Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health最新文献

In this mini-review, the authors comment on selected papers focused on the use of low-cost materials to prevent/remediate environmental pollution (specifically, soil and water pollution). The authors have selected publications corresponding to the years 2021 and 2022, using the searching tools Scopus, Web of Sciences, and Google Scholar to find basic data about the papers, the countries where the researches were carried out, number of citations, and other details indicative of the relevance of the works. Overall, the field of research is receiving growing attention and efforts, providing useful data on classical and new low-cost materials, both raw and modified by means of low-cost procedures, which constitute a clearly interesting alternative to face environmental pollution currently and for the future.

Cometabolism describes the biodegradation of a contaminant by microorganisms grown on compounds other than the contaminant itself. Aerobic cometabolic degradation of 1,4-dioxane (14D) offers several advantages over metabolism-based biodegradation processes in which microorganisms use this compound as a sole source of carbon and energy for growth. These include (a) the use of widely distributed rather than highly specialized microorganisms (b) the ability to treat low, environmentally relevant concentrations (≤100 μg/L) of 14D, and (c), the ability to concurrently degrade chlorinated co-contaminants that are frequently encountered with 14D. This review summarizes recent studies highlighting these key features as well as field studies and emerging novel cometabolism-based approaches aimed at treating both 14D and its associated chlorinated co-contaminants.

Among universities' responsibilities, addressing sustainability-related issues by enabling a food environment which raises people's awareness and promotes the improvement of food offer and consumption is paramount. This article draws on recent literature evidence and virtuous examples provided by leading experts, with the purpose of outlining a conceptual model for fostering healthy and sustainable nutrition among the academic community through food services. To summarize, the connection between different academic departments, stakeholders, and students is crucial to gain the participation of the entire university society. At the same time, networking with food service companies is also relevant. Only by bringing together diverse expertise, skills, and experience will change in the university community will be possible to reach the common goal of making universities a supportive environment to ensure the well-being of the entire academic community on and off campus.

Organohalide chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are prevalent contaminants in the environment. Recent findings that certain microbes could attenuate these pollutants suggest the potential to develop bioremediation technologies using functional microorganisms to combat this pollution crisis. A timely review on bioremediation progress and emerging tools that can be used to facilitate bioremediation design is needed. Thus far, bioremediation of PCBs and PBDEs is at the developing stage from laboratory investigation to field application, whereas exploring potent microbes remains the central task for PFASs. Successful bioremediation is underpinned by a collection of interactive microbes; however, relevant microbial ecology questions affecting bioremediation performance are underexplored. Machine learning, quantum chemistry, and biomolecular modeling are prospective tools to optimize system operation, predict environmental fate of chemicals, and explore functional enzymes, but their application in bioremediation only emerged recently. This review summarizes recently discovered microbes and genes involved in biodegradation of organohalide pollutants, highlights practical and ecological questions, and discusses potential application of computational tools in bioremediation of organohalide pollutants.

This review provides recent evidence on blood lead levels (BLLs) of children living in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and identifies the most recent findings on recommendations to combat this public health problem. Most of the articles reviewed evaluate BLL in areas with the potential risk of lead contamination, but a small number investigated associations with health outcomes. The results show that, of the few studies reviewed evaluating BLL, almost half showed average concentrations that exceeded recommended limits. The recommendations we have provided represent the most current set for the prevention of childhood lead contamination. However, the main obstacle to implementation is the non-prioritization of actions in political processes, a barrier that needs to be overcome.

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) are abundantly used in electronic and electrical products (e-products) which have greatly facilitated the modern life. However, LCMs have been recognized as emerging contaminants of persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic properties. This review summarized the current knowledge on their emission sources, environmental occurrence, and human exposure. Emissions from e-waste recycling activities and in-use e-products have been documented whereas those from manufacturing plants were deficient. At least 108 LCMs have been detected in environmental and/or biotic samples, suggesting common exposure to LCMs by occupational and general populations. Further studies are required to determine the characteristics of LCMs in the environment and humans and understand their behavior and fate. Toxicological studies are urgently needed to understand the potential adverse effects of LCMs on ecological environment and human.

In 2016, WHO report data revealed that air pollution (AP) contributed to around 300.000 deaths of children under five and to around 52.000 deaths of children adolescents aged between 5 and 15 years. Respiratory system is the entry for air pollutants, and therefore is the most impacted system. However, in the last two decades, scientific evidence show that the other system is affected and exposure can be associated with lasting effects later in life. Beyond the respiratory system, the development and function of the cardiovascular system, the central nervous system, and the metabolism are affected. Indeed, there is an emerging concept that exposure to AP during gestation and early childhood increases the risk of disease in adulthood. In fact, the larger number of children breathing unhealthy air live in areas more prone to have other environmental threats, such as bad housing and precarious sanitation and lower access to health services, a situation that can be characterized as a multiple jeopardy, a scenario that children and their families fundamentally rely on public policies to be protected. Thus, actions aimed to reduce children's exposure to AP extrapolate the boundaries of health policies, to incorporate the contents of human rights and dignity.

The exposome represents an interdisciplinary science and promising field of research that can identify how multiple facets of the environment influences health across the lifespan. A particular sensitive and critical window for environmental exposures and exposure-associated health is during early life, especially childhood. Previous studies of the exposome during childhood are highlighted, including the external and internal exposome. Challenges, and potential ways to overcome them, of the childhood exposome are presented with the aims to improve exposome studies during early life.

Contagious diseases are needed to be monitored to prevent spreading within communities. Timely advice and predictions are necessary to overcome the consequences of those epidemics. Currently, emphasis has been placed on computer modeling to achieve the needed forecasts, the best example being the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists used various models to determine how diverse sociodemographic factors correlated and influenced COVID-19 Global transmission and demonstrated the utility of computer models as tools in disease management. However, as modeling is done with assumptions with set rules, calculating uncertainty quantification is essential in infectious modelling when reporting the results and trustfully describing the limitations. This article summarizes the infectious disease modeling strategies, challenges, and global applicability by focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.