Journal: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Abbreviation

Ecotoxicol. environ. saf.

Publisher

Elsevier

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ISSN

0147-6513
1090-2414

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Publications1 - 10 of 16
  • Light absorbing carbonaceous aerosols: Concentrations and sources in an under-monitored setting
    Item type: Journal Article
    Vijay, Saloni; Chilunga, Hope Kelvin; Schöbitz, Lars; et al. (2025)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    Light-absorbing carbonaceous (LAC) aerosols, particularly black carbon (BC), impact human health and climate, yet their sources are understudied in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study presents the first source apportionment of LAC aerosols in Malawi, using locally determined Absorption Ångström Exponent (AAE) values for the first time in the SSA region. From May to August 2023, mobile monitoring covered eight settlements and highways, with stationary monitoring at two sites in Blantyre, Malawi’s second-largest city. We used the MA200 micro-aethalometer to measure equivalent black carbon (eBC) as a BC proxy. Fossil fuel and biomass burning sources were distinguished based on locally determined AAE thresholds (<1.29 for fossil fuel, >1.63 for biomass and intermediate values indicating mix of both). Stationary monitoring revealed mean eBC levels of 4.1 ± 4.1 µg m⁻³ in planned and 3.6 ± 2.6 µg m⁻³ in unplanned settlements. Mobile monitoring showed spatial variations, with highways averaging 11.3 µg m⁻³ and settlements mean ranging from 2.4 to 9.9 µg m-³ eBC. Across settlements, biomass burning contributed 7 %–46 %, and fossil fuel combustion contributed 10 %–73 % of the total average eBC. The dominant eBC source between fossil fuel and biomass remained consistent across AAE values 1.21–1.37 for fossil fuel and 1.55–1.71 for biomass in sensitivity analysis, except in one settlement. Blantyre’s eBC concentrations were comparable to some large and more populated urban cities in SSA, highlighting air quality challenges as the city urbanizes. The study emphasizes area-specific interventions and demonstrates a transferable source apportionment methodology for diverse urban contexts globally.
  • Quantitative screening level assessment of human risk from PCBs released in glacial meltwater: Silvretta Glacier, Swiss Alps
    Item type: Journal Article
    Miner, Kimberley R.; Bogdal, Christian; Pavlova, P.; et al. (2018)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • No adverse dietary effect of a cisgenic fire blight resistant apple line on the non-target arthropods Drosophila melanogaster and Folsomia candida
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schlathölter, Ina; Meissle, Michael; Boeriis, Timea; et al. (2022)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    Genetic modification of apple cultivars through cisgenesis can introduce traits, such as disease resistance from wild relatives, quickly and without crossing. This approach was used to generate the cisgenic apple line C44.4.146, a 'Gala Galaxy' carrying the fire blight resistance gene FB_MR5. In contrast to traditionally bred apple cultivars, genetically modified (GM) plants need to undergo a regulatory risk assessment considering unintended effects before approval for commercial release. To determine potential unintended effects of C44.4.146, we assessed major leaf components and effects on the fitness of the decomposers Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and Folsomia candida (collembolan), which were fed a diet amended with powdered apple leaf material. Leaf material of 'Gala Galaxy', several natural 'Gala' mutants, and the unrelated apple cultivar 'Ladina' were used for comparison. The genetic modification did not alter major leaf components and did not adversely affect survival, growth, or fecundity of the two decomposers. Consistent with previous studies with other GM crops, the differences between conventionally bred cultivars were greater than between the GM line and its non-GM wild type. These data provide a baseline for future risk assessments.
  • In vitro biotransformation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides by trout liver S9 in the presence and absence of carbamazepine
    Item type: Journal Article
    Jeon, Junho; Hollender, Juliane (2019)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • Searching for the correlations between the use of different groups of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters
    Item type: Journal Article
    Bodik, Michal; Mackuľak, Tomáš; Feher, Miroslav; et al. (2021)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    Wastewater contains a wealth of information about the inhabitants of cities. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become an effective tool for monitoring public health by analyzing various biomarkers (e.g., chemicals and microorganisms) in wastewater. This way, the estimation of pharmaceuticals' consumption behavior and/or illicit drugs can be calculated. However, monitoring consumption alone is not the only option. If we consider wastewater as a statistical representation of the population's health, medical information can be derived. In this work, we used data from 15 different wastewater treatment plants in Slovak Republic to explore correlations between the use of typical pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs. The analysis was based on the wastewater monitoring data from four years (2016–2019), and 68 different compounds were taken into account. One of the strongest correlations found was between Antihyperlipidemics and Antihypertensives, with Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.82. This type of analysis within the WBE represents a new potential as an additional source of information for the pharmaceutical, medical and government sectors in assessing health risk factors in the population. Such an evaluation method has even a great potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning for calculating health risk factors together with other sources of data.
  • Bacillus licheniformis reverses the environmental ceftriaxone sodium-induced gut microbial dysbiosis and intestinal inflammation in mice
    Item type: Journal Article
