Measuring selected PPCPs in wastewater to estimate the population in different cities in China.

Sampling and analysis of wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has become a useful tool for understanding exposure to chemicals. Both wastewater based studies and management and planning of the catchment require information on catchment population in the time of monitoring. Recently, a model has been developed and calibrated using selected pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) measured in influent wastewater for estimating population in different catchments in Australia.

The effect of ongoing blood loss on human serum concentrations of perfluorinated acids.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) have been detected in serum at low concentrations in background populations. Higher concentrations haven been observed in adult males compared to females, with a possible explanation that menstruation offers females an additional elimination route. In this study, we examined the significance of blood loss as an elimination route of PFAAs.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids in water, sediment and wildlife from Sydney Harbour and surroundings.

Perfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFCs) including perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) were measured in environmental samples collected from around Homebush Bay, an urban/industrial area in the upper reaches of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River estuary. Water, surface sediment, Sea Mullet (Mugil cephalus), Sydney Rock Oyster (Saccostrea commercialis) and eggs of two bird species; White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca), and Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae) were analysed. In most samples PFOS was the dominant PFC.

Concentrations of PFOS, PFOA and other perfluorinated alkyl acids in Australian drinking water.

Perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) are persistent environmental pollutants, found in the serum of human populations internationally. Due to concerns regarding their bioaccumulation, and possible health effects, an understanding of routes of human exposure is necessary. PFAAs are recalcitrant in many water treatment processes, making drinking water a potential source of human exposure.

Removal of PFOS, PFOA and other perfluoroalkyl acids at water reclamation plants in South East Queensland Australia.

This paper examines the fate of perfluorinated sulfonates (PFSAs) and carboxylic acids (PFCAs) in two water reclamation plants in Australia. Both facilities take treated water directly from WWTPs and treat it further to produce high quality recycled water. The first plant utilizes adsorption and filtration methods alongside ozonation, whilst the second uses membrane processes and advanced oxidation to produce purified recycled water.

Event monitoring of herbicides with naked and membrane-covered Empore disk integrative passive sampling devices.

Subsequent to an initial wet season flood event in the Brisbane River, Australia, both fast (naked disk) and slow (membrane-covered) variants of SDB-RPS Empore disk passive sampling devices were deployed with an automated grab sampling program. A trend increase in the aquatic dissolved concentrations of diuron and simazine was observed over a 10-day period. Kinetic and equilibrium parameters for each sampler were calculated based on the dynamic concentration.

Kidney dysfunction and hypertension: role for cadmium, p450 and heme oxygenases?

Cadmium (Cd) is a metal toxin of continuing worldwide concern. Daily intake of Cd, albeit in small quantities, is associated with a number of adverse health effects which are attributable to distinct pathological changes in a variety of tissues and organs. In the present review, we focus on its renal tubular effects in people who have been exposed environmentally to Cd at levels below the provisional tolerable intake level set for the toxin.

Aquatic passive sampling of herbicides on naked particle loaded membranes: accelerated measurement and empirical estimation of kinetic parameters.

Water-sampler equilibrium partitioning coefficients and aqueous boundary layer mass transfer coefficients for atrazine, diuron, hexazionone and fluometuron onto C18 and SDB-RPS Empore disk-based aquatic passive samplers have been determined experimentally under a laminar flow regime (Re = 5400). The method involved accelerating the time to equilibrium of the samplers by exposing them to three water concentrations, decreasing stepwise to 50% and then 25% of the original concentration. Assuming first-order Fickian kinetics across a rate-limiting aqueous boundary layer, both parameters are determined computationally by unconstrained nonlinear optimization.

Potential for early involvement of CYP isoforms in aspects of human cadmium toxicity.

This paper investigates the possible link between non-workplace cadmium (Cd) exposure, cytochrome P450 expression and hypertension. We present results of our investigation into the relationships between liver and kidney Cd burdens and the abundance of the CYP isoform 4A11. Our data show associations between non-workplace Cd exposure and changes in the abundance of hepatic and renal cortical CYP4A11.

A review of animal models for the study of arsenic carcinogenesis.

As inorganic arsenic is a proven human carcinogen, significant effort has been made in recent decades in an attempt to understand arsenic carcinogenesis using animal models, including rodents (rats and mice) and larger mammals such as beagles and monkeys. Transgenic animals were also used to test the carcinogenic effect of arsenicals, but until recently all models had failed to mimic satisfactorily the actual mechanism of arsenic carcinogenicity. However, within the past decade successful animal models have been developed using the most common strains of mice or rats.

Copper transfer from the Cu(I) chaperone, CopZ, to the repressor, Zn(II)CopY: metal coordination environments and protein interactions.

Extracellular copper regulates the DNA binding activity of the CopY repressor of Enterococcus hirae and thereby controls expression of the copper homeostatic genes encoded by the cop operon. CopY has a CxCxxxxCxC metal binding motif. CopZ, a copper chaperone belonging to a family of metallochaperones characterized by a MxCxxC metal binding motif, transfers copper to CopY.

Historical PCDD inputs and their source implications from dated sediment cores in Queensland (Australia).

Recent investigations have demonstrated the presence of an unidentified source of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) in the coastal zone of Queensland (Australia). The present study provides new information on the possible PCDD sources and their temporal input to this environment. Two estuarine sediment cores were collected in northern Queensland for which radiochemical chronologies were established.

Partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the polyethylene/water system.

The suitability of polyethylene sheets as passive samplers of lipophilic contaminants in water bodies was tested. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sheets were contaminated with PAH. Uncontaminated and pre-contaminated sheets were deployed simultaneously and collected at intervals over 32 days.

PAHs, PCDD/Fs, PCBs and HCB in leaves from Brisbane, Australia.

The concentrations of SOCs in leaves of an evergreen Australian native tree (Melaleuca leucadendra) and grass collected in Brisbane, Australia were determined. The concentrations of PCDD/Fs and PAHs in the leaf tissue were comparable to those reported for urbanised areas in other industrialised countries. A distinct difference in the compound profiles between the leaves of the two species was observed, with higher concentrations of the lower molecular mass PAHs and PCDD/Fs and lower concentrations of the higher molecular mass PAHs and PCDD/Fs in the Melaleuca leaves relative to the grass leaves.

Stoichiometry of complex formation between Copper(I) and the N-terminal domain of the Menkes protein.

The inherent cellular toxicity of copper ions demands that their concentration be carefully controlled. The cellular location of the Menkes ATPase, a key element in the control of intracellular copper, is regulated by the intracellular copper concentration through the N-terminus of the enzyme, comprising 6 homologous subdomains or modules, each approximately 70 residues in length and containing a -Cys-X-X-Cys- motif. Based on the proposal that binding of copper to these modules regulates the Menkes ATPase cellular location by promoting changes in the tertiary structure of the enzyme, we have expressed the entire N-terminal domain (MNKr) and the second metal-binding module (MNKr2) of the Menkes protein in E.

PCDDs, PCDFs, PCBs and HCB in marine and estuarine sediments from Queensland, Australia.

Concentrations of 2,3,7,8-chlorine substituted PCDDs, PCDFs, selected PCB congeners and HCB were determined in sediment samples collected from sites along the east coast of Queensland in northern Australia. PCDDs were detectable in all sediment samples while PCDFs, PCBs and HCB were mainly found in sediment samples collected from sites in the Brisbane metropolitan area. The results provide evidence that an unidentified source for higher chlorinated PCDDs exists along the Queensland coast.