Combined toxicity of polyethylene microplastics and nickel oxide nanoparticle on earthworm (Eisenia andrei): oxidative stress responses, bioavailability and joint effect.

The co-occurrence of heavy metals and microplastics (MPs) is an emerging issue that has attracted considerable attention. However, the interaction of nickel oxide nanoparticle (nano-NiO) combined with MPs in soil was poorly researched. Here, experiments were conducted to study the influence of nano-NiO (200 mg/kg) and polyethylene (PE) MPs with different concentrations (0.1, 1, and 10%) and sizes (13, 50, and 500 µm) on earthworms for 28 days. Compared to control, the damage was induced by PE and nano-NiO, which was evaluated by biomarker Integrated Biomarker Response index: version 2 (IBRv2) based on six biomarkers including SOD, POD, CAT, MDA, AChE, Na+/K+-ATPase and cellulase. The majority of the chosen biomarkers showed significant but complicated responses with increasing contaminant concentrations after 28 days of exposure. Moreover, the joint effect was assessed as antagonism by the effect addition index (EAI). Overall, this work expands our understanding of the combined toxicity of PE and nano-NiO in soil ecosystems.

Toxicity of titanate nanotubes in earthworm (Eisenia fetida): Growth inhibition and integrated biomarker response.

Widely use of Titanate Nanotubes (TNTs) as remediation materials for heavy metal polluted water and soil lead to their release into the soil environment, persistently threatening faunal biodiversity and the entire environment. Growth inhibition rates (GIR) and specific growth rates (SGR) are used to evaluate the effect of TNTs on earthworm growth, and the integrated biomarker response (IBR) index is used to comprehensively evaluate the toxicity of eight biomarkers (Protein-body mass ratio, MDA, SOD, CAT, POD, Cellulase, AChE, and Na+/K+-ATPase) on earthworms exposed to TNTs contaminated soil by concentrations of CK, 50, 250, 500 and 2500 mg TNTs/kg dry soil. Results show that TNTs significantly inhibit the growth of earthworms (p < 0.05), and GIR reaches up to 52.34 % at 2500 mg TNTs/kg dry soil for 28 days. IBR index has a dose-time relationship, which indicates that exposure time and concentration of TNTs contaminated soil affect the toxicity degree of contaminant to earthworms.

Epidemiological Characteristics of Influenza A and B in Macau, 2010-2018.

Influenza is one of the major respiratory diseases in humans. Macau is a tourist city with high density of population and special population mobility. The study on the epidemiological characteristics of influenza in Macau should bring great value for preventing influenza in tourist cities like Macau in the world. In this study, we collected a total of 104,874 samples with influenza-like illness (ILI) in Macau from 2010 to 2018. Chi-square test and binary multivariable logistic regression were used to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of influenza A and B in Macau. Among these ILI samples, the overall positive rate is 17.17% for influenza A and 6.97% for influenza B. The epidemics of influenza in three years (i.e., 2012, 2017 and 2018) differ from the remaining years (i.e., normal years). In a normal year, influenza A occurs year-round whereas influenza B is seasonal. Our research shows significant differences in influenza infections between different age groups in normal years. Interestingly, our analysis shows no significant difference between locals and tourists in influenza A and B infection in a normal year, whereas the odds of influenza A in tourists were significantly higher than those in locals in July 2017 and the odds of influenza B in tourists were significantly higher than those in locals in January-February 2012 and January-February 2018. This is possibly attributed by the policy of free vaccination to everyone in Macau. These findings should be valuable for preventing influenza in not only Macau but also the world.