    Zeng, Zhibo; Yue, Wen; Kined, Cermon; et al. (2023)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    Antibiotics used as a common clinical treatment have saved many lives. Widespread use of antibiotic therapy has been known to disrupt the balance of pathogenic bacteria, host-associated microorganisms and environment. However, our understanding of Bacillus licheniformis for health benefits and ability to restore the ceftriaxone sodium-induced gut microbial dysbiosis is severely limited. We used Caco-2 cell, H&E (hematoxylin-eosin staining), RT-PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing techniques to investigate the influence of Bacillus licheniformis on gut microbial dysbiosis and inflammation following ceftriaxone sodium treatment. The results showed that treatment of ceftriaxone sodium in 7 days suppressed the expression of Nf-κB pathway mRNA levels, which caused cytoplasmic vacuolization in intestinal tissues, afterward, the administration of Bacillus licheniformis could effectively restore intestinal morphology and inflammation levels. Moreover, the ceftriaxone sodium treatment entirely affected the intestinal microbial ecology, leading to a decrease in microbial abundance. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Epsilonbacteraeota were the most predominant phyla in each of the four groups. Specifically, the MA group (ceftriaxone sodium treatment) resulted in a significant decrease in the relative abundance of 2 bacterial phyla and 20 bacterial genera compared to the administration of Bacillus licheniformis after ceftriaxone sodium treatment. The supplementation of Bacillus licheniformis could increase the growth of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus and encourage the construction of a more mature and stable microbiome. Furthermore, Bacillus licheniformis could restore the intestinal microbiome disorders and inflammation levels following ceftriaxone sodium treatment.
  • Microplastic analysis in soils: A comparative assessment
    Item type: Journal Article
    Peneva, Stoyana; Le, Quynh Nhu Phan; Munhoz, Davi R.; et al. (2025)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    Microplastic (MiP) contamination poses environmental risks, but harmonizing data from different quantification methods and sample matrices remains challenging. We compared analytical protocols for MiP quantification in soil, consisting of Digital, Fluorescence, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman Microscopy as well as quantitative Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (Py-GC-MS) and 1-proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy as detection techniques. Each technique was coupled with a specific extraction procedure and evaluated for three soils with different textures and organic carbon contents, amended with eight types of large MiPs (0.5–1 mm) – high- and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyamide (PA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and a biodegradable mulch film product composed of polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate/ polylactic acid (PBAT/ PLA). In addition, we included two types of small MiPs (20–250 µm) composed of either LDPE or PBAT/ PLA in the tests. The results showed that protocols for Digital, Fluorescence, and ATR-FTIR microscopy recovered 74–98 % of the large MiPs, with fluorescence yielding the highest recoveries. Raman spectroscopy was most sensitive to soil organic matter residues, requiring more sophisticated sample pretreatment. Fluorescence staining with subsequent Fluorescence microscopy detection effectively recovered most small-sized LDPE-MiP but missed 56–93 % of small PBAT/ PLA particles. For the latter, reliable quantification was achieved only using Soxhlet extraction combined with 1H NMR spectroscopic quantification. Pyrolysis-GC-MS showed intermediate results, displaying low sensitivity to plastic type and lower recoveries as soil clay content increased. We conclude that different methods have different sensitivities for different MiP materials in different soils, i.e. comparisons of MiP loads and threshold settings for MiP loads across methodologies require careful consideration. Yet, our data indicate that adding stained large MiP as an internal standard could enhance extraction control, while Soxhlet-extraction with subsequent 1H NMR analysis is most powerful for controlling future thresholds of small MiP from biodegradable materials.
  • Characterization of acetylcholinesterase inhibition and energy allocation in Daphnia magna exposed to carbaryl
    Item type: Journal Article
    Jeon, Junho; Kretschmann, Andreas; Escher, Beate I.; et al. (2013)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • First investigations of mountainous cold condensation effects with the CliMoChem model
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Wegmann, Fabio; Scheringer, Martin; Hungerbühler, Konrad (2006)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
  • Elucidating the spatial distribution of organic contaminants and their biotransformation products in amphipod tissue by MALDI- and DESI-MS-imaging
    Item type: Journal Article
    Raths, Johannes; Pinto, Fernanda E.; Janfelt, Christian; et al. (2023)
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    The application of mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a promising tool to analyze the spatial distribution of organic contaminants in organisms and thereby improve the understanding of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic processes. MSI is a common method in medical research but has been rarely applied in environmental science. In the present study, the suitability of MSI to assess the spatial distribution of organic contaminants and their biotransformation products (BTPs) in the aquatic invertebrate key species Gammarus pulex was studied. Gammarids were exposed to a mixture of common organic contaminants (carbamazepine, citalopram, cyprodinil, efavirenz, fluopyram and terbutryn). The distribution of the parent compounds and their BTPs in the organisms was analyzed by two MSI methods (MALDI- and DESI-HRMSI) after cryo-sectioning, and by LC-HRMS/MS after dissection into different organ compartments. The spatial distribution of contaminats in gammarid tissue could be successfully analyzed by the different analytical methods. The intestinal system was identified as the main site of biotransformation, possibly due to the presence of biotransforming enzymes. LC-HRMS/MS was more sensitive and provided higher confidence in BTP identification due to chromatographic separation and MS/MS. DESI was found to be the more sensitive MSI method for the analyzed contaminants, whereas additional biomarkers were found using MALDI. The results demonstrate the suitability of MSI for investigations on the spatial distribution of accumulated organic contaminants. However, both MSI methods required high exposure concentrations. Further improvements of ionization methods would be needed to address environmentally relevant concentrations.
Publications1 - 10 of 16