Environmental Safety Evaluation Research Articles

Оцінка рівня екологічної безпеки в межах зберігання гірничих відходів фосфогіпсу.

Оцінка рівня екологічної безпеки в межах зберігання гірничих відходів фосфогіпсу.

Simultaneous determination of pyridaben, dinotefuran, DN and UF in eggplant ecosystem under open-field conditions: Dissipation behaviour and residue distribution

A sensitive method for simultaneous determination of pyridaben, dinotefuran, DN and UF in eggplant ecosystem was established and validated through rapid resolution liquid chromatography triples quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (RRLC-QqQ-MS/MS). Matrix-matched external calibrations were introduced to check matrix effects. Limits of quantification (LOQs) of pyridaben, dinotefuran, DN and UF in eggplant were 0.2, 0.2, 1.0 and 1.0 μg kg−1, and 0.2, 0.2, 5.0 and 1.0 μg kg−1 in soil, respectively. Limits of detection (LODs) of four pesticides were below 0.41 μg L−1. The mean recoveries (n = 5) of these insecticides varied from 79.4% to 103%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 2.1% to 15.3% at three levels. This method was applied to Chinese open-field samples from two representative locations, which were previously treated with these insecticides at the doses of 210–315 g a.i. ha−1 twice or three times. The dissipations of pyridaben and dinotefuran in eggplant and soil followed first-order kinetics with the half-lives of 3.65–11.4 d. The residues of pyridaben and total dinotefuran (calculated as sum of dinotefuran parent, DN and UF) in eggplant were below 0.0311 mg kg−1 at the pre-harvest interval (PHI, 7 d). Presently, no maximum residue limit (MRL) of pyridaben and dinotefuran in eggplant was recommended by China, Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) or European Union (EU). This study was important for evaluation of environmental fate and food safety of pyridaben and dinotefuran in eggplant ecosystems, and facilitated China to establish maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pyridaben and dinotefuran in eggplant.

Herbicidal Spectrum, Absorption and Transportation, and Physiological Effect on Bidens pilosa of the Natural Alkaloid Berberine.

Berberine is a natural herbicidal alkaloid from Coptis chinensis Franch. Here we characterized its herbicidal spectrum and absorption and transportation in the plant, along with the possible mechanism. Berberine showed no effect on the germination of the 10 tested plants. The IC50 values of berberine on the primary root length and fresh weight of the 10 tested plants ranged from 2.91 to 9.79 mg L-1 and 5.76 to 35.07 mg L-1, respectively. Berberine showed a similar herbicidal effect on Bidens pilosa as the commercial naturally derived herbicide cinmethylin. HPLC and fluorescence analysis revealed that berberine was mainly absorbed by B. pilosa root and transported through vascular bundle acropetally. Enzyme activity studies, GC-MS analysis, and SEM and TEM observations indicated that berberine might first function on the cell membrane indicated by variation of the IUFA percent and then cause POD, PPO, and SOD activity changes and cellular structure deformity, which was eventually expressed as the decrease of cell adaptation ability and abnormal cell function and may even result in cell death. Environmental safety evaluation tests revealed that berberine was low in toxicity to Brachydanio rerio. These indicate that berberine has the potential to be a bioherbicide and/or a lead molecule for new herbicides.

Fuzzy Comprehensive Assessment Method Based on the Entropy Weight Method and Its Application in the Water Environmental Safety Evaluation of the Heshangshan Drinking Water Source Area, Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

The safety of drinking water from source areas is an important issue, and the fuzzy comprehensive assessment method is a useful evaluation approach. However, it has limitations due to its complicated calculation, as well as the effects of subjective factors on the results. The objective of the research is to develop an effective method with more objective results for tackling water environmental evaluation problems in drinking water source areas. In this study, a new method— i.e., the fuzzy comprehensive assessment method based on the entropy weight method—was proposed; a water environmental safety evaluation index system was built, and then the water environmental safety of the Heshangshan drinking water source area was evaluated. The results indicated that the water environment of the study area was substantially safe. Furthermore, water-saving measurements should be taken, the industrial structure should be optimized, investment in environmental protection should be increased, and the utilization ratio of water resources should be improved. It can be concluded that the proposed approaches were feasible and reasonable. It is the first attempt to develop such an evaluation method and index system for water environmental safety evaluation, which can provide references and decision support for the related researchers and managers.

