Oxidative stress and neuroinflammatory changes appear to be the early events involved in AD’s development and progression. The present study was designed to assess the effect of soybean isoflavone extract (SIFE) against colchicine-induced cognitive dysfunction and oxidative stress in male rats.Fifty adult male Wistar albino rats were divided into five groups: control, ACSF-treated group, soybean isoflavones (SIF)-treated group, colchicine (COL)-treated group, and SIF + COL-treated group. We found that an intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of a single dose of colchicine (7.5 μg/rat bilaterally) resulted in learning deficits in rats subjected to the Morris water maze task associated with marked oxidative damage and decreased acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) activity. In addition, COL caused significant increase in amyloid beta peptide 1-42 (β, amyloid 1-42) interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and TNF-α genes expression in the brain, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in cortical astrocytes in the brain cortex.Treatment with SIFE (80 mg/kg b.wt) daily for 14 days followed by a single dose of COL significantly reduced the elevated oxidative stress parameters and restored the reduced antioxidant activities. Besides, the administration of SIFE reversed the overproduction of β, amyloid 1-42, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and GFAP in the brain. The obtained results were confirmed by histological observations that clearly indicate a neuroprotective effect of SIF against AD.

In the standard ISO soil toxicity test using Collembola, adult survival and juvenile production are the only endpoints that can be attainable. The information on egg production and egg hatching cannot be investigated in the ISO test. To overcome this limitation, in this study, the effects of teflubenzuron on life history parameters of Yuukianura szeptyckii (Collembola) were investigated with a compressed soil test. Teflubenzuron is an insect growth regulator and has a negative effect on egg production, and egg hatching process of arthropods. LC₅₀ decreased with increases in exposure period from 6.97 mg/kg in the third week to 3.60 mg/kg in the fourth week. The EC₅₀ for egg and juvenile production was 0.57 mg/kg and 0.26 mg/kg, respectively. The hatching rate decreased significantly from 46 to 7% as the concentration increased from 0.25 to 1.00 mg/kg, respectively, and the molting frequency was significantly affected only at > 4 mg/kg. The toxic contribution rate (TCR) was defined as the ratio of juvenile production at an exposure concentration compared with the control, and a simple life history model was developed for TCR estimations. At the lower concentrations (< 0.3 mg/kg), the hatching rate reduction was a main contributor to the total toxicity, but the adult mortality and egg production reduction were the main contributors at the higher concentrations (> 2.0 mg/kg). The contribution of egg production reduction remained relatively constant. Since collembolan populations in the soil can be composed of various developmental stages, the differences in the sensitivity to chemicals depending on the developmental stages should be included in the assessment of the toxic impact on soil ecosystems.

Energy is a foundation for a city to create economic wealth, satisfy people’s desires, and achieve benefits. However, the increasing mismatch between energy supply and demand and the worsening of environmental pollution have highlighted the importance of improving urban energy performance, so the number of studies related to urban energy performance evaluation is increasing. Based on describing the authors, numbers, regional sources, and themes of these studies, this paper reviews and analyzes the conceptions, evaluation indicators, influencing factors, evaluation methods, and evaluation systems related to urban energy performance. Most countries have expressed concern about this topic. Researchers in China, Belgium, and the USA have had the most achievements and collaborations. The concept of urban energy performance further extends to a comprehensive performance. It is measured based on an input-output process. In addition to the original evaluation indicators, new desirable outputs and undesirable outputs are included. Industrial structure, energy price, population density, home car ownership, climate factors, Gini coefficient, health expenditure level, and unemployment rate are regarded as influencing factors. Therefore, a new framework of evaluation indicators and influencing factors is constructed. Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are commonly used to evaluate. With changes in conceptions, evaluation indicators, and influencing factors, the evaluation method should rather focus on measuring multiple input-output variables, determining the evaluation results and the impacts of factors at the same analysis stage, and highlighting policy orientations. As an important management tool, the evaluation system would continue to be studied and developed.

