Publications by authors named "Zhengquan Ji"

The deleterious health implications of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely recognized. Females, in contrast to males, exhibit unique pathways for PFAS exposure and excretion, leading to complex health outcomes. The health status of females is largely influenced by hormone-related processes.

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  • Dietary exposure to PFAS from food sources like meat and fish is a concern, but research on PFAS in grains, especially in China, has been limited.
  • This study found that soybeans had the highest PFAS levels among grains, with significant concentrations of specific compounds such as PFOA and OBS, particularly in rice.
  • East China showed higher PFAS levels due to industrial activities, and the estimated daily intake of PFAS from grains varies, highlighting potential health risks from consumption.
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  • Scientists studied how heavy metals, like arsenic (As) and lead (Pb), move and change when making bricks from contaminated soil.
  • They found that during the brick-making process, a lot of As (about 90%) and some Pb (about 36%) got removed from the soil, and certain changes happened to these metals.
  • The research suggests that while the bricks are mostly safe to use, we should be careful because there could still be risks of pollution.
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Background: Heavy metals have been reported to affect liver function. However, there is currently little and inconsistent knowledge about the effects of combined and individual urinary metals on specific parameters of liver function in the general population. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate their associations.

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  • The study investigated the effects of manganese oxide (MnO) on the performance and microbial community of an anammox process in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor, finding that total nitrogen removal efficiency ranged from 90%-93% at MnO concentrations of 1-200 mg/L.
  • At 50 mg/L MnO, specific anammox activity peaked at 657.3 mg TN/g VSS/d, showing improved performance compared to lower MnO concentrations, and was associated with changes in heme c and extracellular polymeric substances in the granules.
  • High throughput sequencing revealed that MnO enhances microbial richness and diversity, with Candidatus Kuenenia being the dominant species, pe
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The stability and resilience of an anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) system under transient nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron (nZVI) (50, 75 and 100 mg L), hydraulic shock (2-fold increase in flow rate) and their combination were studied in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. The response to the shock loads can be divided into three phases i.e.

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  • The study examined how manganese (Mn) affects anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) granules in both short- and long-term scenarios, finding that increased Mn concentrations initially hindered anammox activity but the granules later adapted without significant performance loss.
  • In the batch assays, the 50% inhibition concentration for anammox activity was determined to be 7.33 mg/L, but during a 150-day continuous flow operation, the reactor maintained a nitrogen removal efficiency between 91% and 92% with varying Mn levels from 1 to 200 mg/L.
  • While short-term exposure to high Mn levels negatively impacted specific anammox activity and related metrics, the biomass ultimately acclimated and
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Previous studies investigating the risk of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) to biological wastewater treatment have primarily tested NPs individually; however, limited data are available on the impact of NPs on the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process. In this study, the toxicity of CuNPs on anammox granules was investigated individually and in combination with CuONPs or ZnONPs. Exposure to CuNPs at 5mgg suspended solids (SS) decreased the anammox activity to 47.

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The increasing application of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) has posed an emerging challenge to wastewater treatment processes. The short-term impacts of CuNPs, CuONPs, ZnONPs and AgNPs on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process were investigated firstly in this study. CuONPs, ZnONPs and AgNPs up to 50mgg suspended solid (SS) did not affect anammox activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production or cell membrane integrity.

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The short- and long-term effects of inorganic phosphate on property of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) granule were investigated in this study. Acute exposure to high-level phosphate (⩾50 mM) induced the cytoplasm leakage. During a 195-day continuous-flow operation, the gradually increasing phosphate (up to 500 mgP L(-1)) slightly affected the specific anammox activity, hardly impacted the heme c content, remarkably decreased the extracellular polymeric substances production and significantly stimulated the dehydrogenase activity of anammox granules.

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This study evaluated the interactive effect of Cu(II) and Zn(II) on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) activity using response surface methodology with a central composite design. A regression model equation was developed and validated to predict the normalized anammox activity (NAA) of anammox granules exposed to various heavy metal concentrations. The joint inhibitory effect tended to exacerbate initially and reversed as the concentrations increased and then moderated again.

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