Information about the chemical composition of phosphorus (P) in sediment is critical for understanding P dynamics and eutrophication in lake ecosystems. Eutrophication as a result of P pollution still persists so we chose to determine the P characteristics of sediments from ten lakes of different trophic status and the relationships between P fractions and environmental factors. The results show that the Standards, Measurements and Testing (SMT) method combined with ³¹P-nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P-NMR) can efficiently show the P characteristics of sediment. Phosphorus concentrations in sediments decreased as the trophic status of the lake improved. Inorganic P (Pi) was the dominant form of total P (TP) in most of the lake sediments and was mainly comprised of HCl-Pi, a stable Pi fraction. Results of ³¹P-NMR analysis show that the extracts were dominated by ortho-P (36.4–94.8 %) and mono-P (4.0–36.2 %), with smaller amounts of diester-P (.6–23.1 %), pyro-P (.2–4.4 %), and phon-P (.3–.7 %). Analysis of the relationships between the P composition and the trophic status of the lakes indicated that the bioavailability of P forms has an influence on the surface water trophic conditions and the health of aquatic ecosystems.

Information about heavy metal concentrations in food products and their dietary intake are essential for assessing the health risk of local inhabitants. The main purposes of the present study were (1) to investigate the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd in several vegetables and fruits cultivated in Baia Mare mining area (Romania); (2) to assess the human health risk associated with the ingestion of contaminated vegetables and fruits by calculating the daily intake rate (DIR) and the target hazard quotient (THQ); and (3) to establish some recommendations on human diet in order to assure an improvement in food safety. The concentration order of heavy metals in the analyzed vegetable and fruit samples was Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd. The results showed the heavy metals are more likely to accumulate in vegetables (10.8–630.6 mg/kg dw for Zn, 1.4–196.6 mg/kg dw for Cu, 0.2–155.7 mg/kg dw for Pb, and 0.03–6.61 mg/kg dw for Cd) than in fruits (4.9–55.9 mg/kg dw for Zn, 1.9–24.7 mg/kg dw for Cu, 0.04–8.82 mg/kg dw for Pb, and 0.01–0.81 mg/kg dw for Cd). Parsley, kohlrabi, and lettuce proved to be high heavy metal accumulators. By calculating DIR and THQ, the data indicated that consumption of parsley, kohlrabi, and lettuce from the area on a regular basis may pose high potential health risks to local inhabitants, especially in the area located close to non-ferrous metallurgical plants (Romplumb SA and Cuprom SA) and close to Tăuții de Sus tailings ponds. The DIR for Zn (85.3–231.6 μg/day kg body weight) and Cu (25.0–44.6 μg/day kg body weight) were higher in rural areas, while for Pb (0.6–3.1 μg/day kg body weight) and Cd (0.22–0.82 μg/day kg body weight), the DIR were higher in urban areas, close to the non-ferrous metallurgical plants SC Romplumb SA and SC Cuprom SA. The THQ for Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd was higher than 5 for <1, <1, 12, and 6 % of samples which indicates that those consumers may experience major health risks.

Recently, in developing countries, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been considered contaminants of grave concern for women and children. Therefore, the aim of this study was twofold: (1) evaluate exposure assessment to PAHs using urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) as an exposure biomarker and (2) perform a health risk assessment in women from four different high risk scenarios in Mexico. From 2012 to 2013, in a cross-sectional study, we evaluated a total of 184 healthy women from the following scenarios: (A) indoor biomass combustion site (n = 50); (B) brick manufacturing site using different materials such as fuel sources (n = 70); (C) industrial site (n = 44); and (D) high vehicular traffic site (n = 20). 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) was quantified using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique. Afterward, a probabilistic health risk assessment was performed (Monte Carlo analysis). Mean urinary 1-OHP levels found were 0.92 ± 0.92; 0.91 ± 0.83; 0.22 ± 0.19; and 0.14 ± 0.17 μg/L for scenario A, B, C, and D, respectively. Then, based on the measured urinary 1-OHP levels, the estimated median daily intake doses of pyrene were calculated: 659, 623, 162, and 77.4 ng/kg/day for the women participating in the study living in areas A, B, C, and D, respectively, and finally, the hazard quotient (HQ) was calculated (22 ± 21, 21 ± 20, 5.5 ± 5.5, and 2.6 ± 3.5; for areas A, B, C, and D, respectively), high health risk was noted for the women living in the studied communities. The data shown in this study (exposure levels to PAHs and health risk assessment) made it reasonable to conclude that the exposure levels found have a significant potential for generating adverse effects on human health in the studied scenarios.

Hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) is a toxic water pollutant which can cause serious influence to the health of the human and animals. Therefore, developing new methods to remove hexavalent chromium in water attracts great attention of scholars. In our research, we successfully synthesized a new type of magnetic mesoporous carbon hybrid nitrogen (Fe-NMC) loaded with catalyst Pd nanoparticles (NPs), which performed excellent catalytic reduction efficiency toward Cr(VI). The characterization of Pd/Fe-NMC composite was investigated in detail using scanning electron microscope (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements. According to the experimental results, we dealt with in-depth discussion and studied on the mechanism of hexavalent chromium removed by Pd/Fe-NMC composite. Furthermore, the batch experiments were conducted to investigate the catalytic reduction ability of composite. It was found that the chromium reduction process conforms to pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics model when the concentrations of chromium and sodium formate were low. It took only 20 min for the Pd/Fe-NMC composite to reach 99.8 % reduction of Cr(VI) (50 mg/L). The results suggested that the Pd/Fe-NMC composite may exhibit significantly improved catalytic activity for the hexavalent chromium reduction at industrial wastewater.

Earthworms are widely used in all kinds of pollutants as sensitive bio-indicator organisms because of their immediately oxidative stress response under the stress of heavy metal. However, there are a large number of indexes associated with the oxidative stress response. Finding out the key monitoring indexes in the stress process becomes a practical demand of the pollution monitoring and warning process. We studied two groups, the short-term test and the long-term test. The former one is for 10 days, taking out an earthworm every day. The latter test lasted 30 days, taking out an earthworm every 10 days. The Cd²⁺ concentration was set at 50, 100, 125, 250, and 500 mg kg⁻¹. Post-clitellum segments of earthworms were chosen to determine superoxide enzyme (SOD), peroxidase (POD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione-S transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), vitamin E (VE), malondialdehyde (MDA), and acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The results showed that the main bio-indicators associating with oxidative stress reaction in short-term group were CAT, SOD, and POD. MDA could be used as a bio-indicator in the early and mid-term. VE was only the bio-indicator in the mid-term stress. While with the long-term test, the main bio-indicators associated with oxidative stress reaction were GSH-Px and MDA. The AChE activity was only suitable for oxidative stress response caused by heavy metal stress more than 30 days.

Solidification/stabilization (S/S) of sediments is frequently used to treat contaminants in dredged sediments. In this study, sediment collected from the Pearl River Delta (China) was solidified/stabilized with three different kinds of functional materials: cement, lime and bentonite. Lime primarily acted via induced increases in pH, while cements stabilization occurred through their silicate-based systems and the main function of bentonite was adsorption. The speciation and leaching behaviors of specific heavy metals before and after S/S were analyzed and the results showed that the residual speciation of Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn increased in all treatments except for Cu, as the exchangeable speciation, carbonate-bound speciation and Fe-Mn-oxide-bound speciation of Cu (all of which could be stabilized) were less than 2 % of the total amount. Pb leaching only decreased when pH increased, while the mobility of Cr and Ni only decreased in response to the silicate-based systems. The leached portion of the Fe-Mn-oxide-bound speciation followed the order Zn > Cu > Ni/Cd > Pb > Cr. The leached portion of organic-matter-bound species was less than 4 % for Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb, but 35.1 % and 20.6 % for Cu and Zn, respectively.

