Operational discharges from oceangoing vessels, including discharges of bilgewater, release oil into marine ecosystems that can potentially damage marine life, terrestrial life, human health, and the environment. Bilgewater is a mix of oily fluids and other pollutants from a variety of sources onboard a vessel. If bilgewater cannot be retained onboard, it must be treated by an oily water separator before discharge for larger ocean-going vessels. We evaluated the effectiveness of bilgewater treatment systems by analyzing land-based type approval data, collecting and analyzing shipboard bilgewater effluent data, assessing bilgewater effluent concentrations compared to regulatory standards, evaluating the accuracy of shipboard oil content monitors relative to analytical results, and assessing additional pollution reduction benefits of treatment systems. Land-based type approval data were gathered for 20 treatment systems. Additionally, multiple samples of influent and effluent from operational bilgewater treatment systems onboard three vessels were collected and analyzed, and compared to the land-based type approval data. Based on type approval data, 15 treatment systems were performing below 5 ppm oil. Shipboard performance measurements verified land-based type approval data for the three systems that were sampled. However, oil content monitor readings were more variable than actual oil concentration measurements from effluent samples, resulting in false negatives and positives. The treatment systems sampled onboard for this study generally reduced the majority of other potentially harmful pollutants, which are not currently regulated, with the exception of some heavy metal analytes.

Results from our previous investigation indicated that Al could affect the nucleolus and induce extrusion of silver-staining nucleolar particles containing argyrophilic proteins from the nucleolus into the cytoplasm in root tip cells of Vicia faba L. So far, the nucleolar proteins involved have not been identified. It is well known that nucleophosmin (B23), nucleolin (C23), and fibrillarin are three major and multifunctional nucleolar proteins. Therefore, effects of Al on B23, C23, and fibrillarin in root tip cells of V. faba exposed to 100 μM Al for 48 h were observed and analyzed using indirect immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blotting. The results from this work demonstrated that after 100 μM of Al treatment for 48 h, B23 and C23 migrated from the nucleolus to the cytoplasm and fibrillarin from the nucleolus to the nucleoplasm. In some cells, fibrillarin was present only in the cytoplasm. Western blotting data revealed higher expression of the three major nucleolar proteins in Al-treated roots compared with the control and that the B23 content increased markedly. These findings confirmed our previous observations.

Although trace concentrations of ibuprofen (IBP) have been detected in diverse water bodies, there is currently insufficient information on the potentially deleterious effects of this xenobiotic. The present study aimed to determine whether IBP induces oxidative stress in brain, liver, gill, and blood of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. To this end, the median lethal concentration at 96 h (96-h LC₅₀) was determined and the lowest observed adverse effect level was established. Carp were exposed to the latter concentration (17.6 mg L⁻¹) for 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h, and the following biomarkers were evaluated: lipid peroxidation (LPX) and activity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase. Results indicated that LPX and antioxidant enzymes’ activity increased significantly (p < 0.05) with respect to the control group in liver, gill, and blood, while no significant differences occurred in brain. In conclusion, IBP induced oxidative stress on C. carpio, the liver being the organ most affected by this damage.

A new bioassay proposed in the patent P201300029 was applied to a pre-treated wastewater containing a mixture of commercial pesticides to simulate a recalcitrant industrial wastewater in order to determine its biodegradability. The test uses a mixture of standardized inoculum of the lyophilized bacteria Pseudomonas putida with the proper proportion of salts and minerals. The results highlight that biodegradation efficiency can be calculated using a gross parameter (chemical oxygen demand (COD)) which facilitates the biodegradability determination for routine water biodegradability analysis. The same trend was observed throughout the assay with the dehydrated and fresh inoculums, and only a difference of 5 % in biodegradation efficiency (Ef) was observed. The obtained results showed that the P. putida biodegradability assay can be used as a commercial test with a lyophilized inoculum in order to monitor the ready biodegradability of an organic pollutant or a WWTP influent. Moreover, a combination of the BOD₅/COD ratio and the P. putida biodegradability test is an attractive alternative in order to evaluate the biodegradability enhancement in water pre-treated with advanced oxidation processes (AOPs).

The objectives of the study were the identification of the source of contamination of soils and estimation of the potential cancer risk that may be caused by contact with soils situated in the vicinity of biochar production sites. Samples of soils collected in the immediate vicinity of traditional biochar-producing plants, located within the area of the Bieszczady National Park (Poland), were analysed for the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The sum of the content of 16 PAHs varied within the range of 1.80–101.3 μg/g, exceeding the norms permitted in many European countries. The calculated coefficients on the basis of which one can determine the origin of PAHs (molecular diagnostic ratios) demonstrated that the potential source of PAHs in the soils may be processes related with the production of biochar. Estimation on the basis of the results of incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCRs) within the range of 2.33 · 10⁻⁴–1.05 · 10⁻¹indicated that the soils studied may constitute a significant cancer risk for persons who have contact with them. The values of ILCRS should be considered as at least high, which permits the conclusion that sites of that type may create a hazard to human health.

