ACAT1 suppresses clear cell renal cell carcinoma progression by AMPK mediated fatty acid metabolism.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) stands as a prevalent malignancy within urological pathology, exhibiting a noteworthy escalation in its incidence. Despite being a mitochondrial enzyme, the precise role of Acetyl-CoA Acetyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) in RCC remains elusive. In this investigation, we employed bioinformatics methodologies to assess the expression patterns and prognostic significance across various RCC subtypes, encompassing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), papillary cell carcinoma, and chromophobe cell carcinoma. Our findings unveil a close correlation between ACAT1 expression and the prognostic implications specifically within ccRCC. Through both in vitro and in vivo overexpression studies, we delineated the functional and mechanistic facets of ACAT1 in impeding the progression of ccRCC. Our results unequivocally demonstrated that ACAT1 overexpression markedly curtailed proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of ccRCC cells in both in vivo models and cell cultures. Mechanistically, ACAT1's inhibitory effect on the AMPK signaling pathway orchestrated a regulatory role in modulating fatty acid metabolism, thereby effectively restraining the advancement of ccRCC. Collectively, our findings underscore ACAT1 as a pivotal tumor suppressor, instrumental in curtailing the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ccRCC by governing fatty acid metabolism through the AMPK signaling pathway. These insights posit ACAT1 as a potential predictive biomarker and therapeutic target warranting further exploration in RCC management.

Efficient and durable oxygen reduction in alkaline media by doping heteroatomic boron into FeSA-NC catalyst.

Despite extensive research has been conducted on atomic dispersion catalysts for various reactions, altering the electronic structure of the central metal to enhance electrochemical reactivity remains a challenging task. Herein, the electrochemical reactivity was considerably enhanced by introducing heteroatomic B to adjust the d-band of single Fe center. In specific, the obtained FeSA-BNC catalyst demonstrated an outstanding ORR performance (E1/2 = 0.87 V) and exhibited greater long-term durability in alkaline media compared to Pt/C. The performance of FeSA-BNC in Zn-air battery was also higher than that of Pt/C. According to theoretical calculations, a downward shift in the d-band center of Fe was induced by introducing B, thereby improving the desorption of intermediates and facilitating the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).

Development of efficient and economic Bi2O3/BN/Co3O4 composite photocatalyst: Degradation mechanism, pathway and toxicity study of norfloxacin.

The production of cheap, efficient, and stable photocatalysts for degrading antibiotic contaminants remains challenging. Herein, Bi2O3/boron nitride (BN)/Co3O4 ternary composites were synthesized using the impregnation method. The morphological characteristics, structural features, and photochemical properties of the prepared photocatalysts were investigated via X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible (Vis) diffuse reflectance spectrum techniques. BN was used as a charge transfer bridge in the ternary composites, which afforded a heterojunction between the two semiconductors. The formation of the heterojunction substantially enhanced the charge separation and improved the photocatalyst performance. The degradation activity of the Bi2O3/BN/Co3O4 ternary composites against norfloxacin (NOR) under Vis light irradiation was investigated. The degradation rate of NOR using 5-wt% Bi2O3/BN/Co3O4 reached 98% in 180 min, indicating excellent photocatalytic performance. The ternary composites also exhibited high photostability with a degradation efficiency of 88.4% after five cycles. Hydroxyl radicals (•OH), superoxide radicals (•O2-), and holes (h+) played a synergistic role in the photocatalytic reaction, where h+ and •O2- were more important than •OH. Consequently, seven intermediates and major photocatalytic degradation pathways were identified. Toxicity experiments showed that the toxicity of the degradation solution to Chlorella pyrenoidosa decreased. Finally, the ecotoxicity of NOR and its intermediates were analyzed using the Toxicity Estimation Software Tool, with most intermediates exhibiting low toxicity.

Spatiotemporal distribution and ecological risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from Luoma Lake, an important node of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