The negative effects of overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation in humans, including sunburn and light-induced cellular injury, are of increasing public concern. 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC), an organic chemical UV filter, is an active ingredient in sunscreen products. To date, little information is available about its neurotoxicity during early vertebrate development. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to various concentrations of 4-MBC in embryo medium for 3 days. In this study, a high concentration of 4-MBC, which is not being expected at the current environmental concentrations in the environment, was used for the purpose of phenotypic screening. Embryos exposed to 15 μM of 4-MBC displayed abnormal axial curvature and exhibited impaired motility. Exposure effects were found to be greatest during the segmentation period, when somite formation and innervation occur. Immunostaining of the muscle and axon markers F59, znp1, and zn5 revealed that 4-MBC exposure leads to a disorganized pattern of slow muscle fibers and axon pathfinding errors during the innervation of both primary and secondary motor neurons. Our results also showed reduction in AChE activity upon 4-MBC exposure both in vivo in the embryos (15 μM) and in vitro in mammalian Neuro-2A cells (0.1 μM), providing a possible mechanism for 4-MBC-induced muscular and neuronal defects. Taken together, our results have shown that 4-MBC is a teratogen and influences muscular and neuronal development, which may result in developmental defects.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) plays an important role in the climate system, but few data are available on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study, 89 precipitation samples were collected at Lhasa, the largest city of southern Tibet, from March to December 2013. The average concentration and wet deposition flux of DOC was 1.10 mg C L⁻¹ and 0.63 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, respectively. Seasonally, low DOC concentration and high flux appeared during the monsoon period, which were in line with heavy precipitation amount, reflecting dilution effect of precipitation for the DOC. Compared to other regions, the values of Lhasa were lower than those of large cities (e.g., Beijing and Seoul) mainly because of less air pollution of Lhasa. The principal component analysis (PCA) of DOC and ions (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, NH₄ ⁺, Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, and SO₄ ²⁻) showed that DOC of Lhasa was derived mainly from the natural sources, followed by anthropogenic burning activities. Furthermore, △¹⁴C value of DOC indicated that fossil fuel combustion contributed around 28 % of the rainwater DOC of Lhasa, indicating that the atmosphere of Lhasa has been influenced by emission from fossil fuel combustion or high-temperature industrial processes.

Batch experiments were conducted to investigate cadmium(II) (Cd(II)) adsorption by two variable-charge soils (an Oxisol and an Ultisol) as influenced by the presence of pectin. When pectin dosage was less than 30 g kg⁻¹, the increase in Cd(II) adsorption with the increasing dose of pectin was greater than that when the pectin dosage was >30 g kg⁻¹. Although both Langmuir and Freundlich equations fitted the adsorption isotherms of Cd(II) and electrostatic adsorption data of Cd(II) by the two soils well, the Langmuir equation showed a better fit. The increase in the maximum total adsorption of Cd(II) induced by pectin was almost equal in both the soils, whereas the increase in the maximum electrostatic adsorption of Cd(II) was greater in the Oxisol than in the Ultisol because the former contained greater amounts of free Fe/Al oxides than the latter, which, in turn, led to a greater increase in the negative charge on the Oxisol. Therefore, the presence of pectin induced the increase in Cd(II) adsorption by the variable-charge soils mainly through the electrostatic mechanism. Pectin increased the adsorption of Cd(II) by the variable-charge soils and thus decreased the activity and mobility of Cd(II) in these soils.

The coastal areas of China face great challenges, owing to heavy metal contamination caused by rapid industrialization and urbanization. To our knowledge, this study is the first report of the levels of heavy metals in the major rivers of Zhenjiang, one of the most important cities of the Yangtze River Delta in China. In addition, we measured heavy metal levels in the blood of 76 residents of Zhenjiang. The results suggest that the presence of heavy metals in the blood may threaten human health and the distribution appeared to correspond to most highly populated areas and/or areas with high traffic. We also found that the concentration of heavy metals in human blood showed an accumulation effect with increase in age. Moreover, the levels of most heavy metals were lower in participants who regularly exercised than in those who did not. We studied heavy metal levels in the urine and sweat of another 17 volunteers to monitor the elimination of bioaccumulated heavy metal. Heavy metals were found in the urine and sweat of all the 17 participants and were more concentrated in sweat. Induced micturition and sweating appear to be potential methods for the elimination of heavy metals from the human body.