China has experienced a heavy public health burden due to the increasing incidence of ischemic stroke (IS). Few studies have evaluated the relationship between particulate matter (PM) exposure and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in relatively less-polluted areas, and the results have been inconsistent. As a result, this study aimed to investigate and evaluate the association between PM exposure and hospitalizations for AIS in an area with less air pollution.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40201-024-00911-3.].

In recent years, due to a decrement in water quality and scarcity, desalination systems have gained popularity for desalination purposes. Synchronously, with the development of this system, particularly, in concern with the littoral regions, seawater concentrate disposal consisting of various pollutants was taken into consideration. In this research, two desalination plants near each other were selected and four scenarios have been foreseen, for the discharge of seawater concentrate and the desalination intake, which are taken under study in the region, based on dual-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation, comprising of diffusion and release, by utilizing the MIKE 21 Software. Due to the proximity of the two desalination plants, to reduce the costs of piping in the sea, the location of discharge and intake were considered common. On the grounds pertaining to the modeling results, the discharge of seawater concentrates, at a distance of 300 m (5 m of depth) from the coast and the intake point, at a distance of 800 m, in elongation, has had the minimum environmental impact; as well as having no undesirable effect on the water quality of the intake, in addition to being cost-effective, from the economic viewpoint. To dilute seawater concentrate to a standardized level, it is appropriate to discharge through a diffuser with 10 nozzles, which are spaced out at 3.25 m from each other, being positioned linearly on one side, at an angle of 60 degrees. With the optimal selection of intake and discharge points of seawater concentrate in marine desalination plants, in addition to increasing the quality of treated water and reducing adverse environmental effects, construction and operation costs are also reduced.

Microplastic pollution has emerged as a global environmental concern, with pervasive contamination in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This review paper delves into the intricate dynamics of microplastics within anaerobic digestion systems, addressing their occurrence, impact, and potential mitigation strategies. The occurrence of microplastics in anaerobic digesters is widespread, entering these systems through diverse inputs, such as sewage sludge, organic waste, and etc. Microplastics in anaerobic digestion have been associated with potential adverse impacts on biogas production, process performance, microbial communities, and degradation processes, though the relationship is complex and context dependent. This review highlights the urgent need for comprehensive research into the fate of microplastics within anaerobic digesters. Mitigation strategies offer promise in alleviating microplastic contamination, with advanced separation methods, innovative techniques such as magnetic micro-submarines, photocatalytic micro-motors, membrane bioreactors combined with activated carbon filters, rapid sand filtration, or conventional activated sludge, and disintegration-oriented techniques such as electrocatalysis, biodegradation, and thermal decomposition. Nonetheless, there is a significant knowledge gap that necessitates further research into the fate and long-term effects of microplastics in digestate. Collaborative efforts are crucial to addressing this emerging concern and ensuring the sustainability of anaerobic digestion systems in the face of microplastic challenges.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40201-024-00899-w.].

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak has spread worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic in March 2020. The transmission mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments has begun to be investigated in all aspects. In this regard, many numerical studies on social distancing and the protection of surgical masks against infection risk have neglected the evaporation of the particles. Meanwhile, a 1.83 m (6 feet) social distancing rule has been recommended to reduce the infection risk. However, it should be noted that most of the studies were conducted in static air conditions. Air movement in indoor environments is chaotic, and it is not easy to track all droplets in a ventilated room experimentally. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) enables the tracking of all particles in a ventilated environment. This study numerically investigated the airborne transmission of infectious droplets in a hospital examination room cooled by a split-type air conditioner with the CFD method. Different inlet velocities (1, 2, 3 m/s) were considered and investigated separately. Besides, the hospital examination room is a model of one of the Bursa Uludag University Hospital examination rooms. The patient, doctor, and some furniture are modeled in the room. Particle diameters considered ranged from 2 to 2000 μm. The evaporation of the droplets is not neglected, and the predictions of particle tracks are shown. As a result, locations with a high infection risk were identified, and the findings that could guide the design/redesign of the hospital examination rooms were evaluated.

