Spatial heterogeneity, sediment-water exchange, and diffusion mechanisms of organophosphate esters from river to coastal aquatic system in a typical economic circle of northern China.

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) have proven to be pervasive in aquatic environments globally. However, understanding their partitioning behavior and mechanisms at the sediment-water interface remains limited. This study elucidated the spatial heterogeneity, interfacial exchange, and diffusion mechanisms of 14 OPEs (∑OPEs) from river to coastal aquatic system.

Nanoplastics composite norfloxacin induced changes in conformation and function of lysozyme and differential effects of co-exposure contamination.

The concurrent environmental contamination by nanoplastics (NPs) and norfloxacin (NOR) is a burgeoning concern, with significant accumulations in various ecosystems and potential ingress into the human body via the food chain, posing threats to both public health and ecological balance. Despite the gravity of the situation, studies on the co-exposure contamination effects of these substances are limited. Moreover, the response mechanisms of key functional proteins to these pollutants are yet to be fully elucidated.

Convenient determination of polystyrene microplastics in soils by gel permeation chromatography-ultraviolet detection analysis.

Microplastics (MPs), especially polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs), have emerged a new worldwide pollutant, prompting significant public concern regarding their detection in environmental media. Analysis of PS-MPs in soil remains as a challenging task for analysts due to the highly intricate matrices. This work presents a practical approach for detecting PS-MPs in soil, which involves dilute HCl-assisted extraction and gel permeation chromatography- ultraviolet detection (GPC-UV) analysis.

Long-term exposure to ozone and sleep disorders in children: A multicity study in China.

Evidence regarding the link between long-term ambient ozone (O) exposure and childhood sleep disorders is little. This study aims to examine the associations between long-term exposure to O and sleep disorders in children. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey, including 185,428 children aged 6-18 years in 173 schools across 14 Chinese cities during 2012 and 2018.

Formation of marine oil snow by soot particles generated from burning of oils.

This study aims to investigate the interactions between marine oil snow (MOS) formation and soot particles derived from two distinct oils: condensate and heavy oil. Experimental findings demonstrate that the properties of oil droplets and soot particles play a key role in MOS formation. Peak MOS formation is observed within the initial days for condensate, while for heavy oil, peak formation occurs at a later stage.

Large potential of strengthening the land carbon sink in China through anthropogenic interventions.

The terrestrial ecosystem in China mitigates 21%-45% of the national contemporary fossil fuel CO emissions every year. Maintaining and strengthening the land carbon sink is essential for reaching China's target of carbon neutrality. However, this sink is subject to large uncertainties due to the joint impacts of climate change, air pollution, and human activities.

Portraying on-road CO concentrations using street view panoramas and ensemble learning.

A significant reduction in carbon dioxide (CO) emissions caused by transportation is essential for attaining sustainable urban development. Carbon concentrations from road traffic in urban areas exhibit complex spatial patterns due to the impact of street configurations, mobile sources, and human activities. However, a comprehensive understanding of these patterns, which involve complex interactions, is still lacking due to the human perspective of road interface characteristics has not been taken into account.

Benzotriazole ultraviolet absorbents in surface waters and sediments of the Bohai Sea and North Yellow Sea: Spatial trends and influencing factors.

Benzotriazole ultraviolet absorbents (BUAs) of emerging concern were recently monitored in seawater and sediments from the Bohai Sea (BS) and North Yellow Sea (NYS), which are impacted by human activities, to elucidate their regional occurrence patterns, phase distributions, and contamination profiles. Although environmental variables such as sedimentary organic carbon, particle size, and salinity, as well as hydrological conditions, affected the environmental occurrence of BUAs in the BS and NYS, the source dependence of BUA distributions associated with urban impacts and riverine inputs was highlighted. Substantial spatial variability in the composition patterns and contamination profiles of BUAs identified through correlation and principal component analyses were likely caused by region-specific sources and characteristics.

Plant Leaf Functional Adaptions along Urban-Rural Gradients of Jinhua City.

