Exploratory study of the association in the United Kingdom between hypertension and inorganic arsenic (iAs) intake from rice and rice products

Efficacy of yellow gypsum application on mitigating arsenic bioavailability in groundnut and Boro-rice grown under arsenic contaminated soil

Agricultural soils naturally enriched with Arsenic (As) represent a significant global human health risk. In the present investigation, a series of pot experiments were conducted to study the efficacy of three levels of Yellow Gypsum (YG) application on bioavailability of As to kharif groundnut followed by boro-rice grown under 17 different levels of soil As contamination for two consecutive years. The results revealed that application of YG @ 60 kg ha-1 effectuated the lowest soil As content and the highest percent decline in soil extractable As at pegging (9.42 mg kg-1 and 9.81%) and harvesting (8.81 mg kg-1 and 11.85%) in groundnut, maximum tillering (7.52 mg kg-1 and 16.95%) and harvesting (6.77 mg kg-1 and 19.85%) in boro-rice respectively. It was also observed that irrespective of its level, the extractable As content of soil decreased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing dosage of YG. Increase in YG dose effectuated a significant (P < 0.05) increasing trend and increase in As content in soil indicated a decreasing trend of Ca:As, Fe:As and S:As ratios which pointed out the potentiality of YG for reducing As bio-availability in contaminated soils and thus could be a good option for mitigating the risk of As contamination in food chain.

Didactical approaches and insights into environmental processes and cardiovascular hazards of arsenic contaminants

Arsenic, as a metalloid, has the ability to move and transform in different environmental media. Its widespread contamination has become a significant environmental problem and public concern. Arsenic can jeopardize multiple organs through various pathways, influenced by environmental bioprocesses. This article provides a comprehensive overview of current research on the cardiovascular hazards of arsenic. A bibliometric analysis revealed that there are 376 papers published in 145 journals, involving 40 countries, 631 institutions, and 2093 authors, all focused on arsenic-related concerns regarding cardiovascular health. China and the U.S. have emerged as the central hubs of collaborative relationships and have the highest number of publications. Hypertension and atherosclerosis are the most extensively studied topics, with redox imbalance, apoptosis, and methylation being the primary mechanistic clues. Cardiovascular damage caused by arsenic includes arrhythmia, cardiac remodeling, vascular leakage, and abnormal angiogenesis. However, the current understanding is still inadequate over cardiovascular impairments, underlying mechanisms, and precautionary methods of arsenic, thus calling an urgent need for further studies to bridge the gap between environmental processes and arsenic hazards.

Relationship Analysis of Inorganic Arsenic Exposure and Metabolic Syndrome Based on Propensity Score Matching in Xinjiang, China

PURPOSE

The role of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains unclear. This investigation focused on the effect of iAs exposure on MetS and whether the results are consistent in different subgroups.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The present study was conducted on 629 men and 616 women aged 35-70 years and living in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was adopted to regulate the confounding factors, and the multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the relationship between urinary iAs and MetS.

RESULTS

The median content of urinary iAs was examined as 2.20 μg/dL (interquartile range: 1.30-3.20 μg/dL), and the MetS prevalence reached 23.69% (295 cases/950 participants). After the confounding factors were adjusted, the ORs (95% CIs) for MetS from the minimal to the maximum urinary iAs quartiles reached 1.171 (0.736,1.863), 1.568 (1.008, 2.440) and 2.011 (1.296, 3.120), respectively (referencing 1.00) (P for trend=0.001). After the PSM, the urinary iAs content still plays a potential prediction role in MetS (P for trend=0.011). In addition, as revealed from the subgroup analysis, the urinary iAs content was a predictor of MetS in the female patients, whereas it did not serve as a significant predictor of MetS in the male patients (P for interaction<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The increased urinary iAs content was associated with the increased prevalence of MetS in Chinese population. More attention should be paid to female urinary iAs content to avoid the high prevalence of MetS.

Translocation of Soil Arsenic towards Accumulation in Rice: Magnitude of Water Management to Minimize Health Risk

Globally, the risk of arsenic (As) contamination in soil and rice is well documented across the globe. In Bangladesh, drinking water and rice are two major exposure pathways of As to humans. Therefore, the efficiency of recent technologies to reduce rice As and associated human health risks still need to be deeply investigated. In this direction, a pot experiment was performed to investigate the impact of soil As and agronomic irrigation management on rice (cv. BRRI dhan28) growth, yield, As accumulation, and finally, health risks to humans from consuming rice. Treatment combinations were made with three levels of As (0, 20, and 40 mg kg−1) having two irrigation procedures, including alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and traditional continuous flooding (CF). According to the findings, As pollution in the soil lowered the yield contributing features and rice yield, including panicle length, filled grains per panicle, sterile grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, and straw yield. AWD water management significantly improved the growth performance and productivity of rice. Grain yield was increased by 13% in AWD compared to CF. Rice grain and straw As concentrations were increased to 0.56 mg kg−1 and 15.10 mg kg−1, respectively, in soil with 40 mg kg−1 As and CF water management. AWD treatment significantly reduced grain and straw As contents by 16% and 28%, respectively. Increased grain, straw, and total As uptake was noticed with higher soil As concentrations. The study also found that rising soil As raised non-carcinogenic risks (HQ > 1) and carcinogenic risks (CR > 1.010–4) while AWD lowered health risks compared to CF. Thus, rice farming using AWD irrigation could be a viable and long-term solution for reducing As contamination in rice and associated human health hazards.