ОПРЕДЕЛЕНИЕ ХАРАКТЕРА БИОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ДЕЙСТВИЯ НОВЫХ ПОЛИГЕТЕРОЦИКЛИЧЕСКИХ СОЕДИНЕНИЙ НА РАСТЕНИЯ И ОЦЕНКА ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ИХ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ

ОПРЕДЕЛЕНИЕ ХАРАКТЕРА БИОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ДЕЙСТВИЯ НОВЫХ ПОЛИГЕТЕРОЦИКЛИЧЕСКИХ СОЕДИНЕНИЙ НА РАСТЕНИЯ И ОЦЕНКА ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ИХ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ

Paper-based capacitive sensors for identification and quantification of chemicals at the point of care

The identification and quantification of chemicals play a vital role in evaluation and surveillance of environmental health and safety. However, current techniques usually depend on costly equipment, professional staff, and/or essential infrastructure, limiting their accessibility. In this work, we develop paper-based capacitive sensors (PCSs) that allow simple, rapid identification and quantification of various chemicals from microliter size samples with the aid of a handheld multimeter. PCSs are low-cost parallel-plate capacitors (~$0.01 per sensor) assembled from layers of aluminum foil and filter paper via double-sided tape. The developed PCSs can identify different kinds of fluids (e.g., organic chemicals) and quantify diverse concentrations of substances (e.g., heavy metal ions) based on differences in dielectric properties, including capacitance, frequency spectrum, and dielectric loss tangent. The PCS-based method enables chemical identification and quantification to take place much cheaply, simply, and quickly at the point-of-care (POC), holding great promise for environmental monitoring in resource-limited settings.

Safety evaluation of living environment among the rural and urban elderly

Objective To assess the safety of living environment by the elderly, further clarify the relevant factors of the elderly fall in the living environment. Methods The self-made assessment form of fall-related factors of living environment for elderly patients was used to survey 1 076 elderly. Likert five grades score was used for each item, and the higher score demonstrated the safer living environment. Results In the assessment of the safety of living environment, the indoor physical environment (3.94 points), home furniture safety (3.66 points) score was better; home ground and the channel (3.32 points) and outdoor activities places (3.57 points) score was lower. Scores of home′s ground and channel, furniture safety, indoor physical environment and living environment of urban elderly were (23.56 ± 6.49), (44.52 ± 7.72), (11.93 ± 2.49), (105.03 ± 17.82) points, which were better than (22.46 ± 6.39), (42.73 ± 7.95), (11.53 ± 2.39), (101.55 ± 18.15) points of rural elderly (t= 2.471-3.495, P <0.05). Conclusions The indoor physical environment, home furniture safety got higher scores, and the scores of ground-channel environment and outdoor activities places were relatively lower. Scores of the safety of living environment in urban are better than in rural. It suggests the elderly living environment need to reduce the incidence of falls. Key words: Aged; Falls; Living environment; Safety

Ecological fitness of transgenic GAFP cotton and its effects on the field insect community.

