Current Pollution Reports最新文献

Purpose of Review

This review examines recent publications on rare earth elements (REE) in soils, critically evaluating their role as emerging soil contaminants. We emphasized new findings and main gaps using a previous review paper published in 2016 by our research group as a reference point. Three major subjects were prioritized: (1) sources, background levels, and behavior of REE in soils; (2) plant development and metabolism as affected by REE exposure; and (3) environmental and human health risk assessments of REE in the soil environment.

Recent Findings

Publications addressing the occurrence and fate of REE in the soil environment have more than tripled in the last decade. Coincidentally, global REE exploration has more than doubled in the past 7 years. Because of their unique features, the global demand for REE is expected to increase by at least 50% in the next 10 years. As soils are the main sink of contaminants, we must continue to investigate the consequences of the unceasing addition of these elements in soil ecosystems.

Summary

We highlighted the main sources of REE, their background levels in selected global soils, and their physicochemical behavior. The relationship between REE and plants revealed potential benefits such as environmental stress tolerance. Finally, ecological and human health risk assessment data for REE in soils were carefully discussed in terms of their potential adverse effects on biota. We conclude with a survey in which prominent authors working with REE answered questions about challenges and opportunities for innovative research on REE in soil-plant-animal/human systems.

Graphical Abstract

Purpose of Review

The increasing occurrence of emerging chemicals of concern in the environment has caused high public attention. Assessing their hematologic toxicities is of high priority, as the blood circulation system is usually essential in transporting these exogenous substances to diverse target tissues in vivo. The plasma kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) is one of the most abundant protease enzyme systems and regulates a series of crucial hematologic functions. As a vulnerable target, the KKS may sensitively respond to circulatory pollutants, and combing the current studies on the interaction of the environmental contaminants with the KKS would help understand the toxicological or pathological significance of this system.

Recent Findings

The current studies have revealed that some environmental contaminants, such as small molecular organic chemicals, engineered nanoparticles (NPs), and atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM), can directly interact with the KKS, causing the autoactivation of the Hageman factor XII (FXII), the subsequent cascade cleavage of the plasma prekallikrein (PPK), and high molecular kininogen (HK). The consequent downstream hematological effects and other related toxicities can be concomitantly induced via the crosstalk with the KKS. In addition, multiple approaches, based on in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo experimental models, have been developed to characterize the binding of exogenous substances with FXII, conformational changes of the protein, the cascade activation of the KKS, and downstream toxicological or pathological responses.

Summary

As a vulnerable target, the plasma KKS sensitively responds to the exposure of environmental pollutants and is promising for biomonitoring hematotoxicity in future studies.

Air pollution and the various chemicals that are a part of this complex mixture have been associated with several adverse infant health outcomes. One major area of research is describing the underlying biological mechanism between air pollution and adverse infant health outcomes. Metabolomics, a new omics field, studies small molecules present in a biological matrix and may provide insight into underlying biological mechanism. We conducted a narrative review of the literature to identify studies utilizing metabolomics with air pollution, or some potential component of it, and adverse infant health. We identified seven studies that met our inclusion criteria. These studies described a range of potential air pollutants including tobacco smoke, PAH, NO₂, PM_2.5, O₃, BC, heavy metals, and PFAS. The studies mainly focused on gestational age and weight outcomes. Metabolic analysis revealed many altered metabolomic pathways including those related to amino acid metabolism, glycan metabolism, lipid metabolism, and cofactor and vitamin metabolism. These studies provide valuable insight into the potential biological mechanisms that underpin the association between air pollution and adverse gestational outcomes. Future studies should utilize longitudinal study design and use complex mixture analysis for air pollution exposure assessment, as well as focus on the use of more toxicologically relevant target tissue for infant health outcomes.

Purpose of Review

This review collates and analyses data on noise exposure of birds in relation to avian hearing system performance. It provides new insights into the mechanistic pathways of anthropogenic noise impact on avian species.

Recent Findings

Noise impacts both humans and wildlife. Birds are of conservation concern, given the recent reports of major global declines in bird populations and that one in eight bird species is threatened with extinction. Studies of noise impacts on birds have been, and continue to be, published. Whilst many of these studies report associations between noise and a response in birds, relatively few provide clear demonstration of the mechanisms of impact.

