Articles

Growth and chemotaxis of nematodes reduced upon exposure to Third Fork Creek surface water

Third Fork Creek is a historically impaired urban stream that flows through the city of Durham, North Carolina. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) are non-parasitic, soil and aquatic dwelling nematodes that have...

Authors: Carresse Gerald, Boris Deshazo, Hayden Patterson and Porché Spence

Evaluation of adverse effects/events of genetically modified food consumption: a systematic review of animal and human studies

A systematic review of animal and human studies was conducted on genetically modified (GM) food consumption to assess its safety in terms of adverse effects/events to inform public concerns and future research.

Authors: Chen Shen, Xiang-Chang Yin, Bo-Yang Jiao, Jing Li, Peng Jia, Xiao-Wen Zhang, Xue-Hao Cheng, Jian-Xin Ren, Hui-Di Lan, Wen-Bin Hou, Min Fang, Xun Li, Yu-Tong Fei, Nicola Robinson and Jian-Ping Liu

Multiphasic screening of priority chemical compounds in drinking water by process control and human health risk

The residual chemical pollutants in drinking water may cause adverse effects on human health. Chemical compounds potentially affecting human health have been widely explored, while the multiphasic evaluation o...

Authors: Yan Liu, Xue Li, Xiaocui Qiao, Xingru Zhao, Simin Ge, Haiyan Wang and Dan Li

Impact of environmental factors on human semen quality and male fertility: a narrative review

Worldwide rising trend in infertility has been observed in the past few years with male infertility arising as a major problem. One main reason for the rise in male infertility cases is declining semen quality...

Authors: Naina Kumar and Amit Kant Singh

Photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline in aqueous systems under visible light irridiation using needle-like SnO₂ nanoparticles anchored on exfoliated g-C₃N₄

Pharmaceuticals is one of the groups of contaminants of emerging concern that are resistant to decomposition or removal by most of the existing water and wastewater treatment procedures, hence the need to deve...

Authors: Adewumi Olufemi Oluwole and Olatunde Stephen Olatunji

The bisphenol F and bisphenol S and cardiovascular disease: results from NHANES 2013–2016

Bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS) have replaced bisphenol A (BPA) in the manufacturing of products containing polycarbonates and epoxy resins; however, the effects of these substitutes on the risk of car...

Authors: Ruihua Wang, Qiaoyuan Fei, Shan Liu, Xueqiong Weng, Huanzhu Liang, Yingying Wu, Lin Wen, Guang Hao, Guangwen Cao and Chunxia Jing

Quantifying the impacts of climate variation, damming, and flow regulation on river thermal dynamics: a case study of the Włocławek Reservoir in the Vistula River, Poland

River damming inevitably reshapes water thermal conditions that are important to the general health of river ecosystems. Although a lot of studies have addressed the damming’s thermal impacts, most of them jus...

Authors: Rui Yang, Shiqiang Wu, Xiufeng Wu, Mariusz Ptak, Xudong Li, Mariusz Sojka, Renata Graf, Jiangyu Dai and Senlin Zhu

The Circular Economy and retail: using Deep Learning to predict business survival

The Circular Economy system can improve the product cycle and changes the system and mentality, both for production and the consumer and has become a significant alternative to the classic economic model. The ...

Authors: Juan Uribe-Toril, José Luis Ruiz-Real, Alejandro C. Galindo Durán, José Antonio Torres Arriaza and Jaime de Pablo Valenciano

Influence of citrate and PEG coatings on the bioaccumulation of TiO₂ and CeO₂ nanoparticles following dietary exposure in rainbow trout

This study was conducted to provide much needed information on the potential of low solubility, highly biodurable nanoparticles (NPs) (TiO₂ and CeO₂ NPs), to bioaccumulate in fish and to investigate the relations...