Biological mechanisms of exposure to Trihalomethanes (THMs) in swimming pools remain unclear. Investigation of short-term changes in metabolomic profiles due to exposure to THMs during swimming can help to understand the health effects-related mechanisms. With this in view, we aimed to assess exposure of swimmers to THMs in chlorine and ozone-chlorine swimming pools using the metabolomics approach from September 2020 to January 2021 in Tehran. Two parallel panels of 29 healthy adult subjects swam over 60 min in either of swimming pools. Blood samples were collected before and 2 h after swimming to assess metabolomic profile using Hydrogen-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (H-NMR). Differential metabolites between the two groups were identified by multivariate analysis methods such as Orthogonal Partial Least-Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) and Random Forest (RF). The levels of THMs in exhaled air as a biomarker of exposure and the metabolic profile as a biomarker of the effect changed significantly between two participants of swimming pools. Based on the significant metabolites, the biochemical pathways were identified by the method of Metabolite Setts Enrichment Analysis (MSEA) and by using the Metaboanalyst platform. The pathways of tryptophan metabolism, galactose metabolism and fructose and mannose metabolism were the most important biochemically significant pathways in individuals after exposure to THMs. Finally, findings from metabolic changes in our study indicate that exposure to THMs in swimming pools can activate the mechanisms of central nervous system disorders, increased uric acid, increased risk of bladder cancer and oxidative stress.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40201-024-00907-z.].

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances PFASs) are persistent organic pollutants in the environment. While some studies suggest that PFASs may contribute to cancer development, the link between PFAS exposure and cancer risk remains debated.

The importance of studying particulate matter lies in its detrimental impact on human health and the environment. Industrial emissions often carry substantial dust content, necessitating the reduction of their environmental release. This study introduced a laboratory-scale photoelectric precipitator to assess its effectiveness in curbing particle emissions under varying temperature, humidity, and residence time conditions. This device operates in two stages: firstly, it charges particles by exposing copper wire surfaces to ultraviolet rays, generating photoelectrons in the airflow; secondly, it utilizes a positively charged collector surface for absorption and collection. Assessment under different temperature, residence time, and humidity conditions revealed that the system designed for 10 μm diameter particles displayed the highest efficiency. At 150℃, the removal efficiency was 39.55%, rising to 41.34% at 60% humidity and 43.58% with an 18-second residence time. Furthermore, increasing energy consumption from 144 j/l to 720 j/l resulted in a 10.93% efficiency increase, highlighting the correlation between energy input and system efficiency. High particulate matter levels diminish visibility, harm the climate, ecosystems, materials, and contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular ailments. These findings underline the photoelectric precipitator's potential in mitigating particulate matter's adverse effects on health and the environment. However, further research is warranted to optimize system design and explore additional parameters' impact on performance, ensuring its effectiveness in industrial processes to reduce particulate matter emissions.

Here we comprehensively review the available knowledge on effects of different pretreatment technologies on microbial population and microbial dynamics in anaerobic digestion (AD) fed with different substrates and different operational parameters. To identify peer-reviewed studies published in English-language journals, a comprehensive search was performed across multiple electronic databases. The eligible studies were analyzed to extract data and information pertaining to the configuration of anaerobic reactors, operational parameters, and various pretreatment processes such as chemical, biological, enzymatic, thermal, microaerobic, and ultrasonic. The findings derived from this current review demonstrated that different chemical, biological, and physical pretreatment technologies improve the biomethane potential (BMP) and potentially affect the dominant bacteria and archaea. Moreover, although hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis are more observed due to resistance to extreme conditions, methane production follows both aceticlastic and hydrogenotrophic pathways in AD assisted with different pretreatment process. and phyla of bacteria were the dominant hydrolytic bacteria due to synergetic effects of different pretreatment process on solubilization and bioavailability of recalcitrant substrates. In summary, a holistic understanding on bacteria and archaea communities, along with the mechanisms of the dominant microorganisms leads to enhanced stability and overall performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) processes.

The Asia Working Group of Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 consensus proposed a new concept named "possible sarcopenia". The present study was to estimate the association between indoor air pollution by solid fuel usages for cooking and possible sarcopenia among middle-aged and older Chinese population.

The presence of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in aquatic ecosystems has raised serious environmental and health concerns. Polystyrene is one of the most abundant plastic polymers found in the environment. Polystyrene MPs/NPs have harmful implications for human health and their removal from the environment has become a serious challenge.

The objective of this study is to utilize cost-effective renewable substrates derived from agro-food wastes for the production of biosurfactant by , which was isolated from petroleum sludge. Various agro-food waste materials, namely potato peelings (PP), rice cooking water (RW), biscuit by products (BB), carob pods (CP), and eggshells, were evaluated as nutrient sources for bacterial growth compared to a synthetic medium (SM). The results indicate that the medium comprising carob pods, potato peels supplemented with eggshells promoted the growth of the bacteria and the production of Biosurfactants at a rate of 150 mg/l and 140 mg/l respectively. The biosurfactant exhibited an emulsification index (E24) of 55.23 ± 0.32%, 46.47 ± 3% 43.80 ± 0.4%, 18.33 ± 0.25% and 20 ± 0.11% for PP, CP, SM, BB and RW respectively. The biosurfactant produced from PP had the ability to decrease the surface tension of water from 74 to 39.38 mN/m, with a critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 15 mg/L. The chemical characterization of purified biosurfactant was done using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermal gravity (TG), as well as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis (TG/DSC), revealing the functional groups and thermostability of the biosurfactant. The DSC spectrum for PP biosurfactant showed the highest thermostability with crystalline temperature (Tc) of 150 °C and melting point (Tm) of 295 °C. The extracted biosurfactant was mixed with petroleum sludge, composed of heavy oil, 40.64 ± 0.19% of extracted oil was obtained after 5 h of reaction while using PP based medium.

