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The integumentary system serves as a crucial protective barrier and is subject to complex signaling pathways that regulate its physiological functions. As the body's first line of defense, the skin is continuously exposed to environmental stressors, necessitating a robust network of signaling molecules to maintain homeostasis. Considering the main cellular components to be keratinocytes, melanocytes, fibroblasts, and fibrous components, collagen of various types, this review explores the intricate signaling mechanisms that govern skin integrity, focusing on key pathways involved in impacts of ageing and environment factors on skin health. The role of growth factors, cytokines, hormones and other molecular mediators in these processes is examined. Specially for women, decrease of estrogen is determinant to alter signaling and to compromise skin structure, especially the dermis. Environmental factors, such as ultraviolet rays and pollution alongside the impact of ageing on signaling pathways, especially TGF-β and proteases (metalloproteinases and cathepsins). Furthermore, with advancing age, the skin's capacity to shelter microbiome challenges diminishes, leading to alterations in signal transduction and subsequent functional decline. Understanding these age-related changes is essential for developing targeted therapies aimed at enhancing skin health and resilience, but also offers a promising avenue for the treatment of skin disorders and the promotion of healthy ageing., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of the environmental effects associated with paddy field utilization (PFU) is imperative for safeguarding the availability of food while preserving the environment. While thorough investigations have been carried out on the individual environmental effects of PFU, study on comprehensive environmental effects of PFU and the spatial inequity issues stemming from the transfer of these effects are scarce. This study aims to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), nitrogen emissions (NE), and water consumption (WC) linked to PFU in China from 2000 to 2020. Additionally, it evaluates the transference of environmental effects through the inter-provincial rice flow and examines the resultant spatial inequity issues. The intensity of GHGE has demonstrated a consistent increase, while the intensity of NE has shown a fluctuating yet generally decreasing trend. Provinces with high water footprints are predominantly located in the northern regions. Specifically, GHGE increased by 3.54 Mt, primarily due to intensified agricultural inputs. NE decreased by 0.08 Mt, largely influenced by the enforcement of sustainable agricultural practices. WC escalated by 3.49 billion m 3 , chiefly as a result of heightened groundwater dependence. Significant increases in environmental effects were observed in Northeast China Plain (NECP) and Middle-lower Yangtze Plain (MLYP), whereas Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YGP), Southern China (SC), and Sichuan Basin and surrounding regions (SBSR) experienced reductions. The volume of inter-provincial rice flow initially surged before witnessing a decline, with a net increase of 15.59 Mt in rice outflow from NECP. The transferred volumes of GHGE, NE, and WC within China surged by 123.87%, 105.26%, and 119.05%, respectively. Huang-Huai-Hai Plain (HHHP) and SC emerged as principal outflows of environmental effects, while MLYP and NECP became the main inflows, exacerbating regional environmental disparities. Lorenz curves for GHGE, NE, and WC indicate a growing deviation from the line of absolute equality, highlighting a substantial increase in spatial inequality regarding the environmental effects of PFU in China. Moving forward, it is crucial to optimize PFU and rice flow patterns to mitigate the specific regional environmental effects, enhance the spatial efficiency of rice production, and promote spatial equity in environmental effects., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Agricultural carbon footprint (CF) evaluation plays an important role in climate change mitigation and national food security. Many studies have been conducted worldwide to evaluate the CF of rapeseed and its byproducts; however, only a few of these studies have considered finer-scale spatial-temporal heterogeneity. Considering the advantages of using detailed crop information extracted by remote sensing (RS) techniques, we attempted to integrate RS into life cycle assessments to improve rapeseed CF evaluation. A case study was conducted from 2021 to 2023 in one of the most important grain- and rapeseed-producing areas in Southwest China, namely, the Chengdu Plain, covering an area of 18,810.00 km 2 . The results of our study suggest that: (1) the proposed approach is applicable for high-resolution (10 m ∗ 10 m) rapeseed distribution mapping; (2) the farm-based CFs of rapeseed in the studied region range from 3333.08 to 4572.82 kgCO 2 -eq ha -1 , while the product-based CFs (PCFs) vary from 1316.23 to 2443.95 kgCO 2 -eq t -1 . Nitrogen fertilizer processing and its application are identified as the dominant contributors