The ecological fitness of transgenic cotton and its effects on the insect communities in cotton fields is one of the key aspects of the evaluation of the environmental safety of transgenic cotton. New transgenic GAFP (Gastrodia anti-fungal protein) cotton and its parental varieties were used in this study to explore their ecological fitness and their effects on insect community infield in Anyang, Henan Province in 2013 and 2014. The results showed that there was no significant difference in dry mass for transgenic cotton leaves compared to that of parental cotton. Specific leaf areas of transgenic cotton were lowered obviously at seedling stage, while enhanced significantly at budding, flowering and bolling stages relative to parental cotton. The plant height of transgenic cotton was lowered only at seedling stage, and no significant difference was showed between the two cultivars at budding, flowering and bolling stages. No significant differences were discovered on plant branch numbers, bud numbers and falling numbers between the transgenic cotton and control material in any of the four key stages during the cotton growth. However, the number of bolls per plant for transgenic cotton was lower than that of the control cotton at the bolling stage. In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation of cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), the mortality rate of cotton bollworm and beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) of transgenic cotton had no significant difference with parental cotton. Compared to parental cotton, total individuals of insect community, pest sub-communities and enemy sub-communities in transgenic cotton field didn't show any significant difference. The above results showed that after the GAFP gene was imported into cotton, the cotton growth was enhanced significantly, while the whole yield component traits and the insect community in the field were not significantly changed. Our study on the competition of new transgenic cotton and survival of transgenic cotton insect communities in cotton field would provide the theoretical basis for the evaluation of new transgenic cotton and environmental safety, and accumulate scientific data for environmental safety evaluation of the transgenic cotton.

Justification and formalization of approach to regional environmental safety evaluation

The analysis of causation in the «man – nature» system is performed and their inextricable connection is proved. The approach to implementation of the concept of sustainable development with emphasis on environmental safety is proposed and justified. Human interests and needs are considered as having priority in the development process, but can be implemented only by ensuring the environmental safety of natural systems on which humanity depends entirely and an integral part of which it is. The potential and actual environmental and economic damage resulting from unsustainable use of natural resources is evaluated. Thus, beekeeping accounts for about 3 % of the gross regional product of Ukraine today, and the regression of fisheries in the Mykolaiv region is thousands of gigacalories. The scheme for determining the potential mortality factor, which is the main indicator in the environmental safety index evaluation is proposed. The scheme describes the functional dependence of organisms on the pollutant concentration. The study is based on the assumption that a person continues to be a central concern in the development process on the basis of tolerance towards other living beings, regardless of their value to human civilization. This approach to provision and control of environmental safety will allow more efficiently and systematically analyze the impact of the human economy on the functional stability of natural systems. It is proved that the safety of human existence in the ecological system will be the greatest under safe living conditions for the most human impact sensitive living component of the environment. The system of regional environmental safety evaluation is based on the environmental characteristics of stenobionts and theoretical principles of the Shelford's law of tolerance and complication. The methods for estimating the environmental safety index of abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems, the essence of which is to study the biological features of stenobionts, physical and chemical properties and parameters of the abiotic environment are proposed.

Anaerobic toxicity of cationic silver nanoparticles

The microbial toxicity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) stabilized with different capping agents was compared to that of Ag+ under anaerobic conditions. Three AgNPs were investigated: (1) negatively charged citrate-coated AgNPs (citrate-AgNPs), (2) minimally charged polyvinylpyrrolidone coated AgNPs (PVP-AgNPs) and (3) positively charged branched polyethyleneimine coated AgNPs (BPEI-AgNPs). The AgNPs investigated in this experiment were similar in size (10–15nm), spherical in shape, but varied in surface charge which ranged from highly negative to highly positive. While, at AgNPs concentrations lower than 5mgL−1, the anaerobic decomposition process was not influenced by the presence of the nanoparticles, there was an observed impact on the diversity of the microbial community. At elevated concentrations (100mgL−1 as silver), only the cationic BPEI-AgNPs demonstrated toxicity similar in magnitude to that of Ag+. Both citrate and PVP-AgNPs did not exhibit toxicity at the 100mgL−1 as measured by biogas evolution. These findings further indicate the varying modes of action for nanoparticle toxicity and represent one of the few studies that evaluate end-of-life management concerns with regards to the increasing use of nanomaterials in our everyday life. These findings also highlight some of the concerns with a one size fits all approach to the evaluation of environmental health and safety concerns associated with the use of nanoparticles.