Authors: Mona Connolly, David Hernández-Moreno, Estefanía Conde, Alicia Garnica, José M. Navas, Fernando Torrent, Isabel Rucandio and María L. Fernandez-Cruz

Authors’ response on Perkins et al. (2021) “Dead in the water: comment on “Development of an aquatic exposure assessment model for imidacloprid in sewage treatment plant discharges arising from use of veterinary medicinal products”

In 2020, Anthe et al. published a newly developed model to predict imidacloprid surface water concentrations stemming from sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent as a consequence of the use of veterinary medici...

Authors: Beatrice Valles-Ebeling, Jan Achtenhagen, Jackie Atkinson and Michael Starp

Human health risk exposure and ecological risk assessment of potentially toxic element pollution in agricultural soils in the district of Frydek Mistek, Czech Republic: a sample location approach

Human activities considerably contribute to polluting potentially toxic element (PTEs) levels in soils, especially agricultural soils. The consistent introduction of PTEs in the environment and the soil pose h...

Authors: Prince Chapman Agyeman, Kingsley John, Ndiye Michael Kebonye, Luboš Borůvka, Radim Vašát, Ondřej Drábek and Karel Němeček

Sources, spatial distribution, and abundance of marine debris on Thondi coast, Palk Bay, Southeast coast of India

The Thondi coast is rich in valuable natural marine resources and socio-economically significant activities like agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing. The area receives an excess of untreated solid and liquid...

Authors: Karthikeyan Perumal, Vishwanath Boopathi, Stella Chellaiyan, Subagunasekar Muthuramalingam and Prakash Raja

Phycoremediation of contaminated water by cadmium (Cd) using two cyanobacterial strains (Trichormus variabilis and Nostoc muscorum)

Water pollution with heavy metals is a severe dilemma that concerns the whole world related to its risk to natural ecosystems and human health. The main objective was to evaluate the removal efficiency of Cd o...

Authors: Mona M. Abd El-Hameed, Mohamed E. Abuarab, Nadhir Al-Ansari, Shady Abdel Mottaleb, Gomaa A. Bakeer, Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei and Ali Mokhtar

Air quality index variation before and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive study on 87 capital, industrial and polluted cities of the world

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provided an opportunity for the environment to reduce ambient pollution despite the economic, social and health disruption to the world. The purpose of this study w...

Authors: Mohammad Sarmadi, Sajjad Rahimi, Mina Rezaei, Daryoush Sanaei and Mostafa Dianatinasab

Environmental quality standards for diclofenac derived under the European Water Framework Directive: 1. Aquatic organisms

Diclofenac is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory human and veterinary medicine widely detected in European surface waters, especially downstream from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs). Veterinary uses of diclo...

Authors: Dean Leverett, Graham Merrington, Mark Crane, Jim Ryan and Iain Wilson

A tool (SPOLERC) to guide the evaluation of phosphorus leaching for agricultural soil by using the change point value in the Xingkai Lake Basin, China

The soil P leaching change point (CP) has been widely used to evaluate soil P leaching risk. However, an automation calculation method for soil P leaching CP value, and an effective risk grading method perform...

Authors: Zijian Xie, Fan Zhang, Chun Ye, Hao Wang, Weiwei Wei, Chunhua Li and Xiaogang Shi

Options for an environmental risk assessment of intentional and unintentional chemical mixtures under REACH: the status and ways forward

It is acknowledged that a variety of chemicals enter the environment and may cause joint effects. Chemicals regulated under the European Chemicals Regulation REACH are often part of formulated mixtures and dur...

Authors: Enken Hassold, Wiebke Galert and Jona Schulze

Effects of calcium cyanamide on Collembola in a standardized field test: Part 1. Rationale and performance of the study

A field study lasting one year was performed to study the effects of a calcium cyanamide fertiliser (trade name: Perlka®) on Collembola in order to support the terrestrial risk assessment under the REACH (Regi...

Authors: Petra Stegger, Jörg Römbke, Jörg-Alfred Salamon and Klaus Peter Ebke

Mast cell activation may explain many cases of chemical intolerance

This paper explores the relationship between chemical intolerance (CI) and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). Worldwide observations provide evidence for a two-stage disease process called toxicant-induced ...

