Search Results (130)

The contamination of drinking water sources with selenium (Se) oxyanions, including selenite (Se(IV)) and selenate (Se(VI)), contains serious health hazards with an oral intake exceeding 400 µg/day and therefore requires urgent attention. Various natural and anthropogenic sources are responsible for high Se concentrations in aquatic environments. In addition, the chemical behavior and speciation of selenium can vary noticeably depending on the origin of the source water. The Se(VI) oxyanion is more soluble and therefore more abundant in surface water. Se levels in contaminated waters often exceed 50 µg/L and may reach several hundred µg/L, well above drinking water limits set by the World Health Organization (40 µg/L) and Germany (10 µg/L), as well as typical industrial discharge limits (5–10 µg/L). Overall, Se is difficult to remove using conventionally available physical, chemical, and biological treatment technologies. The recent literature has therefore highlighted promising advancements in Se removal using emerging technologies. These include advanced physical separation methods such as membrane-based treatment systems and engineered nanomaterials for selective Se decontamination. Additionally, other integrated approaches incorporating photocatalysis coupled adsorption processes, and bio-electrochemical systems have also demonstrated high efficiency in redox transformation and capturing of Se from contaminated water bodies. These innovative strategies may offer enhanced selectivity, removal, and recovery potential for Se-containing species. Here, a current review outlines the sources, distribution, and chemical behavior of Se in natural waters, along with its toxicity and associated health risks. It also provides a broad and multi-perspective assessment of conventional as well as emerging physical, chemical, and biological approaches for Se removal and/or recovery with further prospects for integrated and sustainable strategies. Full article

Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) incidents pose significant challenges requiring swift, coordinated responses to safeguard public health. This is especially the case in densely populated urban areas, where the public is not only at risk but can also be of assistance. Public cooperation is critical to the success of mass decontamination efforts, yet prior research has primarily focused on technical and procedural aspects, neglecting the psychological and social factors driving casualty behaviour. This paper addresses this gap through a narrative literature review, chosen for its flexibility in synthesising fragmented and interdisciplinary research across psychology, sociology, and emergency management. The review identified two primary pathways influencing casualty decision making: rational and affective. Rational pathways rely on deliberate decisions supported by clear communication and trust in responders’ competence, while affective pathways are shaped by emotional responses like fear and anxiety, exacerbated by uncertainty. Trust emerged as a critical factor, with effective —i.e., transparent, empathetic, and culturally sensitive— communication being proven to enhance public cooperation. Cultural and societal norms further shape individual and group responses during emergencies. This paper demonstrates the value of narrative reviews in addressing a complex, multifaceted topic such as casualty behaviour, enabling the integration of diverse insights. By emphasising behavioural, psychological, and social dimensions, the results of this paper offer actionable strategies for emergency responders to enhance public cooperation and improve outcomes during CBRN incidents. Full article

Freshwater resources are scarce in tropical island areas. Treating rainwater to produce drinking water through biological slow filtration (BSF) technology can significantly alleviate the problem of freshwater shortages. The characteristics of the filter material are the key factors determining the decontamination performance of BSF technology. However, most existing studies focus on a single filter material. This study was conducted using volcanic rock and coconut shell activated carbon to compare their pollutant removal characteristics in slightly polluted rainwater during the early stage of BSF operation (from the start of operation to day 6, with the first sampling time being 48 h after operation) and during the stable stage (26 days later) and further explore the influence of their mixing ratio. The results show that in the early stages of operation, the pollutant removal performance of volcanic rock and coconut shell activated carbon is better than that of quartz sand. Among them, coconut shell activated carbon showed average removal rates for NH₃-N, TOC, and Cr(VI) that were 6.72, 8.46, and 19.01 percentage points higher than those of volcanic rock, respectively, but its average turbidity removal rate decreased by 5.00%. The removal effect of the mixed filter material was enhanced through the synergistic adsorption mechanism, but most of the improvements were within the standard deviation range and did not exceed the removal range of the single filter material. When the mixing ratio was 1:3, the average total organic carbon removal rate of the filter material was 71.51 ± 0.64%, approximately 0.96 percentage points higher than that of coconut shell activated carbon (70.55 ± 0.42%). While coconut shell activated carbon showed the best removal effect among all single filter materials, this improvement was still within the standard deviation range. Full article