Humidifier Disinfectants Are a Cause of Lung Injury among Adults in South Korea: A Community-Based Case-Control Study.

BackgroundsAn outbreak of lung injury among South Korean adults was examined in a hospital-based case-control study, and the suspected cause was exposure to humidifier disinfectant (HD). However, a case-control study with community-dwelling controls was needed to validate the previous study’s findings, and to confirm the exposure-response relationship between HD and lung injury.MethodsEach case of lung injury was matched with four community-dwelling controls, according to age (±3 years), sex, residence, and history of childbirth since 2006 (for women). Environmental risk factors, which included type and use of humidifier and HD, were investigated using a structured questionnaire during August 2011. The exposure to HD was calculated for both cases and controls, and the corresponding risks of lung injury were compared.ResultsAmong 28 eligible cases, 16 patients agreed to participate, and 60 matched controls were considered eligible for this study. The cases were more likely to have been exposed to HD (odds ratio: 116.1, 95% confidence interval: 6.5–2,063.7). All cases were exposed to HDs containing polyhexamethyleneguanidine phosphate, and the risk of lung injury increased with the cumulative exposure, duration of exposure, and exposure per day.ConclusionsThis study revealed a statistically significant exposure-response relationship between HD and lung injury. Therefore, continuous monitoring and stricter evaluation of environmental chemicals’ safety should be conducted.

The Importance of Environmental Safety Evaluation of Beaches

Tourism is the largest industry in the world and beaches are the major factor in this tourism market. However, in the activities of beaches’ tourism, some environmental indexes of beaches have significant effects on tourists’ experience, physical health, and even life safety. Based on the aim of providing safe and healthy services for tourists, some beach evaluation or rating systems in some European countries and the United States are described and advance in research of environmental safety evaluation of beaches in China is discussed, and the main problems and practical challenges in beach management are pointed out, which is exactly what I am working on.

Laboratory evaluation of aqueous leaf extract of Tephrosia vogelii against larvae of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) and non-target aquatic organisms

Mosquito control using insecticides has been the most successful intervention known to reduce malaria prevalence or incidence. However, vector control is facing a threat due to the emergence of resistance to synthetic insecticides. Insecticides of botanical origin may serve as suitable alternative biocontrol techniques in the future. In this research, the leaf aqueous leachate of Tephrosia vogelii was evaluated for its toxicity against larvae of the most invasive mosquito worldwide, Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae), and toward adults of the water flea, Daphnia magna (Cladocera: Crustacea) and Oreochromis niloticus, two non-target aquatic organisms that share the same ecological niche of A. albopictus. The leaf aqueous leachate of T. vogelii was evaluated against fourth-instar larvae, non-blood fed 3–5 days old laboratory strains of A. albopictus under laboratory condition. In addition, the objective of the present work was to study the environmental safety evaluation for aquatic ecosystem. Mortality was then recorded after 7d exposure. The leaf aqueous leachate of T. vogelii showed high mosquitocidal activity against larvae of A. albopictus, with a LC50=1.18μg/mL. However, it had a remarkable acute toxicity also toward adults of the non-target arthropod D. magna, with a LC50=0.47μg/L and O. niloticus with a LC50=5.31μg/L. The present findings have important implications in the practical control of mosquito larvae in the aquatic ecosystem, as the medicinal plants studied are commonly available in large quantities. The extract could be used in stagnant water bodies for the control of mosquitoes acting as vector for many communicable diseases.

