Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 242 in total

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  1. Fulltext Opportunistic Bacteria Dominate the Soil Microbiome Response to Phenanthrene in a Microcosm-Based Study
    Storey S, Ashaari MM, Clipson N, Doyle E, de Menezes AB
    Front Microbiol, 2018;9:2815.
    PMID: 30519226 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02815
    Bioremediation offers a sustainable approach for removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the environment; however, information regarding the microbial communities involved remains limited. In this study, microbial community dynamics and the abundance of the key gene (PAH-RHDα) encoding a ring hydroxylating dioxygenase involved in PAH degradation were examined during degradation of phenanthrene in a podzolic soil from the site of a former timber treatment facility. The 10,000-fold greater abundance of this gene associated with Gram-positive bacteria found in phenanthrene-amended soil compared to unamended soil indicated the likely role of Gram-positive bacteria in PAH degradation. In contrast, the abundance of the Gram-negative PAHs-RHDα gene was very low throughout the experiment. While phenanthrene induced increases in the abundance of a small number of OTUs from the Actinomycetales and Sphingomonadale, most of the remainder of the community remained stable. A single unclassified OTU from the Micrococcaceae family increased ~20-fold in relative abundance, reaching 32% of the total sequences in amended microcosms on day 7 of the experiment. The relative abundance of this same OTU increased 4.5-fold in unamended soils, and a similar pattern was observed for the second most abundant PAH-responsive OTU, classified into the Sphingomonas genus. Furthermore, the relative abundance of both of these OTUs decreased substantially between days 7 and 17 in the phenanthrene-amended and control microcosms. This suggests that their opportunistic phenotype, in addition to likely PAH-degrading ability, was determinant in the vigorous growth of dominant PAH-responsive OTUs following phenanthrene amendment. This study provides new information on the temporal response of soil microbial communities to the presence and degradation of a significant environmental pollutant, and as such has the potential to inform the design of PAH bioremediation protocols.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants
  2. Water treatment and artificial intelligence techniques: a systematic literature review research
    Ismail W, Niknejad N, Bahari M, Hendradi R, Zaizi NJM, Zulkifli MZ
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Jun;30(28):71794-71812.
    PMID: 34609681 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16471-0
    As clean water can be considered among the essentials of human life, there is always a requirement to seek its foremost and high quality. Water primarily becomes polluted due to organic as well as inorganic pollutants, including nutrients, heavy metals, and constant contamination with organic materials. Predicting the quality of water accurately is essential for its better management along with controlling pollution. With stricter laws regarding water treatment to remove organic and biologic materials along with different pollutants, looking for novel technologic procedures will be necessary for improved control of the treatment processes by water utilities. Linear regression-based models with relative simplicity considering water prediction have been typically used as available statistical models. Nevertheless, in a majority of real problems, particularly those associated with modeling of water quality, non-linear patterns will be observed, requiring non-linear models to address them. Thus, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a good candidate in modeling and optimizing the elimination of pollutants from water in empirical settings with the ability to generate ideal operational variables, due to its recent considerable advancements. Management and operation of water treatment procedures are supported technically by these technologies, leading to higher efficiency compared to sole dependence on human operations. Thus, establishing predictive models for water quality and subsequently, more efficient management of water resources would be critically important, serving as a strong tool. A systematic review methodology has been employed in the present work to investigate the previous studies over the time interval of 2010-2020, while analyzing and synthesizing the literature, particularly regarding AI application in water treatment. A total number of 92 articles had addressed the topic under study using AI. Based on the conclusions, the application of AI can obviously facilitate operations, process automation, and management of water resources in significantly volatile contexts.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  3. Municipal solid waste management in Malaysia: practices and challenges
    Manaf LA, Samah MA, Zukki NI
    Waste Manag, 2009 Nov;29(11):2902-6.
    PMID: 19540745 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2008.07.015
    Rapid economic development and population growth, inadequate infrastructure and expertise, and land scarcity make the management of municipal solid waste become one of Malaysia's most critical environmental issues. The study is aimed at evaluating the generation, characteristics, and management of solid waste in Malaysia based on published information. In general, the per capita generation rate is about 0.5-0.8 kg/person/day in which domestic waste is the primary source. Currently, solid waste is managed by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, with the participation of the private sector. A new institutional and legislation framework has been structured with the objectives to establish a holistic, integrated, and cost-effective solid waste management system, with an emphasis on environmental protection and public health. Therefore, the hierarchy of solid waste management has given the highest priority to source reduction through 3R, intermediate treatment and final disposal.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/chemistry
  4. Real-time and visual sensing devices based on pH-control assembled lanthanide-barium nano-cluster
    Liu M, Li H, Bai L, Zheng K, Zhao Z, Chen Z, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 07 05;413:125291.
