Project description:Sandy texture soil, a major problem for agriculture requires structure and capacity improvements. However, utilization of soil conditioner may arrest this problem. This research was carried out to investigate the accumulated levels of metal ions and radionuclides in water, soil and plants following phosphogypsum organic (PG organic) added to a sandy soil for 23-month in 3 cropping seasons. The condition in the field was simulated in the laboratory using an open leaching column for 30-day under constant but different pH of leachant. More ions were released at pH < 4.6 and decreases greatly at pH > 5.6. The metal ions measured in the surface and borehole water, and soils were below the target values for respective standard raw drinking water. The metal ions did not accumulate in soil, plant and grain, and water as indicated by biological accumulation coefficients, contamination factors, I-geo index and pollution load index in a sandy soil that received the PG organic. Naturally occurring radionuclide concentrations, such as 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K, in soil and plant tissue were found to be lower than the average value reported by several earlier studies. Under field condition the pH of water (i.e., rainfall) was greater than pH 5.6, thus renders PG organic became less soluble. There was no leaching of natural occurring radionuclides to the groundwater. Therefore, the application of PG organic to the studied soil had no impact on the soil, plants, and water and suitable as a soil conditioner in sandy texture soils.
Project description:Understanding how bactericidal antibiotics kill bacteria remains an open question. Previous work has proposed that primary drug-target corruption leads to increased energetic demands, resulting in the generation of reactive metabolic byproducts (RMBs), particularly reactive oxygen species, that contribute to antibiotic-induced cell death. Studies have challenged this hypothesis by pointing to antibiotic lethality under anaerobic conditions. Here, we show that treatment of Escherichia coli with bactericidal antibiotics under anaerobic conditions leads to changes in the intracellular concentrations of central carbon metabolites, as well as the production of RMBs, particularly reactive electrophilic species (RES). We show that antibiotic treatment results in DNA double-strand breaks and membrane damage and demonstrate that antibiotic lethality under anaerobic conditions can be decreased by RMB scavengers, which reduce RES accumulation and mitigate associated macromolecular damage. This work indicates that RMBs, generated in response to antibiotic-induced energetic demands, contribute in part to antibiotic lethality under anaerobic conditions.
Project description:The monohaloacetic acids (monoHAAs) are generated as byproducts during the disinfection of drinking water and are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Iodoacetic acid (IAA) toxicity was mitigated by antioxidants, suggesting the involvement of oxidative stress. Other monoHAAs may share a similar mode of action. Human oxidative stress and antioxidant defense gene arrays (SA biosciences) were used to evaluate changes in transcriptome profiles in the human intestinal epithelial cell line FHS 74 INT generated by three compounds, chloroacetic acid (CAA), bromoacetic acid (BAA) and IAA at two time points (30 min and 4 h).
Project description:The monohaloacetic acids (monoHAAs) are generated as byproducts during the disinfection of drinking water and are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Iodoacetic acid (IAA) toxicity was mitigated by antioxidants, suggesting the involvement of oxidative stress. Other monoHAAs may share a similar mode of action. Human oxidative stress and antioxidant defense gene arrays (SA biosciences) were used to evaluate changes in transcriptome profiles in the human intestinal epithelial cell line FHS 74 INT generated by three compounds, chloroacetic acid (CAA), bromoacetic acid (BAA) and IAA at two time points (30 min and 4 h). Twelve samples were evaluated. Each treated sample was paired with a concurrent negative control (cells treated in medium only). Three technical repeats were included for each sample and Ct values were calculated from the average of the three repeats. Samples 1,2,and 3 were isolated from 30 min negative controls for CAA, BAA, and IAA respectively. Samples 4, 5, and 6 were isolated from cells treated for 30 min with CAA, BAA, and IAA respectivley. Samples 7, 8, and 9 were isolated from 4h negative controls for CAA, BAA, and IAA respectively. Samples 10, 11, and 12 were isolated from cells treated for 4 h with CAA, BAA and IAA respectively. Ct values were normalized against the average of the 5 housekeeping genes included in the array to generate M-NM-^TCt values. Fold changes for each gene were calculated as a ratio of 2^-M-NM-^TCttest / 2^-M-NM-^TCtcontrol.
