Environmental Sciences Europe最新文献

{"title":"Effects of subchronic exposure of nonylphenol on the expression of immune-related factors and estrogen receptors in the spleen of rats","authors":"Xiangjun Fu,&nbsp;Jie Xu,&nbsp;Chengyu Ni,&nbsp;Degang Yu,&nbsp;Haibo Wang,&nbsp;Pan Wang,&nbsp;Man Luo,&nbsp;Jie Yu","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00610-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00610-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Previous studies have shown that EDCs may activate nuclear transcription factor, such as activator protein-1 (AP-1), nuclear factor of activated Tcells (NF-AT) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) in the process of immune damage. At the same time, some experts believed that estrogen may play an important role in this process. As a typical representative of EDCs, nonylphenol (NP) has not been reported. The aim of this work was to explore the relationship between the immune inflammatory damage and the changes in estrogen expression in male rats during the chronic exposure to NP at environmental concentrations. Sixty SPF Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into five groups (<i>n</i> = 12 per group): blank control group (corn oil), low-dose NP exposure group (0.4 mg/kg/d), medium-dose NP exposure group (4 mg/kg/d), high-dose NP exposure group (40 mg/kg/d), and estradiol control group (E₂: 30 μg/kg/d).</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Compared with the control group, rat spleen organ coefficient, number of spleen nodules, relative area of lymph nodes and white pulp were relatively reduced in the L (NP, 0.4 mg/kg) and H (NP, 40 mg/kg) exposure dose groups (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). Lymphocytes were rich in cytoplasm, mitochondria were swollen, part of the cristae was reduced, and rough endoplasmic reticulum was expanded. The serum levels of IgG (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001) and IgM (<i>P</i> = 0.002) showed a downward trend. The percentage of Th cells (CD3⁺CD4⁺) was significantly decreased (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001), and the percentage of B lymphocytes shows an opposite trend (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). Giemsa staining showed that the number of neutrophils (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001) was increased. The expressions of estrogen receptor ER-α and ER-β protein in the spleen increased significantly (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). The expressions of AP-1 protein and NF-AT protein in the spleen were increased, and the expression of NF-KB protein was decreased (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001). The expressions of IL-4, ER-α and ER-β (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001) levels in serum increased. The mRNA-seq bioinformatics detection showed the final differentially expressed immune-inflammatory-related genes between the control and H-NP groups as follow: down-regulated: TLR4, Gata3, IL12, up-regulated: TNF-a, IL10, INOS. The mRNA expressions of ER-α, ER-β, NF-KB, IL4, AP-1, TLR4, Gata3, and NF-AT were consistent with the results of mRNA-seq analysis. NP content was correlated with the expressions of ER-α, ER-β, IL4, AP-1, NF-AT, TLR4, NF-KB, as well as IL-12 proteins in the spleen tissue ([<i>r</i>] &lt; 1, <i>P</i> &lt; 0.05).</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Chronic exposure to NP at environmental concentration could cause immune dysfunction, resulting in immunotoxicity and inflammatory effects, and lead to changes in the activity of transcription factors and differential immune inflammatory factors in rats.</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3>\u0000 <figure><div><div><div><pictu","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00610-6","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4945016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Statistical analysis of avian reproduction studies","authors":"John W. Green,&nbsp;Manousos Foudoulakis,&nbsp;Timothy Fredricks,&nbsp;Thomas Bean,&nbsp;Jonathan Maul,&nbsp;Stephanie Plautz,&nbsp;Pablo Valverde,&nbsp;Adam Schapaugh,&nbsp;Xiaoyi Sopko,&nbsp;Zhenglei Gao","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00603-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00603-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Avian reproduction studies for regulatory risk assessment are undergoing review by regulatory authorities, often leading to requests for statistical re-analysis of older studies using newer methods, sometimes with older study data that do not support these newer methods. We propose detailed statistical protocols with updated statistical methodology for use with both new and older studies and recommend improvements in experimental study design to set up future studies for robust statistical analyses. There is increased regulatory and industry attention to the potential use of benchmark dose (BMD) methodology to derive the endpoint to be used in avian reproduction studies for regulatory risk assessment. We present benefits and limitations of this BMD approach for older studies being re-evaluated and for new studies designed for with BMD analysis anticipated. Model averaging is recommended as preferable to model selection