Authors: Claudia S. Miller, Raymond F. Palmer, Tania T. Dempsey, Nicholas A. Ashford and Lawrence B. Afrin

Critical discussion of the current environmental risk assessment (ERA) of veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) in the European Union, considering changes in animal husbandry

Veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) administered to livestock might affect the environment. Therefore, an environmental risk assessment (ERA) is conducted during the approval process of VMPs. In the European ...

Authors: Ruth Haupt, Céline Heinemann, Jason Jeremia Hayer, Simone Magdalene Schmid, Miriam Guse, Ramona Bleeser and Julia Steinhoff-Wagner

Immobilization of mercury in contaminated soils through the use of new carbon foam amendments

Mercury (Hg) is recognized as one of the 10 most toxic elements in nature and is much more persistent in soils than in other environmental compartments. However, an effective, environmentally friendly, economi...

Authors: I. Janeiro-Tato, M. A. Lopez-Anton, D. Baragaño, C. Antuña-Nieto, E. Rodríguez, A. I. Peláez, J. R. Gallego and M. R. Martínez-Tarazona

Method development and validation for simultaneous quantification of microcystin congeners in water

Microcystins (MCs) are secondary metabolites of cyanobacteria that are hepatotoxic to humans through the ingestion of cyanobacteria-contaminated water and accidental inhalation from lake activities. MCs with d...

Authors: Xiaocui Qiao, Simin Ge, Chengyou Liu, Lixin Jiao, Xue Li, Xingru Zhao, Tong Qi and Yan Liu

Gaseous pollutants from a small-scale aerobic biological treatment facility: odor and health risk assessment

Biological treatment technology is good for the recovery of resources and energy from municipal solid waste (MSW) and cutting down biodegradable components in landfill waste. Recently, the aerobic biological t...

Authors: Kexian Li, Xinhong Xu, Fan Lü, Pinjing He and Jingjing Fang

Removal of oxidative stress and genotoxic activities during drinking water production by ozonation and granular activated carbon filtration

Bioanalytical tools have been shown to be useful in drinking water quality assessments. Here, we applied a panel of in vitro bioassays to assess the treatment efficiency of two pilot-scale treatments: ozonatio...

Authors: Maria Yu, Elin Lavonen, Agneta Oskarsson and Johan Lundqvist

Terrestrial ecological restoration in China: identifying advances and gaps

China has made great progress in ecological restoration. However, there have been no analyses on ecological restoration for specific terrestrial ecosystems. This study identified the important knowledge gaps a...

Authors: Wenhui Cui, Junguo Liu, Jinlin Jia and Pengfei Wang

Risk assessment of eight metals and their mixtures to aquatic biota in sediments with diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT): a case study in Pearl River intertidal zone

The ecotoxicological risk posed by metals and their mixtures in sediments depends on their bioavailability. Many methods for evaluating the bioavailability of metals in sediments/soils are time-consuming and e...

Authors: Yang-Guang Gu

Fate of antibiotic resistance genes in abandoned swine feedlots in China: seasonal variation

Environmental hygiene concerns are needed to be settled before the reuse of abandoned swine feedlot sites. However, few researchers have focused on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in soil microb...

Authors: Na Li, Jianguo Chen, Chong Liu, Binxu Li, Changxiong Zhu and Hongna Li

How do citizens feel about their water services in the water sector? Evidence from the UK

At present, many studies have used social survey methods to explore UK water citizens’ perceptions of the water sector’s water services, but there are few more targeted and systematic studies. This paper mainl...

Authors: Kang Tian, Zhuo Chen and Han Wang

Human impact on fluvial systems in Europe with special regard to today’s river restorations

Climate, geology, geomorphology, soil, vegetation, geomorphology, hydrology, and human impact affect river–floodplain systems, especially their sediment load and channel morphology. Since the beginning of the ...