Synergism between urea and urease-positive bacteria in controlling root-knot nematodes

Synergistic effects between urea and urease-positive bacteria against root-knot nematodes were assayed in laboratory and greenhouse trials. We isolated 85 urease-positive bacterial strains from soil, compost, sludge, and animal faeces; they belonged to four clades and sixteen genera of Eubacteria based on 16S rRNA BLAST. Twenty-five representative strains were assessed for nematicidal and urease activities. The urease-positive bacteria were nematicidal. A cubic relationship with a critical threshold was found between a strain’s nematicidal and urease activities. Sixteen strains with urease activity above this threshold had a 100 % nematicidal activity level. These 16 strains and urea alone were assessed for urease activity in pot experiments with tomato, which found that high-dose urea was nematicidal to root-knot nematodes (400–800 mg per kg soil) and phytotoxic (1,600 mg), while low-dose urea (≤200 mg) was non-nematicidal. However, nematodes could be controlled at 200 mg urea per kg soil in combination with urease-positive bacteria from seven different strains, and the nematode control efficacy of urea was always non-linearly positively correlated with soil urease activity. To test bacterial persistence, soils were recycled for another experiment, in which nine strains were significantly nematicidal, with a stronger relationship between nematode control efficacy and soil urease activity. These results suggest ways to manipulate soil bacteria to improve soil urease activity for the management of plant-parasitic nematodes. While urease-positive bacteria may have practical applications in controlling nematodes, their use will require careful field investigation and appropriate environmental safety evaluation.

A HIRARC model for safety and risk evaluation at a hydroelectric power generation plant

There are many formal techniques for the systematic analysis of occupational safety and health in general, and risk analysis in particular, for power generation plants at hydroelectric power stations. This study was initiated in order to create a HIRARC model for the evaluation of environmental safety and health at a hydroelectric power generation plant at Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia. The HIRARC model was used to identify the primary and secondary hazards which may be inherent in the system which were determined as a serious threat for plant operation and maintenance. The primary tools of the model consisted of, generic check-lists, work place inspection schemes which included task observation and interview, safety analysis as well as accident and incident investigation. For risk assessment, the Likert scale was complemented by the severity matrix analysis in order to determine the probability and extent of safety and health at the study power generation plant. These were used to identify and recommend control measures which included engineering and administrative aspects as well as the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). A total of forty-one important hazard items were identified in the system at target power generation plant. These hazards were mainly identified by means of checklists which were sourced from literature and subsequently customized for the current purpose. Risk assessment was conducted by initially classifying the hazards into three levels such as Low, Medium and High. Generally 66% of the hazards identified were at low risk, 32% at medium and 2% at high risk. This indicated that there was sufficient awareness and commitment to safety and health at the study power station. Meanwhile the Power Station was also certified by MS 1722:2005, OHSAS 18001, MS ISO 14001:2004, MS ISO 9001:2000 and scheduled waste regulation 2005 which give credibility to the current study in creating a working model which may find widespread application in the future.

In Situ Measurements and Comprehensive Research on the Present Crustal Stress of Northern South China Sea

AbstractIt is necessary for developing of ocean resources, safety evaluation of geological environment and engineering to understand the status and distribution of present crustal stress in the northern South China Sea. The nature conditions restrict the research on the crustal stress of the whole South China Sea, whose characters and controlling factors are not clear. In situ stress measurement is a useful way to get the stress magnitude and direction. The stress direction can be got through the logging FMI data in ocean oil field. The numerical modeling can extrapolate the stress status and distribution in the interested area under the constraint of the in situ measured stress, FMI deduced stress and the plate tectonic environment. The west bound of northern South China Sea is Red River Fault‐Eastern Vietnam strike slip large Fault which is controlled by the collision of India plate and Euro‐Asia plate and the uplift of Tibet. The east bound of northern South China Sea is Manila trench, which have three different tectonic stress sections, plate collision near Taiwan and near Luzon, and extension between Taiwan and Luzon induced by South China Sea subduction under the Philippines plate. The authors measured in situ the magnitude and direction of stress in Ledong county, Hainan province through hydraulic fracturing, where the exposed rock body is intact and the landform is gentle. The measured rock in well is intact and the curve of measured pressure is fit to the standard, which shows that the measured stress is reliable. The optimal direction of measured maximum stress is NW‐NWW. According to the Byerlee criteria, the measured stress cannot induce the active fault to be reactivated recently. The logging FMI interpretation of marginal oil basin in the northern South China Sea shows that the optimal direction of maximum principal stress is NW‐NNW in Yinggehai basin, and NNW in Qiongdongnan basin. Constrained by the in situ measured stress and the focal mechanism the numerical modeling shows that the crustal stress in northern South China Sea is characterized by the different stress status in different zone due to India plate, Euro‐Asia plate and Philippine plate playing different role. In the area near Taiwan the crustal stress is dominated by the collision of Philippe plate and Euro‐Asia plate, and the direction of maximum principal stress is E‐W. Along marginal northern South China Sea the crustal stress is influenced by extension induced by the Euro‐Asia plate subduction under the Philippine plate at the Manila trench, and the maximum principal stress gradually turns to S‐N and NW.