for BMD analysis. Even for a new study following the modified experimental design analyses, with BMD methodology will only be possible for a restricted set of response variables. The judicious use of historical control data, identification of outlier data points, increased use of distributions more consistent with the nature of the data collected as opposed to forcing normality-based methods, and trend-based hypothesis tests are shown to be effective for many studies, but limitations on their applicability are also recognized and explained. Updated statistical methodologies are illustrated with case studies conducted under existing regulatory guidelines that have been submitted for product registrations. Through the adoption of alternative avian reproduction study design elements combined with the suggested revised statistical methodologies the conduct, analyses, and utility of avian reproduction studies for avian risk assessments can be improved.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00603-5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4938891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental quality standards for diclofenac derived under the European water framework directive: 2. Avian secondary poisoning","authors":"A. Peters,&nbsp;M. Crane,&nbsp;G. Merrington,&nbsp;Jim Ryan","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00601-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00601-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Diclofenac is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory human and veterinary medicine widely detected in European surface waters, especially downstream from Wastewater Treatment Plants. With some notable exceptions, veterinary uses of diclofenac in Europe are greatly restricted, so wastewater is the key Europe-wide exposure route for wildlife that may be exposed via the aquatic environment. Proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) which include an assessment of avian exposure from secondary poisoning are under consideration by the European Commission (EC) to support the aims of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this paper we summarise information on avian toxicity plus laboratory and field evidence on diclofenac bioaccumulation and bioconcentration in avian food items. A safe diclofenac threshold value for birds of 3 μg kg⁻¹ wet weight in food was previously derived by the European Medicines Agency and should be adopted as an EQS under the WFD to maintain consistency across European regulations. This value is also consistent with values of 1.16–3.99 µg kg⁻¹_diet proposed by the EC under the WFD. Water-based EQS of 5.4 or 230 ng L⁻¹ in freshwater are derived from these dietary standards, respectively, by the EC and by us, with the large difference caused primarily by use of different values for bioaccumulation. A simple assessment of potential water-based EQS compliance is performed for both of these latter values against reported diclofenac concentrations in samples collected from European freshwaters. This shows that exceedances of the EC-derived EQS would be very widespread across Europe while exceedances of the EQS derived by us are confined to a relatively small number of sites in only some Member States. Since there is no evidence for any declines in European waterbird populations associated with diclofenac exposure we recommend use of conservative EQS of 3 µg kg⁻¹_diet or 230 ng L⁻¹ in water to protect birds from diclofenac secondary poisoning through the food chain.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00601-7","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4758800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal distribution patterns and risk characteristics of heavy metal pollutants in the soil of lead–zinc mines","authors":"Jie Cao,&nbsp;Cheng-yu Xie,&nbsp;Zhi-ru Hou","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00607-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00607-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The current soil environmental assessment system is inadequate in terms of the spatiotemporal distribution of heavy metal pollutants. This study employed the numerical simulation technique to predict spatiotemporal distribution patterns of heavy metals within 50 days and to assess the soil risk characteristics of heavy metal pollution near a lead–zinc mine in Hunan Province, China.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The spatiotemporal distribution results indicate that the soil in the sewage plant and mining areas served as the pollution center, exhibiting a ladder-shaped pollution diffusion trend outward. When the pollution migration time reached 20 days, pollutant migration and changes tended to remain stable, high-pollution areas exhibited no drastic changes within 10 m, and low-pollution and medium-pollution areas revealed obvious changes. Moreover, the low-pollution area width approached 2 m, the depth reached 2 m, the medium-pollution area width was close to 2.5 m, and the depth approached 4 m. The percentage of areas containing lead–zinc mine soil with high to extremely high risks reached 82.88%, and extremely high-risk farmland, mining and residential areas accounted for up to 100%, 95% and 90%, respectively, of the total area. Among the pollution sources, high-risk and extremely high-risk areas in regard to heavy metal Cd accounted for 13.51 and 49.55%, respectively, of the total area.