    PMID: 33588337 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125291
    Real-time and visual monitoring of pollutants in the air is of great importance since they are usually cannot be seen, smelled, or touched. Lanthanide nano-cluster is a kind of luminescent sensor for various species. However, controlling synthesis of lanthanide nano-cluster remains experimentally challenging. In this work, four series of lanthanide-barium (Ln-Ba) nano-clusters of Dy2Ba (1), Tb2Ba2 (2), Ln4Ba3 (Ln = Tb, 3a; Eu, 3b), Tb4Ba4 (4) were assembled through precisely controlling the pH of the reactant solutions. The work features the first example that the number of cluster's nuclei changes regularly with the pH. Moreover, investigation reveals that nano-cluster 3a is a highly selective and sensitive sensor towards acetylacetone (acac) and aniline. Interestingly, easy-to-use sensing devices of test paper, agarose gel, and five kinds of film on CaCO3, polyfoam, coin, mask, and wall that based on 3a were fabricated by facile methods. The seven sensing devices showed remarkable ability to sense aniline and acac vapors with visibility to the naked eyes. This is the first work on multiple real-time and visual sensing devices based on the lanthanide nano-cluster.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants
  5. Potential of bioretention plants in treating urban runoff polluted with greywater under tropical climate
    Jhonson P, Goh HW, Chan DJC, Juiani SF, Zakaria NA
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Feb;30(9):24562-24574.
    PMID: 36336739 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23605-5
    Bioretention systems are among the most popular stormwater best management practices (BMPs) for urban runoff treatment. Studies on plant performance using bioretention systems have been conducted, especially in developed countries with a temperate climate, such as the USA and Australia. However, these results might not be applicable in developing countries with tropical climates due to the different rainfall regimes and the strength of runoff pollutants. Thus, this study focuses on the performance of tropical plants in treating urban runoff polluted with greywater using a bioretention system. Ten different tropical plant species were triplicated and planted in 30 mesocosms with two control mesocosms without vegetation. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the performance of plants, which were then ranked based on their performance in removing pollutants using the total score obtained for each water quality test. Results showed that vetiver topped the table with 86.4% of total nitrogen (TN) removal, 93.5% of total phosphorus (TP) removal, 89.8% of biological oxygen demand (BOD) removal, 90% of total suspended solids (TSS) removal, and 92.5% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal followed by blue porterweed, Hibiscus, golden trumpet, and tall sedge which can be recommended to be employed in future bioretention studies.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  6. Lateral distribution, environmental occurrence, and assessment of organic pollutants in surface sediments of the East Malaysia
    Alkhadher SAA, Suratman S, Zakaria MP
    Environ Monit Assess, 2023 May 24;195(6):720.
    PMID: 37222826 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-11310-w
    One of the molecular chemical markers used to identify anthropogenic inputs is linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) that cause serious impacts in the bays and coastal ecosystems. The surface sediments samples collected from the East Malaysia, including Brunei bay to estimate the LABs concentration and distribution as molecular markers of anthropogenic indicators. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used after purification, fractionation the hydrocarbons in the sediment samples to identify the sources of LABs. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson correlation coefficient were applied to analyze the difference between sampling stations' significance at p 
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  7. Metal organic frameworks as promising sensing tools for electrochemical detection of persistent heavy metal ions from water matrices: A concise review
    Shafqat SS, Rizwan M, Batool M, Shafqat SR, Mustafa G, Rasheed T, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2023 Mar;318:137920.
