Clinical Outcome for Lumbar Disc Herniation Treatment with Intradiscal Oxygen-ozone Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain due to disc herniation is a common problem causing frequent hospital visits and loss of working days with major socio-economic impact. Conservative treatments like analgesics, physiotherapy do not work in all patients. Surgical treatment has been the mainstay of treatment when indicated but is associated with anesthetic and surgical complications. Intradiscal oxygen-ozone chemonucleolysis is a minimally invasive procedure done under local anesthesia and has promising role in shrinking the bulged disc and reducing nerve root compression and related symptoms. This retrospective study was done to see how intradiscal oxygen-ozone chemonucleolysis reduces pain severity in patients with discogenic low back pain. METHODS: Retrospective data were retrieved of those patients who underwent fluoroscopy guided intradiscal oxygen-ozone chemonucleolysis with 5-6 ml of an O2-O3 mixture (concentration of 30 microgram/ml) during a period of two years in Nepal pain care and research center. Numerical pain scale (NRS) at various follow ups were compared to preprocedural NRS. RESULTS: Preprocedural NRS was 8± 13. NRS at three hours, one week, one month, three months and six months were 2± 13 (73 percent reduction), 2± 53 (68 percent reduction), 2± 27 (72 percent reduction), 1± 08 (77 percent reduction) and 1± 67 (79 percent reduction) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Intradiscal oxygen-ozone chemonucleolysis can be a useful modality of treatment for discogenic low back pain in patients who fail to respond to conservative management and in whom surgery is not indicated.

[Spatial and Temporal Distribution Characteristics of Ozone Concentration and Health Benefit Assessment in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region from 2015 to 2020].

To evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of ambient ozone (O3) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) Region, the land use regression (LUR) model and random forest (RF) model were used to simulate the ambient O3 concentration from 2015 to 2020. Meanwhile, all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortalities as well as economic losses attributed to O3 were also estimated. The results showed that upward trends with fluctuation were observed for ambient O3 concentration, mortalities, and economic losses attributable to O3 exposure in the BTH Region from 2015 to 2020. The areas with high O3 concentration and great changes were concentrated in the central and southwestern regions, whereas the concentration in the northern region was low, and the change degree was small. The spatial distribution of the mortalities was also consistent with the spatial distribution of O3 concentration. From 2015 to 2020, the economic losses regarding all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality increased in 13 cities of the BTH Region, whereas the economic losses of respiratory mortality decreased in 4 cities in the BTH Region. The results indicated that the priority areas for O3 control were not uniform. Specifically, Beijing, Tianjin, Hengshui, and Xingtai were vital areas for O3 pollution control in the BTH Region. Differentiated control measures should be adopted based on the characteristics of these target areas to decline O3 concentration and reduce health impacts and economic losses associated with O3 exposure.

Enhancement Effect Induced by the Second Metal to Promote Ozone Catalytic Oxidation of VOCs.

It is a promising research direction to develop catalysts with high stability and ozone utilization for low-temperature ozone catalytic oxidation of VOCs. While bimetallic catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic activity compared with conventional single noble metal catalysts, limited success has been achieved in the influence of the bimetallic effect on the stability and ozone utilization of metal catalysts. Herein, it is necessary to systematically study the enhancement effect in the ozone catalytic reaction induced by the second metal. With a simple continuous impregnation method, a platinum-cerium bimetallic catalyst is prepared. Also highlighted are studies from several aspects of the contribution of the second metal (Ce) to the stability and ozone utilization of the catalysts, including the "electronic effect" and "geometric effect". The synergistic removal rate of toluene and ozone is nearly 100% at 30 °C, and it still shows positive stability after high humidity and a long reaction time. More importantly, the instructive significance, which is the in-depth knowledge of enhanced catalytic mechanism of bimetallic catalysts resulting from a second metal, is provided by this work.

Squalene Depletion in Skin Following Human Exposure to Ozone under Controlled Chamber Conditions.