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>This study provides new insights into the migration patterns and risk characteristics of pollutants to address soil environmental assessment system problems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00607-1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4764148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An emerging role of microplastics in the etiology of lung ground glass nodules","authors":"Qiqing Chen,&nbsp;Jiani Gao,&nbsp;Hairui Yu,&nbsp;Hang Su,&nbsp;Yan Yang,&nbsp;Yajuan Cao,&nbsp;Qun Zhang,&nbsp;Yijiu Ren,&nbsp;Henner Hollert,&nbsp;Huahong Shi,&nbsp;Chang Chen,&nbsp;Haipeng Liu","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00605-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00605-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Microplastic pollution has become a serious global environmental threat. The abundance of microplastics in the air is an order of magnitude higher than that in other media, which means that all living animals breathing with lungs (including humans) cannot escape the fate of inhaling microplastics. However, there is no direct evidence to demonstrate what type and abundance of microplastics exist in lung tissue. In addition, whether the retention of microplastics and the long-term friction between microplastics and lung tissue are related to some respiratory diseases is largely unknown. Ground glass nodules (GGNs) are areas of lesions of homogeneous density and with hazy increase in density in the lung field that do not obscure the bronchovascular structure, which have been increasingly identified in past decades. Although their etiology is broad, the correlation of microplastics with GGNs remains elusive.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>In this study, we identified the presence of 65 microfibers, including 24 microplastics (&gt; 20 μm) in 100 human lung tissues with μ-FTIR. The detection rate of microfibers in tumor was 58%, higher than that in normal tissue (46%), and 2/3 of microplastics were found in tumor. Microfibers seemed to be embedded in lung tissues, which was suggested by the in situ observation via LDIR. Additionally, sub-micron-sized plastic particles were also detected in some lung tissues with Raman. The abundance of microfibers in lung tissue gradually accumulated with the increase of age. Moreover, the detection rate in tumor of patients with higher microfiber exposure risk history was significantly higher than those with a relatively lower one, implying microfiber inhalation could be related to the formation of GGN. Further, serious weared surface of microfibers isolated from lung tissue emphasized a possible link of surface roughness to the disease progression.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Collectively, the existence of microplastics in human lung tissues was validated, and their correlation with GGN formation was preliminarily explored, which laid a foundation for future research on microplastic exposure in the etiology of lung cancer and other related respiratory diseases.</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3>\u0000 <figure><div><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></div></figure>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00605-3","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4982885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Threshold effects of environmental regulation types on green investment by heavily polluting enterprises","authors":"Zhenhua Wang,&nbsp;Ning Wang,&nbsp;Xingqiu Hu,&nbsp;Hongpeng Wang","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00606-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00606-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>In the stage of sustainable development, enterprises should not only focus on economic efficiency, but also on ecological protection, for which the governments of various countries has adopted various environmental regulation methods to promote green investment by enterprises. However, there are many types of environmental regulations, and the relationship between policy formulation and implementation effects is complicated. Heavily polluting enterprises as the main carrier of resource consumption and pollutant emissions is the main target of environmental regulation. Based on this, we took China's heavily polluting listed companies as examples to explore the impact of different types of environmental regulations on green investment in heavily polluting enterprises.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>In this paper, environmental regulations were divided into formal and informal types, of which formal environmental regulations (FER) were subdivided into command-control and market-incentive types. The empirical results showed that the relationship between command-control environmental regulations and green investment by heavily polluting enterprises presents an inverted “U” shape, and market-incentive environmental regulations first have no effect on and then promote green investment by heavily polluting enterprises. Besides, informal environmental regulations (IER) have maintained a positive effect on green investment by heavily polluting enterprises.