to upstream and downstream greenhouse emissions (GHGs), respectively; (3) the significant role of soil properties and soil organic carbon in influencing crop PCFs indicates good GHG offsets. The method used in the current study has strong adaptability and universality in different areas with various climatic conditions and can provide a solid basis for policymakers to formulate differentiated agricultural carbon reduction policies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The environmental impacts of artificial intelligence on a global scale remain underexplored. This study utilizes a balanced panel dataset to examine artificial intelligence's complex role in enhancing global green productivity between 2008 and 2019. The findings indicate that artificial intelligence robustly boosts green productivity, even after correcting for potential endogeneity using the legal system's origin as an instrument. A detailed mediation analysis underscores that artificial intelligence indirectly promotes green productivity by increasing renewable energy use, attracting skilled labor, and dampening stock market performance. Additional analysis confirms that financial development generally amplifies artificial intelligence's favorable effects on green productivity. However, the combined impact of financial institution access and artificial intelligence on green productivity initially appears hostile, an effect that can be reversed when financial access exceeds a certain threshold. These results offer valuable insights into the interconnection between artificial intelligence and the global shift towards greener practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Limited evidence suggests that variation in phenotypic plasticity within populations may arise largely from environmental sources, thereby constraining its evolvability. This is of concern for temperature-sensitive metabolism in the face of climate change. We quantified the relative influence of the developmental environment versus genes on the metabolic plasticity of avian embryos to temperature. We partially cross-fostered 602 house sparrow eggs ( Passer domesticus ), measured the heart rate plasticity of these embryos to egg temperature and partitioned variance in plasticity. We found that the foster (incubation) environment was the sole meaningful source of variance in embryonic plasticity (not genes, pre-laying effects or ambient conditions). In contrast to heart rate plasticity, offspring growth was influenced by the foster environment, genes/pre-laying parental effects and ambient conditions. Although embryonic plasticity to temperature varied in this population, these results suggest that it is unlikely to evolve quickly. Nevertheless, the expression of this plasticity may be able to shift between generations in response to changes in the developmental environment. Whether the multidimensional plasticity of heart rate to both current temperature and the developmental environment is itself an adaptive, evolved trait allowing avian embryos to optimize their metabolic plasticity to their current environment remains to be tested.

Microplastic (MP) contamination is a problem that affects even remote, scarcely populated regions of the world. This topic has recently been the subject of many published studies, however, these often adopt hyperbolic statements and do not actually provide definitive evidence that MPs are a cause of environmental risk in actual environmental conditions. New technologies to remove MPs from supply and waste water are being investigated, but they are able to intercept a minimal fraction of the MPs circulating in all environmental media. Recently, several pieces of legislation were introduced to reduce plastic production, use, and disposal, but it is not clear how such measures could achieve a significant environmental MP reduction. This paper addresses the MP issue within the urban water cycle, examining recent current literature on MP presence in drinking and waste water, and overviewing available recent treatment technologies for their removal. The ensuing discussion attempts to holistically assess the actual relevance of the issue in the light of the current scientific evidence., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No competing interests from the Author influenced the production of this work., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The performance of an adult dairy cow may be influenced by heat stress that occurs during her gestation. The present study investigated potential effects of temperature-humidity index (THI) experienced by a cow during pregnancy, on the gestated daughter's performance on her first lactation, for the French Holstein and Montbeliarde dairy cattle populations. Fourteen traits were analyzed, all measured on genotyped cows: 305-d milk, fat, and protein yields, 305-d somatic cell score, clinical mastitis (both occurrence and number of events), body conformation traits, and heifer and cow conception rate. To study the effect of heat stress, we considered the THI experienced by the gestating cow, averaged for each month of her pregnancy and then categorized in 7 classes (≤40; 40-45; 