PPCPs (pharmaceuticals and personal care products) are widely found in the environment and can be a risk to human and ecosystem health. In this study, spatiotemporal distribution, critical risk source identification and potential risks of 14 PPCPs found in water collected from sampling points in Luoma Lake and its inflowing rivers in two seasons in 2019 and 2020 were investigated. The PPCPs concentrations ranged from 27.64 ng·L-1 to 613.08 ng·L-1 in December 2019, and from 16.67 ng·L-1 to 3287.41 ng·L-1 in April 2020. Ketoprofen (KPF) dominated the PPCPs with mean concentrations of 125.85 ng·L-1 and 640.26 ng·L-1, respectively. Analysis of sources showed that the pollution in Luoma Lake mostly originated from sewage treatment plant effluents, inflowing rivers and domestic wastewater. Among them, the inflowing rivers contributed the most (82.95%) to the concentration of total PPCPs. The results of ecological risk assessment showed that there was a moderate risk (0.1 < RQs < 1) from carbamazepine (CBZ) in December 2019 and a high risk (RQs > 1) from naproxen (NPX) in April 2020. The results of human risk assessment found that NPX posed a high risk to infant health, and we found that NPX was associated with 83 diseases according to Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. NPX was identified as a substance requiring major attention. The results provide an understanding of the concentrations and ecological risks of PPCPs in Luoma Lake. We believe the data will support environmental departments to develop management strategies and prevent PPCPs pollution.

Deep Electronic State Regulation through Unidirectional Cascade Electron Transfer Induced by Dual Junction Boosting Electrocatalysis Performance.

Unidirectional cascade electron transfer induced by multi-junctions is essential for deep electronic state regulation of the catalytic active sites, while this advanced concept has rarely been investigated in the field of electrocatalysis. In the present work, a dual junction heterostructure (FePc/L-R/CN) is designed by anchoring iron phthalocyanine (FePc)/MXene (L-Ti3 C2 -R, R═OH or F) heterojunction on g-C3 N4 nanosheet substrates for electrocatalysis. The unidirectional cascade electron transfer (g-C3 N4 → L-Ti3 C2 -R → FePc) induced by the dual junction of FePc/L-Ti3 C2 -R and L-Ti3 C2 -R/g-C3 N4 makes the Fe center electron-rich and therefore facilitates the adsorption of O2 in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Moreover, the electron transfer between FePc and MXene is facilitated by the axial Fe─O coordination interaction of Fe with the OH in alkalized MXene nanosheets (L-Ti3 C2 -OH). As a result, FePc/L-OH/CN exhibits an impressive ORR activity with a half-wave potential (E1/2 ) of 0.92 V, which is superior over the catalysts with a single junction and the state-of-the-art Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.85 V). This work provides a broad idea for deep regulation of electronic state by the unidirectional cascade multi-step charge transfer and can be extended to other proton-coupled electron transfer processes.

Pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes during the landfill leachate treatment process: Occurrence, fate, and impact on groundwater.

Landfill leachate is an essential source of pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. However, information on the removal behavior of pathogens and ARGs during the leachate treatment and the impact on surrounding groundwater is limited. In this study, we investigated the effects of leachate treatment on the removal of pathogens and ARGs with metagenomic sequencing, as well as the impact of landfill effluent on groundwater. It is shown that the leachate treatment could not completely remove pathogens and ARGs. Twenty-nine additional pathogens and twenty-nine ARGs were newly identified in the landfill effluent. The relative abundance of pathogens and multiple antibiotic resistance genes decreased after ultrafiltration but relative abundance increased after reverse osmosis. In addition, the relative abundances of Acinetobacter baumannii, Erwinia amylovora, Escherichia coli, Fusarium graminearum, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Magnaporthe oryzae, as well as mdtH, VanZ, and blaOXA-53 increased significantly in the landfill effluent compared to the untreated leachate. The relative abundance of some mobile genetic elements (tniA, tniB, tnpA, istA, IS91) in leachate also increased after ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. The size of pathogens, the size and properties of ARGs and mobile genetic elements, and the materials of ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes may affect the removal effect of pathogens, ARGs and mobile genetic elements in leachate treatment process. Interestingly, the pathogens and ARGs in landfill effluent were transferred to groundwater according to SourceTracker. The ARGs, mobile genetic elements, and pathogens that are difficult to remove in the leachate treatment process, provide a reference for optimizing the leachate treatment process and improving the control of pathogens and ARGs. Furthermore, this study clarifies the effect of landfill leachate sources of pathogens and ARGs in groundwater.

Comprehensive overview of antibiotic distribution, risk and priority: A study of large-scale drinking water sources from the lower Yangtze River.