Summary

Anatomical and physiological datasets were compiled for species representing nineteen avian orders. Information on noise sources, propagation path and habitat selection was also collated. Bird order was not a good predictor of bird hearing frequencies, but body dimensions were. In general, smaller birds were found to have higher peak hearing frequencies than larger birds. Cranium height was the strongest predictor of peak hearing frequency for birds. These findings provide mechanistic context to noise impacts on birds and a potential basis for predicting responses of avian species to different noise environments.

Purpose of Review

In the presented review, we have summarized and highlighted recent developments in the use of lignin peroxidase (LiP) to remove a variety of pollutants from water matrices. The high redox potential of LiP is underlined by its excellent catalytic functionalities in the elimination of pharmaceuticals, phenolics, dyes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and other miscellaneous pollutants. LiP-based computational frameworks for theoretical bioremediation of multiple pollutants have also been discussed, which have prompted a rise in scientific interest.

Recent Findings

According to current studies, both free and immobilized LiPs are biocatalysts capable of efficient pollutant degradation and LMW transformation. Some immobilized LiP preparations demonstrated excellent recyclability, enabling its reusability in multiple catalytic cycles. Additionally, computational degradability makes it easier to comprehend the mechanisms underlying the degradation of recalcitrant pollutants.

Summary

The capacity of LiP to cleave C–C and C–O–C bonds has led to its widespread application as a biocatalyst. Its outstanding potential to catalyze oxidative cleavage has been effectively used in the remediation of pollutants without needing mediators. Nevertheless, we brought attention to the current LiP system in pollutants remediation and computational framework, which has generated a significant rise in scientific interest.

Purpose of Review

This review summarizes the current knowledge (definition, source, formation, structure, chemical composition, and health effects) about atmospheric soot particles and aims to analyze their health effects combined with their structural characteristics.

Recent Findings

The new understanding of soot microstructure (analogous to reduced graphene oxide (RGO)) suggests the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups (OFGs) in carbonaceous core (CC) of soot, which may enhance its health effects. Toxicological studies have proved that the two major components (CC and outer coating) both contribute to soot toxicity, but there is still controversy over who is playing the main role. Recently, there are many studies questioning the past experimental results. The bioavailability of the outer coating bound on CC is particularly pointed out to be taken into account for soot toxicity. Existing epidemiological studies on black carbon (BC), a near-synonym of soot in atmospheric science, have prompted the adverse health effects especially for cardiovascular system. A stronger association between short term BC exposure and health endpoints is lately found than fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), but still needs more consistent evidence. Therefore, the health effects of soot need more attention as well as comprehensive and in-depth research.

Summary

It is evident from the review that soot is a responsible agent for adverse health effects, which may exceed PM_2.5. The CC and outer coating have been proved to exert toxicity separately, of which oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage are most important toxicity mechanisms. However, their antagonistic interaction may weaken the toxicity of the whole soot particle.

Purpose of Review

This review aims to provide a comprehensive examination of oxidation flow reactor (OFR) studies and their applications in both laboratory and field investigations. OFRs play a crucial role in understanding secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and aging processes in the atmosphere. By evaluating the advancements and limitations of OFR technology, this review seeks to identify key research directions and challenges for future studies in atmospheric chemistry and air quality research.

Recent Findings

In recent years, OFR has emerged as an encouraging alternative to smog chambers for SOA study. The high oxidative capacity and short residence time of OFR enable its wide application in both laboratory and field studies. Research utilizing OFR has uncovered the critical role of semi-volatile and intermediate-volatility organic compounds (S/IVOCs) in the formation of SOA from various sources, including vehicle emissions, biomass burning, cooking activities, and non-traditional emissions such as volatile chemical products. Notably, field studies have observed considerable variability in the SOA formation potential across different environments globally, generally showing higher formation potential in urban areas compared to rural and forest regions.

Summary

OFR studies have significantly advanced our understanding of SOA formation and aging processes, identifying key precursors, evaluating influencing factors, and quantifying SOA formation potential. However, challenges remain in unraveling detailed mechanisms due to the complexity of SOA sources and properties. Future OFR research should focus on innovations in OFR design, study non-traditional emissions, conduct long-term field observations, develop standardized calibration procedures, and establish SOA yield parameterization schemes for S/IVOCs.