A major component of human skin oil is squalene, a highly unsaturated hydrocarbon that protects the skin from atmospheric oxidants. Skin oil, and thus squalene, is continuously replenished on the skin surface. Squalene is also quickly consumed through reactions with ozone and other oxidants. This study examined the extent of squalene depletion in the skin oils of the forearm of human volunteers after exposure to ozone in a climate chamber. Temperature, relative humidity (RH), skin coverage by clothing, and participants' age were varied in a controlled manner. Concentrations of squalene were determined in skin wipe samples collected before and after ozone exposure. Exposures to ozone resulted in statistically significant decreases in post-exposure squalene concentrations compared to pre-exposure squalene concentrations in the skin wipes when squalene concentrations were normalized by concentrations of co-occurring cholesterol but not by co-occurring pyroglutamic acid (PGA). The rate of squalene loss due to ozonolysis was lower than its replenishment on the skin surface. Within the ranges examined, temperature and RH did not significantly affect the difference between normalized squalene levels in post-samples versus pre-samples. Although not statistically significant, skin coverage and age of the volunteers (three young adults, three seniors, and three teenagers) did appear to impact squalene depletion on the skin surfaces.

Analysis of human health effects under ozone exposure in the oasis area of Hetao Plain.

This article, based on OMI data products, utilizes spatial distribution, ozone-sensitive control areas, Pearson correlation methods, and the Ben-MAP model to study the changes in ozone column concentration from 2018 to 2022, along with the influencing factors and the health of populations exposed to ozone. The findings suggest a spatial variation in the ozone column concentration within the study area, with an increasing trend observed from west to east and from south to north. Over time, the ozone column concentration exhibits an initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease, with the peak concentration observed in 2019 at 37.45 DU and the nadir recorded in 2022 at 33.10 DU. The monthly mean distribution exhibits an inverted V-shaped pattern during the warm season from April to September, with a peak in July (46.71 DU) and a trough in April (35.29 DU). The Hetao Plain Oasis area is primarily a NOx control area in sensitive control areas. The concentrations of O3 and precursor HCHO exhibited significant positive correlations with vegetation index and air temperature, while showing significant negative correlations with wind speed and air pressure. The precursor NO2, in contrast, exhibited a significant negative correlation with both the vegetation index and relative humidity. Based on the ground-based monitoring sites and analysis of human health benefits, the study area witnessed 1944.45 deaths attributed to warm season O3 exposure in 2018, with a subsequent reduction in premature deaths by 149.7, 588.2, and 231.75 for the years 2019 to 2021 respectively when compared to the baseline year. In 2021, the observed decrease in warm-season O3 concentration within that region compared to 2018 resulted in a significant reduction, leading to the prevention of 126 premature deaths.

Safety of Prolonged Exposure of Human Skin to Aqueous Ozone in a Test Hand Hygiene Model.

AIMS: This research assessed the safety of aqueous ozone (AO) on human skin after multiple exposures for up to 40 hours. METHODS AND RESULTS: Full thickness recombinant human skin (EpiDerm FT, EFT-400) was exposed to AO for 7 seconds per minute for the first 6 minutes of each hour, repeated hourly over four time periods (4, 10, 20 and 40 hours). An MTT assay assessed viability of skin cells after exposure, compared to incubator control, negative control and vehicle control (distilled water). No significant difference in tissue viability was found between the AO condition and any of the control conditions through 20 hours of exposures. At 40 hours of exposure, tissue viability was lower in the AO group when compared with negative control (p = 0.030) but not the other controls. CONCLUSIONS: The current study supports further consideration of repeated application of AO on human skin, such as for hand hygiene. IMPACT STATEMENT: The present research is the first well-controlled in vitro study assessing the cytotoxicity of repeated exposures of AO on a full-thickness human skin model. This information helps to inform the evaluation of AO as a potential alternative for hand and wound antisepsis.

Effect of pH on the ozonolysis degradation of p-nitrophenol in aquatic environment and the synergistic effect of hydroxy radical.

Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to elucidate the mechanisms for ozonolysis reaction of p-nitrophenol (PNP) and its anion form aPNP. Thermodynamic data, coupled with Average Local Ionization Energies (ALIE) analysis, reveal that the ortho-positions of the OH/O- groups are the most favorable reaction sites. Moreover, rate constant calculations demonstrate that the O3 attack on the C2-C3 bond is the predominant process in the reaction between neutral PNP and O3. For the aPNP + O3 reaction, the most favorable pathways involve O3 attacking the C1-C2 and C6-C1 bonds. The rate constant for PNP ozonolysis positively correlates with pH, ranging from 5.47 × 108 to 2.86 × 109 M-1 s-1 in the natural aquatic environment. In addition, the formation of hydroxyl radicals in the ozonation process of PNP and the mechanisms of its synergistic reaction of PNP with ozone were investigated. Furthermore, the ozonation and hydroxylation processes involving the intermediate OH-derivatives were both thermodynamically and kinetic analyzed, which illustrate that OH radicals could promote the elimination of PNP. Finally, the toxic of PNP and the main products for fish, daphnia, green algae and rat were assessed. The findings reveal that certain intermediates possess greater toxicity than the original reactant. Consequently, the potential health risks these compounds pose to organisms warrant serious consideration.

Characterization of VOC emissions and health risk assessment in the plastic manufacturing industry.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) significantly contribute to ozone pollution formation, and many VOCs are known to be harmful to human health. Plastic has become an indispensable material in various industries and daily use scenarios, yet the VOC emissions and associated health risks in the plastic manufacturing industry have received limited attention. In this study, we conducted sampling in three typical plastic manufacturing factories to analyze the emission characteristics of VOCs, ozone formation potential (OFP), and health risks for workers. Isopropanol was detected at relatively high concentrations in all three factories, with concentrations in organized emissions reaching 322.3 µg/m3, 344.8 µg/m3, and 22.6 µg/m3, respectively. Alkanes are the most emitted category of VOCs in plastic factories. However, alkenes and oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) exhibit higher OFP. In organized emissions of different types of VOCs in the three factories, alkenes and OVOCs contributed 22.8%, 67%, and 37.8% to the OFP, respectively, highlighting the necessity of controlling them. The hazard index (HI) for all three factories was less than 1, indicating a low non-carcinogenic toxic risk; however, there is still a possibility of non-cancerous health risks in two of the factories, and a potential lifetime cancer risk in all of the three factories. For workers with job tenures exceeding 5 years, there may be potential health risks, hence wearing masks with protective capabilities is necessary. This study provides evidence for reducing VOC emissions and improving management measures to ensure the health protection of workers in the plastic manufacturing industry.

Air Pollutants and Mortality Risk in Patients with Aortic Dissection: Evidence from a Clinical Cohort, Single-Cell Sequencing, and Proteomics.

We aimed to evaluate the association between air pollutants and mortality risk in patients with acute aortic dissection (AAD) in a longitudinal cohort and to explore the potential mechanisms of adverse prognosis induced by fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Air pollutants data, including PM2.5, PM10.0, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3), were collected from official monitoring stations, and multivariable Cox regression models were applied. Single-cell sequencing and proteomics of aortic tissue were conducted to explore the potential mechanisms. In total, 1,267 patients with AAD were included. Exposure to higher concentrations of air pollutants was independently associated with an increased mortality risk. The high-PM2.5 group carried approximately 2 times increased mortality risk. There were linear associations of PM10, NO2, CO, and SO2 exposures with long-term mortality risk. Single-cell sequencing revealed an increase in mast cells in aortic tissue in the high-PM2.5 exposure group. Enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes identified the inflammatory response as one of the main pathways, with IL-17 and TNF signaling pathways being among the top pathways. Analysis of proteomics also identified these pathways. This study suggests that exposure to higher PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, and SO2 are associated with increased mortality risk in patients with AAD. PM2.5-related activation and degranulation of mast cells may be involved in this process.

Inconsequential role for chemerin-like receptor 1 in the manifestation of ozone-induced lung pathophysiology in male mice.