The present study sought to evaluate the behavioral responses of non-target organisms in order to determine whether phototactic responses of isopods to danger cues are altered as a function of exposure to the pyrethroid pesticides λ-cyhalothrin and bifenthrin. Experiments conducted on Gnorimosphaeroma oregonensis identified sublethal behavioral responses to pyrethroids, λ-cyhalothrin and bifenthrin at concentrations 0.15 ng/mL, 0.025 ng/mL, and 0.005 ng/mL. Experimental setup tested isopod phototactic responses across six treatments: control, pyrethroid, hemolymph, predator, hemolymph + pyrethroid, and predator + pyrethroid. Isopods exhibited no preference for phototactic responses in the control and pyrethroid treatments. When exposed to danger cues (hemolymph or predator), isopods exhibited significant negative phototaxis, as expected. When exposure to danger cues was combined with pyrethroids, isopods again exhibited no preference for phototactic response. Experiments indicate that pyrethroids diminish isopod’s negatively phototactic response to danger cues.

Recycling of drinking water treatment residuals (WTRs) as environment amendments has attracted substantial interest due to their productive reuse concomitant with waste minimization. In the present study, the extractability of metals within six Al/Fe-hydroxide-comprised WTRs collected throughout China was investigated using fractionation, in vitro digestion and the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). The results suggested that the major components and structure of the WTRs investigated were similar. The WTRs were enriched in Al, Fe, Ca, and Mg, also contained varying quantities of As, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, K, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, V, and Zn, but Ag, Hg, Sb, and Se were not detected. Most of the metals within the WTRs were largely non-extractable using the European Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) procedure, but many metals exhibited high bioaccessibility based on in vitro digestion. However, the WTRs could be classified as non-hazardous according to the TCLP assessment method used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Further analysis showed the communication factor, which is calculated as the ratio of total extractable metal by BCR procedure to the total metal, for most metals in the six WTRs, was similar, whereas the factor for Ba, Mn, Sr, and Zn varied substantially. Moreover, metals in the WTRs investigated had different risk assessment code. In summary, recycling of WTRs is subject to regulation based on assessment of risk due to metals prior to practical application.

Ecological remediation is an important measure for the protection of lake water quality in removing nutrients, such as nitrate (NO₃⁻). In this study, four bioremediation processes (bare sediment, immobilized nitrogen cycling bacteria (INCB) added, Elodea nuttallii added, E. nuttallii-INCB assemblage) were operated at a lab to elucidate the effect of macrophyte appearance and INCB addition on NO₃⁻removal and achieve the optimal processes for biomediation.¹⁵ N-NO₃solution was added to microcosms to identify the key nitrogen transformation processes responsible for NO₃⁻removal. Results showed that nitrate removal was significantly enhanced after the addition of INCB and E. nuttallii. In the treatments with INCB added, E. nuttallii added, and INCB and E. nuttallii-INCB assemblage, nitrate removal ratio achieved 94.74, 98.76, and 99.15 %, respectively. In contrast, only 23.47 % added nitrate was removed in the control. Plant uptake and denitrification played an important role in nitrogen removal. The water quality was substantially improved by the addition of INCB and macrophyte that can accelerate denitrification and promote nitrogen assimilation of plants. The results indicated that plant uptake and microbial denitrification were key processes for nitrate removal.

This paper presents the results obtained during the measurements campaign started in June 2012 and ended in November 2013 on the invaluable purple Codex Rossanensis, sixth century, one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the New Testament. The tasks of the chemistry laboratory were to answer a variety of questions posed both by historians and restorers, concerning the materials used in a previous restoration, the composition of the pictorial palette and the different inks and to determine which colouring material had been applied to dye the parchment support. It was also requested to determine the state of preservation of the manuscript, as a result of its interactions with the environment in which the manuscript had been stored and the vicissitudes experienced during its life (fire, previous restoration, exhibition). The spectroscopic analyses performed by micro-Raman, micro-Fourier transform infrared and X-ray fluorescence allowed to fill a gap in the knowledge of the pictorial materials used in the Early Middle Ages. The pictorial palette, the inks, the dye applied to obtain the purple parchments, the support and the materials used in the previous restoration treatment executed in 1917–19 were fully characterised. Moreover, to the author’s knowledge, the article shows the first experimental evidence of the use of the elderberry lake in a sixth century-illuminated manuscript. The lake was characterised by Raman spectroscopy.