Purpose of Review

Different drying methods can cause errors in determining the content and evaluating the biological effectiveness of various forms of phosphorus (P) in sediment. The drying pretreatment effectively promotes the conversion of amorphous iron and aluminium oxides to their crystalline form, which ultimately impacts the adsorption capabilities of sediment. However, limited research has been conducted in this field previously. Sediments from the Weiyuan River, Baoenqiao Reservoir, and Honghu Lake in China were pretreated using freeze-drying, air-drying, and oven-drying methods. The effects of pretreatment methods on P were evaluated through P fractionation and isothermal adsorption experiments. The study also investigated the proportion and amount of amorphous iron and aluminium (Fe_ox and Al_ox) transformed into crystalline forms.

Recent Findings

The results revealed that drying pretreatment markedly increased the potentially bioavailable P(BAP) (6.73%). This increase can be attributed to the rise in loosely-bound P (48.30%) and P bound to metal oxides (9.51%), which are predominant contributors to BAP. Furthermore, sediment adsorption performance significantly decreases after drying pretreatment. This is due to the reduced content of Fe_ox (64.02%) and Al_ox (36.61%), which exhibit higher P adsorption capacity. Additionally, drying led to a significant reduction in SP_max (25.09%) and PSI (28.20%), along with an increase in EPC₀ (24.96%) and DPS (6.83%).

Summary

Different drying treatments affected the P forms and sorption properties of the sediment to varying degrees, with the overall effect being oven-drying > air-drying > freeze-drying > fresh samples. Consequently, when fresh sediment is not available for laboratory analysis, freeze-drying may be a more realistic method for characterizing P properties.

Graphical Abstract

Purpose of Review

The response to COVID-19 in the global community resulted in a disruption of usual sensory experiences associated with quotidian life and special events. While research has investigated urban and rural soundscape alteration/change during COVID and post-COVID, no summative work has focused on soundscapes of traditional (heritage) festivals. Research is warranted as cultural heritage festivals are significant and fundamental for human societal functioning, and associated soundscapes are a key aural reflection of these. This paper aims to critically review literature published from 2020 on the effect of COVID-19 on heritage festival soundscapes, with a particular focus on the loss of aural experience examined from a community perspective.

Recent Findings

We identified fourteen articles which covered heritage festival sounds or soundscapes, with the resultant aural experience being transformed, postponed or discontinued due to pandemic restrictions. There was a distinct lack of formal research investigating how communities perceived these changed soundscapes, with perceptions generally based on researcher’s own perspectives, either through informal conversations with community members or through content analysis. Furthermore, we identified no research which specifically targeted community perceptions of transformed heritage festival soundscapes.

Summary

In recognising and understanding both the importance of sensory components in creating a festival atmosphere and the significance of heritage festivals to the community as a cultural signature, the COVID-19 pandemic gives us a chance to pause and consider festival sensory components as an experienced intangible form of heritage and to question how alteration of these sensory heritage experiences concerns the communities affected.

Graphical Abstract

Visual collage of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on heritage festival soundscapes

The response to COVID-19 resulted in a disruption of usual sensory experiences. In recognising the importance of festival sensory components in creating an atmosphere and the significance of heritage festivals to the community, the pandemic gives us an opportunity to consider festival sensory components as an experienced intangible form of heritage.

Purpose of Review

The synergistic effects of microplastics (MPs) and heavy metals are becoming major threats to aquatic life and human well-being. Therefore, understanding synergistic interactions between MPs and heavy metals is crucial to comprehend their environmental impacts.

Recent Findings

The mechanisms such as electrostatic attraction, surface interactions, ion exchange, hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic forces, and π–π interactions behind the synergistic effects of MPs and heavy metals were critically reviewed and justified. In addition, the roles of surface chemistry in these interactions were also emphasized. Finally, efficient remediation techniques aligning with a circular economy-based initiative to promote sustainable solutions were recommended to mitigate plastic-heavy metal pollution to achieve a cleaner environment.

Summary

This review examines the combined impact of MPs and heavy metals in aquatic ecosystems, detailing their mechanistic interactions, and consequences with proposed sustainable solutions. Additionally, this review highlights the MP-heavy metal contamination risks and emphasizes the need for further research to safeguard aquatic life and human health.