Antibiotics have attracted widespread attention around the world because they are ubiquitous in the environment and can lead to antibiotic-resistant microbes developing and pose ecotoxicological risks. In this study, we determined the spatiotemporal distributions of 39 antibiotics in 19 drinking water sources in Jiangsu area of the lower Yangtze River and attempted to identify the sources of the antibiotics and to prioritize the antibiotics. The total antibiotic concentrations in spring and fall were 234.56-6515.99 and 151.12-2562.59 ng/L, respectively. In spring, the total antibiotic concentration gradually increased from upstream to downstream. In fall, the antibiotic concentration did not markedly vary upstream to downstream (total concentrations 151.12-432.17 ng/L) excluding site S9 and S10. Analysis using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model indicated that the antibiotics had four main sources. Pharmaceutical wastewater was the main source, contributing 34.1% and 41.2% of total antibiotics in spring and fall, respectively, and domestic wastewater was the second most important source, contributing 24.4% and 43% of total antibiotics in spring and fall, respectively. Pharmaceutical wastewater was the main source from midstream to downstream, but the other sources made different contributions in different areas because of the various ranges of human activities. An ecological risk assessment was performed. Stronger risks were posed by antibiotics in spring than fall, and fluoroquinolone antibiotics posed the strongest risks. Optimized risk quotients indicated that norfloxacin was a high-risk contaminant. An assessment of the risk of resistance development indicated that norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and enrofloxacin posed moderate to high risks of resistance development and should be prioritized for risk management. The results of this study are important reference data for identifying key sources of antibiotics and developing strategies to manage antibiotic contamination in similar areas.

The persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic, and resistance (PBTR) risk assessment framework of antibiotics in the drinking water sources.

Antibiotics are emerging pollutants largely considered to have a lower risk based on persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) risk assessments. However, an increasing number of studies have illustrated that antibiotics are responsible for the global increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which suggests that the risk of antibiotics has been largely underestimated by using PBT risk assessment. Here, we designed an integrated innovation risk assessment framework of persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic, and resistance (PBTR) that accounts for antibiotic resistance to better represent the antibiotic environmental risk. This novel antibiotic risk assessment framework was further verified via application to 39 target antibiotics in the 23 drinking water sources of the lower Yangtze River (LYR), China, during the normal and flood seasons. In contrast with the PBT assessment, single toxicity assessment and single resistance assessment, in the PBTR assessment, 7 of 39 target antibiotics with bacterial insensitivity were observed to represent a more prominent risk, as were the sites sampled during the flood season with low concentrations but high pollution loads, which confirmed that the sensitivity of PBTR risk assessment was instructive. The PBTR risk assessment for the screened priority antibiotics contributes not only representative data but also an innovative approach for identifying resistance risks. Using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, the sources of priority antibiotics can be predicted and thus supported the corresponding policy. Overall, this study first constructed a PBTR risk assessment framework, then applied it to facilitate the accurate management of antibiotic pollution at the basin level.

Phthalates released from microplastics inhibit microbial metabolic activity and induce different effects on intestinal luminal and mucosal microbiota.

The intestine is not only the main accumulation organ of microplastics (MPs), but also the intestinal environment is very conductive to the release of additives in MPs. However, the kinetics of release process, influence factors, and the related effects on gut microbiota remain largely unknown. In this study, a mucosal-simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (M-SHIME) was used to investigate the influence of gut microbiota on the release of phthalates (PAEs) from MPs and the effects of MPs on the intestinal luminal microbiota and mucosal microbiota. We found that di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) were the dominant PAEs released in the gut. Gut microbiota accelerated the release of PAEs, with the time to reach the maximum release was shortened from 7 days to 2 days. Moreover, MPs induced differential effects on luminal microbiota and mucosal microbiota. Compared with mucosal microbiota, the luminal microbiota was more susceptible to the leaching of PAEs from MPs, as evidenced by more microbiota alterations. MPs also inhibited the metabolic activity of intestinal flora based on the reduced production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA). These effects were mainly contributed by the release of PAEs. Acidaminococcus and Morganella were simultaneously correlated to the release of PAEs and the inhibition of metabolic activity of intestinal microbiota and can be used as indicators for the intestinal exposure of MPs and additives.

[Remediation Potential of Three Dwarf Bamboos on Farmland Soils Contaminated with Mixed Heavy Metals].

