Evaluation of the Adriatic Sea pollution using mesozooplankton as an environmental indicator.

The Adriatic Sea is an enclosed basin threatened by marine pollution due to its hydrographic features and anthropogenic pressure. Although zooplankton has been worldwide regarded as an immediate warning signal of contamination, limited information is available on the contamination of these organisms at the Adriatic level. Hence, this study provides comprehensive data on the presence and levels of multiple pollutants in zooplankton collected from 46 locations.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Paracetamol Degradation by NiCu-Modified TiO Nanotubes: Mechanistic Insights and Performance Evaluation.

Anodic TiO nanotube arrays decorated with Ni, Cu, and NiCu alloy thin films were investigated for the first time for the photocatalytic degradation of paracetamol in water solution under UV irradiation. Metallic co-catalysts were deposited on TiO nanotubes using magnetron sputtering. The influence of the metal layer composition and thickness on the photocatalytic activity was systematically studied.

Decoding trace element speciation in mushrooms: Analytical techniques, comprehensive data review, and health implications.

This review focuses on trace element speciation in edible mushrooms, providing information on analytical methods, available literature data, and health risk assessment. All steps of analytical procedures were presented, including extraction, separation and quantification. It compiles fragmented literature data on trace element speciation, focusing on arsenic, chromium, selenium, mercury, and antimony.

Optimizing Antimony Speciation Analysis via Frontal Chromatography-ICP-MS to Explore the Release of PET Additives.

Antimony (Sb) contamination poses significant environmental and health concerns due to its toxic nature and widespread presence, largely from anthropogenic activities. This study addresses the urgent need for an accurate speciation analysis of Sb, particularly in water sources, emphasizing its migration from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic materials. Current methodologies primarily focus on total Sb content, leaving a critical knowledge gap for its speciation.

The Chemistry of Chelation for Built Heritage Cleaning: The Removal of Copper and Iron Stains.

Chelators are widely used in conservation treatments to remove metal stains from marble, travertine, and limestone surfaces. In the current review the chemical aspects underlying the use of chelators for the removal of copper and iron stains from built heritage are described and clear criteria for the selection of the most efficient stain removal treatment are given. The main chelator structural features are outlined and the operating conditions for effective metal stain removal (pH, time of application, etc.

A high-throughput, straightforward procedure for biomonitoring organomercury species in human hair.

Mercury is a pervasive and concerning pollutant due to its toxicity, mobility, and tendency to biomagnify in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Speciation analysis is crucial to assess exposure and risks associated with mercury, as different mercury species exhibit varying properties and toxicities. This study aimed at developing a selective detection method for organic mercury species in a non-invasive biomonitoring matrix like human hair.

Zooplankton as an indicator of the status of contamination of the Mediterranean Sea and temporal trends.

Zooplankton has been intensively used as bioindicators of water pollution at global level, however, only few comprehensive studies have been conducted from the Mediterranean Sea and manly dated back to the 1970s. To redress the urgent need for updated data, this study provides information on the presence and levels of contaminants in zooplankton from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Although banned, both PCBs (46.

A LC-QTOF Method for the Determination of PEGDE Residues in Dermal Fillers.

Hyaluronic acid is one of the most important ingredients in dermal fillers, where it is often cross-linked to gain more favorable rheological properties and to improve the implant duration. Poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PEGDE) has been recently introduced as a crosslinker because of its very similar chemical reactivity with the most-used crosslinker BDDE, while giving special rheological properties. Monitoring the amount of the crosslinker residues in the final device is always necessary, but in the case of PEGDE, no methods are available in literature.

Mercury Clathration-Driven Phase Transition in a Luminescent Bipyrazolate Metal-Organic Framework: A Multitechnique Investigation.

Mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals. By virtue of its triple bond, the novel ligand 1,2-bis(1-pyrazol-4-yl)ethyne (HBPE) was expressly designed and synthesized to devise metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibiting high chemical affinity for mercury. Two MOFs, Zn(BPE) and Zn(BPE)·DMF [interpenetrated i-Zn and noninterpenetrated ni-Zn·S, respectively; DMF = dimethylformamide], were isolated as microcrystalline powders.

Selection of the optimal extraction protocol to investigate the interaction between trace elements and environmental plastic.

The interaction between environmental plastic and trace elements is an issue of concern. Understanding their interaction mechanisms is key to evaluate the potential threats for the environment. To this regard, consolidating confidence in extraction protocols can help in understanding the amount of different species present on plastic surface, as well as the potential mobility of trace elements present inside the plastic matrix (e.

Tackling the Challenging Determination of Trace Elements in Ultrapure Silicon Carbide by LA-ICP-MS.

The goal of accurately quantifying trace elements in ultrapure silicon carbide (SiC) with a purity target of 5N (99.999% purity) was addressed. The unsuitability of microwave-assisted acid digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis was proved to depend mainly on the contamination induced by memory effects of PTFE microwave vessels and by the purity levels of acids, even if highly pure ones were used in a clean environment.

To what extent are filter feeder elasmobranchs exposed to marine pollution? A systematic review.

Filter feeding elasmobranchs may be considered as biological indicators of marine pollution, despite most of these species are under some degree of extinction risk. Among threats to this taxonomic group, marine pollution might represent an additional concern for their survival. In this review, a comprehensive systematic search of scientific literature on pollutants in filter feeding elasmobranchs was conducted to evaluate the bioaccumulation patterns, and risk for human consumers.

Selective organomercury determination by ICP-MS made easy.

A fast and cost-effective procedure based on Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the selective determination of methylmercury (MeHg) is proposed and validated for fish tissue analysis. Selectivity for MeHg is achieved by simply inserting a strong anion exchange resin to block inorganic mercury as negatively charged chloride species, leaving MeHg unretained. The procedure features a 15 min extraction time followed by a 100 s analysis time achieving a limit of detection of 1.

Legacy and emerging contaminants in the endangered filter feeder basking shark Cetorhinus maximus.

The status of contamination by chemical pollutants on large filter feeding sharks is still largely unknown. This study investigated for the first time the presence of legacy, emerging contaminants and trace elements in multiple tissues of basking sharks. In general, skin showed higher concentration of legacy and emerging contaminants probably due to pollutants being adsorbed onto the dermal denticles of the skin rather than accumulated in the tissue itself.

Unfolding the interaction between microplastics and (trace) elements in water: A critical review.

Plastic and microplastic pollution is an environmental and societal concern. The interaction of plastic with organic chemicals in the environment has attracted scientific interest. New evidences have highlighted an unexpectedly high affinity of environmental plastics also for metal ions.

Optimization of Copper Stain Removal from Marble through the Formation of Cu(II) Complexes in Agar Gels.

Copper complexes with different ligands (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA, ammonium citrate tribasic, TAC, and alanine, ALA) were studied in aqueous solutions and hydrogels with the aim of setting the optimal conditions for copper stain removal from marble by agar gels, with damage minimization. The stoichiometry and stability of copper complexes were monitored by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and the symmetry of Cu(II) centers in the different gel formulations was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Cleaning effectiveness in optimized conditions was verified on marble laboratory specimens through color variations and by determining copper on gels by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification in elasmobranchs: A concurrent assessment of trophic transfer of trace elements in 12 species from the Indian Ocean.

We provided the first multi-species study investigating the presence and organotropism of trace elements in three tissues of 12 elasmobranch species. Shark species showed comparable TE loads, although milk sharks and juvenile scalloped hammerhead sharks exhibited the highest Cd and Hg levels, respectively. Fins accumulated higher levels of Pb, Co, and Cr; muscles higher V, As, and Hg; livers higher Se and Cd levels.

Exploring bufferless iron speciation in seawater by Competitive Ligand Equilibration-Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry: Does pH control really matter?