    PMID: 36690256 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137920
    Water bodies are being polluted rapidly by disposal of toxic chemicals with their huge entrance into drinking water supply chain. Among these pollutants, heavy metal ions (HMIs) are the most challenging one due to their non-biodegradability, toxicity, and ability to biologically hoard in ecological systems, thus posing a foremost danger to human health. This can be addressed by robust, sensitive, selective, and reliable sensing of metal ions which can be achieved by Metal organic frameworks (MOF) based electrochemical sensors. In the present era, MOFs have caught greater interest in a variety of applications including sensing of hazardous pollutants such as heavy metal ions. So, in this review article, types, synthesis and working mechanism of MOF based sensors is explained to give general overview with updated literature. First time, detailed study is done for sensing of metal ions such as chromium, mercury, zinc, copper, manganese, palladium, lead, iron, cadmium and lanthanide by MOFs based electrochemical sensors. The use of MOFs as electrochemical sensors has attractive success story along with some challenges of the area. Considering these challenges, we attempted to highlight the milestone achieved and shortcomings along with future prospective of the MOFs for employing it in electrochemical sensing devices for HMIs. Finally, challenges and future prospects have been discussed to promote the development of MOFs-based sensors in future.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  8. Histological and histometrical study of the protective role of α-tocopherol against sodium arsenite toxicity in rat ovaries
    Dezfouli MG, Eissazadeh S, Zade SM
    Microsc Microanal, 2014 Aug;20(4):1167-79.
    PMID: 24735566 DOI: 10.1017/S1431927614000701
    This study examines histometrical changes induced by sodium arsenite (SA), as an environmental pollutant, and investigates the protective effect of α-tocopherol on ovaries of SA-treated rats during the prenatal stage until sexual maturity. Rats were classified into groups: control, SA (8 ppm/day), α-tocopherol (100 ppm/day), and SA+α-tocopherol. Treatment was performed from pregnancy until maturation when the rats and ovaries were weighed. The Cavalieri method was used to estimate volume of the ovaries, cortex, medulla, and corpus luteum. The mean diameter of oocytes, granulosa cells, and nuclei were measured and volume was estimated using the Nucleator method. The number of oocytes and thickness of the zona pellucida (ZP) were determined using an optical dissector and orthogonal intercept method, respectively. SA reduced the body and ovary weight, the number of secondary, antral and Graafian oocytes, volume of the ovaries, cortex, medulla and corpus luteum, mean diameter and volume of oocytes in primordial and primary follicles, mean diameter and volume of oocyte nuclei in all types of follicles, and mean thickness of the ZP in secondary and antral follicles. Also, the mean diameter and volume of granulosa cells and their nuclei in antral and Graafian follicles decreased significantly. Vacuolization and vascular congestion in the corpus luteum and an increase in the number of atretic oocytes were seen in the SA group. Most of these parameters were unchanged from the control level in the SA+α-tocopherol group. It was concluded that α-tocopherol supplementation reduced the toxic effects of SA exposure on ovarian tissue in rats.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/antagonists & inhibitors; Environmental Pollutants/toxicity
  9. Integrating of electrocoagulation process with submerged membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment under low voltage gradients
    Bani-Melhem K, Elektorowicz M, Tawalbeh M, Al Bsoul A, El Gendy A, Kamyab H, et al.
    Chemosphere, 2023 Oct;339:139693.
    PMID: 37536541 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139693
    Treating and reusing wastewater has become an essential aspect of water management worldwide. However, the increase in emerging pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are presented in wastewater from various sources like industry, roads, and household waste, makes their removal difficult due to their low concentration, stability, and ability to combine with other organic substances. Therefore, treating a low load of wastewater is an attractive option. The study aimed to address membrane fouling in the submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) used for wastewater treatment. An aluminum electrocoagulation (EC) device was combined with SMBR as a pre-treatment to reduce fouling. The EC-SMBR process was compared with a conventional SMBR without EC, fed with real grey water. To prevent impeding biological growth, low voltage gradients were utilized in the EC deviceThe comparison was conducted over 60 days with constant transmembrane pressure and infinite solid retention time (SRT). In phase I, when the EC device was operated at a low voltage gradient (0.64 V/cm), no significant improvement in the pollutants removal was observed in terms of color, turbidity, and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Nevertheless, during phase II, a voltage gradient of 1.26 V/cm achieved up to 100%, 99.7%, 92%, 94.1%, and 96.5% removals in the EC-SMBR process in comparison with 95.1%, 95.4%, 85%, 91.7% and 74.2% removals in the SMBR process for turbidity, color, COD, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), total phosphorus (TP), respectively. SMBR showed better anionic surfactant (AS) removal than EC-SMBR. A voltage gradient of 0.64 V/cm in the EC unit significantly reduced fouling by 23.7%, while 1.26 V/cm showed inconsistent results. Accumulation of Al ions negatively affected membrane performance. Low voltage gradients in EC can control SMBR fouling if Al concentration is controlled. Future research should investigate EC-SMBR with constant membrane flux for large-scale applications, considering energy consumption and operating costs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  10. El Niño driven haze over the Southern Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo
    Khan MF, Hamid AH, Rahim HA, Maulud KNA, Latif MT, Nadzir MSM, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2020 Aug 15;730:139091.