Microplastics are emerging pollutants that cause health problems for aquatic organisms. Fish is one of the important organisms because of its consumption by humankind. The present study examines the abundance and prevalence of microplastics in freshwater fish species through a systematic review study while considering five important factors, i.e. water resources, habitat, feeding behavior, Fulton's condition factor, and microplastic characteristics. A comprehensive meta-analysis was undertaken to evaluate relevant publications in terms of microplastic abundance. Articles published up to July 30, 2022 were found through Global search engines including, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. In total, 786 articles were found that 53 and 42 articles were used for qualitative review and meta-analysis, respectively. This was carried out by a random-effects model with high heterogeneity (I = 99.76%). According to the data, the highest attention in microplastic research in body part and water sources are related to gastrointestinal tract ( = 259 (~ 80%)) and rivers ( = 189 (~ 58%)), respectively. According to the results, the average microplastic prevalence range was 5 -100%, and microplastic abundance was within the 0.04-204 items range per individual. The difference between microplastic prevalence and abundance for the key factors for parametric and nonparametric data were analyzed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Kruskal-Wallis test, respectively. According to the Baujat plot, two studies (ID: 27 and 25) revealed the minimal influence of microplastics abundance. Conclusively, the average microplastics abundance according to the pooled data, varied between 2.23 and 2.48, with a mean of 2.35 items per individual in the studies overall. It is concluded that the amount of ingested microplastics by fish is related only to physiology (height, weight, and body structure) but not feeding behavior, habitat, and surrounding water.

Microplastic pollution poses a significant threat to our environment, necessitating effective predictive modelling approaches for better management and mitigation. In this study, we introduce a pioneering methodology that fuses the power of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) for microplastic predictive modelling. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset, our integrated model exhibits exceptional performance, with an Accuracy of 0.96, Precision of 0.96, Recall of 0.97, and an F1 Score of 0.96. The achieved Accuracy underscores the model's proficiency in distinguishing microplastic and non-microplastic entities, promising robust and reliable predictions. Precision, as a measure of correct positive identifications, demonstrates our model's effectiveness in minimizing false positives, a crucial aspect for environmental monitoring. Moreover, the perfect Recall score signifies the model's ability to detect all relevant microplastic instances, addressing concerns about false negatives. The F1 Score encapsulates this dual proficiency, showcasing a harmonious trade-off between precision and recall. Our research not only advances the field of microplastic prediction but also highlights the potential of synergizing ANN and HMM methodologies for comprehensive environmental assessments. The reported performance metrics underscore the practical applicability of our approach, offering a valuable tool for tackling the pervasive issue of microplastic pollution and fostering proactive environmental stewardship.

This case study aimed to diagnose the cause(s) of a seasonal, and objectionable odour reported by travellers and drivers in the railway cars of Australian passenger trains. The research questions were to: (1) identify whether significant microbial colonisation was present within the air handling system of trains and causing the odours; to (2) identify other potential sources and; (3) remedial options for addressing the issue.

The Covid 19 pandemic has significantly affected the health, economy, and social impact of humanity. The continuous mutations of the virus variants have accelerated the demand for scientific research on disinfection techniques for a safer indoor environment. Among all the available surface disinfection techniques, ultraviolet germicidal irradiance at 254 nm wavelength has been proven for its disinfection efficacy; however, its usage is limited to unoccupied conditions due to the risk of ultraviolet exposure. This study investigated the efficacy of far-UVC-222 nm experimentally in both controlled environment and field setting. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Mycobacterium smegmatis were employed for surface disinfection in both the laboratory and a meeting room. Total plate count was used to determine the disinfection efficacy by a 20 W unfiltered far-UVC lamp. At 1.1 µW/cm far-UVC irradiation, a 1-log reduction of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Mycobacterium smegmatis contamination on tabletop can be achieved by 31.3 min and 101.8 min of far-UVC irradiation, respectively. Other pathogens of interest such as Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Legionella pneumophila, SARS-CoV-2, and the Measles virus were also referred and compared in this study. This study carefully examined how far-UVC irradiation performs effectively for surface disinfection in a real meeting room setting. The results offer useful recommendations for alternatives to upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiance for continuous disinfection within the ultraviolet threshold limit value, with the goal of preventing the spread of any diseases in the future.

