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Shen YW, Zhao CX, Zhao H, Dong SF, Guo Q, Xie JJ, Lv ML, Yuan CG. Insight study of rare earth elements in PM 2.5 during five years in a Chinese inland city: Composition variations, sources, and exposure assessment. J Environ Sci (China) 2024; 138:439-449. [PMID: 38135409 DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2023.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
The booming development of rare earth industry and the extensive utilization of its products accompanied by urban development have led to the accelerated accumulation of rare earth elements (REEs) as emerging pollutants in atmospheric environment. In this study, the variation of REEs in PM2.5 with urban (a non-mining city) transformation was investigated through five consecutive years of sample collection. The compositional variability and provenance contribution of REEs in PM2.5 were characterized, and the REEs exposure risks of children and adults via inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption were also evaluated. The results showed an increase in the total REEs concentration from 46.46 ± 35.16 mg/kg (2017) to 81.22 ± 38.98 mg/kg (2021) over the five-year period, with Ce and La making the largest contribution. The actual increment of industrial and traffic emission source among the three pollution sources was 1.34 ng/m3. Coal combustion source displayed a downward trend. Ingestion was the main exposure pathway for REEs in PM2.5 for both children and adults. Ce contributed the most to the total intake of REEs in PM2.5 among the population, followed by La and Nd. The exposure risks of REEs in PM2.5 in the region were relatively low, but the trend of change was of great concern. It was strongly recommended to strengthen the concern about traffic-related non-exhaust emissions of particulate matter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Wen Shen
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China
| | - Chang-Xian Zhao
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China
| | - Hao Zhao
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China
| | - Shuo-Fei Dong
- Agilent Technologies Co. Ltd. (China), Beijing 100102, China
| | - Qi Guo
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China
| | - Jiao-Jiao Xie
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Mei-Ling Lv
- Agilent Technologies Co. Ltd. (China), Beijing 100102, China
| | - Chun-Gang Yuan
- Hebei Key Lab of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071000, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
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Fang X, Xie Y, Cao S, Liu J, Shi Y, Yu L, Zheng T, Liu H, Li Y, Xu S, Xia W. Associations between maternal urinary rare earth elements during pregnancy and birth weight-for-gestational age: Roles of cord blood vitamin D levels. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 912:169222. [PMID: 38081430 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 11/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal exposure to rare earth elements (REEs) may contribute to adverse birth outcomes in previous studies. Cord blood vitamin D has been suggested to modify or mediate the effects of environmental exposures. However, none has investigated these roles of cord blood vitamin D in the associations of prenatal exposure to REEs with fetal growth. Maternal trimester-specific urinary concentrations of 13 REEs, cord blood total 25-hydroxyvitamin D at delivery, and birth weight (BW)-for-gestational age (GA) were determined in 710 mother-newborn pairs from Wuhan, China. Higher maternal average urinary concentrations of europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), and ytterbium (Yb) across three trimesters, either individually or jointly, were significantly associated with lower BW-for-GA Z-scores and higher odds of small for gestational age (SGA) [β = -0.092; 95 % confidence interval (CI): -0.149, -0.035 for BW-for-GA Z-scores, and odds ratio = 1.60; 95 % CI: 1.14, 2.24 for SGA involved in each unit increase in weighted quantile sum index of REEs mixture]. When stratified by cord blood vitamin D levels, the associations mentioned above persisted in participants with relatively low vitamin D levels (<13.94 μg/L, the first tertile of distribution), but not among those with relatively high levels (≥13.94 μg/L) (all p-values for interaction < 0.05). The mediation analyses taking account of exposure-mediator interaction showed that the relationships between REEs (as individual and mixture) exposure and lower BW-for-GA were partly mediated through decreasing cord blood vitamin D levels. The proportions mediated by cord blood vitamin D levels were 24.48 % for BW-for-GA Z-scores and 29.05 % for SGA corresponding to the REEs mixture exposure. Conclusively, our study revealed that prenatal exposures to Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb were related to fetal growth restriction. Cord blood vitamin D might alleviate toxic effects of these REEs and its reduction might partly mediate REE-induced fetal growth restriction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingjie Fang
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Ya Xie
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Shuting Cao
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jiangtao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yujie Shi
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Ling Yu
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Tongzhang Zheng
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States
| | - Hongxiu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yuanyuan Li
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Shunqing Xu
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Wei Xia
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