This study was conducted to assess the effect of fungal communities and their interaction with bacterial communities on the dissolved organic matter (DOM) transformation for the stability and safety of sludge composting. The results showed that fungal community had strong shifts in diverse stages of sludge composting along with the changes of temperature. Correlation analysis demonstrated that fungal communities had significant connections with bacterial communities during composting but were not directly related to the indicators of phytotoxicity and maturity. Variance partitioning analysis suggested that the interactions of fungal and bacterial communities had the biggest contribution (49.75%) to composting stability and safety. Based on structural equation modeling, the possible way of fungal community participated in the transformation of DOM components and the formation of humic-like substances of DOM by interacting with bacterial community was proposed, which will provide important information for understanding the biotic interaction in composting and improving composting fermentation process.

The study was conducted to evaluate the concentration of essential elements (Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Se, Zn, and B) and non-essential elements (Cd, Pb, Hg, Cr, As, and Ni) in muscle, liver, bone, and intestine of matured cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis). Sampling was carried out at two sites of Lahore, Pakistan—Havalian Karbath (site I) and Mehmood Booti (site II)—over a period of 1 month in the winter season. Metal analyses of samples were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS). The trend of essential elements in liver and intestine of site I was noticed as Fe > Zn > Cu > B > Mn > Se > Ni and almost same for bone and muscle as Fe > Zn > B > Mn > Cu > Se > Ni. It was noticed that Cu was less deposited in bone and muscle tissues compared to liver and intestine from site I. The deposition of essential elements in liver and intestine from site II was noticed as Fe > Zn > Cu > Mn > B > Se > Ni. Similar trend was found for bone and muscle: Fe > Zn > B > Mn > Cu > Se > Ni with great deposition of B than Cu compared to liver and intestine. The findings of the present study revealed almost similar trend for essential elements deposition at both sites. However, a random trend was observed for deposition of non-essential elements (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb) in organs from both sites. Moreover, data showed higher levels of non-essential elements accumulation (particularly As, Ba, and Pb) in the body tissues/organs of cattle egret in an urban area (site II) as compared to rural area (site I) of Lahore. Furthermore, non-essential elements were more in intestine, bone, and muscles from site II showing more exposure to some non-essential elements at urban site due to human and natural activities. However, higher concentration of non-essential elements in liver from site I as compared to other organs not only reflect the land exposure to plant growth promoting fertilizers and sewage water for irrigation purpose but also better detoxification abilities of the rural birds. The study gave a new insight to inform contamination levels in the rural and urban sites. Future implications of this study need remediation strategies to clean environment requisite for avian species.

The effects of manganese content, carrier calcination temperature, and catalyst calcination temperature of manganese-based zirconium pillared intercalated montmorillonite (Mn/Zr-PILM) catalysts were investigated for low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NOₓ by NH₃ (NH₃-SCR) in the metallurgical sintering flue gas. The physicochemical properties of these catalysts can be characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherm, and temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH₃-TPD). The 10Mn/Zr400-PILM(300) catalyst had the highest NOₓ conversion under excess oxygen conditions (15 vol% oxygen) and reached 91.8% NOₓ conversion at 200 °C. It was found that when the loading of manganese was 10 wt.%, the catalyst had the highest catalytic activity and the manganese-active component was highly dispersed on the Zr-PILM surface. The optimal calcination temperature of the Zr-PILM was 400 °C because the catalyst pore size was concentrated at 1.92 nm and the catalyst had the most acidic sites. And the optimum calcination temperature of the catalyst was 300 °C. This was because excessive calcination temperature promoted the manganese oxide polymerization and reduced the catalytic activity of the catalyst.