Environmental changes induced by urbanization may significantly alter plant survival strategies, thereby introducing uncertainties in their ability to withstand extreme heat. This study, centered on Jinhua City, distinguished urban, suburban, and rural areas to represent the various intensities of urbanization. It examined the leaf function properties of evergreen and deciduous trees common in these regions, focusing on leaf and branch characteristics.

Dynamic migration and risk of cephalosporin antibiotic resistance genes: Move from pharmaceutical plants through wastewater treatment plants to coastal tidal flats sediments.

The migration and dissemination of antibiotics and their corresponding antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from pharmaceutical plants through wastewater treatment to the environment introduce exogenous ARGs, increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance. Cephalosporin antibiotics (Ceps) are among the most widely used antibiotics with the largest market scale today, and the issue of resistance is becoming increasingly severe. In this study, a cephalosporin pharmaceutical plant was selected and metagenomic analysis was employed to investigate the dissemination patterns of cephalosporin antibiotics (Ceps) and their ARGs (CepARGs) from the pharmaceutical plant through the wastewater treatment plant to tidal flats sediments.

Exploring plastic biofilm formation and Escherichia coli colonisation in marine environments.

Microorganisms, including potential pathogens, can colonise plastic surfaces in aquatic environments. This study investigates the colonisation of plastic pellets by Escherichia coli (E. coli) as a proxy for faecal pathogens in aquatic environments.

Unveiling Small-Sized Plastic Particles Hidden behind Large-Sized Ones in Human Excretion and Their Potential Sources.

Health risks of microplastic exposure have drawn growing global concerns due to the widespread distribution of microplastics in the environment. However, more evidence is needed to understand the exposure characteristics of microplastics owing to the limitation of current spectrum technologies, especially the missing information on small-sized particles. In the present study, laser direct infrared spectroscopy and thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined pyrolysis using a tubular furnace (TD-GC/MS) were employed to comprehensively detect the presence of plastic particles down to 0.

Community-level risk assessments on organophosphate esters in the sediments from the Bohai Sea of China based on multimodal species sensitivity distributions coupled with the equilibrium partitioning method.

Organophosphate esters (OPEs), increasingly used as alternatives to brominated flame retardants, are ubiquitous in the global aquatic environment. Despite their potential toxicological impact on ecosystems, community-level risk assessments for OPEs in sediments remain scarce. This study investigated OPE occurrences and composition characteristics in the Bohai Sea's sediments and appraised both individual and joint ecological risks posed by characteristic OPE homologs using ten commonly used species sensitivity distribution (SSD) models, integrating acute-to-chronic conversion and phase equilibrium partitioning.

Sources and formation characteristics of particulate nitrate in the Pearl River Delta region of China: Insights from three-year online observations.

Nitrate (NO) has been identified as a key component of particulate matter (PM) in China. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding its sources and how it forms, especially in the context of high-frequency and long-term data. In this study, NO levels were observed on an hourly basis over an almost three-year period at an urban site in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China, from January 2019 to December 2021.

Embryonic exposure to water accommodated fraction of crude oil inhibits reproductive capability in adult female marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma).

The water accommodated fraction (WAF) of spilled crude oil is a severe threat to the health of marine fish. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of short-term embryonic exposure to the WAF on the ovarian development and reproductive capability of F0 adult female marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma). Following embryonic exposure to the WAF with nominal total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations of 0.

Spatiotemporal distribution patterns and coupling effects of aquatic environmental factors in the dry-wet season over a decade from the Beibu Gulf, South China Sea.

Since the 21st century, the Beibu Gulf area has been affected by increasing anthropogenic activities, which makes the coastal aquatic ecosystem extremely concerning. However, the comprehensive exploration and analysis of the long-term scale behavior change characteristics of various water quality environment factors is still limited. Through comprehensively detecting coastal surface water environmental behavior information from 33 locations in the Beibu Gulf from 2005 to 2015, we revealed and quantified mutual response characteristics and patterns of various environmental indicators.

[Water Quality Prediction Model for the Pearl River Estuary Based on BiLSTM Improved with Attention Mechanism].

