From pollution to solutions: Insights into the sources, transport and management of plastic debris in pristine and urban rivers.

River systems are important recipients of environmental plastic pollution and have become key pathways for the transfer of mismanaged waste from the land to the ocean. Understanding the sources and fate of plastic debris, including plastic litter (>5 mm) and microplastics (MPs) (<5 mm), entering different riverine systems is essential to mitigate the ongoing environmental plastic pollution crisis. We comprehensively investigated the plastic pollution in the catchments of two rivers in the Yangtze River basin: an urban river, the Suzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (SZ); and a pristine rural river, the Jingmen section of the Hanjiang River (JM). The abundance of plastic pollutants in SZ was significantly higher than in JM: 0.430 ± 0.450 items/m3 and 0.003 ± 0.003 items/m3 of plastic litter in the water; 23.47 ± 25.53 n/m3 and 2.78 ± 1.55 n/m3 MPs in the water; and 218.82 ± 77.40 items/kg and 5.30 ± 1.99 items/kg of MPs in the sediment, respectively. Plastic litter and MPs were closely correlated in abundance and polymer composition. Overall, the polymer type, shape and color of MPs were dominant by polypropylene (42.5%), fragment (60.4%) and transparent (40.0%), respectively. Source tracing analysis revealed that packaging, shipping, and wastewater were the primary sources of plastic pollutants. The mantel analysis indicated that socio-economic and geospatial factors play crucial roles in driving the hotspot formation of plastic pollution in river networks. The composition of the MP communities differed significantly between the sediments and the overlying water. The urban riverbed sediments had a more pronounced pollutant 'sink' effect compared with the pristine rivers. These findings suggested that the modification of natural streams during urbanization may influence the transport and fate of plastic pollutants in them. Our results offer pivotal insights into effective preventive measures.

Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics and Lipidomics Identify Biomarkers for Efficacy Evaluation of Mesalazine in a Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Ulcerative Colitis Mouse Model.

This study aims to identify biomarkers for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of mesalazine on ulcerative colitis by metabolomics and lipidomics. A dextran sulfate sodium-induced mouse model was used. The disease status was assessed by a disease activity index, the TNF-α level of colon was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the pathological changes of colon tissue was examined by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Serum metabolomics and lipidomics analysis based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry were applied to decipher the metabolic profile changes. Multivariate analysis was applied to differentiate the metabolites of controls, models, and mesalazine-treated mice. By the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, 40 differential metabolites with an area under curve (AUC) >0.80 were screened out between control and model groups. Among them, four potential biomarkers (palmitoyl glucuronide, isobutyrylglycine, PC (20:3 (5Z, 8Z, 11Z)/15:0) and L-arginine) had a signficantly reversed level of peak areas in the mesalazine group, and three of them were closely correlated with mesalazine efficacy by linear regression analysis. Furthermore, metabolic pathway analysis revealed several dysregulated pathways in colitis mice, including glycerophospholipid metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, etc. This study indicates that serum metabolomics is a useful approach that can noninvasively evaluate the therapeutic effect and provide unique insights into the underlying mechanism of mesalazine.

Origin and Genesis of the Permain Hydrocarbon in the Northeast of the Dongdaohaizi Depression, Junggar Basin, China.

