Potential Ecological Health Risks Research Articles

An Insight into the Sorption Behavior of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzothiophene on the Sediments and Paddy Soil from Chaohu Lake Basin.

Considering the frequent detection of polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs) in various environmental matrices and the potential ecological health risks, the environmental behavior of such compounds needs to be elucidated further. In this work, the sorption behavior of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzothiophene (2,3,7,8-TCDT) onto three sediments and paddy soil from Chaohu Lake were investigated via batch equilibration experiments. From the perspective of sorption kinetics and isotherms, the sorption characteristics and mechanism of 2,3,7,8-TCDT on the above four carriers were compared, and the relationship between their structural characteristics and soil sorption capacity was discussed. Results suggested that rapid sorption played the primary role during the sorption process of 2,3,7,8-TCDT and the corresponding sorption isotherms were well fitted using the Freundlich logarithmic model. Moreover, the effects of pH and dissolved organic matter (DOM) on the sorption of 2,3,7,8-TCDT were investigated. The maximum sorption capacity of 2,3,7,8-TCDT on sediment was under acidic pH condition (pH = 4.0). Meanwhile, DOM at a low level promoted the sorption capacity of sediment toward 2,3,7,8-TCDT, while the high concentration of DOM inhibited this effect. In addition, the values of logKoc were obtained using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and did not show any significant correlation with organic carbon (OC) contents, thereby indicating that the partition effect was the dominating influencing factor for the sorption of 2,3,7,8-TCDT both on sediments and soil. This work provides useful data to understand the sorption behavior of 2,3,7,8-TCDT on sediments and soil and assess its potential environmental risk.

Extracellular DNA (eDNA): Neglected and Potential Sources of Antibiotic Resistant Genes (ARGs) in the Aquatic Environments.

Over the past decades, the rising antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) are continuing to emerge as a global threat due to potential public health risk. Rapidly evolving antibiotic resistance and its persistence in the environment, have underpinned the need for more studies to identify the possible sources and limit the spread. In this context, not commonly studied and a neglected genetic material called extracellular DNA (eDNA) is gaining increased attention as it can be one of the significant drivers for transmission of extracellular ARGS (eARGs) via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) to competent environmental bacteria and diverse sources of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. Consequently, this review highlights the studies that address the environmental occurrence of eDNA and encoding eARGs and its impact on the environmental resistome. In this review, we also brief the recent dedicated technological advancements that are accelerating extraction of eDNA and the efficiency of treatment technologies in reducing eDNA that focuses on environmental antibiotic resistance and potential ecological health risk.