This reconnaissance study of radon concentrations in the Great Cave of Niah in Sarawak shows that in relatively deep pits and trenches in surficial deposits largely covered by protective shelters with poor ventilation, excavators are working in a micro-environment in which radon concentrations at the ground surface can exceed those of the surrounding area by a factor of > x 2. Although radon concentrations in this famous cave are low by world standards (alpha track-etch results ranging from 100 to 3075 Bq m(-3)), they still may pose a health risk to both excavators (personal dosemeter readings varied from 0.368 to 0.857 mSv for 60 days of work) and cave occupants (1 yr exposure at 15 h per day with an average radon level of 608 Bq m(-3) giving a dose of 26.42 mSv). The data here presented also demonstrate that there is considerable local variation in radon levels in such environments as these.
Fuzzy time series (FTS) forecasting models show a great performance in predicting time series, such as air pollution time series. However, they have caused major issues by utilizing random partitioning of the universe of discourse and ignoring repeated fuzzy sets. In this study, a novel hybrid forecasting model by integrating fuzzy time series to Markov chain and C-Means clustering techniques with an optimal number of clusters is presented. This hybridization contributes to generating effective lengths of intervals and thus, improving the model accuracy. The proposed model was verified and validated with real time series data sets, which are the benchmark data of actual trading of Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) and PM10 concentration data from Melaka, Malaysia. In addition, a comparison was made with some existing fuzzy time series models. Furthermore, the mean absolute percentage error, mean squared error and Theil's U statistic were calculated as evaluation criteria to illustrate the performance of the proposed model. The empirical analysis shows that the proposed model handles the time series data sets more efficiently and provides better overall forecasting results than existing FTS models. The results prove that the proposed model has greatly improved the prediction accuracy, for which it outperforms several fuzzy time series models. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed model is a better option for forecasting air pollution parameters and any kind of random parameters.
Humans are exposed to environmental risks owing to the broad usage of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). However, the subjective evaluation of risk levels and characteristics, as well as the variation in risk processing, have not been thoroughly examined. The objective was to understand the public's perception of the risk associated with human exposure to environmental EDCs and identify any variations in risk perception. In this pioneering study conducted within the distinctive social and cultural context of Malaysia, a developing nation, a quantitative analysis approach was employed to assess the subjective evaluation of risk levels and characteristics among the public while developing a risk perception model. Data gathered from surveys and questionnaires were analyzed to gather information on the public's perception of environmental and health issues pertaining to pesticides, hormones, plastics, medicines, and cosmetics. The analysis revealed that the majority of the public assessed the level of human exposure to environmental risks based on experiential processing, which was influenced by cognitive and affective variables. Interestingly, a higher proportion of individuals in the community had a low risk perception of environmental EDCs, surpassing the overall risk perception by 19.3%. Furthermore, the public showed significant awareness of environmental and health issues related to pesticides, hormones, and plastics but had a lesser inclination to acknowledge the vulnerability of humans to risks associated with medicines and cosmetics. These findings suggest that the public is likely to be exposed to environmental EDCs based on their current perceived risks, and that sociopsychological factors play a significant role in shaping perceptions and judgments. This understanding can inform the development of targeted risk management strategies and interventions to mitigate the potential harm caused by environmental EDCs.
This study evaluates state-of-the-art machine learning models in predicting the most sustainable arsenic mitigation preference. A Gaussian distribution-based Naïve Bayes (NB) classifier scored the highest Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (0.82), followed by Nu Support Vector Classification (0.80), and K-Neighbors (0.79). Ensemble classifiers scored higher than 70% AUC, with Random Forest being the top performer (0.77), and Decision Tree model ranked fourth with an AUC of 0.77. The multilayer perceptron model also achieved high performance (AUC=0.75). Most linear classifiers underperformed, with the Ridge classifier at the top (AUC=0.73) and perceptron at the bottom (AUC=0.57). A Bernoulli distribution-based Naïve Bayes classifier was the poorest model (AUC=0.50). The Gaussian NB was also the most robust ML model with the slightest variation of Kappa score on training (0.58) and test data (0.64). The results suggest that nonlinear or ensemble classifiers could more accurately understand the complex relationships of socio-environmental data and help develop accurate and robust prediction models of sustainable arsenic mitigation. Furthermore, Gaussian NB is the best option when data is scarce.
