Biomonitoring Research Articles

Bimetallic-satellite enhanced SERS reporter integrated with CRISPR-Cas12a for ultrasensitive biological rhythm monitoring.

Riparian zones have significant impacts on the ecological health of rivers. However, it’s unclear whether riparian vegetation can be used as effective indicators of ecological health in Afro-tropical rivers. Therefore, this study assessed Isiukhu River health using riparian vegetation as a bio indicator in Kenya. The study was conducted between September 2023 to December 2023. To achieve this objective, water quality was determined using in-situ techniques while macroinvertebrates were collected using D-frame net and identified using appropriate keys. Sentinel – 2A images identified riparian types - natural forest, grassland, agriculture and urban settlements within the study area. Identified riparian types were confirmed through ground-truth visualization with the aid of transect walks. The condition of the identified riparian types was classified and rated respectively as very high (4), high (3), moderate (2), and low (1). ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient were employed in data analysis. Statistical analysis revealed a significant variation in water quality across riparian cover types (F (5,19) = 11.39, ρ <0.05), physicochemical characteristics of river water was influenced by condition of riparian cover. 1,350 macroinvertebrates belonging to 12 orders, 30 families and 30 genera were collected. There was a significant positive correlation between the genera abundance and riparian cover types (r=0.9633; ρ < 0.05), suggesting that natural riparian vegetation supports higher species abundance due to resource availability and a complex natural habitat. Although other diversity indices showed positive but non-significant correlation with riparian covers (ρ > 0.05), the consistent direction of relationship implies riparian vegetation enhances riverine ecological integrity. The findings confirm that different riparian types influence site-specific water quality, macroinvertebrates abundance and diversity, highlighting their importance as reliable ecological indicators of river health. Therefore, this reinforces the need for targeted riparian zone restoration to enhance water quality and biodiversity in the Isiukhu River and other world’s rivers.

Biological barriers in our body are dedicated to maintaining systemic homeostasis by enabling selective transport, the dysregulation of which plays a pathogenic role in several diseases. Transendothelial/epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) analysis is conventionally used to assess the barrier permeability. Engineering TEER setups within advanced in vitro models has become essential for acquiring real-time information on barrier integrity inside organ-on-a-chip (OOC) devices. However, current approaches often involve multiple assembly steps, require external access to the culture chamber, rely on cumbersome systems, or provide highly localized measurements that do not represent the entire surface of the tissue under examination. Specifically, in Transwell-based OOC systems, continuous and nondisruptive monitoring is often precluded by the need to disassemble the system for TEER measurement. To address these limitations, we combined conventional technology for patterning thin conductive films with low-cost, benchtop 3D printing to integrate planar electrodes within a Transwell-based hybrid OOC system. Our integrated TEER electrode device, ITE-MINERVA, can be easily employed with commercial measurement instruments, representing a useful tool for real-time, in situ detection of barrier functionality, potentially altered by drug toxicity and absorption processes, on Transwell-based OOCs, both in single- and multiorgan configurations, noninvasively and without stopping the experiment. In this work, we present the design and fabrication strategy of our innovative setup and its assessment in recording real-time TEER modulation on a Caco-2 cell-based in vitro gut epithelial barrier model.

Determining the impact of organic chemicals and nutrients on river ecological quality: a case study from Donegal, Ireland.

