The emission soot of biomass fuels combustion as a source of endocrine disrupters

Current contamination status of traditional and emerging persistent toxic substances in the sediments of Ulsan Bay, South Korea

Contamination status of traditional and emerging persistent toxic substances (PTSs) in sediments and their major sources were investigated in Ulsan Bay, Korea. A total of 47 PTSs, including 15 traditional PAHs, ten styrene oligomers (SOs), six alkylphenols (APs), and 16 emerging PAHs (E-PAHs) were analyzed. Concentrations of traditional PAHs, SOs, and APs ranged from 35 to 1300 ng g^-1 dry weight (dw), 30 to 3800 ng g^-1 dw, and 30 to 430 ng g^-1 dw, respectively. For the last 20 years, PTSs contamination in the bay area has been improved. However, 12 E-PAHs were widely detected in sediments, with a maximum of 240 ng g^-1 dw (for benzo[e]pyrene) at the creek site. These E-PAHs seemed to originate from surrounding activities, such as biomass combustion, mobile sources, and diesel combustion. Due to environmental concerns for E-PAHs, further research on the potential toxicity, distribution, and behavior of these compounds should be implemented.

Household air pollution and chronic hypoxia in the placenta of pregnant Nigerian women: A randomized controlled ethanol Cookstove intervention

BACKGROUND

Household air pollution (HAP) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

Investigate impact of in-utero HAP exposure on placental development and chronic hypoxia.

METHODS

Markers of chronic placental hypoxia [Hofbauer cells (HBC), syncytial knots (SK), chorionic vascular density (cVD) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)] were stained by hematoxylin-eosin and/or immunohistochemically in placenta samples collected from firewood-/kerosene-users (A,n=16), and ethanol-users (B,n=20) that participated in a randomized controlled intervention trial in Ibadan, Nigeria. A third group of non-smoking and presumed natural gas-using Chicago women (C,n=12) were included in this exploratory pilot to assess for possible differences in placenta histology between similar racial groups. All patients had uncomplicated pregnancies and delivered at term.

RESULTS

HBC, SK and cVD were significantly increased among firewood-/kerosene-users compared to ethanol-users and natural gas-using Chicago women (HBC medians 5.5, 3.5, and 2.0, respectively; SK means 55.6, 41.8 and 30.1; cVD means 8.8, 6.2, and 5.2; all p<0.01). HIF expression was significantly higher in Group A compared to B and C (all p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

In-utero exposure to HAP is associated with pathologic changes and HIF expression consistent with chronic hypoxia in placenta of firewood/kerosene-users compared to ethanol-users with less HAP exposure and Chicago women with no presumed HAP exposure. Presence of chronic hypoxic signature in placenta of women exposed to HAP has implications for adverse pregnancy complications and future growth and development of the young children. Future larger studies need to focus on HAP exposure and placental disorders like preeclampsia and long-term health impact of in-utero exposure to HAP.

Biological removal of antiandrogenic activity in gray wastewater and coking wastewater by membrane reactor process

A recombinant human androgen receptor yeast assay was applied to investigate the occurrence of antiandrogens as well as the mechanism for their removal during gray wastewater and coking wastewater treatment. The membrane reactor (MBR) system for gray wastewater treatment could remove 88.0% of antiandrogenic activity exerted by weakly polar extracts and 97.3% of that by moderately strong polar extracts, but only 32.5% of that contributed by strong polar extracts. Biodegradation by microorganisms in the MBR contributed to 95.9% of the total removal. After the treatment, the concentration of antiandrogenic activity in the effluent was still 1.05 μg flutamide equivalence (FEQ)/L, 36.2% of which was due to strong polar extracts. In the anaerobic reactor, anoxic reactor, and membrane reactor system for coking wastewater treatment, the antiandrogenic activity of raw coking wastewater was 78.6 mg FEQ/L, and the effluent of the treatment system had only 0.34 mg FEQ/L. The antiandrogenic activity mainly existed in the medium strong polar and strong polar extracts. Biodegradation by microorganisms contributed to at least 89.2% of the total antiandrogenic activity removal in the system. Biodegradation was the main removal mechanism of antiandrogenic activity in both the wastewater treatment systems.

Respiratory risks from household air pollution in low and middle income countries