    PMID: 32413602 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139091
    The Southeast Asian (SEA) region is no stranger to forest fires - the region has been suffering from severe air pollution (known locally as 'haze') as a result of these fires, for decades. The fires in SEA region are caused by a combination of natural (the El Niño weather pattern) and manmade (slash-and-burn and land clearing for plantations) factors. These fires cause the emissions of toxic aerosols and pollutants that can affect millions of people in the region. Thus, this study aims to identify the impact of the SEA haze on the Southern region of the Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo region of East Malaysia using the entire air quality observation data at surface level in 2015. Overall, the concentration of PM10 was about two-fold higher during the haze period compared to non-haze period. The concentrations of CO, flux of CO and flux of BC were aligned with PM10 during the entire observation period. The wind field and cluster of trajectory indicated that the Southern Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo were influenced mainly from the wildfires and the combustion of peat soil in the Indonesian Borneo. This study finds that wildfires from Borneo impacted the Southern Malaysian Borneo more seriously than that from Sumatra region.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants
  11. Fulltext High Sensitivity Microfiber Interferometer Sensor in Aqueous Solution
    Girei SH, Lim HN, Ahmad MZ, Mahdi MA, Md Zain AR, Yaacob MH
    Sensors (Basel), 2020 Aug 21;20(17).
    PMID: 32825539 DOI: 10.3390/s20174713
    The need for environmental protection and water pollution control has led to the development of different sensors for determining many kinds of pollutants in water. Ammonia nitrogen presence is an important indicator of water quality in environmental monitoring applications. In this paper, a high sensitivity sensor for monitoring ammonia nitrogen concentration in water using a tapered microfiber interferometer (MFI) as a sensor platform and a broad supercontinuum laser as the light source is realized. The MFI is fabricated to the waist diameter of 8 µm producing a strong interference pattern due to the coupling of the fundamental mode with the cladding mode. The MFI sensor is investigated for a low concentration of ammonia nitrogen in water in the wide wavelength range from 1500-1800 nm with a high-power signal provided by the supercontinuum source. The broad source allows optical sensing characteristics of the MFI to be evaluated at four different wavelengths (1505, 1605, 1705, and 1785 nm) upon exposure towards various ammonia nitrogen concentrations. The highest sensitivity of 0.099 nm/ppm that indicates the wavelength shift is observed at 1785 nm operating wavelength. The response is linear in the ammonia nitrogen range of 5-30 ppm with the best measurement resolution calculated to be 0.5 ppm. The low concentration ammonia nitrogen detected by the MFI in the unique infrared region reveals the potential application of this optical fiber-based sensor for rivers and drinking water monitoring.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants
  12. Fulltext Cryptic footprints of rare earth elements on natural resources and living organisms
    Adeel M, Lee JY, Zain M, Rizwan M, Nawab A, Ahmad MA, et al.
    Environ Int, 2019 06;127:785-800.
    PMID: 31039528 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.022
    BACKGROUND: Rare earth elements (REEs) are gaining attention due to rapid rise of modern industries and technological developments in their usage and residual fingerprinting. Cryptic entry of REEs in the natural resources and environment is significant; therefore, life on earth is prone to their nasty effects. Scientific sectors have expressed concerns over the entry of REEs into food chains, which ultimately influences their intake and metabolism in the living organisms.

    OBJECTIVES: Extensive scientific collections and intensive look in to the latest explorations agglomerated in this document aim to depict the distribution of REEs in soil, sediments, surface waters and groundwater possibly around the globe. Furthermore, it draws attention towards potential risks of intensive industrialization and modern agriculture to the exposure of REEs, and their effects on living organisms. It also draws links of REEs usage and their footprints in natural resources with the major food chains involving plants, animals and humans.

    METHODS: Scientific literature preferably spanning over the last five years was obtained online from the MEDLINE and other sources publishing the latest studies on REEs distribution, properties, usage, cycling and intrusion in the environment and food-chains. Distribution of REEs in agricultural soils, sediments, surface and ground water was drawn on the global map, together with transport pathways of REEs and their cycling in the natural resources.

