Interactions between MPs and PFASs in aquatic environments: A dual-character situation.

Microplastics (MPs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have drawn great attention as emerging threats to aquatic ecosystems. Although the literature to study the MPs and PFASs alone has grown significantly, our knowledge of the overlap and interactions between the two contaminations is scarce due to the unawareness of it. Actually, numerous human activities can simultaneously release MPs and PFASs, and the co-sources of the two are common, meaning that they have a greater potential for interactions. The direct interaction lies in the PFASs adsorption by MPs in water with integrated mechanisms including electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, plus many influence factors. In addition, the existence and transportation of MPs and PFASs in the aquatic environment have been identified. MPs and PFASs can be ingested by aquatic organisms and cause more serious combined toxicity than exposure alone. Finally, curbing strategies of MPs and PFASs are overviewed. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can be an effective place to remove MPs from wastewater, while they are also an important point source of MPs pollution in water bodies. Although adsorption has proven to be a successful curbing method for PFASs, more technological advancements are required for field application. It is expected that this review can help revealing the unheeded relationship and interaction between MPs and PFASs in aquatic environments, thus assisting the further investigations of both MPs and PFASs as a whole.

A glance of coupled water and wastewater treatment systems based on microbial fuel cells.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a variant of the bioelectrochemical system that uses microorganisms as biocatalysts to generate bioenergy by oxidizing organic matter. Due to its two-prong feature of simultaneously treating wastewater and generating electricity, it has drawn extensive interest by scientific communities around the world. However, the pollution purifying capacity and power production of MFC at the laboratory scale have tended to remain steady, and there have been no reports of a performance breakthrough. In recent years, research related to MFC has demonstrated a new trend, namely the coupling of MFC with other wastewater treatment technologies to create a 1 + 1 > 2 impact. MFC-based coupling/hybrid technologies such as sediment MFC (SMFC), constructed wetland MFC (CW-MFC), membrane bioreactor MFC (MBR-MFC), microbial desalination cell (MDC), and MFC coupled nutrient recovery technology, etc. have been increasingly studied. Therefore, this review aims to overview these already-emerging MFC coupling technologies and explores their development trends and challenges to serve as a guide for determining priority research topics in this area. Among these MFC-based coupling/hybrid technologies, literature seems to support that CW-MFC is a good example of integrated MFC technology where CWs are already employed at the field level for wastewater treatment application. MFC-Electroflocculation and MBR-MFCs are typical emerged hybrid systems to own promising potential. However, scalability and practical application potential of these integrated technologies are the challenge towards their reality except for ideal performance in small scale trials.

The unheeded inherent connections and overlap between microplastics and poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances: A comprehensive review.

Microplastics (MPs) and poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are receiving global attention due to their widespread presences and considerable level in the environment. Although the occurrence and fate of MPs and PFASs alone have been extensively studied, little was known about their unheeded connection and overlap between the two. Therefore, this review attempts to reveal it for the purpose of providing a new view from joint consideration of the two in the future studies. Initially, the critically examined data on the co-sources and existence of MPs and PFASs are summarized. Surprisingly, some products could be co-source of MPs and PFASs which are general in daily life while the distribution of the two is primary influenced by the human activity. Then, their interactions are reviewed based on the fact that PFASs can be sorbed onto MPs which are regarded as a vector of contaminations. The electrostatic interaction and hydrophobic contact are the predominant sorption mechanisms and could be influenced by environmental factors and properties of MPs and PFASs. The effects of MPs on the transport of PFASs in the environments, especially in aquatic environments are then discussed. Additionally, the current state of knowledge on the combined toxicity of MPs and PFASs are presented. Finally, the existing problems and future perspectives are outlined at the end of the review. This review provides an advanced understanding of the overlap, interaction and toxic effects of MPs and PFASs co-existing in the environment.