A third of the world's population uses solid fuel derived from plant material (biomass) or coal for cooking, heating, or lighting. These fuels are smoky, often used in an open fire or simple stove with incomplete combustion, and result in a large amount of household air pollution when smoke is poorly vented. Air pollution is the biggest environmental cause of death worldwide, with household air pollution accounting for about 3·5-4 million deaths every year. Women and children living in severe poverty have the greatest exposures to household air pollution. In this Commission, we review evidence for the association between household air pollution and respiratory infections, respiratory tract cancers, and chronic lung diseases. Respiratory infections (comprising both upper and lower respiratory tract infections with viruses, bacteria, and mycobacteria) have all been associated with exposure to household air pollution. Respiratory tract cancers, including both nasopharyngeal cancer and lung cancer, are strongly associated with pollution from coal burning and further data are needed about other solid fuels. Chronic lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis in women, are associated with solid fuel use for cooking, and the damaging effects of exposure to household air pollution in early life on lung development are yet to be fully described. We also review appropriate ways to measure exposure to household air pollution, as well as study design issues and potential effective interventions to prevent these disease burdens. Measurement of household air pollution needs individual, rather than fixed in place, monitoring because exposure varies by age, gender, location, and household role. Women and children are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of pollution and are exposed to the highest concentrations. Interventions should target these high-risk groups and be of sufficient quality to make the air clean. To make clean energy available to all people is the long-term goal, with an intermediate solution being to make available energy that is clean enough to have a health impact.

Sediment contact test with Potamopyrgus antipodarum in effect-directed analyses-challenges and opportunities

BACKGROUND AND SCOPE

Effect-directed analysis is increasingly used for the identification of key toxicants in environmental samples and there is a growing need for in vivo biotests as diagnostic tools. Within this study, we performed an in vivo sediment contact test, applicable on both native field samples and their extracts or fractions, in order to be able to compare the results from both field and laboratory studies.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A sediment contact test with the prosobranch snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, was carried out on extracts and fractions of field sediments from three European river basins. The results were compared with previous results of the native field samples.

RESULTS

In contrast to the native sediments, the extracts of the samples led to an overall decrease in reproduction. Even the chosen reference sites had an adverse effect on the snails' reproduction. It appeared that a higher bioavailability in the organic extracts, together with a changing composition of compounds could have lead to this change in effects. The fractionation of the extracts partly led to a more differentiated picture, but the resolution was not high enough to see any distinct effects on the snails' reproduction.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Our results highlight the importance of the use of in vivo biotests and point out the relevance of bioavailability in native sediments. For further fractionation studies, a more realistic extraction procedure, together with a higher resolution fractionation, would be appropriate in order to separate individual bioavailable compounds more efficient.

Analysis of environmental endocrine disrupting activities using recombinant yeast assay in wastewater treatment plant effluents

A battery of in vitro recombinant yeast bioassays was conducted to assess the estrogen receptor, androgen receptor, progesterone receptor and thyroid receptor ant/agonistic activities of effluents collected from Datansha wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), furthermore to evaluate the removal efficiencies of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the WWTP. The results showed that estrogenic, anti-androgenic, anti-progesteronic and anti-thyroidic activities were observed in influent. The removal efficiencies of these compounds were more than 80%, which suggested that the present wastewater treatment processes were good enough to remove most of all kinds of endocrine disruption chemicals.

Assessing the detoxication efficiencies of wastewater treatment processes using a battery of bioassays/biomarkers

A battery of in vitro bioassays, including a Neutral Red (NR) assay using MCF-7 cells for predicting cytotoxic chemicals, an ethoxy resorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity assay using H4IIE cells to check for dioxin-like chemicals, and a recombinant gene yeast assay for screening estrogenic chemicals, was conducted to assess the removal efficiencies of trace toxic chemicals by different treatment processes in the waste water treatment plant (WWTP). The effluents were extracted by solid phase extraction (SPE) and were fractionated into three fractions based on polarities. The battery of bioassays was performed for each fraction. In the battery, the toxicities of the effluents were described according to their modes of actions (MOA) or biomarkers and the properties of the toxic chemicals were categorized by their polarities and MOAs. The proposed procedure could be used as a tool to diagnose the toxic characteristics of the complicate mixture. The results showed that cytotoxic, dioxin-like and estrogenic chemicals could be detected in all samples. In the influent, cytotoxic and dioxin-like chemicals were mainly in polar fraction and estrogenic chemicals were in non-polar and moderate-polar fractions. The secondary treatment (active sludge) could remove a small amount of these toxicants. Among different types of advanced treatments, flocculation was good enough to remove most of the cytotoxic chemicals and a combination of flocculation, ozone oxidation, and post-biological treatment could eliminate most of the dioxin-like and estrogenic chemicals.

Fast chromatographic determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aerosol samples from sugar cane burning

Sugar cane burning in Brazil causes remarkable amounts of organic compounds to be emitted amongst which the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent serious health hazards. Therefore, 24-h aerosol samples (< 10 microm aerodynamic diameter) were collected in Araraquara city (São Paulo state) during the harvest season using a Hi-Vol sampler. PAHs were recovered using an Accelerated Solvent Extractor and analyzed by low-pressure gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry (LP-GC-IT-MS). The fully automated extraction process was performed in less than 25 min with a solvent consumption of approximately 20 ml. The use of a deactivated 0.6 m x 0.10 mm i.d. restrictor coupled to a 10 m wide-bore analytical column allowed most of the 16 PAHs in EPA's priority list to be identified and quantified in only 13 min. Concentrations of PAHs in Araraquara aerosols ranged between 0.5 and 8.6 ng m(-3).