Langevinther2089

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is one of the most commonly used herbicides worldwide. While the effects of 2,4-D in target organisms are well known, its consequences in nontarget organisms are not fully explained. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the herbicide on mitochondrial energy metabolism, oxidative status, and exploratory behavior in adult zebrafish. Animal exposure to 2,4-D increased cytochrome c oxidase and catalase activities and reduced SOD/CAT ratio, moreover, increased the total distance traveled and the number of crossings. Finally, animals exposed to 2,4-D spent more time in the upper zone of the tank and traveled a long distance in the upper zone. Overall, our results indicate the 2,4-D can provoke disabling effects in nontarget organisms. The obtained data showed that exposure to 2,4-D at environmentally relevant concentrations alters mitochondrial metabolism and antioxidant status and disturbs the zebrafish innate behavior.The aim of this study was to investigate the association between blood lead level (BLL) and hypertension in adults when lead exposure for the general population is low. The study used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2016. Participants aged 20 to 79 years were included in our study. Weighted multiple linear regression and logistic regression were conducted to test the association between BLL and systolic/diastolic blood pressure and hypertension status, respectively, while controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, income level, and education. A total of 30,467 participants were included in this study. There was no association between BLL and hypertension status for the overall sample. Among those who were not taking antihypertensive medication, after adjusting for covariates, systolic blood pressure was positively correlated with BLL in non-Hispanic Whites (P = 0.004) and non-Hispanic Blacks (P = 0.0005), but not Hispanics (P = 0.07) nor Others (P = 0.37). The relationship between diastolic blood pressure and lead levels was also significant in non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks. This study showed that higher BLL was associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure in some population groups, but not associated with hypertension status.Desiccation of the Namak Lake (NL) can result in the release of fine-grained dust contaminated with heavy metals, while there is little information available on the propagation of metals in the bed sediments of this lake. In this study, contamination of metals in the surface sediments of the NL was analyzed and the pollution status of sediments was assessed using geo-accumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), the consensus-based sediment quality guidelines (CBSQGs), and mean probable effect concentration quotient (mPECQ). Results indicated that metal concentrations at the southern part were higher than at the middle and northern parts of the lake. Possible reasons are (i) pollution loads mainly entered the lake through the rivers at the west and northwest, but accumulated at the southern parts, (ii) hard layer of salt covering the bottom of the NL at the northern part suppresses adsorption of metals to the sediment, and (iii) the muddy nature of sediments at the southern part makes it easier for metals to be absorbed. selleck chemicals EF results showed that sediments at the southern part of the lake were moderately enriched with lead (Pb). The low Igeo values suggested no pollution with the metals, and CBSQG values showed that the sediments of the NL were not toxic, while the mPECQ index suggested a toxicity probability of less than 25%. Cluster analysis classified the metals into two clusters. In general, the results showed that metal pollution in the surface sediments of NL was generally low although the concentration of Pb at the southern part of the lake was worrisome.Doping a transition metal into photocatalysts enhances the photocatalytic activity drastically. In the first part of this study, Taguchi design of experiment is applied to evaluate and optimize the efficiency of the Fe2O3/TiO2 photocatalyst synthetized by thermal method assisted by UV radiation. The contribution percentages of FeTiO2 mass ratio, Fe2O3/TiO2 dosage, and pH on the total organic carbon (TOC) removal are determined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the second part of this study, in order to model the photocatalytic degradation process, the optical properties of the photocatalyst, including the extinction, absorption, and scattering coefficients, are determined. Subsequently, the radiation transfer equation (RTE) is solved numerically based on the surface emission model using the discrete ordinate method. Furthermore, a rigorous model, including chemical reaction rates, radiation transfer, and mass transfer is proposed and validated by a set of experimental data. A satisfactory correlation between the predicted and experimental data with less than 5% error confirms the reliability of the model. The intrinsic kinetic parameters are also determined by comparing predicted values to those of the experimental results by applying non-linear regressions.This study sought to investigate the impacts of climate change on cereal production in China over the period 1990Q1-2013Q4. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, the results showed that CO2 emissions, average temperature, and temperature variability have a significant negative impact on cereal production in the long run. However, energy consumption, average rainfall, labor force, and cultivated area significantly and positively influenced the production of cereal crops in the long run. Meanwhile, the study observed that rainfall variability has no significant effect on cereal production in the long run. The study again found that in the short run, CO2 emissions, average temperature, and temperature variability have a significant negative relationship with cereal production. Besides, energy consumption, average rainfall, rainfall variability, labor force, and the cultivated area had a significant positive association with cereal production in the short run. The results of the Granger causality test showed that there exists a unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and labor force to the production of cereal crops in China.