Authors: Anna-Lisa Maaß, Holger Schüttrumpf and Frank Lehmkuhl

Insight into removals of PARAFAC components from dissolved and particulate organic matter in wastewater treatment process by two-dimensional correlation and structure equation modeling

Most particulate organic matter (POM) cannot be directly degraded in the conventional wastewater treatment, which should be transformed into dissolved organic matter (DOM) through a hydrolysis process. However...

Authors: Benxin Yu, Dongping Liu, Jian Wang and Yingxue Sun

Degradation of paraquat herbicide using hybrid AOP process: statistical optimization, kinetic study, and estimation of electrical energy consumption

This work studied the performance of UV/PS/TiO₂NPs and UV/PI/TiO₂NPs as hybrid advanced oxidation processes for degradation of paraquat in aqueous solution, because this very toxic herbicide is used third most wi...

Authors: Azam Ghavi, Ghadamali Bagherian and Hadi Rezaei-Vahidian

Conference report from 13th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA)

This is a report on the 13th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA) that took place between 18 and 22, July at the location of the University of Public Service in Budapest, Hungary. The theme of t...

Authors: A. Nyéki, A. J. Kovács, M. Neményi and G. Milics

Approaches, limitations and challenges in development of biomarker-based strategy for impact assessment of neuroactive compounds in the aquatic environment

Authors: Sonja Kaisarevic, Irina Vulin, Dina Tenji, Tanja Tomic and Ivana Teodorovic

Pesticides and pesticide-related products in ambient air in Germany

Tree bark measurements conducted between 2014 and 2017 in a biosphere reserve in Germany have indicated the presence of pesticides from conventional agriculture in ambient air. In the present study, we quantif...

Authors: Maren Kruse-Plaß, Frieder Hofmann, Werner Wosniok, Ulrich Schlechtriemen and Niels Kohlschütter

Drawing the line between sustainable and unsustainable fish: product differentiation that supports sustainable development through trade measures

Unsustainable production practices and increased demand for fish have aggravated negative social, ecological, and environmental impacts in fisheries and aquaculture. Measures to correct bad practices have main...

Authors: Urs Baumgartner and Elisabeth Bürgi Bonanomi

Natural toxins: environmental contaminants calling for attention

Biosynthetic toxic compounds from plants and cyanobacteria constitute a chemically diverse family of at least 20,000 compounds. Recent work with natural toxin databases and toxin characterization shows that th...

Authors: Hans Christian Bruun Hansen, Klara Hilscherova and Thomas D. Bucheli

Circular economy: advancement of European Union countries

Circular economy (CE) is a development priority of the European Union and it is part of the EU industrial strategy. The transition to a more circular economy is an essential contribution to the EU’s efforts to...

Authors: Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka

Effectiveness of plants and green infrastructure utilization in ambient particulate matter removal

Air pollution is regarded as an increasingly threatening, major environmental risk for human health. Seven million deaths are attributed to air pollution each year, 91% of which is due to particulate matter. V...

Authors: Katarzyna Wróblewska and Byoung Ryong Jeong

Handling climate change education at universities: an overview

Climate change is a problem which is global in nature, and whose effects go across a wide range of disciplines. It is therefore important that this theme is taken into account as part of universities´ teaching...

Authors: Walter Leal Filho, Mihaela Sima, Ayyoob Sharifi, Johannes M. Luetz, Amanda Lange Salvia, Mark Mifsud, Felicia Motunrayo Olooto, Ilija Djekic, Rosley Anholon, Izabela Rampasso, Felix Kwabena Donkor, Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis, Maris Klavins, Göran Finnveden, Martin Munashe Chari, Petra Molthan-Hill…

Methodological limitations in studies assessing the effects of environmental and socioeconomic variables on the spread of COVID-19: a systematic review

While numerous studies have assessed the effects of environmental (meteorological variables and air pollutants) and socioeconomic variables on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them, however, have s...

Authors: Maria A. Barceló and Marc Saez

Short-term associations of air pollution and meteorological variables on the incidence and severity of COVID-19 in Madrid (Spain): a time series study

There are studies that analyze the role of meteorological variables on the incidence and severity of COVID-19, and others that explore the role played by air pollutants, but currently there are very few studie...