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Heavily polluting enterprises, respectively, employ passive, active and voluntary green investment strategies under the three types of environmental regulations, providing a reference for the government to promote green investment by enterprises by environmental regulations more effectively.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00606-2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4693773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on Environmental quality standards for diclofenac derived under the European Water Framework Directive: 1. Aquatic organisms (Leverett et al. in Environmental Sciences Europe 2021; 33: 133)","authors":"Gerd Maack,&nbsp;Lauri Äystö,&nbsp;Mario Carere,&nbsp;Henning Clausen,&nbsp;Alice James,&nbsp;Marion Junghans,&nbsp;Ville Junttila,&nbsp;Juliane Hollender,&nbsp;Dimitar Marinov,&nbsp;Gerard Stroomberg,&nbsp;Rita Triebskorn,&nbsp;Eric Verbruggen,&nbsp;Teresa Lettieri","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00599-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00599-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Leverett et al. commented on the Environmental quality standard (EQS) for diclofenac derived under the European Water Framework Directive (Leverett et al. Environ Sci Eur 33: 133, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-021-00574-z). They postulated that the derived EQS value for diclofenac is not conducted according to the EQS Technical Guidance but rather using data of poor quality and relevance. Consequently, the authors suggested to use their alternative derived value instead. It is to be noted that the process for the EQS derivation for diclofenac is still ongoing and not finalized, and that as a consequence, any critical analysis is very premature. In general, within the current European Commission process, EQS value proposals are derived by expert groups led by the Joint Research Centre. In the specific case for diclofenac, Leverett and co-authors have also been actively involved as experts. This response to Leverett et al. (Environ Sci Eur 33:133, 2021) aims to clarify the reasoning-behind the proposal from a scientific point of view.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00599-y","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4500891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis of typical sulfonamide antibiotics with [14C]- and [13C]-labeling on the phenyl ring for use in environmental studies","authors":"Xuan Wu,&nbsp;Yao Yao,&nbsp;Lianhong Wang,&nbsp;Dashun Zhou,&nbsp;Feifei Sun,&nbsp;Jianqiu Chen,&nbsp;Philippe Francois-Xavier Corvini,&nbsp;Rong Ji","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00598-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00598-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Due to their widespread use, sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) have become ubiquitous environmental contaminants and thus a cause of public concern. However, a complete understanding of the behavior of these pollutants in complex environmental systems has been hampered by the unavailability and high cost of isotopically labeled SAs.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Using commercially available uniformly [¹⁴C]- and [¹³C]-labeled aniline as starting materials, we synthesized [phenyl-ring-¹⁴C]- and [phenyl-ring-¹³C]-labeled sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), and sulfadiazine (SDZ) in four-step (via the condensation of labeled <i>N</i>-acetylsulfanilyl chloride and aminoheterocycles) or five-step (via the condensation of labeled <i>N</i>-acetylsulfonamide and chloroheterocycles) reactions, with good yields (5.0–22.5% and 28.1–54.1% for [¹⁴C]- and [¹³C]-labeled SAs, respectively) and high purities (&gt; 98.0%).</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The synthesis of [¹⁴C]-labeled SAs in milligram amounts enables the preparation of labeled SAs with high specific radioactivity. The efficient and feasible methods described herein can be applied to the production of a variety of [¹⁴C]- or [¹³C]-labeled SAs for studies on their environmental behavior, including the fate, transformation, and bioaccumulation of these antibiotics in soils and aqueous systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00598-z","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4351761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"One planet: one health. A call to support the initiative on a global science–policy body on chemicals and waste","authors":"Werner Brack,&nbsp;Damia Barcelo Culleres,&nbsp;Alistair B. A. Boxall,&nbsp;Hélène Budzinski,&nbsp;Sara Castiglioni,&nbsp;Adrian Covaci,&nbsp;Valeria Dulio,&nbsp;Beate I. Escher,&nbsp;Peter Fantke,&nbsp;Faith Kandie,&nbsp;Despo Fatta-Kassinos,&nbsp;Félix J. Hernández,&nbsp;Klara Hilscherová,&nbsp;Juliane Hollender,&nbsp;Henner Hollert,&nbsp;Annika Jahnke,&nbsp;Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern,&nbsp;Stuart J. Khan,&nbsp;Andreas Kortenkamp,&nbsp;Klaus Kümmerer,&nbsp;Brice Lalonde,&nbsp;Marja H. Lamoree,&nbsp;Yves Levi,&nbsp;Pablo Antonio Lara Martín,&nbsp;Cassiana C. Montagner,&nbsp;Christian Mougin,&nbsp;Titus Msagati,&nbsp;Jörg Oehlmann,&nbsp;Leo Posthuma,&nbsp;Malcolm Reid,&nbsp;Martin Reinhard,&nbsp;Susan