    RESULTS: Fourteen REEs (Ce, Dy, Er, Eu, Gd, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, Tb, Th and Yb) were plighted in this study. Wide range of their concentrations has been detected in agricultural soils (<15.9-249.1 μg g-1) and in groundwater (<3.1-146.2 μg L-1) at various sites worldwide. They have strong tendency to accumulate in the human body, and thus associated with kidney stones. The REEs could also perturb the animal physiology, especially affecting the reproductive development in both terrestrial and aquatic animals. In plants, REEs might affect the germination, root and shoot development and flowering at concentration ranging from 0.4 to 150 mg kg-1.

    CONCLUSIONS: This review article precisely narrates the current status, sources, and potential effects of REEs on plants, animals, humans health. There are also a few examples where REEs have been used to benefit human health. However, still there is scarce information about threshold levels of REEs in the soil, aquatic, and terrestrial resources as well as living entities. Therefore, an aggressive effort is required for global action to generate more data on REEs. This implies we prescribe an urgent need for inter-disciplinary studies about REEs in order to identify their toxic effects on both ecosystems and organisms.

    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/chemistry*
  13. Comparison of oxytetracycline degradation behavior in pig manure with different antibiotic addition methods
    Wang Y, Chen G, Liang J, Zou Y, Wen X, Liao X, et al.
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2015 Dec;22(23):18469-76.
    PMID: 26278905 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5170-7
    Using manure collected from swine fed with diet containing antibiotics and antibiotic-free swine manure spiked with antibiotics are the two common methods of studying the degradation behavior of veterinary antibiotic in manure in the environment. However, few studies had been conducted to co-compare these two different antibiotic addition methods. This study used oxytetracycline (OTC) as a model antibiotic to study antibiotic degradation behavior in manure under the above two OTC addition methods. In addition, the role of microorganisms present in the manure on degradation behavior was also examined. The results showed that degradation half-life of OTC in manure from swine fed OTC (9.04 days) was significantly shorter than that of the manure directly treated with OTC (9.65 days). Concentration of 4-epi-OTC in manure from swine fed OTC peaked earlier than that in manure spiked with OTC, and the degradation rates of 4-epi-OTC and α-apo-OTC in the manure from swine fed OTC were faster, but the peak concentrations were lower, than those in manure spiked with OTC. Bacterial diversity and relative abundance of Bacillus cereus data demonstrated that sterilization of the manure before experiment significantly decreased OTC degradation rate in both of the addition methods. Results of the present study demonstrated that the presence of the metabolites (especially 4-epi-OTC) and microorganisms had significant influence on OTC degradation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/analysis*
  14. Lead in blood and hair of population near an operational and a proposed area for copper mining, Malaysia
    Mokhtar MB, Awaluddin AB, Fong CW, Woojdy WM
    Bull Environ Contam Toxicol, 1994 Jan;52(1):149-54.
    PMID: 8130410
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/analysis; Environmental Pollutants/blood; Environmental Pollutants/pharmacokinetics
  15. Dietary exposure and human risk assessment of phthalate esters based on total diet study in Cambodia
    Cheng Z, Li HH, Wang HS, Zhu XM, Sthiannopkao S, Kim KW, et al.
    Environ Res, 2016 Oct;150:423-30.
    PMID: 27372065 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.06.011
    Phthalate esters are used in a wide variety of consumer products, and human exposure to this class of compounds is widespread. Nevertheless, studies on dietary exposure of human to phthalates are limited. In this study, to assess the daily intakes of phthalate esters and the possible adverse health impacts, different food samples were collected from three areas of Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world. The ∑phthalate ester concentrations in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal provinces ranged from 0.05 to 2.34 (median 0.88) μgg(-1), 0.19-1.65 (median 0.86) μgg(-1) and 0.24-3.05 (median 0.59) μgg(-1) wet weight (ww), respectively. Di-2-Ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP) were the predominant compounds among all foodstuffs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of phthalate esters for the general population in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal was 34.3, 35.6 and 35.8μgkg(-1) bw d(-1), respectively. The dietary daily intake of DEHP, benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal were below the tolerable daily intakes (TDI) imposed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and reference doses (RfD) imposed by The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Rice contributed the greatest quantity of DEHP to the daily intake in Cambodia so may deserve further exploration. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the occurrence and the daily intakes of phthalate esters in Cambodia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/analysis*
  16. Multi-air pollution risk assessment in Southeast Asia region using integrated remote sensing and socio-economic data products
    Sakti AD, Anggraini TS, Ihsan KTN, Misra P, Trang NTQ, Pradhan B, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Jan 01;854:158825.