45-50; 50-55; 55-60; 60-65; and >65). These average THI classes were then fitted as categorical covariates in the regression models used for this study, which included other fixed effects, and the genomic estimated breeding value as a covariate, both specific to each trait, the latter previously obtained from the official French evaluations. The THI effect was therefore estimated as the deviation between the observed and the predicted performances. In general, the estimated heat stress effects were small, presenting limited practical impact on the studied traits, and particularly for fertility and udder health, the estimated heat stress effects were not statistically significant. For the production traits, i.e., milk, fat, and protein yields, the estimated effect associated to high THI experienced at the beginning of the gestation was negative, and lightly positive when associated to high THI experienced by the dam at the end of her pregnancy. Finally, our results suggest that under the current French climate conditions, heat stress experienced by cows during any stage of their pregnancy has limited impact on future performances of their gestated daughters, however we cannot exclude that significant in utero heat stress effect may be present in climate conditions warmer than the French., (The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

This study, aimed at exploring low-maintenance, high-diversity, and sustainable greening strategies for residential areas, conducted a comprehensive survey and analysis of spontaneous plants in residential green spaces in Fuzhou City, documenting 361 species. Employing methods such as variance partitioning, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), and ecological niche analysis, we investigated the environmental factors influencing the distribution and composition of these plants, as well as their interrelationships. The study found that the composition of spontaneous plants in residential green spaces differs from other urban environments, with a high proportion of alien species (43.77%) due to influences such as resident activities, including a large number of ornamental and edible plants. Maintenance level, urbanization gradient, and green space ratio are common factors affecting the composition and distribution of spontaneous plants in urban environments, while unique residential socio-economic factors like building age, housing prices, and population density significantly affect the spontaneous plants in residential green spaces. The overall dominant plant community shows a significant positive association, indicating a relatively stable stage of succession. Although competition among most species is not significant and interspecific connectivity is weak, the presence of seven dominant invasive species intensifies competition. Based on these findings, the study proposes several specific sustainable management measures: adopting the concept of New Naturalistic Ecological Planting Design, selecting native spontaneous plants with strong adaptability, and constructing plant communities that are ecologically stable and have ornamental value by mimicking natural ecosystems. Additionally, specific methods for managing specific invasive species in residential green spaces using competitive replacement control methods are proposed. These measures aim to promote the health and sustainable development of urban residential green spaces., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Weicong Fu reports financial support was provided by Green Urbanization across China and Europe. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Insects geographically separated into island and mainland populations often exhibit phenotypic variations, a phenomenon known as insular conditions. These conditions can lead to rapid evolutionary changes that affect the morphological characteristics of mosquito vectors. Nevertheless, studies that specifically examine phenotype differences between island and mainland mosquito populations have been limited. In this study, wing variation in size and shape was investigated using the geometric morphometric (GM) technique in two dominant mosquito vectors, Aedes albopictus and Armigeres subalbatus, in the Ranong and Trat archipelagos of Thailand. Significant differences in average wing centroid size (CS) were found in 6 out of 15 population pairs for Ae. albopictus (p < 0.05) and in 5 population pairs for Ar. subalbatus (p < 0.05). After removing the allometric effect, canonical variate analyses (CVA) based on wing shape analysis revealed overlap across all populations for both Ae. albopictus and Ar. subalbatus. However, the statistical analysis indicated that Ar. subalbatus exhibited wing shape differences across all populations (p < 0.05), and most Ae. albopictus populations also displayed distinct wing shapes (p < 0.05), except for the populations from Chang Island and the mainland of Ranong, which showed no significant differences (p > 0.05). These findings enhance our understanding of mosquito adaptability in island regions and provide valuable data for the surveillance and monitoring of vector evolution., (© 2024 Royal Entomological Society.)

