Riverine antibiotic occurrence and potential ecological risks in a low-urbanized and rural basin of the middle Yangtze River: Socioeconomic, land use, and seasonal effects

Evaluation of mine ecological environment based on fuzzy hierarchical analysis and grey relational degree

In order to improve the level of mine ecological environment management and restoration, and to improve and enhance the overall environmental quality of mines. This study takes coal mine as the perspective, and constructs evaluation indexes in two steps, i.e., social network analysis method and relevant policy documents are combined to construct evaluation indexes. The indicator system contains 5 first-level indicators and 23 s-level indicators, and the triangular fuzzy number hierarchical analysis method is introduced to determine the comprehensive weight of each evaluation indicator, which overcomes the inadequacy of the objective empowerment method or the subjective empowerment method of single empowerment. The grey correlation analysis theory is used to establish a grey correlation evaluation model of mine ecological environment, which is applied to the evaluation of ecological environmental protection level of four coal mines in a province of China, making full use of the information of each index for quantitative evaluation, and finally obtaining the evaluated value of ecological environmental protection level of each coal mine. It is demonstrated that the evaluation model can make scientific and effective evaluation of the level of ecological environmental protection in mines. The study concludes that coal mines should pay attention to improving the comprehensive utilization rate of coal gangue in the next mine ecological environment management and restoration, and at the same time, reduce the ton of coal power consumption, ton of coal water consumption, and Increase in vegetation cover. This study provides a useful evaluation method for ecological environment management in mining areas, which is helpful to improve the quality of ecological management in mining areas.

Occurrence, removal efficiency, and emission of antibiotics in the sewage treatment plants of a low-urbanized basin in China and their impact on the receiving water

Sewage treatment plants (STPs) are primary sources of antibiotics in aquatic environments. However, limited research has been conducted on antibiotic attenuation in STPs and their downstream waters in low-urbanized areas. This study analyzed 15 antibiotics in the STP sewage and river water in the Zijiang River basin to quantify antibiotic transport and attenuation in the STPs and downstream. The results showed that 14 target antibiotics, except leucomycin, were detected in the STP sewage, dominated by amoxicillin (AMOX), ofloxacin, and roxithromycin. The total antibiotic concentration in the influent and effluent ranged from 158 to 1025 ng/L and 99.9 to 411 ng/L, respectively. The removal efficiency of total antibiotics ranged from 54.7 % to 75.7 % and was significantly correlated with total antibiotic concentration in the influent. The antibiotic emission from STPs into rivers was 78 kg/yr and 4.6 g/km2yr in the Zijiang River basin. The total antibiotic concentration downstream of the STP downstream was 23.6 to 213 ng/L and was significantly negatively correlated with the transport distance away from the STP outlets. Antibiotics may pose a high ecological risk to algae and low ecological risk to fish in the basin. The risk of AMOX and ciprofloxacin resistance for organisms in the basin was estimated to be moderate. This study established antibiotic removal and attenuation models in STPs and their downstream regions in a low-urbanized basin, which is important for simulating antibiotic transport in STPs and rivers worldwide.

Comprehensive evaluation of antibiotics pollution the Yangtze River basin, China: Emission, multimedia fate and risk assessment

Antibiotics have attracted global attention because of their potential ecological and health risks. The emission, multimedia fate and risk of 18 selected antibiotics in the entire Yangtze River basin were evaluated by using a level Ⅳ fugacity model. High antibiotic emissions were found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin. The total antibiotic emissions in the Yangtze River basin exceeded 1600 tons per year between 2013 and 2021. The spatial distribution of antibiotics concentration was the upper Yangtze River > middle Yangtze River > lower Yangtze River, which is positively correlated with animal husbandry size in the basin. Temperature and precipitation increases may decrease the antibiotic concentrations in the environment. Transfer fluxes showed that source emission inputs, advection processes, and degradation fluxes contributed more to the total input and output. High ecological risks in the water environment were found in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The comprehensive health risk assessment through drinking water and fish consumption routes showed that a small part of the Yangtze River basin is at medium risk, and children have a relatively high degree of health risk. This study provides a scientific basis for the pollution control of antibiotics at the basin scale.

Enhanced Molecularly Imprinted Fluorescent Test Strip for Rapid and Visual Detection of Norfloxacin via a Smartphone

Paper-based test strips with on-site visual detection have become a hot spot in the field of target detection. Yet, low specific surface area and uneven deposition limit the further application of test strips. Herein, a novel "turn-on" ratio of molecularly imprinted membranes (Eu@CDs-MIMs) was successfully prepared based on a Eu complex-doped polyvinylidene fluoride membrane for the selective, rapid and on-site visual detection of norfloxacin (NOR). The formation of surface-imprinted polymer-containing carbon dots (CDs) improves the roughness and hydrophilicity of Eu@CDs-MIMs. Fluorescence lifetimes and UV absorption spectra verified that the fluorescence enhancement of CDs is based on the synergistic effect of charge transfer and hydrogen bonding between CDs and NOR. The fluorescent test strip showed a linear fluorescent response within the concentration range of 5-50 nM with a limit of detection of 1.35 nM and a short response time of 1 min. In comparison with filter paper-based test strips, Eu@CDs-MIMs exhibit a brighter and more uniform fluorescent color change from red to blue that is visible to the naked eye. Additionally, the applied ratio fluorescent test strip was combined with a smartphone to translate RGB values into concentrations for the visual and quantitative detection of NOR and verified the detection results using high-performance liquid chromatography. The portable fluorescent test strip provides a reliable approach for the rapid, visual, and on-site detection of NOR and quinolones.

Influence by varying organic matter content and forms in suspended particulate matter: impacts on the adsorption of tetracycline and norfloxacin

Antibiotics are commonly detected in natural waters. The organic matter (OM) in suspended particulate matter (SPM) has a critical impact on the adsorption of antibiotics in water. We investigated the contribution of OM content and form to the adsorption of tetracycline (TC) and norfloxacin (NOR) in the SPM of Taihu Lake. To change the content and form of OM in SPM, the samples were subjected to pyrolysis at 505 ˚C and oxidization with H2O2, respectively. Combustion almost completely removed OM, while oxidation removed most of the OM and transformed the remaining OM. Regardless of whether the OM changed or not, the adsorption of NOR and TC by SPM was more in line with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model instead of pseudo-first-order. The fitting of the intraparticle diffusion model showed that the removal of OM had a certain degree of change in the adsorption process. The isothermal adsorption of TC in all samples was more in line with the Temkin model. The isothermal adsorption of NOR in the oxidized sample conformed to the Temkin model, while it conformed to the Langmuir model in the original sample and the sample removed OM via combustion. The adsorption capacity of SPM with almost complete removal of OM significantly decreased, while conversely, the adsorption capacity of SPM after oxidation increased. This indicates that both the content and form of OM affect the adsorption of antibiotics by SPM, and the form of OM has a greater impact. The contribution of OM to NOR adsorption was greater than that of TC. In conclusion, the results verify the importance of OM in adsorbing antibiotics onto SPM, which may provide basic data for antibiotic migration in surface water.