This study investigates the process of restoring missing biomedical and social data for human biological age assessment. The principal challenge is the high rate of missing values in datasets, notably NHANES – up to 40%. This complicates accurate health prediction and reduces the effectiveness of preventive interventions. To address this issue, deep learning methods, specifically autoencoders and transformers, were employed. The autoencoder provided fast imputation (37.4 s, MAE = 7.54) but less accuracy. The transformer achieved the highest accuracy (246.3 s, MAE = 1.10) yet required substantial resources and showed overfitting risks. A hybrid architecture has been proposed to combine the advantages of both approaches. On the NHANES dataset (55,081 records and 84 biomarkers), the model demonstrated an optimal balance (54.2 s, MAE = 5.26) and stability with up to 50% missing data. Compared to mean-value imputation, the accuracy of biological age estimation improved by 25%. The coefficient of determination reached 0.9875, and root mean squared error was 35.9, confirming strong consistency of the restored values. Sensitivity analysis revealed stable accuracy up to 55% missing data, after which degradation occurred. A unique feature of the hybrid approach is the combination of high accuracy with moderate computational cost. This makes the model suitable for medical information systems with incomplete datasets. Practical applications include preventive medicine, biological aging monitoring, and risk group identification. In the Ukrainian context, the model could enhance biomedical research and digital healthcare while also serving as a foundation for bioinformatics and life expectancy studies

Human development and activities are significantly affecting water quality, including the life of organisms such as macrofauna and benthic macroinvertebrates. To meet human needs, the construction of reservoirs and dams is being carried out, which inevitably alters natural conditions and the presence of other organismsth. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between water quality parameters and sediment characteristics in river channels affected by the presence of reservoirs and dams on the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates classified into Functional Feeding Groups (FFG). During the analysis, FFG was used to understand the dynamics of food in aquatic ecosystems and its changes based on the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates. The investigation was conducted from July to September 2023, in the Central and Lower parts of the Citarum River, located in West Java Province, Indonesia, specifically around Jatiluhur Reservoir in Purwakarta Regency for the Central part and Curug Klari Dam and Walahar Dam in Karawang Regency for the Lower part. Field data collection comprised the sampling of water, sediment, and benthic macroinvertebrates. Data analysis was based on the calculation of benthic macroinvertebrate community structure, pollution indices, BMWP-ASPT (Biological Monitoring Working Party - Average Score per Taxon) biotic index, Pearson correlation, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). The results showed that FFG distribution was dominated by Gathering-Collectors (72%), Scrapers (22%), Predators (6%), and Filtering-Collectors (0.06%). The pollution index (PI) indicated that the water quality in the central part of the Citarum River was mild, while the lower part was moderately polluted. Based on the biotic index (BMWP-ASPT), the water quality was categorized as poor and heavily to very densely polluted part. The correlation between PI and BMWP-ASPT showed a very strong relationship according to Pearson correlation (r=-0.96). PCA analysis indicated a positive correlation between predators and gatherers in moderately polluted conditions at the Jatiluhur Reservoir location. At the Curug Klari and Walahar dams, characterized by lightly polluted conditions, there was a positive correlation between filtering and scrapers. HCA calculations showed that the conditions in the Central part (Jatiluhur Reservoir) varied from the Lower part (Curug Klari and Walahar dams) of the Citarum River.

This work explores the relationship between landscape metrics and surface water in the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion, employing 6,220,767 linear regression models through Python scripts to predict surface water quality. The Iberian Biological Monitoring Working Party (IBMWP) index, based on benthic macroinvertebrate communities from 40 sites across Portugal (PT) and Galicia (GL), served as the biological indicator. The models were initially selected based on linear regression assumptions (17 tests), and validated against real-world data, evaluating statistical performance through indicators such as R-squared, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and percentage bias (PBIAS). Results indicated that GL had a higher macroinvertebrate abundance, whereas Portugal showed greater diversity and family richness. Statistical analysis revealed that landscape significantly influenced water quality, with land use composition and configuration driving differences in ecological conditions between regions. The best-performing models demonstrated a high R-squared value of 0.7, a MAPE of 27% for calibration (PT) and 10% for the validation (GL), indicating a strong predictive relationship. The models provide valuable insights into the complex interactions between landscape patterns and water quality, highlighting how variations in landscape structure can directly affect ecological integrity. These findings reinforce the need for strategic land management to preserve water quality and emphasizing the importance of transboundary governance across the Euroregion to foster sustainable development.