Outcome of the Public Consultation on the draft EFSA Guidance Document on clustering and ranking of emissions of active substances of plant protection products and transformation products of these active substances from protected crops (greenhouses and crops grown under cover) to relevant environmental compartments

EFSA Supporting PublicationsVolume 11, Issue 3 568E Technical reportOpen Access Outcome of the Public Consultation on the draft EFSA Guidance Document on clustering and ranking of emissions of active substances of plant protection products and transformation products of these active substances from protected crops (greenhouses and crops grown under cover) to relevant environmental compartments European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)Search for more papers by this author European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)Search for more papers by this author First published: 20 March 2014 https://doi.org/10.2903/sp.efsa.2014.EN-568 Published date: 20 March 2014 Question number: EFSA-Q-2013-00074 AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat References Beulke S, van Beinum W, Glass R, van Os E, Holterman HJ, Sapounas A, Voogt W, van de Zande J and Garratt J, 2011. Estimation/calculation of emissions of Plant Protection Products from protected crops greenhouses and cultivations grown under cover) to support the Development of risk assessment methodology under Council Directive 91/414/EEC and EU regulation 1107/2009 (EC). 126 pp, EFSA-Q-2010-00830. Available online: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/sopporting/pub/151e.htm Boesten JJTI, Adriaanse PI, Horst MMS ter, Tiktak A and van der Linden AMA. 2014 (In prep.). Guidance proposal for using available DegT50 values for estimation of degradation rates of plant protection products in Dutch surface water and sediment. Wageningen, Alterra, WOt-werkdocument 284. EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), 2014. EFSA Guidance Document on clustering and ranking of emissions of active substances of plant protection products and transformation products of these active substances from protected crops (greenhouses and crops grown under cover) to relevant environmental compartments. EFSA Journal 2014; 12(3):3615, 37 pp., doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3615 Available online: www.efsa.europa.eu EFSA PPR Panel (EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues), 2010. Scientific Opinion on emissions of plant protection products from greenhouses and crops grown under cover: outline for a new guidance. EFSA Journal 2010; 8(4):1567. 44 pp. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1567 Available online: www.efsa.europa.eu EFSA PPR Panel (Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues), 2012a. Scientific Opinion on clustering and ranking of emissions of plant protection products from protected crops (greenhouses and crops grown under cover) to relevant environmental compartments. 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Revised proposal for the risk assessment of persistence of plant protection products in soil. Bilthoven, RIVM, report 601712003. Vermeulen T, van der Linden AMA and van Os EA, 2010. Emissions of plant protection products from glasshouses to surface water in The Netherlands. WUR report BO-06-010-009. RIVM report 607407001. Voogt W, Swinkels G-J and van Os E, 2012. ‘WATERSTREAMS’: a model for estimation of crop water demand, water supply, salt accumulation and discharge for soilless crops. Proc. IVth IS on HortiModel 2012. Eds.: Weihong Luo et al., Acta Hort. 957, ISHS 2012. Wipfler EL, Cornelese A, Tiktak A, Vermeulen T. and Voogt W, 2014 (in prep). Scenarios for exposure of aquatic organisms to plant protection products in the Netherlands, part 3: Soil-bound crops in greenhouses, Wageningen, The Netherlands, Alterra, Alterra Report 2388 Volume11, Issue3March 2014568E ReferencesRelatedInformation

High speed railway environment safety evaluation based on measurement attribute recognition model.