Heavy metals exist in the ecosystem both naturally and due to anthropogenic activities and as recalcitrant pollutants; they are non-biodegradable and cause acute and chronic diseases to human beings and many lifeforms. A statistical experimental approach was applied in this current study to optimize the detoxification of mercury [Hg(II)] from mono-component biosorption system by a novel hybrid granular activated carbon (biosorbent) prepared from maize plant residues. The analysis of variance by the application of central composite design shows that all the studied independent factors greatly influence Hg(II) removal efficiency and uptake capacity. The optimum experimental condition of 30 min contact time, 0.5 g/L biosorbent dosage, and 15 mg/L initial Hg(II) concentration were achieved after seeking 20 optimization solutions at 0.903 desirability. The optimum percentage removal and uptake capacity of Hg(II) at the optimal experimental setup was 96.7% and 10.8 mg/g, respectively. To confirm the quadratic models developed for the prediction of the responses as a function of the independent factors, confirmatory laboratory experiments were performed at the optimum condition. The results show that at the established best experimental condition, the optimum Hg(II) removal efficiency of 98.3% and uptake capacity of 11.2 mg/g were attained, which were within the prediction intervals indicating the suitability of the quadratic models in predicting future cases. The TEM and XRD analyses show that the Hg(II) ions were adsorbed by the biosorbent successfully and this suggests the potential and applicability of this novel biosorbent in treating water contaminants, especially heavy metals.

Today, the excessive and increasing use of phenoxy family herbicides such as 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) and (2,4- dichlorophenoxy) acetic acid (2,4-DCPA) for reasons such as indestructibility and pollution of groundwater resources is one of the most important environmental problems. Pesticide adsorbents like layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are commonly utilized due to their straightforward synthesis, substantial specific surface area resulting from their layered structure, and the potential for surface modification. These natural minerals serve as effective options for adsorption. In this study, a co-precipitation approach was used to create an MgAl-LDH@FeO magnetic adsorbent for the simultaneous removal of MCPA and 2,4-DCPA herbicides from aqueous solution. Using different techniques such as TGA, XRD, FESEM, EDS and zeta potential, we investigated the properties of the prepared adsorbent. The partial least squares method measures the concentration of each herbicide in their mixture. The optimization of MCPA and 2,4-DCPA simultaneous adsorption by LDH was achieved through Doehlert experimental design and the response surface method. The optimal conditions for absorption were determined to be an adsorbent dose of 40.20 mg L, a pH of 6.8, and an initial concentration of 28.35 mg L. In this work, the equilibrium, kinetic, and thermodynamic absorption data of the absorption process were studied, and the obtained results were well described by the Freundlich model, and the pseudo-second-order model, respectively, and showed the spontaneity of the absorption process in this research. The highest absorption capacities of MCPA and 2.4-DCPA herbicides on the prepared adsorbent were 134.50 and 131.30 mg g, respectively.

modification of cellulose fibers with titania nanoparticles (TiO NPs) (TiO NPs-cellulose) was carried out via the sol-gel process using titania sol and fibers of cellulose. Cellulose fibers were extracted from wheat straw, an agricultural waste material, whereas titania sol was prepared from titanium(IV) acetoximate, [Ti{ONC(CH)}]. The synthesized TiO NPs-cellulose composite was characterized by FT-IR, SEM-EDX, and XRD analyses. The obtained results exposed that TiO NPs were homogeneously dispersed over the surface of cellulose fibers. A study was conducted to compare the photocatalytic activities of TiO NPs-cellulose composite and TiO NPs towards the degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes under sunlight, and it was observed that the photo-degradation of methylene blue (99.99%) and methyl orange (80.73%) within 160 min is higher in the presence of TiO NPs-cellulose composite than TiO NPs. The adsorption capabilities of TiO NPs-cellulose composite towards Pb, Cd, and Cr toxic metal ions were also examined, and it was found 44.73 mg. g (89.46%), 38.82 mg. g (77.65%), and 4.42 mg. g (8.85%), respectively. Removal of pollutants from textile industrial effluent were also investigated using TiO NPs-cellulose composite under sun light. The results obtained were very promising which shows potential of TiO NPs-cellulose composite as an efficient photocatalyst and absorbent for real time applications.