Eutrophication-induced shifts in fish assemblages from a Mediterranean coastal lagoon.

Application of environmental DNA metabarcoding in the ecological effect assessment of marine ranching-case study of Shuangdao Bay.

Agents of global change, such as climate disruptions, habitat loss, and biological invasions, affect nearshore and intertidal ecological communities in acute and chronic ways. Biological monitoring aims to track the changes in ecological communities over time, yet temporal mismatches between sampling regimes, environmental stressors, and corresponding ecological responses of interest often limit the utility of monitoring data for testing hypotheses related to these changes. Participatory science, alternatively “citizen science”, can increase the geographic and temporal scale of monitoring and can be a tool to address this limitation. By improving statistical power through higher resolution and a larger scale of data, participatory science programs can detect how global change alters highly dynamic ecological communities. In this study, we evaluate insights from a participatory science dataset (Washington Sea Grant Crab Team) on nearshore mobile epifaunal communities in the Salish Sea, how they differ across habitat types and over time and how they responded to an atmospheric heatwave. Nearshore communities varied across channel, lagoon, and tideflat habitat types, with community metrics and species identities aligning with the environmental characteristics of each habitat type. Though these communities experience high seasonal variability, habitat type differences were consistent over the seven years of data collected. While some sites did experience extreme excursions of water temperature as a result of the 2021 atmospheric heatwave, neither short- nor long-term impacts were detected in the ecological communities monitored at the regional scale. Two factors are likely important in this conclusion: 1. We monitored mobile epifauna, which may be able to migrate to mitigate extreme events and 2. Water temperatures during the heatwave rarely exceeded those experienced at the sites during other times of year. The seasonal variability of the ecological communities observed in these dynamic environments suggests avoiding snapshot sampling in favor of an approach that offers high temporal resolution, as some participatory science programs can, to be able to accurately disentangle effects of acute stressors from the noise of natural variability.

Reliable quantification of polychlorinated alkanes (PCAs) remains a major challenge, hindering environmental research across diverse matrices. Each sample can contain over 500 homologue groups, collectively producing >1000 m/z ratios that require interference checks. High-resolution mass spectrometry methods vary in ionization signals and data formats and require specialized algorithms for quantification. CPxplorer streamlines data processing through the integration of three modules: (1) CPions generates target ion sets and isotopic thresholds for compound identification into the next module; (2) Skyline performs instrument-independent data integration, interference evaluation, and homologue profiling; and (3) CPquant deconvolves homologues and reports concentrations using reference standards and homologue profiles from Skyline. Evaluation of the workflow with NIST-SRM-2585 dust and ERM-CE100 fish tissue material yielded comparable results across raw data formats from different instruments. Further applications of CPxplorer across diverse matrices, including indoor dust, organic films, silicone wrist bands, and food samples, demonstrated the usefulness in biological and environmental monitoring. Compared to existing tools limited to qualitative detection, CPxplorer enables quantitative outputs, reduces processing time, and expands functionality to PCA-like substances (e.g., BCAs) and PCA degradation products (e.g., OH-PCAs). CPxplorer reduces learning barriers, empowers users to quantify PCAs across various analytical instruments, and contributes to generating comparable results in the field.

