Notes

Fixing outbreak info examination by way of environmental fluid characteristics.
Plastic, as a "flagship species", represents how deeply humans impact the environment. Although scarce, the presence of plastic and other anthropogenic materials in rocks has already been reported in the literature, however, so far, not in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, the objective of the present study was to report and describe samples of sedimentary rocks containing anthropogenic items cemented with biogenic and siliciclastic material - anthropoquinas - and to discuss implications to the establishment of the Anthropocene and geodiversity conservation. Six samples of anthropoquinas were evaluated, presenting different technofossils (metal bottle caps, ship nail, plastic earring and plastic fragment) and composition (lithic and biogenic fragments). Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy was conducted on two samples, reflecting differences regarding their genesis. The description of these rocks is concerning and reflects how deeply human behavior influences various natural compartments. Therefore, studies on the effects of marine litter on geodiversity are strongly encouraged. Concentrations of trace elements (arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead) in tissues (muscle, gills, and digestive gland) of three commercially exploited crustaceans (Portunus sanguinolentus, Charybdis natator, and Penaeus semisulcatus) and three cephalopods (Doryteuthis sibogae, Sepia pharaonis, and Cistopus indicus) were examined. The animals were captured in the waters of Thoothukudi, and the tissues of six individuals of each species were analyzed using ICP-MS. The highest concentrations of arsenic (16.5 μg/g) and mercury (0.052 μg/g) were recorded in the digestive gland of C. natator, and cadmium (69.9 μg/g) and lead (0.351 μg/g) in the digestive gland of S. pharaonis. The edible portion of the crustaceans and cephalopods contained lower concentrations of trace elements, and these were below allowable limits set by the European Union. The edible parts of the investigated samples are safe for human consumption, but accidental contamination of the edible tissues with material from the digestive glands could lead to concerns relating to metal toxicity. The human health risk assessment associated with accumulation of nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in the tissues (gills, livers and muscles) of grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) collected from the creek in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was investigated. Surface water, sediment and fish samples were collected and analysed from June to September 2019; estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI) were determined. The mean concentration (mg/kg ww) of the tested metals followed the sequence Cu (33.48 ± 15.54) > Cd (24.62 ± 12.11) > Pb (10.59 ± 9.12) > Cr (0.43 ± 0.66); while Ni was not detected in the sampled tissues. The HI for male and female (adults) are 7.612 and 7.840 respectively, while male and female (children) are 9.567 and 10.842 respectively. Heavy metal assessment and natural radioactivity determination in sediments of North Cyprus (Mediterranean coast) were carried out using different analysis methods. The average activity concentrations (range) of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K were found to be 20.1 (30.6-9.2) Bq kg-1dry weight, 18.4 (26.9-12.4) Bq kg-1dw, and 467.3 (619.9-147.6) Bq kg-1dw, respectively. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra and 232Th in the sediment samples were less than the acceptable limits, whereas the average activity concentration of 40K in the sediment samples was higher than the worldwide average concentration. With regard to the studied heavy metals, the corresponding decreasing average concentration orders were found to be Mn > Zn > Cr > Ni > Cu > Pb. The heavy metal concentration values that were determined for sediment samples were compared with the values obtained in other studies. According to contamination indexes, the results (except for Cu in S-9) indicated no significant contaminated area. A total of 23 sediment samples are collected from Ross Sea and Drake Passage to investigate the distribution characteristics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Antarctic marine sediments. Over 51 kinds of PCBs are detected through exhaustive searches using multiple reaction monitoring system. The results show that the concentration of individual PCB congener and total PCBs vary greatly among sampling sites, ranging from not detected to 49.75 ng g-1 and 3.77 to 246.86 ng g-1, respectively. The average PCBs level in Ross Sea is ten times higher than that in Drake Passage. Two different homologues, hexa- and tetra-CBs, give high contributions to ∑PCBs level in most samples from Ross Sea and Drake Passage, respectively. Our results support that the marine sediments might be an important sink for PCBs. Besides, the biological pump and the primary productivity might be responsible for the distribution differences of PCBs between Ross Sea and Drake Passage. Heavy metals (HMs) in aquaculture-influenced sediments pose a threat to both aquatic ecosystems and human health via aquatic product intake. Based on a long-term (from 2011 to 2018) study, the concentrations of five HMs in oyster-cultured sediments in the Maowei Estuary, China, were ranked as follows Pb (17.58 ± 10.82 mg/kg) > Cu (17.15 ± 8.61 mg/kg) > As (10.27 ± 5.24 mg/kg) > Cd (0.16 ± 0.14 mg/kg) > Hg (0.067 ± 0.033 mg/kg). These concentrations were all close to the guide values in China and those reported in other studies. Bisindolylmaleimide I ic50 However, through the Mann-Kendall test, Cu showed obvious increasing interannual trends, and according to ecological risk assessment, the sediments were highly contaminated with Cu and Hg. The health risks to local residents via oyster intake showed that both noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risk did not exceed the safety criteria (THQ = 1, TCR = 10-6). The current study suggests that ecological and human health risks be integrated to control HMs in the Maowei Estuary. To produce albinism in the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma, we disrupted the solute carrier family 45 (SLC45a2) gene by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 with a single guide RNA (sgRNA). Selected sgRNAs were able to target a SLC45a2 gene as confirmed by genotyping and heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). Of the survived embryos after injection, 54.2% and 60.0% embryos exhibited albinism phenotype by sgRNA1 and sgRNA2, respectively. Deep sequencing at the on-target sites showed different insertion and deletion (indel) mutation profiles near the DNA cleavage sites, indicating high efficacy of producing SLC45a2 knock-out mutants by this method. Moreover, HMA at the potential off-target sites revealed that off-target activity would be induced at a low rate, or not induced at all. This albino marine medaka will be a good model for marine molecular ecotoxicology in establishment of diverse in vivo endpoints, and the application of this efficient gene targeting method in the marine medaka would be useful tool for mechanistic approaches.
Website: https://www.selleckchem.com/products/gf109203x.html