Phytolacca acinosa is a species native to Asia with significant ecological, economic, and medicinal importance. This study investigates its taxonomic and biological particularities, ecological adaptability, and applications in different fields. The problem addressed is the dual nature of P. acinosa, which is both a valuable plant resource and also has a negative impact on natural ecosystems. The methodology was based on a review of the scientific literature containing information on P. acinosa in order to evaluate its therapeutic properties, phytoremediation capacity, and impact on biodiversity. The results showed that P. acinosa represents a hyperaccumulator of heavy metals, offering significant potential for soil and water decontamination. Also, its bioactive compounds exhibit anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and antioxidant properties, supporting its uses in traditional medicine. However, its role as an intermediate host for plant pests and pathogens and its invasive potential in areas outside its native range highlight its ecological risks. The main conclusion emphasizes the need for sustainable management strategies to harness the benefits of this species while minimizing its invasive capacity and highlighting its potential in biotechnological and environmental applications. Full article

The valorization of dredged sediments (DS) presents a sustainable solution for managing waste while addressing resource scarcity and environmental concerns. This review explores treatment techniques and reuse options for DS, focusing on applications in the construction industry. However, disposal poses challenges due to potential contamination with heavy metals and organic pollutants. The study categorizes treatment approaches into physical, chemical, biological, and thermal processes. Physical methods, such as separation and dewatering, offer volume reduction but have limited capacities against chemically bound contaminants. Chemical treatments, including oxidation and immobilization, target specific pollutants but often entail high costs and environmental risks. Biological approaches, such as bioremediation and phytoremediation, provide sustainable, low-cost alternatives but require longer timescales. Thermal processes like pyrolysis and vitrification efficiently destroy or stabilize contaminants but involve high energy demands. Pyrolysis emerges as a particularly promising technology, combining effective decontamination with energy recovery and biochar production. Despite the advances in the area, the review identifies key barriers to large-scale DS reuse: contamination variability, lack of standardized guidelines, and limited long-term performance data. Future research should focus on integrated treatment strategies, such as combining DS with other industrial by-products, and optimization of processing, aiming to attain cost-effective, sustainable reuse. Overall, the valorization of treated DS supports circular-economy principles and offers significant environmental and economic benefits. Full article

This study explored the effectiveness of plasma-activated water (PAW), generated by a newly developed compact generator, for decontaminating foodborne bacteria in oyster meats. The generator effectively produced PAW with antibacterial activity when the water passed through the plasma reactor in a single cycle. The temperature of the PAW produced by the developed device did not exceed 40 °C, enabling its direct application to biological tissues immediately after production and discharge from the plasma reactor. The effects of flow rates and post-discharge times on key reactive species—including hydrogen peroxide, nitrite, and nitrate—were analyzed, along with pH and temperature. Freshly produced PAW can completely inhibit both E. coli and S. aureus in vitro, with a 5-log reduction within 5 min of treatment. Application to oyster meats led to an 86.6% and 87.9% inactivation of V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus, respectively. These research findings indicate that PAW generated using the developed compact flow-through generator holds promise as a food safety solution for households. The fact that complete foodborne pathogen elimination was not achieved emphasizes the need for further optimization. Full article

Currently, increasing anthropogenic pressure and overexploitation expose soils to various forms of degradation, including contamination, erosion, and sealing. Soil contamination, primarily caused by industrial processes, agricultural practices (such as the use of pesticides and fertilizers), and improper waste disposal, poses significant risks to human health, biodiversity, and the environment. Common contaminants include heavy metals, mineral oils, petroleum-based hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Remediation methods for contaminated soils include physical, physicochemical, chemical or biological approaches. This review aims to specify these methods while comparing their effectiveness and applicability in different contamination scenarios. Biochemical methods, particularly phytoremediation, are emphasized for their sustainability, effectiveness, and suitability in arid and semiarid regions. These methods preserve soil quality and promote resource efficiency, waste reduction, and bioenergy production, aligning with sustainability principles and contributing to a circular economy. The integrated phytoremediation–bioenergy approaches reviewed provide sustainable and cost-efficient strategies for environmental decontamination and green development. Special attention is given to the use of lignin in bioremediation. This work contributes to the existing knowledge by outlining priorities for the selection of the most appropriate remediation techniques under diverse environmental conditions, providing a comprehensive overview for future developments. Full article