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Liu Q, Shi H, An Y, Ma J, Zhao W, Qu Y, Chen H, Liu L, Wu F. Source, environmental behavior and potential health risk of rare earth elements in Beijing urban park soils. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2023; 445:130451. [PMID: 36444807 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Rare earth elements (REEs) have been increasingly diffused to the environment due to their extensive use and application in industries, agriculture, and high-tech devices, which have been regarded as emerge pollutants. However, the study concerning REEs in urban soils is still limited. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the potential source and risk of REEs in urban environment. We analyzed the concentration and distribution of REEs in urban park soils, and performed a combination of micro geochemical method and random forest method to characterize the pollution sources of REEs. The results showed that the ΣREE concentrations in Beijing urban park soils ranged from 117.19 to 198.09 mg/kg. Spatial distribution indicated that the high concentrations of REEs were mainly concentrated in the west of Beijing near an industrial area. The geochemical parameters, micro spherules and random forest results confirmed the anthropogenic pollution sources from industry and traffic. Risk assessment showed that the average daily doses of total REEs for children and adults were far below the reference threshold with values of 0.08 and 0.02 µg/kg/day, respectively. Our study has exhibited that though the reconstruction of parks from abandoned industrial sites showed an accumulation of REEs, the health risk of REEs for human beings are negligible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiyuan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Huading Shi
- Technical Centre for Soil, Agricultural and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Yanfei An
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230000, China
| | - Jin Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
| | - Wenhao Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Yajing Qu
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Haiyan Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Lingling Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Fengcheng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
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Inhalation Bioaccessibility and Risk Assessment of Metals in PM 2.5 Based on a Multiple-Path Particle Dosimetry Model in the Smelting District of Northeast China. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19158915. [PMID: 35897292 PMCID: PMC9331668 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19158915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
PM2.5 can deposit and partially dissolve in the pulmonary region. In order to be consistent with the reality of the pulmonary region and avoid overestimating the inhalation human health risk, the bioaccessibility of PM2.5 heavy metals and the deposition fraction (DF) urgently needs to be considered. This paper simulates the bioaccessibility of PM2.5 heavy metals in acidic intracellular and neutral extracellular deposition environments by simulating lung fluid. The multipath particle dosimetry model was used to simulate DF of PM2.5. According to the exposure assessment method of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the inhalation exposure dose threshold was calculated, and the human health risk with different inhalation exposure doses was compared. The bioaccessibility of heavy metals is 12.1−36.2%. The total DF of PM2.5 in adults was higher than that in children, and children were higher than adults in the pulmonary region, and gradually decreased with age. The inhalation exposure dose threshold is 0.04−14.2 mg·kg−1·day−1 for the non-carcinogenic exposure dose and 0.007−0.043 mg·kg−1·day−1 for the carcinogenic exposure dose. Cd and Pb in PM2.5 in the study area have a non-carcinogenic risk to human health (hazard index < 1), and Cd has no or a potential carcinogenic risk to human health. A revised inhalation health risk assessment may avoid overestimation.
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Innes E, Yiu HHP, McLean P, Brown W, Boyles M. Simulated biological fluids - a systematic review of their biological relevance and use in relation to inhalation toxicology of particles and fibres. Crit Rev Toxicol 2021; 51:217-248. [PMID: 33905298 DOI: 10.1080/10408444.2021.1903386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The use of simulated biological fluids (SBFs) is a promising in vitro technique to better understand the release mechanisms and possible in vivo behaviour of materials, including fibres, metal-containing particles and nanomaterials. Applications of SBFs in dissolution tests allow a measure of material biopersistence or, conversely, bioaccessibility that in turn can provide a useful inference of a materials biodistribution, its acute and long-term toxicity, as well as its pathogenicity. Given the wide range of SBFs reported in the literature, a review was conducted, with a focus on fluids used to replicate environments that may be encountered upon material inhalation, including extracellular and intracellular compartments. The review aims to identify when a fluid design can replicate realistic biological conditions, demonstrate operation validation, and/or provide robustness and reproducibility. The studies examined highlight simulated lung fluids (SLFs) that have been shown to suitably replicate physiological conditions, and identify specific components that play a pivotal role in dissolution mechanisms and biological activity; including organic molecules, redox-active species and chelating agents. Material dissolution was not always driven by pH, and likewise not only driven by SLF composition; specific materials and formulations correspond to specific dissolution mechanisms. It is recommended that SLF developments focus on biological predictivity and if not practical, on better biological mimicry, as such an approach ensures results are more likely to reflect in vivo behaviour regardless of the material under investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Innes
- Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh, UK
| | - Humphrey H P Yiu
- Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Polly McLean
- Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh, UK
| | - William Brown
- Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh, UK
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