Authors: Cristina Linares, Fernando Belda, José Antonio López-Bueno, M. Yolanda Luna, Gerardo Sánchez-Martínez, Beatriz Hervella, Dante Culqui and Julio Díaz

Multilevel responses of adult zebrafish to crude and chemically dispersed oil exposure

The application of chemical dispersants is a common remediation strategy when accidental oil spills occur in aquatic environments. Breaking down the oil slick into small droplets, dispersants facilitate the in...

Authors: Ada Esteban-Sánchez, Sarah Johann, Dennis Bilbao, Ailette Prieto, Henner Hollert, Thomas-B. Seiler and Amaia Orbea

Analysis of microbial populations in plastic–soil systems after exposure to high poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) load using high-resolution molecular technique

Bio-based and biodegradable plastics are considered as plastics of the future owing to their ability to decompose under various environmental conditions. However, their effects on the soil microbiome are poorl...

Authors: Benjawan Tanunchai, Kantida Juncheed, Sara Fareed Mohamed Wahdan, Vusal Guliyev, Maria Udovenko, Ann-Sophie Lehnert, Eliane Gomes Alves, Bruno Glaser, Matthias Noll, François Buscot, Evgenia Blagodatskaya and Witoon Purahong

Levels and risks of antineoplastic drugs in households of oncology patients, hospices and retirement homes

Contamination of the indoor environment by antineoplastic drugs (ADs) is known to pose health risks to the exposed staff in hospitals or pharmacies. ADs may also contaminate households of the patients receivin...

Authors: Lucie Bláhová, Jan Kuta, Lenka Doležalová, Šárka Kozáková, Tereza Hojdarová and Luděk Bláha

Nitrate consumption by the oxidation of sulfides during an enhanced natural attenuation project at a contaminated site in Berlin, Germany

Organic pollutants at contaminated sites are often eliminated naturally by biological degradation. The redox processes responsible can be enhanced by infiltrating electron acceptors such as nitrate or sulfate ...

Authors: Thomas Fichtner, Axel René Fischer and Christina Dornack

Effects of climate change on marine dumped munitions and possible consequence for inhabiting biota

Marine environments are contaminated with enormous amounts of warfare agents due to military activity and exercise, and the disposal of unused ordnance. Due to corrosion of munition shells, substances are leak...

Authors: Jörn Peter Scharsack, Daniel Koske, Katharina Straumer and Ulrike Kammann

Evolution of the threshold temperature definition of a heat wave vs. evolution of the minimum mortality temperature: a case study in Spain during the 1983–2018 period

An area of current study concerns analysis of the possible adaptation of the population to heat, based on the temporal evolution of the minimum mortality temperature (MMT). It is important to know how is the e...

Authors: J. A. López-Bueno, J. Díaz, F. Follos, J. M. Vellón, M. A. Navas, D. Culqui, M. Y. Luna, G. Sánchez-Martínez and C. Linares

Who are engaging in the nano-specific partner expert groups? An analysis of partner expert groups vs. expert groups

Consultation with partner expert groups (PEGs) is an important step in updating guidance under European chemical legislation concerning nanomaterials. Here, we briefly review the differences between PEGs and t...

Authors: Lauge Peter Westergaard Clausen, Maria Bille Nielsen and Steffen Foss Hansen

Three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon derived from natural resources for highly efficient treatment of polluted water

Dealing with the ever-increasing water pollution has become an urgent global problem, especially the organic containing polluted water. Physical adsorption has become one of the most popular ways for removal o...

Authors: Jiaxin Li, Rudolf Holze, Simbarashe Moyo, Song Wang, Sanxi Li, Tao Tang and Xuecheng Chen

Non-conventional learning on sustainable development: achieving the SDGs

Learning has been identified as a critical tool for the achievement of sustainable development. But whereas the literature predominantly focuses on the use of classroom-based teaching methods and approaches, t...

Authors: Walter Leal Filho