Concerns about the environmental and health risks of synthetic insecticides are driving the search for alternative pest control methods. Leaf-cutting ants (LCAs), one of the most significant pests in the neotropics, cause substantial economic damage to agriculture and present challenges for control due to their complex biology and ecology. While chemical control remains the primary strategy, its intensive use has negative environmental impacts, promotes pest resistance, and endangers non-target species, including plants, animals, and humans. This review describes the biology of LCAs, examines traditional control methods and suggests alternative strategies such as the use of entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs) combined with sublethal doses of insecticides, plant essential oils (EOs), and RNAi techniques. Here, we emphasize the need to address LCA management sustainably by investigating the biology and ecology at both the “colony” and “individual” levels. Colony-level factors include morphology, life cycle, behavior, division of labor, and nest structure, while individual-level mechanisms involve sensory, biochemical, and behavioral adaptations for garden sterilization and decontamination. This review also highlights the potential of sublethal insecticide doses combined with EPFs to induce behavioral changes and worker mortality, and it details the mode of action of EOs and the use of RNAi as promising control strategies. The integration of biological and chemical approaches could offer sustainable alternatives to synthetic insecticides. Full article

Contamination of water resources, particularly from industrial discharges, agricultural runoff, or hospital wastewater, poses significant environmental and public health challenges. Traditional wastewater treatment methods often fail to effectively remove the diverse and persistent pollutants present in these sources, including emerging chemical compounds or biological agents. To address these challenges, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as multifunctional materials offering promising advancements in wastewater remediation. These materials can be applied directly as pollutant adsorbents or used for pathogen removal due to their antimicrobial activity. Additionally, MOFs play a crucial role in Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) due to their catalytic activity. When incorporated into electro-Fenton, Fenton-like, or photocatalytic processes, MOFs enhance the generation of oxidant radicals, enabling efficient wastewater decontamination. This comprehensive review explores the potential of MOFs, focusing specifically on their design, synthesis, and application as multifunctional materials for the inactivation of pathogens and the removal of organic pollutants. Moreover, it examines their characteristics, recent advances in synthesis techniques, and the mechanisms underlying their removal efficiency. The findings presented underscore the transformative potential of MOFs in achieving clean and safer water, contributing to sustainable environmental management and public health protection. Full article

Dielectric-barrier-discharge microplasma has various applications such as flow control, surface treatment, air treatment, or biomedical applications. Microplasma was used for the inactivation of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bacterial strains spread on Petri dishes containing Nutrient Agar were treated with microplasma and, after incubation, inhibition zones were observed. By comparison, the experiments carried out with the already-grown bacteria on the Petri dish did not show any inhibitory response. Environmental air was used as discharge gas. The reactive oxygen and nitrogen species mainly carry out the inactivation process. A negative pulse voltage energized the microplasma electrodes. The microplasma treatment was the most potent against S. aureus, followed by E. coli, and P. aeruginosa, which was the least susceptible bacteria from the tested strains. An increase in the inhibitory efficiency was observed with the increase in discharge voltage from −1.5 kV to −1.7 kV. This research proved the efficiency of microplasma in biological decontamination and provides valuable insights of the inactivation of bacteria carried out with a technology that is suitable for easy integration and portability. Full article

Solid particles (SP) suspended in water represent a common contamination that degrades the water quality, not only in drinking water sources. Particles differ in size, nature, and related features like surface charge. Thus, various methods can be utilized for their removal—physical approaches including settling or filtration, chemical coagulation/flocculation, biological microbial degradation, and others. This paper aims to summarize currently available methods for SP removal with special attention devoted to alternative, cost-effective, sustainable, and eco-friendly approaches with low energetic demands where the power of renewable energy sources can be utilized. Besides SP properties, the selection of the proper method (or a sequence of methods) for their separation also depends on the purpose of water treatment. Drinking water production demands technologies with immediate effect and high throughputs, like conventional filtration and coagulation/flocculation (electro- or chemical with alternative coagulant/flocculant agents) or some hybrid approaches to ensure quick and cost-effective decontamination. Such technologies usually imply heavy machinery with high electricity consumption, but current progress allows the construction of smaller facilities powered by solar or wind power plant systems. On the other hand, water decontamination in rivers or ponds can include slower processes based on phytoremediation, being long-term sustainable with minimal energy and cost investments. Full article