Ngkari-Ngkari Sub-district is an agricultural area that produces rice, fruits, and vegetables, particularly green mustard (caisin), with a population composed of diverse ethnic groups. The use of pesticides in agricultural activities may pose health risks when applied improperly. This study aims to analyze environmental health risks due to pesticide exposure among green mustard farmers in Ngkari-Ngkari, Baubau City. Plant samples were collected two days after chemical pesticide spraying using standard procedures and analyzed at the UHO Pharmacy Laboratory. A total of 64 farmers were selected through total sampling, and data were obtained using structured questionnaires. Data analysis employed SPSS and the Environmental Health Risk Assessment (EHRA) method. Laboratory results indicated that pesticide concentration in green mustard plants was 0 mg/kg/day or undetected. The estimated intake exposure among farmers was 0.000364 mg/kg/day, while the calculated risk quotient (RQ) of Chlorpyrifos exposure was 0.0121 mg/kg/day. An RQ value ≤ 1 suggests that the 64 farmers were not at risk of adverse health effects from exposure to Chlorpyrifos-based pesticides. This study concludes that pesticide use in Ngkari-Ngkari remains within safe limits for farmers, although continuous monitoring and proper application are necessary to prevent long-term cumulative risks. Limitations of this study include the influence of environmental factors during sampling and the potential effect of sample storage time, indicating the need for biological monitoring and soil condition evaluation in future studies to strengthen the findings.

In this study, antioxidant potential, anticholinesterase activity and elemental contents of Chlorophyllum rhacodes were evaluated. In order to determine the antioxidant capacity, total antioxidant level (TAS), total oxidant level (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), DPPH radical scavenging activity and FRAP ferric reducing power analyses were applied. According to the obtained results, TAS value was determined as 3.125±0.060 mmol/L, TOS value as 6.821±0.062 µmol/L, OSI value as 0.218±0.003, DPPH activity as 55.430±1.438 mg TE/g and FRAP value as 72.540±1.461 mg TE/g. These data revealed that C. rhacodes showed a significant level of antioxidant activity. In the evaluation of anticholinesterase activity, inhibitory effects against AChE and BChE enzymes were determined and IC₅₀ values ​​were determined as 94.330±1.536 µg/mL and 128.397±1.556 µg/mL, respectively. These results show that C. rhacodes shows limited inhibitory effect on these enzymes but may have a certain level of anticholinesterase potential. According to the results of elemental analysis, Cd (14.78±1.53), Cr (33.17±1.42), Mn (7.35±0.52), Cu (155.77±2.34), Fe (469.30±15.75), Pb (6.98±0.54), Ni (3.66±0.31) and Zn (76.18±2.25) mg/kg levels were detected in mushroom samples. In particular, it was observed that Cd and Cu levels were above the upper limits specified in the literature. This situation shows that C. rhacodes tends to accumulate some heavy metals and may be highly sensitive to environmental pollution. In conclusion, C. rhacodes species exhibits a biologically remarkable profile with certain antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities and can also be considered as a potential indicator species in the biological monitoring of environmental metal exposure.

Pressurised intraperitoneal aerosolised chemotherapy (PIPAC) for peritoneal malignancy, a systematic review of its occupational safety.

Continuous water monitoring of platinum and carbon electrodes potential for assessing redox potential and biological activity in the intertidal zone.

Abstract Background Today, children spend a lot of time indoors, particularly at home and school, so the quality of indoor air is a crucial factor in determining their health. Human biomonitoring has unique advantages for evaluating internal doses of indoor air pollution. This review aimed to summarize studies assessing children's specific indoor exposures in school and home settings using biomonitoring combined with external measurements. Methods A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase databases for peer-reviewed literature on biomonitoring of children (ages 6-12) for selected indoor air pollutants, including 17 volatile organic compounds, 9 semi-volatile organic compounds, and 21 relevant chemical families. Data on geographic location, biomarkers, biological specimens, pollutant classes, and analytical techniques were extracted and analyzed. Results This review summarized the indoor air pollutants, biomarkers, and analytical techniques used in studies from 53 countries described in 79 articles. Most studies were conducted in Europe (40.51%) and Asia (30.38%). Mostly, aromatic hydrocarbons were analyzed (18 times via biomonitoring, of which 8 studies included environmental measurements). Across all pollutant groups, the most common biomarkers of exposure included metabolites and their parent compounds in urine, whereas eNO in exhaled breath was the main biomarker of effects. GC-MS and LC-MS were the most popular techniques for analyzing biological and environmental samples. High heterogeneity was observed in study designs and exposure metrics across studies. Conclusions The lack of consistent study design and exposure assessment protocols posed challenges for direct comparisons and meta-analyses. It is recommended to standardize biomonitoring methods and integrate them with environmental measurements. These insights can inform future study designs to better understand and reduce children's exposure to indoor air pollution. Key messages • This review compiled the current biomonitoring and environmental approaches used to assess children’s exposure to selected indoor air pollutants in school and home environments. • The findings revealed gaps in harmonized approaches and call for standardization and integration of biological and environmental monitoring to better understand children's indoor air exposures.