We executed this study to determine if chemerin-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1), a Gi/o protein-coupled receptor expressed by leukocytes and non-leukocytes, contributes to the development of phenotypic features of non-atopic asthma, including airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to acetyl-ß-methylcholine chloride, lung hyperpermeability, airway epithelial cell desquamation, and lung inflammation. Accordingly, we quantified sequelae of non-atopic asthma in wild-type mice and mice incapable of expressing CMKLR1 (CMKLR1-deficient mice) following cessation of acute inhalation exposure to either filtered room air (air) or ozone (O3), a criteria pollutant and non-atopic asthma stimulus. Following exposure to air, lung elastic recoil and airway responsiveness were greater while the quantity of adiponectin, a multi-functional adipocytokine, in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was lower in CMKLR1-deficient as compared to wild-type mice. Regardless of genotype, exposure to O3 caused AHR, lung hyperpermeability, airway epithelial cell desquamation, and lung inflammation. Nevertheless, except for minimal genotype-related effects on lung hyperpermeability and BAL adiponectin, we observed no other genotype-related differences following O3 exposure. In summary, we demonstrate that CMKLR1 limits the severity of innate airway responsiveness and lung elastic recoil but has a nominal effect on lung pathophysiology induced by acute exposure to O3.

Assessment of the health impacts of air pollution exposure in East African countries.

The health effects of air pollution remain a public concern worldwide. Using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 report, we statistically analyzed total mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALY), and years of life lost (YLL) attributable to air pollution in eight East African countries between 1990 and 2019. We acquired ambient ozone (O3), PM2.5 concentrations and household air pollution (HAP) from the solid fuel from the State of Global Air report. The multilinear regression model was used to evaluate the predictability of YLLs by the air pollutants. We estimated the ratio rate for each health burden attributable to air pollution to compare the country's efforts in the reduction of air pollution health burden. This study found that the total number of deaths attributable to air pollution decreased by 14.26% for 30 years. The drop came from the reduction of 43.09% in mortality related to Lower Respiratory tract Infection (LRI). However, only five out of eight countries managed to decrease the total number of deaths attributable to air pollution with the highest decrease observed in Ethiopia (40.90%) and the highest increase in Somalia (67.49%). The linear regression model showed that HAP is the pollutant of the most concern in the region, with a 1% increase in HAP resulting in a 31.06% increase in regional YLL (R2 = 0.93; p < 0.05). With the increasing ground-level ozone, accompanied by the lack of adequate measures to reduce particulate pollutants, the health burdens attributable to air pollution are still a threat in the region.

Ozone pollution contributes to the yield gap for beans in Uganda, East Africa, and is co-located with other agricultural stresses.

Air quality negatively impacts agriculture, reducing the yield of staple food crops. While measured data on African ground-level ozone levels are scarce, experimental studies demonstrate the damaging impact of ozone on crops. Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), an ozone-sensitive crop, are widely grown in Uganda. Using modelled ozone flux, agricultural surveys, and a flux-effect relationship, this study estimates yield and production losses due to ozone for Ugandan beans in 2015. Analysis at this scale allows the use of localised data, and results can be presented at a sub-regional level. Soil nutrient stress, drought, flood risk, temperature and deprivation were also mapped to investigate where stresses may coincide. Average bean yield losses due to ozone were 17% and 14% (first and second growing season respectively), equating to 184 thousand tonnes production loss. However, for some sub-regions, losses were up to 27.5% and other crop stresses also coincided in these areas. This methodology could be applied widely, allowing estimates of ozone impact for countries lacking air quality and/or experimental data. As crop productivity is below its potential in many areas of the world, changing agricultural practices to mitigate against losses due to ozone could help to reduce the crop yield gap.

Exposure to ambient air pollution and cognitive function: an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort.

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of studies suggest adverse effects of exposure to ambient air pollution on cognitive function, but the evidence is still limited. We investigated the associations between long-term exposure to air pollutants and cognitive function in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) cohort of older adults. METHODS: Our sample included 8,883 individuals from ELSA, based on a nationally representative study of people aged ≥ 50 years, followed-up from 2002 until 2017. Exposure to air pollutants was modelled by the CMAQ-urban dispersion model and assigned to the participants' residential postcodes. Cognitive test scores of memory and executive function were collected biennially. The associations between these cognitive measures and exposure to ambient concentrations of NO2, PM10, PM2.5 and ozone were investigated using mixed-effects models adjusted for time-varying age, physical activity and smoking status, as well as baseline gender and level of education. RESULTS: Increasing long-term exposure per interquartile range (IQR) of NO2 (IQR: 13.05 µg/m3), PM10 (IQR: 3.35 µg/m3) and PM2.5 (IQR: 2.7 µg/m3) were associated with decreases in test scores of composite memory by -0.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.14, -0.07), -0.02 [-0.04, -0.01] and -0.08 [-0.11, -0.05], respectively. The same increases in NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were associated with decreases in executive function score of -0.31 [-0.38, -0.23], -0.05 [-0.08, -0.02] and -0.16 [-0.22, -0.10], respectively. The association with ozone was inverse across both tests. Similar results were reported for the London-dwelling sub-sample of participants. CONCLUSIONS: The present study was based on a long follow-up with several repeated measurements per cohort participant and long-term air pollution exposure assessment at a fine spatial scale. Increasing long-term exposure to NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 was associated with a decrease in cognitive function in older adults in England. This evidence can inform policies related to modifiable environmental exposures linked to cognitive decline.

