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Lidman J, Olid C, Bigler C, Berglund ÅMM. Effect of past century mining activities on sediment properties and toxicity to freshwater organisms in northern Sweden. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 872:162097. [PMID: 36764540 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The release of toxic metals from local mining activities often represents a severe environmental hazard for nearby lake ecosystems. Previous studies on the impact of mining have primarily focused on single lakes, with less emphasis on spatial and temporal recovery patterns of multiple lakes within the same catchment, but with different hydrological connection and distance to the pollutant source. This knowledge gap prevents us from assessing the real environmental risk of abandoned mines and understanding ecosystem recovery. This study explores the intensity and spatial patterns of sediment contamination and the potential for ecosystem recovery in three lakes in close vicinity of a lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) mine in Sweden that has been inoperative for >20 years. Dated (210Pb and 137Cs) sediment cores from each lake were used to reconstruct temporal patterns in trace element deposition and relate those with past mining activities. Results show that all lakes were affected by mining, indicated by increasing Pb and Zn concentrations and decreasing organic matter content, at the onset of mining. However, the extent and timing of mining impact differed between lakes, which was partly ascribed to differences in the historical use of tailings and settling ponds. Assessment of toxicity levels in sediments, based on normalized Probable Effect Concentration Quotient (PEC-Q) to organic matter content, provided more consistent results with the historical mining than conventional methods, showing a decreasing impact in lakes once the operations ceased. Still, sediment Pb concentrations were > 10 times higher than pre-mining values, evidencing the urgent need for remediation actions in the study lakes. This study highlights the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity in metal deposition, sediment organic matter content, and hydrological connectivity with tailings when risk assessments are performed in mining-impacted lakes. The use of normalized PEC-Q in toxic assessments is also recommended.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Lidman
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Carolina Olid
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden; Department of Forestry and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-90183 Umeå, Sweden; Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics, University of Barcelona, ES-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Christian Bigler
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden.
| | - Åsa M M Berglund
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden.
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Ali MA, Gould M. Untapped potentials of hazardous nanoarchitectural biopolymers. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2021; 411:124740. [PMID: 33476911 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The First Industrial Revolution began when manual labour transitioned to machines. Fossil fuels and steam eventually replaced wood and water as an energy source used predominantly for the mechanized production of textiles and iron. The emergence of the required numerous enormous factories gave rise to smoke pollution due to the immense growth in coal consumption. The manufactured gas industry produced highly toxic effluent that was released into sewers and rivers polluting the water. Many pieces of legislation were introduced to overcome this issue, but with varying degrees of effectiveness. Alongside our growth in world population, the problems that we had with waste remained, but together with our increase in number the waste produced has also increased additionally. The immense volume of waste materials generated from human activity and the potentially detrimental effects on the environment and on public health have awakened in ourselves a critical need to embrace current scientific methods for the safe disposal of wastes. We are informed daily that our food waste must be better utilized to ensure enough food is available to feed the world's growing population in a sustainable way (Thyberg and Tonjes, 2016). Some things are easy, like waste food and cellulose products can be turned into compost, but how do we recycle sheep's wool? Or shrimp shells? Despite the fact that both these substances are hazardous, and have caused environmental and economic impact from being incinerated; but we anticipate that those substances may have the potential to convert into added value applications.We have been working in this area for over 15 years, working towards managing them and seeking their added value applications. We take the biological products, process (reconstitute) and engineer them into added value products such as functional and nanostructure materials including edible films, foams and composites including medical devices useful in the human body. Anything that we can ingest, should not cause an immune response in the human system. Natural biomacromolecules display the inherent ability to perform very specific chemical, mechanical or structural roles. Specifically, protein- and polysaccharide-based biomaterials have come to light as the most promising candidates for many biomedical applications due their biomimetic and nanostructured arrangements, their multi-functional features, and their capability to function as matrices that are capable of facilitating cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Azam Ali
- Department of Food Science, Centre for Bioengineering and Nanomedicine, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
| | - Maree Gould
- Department of Food Science, Centre for Bioengineering and Nanomedicine, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
