Metal uptake capacity and growth patterns of three cardoon cultivars (Sardo, Siciliano, and Spagnolo) were investigated for phytoremediation in a metal-contaminated soil. Metal concentrations after one and two growth rounds were measured in soil and plants by ICP-MS. Potentially and promptly available metal fractions were estimated by EDTA and ammonium nitrate. Plant weight, water and nitrogen content, and life span were considered as growth parameters. After the first growth cycle, a significant accumulation of all elements was observed in roots, whereas only Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Sb were significantly translocated to the shoots. After the second growth cycle, a further significant increase, especially in roots, was observed in all cultivars and for all elements considered. High percentages of the potentially available fraction were found for As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Sb. Metal concentrations in plants were far higher than the promptly available fraction, indicating an increase of metal bioavailability during culture rounds. A severe decrease of weight and life span was observed in Sardo and Siciliano grown on polluted soil, along with an increase in N content. The cultivar Spagnolo, harmonizing a high ability of metal uptake and tolerance, proved the most efficient cultivar in metal phytoremediation.

After political sovereignty, Uzbekistan’s industry is growing fast. However, no investigation was performed so far, to evaluate whether an environmental risk, associated with the industry, is also increasing. Our aim was to investigate whether the distance from factories, as a surrogate measurement for environmental exposure to community, has any influence on some health outcomes in communities of Uzbekistan. For this first investigation, we analyzed prevalence of congenital diseases, infant mortality, and incidence rates of lung cancer, as examples for diseases associated with environmental factors. As crude measurement for the association, we used correlation and regression analysis with the distance to the next factory or plant as explanatory variable. A regression analysis demonstrated an association between the three outcome variables, with the strongest negative correlation (r = − 0.48) and the highest determination power (r² = 0.23) for congenital diseases’ prevalence. For infant mortality and lung cancer incidence, descriptions and analyses demonstrated lower negative correlation of them with the distance and a lower predictive power of linear models. So, closer distance of the community to specific industrial plants can be considered an indirect factor of higher prevalence of congenital diseases in those communities. Prospective research is needed to further investigate whether the association between birth defects in a neighborhood of industrial plants is causal or due to confounding factors. A policy should consider a degree of known factors distribution in an environment and perform effective prevention of congenital diseases, in close communities.

The environmental stress due to massive CO₂ emissions is a critical issue for scholars and policymakers. Many studies have discussed various determinants of environmental pollution both from theoretical and empirical perspectives. However, how governance influences the nexus between economic growth and CO₂ emissions is rarely studied. Hence this study investigates the relationship between economic growth, governance and CO₂ emissions within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for five high CO₂ emission countries over 1996–2017. Empirical results from the panel data estimation methods reflect that measures of governance influence emission levels differently in high CO₂ emission countries. Overall, political, economic and institutional governance enhance environmental quality. According to the results, provision of good governance needs to exercise effective measures to enhance and protect environmental quality.

In recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), ammonium excreted by the fish is typically transformed to less toxic nitrate by microbial activity in bioreactors. However, nitrate-nitrogen load can be harmful for the receiving water body when released from the RAS facility. A new type of water treatment system for a RAS was designed, including a passive woodchip denitrification followed by a sand filtration introduced into a side-loop of an experimental RAS, rearing rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). In the process, woodchips acted as a carbon source for the denitrification, aiming at a simultaneous nitrogen removal and reduction of water consumption while sand filtration was used to remove organic matter and recondition the circulating water. A variety of chemical analyses and toxicological tests were performed to study the suitability of the process and to ensure the absence of harmful or toxic substances in the system. The results did not show increased toxicity, and no increased mortality was reported for the raised species. After the start-up of the system, the concentrations of fatty acids (e.g., hexadecanoic acid <LOD-1.21 mg L⁻¹) and heavy metals (e.g., Cd < LOD-0.45 μg L⁻¹, Pb < LOD-14 μg L⁻¹) remained at very low levels and below those of known toxic effects. In the beginning of the experiment, good denitrification efficiency was achieved, but it declined after 1 month, showing the need for improved stability and dimensioning of the application.

One of the most important ecological processes is the formation of interspecific relationships in relation to spatial patterns among alpine cushion plants in extreme environmental habitats. However, such relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we examined the spatial patterns of alpine cushion plants along an altitudinal gradient of environmental severity and the interspecific relationship between two cushion species (Thylacospermum caespitosum and Androsace tangulashanensis) on the eastern Kunlun Mountain of China. Our results showed that the two species were highly aggregated within a distance of 2.5–5 m at the mid (S2) altitude, whereas they were randomly distributed at the low (S1) and high (S3) altitudes. A positive spatial interaction between the two species was observed over shorter distances at the mid (S2) altitude, and the spatial patterns were related to the size of individuals of the two species. Moreover, the impact of A. tangulashanensis on T. caespitosum (RIIT. cₐₑₛₚᵢₜₒₛᵤₘ) was negative in all the study plots, and a positive impact of T. caespitosum on A. tangulashanensis (RIIA. ₜₐₙgᵤₗₐₛₕₐₙₑₙₛᵢₛ) was only observed at the mid (S2) altitude. Together, these results demonstrated that the spatial patterns of these two cushions varied with environmental severity, since the outcome of the interactions were different, to some extent, at the three altitudes. Plant size is the main factor affecting the spatial correlation and interspecific relationship between two cushions. Therefore, its potential influence should be considered when discussing interspecific relationships among cushions and their community construction at small scales in alpine ecosystems.