Project description:In the cosmetic industry, there is a continuous demand for new and innovative ingredients for product development. In the context of continual renovation, both cosmetic companies and customers are particularly interested in compounds derived from natural sources due to their multiple benefits. In this study, novel and green-extractive techniques (pressurized solvent, supercritical CO2, and subcritical water extractions) were used to obtain three new extracts from sweet cherry stems, a byproduct generated by the food industry. The extracts were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS), and 57 compounds, mainly flavonoids but also organic and phenolic acids, fatty acids, and terpenes, were identified. After analytical characterization, a multistep screening approach, including antioxidant, enzymatic, and photoprotective cellular studies, was used to select the best extract according to its benefits of interest to the cosmetics industry. The extract obtained with supercritical CO2 presented the best characteristics, including a wide antioxidant capacity, especially against lipid peroxyl and OH free radicals, as well as relevant photoprotective action and antiaging properties, making it a potential new ingredient for consideration in the development of new cosmetics.
Project description:Introduction of oil and gas extraction wastewaters (OGWs) to surface water leads to elevated halide levels from geogenic bromide and iodide, as well as enhanced formation of brominated and iodinated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) when treated. OGWs contain high levels of chemical additives used to optimize extraction activities, such as surfactants, which have the potential to serve as organic DBP precursors in OGW-impacted water sources. We report the first identification of olefin sulfonate surfactant-derived DBPs from laboratory-disinfected gas extraction wastewater. Over 300 sulfur-containing DBPs, with 43 unique molecular formulas, were found by high-resolution mass spectrometry, following bench-scale chlor(am)ination. DBPs consisted of mostly brominated species, including bromohydrin sulfonates, dihalo-bromosulfonates, and bromosultone sulfonates, with chlorinated/iodinated analogues formed to a lesser extent. Disinfection of a commercial C12-olefin sulfonate surfactant mixture revealed dodecene sulfonate as a likely precursor for most detected DBPs; disulfur-containing DBPs, like bromosultone sulfonate and bromohydrin disulfonate, originated from olefin disulfonate species, present as side-products of olefin sulfonate production. Disinfection of wastewaters increased mammalian cytotoxicity several orders of magnitude, with chloraminated water being more toxic. This finding is important to OGW-impacted source waters because drinking water plants with high-bromide source waters may switch to chloramination to meet DBP regulations.
Project description:When fish are under oxidative stress, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chronically elevated, which play a crucial role in fish innate immunity. In the present study, the mechanism by which betaine regulates ROS production via Wnt10b/β-catenin signaling was investigated in zebrafish liver. Our results showed that betaine enrichment of diet at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g/kg induced Wnt10b and β-catenin gene expression, but suppressed GSK-3β expression in zebrafish liver. In addition, the content of superoxide anion (O2 ·-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydroxyl radical (·OH) was decreased by all of the experimental betaine treatments. However, betaine enrichment of diet at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g/kg enhanced gene expression and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and catalase (CAT) in zebrafish liver. In addition, Wnt10b RNA was further interfered in zebrafish, and the results of Wnt10b RNAi indicated that Wnt10b plays a key role in regulating ROS production and antioxidant enzyme activity. In conclusion, betaine can inhibit ROS production in zebrafish liver through the Wnt10b/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Project description:Chronic exposure to drinking water disinfection byproducts has been linked to adverse health risks. The monohaloacetic acids (monoHAAs) are generated as byproducts during the disinfection of drinking water and are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Iodoacetic acid toxicity was mitigated by antioxidants, suggesting the involvement of oxidative stress. Other monoHAAs may share a similar mode of action. Each monoHAA generated a significant concentration-response increase in the expression of a ?-lactamase reporter under the control of the antioxidant response element (ARE). The monoHAAs generated oxidative stress with a rank order of iodoacetic acid (IAA) > bromoacetic acid (BAA) ? chloroacetic acid (CAA); this rank order was observed with other toxicological end points. Toxicogenomic analysis was conducted with a nontransformed human intestinal epithelial cell line (FHs 74 Int). Exposure to the monoHAAs altered the transcription levels of multiple oxidative stress responsive genes, indicating that each exposure generated oxidative stress. The transcriptome profiles showed an increase in thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1) and sulfiredoxin (SRXN1), suggesting peroxiredoxin proteins had been oxidized during monoHAA exposures. Three possible sources of reactive oxygen species were identified, the hypohalous acid generating peroxidase enzymes lactoperoxidase (LPO) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-dependent oxidase 5 (NOX5), and PTGS2 (COX-2) mediated arachidonic acid metabolism. Each monoHAA exposure caused an increase in COX-2 mRNA levels. These data provide a functional association between monoHAA exposure and adverse health outcomes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and cancer.