    PMID: 36116660 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158825
    Air pollution has massive impacts on human life and poor air quality results in three million deaths annually. Air pollution can result from natural causes, including volcanic eruptions and extreme droughts, or human activities, including motor vehicle emissions, industry, and the burning of farmland and forests. Emission sources emit multiple pollutant types with diverse characteristics and impacts. However, there has been little research on the risk of multiple air pollutants; thus, it is difficult to identify multi-pollutant mitigation processes, particularly in Southeast Asia, where air pollution moves dynamically across national borders. In this study, the main objective was to develop a multi-air pollution risk index product for CO, NO2, and SO2 based on Sentinel-5P remote sensing data from 2019 to 2020. The risk index was developed by integrating hazard, vulnerability, and exposure analyses. Hazard analysis considers air pollution data from remote sensing, vulnerability analysis considers the air pollution sources, and exposure analysis considers the population density. The novelty of this study lies in its development of a multi-risk model that considers the weights obtained from the relationship between the hazard and vulnerability parameters. The highest air pollution risk index values were observed in urban areas, with a high exposure index that originates from pollution caused by human activity. Multi-risk analysis of the three air pollutants revealed that Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines had the largest percentages of high-risk areas, while Indonesia had the largest total high-risk area (4361 km2). Using the findings of this study, the patterns and characteristics of the risk distribution of multiple air pollutants in Southeast Asia can be identified, which can be used to mitigate multi-pollutant sources, particularly with respect to supporting the clean air targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
  17. Accumulation of trace metals in the embryos and hatchlings of Chelonia mydas from Peninsular Malaysia incubated at different temperatures
    Ikonomopoulou MP, Olszowy H, Francis R, Ibrahim K, Whittier J
    Sci Total Environ, 2013 Apr 15;450-451:301-6.
    PMID: 23500829 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.02.031
    A variety of trace metals were measured in the egg contents of three clutches of Chelonia mydas collected from Kuala Terengganu state in Peninsular Malaysia. We quantified Mn, Cu, Zn, Se (essential trace metals) and As (anthropogenic pollutant) at several developmental stages obtained by incubating eggs at two different temperatures (27 °C and 31 °C). The incubation temperatures were chosen because they produce predominantly male or predominantly female hatchlings, respectively. The eggs were removed from the sand and washed before being placed in incubators, to ensure that the only possible source of the detected metals was maternal transfer. Other metals: Mo, Co, Ni, Cd, Sn, Sb, Hg, Tl and Pb (all non-essential metals) were detected at concentrations below the lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ). Trace metal concentrations, particularly [Zn], increased during development, other metals (Cu, As, Se and Cr) accumulated to a lesser degree than zinc but no significant differences were observed between the incubation temperatures at any stage of incubation. To date, only a few studies on trace metals in turtle embryos and hatchlings have been reported; this study will provide basic knowledge on the accumulation of trace metals during development at two different incubation temperatures.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/analysis*; Environmental Pollutants/pharmacokinetics
  18. Fulltext Determining the endocrine disruption potential of industrial chemicals using an integrative approach: Public databases, in vitro exposure, and modeling receptor interactions
    Alofe O, Kisanga E, Inayat-Hussain SH, Fukumura M, Garcia-Milian R, Perera L, et al.
    Environ Int, 2019 10;131:104969.