Today, environmental problems are increasing and threatening nature and human health. Air pollution is at the top of this threat. Air, the main source of life, is indispensable for humans and living things. Therefore, air pollution causes mass results. Many air pollution studies and many solution techniques have been proposed in the literature to deal with the air pollution problem. In this study, it is called analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information systems (GIS), which is one of the multi-criteria decision making methods used in the investigation of air pollution in Iğdır city center and its four districts: Tuzluca, Iğdır Central, Karakoyunlu, and Aralik. In this study, spatial analysis of the pollutant parameters using the GIS-AHP technique was performed with the help of the data obtained from Iğdır Weather Monitoring Stations. By determining the pollutant parameters, pollution distribution maps were created, and station-based statistics were evaluated with dynamic mapping. For the first time, 15 parameters of weather and topographic features were used. Based on this result, it is obvious that Iğdır center is the worst place in the air pollution problem for GIS-AHP method. It varies for 15 parameters using GIS-AHP, compared with the review of locations on a daily basis. The aim of this study is primarily to investigate possible places of air pollution. Also, by comparing the results of two methods, GIS and AHP, more accurate results are given.

Wind energy continues to make inroads in Africa due to falling costs and technological advancements. Most African countries are planning, exsiccating and connecting their renewable energy projects with national grid system with giving high propriety to energy security, sustainable energy consumption and low carbon emission. Many policies have been enacted by countries to promote the scaling up of wind energy and renewable energy in particular, across the globe. However, these policies have mixed effects on the deployment of wind energy. For this purpose, current study used panel data and fixed effects model for 17 African countries with wind installed generation capacity to determine the driver of wind energy development on the African continent between 2008 and 2017. The variables were grouped into three thematic areas: policy, socioeconomic, and country-specific factors. After conducting the analysis, socioeconomic variables (GDP, CO₂, energy use) and energy security variables (energy import, electricity consumption) have significant effects in determining the scaling up of wind energy in Africa. However, the policy variables of FITs, licensing during, and Tax did not have significant effects on wind energy capacity addition for the case of Africa. This study adds to the drivers of nascent wind energy deployment literature in Africa. This study suggests that set of effecitive policies are deem necessary to scale up wind energy in Africa.

Spent brewery grains, a by-product of the brewing process, were used as precursor of biochars and activated carbons to be applied to the removal of pharmaceuticals from water. Biochars were obtained by pyrolysis of the raw materials, while activated carbons were produced by adding a previous chemical activation step. The influence of using different precursors (from distinct fermentation processes), activating agents (potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, and phosphoric acid), pyrolysis temperatures, and residence times was assessed. The adsorbents were physicochemically characterized and applied to the removal of the antiepileptic carbamazepine from water. Potassium hydroxide activation produced the materials with the most promising properties and adsorptive removals, with specific surface areas up to 1120 m² g⁻¹ and maximum adsorption capacities up to 190 ± 27 mg g⁻¹ in ultrapure water. The adsorption capacity suffered a reduction of < 70% in wastewater, allowing to evaluate the impact of realistic matrices on the efficiency of the materials.

Triclosan (TCS), a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent, exhibits a high exposure in the environment. However, the residual TCS in the environment poses a potential risk to human health. In this study, spectroscopic methods, molecular docking and animal experiment were conducted to completely understand the interaction between trypsin and TCS. The formation of the TCS-trypsin complex was spontaneously achieved through hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals forces with a binding constant (Kₐ) between 10³ and 10⁴ L mol⁻¹. In addition, the trypsin activity in fish intestine was inhibited by TCS exposure, revealing the potentially negative effects of TCS on metabolism. The results might be explained by changes in the conformation of the trypsin, inducing the content of unordered coil increasing significantly (from 36.2% to over 80%). This work provides useful information for assessing the toxicity of TCS at the molecular level.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2015, the Serbian population ranked among the highest ones in Europe in terms of smoking habit: 44.3% males and 36.2% females aged 18–64 smoked tobacco. In the last 7 years, 25% of total mortality in men and 9% in women from Serbia were associated with smoking. Tobacco smoking is one of the most important sources of exposure to many toxic substances in general population. Our study confirmed higher blood levels of two toxic metals, cadmium and lead, in the blood of smokers (3.5 and 1.5 times higher than in non-smokers, respectively). Furthermore, smoking habits, such as number of smoked cigarettes per day, smoking period and cigarette type, along with age, were shown to influence these metals’ blood concentration. Higher blood levels of Cd and Pb were found in smokers consuming more than 10 cigarettes per day for more than 10 years. The present study also highlighted the importance of the controlled tobacco production, since it was shown that consumption of illicit tobacco could manifold the exposure to toxic metals that can subsequently increase the frequency of related diseases as well.