Non-invasive geophysical methods for monitoring the shallow aquifer based on time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography, magnetic resonance sounding, and spontaneous potential methods.

The Ningdong coalfield has played a pivotal role in advancing local economic development and meeting national energy. Nevertheless, mining operations have engendered ecological challenges encompassing subterranean water depletion, land desertification, and ground subsidence, primarily stemming from the disruption of coal seam roof strata. Consequently, the local ecosystem has incurred substantial harm. Water-preserved coal mining presently constitutes the pivotal technology in mitigating this problem. The primary challenge of this technique lies in identifying critical aquifer layers and understanding the heights of water-conducting fracture zones. To obtain a precise comprehension of the seepage patterns within the upper coal seam aquifer during mining, delineate the extent of water-conducting fracture zones, non-invasive geophysical techniques such as time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (TL-ERT), magnetic resonance sounding (MRS), and spontaneous potential (SP) have been employed to monitor alterations within the shallow coalfield's aquifer throughout the mining process in the Ningdong coalfield. By conducting meticulous examinations of fluctuations in resistivity, moisture content, and self-potential within the superjacent strata during coal seam extraction, the predominant underground water infiltration strata were ascertained, concurrently enabling the estimation of the development elevation of water-conducting fracture zones. This outcome furnishes a geophysical underpinning for endeavors concerning local water-preserved coal mining and ecological rehabilitation.

A preliminary cumulative risk assessment of Diethylhexyl phthalate and Dibutyl phthalate based on the inhibition of embryonic development via the PPARγ pathway.

BACKGROUND: Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) are the two most widely used plasticizers (PAEs) that may act as endocrine disruptors and cause developmental toxicity. METHODS: We measured intrauterine exposure to DEHP and DBP which are the two most widely used phthalates (PAEs) in the cord blood of 50 postpartum women using ultra-HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry and solid-phase extraction. The embryotoxicity of DEHP and DBP was evaluated using the human embryonic stem cell test (hEST). Based on the intrauterine exposure concentration of DEHP and DBP in pregnant women and the reference point of toxic effects in hEST, we used the reference point index (RPI) method to assess the cumulative risk of DBP and DEHP. RESULTS: The mean concentrations of DEHP and DBP were 99.9 µg/L and 24.7 µg/L, respectively. DEHP and DBP were weakly embryotoxic, and the benchmark dose lower confidence intervals were 29.99 and 0.99 µg/mL, respectively, as determined using hEST. Both DEHP and DBP inhibited embryonic development via PPAR/PTEN/Akt signal pathway. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the cumulative risk in pregnant women with a high level of exposure should receive more attention in the future.

Improving Spatiotemporal Breast Cancer Assessment and Prediction in Hangzhou City, China.

Breast cancer (BC) is the main cause of death of female cancer patients in China. Mainstream mapping techniques, like spatiotemporal ordinary kriging (STOK), generate disease incidence maps that improve our understanding of disease distribution. Yet, the implementation of these techniques experiences substantive and technical complications (due mainly to the different characteristics of space and time). A new spatiotemporal projection (STP) technique that is free of the above complications was implemented to model the space-time distribution of BC incidence in Hangzhou city and to estimate incidence values at locations-times for which no BC data exist. For comparison, both the STP and the STOK techniques were used to generate BC incidence maps in Hangzhou. STP performed considerably better than STOK in terms of generating more accurate incidence maps showing a closer similarity to the observed incidence distribution, and providing an improved assessment of the space-time BC correlation structure. In sum, the inter-connections between space, time, BC incidence and spread velocity established by STP allow a more realistic representation of the actual incidence distribution, and generate incidence maps that are more accurate and more informative, at a lower computational cost and involving fewer approximations than the incidence maps produced by mainstream space-time techniques.