Showing papers in "Science of The Total Environment in 2012"

TL;DR: This analysis shows that the highest amounts discharged through secondary effluent pertain to one antihypertensive, and several beta-blockers and analgesics/anti-inflammatories, while the highest risk is posed by antibiotics and several psychiatric drugs and analgesic/ anti- inflammatories.

TL;DR: This review outlined the latest applications of iron oxide nanomaterials in wastewater treatment, and gaps which limited their large-scale field applications, as well as the outlook for potential applications and further challenges.

TL;DR: If the lowest loss and waste percentages achieved in any region in each step of the FSC could be reached globally, food supply losses could be halved and there would be enough food for approximately one billion extra people.

TL;DR: Elevated levels of metal contamination along China's coastal environment can increase the risk of metal exposure to humans by seafood consumption, raising the alarm for more stringent control of discharge of metals into environment.

TL;DR: The routes by which these compounds enter groundwater, their toxicity and potential risks to drinking water and the environment are discussed, and challenges that need to be met are identified to minimise risk to Drinking water and ecosystems.

TL;DR: Preliminary results indicate that health effects resulting from air emissions during unconventional NGD warrant further study and risk management approaches should focus on reducing exposures to emissions during well completions.

TL;DR: The gene abundances of tetO and tetW normalized to that of 16S rRNA genes indicated an apparent decrease as compared to sulI genes, which remained stable along each treatment stage, while a significant correlation was observed for sulI gene and total concentration of sulfonamides.

TL;DR: The ranking presented in terms of capturing PM can be used to select species for air pollution removal in urban areas and efficient plant species and planting designs that can shield vulnerable areas in urban settings from polluting traffic etc. can beused to decrease human exposure to anthropogenic pollutants.

TL;DR: An overview of studies on the quality of urban soils in China with special reference to trace metal contamination is provided, which summarizes the characteristics of accumulation, spatial and temporal distribution, and major sources of various toxic or potentially toxic trace metals in urban soils as reported in recent literature.

TL;DR: An environmental risk assessment revealed a high risk for 9 pharmaceuticals in hospital effluent and for 4 of the 9 substances in the treatment plant influent and effluent, with antibiotics being the most critical compounds in terms of contribution and potential environmental risk for the hospital.

TL;DR: The local environments around Sb mining and smelting areas were seriously contaminated and plants growing in these contaminated soils accumulated high levels of Sb and exceeded the tolerable concentration, thus threatening the health of local inhabitants.

TL;DR: The global impact on public health of elevated arsenic (As) in water supplies is highlighted by an increasing number of countries worldwide reporting high As concentrations in drinking water as discussed by the authors, which is known in 14 out of 20 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay.

TL;DR: A standardized analysis for illicit drug urinary biomarkers in sewage can be applied to estimate and compare the use of these substances at local and international scales and has the potential to deliver important information on drug markets (supply indicator).

TL;DR: The findings suggest that mining operations play an important but underappreciated role in the generation of contaminated atmospheric dust and aerosol and the transport of metal and metalloid contaminants, and highlight the need for further research in this area.

TL;DR: A review of available dissolution data on NPs demonstrates there is a range of potential outcomes depending on the NPs and the exposure media, and it is imperative that toxicological studies are conducted in conjunction with dissolution of NPs to establish the true biological effect ofNPs and hence, assist in their regulation.

TL;DR: The biological functions of Cobalt are updated in the light of recent understanding of cobalt interference with the sensing in almost all animal cells of oxygen deficiency (hypoxia), and some of the toxic effects of cobALT (Co(2+)) have recently been proposed to be due to putative inhibition of Ca(2+) entry and Ca( 2+)-signaling and competition with Ca(3+)-binding proteins.

TL;DR: A framework combining land use type and bioaccessibility is recommended and thereby should be applied for the derivation of risk-based, site-specific soil guidelines.

TL;DR: Multivariate and geostatistical analyses suggested that soil contamination of Cd, Cu and Zn was mainly derived from agricultural practices, whereas, As and Pb were due mainly to soil parent materials, and Hg was caused by the atmospheric deposits from Beijing City.

TL;DR: Comparing root accumulation and root-to-shoot translocation in wheat of anatase and rutile TiO(2)-NPs with diameters ranging from 14 nm to 655 nm suggests that only the smallest TiO (2) nanoparticles may be accumulated in wheat plants, although in limited amounts and that their impact is moderate.

TL;DR: Investigating heavy metal contamination near Dabaoshan Mine using sequential indicator simulation to delineate the spatial patterns of soil data, and fitting multiple linear regression models for heavy metal uptake by crops, indicates that Cd is the most important pollutant contributing to the human health risk.

TL;DR: The most studied compounds in Spanish groundwater were pesticides followed by industrial compounds and PhACs, and to preserve groundwater quality against deterioration it is necessary to define environmental groundwater thresholds for the non-regulated compounds.

TL;DR: The study shows that the potential toxicological effects of persistent micropollutants can be mitigated to some extent by a high dilution capacity, i.e. a high average flow rate in the receiving water body with respect to the effluent.

TL;DR: This study focused on the foliar uptake of various metals and metalloids from enriched PM resulting from the emissions of a battery-recycling factory and showed lead-enriched PM on the surface of plant leaves.

TL;DR: A more holistic approach is needed to effectively understand, predict and manage the impact of macronutrients on estuaries, and development of high frequency in situ nutrient analysis systems will provide data to improve predictive models that need to incorporate a wider variety of key factors.

TL;DR: The ecotoxicity of degraded propachlor samples, which was indicated by average well color development (AWCD) for its microbial community activity, was confirmed to be decreased during the degradation processes with these two ions activated persulfate.

TL;DR: An optimized method for the micro-FT-IR analysis of microplastics in vacuum-filtered sediment retentates was developed and provides the first evidence that mapping successfully detects microplastic without their visual selection for characterization, despite this technique relying on spectra from small and spatially separated locations.

TL;DR: RSIVL model was suitable to assess the groundwater vulnerability to nitrate in the study area with readily available hydrogeological and hydrochemical data and can be applied for sensible groundwater resource management and land use planning.

TL;DR: The effects of land use on patterns of DOC concentration and DOM composition were consistent across seasons, implying that land use strongly regulates DOM export from the terrestrial zone to surface waters.

TL;DR: It is suggested that a standardized laboratory protocol for evaluating stone bioreceptivity and definition of a stone biOREceptivity index are required to enable creation of a database on the primary bioreCEPTivity of stone materials.