In order to rationally evaluate the high speed railway operation safety level, the environmental safety evaluation index system of high speed railway should be well established by means of analyzing the impact mechanism of severe weather such as raining, thundering, lightning, earthquake, winding, and snowing. In addition to that, the attribute recognition will be identified to determine the similarity between samples and their corresponding attribute classes on the multidimensional space, which is on the basis of the Mahalanobis distance measurement function in terms of Mahalanobis distance with the characteristics of noncorrelation and nondimensionless influence. On top of the assumption, the high speed railway of China environment safety situation will be well elaborated by the suggested methods. The results from the detailed analysis show that the evaluation is basically matched up with the actual situation and could lay a scientific foundation for the high speed railway operation safety.

Translocation, transfer, and in vivo safety evaluation of engineered nanomaterials in the non-mammalian alternative toxicity assay model of nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Translocation, transfer, and safety evaluation of engineered nanomaterials in non-mammalian alternative assay model of Caenorhabditis elegans are summarized and discussed. Due to the extensive applications of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in industry, agriculture, medicine and public health, environmental exposure of ENMs to human and environmental organisms is inevitable, therefore studies on translocation, transfer, and toxicology of ENMs receive wide interest. Modelling the nematode C. elegans, a widely recognized non-mammalian alternative toxicity assay system has been proven to be valuable in environmental safety evaluation, toxicological study, and examination of translocation and transfer of toxicants. In this review, we summarize and discuss the values and contributions of C. elegans in studies on environmental safety evaluation, toxicology, and translocation and transfer of ENMs. We introduced acute and chronic toxicity assay systems and discussed environmental safety assessment of specific ENMs at predicted environmental relevant concentrations, and influences of chemical properties of ENMs, exposure routes, developmental, genetic or physiological state, and environmental factors on nanotoxicity formation in nematodes. We then discussed the toxicological mechanisms of ENMs mainly with respect to roles of oxidative stress in normal and stress conditions and signaling pathways, reproductive toxicology, neurotoxicology, and translocation, distribution, transfer and metabolism of ENMs in C. elegans. Ways to eliminate or reduce the toxicities of specific ENMs by chemical modification with surface designs were further discussed. Finally, four important challenges have been raised and discussed by surrounding the aspects of environmental safety assessment, toxicological mechanisms, and designs of new safe ENMs.

Tailoring the Protein Adsorption Properties of Whispering Gallery Mode Optical Biosensors

Label-free biosensor technologies have the potential to revolutionize environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and food safety evaluation processes due to their unique combinations of high-sensitivity signal transducers and high-specificity recognition elements. This enables their ability to perform real-time detection of deleterious compounds at extremely low concentrations. However, to further improve the biosensors' performance in complex environments, such as wastewater, blood, and urine, it is necessary to minimize nonspecific binding, which in turn will increase their specificity, and decrease the rate of false positives. In the present work, we illustrate the potential of combining emerging high-sensitivity optical signal transducers, such as whispering gallery mode (WGM) microcavities, with covalently bound poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) coatings of varying thickness, as an effective treatment for the prevention of nonspecific protein adsorption onto the biosensor surface. We monitor the sensitivity of the coated biosensor, and investigate the effect of PEG chain length on minimizing nonspecific adsorption via protein adsorption studies. Experimental results confirm not only that PEG-functionalization reduces nonspecific protein adsorption to the surface of the sensor by as much as a factor of 4 compared to an initialized control surface, but also that chain length significantly impacts the nonfouling character of the microcavity surface. Surprisingly, it is the short chain PEG surfaces that experience the best improvement in specificity, unlike many other systems where longer PEG chains are preferred. The combination of WGM microcavities with PEG coatings tuned specifically to the device will significantly improve the overall performance of biosensor platforms, and enable their wider application in complex, real-world monitoring scenarios.