In vitro effects of different ozone preparations on microorganisms responsible for endometritis in the mare.

Infectious endometritis is considered one of the major causes of infertility and it can affect up to 60% of barren mares. It is characterized by the presence of one or more microorganisms in the reproductive tract and it is treated with the administration of antibiotics, ecbolic agents and uterine lavages. Ozone, thanks to its antimicrobial properties that are based on its high oxidative potential, could represent an effective alternative treatment for endometritis. The aim of this study was to test in vitro the bactericidal and fungicidal properties of different ozone formulations, either as gas (experiment 1) or dissolved in two liquid matrices (experiment 2), specifically distilled water or oil (Neozone 4000, Cosmoproject, Parma, Italy), onto 6 different species of microorganisms isolated from mares with clinical endometritis, namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus equi subsp. Zooepidemicus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Candida albicans. In the first experiment, 3 clinical antibiotic-resistant strains per each species were exposed to different conditions: to O2O3 gas mixtures (15 and 40 µg/ml for 1, 3 and 5 min), to 100 % O2 or left untreated. The results showed a reduction of the microbial count of over 99,9% for every pathogen, time and concentration of O2O3 gas mixtures tested. Furthermore, gaseous ozone showed both a time-dependant effect (5 vs 3 vs 1 min of exposure) and a concentration-dependant effect (40 vs 15 µg/ml) at 1 and 3 min, while after 5 min no differences were observed. In the second experiment, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC, MFC) of ozonated distilled water and ozonated oil were evaluated. Ozonated oil showed a bactericidal/fungicidal activity against all the strains tested (MIC range 12.5-25 % v/v, MBC/MFC range 12.5-50 % v/v) while ozonated distilled water didn't show an observable antimicrobial effect, discouraging its use as an antimicrobial agent for the treatment of endometritis. The results of this in vitro study indicate that both gaseous ozone and ozonated oil exerted remarkable antimicrobial activities and are promising alternative treatments for infectious endometritis, even when caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and encourage further experiments in an effort to scale down or even prevent the use of antibiotics in equine reproduction.

Research Progress of Ozone/Peroxymonosulfate Advanced Oxidation Technology for Degrading Antibiotics in Drinking Water and Wastewater Effluent: A Review.

Nowadays, antibiotics are widely used, increasing the risk of contamination of the water body and further threatening human health. The traditional water treatment process is less efficient in degrading antibiotics, and the advanced oxidation process (AOPs) is cleaner and more efficient than the traditional biochemical degradation process. The combined ozone/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) advanced oxidation process (O3/PMS) based on sulfate radical (SO4•-) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) has developed rapidly in recent years. The O3/PMS process has become one of the most effective ways to treat antibiotic wastewater. The reaction mechanism of O3/PMS was reviewed in this paper, and the research and application progress of the O3/PMS process in the degradation of antibiotics in drinking water and wastewater effluent were evaluated. The operation characteristics and current application range of the process were summarized, which has a certain reference value for further research on O3/PMS process.

Towards zero excess sludge discharge with built-in ozonation for wastewater biological treatment.

