Wilkersoncarpenter7071

Microplastics (MPs) are one of the marine debris, accumulated in the ocean as a result of the successive breakdown of a large piece of plastics over several years. MPs are about less than 5 mM, have a detrimental impact on marine organisms/products (seafood/sea salts) and therefore they are considered as a global environmental pollutant. The occurrence and impact of MPs in commercial sea salts that are consumed by humans are not well studied so far. In the present study, we attempted to characterize and evaluate the in vitro toxicity of isolated MPs. Here, we have used ten brands of commercial sea salts of different origins for the identification and characterization of MPs. The average abundance of MPs in all commercial brands is less then 700 MP/kg and the particle size range between 5.2 mM and 3.8 μM. The most common types of MPs were identified as fragments, fibers, and pellets. NVP-DKY709 research buy By Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), it was found that the MPs in abundance were made of cellophane (CP), polystyrene (PR), polyamide (PA) and polyarylether (PAR). Further, in vitro toxicity assessment revealed that HEK-293 cells get detached upon treatment with MPs (MIC-75 μg mL-1) Consequently, the AO/EB dual staining confirmed that the induction and rate of apoptosis were comparatively higher in microplastic treated HEK-293 cells. Taken together, the MPs identified are the origin of anthropogenic derivatives and they exert a lethal effect on human cells, which might be associated with health risk complications in human beings.The present study investigates, for the first time, the structure of the microbial community of cryogenic soils in the subarctic region of Siberia and the ability of the soil microbial community to metabolize degradable microbial bioplastic - poly-3-hydroxybutyrate [P(3HB)]. When the soil thawed, with the soil temperature between 5-7 and 9-11 °C, the total biomass of microorganisms at a 10-20-cm depth was 226-234 mg g-1 soil and CO2 production was 20-46 mg g-1 day-1. The total abundance of microscopic fungi varied between (7.4 ± 2.3) × 103 and (18.3 ± 2.2) × 103 CFU/g soil depending on temperature; the abundance of bacteria was several orders of magnitude greater (1.6 ± 0.1) × 106 CFU g-1 soil. The microbial community in the biofilm formed on the surface of P(3HB) films differed from the background soil in concentrations and composition of microorganisms. The activity of microorganisms caused changes in the surface microstructure of polymer films, a decrease in molecular weight, and an increase in the degree of crystallinity of P(3HB), indicating polymer biodegradation due to metabolic activity of microorganisms. The clear-zone technique - plating of isolates on the mineral agar with polymer as sole carbon source - was used to identify P(3HB)-degrading microorganisms inhabiting cryogenic soil in Evenkia. Analysis of nucleotide sequences of rRNA genes was performed to identify the following P(3HB)-degrading species Bacillus pumilus, Paraburkholderia sp., Pseudomonas sp., Rhodococcus sp., Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, Streptomyces prunicolor, and Variovorax paradoxus bacteria and the Penicillium thomii, P. arenicola, P. lanosum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and A. niger fungi.The reproductive toxicity of fluoride (F) has been verified by various epidemiological and experimental studies. Our previous work suggested that the interleukin 17A (IL-17A) is involved in the testicular damage induced by excessive F exposure. In this study, we further investigated the role of IL-17A in F-induced testicular injury. Wild type (WT) and IL-17A knockout (IL-17A-/-) mice were exposed to 0, 25, 50, or 100 mg/L sodium fluoride (NaF) for 90 days. We found that exposure to excessive F levels caused testicular damage, decreased semen quality, negatively affected testicular morphology, and increased the inflammatory response. Specifically, excessive F intake increased the expression levels of IL-17A in the testis and increased the protein levels of Act1, NF-κB, IL-17R, C/EBP-α, and TRAF6 in the IL-17A signaling pathway. The increase in IL-17A expression corresponded to increases expression of IL-17R, IL-6, IL-23, IL-1β, TGF-β and TNF-α as assessed by RT-PCR and ELISA assays. Remarkably, IL-17A knockout in mice ameliorated the effects of F on testicular damage, semen quality, testicular morphology, and the immune response. Additionally, we found the in vitro exposure of Leydig cells to NaF and recombinant IL-17A led to abnormal apoptosis and a decrease in testosterone secretion. Our findings prove that IL-17A plays a key role in the exacerbation of testicular injuries in F-exposed mice, and that IL-17A deficiency can alleviate F-induced injury by inhibiting the immune response and apoptosis in the testis. These data suggest that targeting IL-17A may be a useful therapeutic strategy for treating F-mediated toxicity in the testis.Prevalence of antibiotic resistance in the environment is of critical concern from a public health perspective, with many human impacted environments showing increased incidence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Wastewater treatment environments are of particular interest due to their high levels of antibiotic residuals, which can select for antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria. However, wastewater treatment plants are generally not designed to remove antibiotics from collected waste, and many of the currently proposed methods are unsafe for environmental use. This has prompted researchers to identify alternative environmentally safe methods for removing antibiotics from wastewater to be used in parallel with conventional wastewater treatment, as it is a potential strategy towards the mitigation of environmental antibiotic resistance selection. This paper reviews several methods developed to absorb and/or degrade antibiotics from aqueous solutions and wastewater biosolids, which includes ligninolytic fungi and ligninolytic enzymes, algae-driven photobioreactors and algae-activated sludge, and organically-sourced biochars.One of the most widely used UV filters, 2-ethylhexyl-4-methoxycinnamate (EHMC), has been widely detected in the environment. While its endocrine disruption potential has often been reported, toxicological information on EHMC is limited. This study was conducted to determine the thyroid, neurological and renal toxicity potentials of EHMC in adult male and embryo-larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). Following 21 d of exposure, plasma T3 concentration decreased in a concentration-dependent manner in adult zebrafish. Several genes related to thyroid hormone regulation were also downregulated in the brain, thyroid, and liver of the adult fish. In addition, upregulation of syn2a in the brain and downregulation of podocin and wt1a in the kidney were observed following the exposure in adult fish. In zebrafish larvae, following 120 h exposure to EHMC, whole-body T3 and T4 contents decreased, and thyroid hormone-related genes were downregulated. However, several genes showed different patterns of transcription in the larvae; for example, mbp and etv1 genes were downregulated and podocin was upregulated.