A two-year field experiment was carried out in a Cu-Zn-Cd-Pb-contaminated field with Sasa auricoma, Indocalamus tessellatus, and Shibataea chinensis Nakai to investigate their growth and accumulation characteristics. Based on changes in heavy metal content in the soil, we compared their phytoremediation potentials for the combined pollution of heavy metals. After two years of planting, S. auricoma showed the best tolerance to soil contaminated by heavy metals, with the number of plants being 63.8 times that at the time of planting. For each bamboo type, heavy metals were most concentrated in the root, with the best enrichment ability of Cd and worst ability of Pb. The bioconcentration factor of Cd in the roots was far greater than 1 for all three species, with 17.68 for S. auricoma and 14.63 for I. tessellatus. The accumulation of heavy metals was mainly concentrated in the roots and rhizomes, and the accumulations of Cu, Zn, and Cd in S. auricoma were 157.14, 363.3, and 7.18 g·hm-2, respectively, which were higher than those of I. tessellatus and S. chinensis Nakai. Compared with that before planting, the content of heavy metals in the non-rhizosphere soil decreased after two years of planting, among which Cd content decreased the most, from 39.6%-40.4%. In addition, the contents of Cu, Zn, and Cd in rhizosphere soil of S. auricoma and S. chinensis Nakai were significantly lower than those in non-rhizosphere soil (P<0.05). The results showed that the three species had strong accumulation ability of Cd and could be further studied as Cd-repaired plants. The growth condition and content and accumulation of heavy metals in S. auricoma were excellent among the dwarf bamboos, which showed the highest phytoremediation potential.

Seasonal variability of the correlation network of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants, and bacteria in a wastewater treatment plant and receiving water.

Sewage treatment plants are an essential source of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants, and bacteria in environmental waters. However, it is still unclear whether they can maintain a relatively stable relationship in wastewater and environmental waters. This study analyzed the removal capacity of the above three pollutants in the sewage treatment plant in summer and their impact on environmental waters, and then examines the relationship between the three contaminants in the wastewater and environmental waters in summer and winter based on our previous study. The results found that the removal capacity of bacteria in summer was poor, the concentration of fluoroquinolone in the effluent was higher than that in influent, and the abundance of intI1, tetW, qnrB, and ermB increased after wastewater treatment. Proteobacteria and Bacteroides were the main bacteria that constitute the correlation network between bacteria, and they existed stably in summer and winter. However, fluoroquinolones occupied a significant position in the determinant network of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in summer and winter. There are fewer correlation between antibiotics and antibiotics resistance determinants in winter. Interestingly, the relationship between bacteria, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance determinants was a mainly positive correlation in summer and negative correlation in winter. This study analyzed the relationship between bacteria, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance determinants that were stable in the wastewater and environmental waters and pointed out the direction for subsequent targeted seasonal control of novel pollutants in wastewater and environmental waters.

Extraction of biodegradable microplastics from tissues of aquatic organisms.

Biodegradable plastics (BPs) have been given high hopes to substitute conventional plastics, but their biodegradation requires strict conditions. BPs can accumulate for a long time in the environment and even derive biodegradable microplastics (BMPs), thus threatening wildlife and ecosystems. However, no efficient method is available for extracting BMPs from organisms' tissues. This study used multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to comprehensively evaluate and optimize extraction protocols of five BMPs from economic aquatic species. Digestion time, digestion efficiency, mass loss, cost, polymer integrity and size change were selected as evaluating indictors. According to the screening results of MCDM methods, Pepsin+H2O2 was selected as the optimal digestion method of BMPs because of its highest comprehensive score, which has high digestion efficiency (99.56%) and minimum plastic damage. Compared with olive oil, NaI is more suitable for separating BMPs from the digested residues. Furthermore, the combination of Pepsin+H2O2 digestion and NaI density separation was used to extract all five kinds of BMPs from the bivalve, crab, squid, and crayfish tissues, and all the recovery rates exceeded 80%. These results suggest that the optimal protocol is practicable to extract various BMPs from various aquatic organisms.

Occurrence and distribution of antibiotics in coastal water of the Taizhou Bay, China: impacts of industrial activities and marine aquaculture.

The occurrence, spatial distribution, and source analysis of antibiotics in global coastal waters and estuaries are not well documented or understood. Therefore, the distribution of 14 antibiotics in inflowing river and bay water of Taizhou Bay, East China Sea, was studied. Thirteen antibiotics, excluding roxithromycin (ROM), were all detected in inflowing river and bay water. The total antibiotic concentrations in bay water ranged from 3126.62 to 26,531.48 ng/L, which were significantly higher than those in the inflowing river (17.20-25,090.25 ng/L). Macrolides (MAs) and sulfonamides (SAs) were dominant in inflowing river (accounting for 24.40% and 74.9% of the total antibiotic concentrations, respectively), while SAs in bay water (93.6% of the total concentrations). Among them, clindamycin (CLI) (concentration range: ND-8414 ng/L, mean 1437.59 ng/L) and sulfadimidine (SMX) (ND-25,184.00 ng/L, mean concentrations: 9107.88 ng/L) were the highest in those surface water samples. Source analysis showed that MAs and SAs in the inflowing river mainly came from the wastewater discharge of the surrounding residents and pharmaceutical companies, while SAs in the bay water mainly came from surrounding industrial activities and mariculture. However, the contribution of the inflowing river to the bay water cannot be ignored. The risk assessment showed that SMX and ofloxacin (OFX) have potential ecological risks. These data will support the various sectors of the environment in developing management strategies and to prevent antibiotic pollution.