In this study, a biological treatment process, which used a built-in ozonation bypass to achieve sludge reduction, was built to treat the industrial antifreeze production wastewater (mainly composed of ethylene glycol). The results indicated there is a positive correlation between ozone dosage and sludge reduction. At the laboratory level, the MLSS in the system can be stably controlled at around 3400 mg MLSS L-1 under the dosage of 0.18 g O3 g-1 MLSS. Ozonation can increase the compactness of sludge flocs (fractal dimension increased from 1.89 to 1.92). Ozone destroys microbial cell membranes and alters the structure of sludge flocs through direct oxidation through electrophilic reactions. It leads to the release of intracellular polysaccharides, proteins, and other biological macromolecules in microorganisms, thereby promoting the implicit growth of microbial populations. Some bacteria such as g_Pseudomonas, g_Gemmobacter, etc. have strong ethylene glycol degradation ability and tolerance to ozonation. The removal of ethylene glycol includes the glyoxylate cycle, glycine serine carbon cycle, and the glutamate-cysteine ligase pathway of assimilation. Gene KatG and gpx may be key factors in improving microbial tolerance to ozonation. The comprehensive evaluation from the perspectives of cost and carbon emission shows that choosing ozone cracking-implicit growth in wastewater treatment systems has significant cost advantages and application value.

Temperature-Dependent Evaporative Anthropogenic VOC Emissions Significantly Exacerbate Regional Ozone Pollution.

The evaporative emissions of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOCs) are sensitive to ambient temperature. This sensitivity forms an air pollution-meteorology connection that has not been assessed on a regional scale. We parametrized the temperature dependence of evaporative AVOC fluxes in a regional air quality model and evaluated the impacts on surface ozone in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) area of China during the summer of 2017. The temperature dependency of AVOC emissions drove an enhanced simulated ozone-temperature sensitivity of 1.0 to 1.8 µg m-3 K-1, comparable to the simulated ozone-temperature sensitivity driven by the temperature dependency of biogenic VOC emissions (1.7 to 2.4 µg m-3 K-1). Ozone enhancements driven by temperature-induced AVOC increases were localized to their point of emission and were relatively more important in urban areas than in rural regions. The inclusion of the temperature-dependent AVOC emissions in our model improved the simulated ozone-temperature sensitivities on days of ozone exceedance. Our results demonstrated the importance of temperature-dependent AVOC emissions on surface ozone pollution and its heretofore unrepresented role in air pollution-meteorology interactions.

Excessive Ozonation Stress Triggers Severe Membrane Biofilm Accumulation and Fouling.

The established benefits of ozone on microbial pathogen inactivation, natural organic matter degradation, and inorganic/organic contaminant oxidation have favored its application in drinking water treatment. However, viable bacteria are still present after the ozonation of raw water, bringing a potential risk to membrane filtration systems in terms of biofilm accumulation and fouling. In this study, we shed light on the role of the specific ozone dose (0.5 mg-O3/mg-C) in biofilm accumulation during long-term membrane ultrafiltration. Results demonstrated that ozonation transformed the molecular structure of influent dissolved organic matter (DOM), producing fractions that were highly bioavailable at a specific ozone dose of 0.5, which was inferred to be a turning point. With the increase of the specific ozone dose, the biofilm microbial consortium was substantially shifted, demonstrating a decrease in richness and diversity. Unexpectedly, the opportunistic pathogen Legionella was stimulated and occurred in approximately 40% relative abundance at the higher specific ozone dose of 1. Accordingly, the membrane filtration system with a specific ozone dose of 0.5 presented a lower biofilm thickness, a weaker fluorescence intensity, smaller concentrations of polysaccharides and proteins, and a lower Raman activity, leading to a lower hydraulic resistance, compared to that with a specific ozone dose of 1. Our findings highlight the interaction mechanism between molecular-level DOM composition, biofilm microbial consortium, and membrane filtration performance, which provides an in-depth understanding of the impact of ozonation on biofilm accumulation.

New Hybrid Ethylenediurea (EDU) Derivatives and Their Phytoactivity.

Natural and synthetic phytohormones are widely used in agriculture. The synthetic cytokinin ethylenediurea (EDU) induces protection in plants against ozone phytotoxicity. In our study, new hybrid derivatives of EDU were synthesized and tested for phytoactivity. The germination potential (Gp), germination of seeds (G), and relative water content in leaves (RWC), characterizing the drought resistance of plants, were determined. The results of laboratory studies showed that EDU and its hybrid derivatives have a positive effect on root length, the growth and development of shoots, as well as the ability of plants to tolerate stress caused by a lack of water.