The uptake and elimination of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) by the amphipod Hyalella azteca during exposure to the metals singly and in various combinations was examined in controlled laboratory experiments. In single metal exposures the accumulation of all metals was rapid and increased with exposure time. Copper elimination was slower compared to that for zinc and for cadmium no elimination was detected after 5 days in clean water. In the two-metal mixtures it appears that the presence of one metal influenced the bioconcentration of the other, since the bioconcentration factor (BCF) for copper was higher in the presence of cadmium than in the presence of zinc and in the case of cadmium, the decrease of K(1) values from cadmium single exposure to the binary and tertiary mixtures suggests possible inhibition of cadmium uptake by the other metals. In the case of the three-metal mixture the situation is less clear, with both increased and decreased BCFs recorded, in comparison to single-metal and two-metal mixtures, suggesting both stimulation and inhibition of metal accumulation.
Arsenic is a common contaminant in gold mine soil and tailings. Microbes present an opportunity for bio-treatment of arsenic, since it is a sustainable and cost-effective approach to remove arsenic from water. However, the development of existing bio-treatment approaches depends on isolation of arsenic-resistant microbes from arsenic contaminated samples. Microbial cultures are commonly used in bio-treatment; however, it is not established whether the structure of the cultured isolates resembles the native microbial community from arsenic-contaminated soil. In this milieu, a culture-independent approach using Illumina sequencing technology was used to profile the microbial community in situ. This was coupled with a culture-dependent technique, that is, isolation using two different growth media, to analyse the microbial population in arsenic laden tailing dam sludge based on the culture-independent sequencing approach, 4 phyla and 8 genera were identified in a sample from the arsenic-rich gold mine. Firmicutes (92.23%) was the dominant phylum, followed by Proteobacteria (3.21%), Actinobacteria (2.41%), and Bacteroidetes (1.49%). The identified genera included Staphylococcus (89.8%), Pseudomonas (1.25), Corynebacterium (0.82), Prevotella (0.54%), Megamonas (0.38%) and Sphingomonas (0.36%). The Shannon index value (3.05) and Simpson index value (0.1661) indicated low diversity in arsenic laden tailing. The culture dependent method exposed significant similarities with culture independent methods at the phylum level with Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, being common, and Firmicutes was the dominant phylum whereas, at the genus level, only Pseudomonas was presented by both methods. It showed high similarities between culture independent and dependent methods at the phylum level and large differences at the genus level, highlighting the complementarity between the two methods for identification of the native population bacteria in arsenic-rich mine. As a result, the present study can be a resource on microbes for bio-treatment of arsenic in mining waste.
Box-Behnken model of response surface methodology was used to study the effect of adsorption process parameters for Rhodamine B (RhB) removal from aqueous solution through optimized large surface area date stone activated carbon. The set experiments with three input parameters such as time (10-600min), adsorbent dosage (0.5-10g/L) and temperature (25-50°C) were considered for statistical significance. The adequate relation was found between the input variables and response (removal percentage of RhB) and Fisher values (F- values) along with P-values suggesting the significance of various term coefficients. At an optimum adsorbent dose of 0.53g/L, time 593min and temperature 46.20°C, the adsorption capacity of 210mg/g was attained with maximum desirability. The negative values of Gibb(')s free energy (ΔG) predicted spontaneity and feasibility of adsorption; whereas, positive Enthalpy change (ΔH) confirmed endothermic adsorption of RhB onto optimized large surface area date stone activated carbons (OLSADS-AC). The adsorption data were found to be the best fit on the Langmuir model supporting monolayer type of adsorption of RhB with maximum monolayer layer adsorption capacity of 196.08mg/g.
Abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates as well as physico-chemical parameters were investigated in five rivers of the Juru River Basin in northern Peninsula Malaysia: Ceruk Tok Kun River (CTKR), Pasir River (PR), Permatang Rawa River (PRR), Kilang Ubi River (KUR), and Juru River (JR). The physico-chemical parameters and calculated water quality index (WQI) were significantly different among the investigated rivers (ANOVA, P<0.05). The WQI classified CTKR, PR, and JR into class III (slightly polluted). However, PRR and KUR fell into class IV (polluted). High diversity and abundance of macroinvertebrates, especially the intolerant taxa, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, were observed in the least polluted river, CTKR. Decreasing abundance of macroinvertebrates followed the deterioration of river water quality with the least number of the most tolerant taxa collected from PR. On the basis of composition and sensitivity of macroinvertebrates to pollutants in each river, the highest Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) index score of 93 was reported in CTKR (good water quality). BMWP scores in PRR and JR were 38.7 and 20.1, respectively, classifying both of them into "moderate water quality" category. Poor water quality was reported in PR and KUR. The outcome of the multivariate analysis (CCA) was highly satisfactory, explaining 43.32% of the variance for the assemblages of macroinvertebrates as influenced by 19 physical and chemical variables. According to the CCA model, we assert that there were three levels of stresses on macroinvertebrate communities in the investigated rivers: Level 1, characterized of undisturbed or slightly polluted as in the case of CTKR; Level 2, characterized by a lower habitat quality (the JR) compared to the CTKR; and Level 3 showed severe environmental stresses (PRR, PR, and KUR) primarily contributed by agricultural, industrial, and municipal discharges.
This study intends to determine the health impacts from two office life cycles (St.1 and St.2) using life cycle assessment (LCA) and health risk assessment of indoor metals in coarse particulates (particulate matter with diameters of less than 10µm). The first building (St.1) is located in the city centre and the second building (St.2) is located within a new development 7km away from the city centre. All life cycle stages are considered and was analysed using SimaPro software. The trace metal concentrations were determined by inductively couple plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Particle deposition in the human lung was estimated using the multiple-path particle dosimetry model (MPPD). The results showed that the total human health impact for St.1 (0.027 DALY m-2) was higher than St.2 (0.005 DALY m-2) for a 50-year lifespan, with the highest contribution from the operational phase. The potential health risk to indoor workers was quantified as a hazard quotient (HQ) for non-carcinogenic elements, where the total values for ingestion contact were 4.38E-08 (St.1) and 2.59E-08 (St.2) while for dermal contact the values were 5.12E-09 (St.1) and 2.58E-09 (St.2). For the carcinogenic risk, the values for dermal and ingestion routes for both St.1 and St.2 were lower than the acceptable limit which indicated no carcinogenic risk. Particle deposition for coarse particles in indoor workers was concentrated in the head, followed by the pulmonary region and tracheobronchial tract deposition. The results from this study showed that human health can be significantly affected by all the processes in office building life cycle, thus the minimisation of energy consumption and pollutant exposures are crucially required.
It is important to assess indoor air quality in school classrooms where the air quality may significantly influence school children's health and performance. This study aims to determine the concentrations of PM2.5 and dust chemical compositions in indoor and outdoor school classroom located in Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The PM2.5 concentration was measured from 19th September 2017-16th February 2018 using an optical PM2.5 sensor. Indoor and outdoor dust was also collected from the school classrooms and ion and trace metal concentrations were analysed using ion chromatography (IC) and inductively couple plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) respectively. This study showed that the average indoor and outdoor 24 h PM2.5 was 11.2 ± 0.45 µg m-3 and 11.4 ± 0.44 µg m-3 respectively. The 8 h PM2.5 concentration ranged between 3.2 and 28 µg m-3 for indoor and 3.2 and 19 µg m-3 for outdoor classrooms. The highest ion concentration in indoor dust was Ca2+ with an average concentration of 38.5 ± 35.0 µg g-1 while for outdoor dust SO42- recorded the highest ion concentration with an average concentration of 30.6 ± 9.37 µg g-1. Dominant trace metals in both indoor and outdoor dust were Al, Fe and Zn. Principle component analysis-multiple linear regression (PCA-MLR) demonstrated that the major source of indoor dust was road dust (69%), while soil dominated the outdoor dust (74%). Health risk assessment showed that the hazard quotient (HQ) value for non-carcinogenic trace metals was