This case series presents five Turkish shoe factory workers who developed toxic polyneuropathy due to occupational n-hexane exposure. The patients, aged 22-48, experienced subacute onset of symmetrical distal weakness, numbness and impaired ambulation following 1-4 months of adhesive-related tasks, such as glueing, stitching and sole pressing. None had appropriate personal protective equipment or adequate ventilation at the workplace. Electrophysiological findings confirmed demyelinating sensorimotor polyneuropathy, and 2,5-hexanedione testing was negative, likely due to delayed sampling. Neurological symptoms partially improved following removal from exposure and neurorehabilitation. All cases originated from the same factory, highlighting systemic lapses in occupational safety practices. The study underscores the importance of strict enforcement of industrial hygiene measures, biological monitoring and worker education in preventing neurotoxic solvent exposure. Increased clinical awareness and early recognition of occupational neuropathies are essential, particularly in small-scale industries with poor regulatory oversight. Teaser text This case series describes five workers from Turkish shoe factories who developed toxic polyneuropathy linked to n-hexane exposure. The study highlights clinical features, diagnostic delays, and lack of protective measures. Our findings underline the importance of occupational risk awareness, proper personal protective equipment (PPE), and solvent exposure monitoring in preventing similar cases in small-scale manufacturing industries.

Perinatal prognostic factors of recurrence or functional sequelae in neonatal sacrococcygeal teratoma, and implications for prenatal counselling: A multicenter retrospective study.

Dual-ligand metal-organic frameworks for dual-emission ratiometric and visual detection of hypochlorous acid.

全氟及多氟烷基化合物（PFASs）是一类由C-F键构成的人造化合物，具有高稳定性和难降解性，还具有生物累积性和多脏器毒性。因此，构建高通量、高灵敏度的检测方法，对于评估人体中PFASs的暴露水平至关重要。本研究采用商品化的高通量HMR-Lipid 96孔固相萃取板，结合高效液相色谱-串联质谱（HPLC-MS/MS），建立了一种简便、高效且能够同时定量检测人体血清中26种PFASs的方法。血清样本采用HMR-Lipid 96孔固相萃取板进行前处理，采用Phenomenex C18色谱柱（250 mm×4.6 mm， 5 μm）作为背景污染捕集柱，以Accucore C18色谱柱（100 mm×2.4 mm， 2.6 μm）作为分析柱，以2 mmol/L醋酸铵缓冲溶液和甲醇溶液作为流动相进行梯度洗脱。采用电喷雾电离、负离子扫描（ESI-）模式，在多反应监测（MRM）模式下进行定量分析。方法学验证结果表明，26种PFASs在0.2~100 ng/mL范围内线性关系良好，相关系数为0.995 1~0.999 9，检出限（LOD）和定量限（LOQ）分别为0.01~0.15 ng/mL和0.02~0.47 ng/mL。在低（5 ng/mL）、中（10 ng/mL）、高（50 ng/mL）3个加标水平下，26种PFASs的回收率为80.1%~119.5%，相对标准偏差（RSD）为0.5%~11.9%。与传统固相萃取方法相比，本研究建立的方法具有灵敏度高、准确性好、操作简便、萃取速度快、试剂消耗少以及所需样品量小等优点，适用于大规模人群生物监测，为准确评估人体中PFASs的暴露情况及其潜在健康风险提供了科学的方法支撑。