D. Richardson,&nbsp;Pawel Rostkowski,&nbsp;Emma Schymanski,&nbsp;Flurina Schneider,&nbsp;Jaroslav Slobodnik,&nbsp;Yasuyuki Shibata,&nbsp;Shane Allen Snyder,&nbsp;Fernando Fabriz Sodré,&nbsp;Ivana Teodorovic,&nbsp;Kevin V. Thomas,&nbsp;Gisela A. Umbuzeiro,&nbsp;Pham Hung Viet,&nbsp;Karina Gin Yew-Hoong,&nbsp;Xiaowei Zhang,&nbsp;Ettore Zuccato","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00602-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00602-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The chemical pollution crisis severely threatens human and environmental health globally. To tackle this challenge the establishment of an overarching international science–policy body has recently been suggested. We strongly support this initiative based on the awareness that humanity has already likely left the safe operating space within planetary boundaries for novel entities including chemical pollution. Immediate action is essential and needs to be informed by sound scientific knowledge and data compiled and critically evaluated by an overarching science–policy interface body. Major challenges for such a body are (i) to foster global knowledge production on exposure, impacts and governance going beyond data-rich regions (e.g., Europe and North America), (ii) to cover the entirety of hazardous chemicals, mixtures and wastes, (iii) to follow a one-health perspective considering the risks posed by chemicals and waste on ecosystem and human health, and (iv) to strive for solution-oriented assessments based on systems thinking. Based on multiple evidence on urgent action on a global scale, we call scientists and practitioners to mobilize their scientific networks and to intensify science–policy interaction with national governments to support the negotiations on the establishment of an intergovernmental body based on scientific knowledge explaining the anticipated benefit for human and environmental health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00602-6","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4346773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of wastewater treatment plants on microbiological contamination for evaluating the risks of wastewater reuse","authors":"Silvia Bonetta,&nbsp;Cristina Pignata,&nbsp;Elisa Gasparro,&nbsp;Lisa Richiardi,&nbsp;Sara Bonetta,&nbsp;Elisabetta Carraro","doi":"10.1186/s12302-022-00597-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12302-022-00597-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Wastewater reuse represents a promising alternative source of water supply considering the water scarcity related to climate change. However, if not adequately treated, wastewater represents a source of microbiological health risk. The purpose of this work was to investigate the role of wastewater treatment on microbiological contamination by evaluating the possible risks associated with wastewater effluent reuse, taking into account new EU legislation (2020/741) on minimum requirements for water reuse. <i>E. coli</i> that produce Shiga toxins (STEC) and thermotolerant <i>Campylobacter</i> were monitored using an enrichment step associated with specific PCR, while <i>Salmonella</i> spp. and <i>Legionella</i> were detected with both cultural and molecular methods (PCR and q-PCR, respectively). Culture method was also used for the enumeration of different microbial indicators. The bacteria detection was compared in different wastewater plants with membrane bioreactor (MBR) system or with disinfection step with chlorine dioxide (ClO₂). Moreover a comparison between molecular and culture methods was discussed.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The results obtained showed good abatement performance for WWTPs equipped with MBR. The high concentrations of <i>E. coli</i> (range between 0.88 and 5.21 Log MPN/100 mL) and contamination by <i>Salmonella</i> spp. in effluent disinfected with ClO₂ (17% of samples) showed the need to control the quality of this effluent. In addition, despite the absence of <i>Legionella</i> spp. with the culture method required by EU regulation, high concentrations of <i>Legionella</i> spp. (range between 2 and 7 log GU/L) and the presence of <i>Leg. pneumophila</i> with qPCR (15% of samples) highlight the need to carry out further investigations for reuse associated with aerosol formation (e.g. spray irrigation in agriculture).</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The results obtained underline that the MBR technology can be suitable for wastewater reuse applications allowing to achieve the requirement proposed by the new European legislation. More attention should be given to wastewater reuse of effluents treated with ClO₂. The use of the molecular methods for pathogens detection in wastewater could allow a more precautionary risks estimation associated with reuse. The overall results highlight that an evaluation of the effectiveness of the wastewater treatments is required for the prevention of a possible risk to public health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54293,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://enveurope.springeropen.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12302-022-00597-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4218936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}