Iron speciation in seawater is of the utmost importance as this element plays a central role in the regulation of primary productivity. Here we present the development of a CLE-CSV (Competitive Ligand Equilibration-Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry) procedure for iron speciation in seawater avoiding for the first time the use of the pH buffer (2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene is used as the added ligand, atmospheric oxygen as the catalytic enhancer and a 1 mL volume per sample aliquot). The unbuffered method was setup, validated by using known ligands and finally applied to the analysis of six seawater samples from the Ross Sea (Antarctica).

INSIDE Project: Individual Air Pollution Exposure, Extracellular Vesicles Signaling and Hypertensive Disorder Development in Pregnancy.

Hypertensive disorders are common complications during pregnancy (HDP) with substantial public health impact. Acute and chronic particulate matter (PM) exposure during pregnancy increases the risk of HDP, although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) may be the ideal candidates for mediating the effects of PM exposure in pregnancy as they are released in response to environmental stimuli.

One-minute highly selective Cr(VI) determination at ultra-trace levels: An ICP-MS method based on the on-line trapping of Cr(III).

An analytical method derived from the coupling of frontal chromatography (FC) with Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is proposed for the fast determination of Cr(VI) ultra-traces. The insertion of a short, homemade column filled with a strong cationic exchange resin in the flow-path of a commercial ICP-MS allows on-line trapping of cationic Cr(III) and elution of anionic Cr(VI). As a result, only the Cr(VI) front reaches the detector.

Accumulation of Selected Trace Elements in Shads from Three Lakes: First Insights from Italian Pre-Alpine Area.

The investigation of trace element pollution is important for the environmental assessment and management of lacustrine ecosystems, especially when these represent critical freshwater resources in densely populated areas. In this context, this study determined the levels of 15 trace elements in muscles of shad, Alosa agone (Scopoli 1786), a commercialized zooplanktivourous fish, from three primary, but currently still poorly studied, Italian lakes, namely, Lake Como, Iseo, and Garda. Research findings show that shads present similar trace element accumulation patterns among lakes, except for arsenic, which occurs at lower levels in Lake Como.

The what, how, why, and when of dendrochemistry: (paleo)environmental information from the chemical analysis of tree rings.

The chemical analysis of tree rings has attracted the interest of researchers in the past five decades in view of the possibility of exploiting this biological indicator as a widely available, high-resolution environmental archive. Information regarding the surrounding environment can be derived either by directly measuring environmental variables (nutrient availability, presence of pollutants, etc.) or by exploiting proxies (e.

Exploiting Laser-Ablation ICP-MS for the Characterization of Salt-Derived Bismuth Films on Screen-Printed Electrodes: A Preliminary Investigation.

The use of insoluble bismuth salts, typically BiPO, is known to be a viable alternative to classical Bi ion electrochemical reduction for the preparation of bismuth film electrodes (BiFE) on screen-printed electrodes. The freshly prepared electrodes are indefinitely stable, and the active bismuth film is simply formed by in situ reduction. Two aspects are still to be investigated, namely the bismuth distribution on the working electrode and the possible residual presence of the counteranion, namely phosphate.

Chemical and mechanical characterization of hyaluronic acid hydrogel cross-linked with polyethylen glycol and its use in dermatology.

Hydrogels based on hyaluronic acid are used to restore volume, hydration, and skin tone, as well as to correct scars, asymmetries or defects of the soft tissue. Hyaluronic acid is often chemically crosslinked with different crosslinking agents in order to improve its mechanical and biological properties. Here we focused on defining the chemical and mechanical characterization of a new hydrogel with specific characteristics: hyaluronic acid polyethylene glycol (PEG)-crosslinked with a high concentration of hyaluronic acid (28 mg/mL), manufactured by MatexLab Spa, via Carlo Urbani 2, ang Via Enrico Fermi, Brindisi, Italy.