[Occurrence Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Antibiotics in the Surface Water of Luoma Lake and Its Main Inflow Rivers].

The concentration levels of 39 antibiotics, including sulfonamides (SAs), quinolones (QUs), tetracyclines (TCs), macrolides (MLs), and penicillins (PLs), in the surface water of Luoma Lake, and its main inflow rivers were analyzed using SPE-UPLC-MS/MS. The contribution rates of pollution of major rivers entering the lake were analyzed, and the potential ecological and health risks of antibiotics were assessed. The results showed that ρ(antibiotics)in 42 sampling sites was between 30.10 ng·L-1 and 582.37 ng·L-1, and a total of four classes of 23 antibiotics were detected. Among them, the average detection concentration of enrofloxacin (ERX) was the highest (88.05 ng·L-1), and the detection rate of lincomycin (LIN) was the highest (100%). The average concentration of antibiotics in the northern region of Luoma Lake was higher than that in the south, and among the two main rivers entering the lake, Yihe River was the main river contributing to the pollution of antibiotics in Luoma Lake, with a contribution rate of 53.91%. The results of risk assessment showed that ERX had the largest risk quotient. For the cumulative risk quotient (RQcum), RQcum of L6, R30, R31, R32, R33, and R42 was between 0.1 and 1, which is considered medium risk, and RQcum of other points was>1, which is considered high risk. The health risk assessment of 11 antibiotics showed that the health risk quotient (RQH) of adults and children ranged from 4.16×10-6 to 2.46×10-3, and there was no health risk to the human body.

In vitro biotransformation of tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate and triphenyl phosphate by mouse liver microsomes: Kinetics and key CYP isoforms.

As the result of the phase-out on polybrominated diphenyl ethers, organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) were widely used as substitutes in the world. Previous studies found that OPFRs were frequently detected in environmental, biological, and human samples. Considering their adverse effects, the absorption, bioaccumulation, metabolism and internal exposure processes of OPFRs attracted more attentions recently, especially for aryl-OPFR and Cl-OPFRs. In the present study, the biotransformation, metabolic kinetics and related CYP450 isoforms of typical Cl-OPFR (tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate: TDCPP) and aryl-OPFR (triphenyl phosphate: TPhP) were studied in vitro by mouse liver microsomes. Metabolomic analysis revealed that TDCPP may be easier to bio-accumulate in organisms than TPhP, which can be explained by their metabolic rates and half-life values (TDCPP: t1/2 = 1.8083 h; TPhP: t1/2 = 0.1531 h). CYP2E1, CYP2D6, CYP1A2 and CYP2C19 were suggested to be the specific enzymes for the biotransformation of TDCPP via associated inhibition assay. CYP2E1 was the primary CYP450 isoform of metabolism in vitro for TPhP. These findings may provide new insights for the potential mechanism of hepatotoxicity in mammals induced by OPFRs and the detoxification process of OPFRs in hepatocytes.

Occurrence of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes and their correlations in river-type drinking water source, China.

The occurrence and distribution of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in natural water has attracted worldwide attention. Antibiotic and ARG pollution in the surface water of drinking water sources might directly/indirectly affect human health. In this study, the distribution of 38 antibiotics, 10 ARGs, 2 integrons, and 16S r DNA in river-type water sources in a large city of China were monitored in winter, which was a period with high level of antibiotic pollution. The results showed that 20 antibiotics were detected with different detection frequencies. The antibiotic pollution in December 2019 was relatively high, with the total concentrations of antibiotics ranging from 281.95 to 472.42 ng/L, followed by that in January 2020 (191.70-337.29 ng/L) and November 2019 (161.25-309.72 ng/L). Sulfacetamide was dominant in November 2019 (23.52-219.00 ng/L) and in January 2020 (113.18-209 ng/L), while norfloxacin in December 2019 (146.72-290.20 ng/L). All the target antibiotics posed low or medium risk for aquatic organisms, and posed low health risk for mankind. Sul1 and erm36 were the predominant ARGs, and intI1 was the predominant integron in drinking water sources. Only tetA showed positive correlations with its corresponding antibiotic (tetracycline). The rest of ARGs showed no correlations with antibiotics or positive / negative correlations with their non-corresponding antibiotics. Overall, the antibiotics and ARG pollution in these water sources was relatively low. These findings provided some reference data for the distribution of antibiotics and ARGs in river-type drinking water sources of large cities in China.

