Metal pollution in Laizhou Bay along the Bohai Sea in China has been posing a risk on fishery species and hence may affect seafood quality. In this work, shrimps Fenneropenaeus chinensis were sampled from three sites, namely, a reference (site 6334) and two metal-polluted (sites 6262 and 7262) sites, located in Laizhou Bay. The metal concentrations in shrimp muscle tissues were tested using the ICP-MS technique. The Cr and Cu concentrations were the highest in the shrimp samples from site 7262, exceeding the national seafood safety standard Ⅱ, and the As concentration was much higher than the national seafood safety standard Ⅲ. NMR-based metabolomics indicated that metal pollution induced oxidative and immune stresses, damaged the muscular structure, and disrupted energy metabolism in shrimps at sites 6262 and 7262, in particular disturbed osmotic regulation in shrimps at site 7262. Glycine and serine could serve as biomarkers for Cd in F. chinensis.

An earlier paper demonstrated a methodology for modeling the spreading process with a Gaussian random walk procedure, but was limited to the gravity-viscous spreading regime. Here we extend the methodology of representing spread and transport of oil slicks on calm sea surface by updated Voronoi diagrams to account for the surface tension-viscous spreading regime as well. We have utilized the analogy between diffusion and spreading processes by defining a step length for the particle-based random walk scheme. In this study, calculation of the diffusive length is improved by including the surface tension term in the numerical solution method. The results from the numerical simulation of the spreading oil slick agree very well with the analytical solutions. The solution is robust in that good agreement is achieved for a large range of model and numerical solution parameters. This modeling procedure remains valid only for passive, quiescent spreading. The inclusion of spreading due to important horizontal and vertical turbulent shear processes in the Voronoi diagram paradigm remains a challenge for future work.

In this study, we analyzed heavy metals in 404 surface sediment samples from the Bohai Sea to measure contamination status and distribution. We found Zn levels to be the highest, whereas Hg concentrations were the lowest of measured heavy metals. We found that the samples containing the most heavy metals were those collected from Fuzhou Bay, Jinzhou Bay, central Bohai Sea mud area, and the Yellow River Delta. Further analyses suggest that these heavy metals in surface sediments in the Jinzhou Bay and Fuzhou Bay pose a serious ecological risk, with substantial Cd and Hg accumulation in the Jinzhou Bay and Yellow River Delta regions being indicative of intense human activities.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The present review aims to highlight the noise effects on the patients’ well-being and by inference on their recovery, during their hospitalization, and also the effectiveness of applied interventions to reduce noise in the health care environment. RECENT FINDINGS: Key findings reported in relevant studies and conducted during the last 4 years are as follows: (a) noise continues to be above guideline values in health care facilities; (b) noise can disturb the sleep of the patients, can affect their rest and the communication between patients/staff/visitors, and finally can affect the staff effectiveness; (c) interventions to reduce the noise are promising but not well proven; and (d) the derived conclusions about the relationship between noise and the healing process are made indirectly and not by measurable patients’ physical parameters. The pathways that theoretically connect noise and the healing of the patients are numerous and still unclear. An extensively examined pathway infers that noise can disturb sleep and thus may prevent the patient’s recovery. Other pathways that relate noise to the recovery of the inpatients remain unknown, such as the aggravation/degradation of measureable physical parameters or the re-hospitalization due to noise, or the effect of the low-frequency noise. A protocol to conduct noise monitoring is required, as well as validated questionnaires, to examine the inpatient’s subjective perceptions for their acoustic environment. This may lead to comparable results among the relevant studies and hence to robust interventions for the improvement of the noise environment for hospitalized patients.

In order to understand the origin of plastic debris pollutants that accumulate in the Canary Islands coastline, six beaches of Gran Canaria Island were studied during different seasons to estimate the abundance and the types of two microplastics fraction sizes (0.01–1 mm and 1–5 mm) and mesoplastics fraction (5–25 mm).For the larger fraction of microplastics and mesoplastics, a high percentage of fragments and foams were found; moreover, both fractions show the same accumulation pattern in relation with the wave, wind, and current. The debris was checked for exogenous and local origins. Moreover, for the smaller fraction of microplastics, only natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic fibres were found, showing a totally different spatial distribution from the others fractions. This result suggests a possible endogenous origin of the contamination, in relation to the type and amount of wastewater discharges and beach users.