Towards Effective, Sustainable Solution for Hospital Wastewater Treatment to Cope with the Post-Pandemic Era.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the globe since the end of 2019, posing significant challenges for global medical facilities and human health. Treatment of hospital wastewater is vitally important under this special circumstance. However, there is a shortage of studies on the sustainable wastewater treatment processes utilized by hospitals. Based on a review of the research trends regarding hospital wastewater treatment in the past three years of the COVID-19 outbreak, this review overviews the existing hospital wastewater treatment processes. It is clear that activated sludge processes (ASPs) and the use of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are the major and effective treatment techniques applied to hospital wastewater. Advanced technology (such as Fenton oxidation, electrocoagulation, etc.) has also achieved good results, but the use of such technology remains small scale for the moment and poses some side effects, including increased cost. More interestingly, this review reveals the increased use of constructed wetlands (CWs) as an eco-solution for hospital wastewater treatment and then focuses in slightly more detail on examining the roles and mechanisms of CWs' components with respect to purifying hospital wastewater and compares their removal efficiency with other treatment processes. It is believed that a multi-stage CW system with various intensifications or CWs incorporated with other treatment processes constitute an effective, sustainable solution for hospital wastewater treatment in order to cope with the post-pandemic era.

Ozone based inactivation and disinfection in the pandemic time and beyond: Taking forward what has been learned and best practice.

The large-scale global COVID-19 has a profound impact on human society. Timely and effectively blocking the virus spread is the key to controlling the pandemic growth. Ozone-based inactivation and disinfection techniques have been shown to effectively kill SARS-CoV-2 in water, aerosols and on solid surface. However, the lack of an unified information and discussion on ozone-based inactivation and disinfection in current and previous pandemics and the absence of consensus on the main mechanisms by which ozone-based inactivation of pandemic causing viruses have hindered the possibility of establishing a common basis for identifying best practices in the utilization of ozone technology. This article reviews the research status of ozone (O3) disinfection on pandemic viruses (especially SARS-CoV-2). Taking sterilization kinetics as the starting point while followed by distinguishing the pandemic viruses by enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, this review focuses on analyzing the scope of application of the sterilization model and the influencing factors from the experimental studies and data induction. It is expected that the review could provide an useful reference for the safe and effective O3 utilization of SARS-CoV-2 inactivation in the post-pandemic era.

[The Mechanism of Resveratrol on Acute T-Lymphocyte Leukemia through IL-7-Mediated JAK / STAT Signaling Pathway].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the roles and relative mechanism of resveratrol against T-ALL through detecting the signaling molecules in IL-7 and JAK/STAT pathway. METHODS: In vitro experiments, Molt4 cells were divided into 3 groups, including the control group, the DMSO group and resveratrol-treated group (Res group). The control group cells without any treatment, the DMSO group cells treated with 0.05% DMSO for 48 hours, the Res group cells treated with 200 µmol/L resveratrol for 48 hours. In vivo experiments, female C57BL/6J mice (6-8 weeks) were randomly divided into the control group, the T-ALL model group (T-ALL group), and Res treatment group (Res group). The control group mice treated with 0.05% DMSO by intragastric treatment, the T-ALL group mice treated with 0.05% DMSO by intragastric treatment, and the Res group mice treated with 10 mg/ml resveratrol. Expression of IL-7, IL-7R and Pim1 mRNA in the cells and mice spleen tissues were detected by RT-qPCR. Cell proliferation ability was detected by CCK-8. The expression of JAK1, JAK3, STAT5, phosphorylated JAK1 (p-JAK1), phosphorylated JAK3 (p-JAK3), phosphorylated STAT5 (p-STAT5) and Pim1 were detected by Western blot. ELISA was used to detect the IL-7 and IL-7R in the cells and mice serum of each groups. RESULTS: Resveratrol could inhibit the proliferation ability of Molt4 cells, decrease the relative levels of p-JAK1, p-JAK3, p-STAT5, Pim1 protein, and the expression levels of Pim1, IL-7 and IL-7R mRNA in cells and mice spleens, reduce the IL-7 and IL-7R in Molt4 cells and mice serum. CONCLUSION: Resveratrol may inhibite IL-7-medicated JAK/STAT signaling pathway to reduce the expression of target protein Pim1 to further exert its anti-T-ALL effects.