Distribution, abundance, and risk assessment of selected antibiotics in a shallow freshwater body used for drinking water, China.

With rapid improvements in industrialization and urbanization, antibiotics are now extensively used to prevent and treat human and animal diseases and husbandry and aquaculture. Some research has been conducted to assess the environmental distribution and risk level of antibiotics, but their distribution remains largely uncharacterized. Thus, this study investigated the distribution and abundance of 39 antibiotics belonging to five groups, and their associated risks in surface water around Luoma Lake in the north of Jiangsu province, China. Nineteen antibiotics were detected, at a detection frequency (DF) ranging from 2.27% to 100%. The total antibiotics (ΣABs) concentrations ranged from 34.91 to 825.93 ng/L, with a median concentration of 195.45 ng/L. Among these antibiotics, chlortetracycline (DF: 100%; median: 172.02 ng/L) was the dominant antibiotic, accounting for a median percentage of 91.0% of ΣABs concentrations. Spearman rank correlation method found a significant correlation between clindamycin (DF: 72.7%; median: 2.01 ng/L) and lincomycin (DF: 79.5%; median: 4.58 ng/L). The ecological risk quotient (RQ) values for two out of 44 sampling sites were higher than 1, indicating a high risk; 11.4% of the RQ values fell between 0.1 and 1, indicating a medium risk. Moreover, roxithromycin was found to be the dominant contributor to the ecological risk, accounting for a median of 79.7% of ΣABs. However, the total non-carcinogenic (<6.54 × 10-4) and carcinogenic risks (<1.64 × 10-7) of ΣABs were negligible at the detected concentrations.

The influence of different polymer types of microplastics on adsorption, accumulation, and toxicity of triclosan in zebrafish.

Although the combined effects of microplastics (MPs) and other organic pollutants have raised increasing attention, the impacts of polymer types on the biological effects (e.g., bioaccumulation and toxicity) of the mixtures are still unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different polymer types of MPs including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) on the adsorption, accumulation, and toxic effects of triclosan (TCS) in zebrafish. As a result, all three types of MPs could adsorb TCS and PP-MPs has the highest adsorption capacity for TCS (1.18 mg/g). Compared with the TCS alone, MPs changed the distribution of TCS in tissues and increased the accumulation of TCS in the liver and gut following the order of TCS + PP > TCS + PVC > TCS + PE. Compared with individual TCS and PP-MPs, after co-exposed for 28 days, TCS + PP significantly aggravated oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in the liver as well as enhanced neurotoxicity in the brain. Moreover, TCS + PP disturbed the metabolism in the liver and MPs contributed more to the metabolic disorders. The upregulated lipid metabolites (e.g., sphingosine and L-palmitoylcarnitine) and downregulated carbohydrate metabolites (e.g., sucrose) could be potential targets for future risk assessment of MPs combined with other pollutants.

The risk and impact of organophosphate esters on the development of female-specific cancers: Comparative analysis of patients with benign and malignant tumors.

Environmental pollution has become a concern for public health. As endocrine disruptors, organophosphate esters (OPEs) causes many diseases via human exposure. However, there is limited research on the risk of OPE exposure to female-specific cancers. Blood measurements are biomarkers for chemical exposures by their definition. Thus, in the present study, 11 OPEs were analyzed in the plasma of patients with 4 female-specific tumors. 2-Ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) was detected at the highest levels in all groups. The Spearman correlation test results showed significantly positive correlations between some OPEs in each group, which indicated that those OPEs had similar sources and/or behaved similarly in the patients of each group. However, compared with different patient groups, obvious differences in the correlation results were noted, implying the differences in the metabolism of OPEs between different groups. The results of the correlation analysis showed that EHDPP concentration was associated with the risk of breast cancer (p < 0.05), while tri-n-butyl phosphate (TNBP), tris (methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), and EHDPP concentrations were associated with the risk of cervical cancer (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). These findings indicated that OPEs were associated with the risk of breast and cervical cancer.