To improve the accuracy and stability of water quality prediction in the Pearl River Estuary, a water quality prediction model was proposed based on BiLSTM improved with an attention mechanism. The feature attention mechanism was introduced to enhance the ability of the model to capture important features, and the temporal attention mechanism was added to improve the mining ability of time series correlation information and water quality fluctuation details. The new model was applied to the water quality prediction of eight estuaries of the Pearl River, and the prediction performance test, generalization ability test, and characteristic parameter expansion test were carried out.

High-level HONO exacerbates double high pollution of O and PM in China.

Double high pollution (DHP) of ozone (O) and fine particulate matter (PM) has frequently been observed in China in recent years. Numerous studies have speculated that DHP might be related to nitrous acid (HONO), but the chemical mechanism involved remains unclear. Field observation results of DHP in Shanghai indicate that the high concentration of HONO produced by nitrogen dioxide (NO) heterogeneous reactions under conditions of high temperature and high humidity promotes an increase in PM and O concentrations.

Self-Assembly of Strain-Adaptable Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate on Polydimethylsiloxane Nanowrinkles.

Flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates adaptable to strains enable effective sampling from irregular surfaces, but the preparation of highly stable and sensitive flexible SERS substrates is still challenging. This paper reports a method to fabricate a high-performance strain-adaptable SERS substrate by self-assembly of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanowrinkles. Nanowrinkles are created on prestrained PDMS slabs by plasma-induced oxidation followed by the release of the prestrain, and self-assembled AuNPs are transferred onto the nanowrinkles to construct the high-performance SERS substrate.

Assessment of total mercury in urban particulate matter by filter fiber assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion coupling with microplasma assisted-cold vapor generation.

Background: The evaluation of particle-bound mercury (PBM) exposure is a crucial aspect of assessing the global cycle of mercury (Hg) and its adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Nevertheless, the precise and reliable measurement of PBM remains a formidable task because of the costly and cumbersome equipment required, as well as the inadequate sensitivities exhibited by current analytical techniques. In this study, we provided a unique and straightforward approach utilising filter fiber-assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion (FF-MSPD) in conjunction with single-drop solution electrode discharge-induced cold vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (SD-SEGD-CVG-AFS) for the precise quantification of PBM.

The observation of atmospheric HONO by wet-rotating-denuder ion chromatograph in a coastal city: Performance and influencing factors.

Due to the significance of atmospheric HONO as a reservoir for radicals and the presence of substantial unknown sources of HONO, there is a pressing need for accurate and consistent measurement of its concentration. In this study, we compared the measurements obtained from the monitor for aerosols and gases in ambient air (MARGA) based on wet chemical method with those from the incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) based on optical method to assess the suitability of the MARGA instrument for accurate HONO detection. The diurnal patterns obtained by the two instruments are similar, with peaks at 8 a.

High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Modeling for PM Major Components in the Pearl River Delta and Its Implications for Epidemiological Studies.

Distinguishing the effects of different fine particulate matter components (PMCs) is crucial for mitigating their effects on human health. However, the sparse distribution of locations where PM is collected for component analysis makes it challenging to investigate the relevant health effects. This study aimed to investigate the agreement between data-fusion-enhanced exposure assessment and site monitoring data in estimating the effects of PMCs on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Utilities of environmental radioactivity tracers in assessing sequestration potential of carbon in the coastal wetland ecosystems.

Demand for accurate estimation of coastal blue carbon sequestration rates in a regular interval has recently surged due to the increasing awareness of nature-based climate solutions to alleviate adverse impacts stemming from the recent global warming. The robust estimation method is, however, far from well-established. The international community requires, moreover, to quantify its effect of "management.

Anthropogenic-driven changes in concentrations and sources of winter volatile organic compounds in an urban environment in the Yangtze River Delta of China between 2013 and 2021.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) serve as crucial precursors to surface ozone and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). In response to severe air pollution challenges, China has implemented key air quality control policies from 2013 to 2021. Despite these efforts, a comprehensive understanding of the chemical composition and sources of urban atmospheric VOCs and their responses to emission reduction measures remains limited.