This review critically analyses >200 papers collected by searching on Pubmed the word “nanoplastics”, a group of emerging contaminants which are receiving growing attention. The present review intends to provide an overview of current knowledge on nanoplastic pollution starting with the theory of polymer degradation, passing to laboratory confirmation of nanoplastic formation and ending with the possible occurrence in sea water samples. Most of the observations proposed focus the attention on polystyrene (PS) because the majority of research knowledge is based on this polymer. Moreover, we thoroughly describe what effects have been observed on different organisms tested in controlled conditions. Nanoplastics formation, fate and toxicity seem to be a very dynamic phenomenon. In light of this, we identify some aspects retained crucial when an ecotoxicological study with nanoplastics is performed and which elements of nanoplastics toxicity could be deeper covered.

Microplastic (MP) pollution has become a global concern. We aim to quantify the extent of MP pollution in the coastal ecosystem of the Port Blair Bay, A&N Islands. Water, sediment, zooplankton, finfish, and shellfish samples were collected from the Port Blair Bay and analyzed for the presence of MP. Average concentrations of MP in water, sediment, zooplankton, finfish, and shellfishes were found to be 0.93 ± 0.59 particles per m³, 45.17 ± 25.23 particles per kilogram, 0.12 ± 0.07 pieces per zooplankter and 10.65 ± 7.83 particles per specimen, respectively. High amount of MP retention was observed in the zooplankton community. Maximum MP ingestion was observed in adult Carangoides malabaricus. Fiber was most abundant in water, sediment, and fish samples, followed by fragment and pellet. However, fragments were predominant in zooplankton. Nylon, acrylic, and ionomer surlyn were most abundant polymer types in the bay environment. These results demand further attention to combat plastic pollution in the coastal ecosystem.

The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella spp. in the source waters of shrimp farms in the Nagapattinam region of South India was investigated. Water and sediment samples (188 Nos.) collected from 23 natural creeks during December 2018 to April 2019 were examined for Salmonella spp. by conventional and PCR methods. The study indicated 28.7% of water and 25.5% of sediment isolates as Salmonella spp., while PCR test gave positive for 7.44% and 5.15% of the isolates, respectively. The isolates were resistant to sulfonamide (SF), but sensitive to tetracycline (TC), chloramphenicol (CAP), and furazolidone (FZ). PCR amplification of mitochondrial 16S rRNA region identified the highly resistant Salmonella serovar as S. Montevideo, which is an emerging food-borne pathogen. The incidence of antibiotic-resistant S. Montevideo reported for the first time in the natural creeks that supply water for shrimp farms emphasizes the need for regulatory steps to control its prevalence.

To elucidate the trophic pathways and bioaccumulation characteristics of heavy metals in marine fish, 20 Sardinella albella specimens of different lengths were collected from Liusha Bay in Beibu Gulf of South China Sea and aimed to study their trophic level and heavy metal pollution. The results showed that their δ¹³C values ranged from −17.61 to −15.99‰ with an average of −16.59 ± 0.54‰, which was comparable with that of zooplankton. The δ¹⁵N values ranged from 12.73to 15.26‰ with an average of 14.03 ± 0.71‰, which was 3.47‰ greater than zooplankton. No trend in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values was observed with increasing body length. The trophic level, consisting with their feeding diet, ranges from 2.24 to 3.25 with an average of 2.76. Heavy metal content of Sardinella albella in Liusha Bay was in order of As > Pb > Zn > Hg > Cu, Cd, and most of these metals were below the pollution thresholds. The Pi index suggested that Sardinella albella were slightly polluted by Pb and As.

Anthropogenic litter is ubiquitous throughout marine ecosystems, but its abundance and distribution are driven by complex interactions of distinct environmental factors and thus can be extremely heterogeneous. Here we compare the extent of anthropogenic litter pollution at a sheltered lagoon habitat and nearby open coast sites. Monthly surveys over a period of five months showed that both the types and sources of litter always differed significantly between lagoon and open coast sites. Pollution within the lagoon was mainly land-derived and was largely made up of construction materials (70% to 95%). At open coast sites, construction materials represented a minor portion of pollution (4% to 12%) while plastics were the most abundant (82% to 95%). We show that stranded anthropogenic litter in adjacent marine habitats can differ significantly and stress the importance of sampling at appropriate spatial scales to gain realistic insights into the sources of pollution.