It is important to have good indoor air quality, especially in indoor office environments, in order to enhance productivity and maintain good work performance. This study investigated the effects of indoor office activities on particulate matter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) concentrations, assessing their potential impact on human health. Measurements of indoor PM2.5 and O3 concentrations were taken every 24 h during the working days in five office environments located in a semi-urban area. As a comparison, the outdoor concentrations were derived from the nearest Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Station. The results showed that the average 24 h of indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations were 3.24 ± 0.82 μg m-3 and 17.4 ± 3.58 μg m-3 respectively, while for O3 they were 4.75 ± 4.52 ppb and 21.5 ± 5.22 ppb respectively. During working hours, the range of PM2.5 concentrations were 1.00 μg m-3 to 6.10 μg m-3 while for O3 they were 0.10 ppb to 38.0 ppb. The indoor to outdoor ratio (I/O) for PM2.5 and O3 was <1, thus indicating a low infiltration of outdoor sources. The value of the hazard quotient (HQ) for all sampling buildings was <1 for both chronic and acute exposures, indicating that the non-carcinogenic risks are negligible. Higher total cancer risk (CR) value for outdoors (2.67E-03) was observed compared to indoors (4.95E-04) under chronic exposure while the CR value for acute exposure exceeded 1.0E-04, thus suggesting a carcinogenic PM2.5 risk for both the indoor and outdoor environments. The results of this study suggest that office activities, such as printing and photocopying, affect indoor O3 concentrations while PM2.5 concentrations are impacted by indoor-related contributions.
In vitro Lead (Pb(2+)) binding capacity of two probiotic bacteria strains, namely Bifidobacterium longumBB79 and Lactobacillus pentosusITA23, was assessed following incubation with the intestinal contents (IC) of laying hens. Results of this study demonstrated that IC treatment significantly enhanced (P<0.01) Pb(2+) binding capacity of both bacterial strains. Fourier transform infrared analysis indicated that several functional groups (O-H or N-H, C-H, C˭O, C-O, and C-O-C) on the bacteria cell wall involved in metal ion binding were altered after IC incubation, and new groups appeared between the 3700cm(-1) and 4000cm(-1)bands. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that after incubation with IC, unidentified IC components created new binding sites on the bacterial cell surface. These particles also changed the mechanism of Pb(2+) binding of the two strains from intracellular accumulation to extracellular adsorption.
Vanillic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid) (VA) is a natural benzoic acid derivative commonly found in herbs, rice, maize, and some fruits and vegetables. However, due to the wide use of VA in various industrial sectors, its presence in the environment might harm living organisms. This study evaluated the toxicity of VA and its isomers, iso-VA and orto-VA. Firstly, the antimicrobial effect of VA and its isomers iso-VA and orto-VA (in doses of 1000; 100, 10, 1; 0.1; 0.01 mg/L) against Escherichia coli, Sarcina spp., Enterobacter homaechei, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans were identified. The toxic effect and protein degradation potential of VA and its isomers were determined using E. coli grpE:luxCDABE and lac:luxCDABE biosensor strains. However, the genotoxicity and oxidative stress generation were assessed with the E. coli recA:luxCDABE biosensor and E. coli strain. The results showed that VA, iso-VA, and orto-VA exhibited antimicrobial activity against all tested bacterial strains. However, VA's antimicrobial effect differed from iso-VA and orto-VA. Similar toxic, genotoxic, and oxidative stress-inducing effects were observed for VA and its isomers. Each compound exhibited toxicity, cellular protein degradation, and genotoxic activity against E. coli grpE:luxCDABE, E. coli lac:luxCDABE, and E. coli recA:luxCDABE strains. Analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation within E. coli cells highlighted oxidative stress as a contributing factor to the toxicity and genotoxicity of VA and its isomers. While the findings suggest potential applications of VA compounds as food preservatives, their presence in the environment raises concerns regarding the risks posed to living organisms due to their toxic and genotoxic characteristics.