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Wani AL, Hammad Ahmad Shadab GG, Afzal M. Lead and zinc interactions - An influence of zinc over lead related toxic manifestations. J Trace Elem Med Biol 2021; 64:126702. [PMID: 33285442 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2020.126702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Interaction between metals is known from earlier studies, in which one metal influences the absorption and functional role of other. Lead is known to cause debilitating effects in living organisms and also prevents several essential trace metals from functioning normally. METHODS The relevant literature using the key words lead toxicity, lead zinc interaction, zinc nutrition and the ability of zinc to act against lead has been reviewed. RESULTS Role of several nutrients in reducing the manifestations of toxic metals have been elucidated recently. Lead damages bio-membranes, causes cognitive disabilities and disturbs the normal process of DNA replication and transcription. Zinc on the other hand helps in proper maintenance of the cellular membranes and plays an important role as a metal cofactor in most of the proteins vital for membrane integrity. Zinc has essential role in cognitive functioning, zinc finger proteins and significantly neutralizes most toxic effects of lead. CONCLUSION Increased lead exposure and limited resources for tackling lead poisoning may cause an increased possibility of future environmental emergencies. Interactions between essential nutrient metals and non-essential toxic metals may act as important factor which can be used to target the metal toxicities. An assumption is made that the lead toxicity can be reduced by maintaining the status of essential trace metals like zinc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ab Latif Wani
- Cytogenetics and Molecular Toxicological Laboratory, Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
| | - G G Hammad Ahmad Shadab
- Cytogenetics and Molecular Toxicological Laboratory, Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
| | - Mohammad Afzal
- Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Ai S, Huang Y, Xie T, Zhang X, Huang C. Fabrication of composites with ultra-low chitosan loadings and the adsorption mechanism for lead ions. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2020; 27:37927-37937. [PMID: 32613513 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09906-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Through a facile impregnation-precipitation strategy, chitosan was dispersed on bentonite to prepare an organic/inorganic hybrid composite for Pb2+ adsorption. The strong promotion effect of a small amount of highly dispersed chitosan on the Pb2+ adsorption capacity of clay minerals was unveiled. With a chitosan loading of 0.4 wt%, the experimental adsorption capacity reached 261.3 mg/g. The good dispersion of chitosan played a crucial role in the high capacity. The large proportion of mesopores in the adsorbent facilitated mass transfer, and thereby adsorption equilibrium states could be achieved within 15 s. The adsorption isotherms were consistent with the Freundlich expression. The Pb2+ adsorption capacity was suppressed with the addition of 150 ppm Ca2+ and almost eliminated in the presence of 150 ppm Mg2+. The adsorption enthalpy change was measured to be - 28.6 kJ/mol and Gibbs free energy change was in the range of - 18.4 to - 16.7 kJ/mol, indicating that this adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. The FTIR and XPS results demonstrated that the amino groups on chitosan could bond with Pb2+, and contributed to the high adsorption capacity. DFT calculation results showed that the amino and hydroxyl groups in adjacent chitosan units could be tri-coordinated with Pb2+, and the energy of system was greatly decreased due to the coordination interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuo Ai
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou City, 545006, China.
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, Liuzhou City, 545006, China.
| | - Yongchun Huang
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
| | - Tenghui Xie
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
| | - Xiangyu Zhang
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
| | - Chengdu Huang
- Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, Liuzhou City, 545006, China
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Ugwuja EI, Vincent N, Ikaraoha IC, Ohayi SR. Zinc ameliorates lead toxicity by reducing body Pb burden and restoring Pb-induced haematological and biochemical derangements. TOXICOLOGY RESEARCH AND APPLICATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/2397847320956562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background:Studies on nutritional factors, including zinc in ameliorating the deleterious effects of potentially toxic elements have been scarce and the findings have been inconsistent.Aim:The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ameliorative potential of zinc against lead-induced toxicity in rats.Materials and methods:Male albino rats (n = 24) assigned into four groups of six/group: normal control (NC), zinc control (ZnC; 20 mg/kg ZnCl2), lead control (PbC; 50 mg/kg PbCl2) and lead plus zinc (Pb + Zn; 50 mg/kg PbCl2plus 20 mg/kg ZnCl2), respectively were investigated. All administrations were through oral route and lasted for 42 days after which blood samples were collected for haematological and biochemical analyses using standard techniques.Results:Results showed that packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (HBC), red blood cell count (RBC) were significant (p < 0.05) reduced while total white blood cell count (TWBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and platelets were significantly elevated in PbC group in comparison with NC and ZnC. Also liver and renal function parameters as well as the liver and kidney malondialdehyde (MDA) were elevated while antioxidant enzymes; catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in PbC group in comparison with NC and ZnC. Concentrations of lead were in the order: blood > liver > kidney in the PbC group. In addition to restoration of the altered parameters, administration of zinc in Pb + Zn group significantly reduced the raised lead concentrations in the plasma and organs.Conclusion:Reduction in body Pb burden and restoration of Pb-induced derangements in haematological and biochemical parameters by Zn strongly support the ameliorative property of Zn against Pb-induced toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Ike Ugwuja
- Nutrition and Toxicology Unit, Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria
- Nutrition and Toxicology Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
| | - Nweze Vincent
- Nutrition and Toxicology Unit, Department of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria
| | - Ikechukwu C Ikaraoha
- Chemical Pathology Unit, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria
| | - Samuel R Ohayi
- Department of Histopathology, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria
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