The recent discovery that metallophilic interactions between cyclometalated palladium supramolecular nanostructures - with efficient tumour accumulation rate in a skin melanoma model - maintain excellent photodynamic properties even in a hypoxic microenvironment has inspired the present study focused on the theoretical predictions of optical properties of the bis-cyclometalated palladium compound in different contexts. More specifically, structural and UV/Vis absorption properties of both monomeric and dimeric forms of this anticancer drug are well reproduced with a Time-Dependent Density Functional Theoretical (TD-DFT) approach based on Exchange-Correlation (XC) hybrid functionals in conjunction with conductor-like and polarization solvation effects. A further novelty is represented by a fine investigation of the supramolecular interactions between the different subunits of the drug via dispersion force correction and Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM). This contribution while supporting the photoexcitation properties derived in laboratory following the self-assembly of monomeric units when passing from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to a H2O/DMSO mixture at 298K, shed some light on the nature of the chemical interactions modulating the formation of nano-size aggregates., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: Current phenotyping approaches for murine autism models often focus on one selected behavioral feature, making the translation onto a spectrum of autistic characteristics in humans challenging. Furthermore, sex and environmental factors are rarely considered. Here, we aimed to capture the full spectrum of behavioral manifestations in 3 autism mouse models to develop a "behavioral fingerprint" that takes environmental and sex influences under consideration., Methods: To this end, we employed a wide range of classical standardized behavioral tests and 2 multiparametric behavioral assays-the Live Mouse Tracker and Motion Sequencing-on male and female Shank2 , Tsc1 , and Purkinje cell-specific Tsc1 mutant mice raised in standard or enriched environments. Our aim was to integrate our high dimensional data into one single platform to classify differences in all experimental groups along dimensions with maximum discriminative power., Results: Multiparametric behavioral assays enabled a more accurate classification of experimental groups than classical tests, and dimensionality reduction analysis demonstrated significant additional gains in classification accuracy, highlighting the presence of sex, environmental, and genotype differences in our experimental groups., Conclusions: Together, our results provide a complete phenotypic description of all tested groups, suggesting that multiparametric assays can capture the entire spectrum of the heterogeneous phenotype in autism mouse models., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Marine aggregate extraction represents an opportunity to face the depletion of terrestrial aggregate resources. The environmental effects of this activity have been assessed in several studies, leading to the formulation of recommendations to mitigate its effects. This study investigates its environmental impacts in a coarse, high-current environment with low-intensity extraction, a unique scenario not extensively studied before. Employing multivariate analyses and a trophic group approach, it examines complex responses at both species and community levels. Results indicate a decline in biodiversity, promoting the establishment of r-selected species, particularly filter feeders. Although site restoration timelines remain uncertain, initial indications suggest rapid recovery (2-3 years) for this site. The study also discusses methodological challenges in sampling these low-intensity dredged sites and emphasizes the need for new indices tailored to this pressure and coarse sediments under strong hydrodynamics. These insights offer valuable directions for future research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites are widely used due to their high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. However, their properties can degrade under different environmental conditions, affecting long-term reliability. This study examines the effects of temperature and chemical environments on GFRP pipes. Specimens were exposed to salt water and alkaline solutions at 20 °C and 50 °C. Diffusion coefficients and tensile and flexural properties were measured. Advanced techniques (TGA, FT-IR, and XRD) showed a 54.73% crystallinity difference between samples at 20 °C/air and 50 °C/salt water. Elevated temperatures and alkaline conditions accelerated degradation, with diffusion coefficients 68.38% higher at 50 °C/salt water compared to at 20 °C/salt water. Flexural strength decreased by 47.65% and tensile strength by 13.89%, at 50 °C/alkaline compared to 20 °C/air. Temperature was identified as the primary factor affecting mechanical performance, while alkaline environments significantly influenced tensile and flexural modulus. These results underscore the importance of considering environmental factors for the durability of GFRP composites.