Continuous depletion in tin productions has led to a newly emerging industry that is a tin by-product (amang) processing industry to harness mega tons of tin by-products produced in the past. Amang composed of profitable multi-heavy minerals and rare-earth elements. With poorly established safety and health practices in operating plant, amang poses extremely high radioactivity problem associated with high occupational ionizing radiation exposures to workers and continuously impacting the local environment with radioactive contamination from industrial effluent and solid waste into lithosphere and water bodies. The radioactivity level of 238U and 232Th series in the mineral varies from few hundreds up to ~200,000 and ~400,000 Bq kg-1 respectively and are potential to yield more than ~ 30,000 nGy h-1 of gamma (γ) radiation exposure to plant workers. The study found out that for 8 h of work time, a worker is estimated to receive an average effective dose of 0.1 mSv per day from external γ radiation source with a maximum up to 2 mSv per day for extreme exposure situation. Interferences of different exposure routes for examples inhalation of equivalent equilibrium concentration (ECC) of 222Rn and 220Rn progenies and airborne long-lived α particles from the dusty working environment could pose a higher total effective dose as much as 5 mSv per day and 115 mSv per year. The value is 5 times higher than the annual dose limit for designated radiation worker (20 mSv) in Peninsular Malaysia. The study found that 41% of the total received an effective dose received by a worker is contributed by 222Rn, 32% of airborne particulates and dust, 23% from external γ exposure and 4% from 220Rn. Based on radioecological risk assessment, the study found out that the aquatic environment is the highly exposed group to ionizing radiation from industrial effluent discharge and sand residues. With the impotent establishment of radiation protection in the industry, plus the country newly introduced long-term plan to revive tin mining as well as its accessory amang mineral, it is necessary for the government to harmonize current regulation to improve the worker safety and health as well as sustaining local environment.
The widespread presence of mercury, a heavy metal found in the environment and used in numerous industries and domestic, raises concerns about its potential impact on human health. Nevertheless, the adverse effects of this environmental toxicant at low concentrations are often underestimated. There are emerging studies showing that accumulation of mercury in the eye may contribute to visual impairment and a comorbidity between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) trait and visual impairment. However, the underlying mechanism of visual impairment in humans and rodents is challenging. In response to this issue, zebrafish larvae with a cone-dominated retinal visual system were exposed to 100 nM mercury chloride (HgCl2), according to our previous study, followed by light-dark stimulation, a social assay, and color preference to examine the functionality of the visual system in relation to ASD-like behavior. Exposure of embryos to HgCl2 from gastrulation to hatching increased locomotor activity in the dark, reduced shoaling and exploratory behavior, and impaired color preference. Defects in microridges as the first barrier may serve as primary tools for HgCl2 toxicity affecting vision. Depletion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), linoleic acid, arachidonic acid (ARA), alpha-linoleic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), stearic acid, L-phenylalanine, isoleucine, L-lysine, and N-acetylputrescine, along with the increase of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), sphingosine-1-phosphate, and citrulline assayed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) suggest that these metabolites serve as biomarkers of retinal impairments that affect vision and behavior. Although suppression of adsl, shank3a, tsc1b, and nrxn1a gene expression was observed, among these tsc1b showed more positive correlation with ASD. Collectively, these results contribute new insights into the possible mechanism of mercury toxicity give rise to visual, cognitive, and social deficits in zebrafish.
This study aimed to investigate the chemical composition and potential sources of PM10 as well as assess the potential health hazards it posed to school children. PM10 samples were taken from classrooms at a school in Kuala Lumpur's city centre (S1) and one in the suburban city of Putrajaya (S2) over a period of eight hours using a low volume sampler (LVS). The composition of the major ions and trace metals in PM10 were then analysed using ion chromatography (IC) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), respectively. The results showed that the average PM10 concentration inside the classroom at the city centre school (82µg/m(3)) was higher than that from the suburban school (77µg/m(3)). Principal component analysis-absolute principal component scores (PCA-APCS) revealed that road dust was the major source of indoor PM10 at both school in the city centre (36%) and the suburban location (55%). The total hazard quotient (HQ) calculated, based on the formula suggested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), was found to be slightly higher than the acceptable level of 1, indicating that inhalation exposure to particle-bound non-carcinogenic metals of PM10, particularly Cr exposure by children and adults occupying the school environment, was far from negligible.