Type A trichothecenes are common mycotoxins in stored cereal grains, where co-contamination is likely to occur. Seeking new microbiological options capable of inactivating more than one type A trichothecene, this study aimed to analyze facultative anaerobe bacteria isolated from broiler proventriculus. For this purpose, type A trichothecenes were produced in vitro, and a facultative anaerobic bacterial consortium was obtained from a broiler’s proventriculus. Then, the most representative bacterial strains were purified, and trichothecene inactivating assays were performed. Finally, the isolate with the greatest capacity to remove all tested mycotoxins was selected for biosorption assays. The results showed that when the consortium was tested, neosolaniol (NEO) was the most degraded mycotoxin (64.55%; p = 0.008), followed by HT-2 toxin (HT-2) (22.96%; p = 0.008), and T-2 toxin (T-2) (20.84%; p = 0.014). All isolates were bacillus-shaped and Gram-positive, belonging to the Bacillus and Lactobacillus genera, of which B. cereus was found to remove T-2 (28.35%), HT-2 (32.84%), and NEO (27.14%), where biosorption accounted for 86.10% in T-2, 35.59% in HT-2, and 68.64% in NEO. This study is the first to prove the capacity of B. cereus as an effective inactivator and binder of multi-type A trichothecenes. Full article

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by various types of fungi that are known to contaminate various food products; their presence in the food chain poses significant risks to human and animal health and leads to enormous economic losses in the food and feed industry worldwide. Ensuring food safety and quality by detoxifying mycotoxin is therefore of paramount importance. Several procedures to control fungal toxins have been extensively investigated, such as preventive measures, physical and chemical methods, and biological strategies. In recent years, microbial degradation of mycotoxins has attracted much attention due to its reliability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Notably, bacterial species from the Bacillus genus have emerged as promising candidates for mycotoxin decontamination owing to their diverse metabolic capabilities and resilience in harsh environmental conditions. This review manuscript aims to provide a summary of recent studies on the biodegradation of fungal toxins by Bacillus bacteria, thereby illustrating their potential applications in the development of mycotoxin-degrading products. Full article

Biological decontamination strategies using microorganisms to adsorb aflatoxins have shown promising results for reducing the dietary exposure to these contaminants. In this study, the ability of inactivated biomasses of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (LRB) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SCB) incorporated alone or in combination into functional yogurts (FY) at 0.5–4.0% (w/w) to adsorb aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) was evaluated in vitro. Higher adsorption percentages (86.9–91.2%) were observed in FY containing 1.0% LR + SC or 2.0% SC (w/w). The survival of mouse embryonic fibroblasts increased after exposure to yogurts containing LC + SC at 1.0–4.0% (w/w). No significant differences were noted in the physicochemical and sensory characteristics between aflatoxin-free FY and control yogurts (no biomass) after 30 days of storage. The incorporation of combined LRB and SCB into yogurts as vehicles for these inactivated biomasses is a promising alternative for reducing the exposure to dietary AFB₁. The results of this trial support further studies to develop practical applications aiming at the scalability of using the biomasses evaluated in functional foods to mitigate aflatoxin exposure. Full article

Hazards associated with highly dangerous pollutants/contaminants in water, air, and land resources, as well as food, are serious threats to public health and the environment. Thus, it is imperative to detect or decontaminate, as risk-control strategies, the possible harmful substances sensitively and efficiently. In this context, due to their capacity to be specifically designed for various types of hazardous compounds, the synthesis and use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have become widespread. By molecular imprinting, affinity sites with complementary shape, size, and functionality can be created for any template molecule. MIPs' unique functions in response to external factors have attracted researchers to develop a broad range of MIP-based sensors with increased sensitivity, specificity, and selectivity of the recognition element toward target hazardous compounds. Therefore, this paper comprehensively reviews the very recent progress of MIPs and smart polymer applications for sensing or decontamination of hazardous compounds (e.g., drugs, explosives, and biological or chemical agents) in various fields from 2020 to 2024, providing researchers with a rapid tool for investigating the latest research status. Full article