Therefore, applying NH₄⁺-N tp PHW-SA caused greater tolerance to Cd toxicity by higher biomass production, photosynthetic capacity, Ca and Cu accumulation, better root development and lower translocation factor of Cd as well as Cd concetration in organelle fraction. The Cd stress inhibited the growth performance of wheat seedlings, the mineral nutrient accumulation, and nitrogen uptake and distribution, and different forms of nitrogen have different protective effects on wheat. In PHW-SA, ANCd treatment caused lower reduction in biomass accumulation, photosynthesis, isotope stable N content, Ca and Cu accumulation, root development inhibition, tissue Cd concentration, and transfer factor, which even led to lower concentrations of Cd in Fcₒ than those in Fcw and Fₛ in comparison with NNCd treatment. On the other hand, the converse growth performance was recorded in J-11 under ANCd treatment. Meanwhile, the nitrogen absorption preference in PHW-SA was altered along with the enhanced absorption efficiency of nitrogen. Therefore, applying NH₄⁺-N to PHW-SA caused greater tolerance to Cd toxicity by higher biomass production, photosynthetic capacity, Ca and Cu accumulation, better root development and lower translocation factor of Cd as well as Cd concetration in organelle fraction..

Activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) has been concentrated on degrading refractory organic pollutants owing to the generation of sulfate radical ([Formula: see text]) with high standard redox potential. In this study, manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) with cryptomelane type was synthesized by a new hydrothermal method to activate PMS for the degradation of phenol and methylene blue (MB) in water. The as-prepared composites were fully characterized, and the effects of PMS dosage, OMS-2 dosage, initial pollutant concentration, pH, and chloride on the degradation of phenol were elaborately investigated. Moreover, the phenol degradation was evaluated through the variations of total organic carbon (TOC) and three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3D-EEM), and reaction intermediates were also investigated. Both electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra and comparative experiments suggested [Formula: see text] and hydroxyl radical (HO•) took part in the phenol degradation and [Formula: see text] was more significant than HO•. The fine degradation efficiency of phenol in different water source, as well as the stability after continuous use, indicated the possible application of PMS/OMS-2 in real wastewater treatment.

Atrazine, one of the most widespread herbicides in the world, is considered as an environmental estrogen and has potential carcinogenicity. In this study, atrazine was degraded on boron-fluorine co-doped TiO₂ nanotube arrays (B, F-TiO₂ NTAs), which had similar morphology with the pristine TiO₂ NTAs. The structure and morphology of TiO₂ nanotube samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It showed that the decoration of fluorine and boron made both the absorption in the visible region enhanced and the band edge absorption shifted. The efficiency of atrazine degradation by B, F-TiO₂ NTAs through photoelectrocatalysis was investigated by current, solution pH, and electrolyte concentration, respectively. The atrazine removal rate reached 76% through photoelectrocatalytic reaction by B, F-TiO₂ NTAs, which was 46% higher than that under the photocatalysis process. Moreover, the maximum degradation rate was achieved at pH of 6 in 0.01 M of Na₂SO₄ electrolyte solution under a current of 0.02 A and visible light for 2 h in the presence of B, F-TiO₂ NTAs. These results showed that B, F-TiO₂ NTAs exhibit remarkable photoelectrocatalytic activity in degradation of atrazine.

Chronic cigarette smoking affects many tissues negatively. Nicotine in tobacco has negative effects on tissues, kidneys, and eyes especially, where microcirculation is vitally important for the survival and functioning. It is known that appropriate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and (matrix metalloproteinase 2) MMP2 levels are required for suitable vascularity and enough microcirculation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nicotine on VEGF and MMP2 levels in kidney and eyes, where microcirculation is very important for their function. The nicotine was given into drinking water, to male and female rats for 6 weeks. During the first 2 weeks, the nicotine concentration was 10 mg/L, then was given at a fixed dose of 20 mg/L until the end of the experiment. The VEGF and MMP2 levels were increased in kidney tissue of both genders as a result of given nicotine. MMP2 levels were also increased in the eye tissue for both genders similarly. However, VEGF levels increased in the eye tissue with nicotine in males, whereas it did not change in females. The use of nicotine made VEGF and MMP2 levels increase in kidney tissue in both genders of rats. This increase in VEGF was observed only in male eye tissue, not in females. According to our findings, it can be suggested that nicotine has negative effects on microvascular circulation by increasing VEGF and MMP2 levels. In addition, it should be pointed out that estrogen might have protective effects on female eye tissue. Further studies are necessary to understand the complex relationship between the role of nicotine and estrogen on eye and kidney tissues.