A contaminated aquatic environment may end up in the food chain and pose risks to tourist health in a tourist destination. To assess the health risk for tourists that visit St. Martine Island, which is a popular domestic and foreign tourist destination in Bangladesh, a study is undertaken to analyse the level of heavy metal contamination from chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and iron (Fe) in six of the most consumed fish (L. fasciatus, R. kanagurta, H. nigrescens, P. cuneatus, P. annularis and S. rubrum) and five crustacean species, which consist of a shrimp (P. sculptilis), a lobster (P. versicolor) and three crabs (P. sanguinolentus, T. crenata and M. victor) captured. The samples were analysed for trace metals using atomic absorption spectrometer, and the concentrations of the metals were interpreted using the United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) health risk model. The muscle and carapace/exoskeleton of shrimp, lobster and crabs were analysed and contained various concentrations of Pb, Hg, As, Cr, Cd, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn. The hierarchy of the heavy metal in marine fish is Fe > Cd > Zn > Pb > Cu > Cr > Mn > Hg. The concentrations of Pb in the species R. kanagurta, H. nigresceus and S. rubrum were above the food safety guideline by Australia, New Zealand and other legislations in most marine fish and crustaceans. Crabs showed higher mean heavy metal concentrations than shrimp and lobster. Acceptable carcinogen ranges were observed in three fish species (R. kanagurata, H. nigresceus and S. rubrum) and one crustacean species (P. sculptilis) samples.
In this work, palm shell waste powder activated carbon coated by magnesium silicate (PPAC-MS) were synthesized by the impregnation of magnesium silicate (MgSiO3) using economical material (silicon dioxide powder) via mild hydrothermal approach for the first time. As an effective adsorbent, PPAC-MS simultaneously removes BPA and Pb(II) in single and binary mode. Surprisingly, PPAC-MS exhibited a homogeneous thin plate mesh-like structure, as well as meso- and macropores with a high surface area of 772.1m2g-1. Due to its specific morphological characteristics, PPAC-MS had adsorption capacities of Pb(II) as high as 419.9mgg-1 and 408.8mgg-1 in single mode and binary mode based on Freudliuch isotherm model while those for BPA by PPAC-MS were 168.4mgg-1 and 254.7mgg-1 for single mode and binary modes corresponding to Langmuir isotherm model. Experiment results also indicated that the synergistic removal of BPA occurred because the precipitation process of Pb(II) leads to the co-precipitation of BPA with Pb(OH)2 compound. PPAC-MS showed a good reusability for 5 regeneration cycles using Mg(II) solution followed by thermal treatment. Overall, PPAC-MS has a high potential in the treatment process for wastewater containing both toxic heavy metals and emerging pollutants due to its high sorption capacities and reusability.
The stimulant and toxicity effects of reported organic (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, formic acid, oil & grease) and inorganic (copper) by-products presented in palm oil mill effluent on anaerobic bacterial population were examined in this paper. The toxicity test had shown that acetic, propionic and butyric acids tend to stimulate the bacterial density level (survival rate more than 50%), while formic acid, copper, oil and grease were shown to have suppressed the density level (survival rate less than 50%). The highest biomass recorded was 1.66 mg/L for the concentration of acetic acid at 216 mg/L and lowest biomass concentration, 0.90 mg/L for copper at 1.40 mg/L. Biohydrogen-producing bacteria have a favourable growth rate around pH 5.5. The comparison of half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values between two test duration on the effects of organic and inorganic by-products postulate that bacteria had a higher tolerance towards volatile fatty acids. While acetic, butyric and propionic acids had exhibited higher tolerance EC50 values for bacteria, but the opposite trend was observed for formic acid, copper and oil & grease.
Purification and detection of algal toxins is the most effective technique to ensure that people have clean and safe drinking water. To achieve these objectives, various state-of-the-art technologies were designed and fabricated to decontaminate and detect algal toxins in aquatic environments. Amongst these technologies, aptamer-functionalized hybrid nanomaterials conjugates have received significant consideration as a result of their several benefits over other methods, such as good controllable selectivity, low immunogenicity, and biocompatibility. Because of their excellent properties, aptamer-functionalized hybrid nanomaterials conjugates are one of several remarkable agents. Several isolated aptamer sequences for algal toxins are addressed in this review, as well as aptasensor and decontamination aptamer functionalized metal nanoparticle-derived hybrid nanocomposites applications. In addition, we present diverse aptamer-functionalized hybrid nanomaterial conjugates designs and their applications for sensing and decontamination.