV-B radiation on the growth, biomass, ion absorption, activities, and membrane permeability of roots in soybean (Glycine max L.) seedlings were investigated. A 0.08 mmol L⁻¹La(III) treatment improved the root growth and biomass of soybean seedlings, while ion absorption, activities, and membrane permeability were obviously unchanged; a combined treatment with 0.08 mmol L⁻¹La(III) and elevated UV-B radiation (2.63/6.17 kJ m⁻² day⁻¹) exerted deleterious effects on the investigated indices. The deleterious effects were aggravated in the other combined treatments and were stronger than those of treatments with La(III) or elevated UV-B radiation alone. The combined treatment with 0.24/1.20 mmol L⁻¹La(III) and elevated UV-B radiation exerted synergistically deleterious effects on the growth, biomass, ion absorption, activities, and membrane permeability of roots in soybean seedlings. In addition, the deleterious effects of the combined treatment on the root growth were due to the inhibition of ion absorption induced by the changes in the root activity and membrane permeability.

Cadmium (Cd) is a widely spread pollutant and can be easily taken up by crop from soil, resulting in a serious health issue for humans. The objective of this study was to comparatively investigate the photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll a fluorescence, chlorophyll contents, and spectral reflectance in mature and young leaves of soybean plants after being treated with different concentrations of Cd for 10 days. The photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll contents, actual photochemical efficiency of PSII, and photochemical quenching in the young leaves decreased more significantly with increasing concentrations of Cd in the nutrient solution, compared with those in the mature leaves, though the young leaves had less Cd concentrations. Thus, there was more excessive excited energy produced in the young leaves than that in the mature leaves. In the young leaves, due to more excessive excited energy, more reactive oxygen species may be generated, which further damaged the photosynthetic apparatus. It was supported by the fact that the decrease of reflectance in near-infrared wavelengths of the young leaves was more noticeable than that of the mature leaves. In addition, the chlorophyll a fluorescence transients of the young leaves was significantly different from that in the mature leaves, indicating that the electron transport of young leaves were inhibited much more severely than that of the mature leaves. These observations imply that the responses of photosynthetic activity of soybean leaves to Cd stress depend on their growth stage, and the Cd-induced inhibition of photosynthetic activity might be attributed to the decrease in chlorophyll contents and the decrease in mesophyll CO₂assimilation ability cause by the Cd, which further decreased the consumption of ATP and NADPH, leading to accumulation of NADPH on the acceptor sides of the PSI, and then feedback inhibited electron transport in chloroplasts.

The genotoxicological effects in 200 lead acid storage battery recycling and manufacturing industry workers in Hyderabad along with matched 200 controls were studied. The genetic damage was determined by comet, micronucleus (MN), and chromosomal aberration (CA) test in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). The MN test was also carried out in buccal epithelial cells (BECs). Pb in ambient air, blood Pb (B-Pb) concentrations, and hematological parameters were measured. The superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and malondialdehyde (MDA) formed were also studied. The results of the present study showed that there was a statistically significant (P < 0.01) increase in mean percent tail DNA, frequency of CA, and MN in PBL as well as in BEC as compared to controls. Pb in ambient air and B-Pb concentrations were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.01). The hematocrit, hemoglobin, and red blood cell values were significantly lowered in Pb-exposed workers in comparison to controls. SOD, GPx, and CAT levels were significantly decreased while GSH and MDA levels increased in exposed group when compared to control group. The present study suggests that environmental health standards should be enforced to control Pb contamination from battery industries to reduce human health risk.

Numerous chemical products are dispersed into the environment, and the consequences can be sometimes harmful to humans and ecosystems. Pharmaceutical compounds and hormone steroids are among these substances that concern the scientific community. Currently, little data are available on the presence and fate of these compounds in the environment and, in particular, for solid matrices. Therefore, the aim of this work was to perform soil column experiments to evaluate the accumulation, transfer and degradation of these substances in soil. The analyses were based on efficient sample preparation followed by sensitive and selective liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). For this purpose, 23 compounds were chosen including both pharmaceutical compounds as well as steroid hormones. In addition, this experiment was performed on two soils with different properties (% clay, pH, etc.). To the best of our knowledge, no soil column experiments have been performed previously on a large number of pharmaceutical compounds and steroid hormones. Significant transfer was observed only for sulphonamides that can be justified by their polarity (log K ₒw < 3). Furthermore, some compounds have a cationic characteristic and are likely to be not much mobiles in soil due to cation exchange process. However, it was observed that the migration of the substances depends on the soil characteristics, such as the amount of clay and the pH values. Regarding the degradation, it was noticed that substances degraded rapidly in the two soils. Indeed, for most substances, their half-lives were lower than 20 days. Furthermore, it was observed that the degradation rate depended on the soil.