    PMID: 31310931 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.104969
    Environmental and occupational exposure to industrial chemicals has been linked to toxic and carcinogenic effects in animal models and human studies. However, current toxicology testing does not thoroughly explore the endocrine disrupting effects of industrial chemicals, which may have low dose effects not predicted when determining the limit of toxicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the endocrine disrupting potential of a broad range of chemicals used in the petrochemical sector. Therefore, 139 chemicals were classified for reproductive toxicity based on the United Nations Globally Harmonized System for hazard classification. These chemicals were evaluated in PubMed for reported endocrine disrupting activity, and their endocrine disrupting potential was estimated by identifying chemicals with active nuclear receptor endpoints publicly available databases. Evaluation of ToxCast data suggested that these chemicals preferentially alter the activity of the estrogen receptor (ER). Four chemicals were prioritized for in vitro testing using the ER-positive, immortalized human uterine Ishikawa cell line and a range of concentrations below the reported limit of toxicity in humans. We found that 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) and diethanolamine (DEA) repressed the basal expression of estrogen-responsive genes PGR, NPPC, and GREB1 in Ishikawa cells, while tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and 2,2'-methyliminodiethanol (MDEA) induced the expression of these genes. Furthermore, low-dose combinations of PCE and MDEA produced additive effects. All four chemicals interfered with estradiol-mediated induction of PGR, NPPC, and GREB1. Molecular docking demonstrated that these chemicals could bind to the ligand binding site of ERα, suggesting the potential for direct stimulatory or inhibitory effects. We found that these chemicals altered rates of proliferation and regulated the expression of cell proliferation associated genes. These findings demonstrate previously unappreciated endocrine disrupting effects and underscore the importance of testing the endocrine disrupting potential of chemicals in the future to better understand their potential to impact public health.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants/pharmacology*; Environmental Pollutants/chemistry
  19. Exposure and risk assessment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) for primiparous mothers and breastfed infants in Penang, Malaysia
    Leong YH, Azmi NI, Majid MIA, Wen S
    Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess, 2021 Aug;38(8):1416-1426.
    PMID: 34014804 DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2021.1922758
    An average 50 ml breast milk samples were collected from 21 lactating primiparous mothers (range 25 to 45 years, mean 33 years), 4-8 weeks after delivery in Penang Island, Malaysia. The geometric mean concentration of the most toxic congeners, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) was 0.14 pg WHO2005-TEQ g-1 zlipid. The most abundant congeners of PCDD/Fs were octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) (5.9-75.4%), followed by 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-heptachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD) (1.1-30.7%). The geometric mean level of total dioxins and dl-PCBs was 2.2 pg WHO2005-TEQ g-1 lipid, significantly lower than those in developed countries or highly contaminated areas. The total dioxins and dl-PCBs in pg WHO2005-TEQ levels in breast milk were significantly correlated with years of residence at potential contaminated site. The average daily intake of 11.8 pg WHO2005-TEQ kg-1 body weight was estimated for a breastfed infant at 6 months of age. This demonstrates the exposure risk to infants, especially from Penang region, to these pollutants from human milk intake are potentially high during the lactation period.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants
  20. Nano-TiO2 aggravates the adverse effect of pentachlorophenol on antioxidant and immune response in anti-predatory mussels
    Wei S, Sun B, Liu C, Sokolova I, Waiho K, Fang JKH, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Oct 01;893:164836.
    PMID: 37321498 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164836
    Nano-TiO2 can act as a vector to organic compounds, such as pentachlorophenol (PCP) posing a potential threat to the marine ecosystems. Studies showed that nano pollutant toxicity can be modulated by abiotic factors, but little is known about the potential influence of biotic stressors (such as predators) on the physiological responses to pollutants in marine organisms. We explored the effects of n-TiO2 and PCP on the mussel Mytilus coruscus in the presence of its natural predator, the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus. Exposure to n-TiO2, PCP, and predation risk showed interactive effects on antioxidant and immune parameters of the mussels. Elevated activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP), suppressed activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), lower levels of glutathione (GSH) and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels indicated dysregulation of the antioxidant system and immune stress induced by single PCP or n-TiO2 exposure. Integrated biomarker (IBR) response values showed the effect of PCP was concentration dependent. Of the two used n-TiO2 sizes (25 and 100 nm), larger particles induced higher antioxidant and immune disturbances indicating higher toxicity possibly due to higher bioavailability. Compared to single PCP exposure, the combination of n-TiO2 and PCP enhanced the imbalance of SOD/CAT and GSH/GPX and led to elevated oxidative lesions and activation of immune-related enzymes. Overall, the combined impacts of pollutants and biotic stress exhibited a greater magnitude of adverse effects on antioxidant defense and immune parameters in mussels. The toxicological effects of PCP were exacerbated in the presence of n-TiO2, and the deleterious impact of these stressors was further amplified under predator-induced risk after prolonged (28 days) exposure. However, the underlying physiological regulatory mechanisms governing the interplay of these stressors and predatory cues on mussels remain elusive, warranting further investigation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Pollutants*
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