Hexabromocyclododecane-induced Genotoxicity in Cultured Human Breast Cells through DNA Damage.

To investigate the genotoxicity and reveal the potential toxicological mechanisms of Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), human breast cells HBL-100 were exposed to a sequence of HBCD concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 50 mg/L) for 24 h. With a series of zymology and molecular biology methods, we found that HBCD induced dose-dependent oxidative stress on HBL-100 DNA. As revealed in qRT-PCR, activated prognostic factor ATM down-regulated tumor suppressor gene BRCA1 and prompted DNA repair genes hOGG1 and hMTH1 expression in lower concentrations of HBCD (< 10 mg/L). However, DNA repair were inhibited as well as cell proliferation rate by higher concentrations of HBCD (50 mg/L). The results inferred that the genotoxicity of HBCD was dose-dependent and related to DNA repair pathway.

Using Monte Carlo simulation to assess variability and uncertainty of tobacco consumption in a city by sewage epidemiology.

OBJECTIVE: To use Monte Carlo simulation to assess the uncertainty and variability of tobacco consumption through wastewater analysis in a city. METHODS: A total of 11 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (serving 2.2 million people; approximately 83% of urban population in Dalian) were selected and sampled. By detection and quantification of principal metabolites of nicotine, cotinine (COT) and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine (OH-COT), in raw wastewater, back calculation of tobacco use in the population of WWTPs can be realised. RESULTS: COT and OH-COT were detected in the entire set of samples with an average concentration of 2.33 ± 0.30 and 2.76 ± 0.91 µg/L, respectively. The mass load of absorbed NIC during the sampling period ranged from 0.25 to 4.22 mg/day/capita with an average of 1.92 mg/day/capita. Using these data, we estimated that smokers in the sampling area consumed an average of 14.6 cigarettes per day for active smoker. Uncertainty and variability analysis by Monte Carlo simulation were used to refine this estimate: the procedure concluded that smokers in Dalian smoked between 10 and 27 cigarettes per day. This estimate showed good agreement with estimates from epidemiological research. CONCLUSIONS: Sewage-based epidemiology may be a useful additional tool for the large-scale monitoring of patterns of tobacco use. Probabilistic methods can be used to strengthen the reliability of estimated use generated from wastewater analysis.

[Photochemical reaction types of the azole fungicide fluconazole under UV-vis irradiation].

This study selected the azole fungicide fluconazole as a model compound, and investigated its photodegradation kinetics and photoreaction types in pure water. It was found that under UV-vis irradiation (lambda > 200 nm), the fluconazole photodegraded fast and followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics, whereas under simulated sunlight (lambda > 290 nm), photodegradation did not occur. The ROS scavenging experiments and competition kinetic examination indicated that the compound underwent both direct photolysis and self-sensitized photooxidation via *OH other than 1O2. The bimolecular rate constant for the reaction between fluconazole and *OH was (5.95 +/- 0.58) x 10(9) L x (mol x s)(-1), and the corresponding environmental half-life was calculated to be (32.41 +/- 3.16) h in surface waters. Furthermore, it was deduced from the photodegradation product identification that the UV-vis degradation pathways involved photoinduced defluorination, hydrolysis and photooxidation.