Dongdaohaizi area is an important hydrocarbon-rich depression in the Junggar Basin. Early resource evaluation has revealed that it has superior hydrocarbon generation conditions. No major exploration breakthrough has been observed in the hydrocarbon from the Permian Pingdiquan Formation source rocks, which are widely distributed and have a large sedimentary thickness. The unclear recognition of the genesis, the sources, and the hydrocarbon evolution history of the formation seriously restricted further exploration and development. Sixty-four samples were acquired during the study, consisting of 30 source rocks, 13 crude oil samples, and 21 natural gas samples. Studying the geochemical characteristics of the source rock extract and the surrounding structural crude oil in the Dongdaohaizi Depression, the differences in the stable carbon isotope, the biomarker compound, and the molecular relative composition of the three sets of main source rock products in the research fields are summarized. The results reflect that the drying coefficient of natural gas in the study area is generally low, and the fractional distillation value of methane and ethane is 0.32, which is most likely due to the loss of oil and gas migration and the mixing of different types of natural gases. The carbon isotope value is relatively low, with the Pr/Ph being generally less than 3.0. The content of sterane C29 is the highest in the relative composition of steranes, followed by the content of sterane C28, which together account for more than 80% of the total sterane content, and then followed by a lower content of C27 sterane, accounting for only 5-20% of the total content, which generally conforms to the characteristics of Permian Pingdiquan Formation source rock products. The carbon isotope value of crude oil ranges from -30.94 to -28.31‰, which is different from the characteristics of typical Permian source rocks (values range from -34.49 to -28.21‰), while it is related to typical Carboniferous products (values range from -29.98 to -24.1‰), indicating that small amounts of Carboniferous source rock products were mixed in different degrees in the Dinan fault area. According to the distribution law of oil and gas, the geochemical characteristics and hydrocarbon sources were considered the oil source in the east of the Dongdaohaizi Depression, mainly from the source rocks of the Permian Pingdiquan Formation. The products of the peak period of hydrocarbon generation in the source rocks of the Pingdiquan Formation have not been transported to the high structural positions on a large scale to form reservoirs. They may still exist in the deep part of the Depression and the slope area. The low-amplitude structural and lithologic traps in the slope area of the Dongdahaizi Depression are promising targets for finding the products of the peak period of hydrocarbon generation. This is of great significance to reveal the Permain hydrocarbon evolution in the Junggar Basin and guide further research on the oil-source correlation of natural gas from the paleo-strata.

[Influence of Artificial Root Exudates and Actual Root Exudates on the Microbial Community in Pyrene-contaminated Soil].

The high-throughput Illumina NovaSeq sequencing method was adopted to study the effect of artificial root exudates and Lolium perenne L. root exudates on the community structure, α and ß diversity, and gene function of the bacterial communities in pyrene-contaminated soils to understand the impact of root exudates on microbial communities. The results showed that root exudates did not significantly change the composition of pyrene-contaminated soil bacterial communities. The main dominant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, etc. The main dominant bacterial genera were Sphingomonas, Lactobacillus, Bacillus, etc. Root exudates changed the relative abundance of dominant species to a different extent and resulted in discriminating bacteria. The genus Lachnospiraceae belonging to Proteobacteria and Ruminiclostridium belonging to Firmicutes were the biomarkers in the artificial root exudates group and the actual root exudate group, respectively. The common discriminating bacteria in both root exudate groups compared to those in the control group were polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs)-degrading bacteria. Root exudates selectively promoted the growth of PAHs-degrading bacteria. Root exudates had little effect on the richness and diversity of the bacterial communities in pyrene-contaminated soil. However, they significantly influenced the soil bacterial community structure, which resulted from significant changes in low-abundance species. The bacterial community structures of the two root exudate groups were similar. Root exudates decreased pyrene concentration in the soil by 14.0% (artificial root exudates) and 8.7% (actual root exudates). The promotion of pyrene degradation affected by root exudates was due to the growth promotion of PAHs-degrading bacteria and the significant increase in the abundance of some functional genes. This research can supply data for the exploration of a rhizoremediation mechanism in PAHs-contaminated soils.

[Effects of combination of Salvia miltiorrhiza and Panax notoginseng on the pharmacokinetics of their major bioactive components in Beagle dog].

After oral administration of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen in Chinese), Panax notoginseng (Sanqi in Chinese) and Danshen Sanqi combination suspensions to Beagle dogs, the plasma concentration-time profiles of danshensu, tanshinone II(A), cryptotanshinone, notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1 and Rb1 were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and analyzed with BAPP 2.0 software. The results showed that the Cmax and AUC of danshensu, notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1 and Rb1 in Danshen Sanqi combination group all decreased in comparison with those of Danshen or Sanqi given alone, while the CLz/F and Vz/F increased to some extent. No significant differences of the pharmacokinetics of tanshinone II(A) and cryptotanshinone were observed between groups.