Recent advance in the discovery of tyrosinase inhibitors from natural sources via separation methods.

Tyrosinase (TYR) inhibitors are in great demand in the food, cosmetic and medical industrials due to their important roles. Therefore, the discovery of high-quality TYR inhibitors is always pursued. Natural products as one of the most important sources of bioactive compounds discovery have been increasingly used for TYR inhibitors screening. However, due to their complex compositions, it is still a great challenge to rapid screening and identification of biologically active components from them. In recent years, with the help of separation technologies and the affinity and intrinsic activity of target enzymes, two advanced approaches including affinity screening and inhibition profiling showed great promises for a successful screening of bioactive compounds from natural sources. This review summarises the recent progress of separation-based methods for TYR inhibitors screening, with an emphasis on the principle, application, advantage, and drawback of each method along with perspectives in the future development of these screening techniques and screened hit compounds.

Water science under the global epidemic of COVID-19: Bibliometric tracking on COVID-19 publication and further research needs.

There are overwhelming increases of studies and over 200,000 publications related to all the aspects of COVID-19. Among them, 262 papers were published by authors from 67 countries regarding COVID-19 with water science and technology. Although the transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2 in water cycle have not been proved, the water and wastewater play an important role in the control of COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it is scholarly relevant and interesting to look into publications of COVID-19 in water science and technology to track the investigations for moving forward in the years to come. It is believed that, through the literature survey, the question on what we know and what we do not know about COVID-19 so far can be clear, thus providing useful information for helping curbing the epidemic from water sector. This forms the basis of the current study. As such, a bibliometric analysis was conducted. It reveals that wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has recently gained global attention with the source and survival characteristics of coronavirus in the aquatic environment; the methodology of virus detection; the water hygiene; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the water ecosystem being the main topics in 2020. Various studies have shown that drinking water is safety whereas wastewater may be a potential risk during this pandemic. From the perspective of the water cycle, the scopes for further research needs are discussed and proposed, which could enhance the important role and value of water science in warning, monitoring, and predicting COVID-19 during epidemic outbreaks.

How can we trace microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: A review of the current knowledge on their analysis approaches.

Microplastics (MPs), as an emerging pollutant derived from the human daily life and industry activities, have been widely detected in ecosystem. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play a special role in the mass flow of MPs because it is not only one of the important point sources of MPs, but also a way of collecting and removing MPs from wastewater. It is necessary to analyze the fate of MPs in WWTPs and the volume released into the environment. However, the lack of standard analytical methods of MPs in WWTPs limited the accuracy assessment of MPs and comparison between different studies. This review summarized the current knowledge on analysis approaches of MPs in WWTPs and proposed an analysis process. Specifically, the MPs sampling sites of wastewater and sludge treatment route is discussed. Moreover, various processing procedure for samples collection and pretreatment including extraction and purification, as well as identification and characterization of MPs are reviewed in great detail. Finally, as an important way to ensure accuracy of studies, quality assurance and control measures are presented. It should be pointed out that the overall analysis processes are interdependent and should be chosen and harmonized according to the aim of individual study. The lack of reliable and uniformity analysis methodology is the key challenge for present studies which needs further development.

Challenges of aqueous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and their foreseeable removal strategies.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are artificial refractory organic pollutants which are widely presented in aqueous environment. Due to the unquiet strength of the highly polarized carbon-fluorine bond (C-F) and their hydrophobic/lipophobic feature as well as biological persistence properties, the remediation and treatment of PFASs is a big challenge. Preliminary studies indicate that a few kinds of technical approaches could remove or transfer PFASs, but the effectiveness is not high as expected or limited while most of the techniques are only tested at laboratory scale. A review of existing treatment technologies was thus conducted for the purpose to outlook these technologies, and more importantly, to propose the foreseeable technique. As such, a constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC) technology was recommended, which is a newly emerged technology by integrating physical, chemical and enhanced biological processes plus the wetland plants function with strong eco-friendly feature for a comprehensive removal of PFASs. It is expected that the review can strengthen our understanding on PFASs' research and thus can help selecting reasonable technical means of aqueous PFASs control.