Pot-culture experiments were conducted to evaluate the phytoremediation potential of a wetland plant species, Phragmites australis in cadmium (Cd) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) co-contaminated soil under glasshouse conditions for 70 days. The treatments included Cd (0, 5 and 50 mg kg⁻¹) without or with PCP (50 and 250 mg kg⁻¹). The results showed that growth of P. australis was significantly influenced by interaction of Cd and PCP, decreasing with either Cd or PCP additions. Plant biomass was inhibited and reduced by the rate of 89 and 92 % in the low and high Cd treatments and by 20 and 40 % in the low and high PCP treatments compared to the control. The mixture of low Cd and low PCP lessened Cd toxicity to plants, resulting in improved plant growth (by 144 %). Under the joint stress of the two contaminants, the ability of Cd uptake and translocation by P. australis was weak, and the BF and TF values were inferior to 1.0. A low proportion of the metal is found aboveground in comparison to roots, indicating a restriction on transport upwards and an excluding effect on Cd uptake. Thus, P. australis cannot be useful for phytoextraction. The removal rate of PCP increased significantly (70 %) in planted soil. Significant positive correlations were found between the DHA and the removal of PCP in planted soils which implied that plant root exudates promote the rhizosphere microorganisms and enzyme activity, thereby improving biodegradation of PCP. Based on results, P. australis cannot be effective for phytoremediation of soil co-contaminated with Cd and PCP. Further, high levels of pollutant hamper and eventually inhibit plant growth. Therefore, developing supplementary methods (e.g. exploring the partnership of plant–microbe) for either enhancing (phytoextraction) or reducing the bioavailability of contaminants in the rhizosphere (phytostabilization) as well as plant growth promoting could significantly improve the process of phytoremediation in co-contaminated soil.

Solar photo-Fenton process has been extensively reported to be highly efficient in the remediation of complex industrial wastewater containing several families of pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, dyes, pesticides, derivatives of wine, etc. Moreover, solar photo-Fenton mathematical modelling regarded as a powerful tool for scaling-up and process control purposes is hindered by the complexity and variability of its reaction mechanism which depends on the particular wastewater under study. In this work, non-biodegradable cork boiling wastewater has been selected as a case study for solar photo-Fenton dynamic modelling by using MATLAB® software. First of all physic-chemical pretreatment was applied attaining chemical oxygen demand (COD) reductions between 43 and 70 % and total suspended solid (TSS) reductions between 23 % and 59 %. After solar photo-Fenton treatment, COD decreased between 45 and 90 % after consumptions of H₂O₂ varying around 1.9 and 2.4 g/L. Individual calibration of the semi-empirical model by using experimental results made it possible to perfectly predict hydrogen peroxide variations throughout the treatment. It must be highlighted that slight deviations between predictions and experimental data must be attributed to important changes in wastewater characteristics.

Cleaning is one of the most important, delicate, and at the same time controversial processes in the conservation treatment of paintings. Although a strict definition of cleaning would be the removal of dirt, grime, or other accretions (surface cleaning), in the conservation field, cleaning is used in the broader meaning to include thinning/removing altered or “unwanted layers” of materials without damaging or altering the physicochemical properties of the surfaces to be preserved. The cleaning of unvarnished paintings is one of the most critical issues that are currently discussed. Several studies exist regarding different cleaning tools, such as gels, soaps, enzymes, ionic liquids, and foams, as well as various dry methods and lasers, but only a few have been performed on the risk associated with the use of water and organic solvents for the cleaning treatments in relation to the original paint binder. The aim of the study is to verify analytically the behavior of water gelling agents during cleaning treatments and the interaction of the following elements: water or organic solvents applied for the removal of gel residues with the original lipid paint binder. For this purpose, the study was conducted on a fragment of canvas painting (sixteenth to seventeenth century) of Soprintendenza per i Beni Storici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici del Friuli Venezia Giulia (Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia), Udine by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy.

The aim of the study was to estimate the impact of mechanical deweeding on the community structure of phytophilous macroinvertebrates. The eutrophic lake selected for the study was Dal Lake in the Kashmir Himalayas. The dissolved nutrient concentration was found to be highest in August and September, i.e., nitrates-nitrogen (513 μg l⁻ˡ) and total phosphorus (685 μg l⁻ˡ). During the period of investigation, a total of 22 macroinvertebrate taxa were recorded which belonged to phylum Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Annelida. The samples were collected with the help of a composite Gerking frame box and grappler. Mechanical deweeding had a profound impact on the population density of phylum Mollusca and Arthropoda followed by Annelida. However, family Tubificidae was not influenced by deweeding, as the harvester only trimmed the vegetation, and these organisms were recorded in the sediment of the lake. On average, the reference site had higher density of macroinvertebrates as compared to deweeded areas. The abundance of macroinvertebrates decreased from 200 ind. (individuals) m⁻²in the reference site to 51 ind. m⁻²in the deweeded site as a result of weed removal. Species richness and composition of major macroinvertebrates in harvested and unharvested areas of the lake were also dissimilar as portrayed by biotic indices vis-à-vis Shannon diversity index, evenness index, and Simpson index.