Various approaches have been proposed for bridge structural health monitoring. One of the earliest approaches proposed was tracking a bridge's natural frequency over time to look for abnormal shifts in frequency that might indicate a change in stiffness. However, bridge frequencies change naturally as the structure's temperature changes. Data models can be used to overcome this problem by predicting normal changes to a structure's natural frequency and comparing it to the historical normal behaviour of the bridge and, therefore, identifying abnormal behaviour. Most of the proposed data modelling work has been from long-span bridges where you generally have large datasets to work with. A more limited body of research has been conducted where there is a sparse amount of data, but even this has only been demonstrated on single bridges. Therefore, the novelty of this work is that it expands on previous work using sparse instrumentation across a network of bridges. The data collected from four in-operation bridges were used to validate data models and test the capabilities of the data models across a range of bridge types/sizes. The MID approach was found to be able to detect an average frequency shift of 0.021 Hz across all of the data models. The significance of this demonstration across different bridge types is the practical utility of these data models to be used across entire bridge networks, enabling accurate and informed decision making in bridge maintenance and management.

Main Conclusion: In this review, we summarize how chlorophyll metabolism in angiosperm is affected by the environmental factors: light, temperature, metal ions, water, oxygen, and altitude. The significance of chlorophyll (Chl) in plant leaf morphogenesis and photosynthesis cannot be overstated. Over time, researchers have made significant advancements in comprehending the biosynthetic pathway of Chl in angiosperms, along with the pivotal enzymes and genes involved in this process, particularly those related to heme synthesis and light-responsive mechanisms. Various environmental factors influence the stability of Chl content in angiosperms by modulating Chl metabolic pathways. Understanding the interplay between plants Chl metabolism and environmental factors has been a prominent research topic. This review mainly focuses on angiosperms, provides an overview of the regulatory mechanisms governing Chl metabolism, and the impact of environmental factors such as light, temperature, metal ions (iron and magnesium), water, oxygen, and altitude on Chl metabolism. Understanding these effects is crucial for comprehending and preserving the homeostasis of Chl metabolism., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The backfill mining of coal-based solid waste in goaf poses a potential risk of heavy metal pollution to the groundwater environment, and the migration behavior of heavy metals differs significantly under the disturbance of backfill mining in close-distance multi-layer coal seams and single-layer coal seams. In this study, a migration model of heavy metals after solid backfilling in the goaf of shallow-buried close-distance thick coal seams was established, and the impact of the overburden damage and the layered distribution of the filling body on the long-term migration behavior of heavy metals were analyzed. The results show that the migration of heavy metals after close-distance coal seam backfill mining exhibits a higher risk of heavy metal pollution. The peak permeability of overburden after close-distance coal seam backfill mining is about 600 × 10 -19 m 2 higher than that after single-layer coal seam backfill mining. The migration distance of heavy metals in the floor after backfill mining of close-distance coal seams is 7.41 m farther than that of single-layer coal seam backfill mining, and its migration time of heavy metals to the surface is 27 a earlier than that of single-layer coal seam. This research provides theoretical and empirical support for the ecological risk assessment and heavy metal pollution control in close-distance coal seam backfill mining. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: The main filling material of close-distance coal seams backfill mining is coal gangue. Heavy metal elements such as Mn and Cr will be released in the underground environment for a long time, and the migration behavior of heavy metal elements will have an impact on the groundwater environment for more than 1000 years. This research provides theoretical and empirical support for the ecological risk assessment of close-distance coal seam backfill mining and the mitigation of heavy metal pollution., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In most animals, body mass varies with ecological conditions and is expected to reflect how much energy can be allocated to reproduction and survival. Because the sexes often differ in their resource acquisition and allocation strategies, variations in adult body mass and their consequences on fitness can differ between the sexes. Assessing the relative contributions of environmental and genetic effects (i.e. heritability)-and whether these effects and their fitness consequences are sex-specific-is essential to gain insights into the evolution of sexual dimorphism and sexual conflicts. We used 20+ years of data to study the sources of variation in adult body mass and associated fitness consequences in a bird with biparental care, the Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba). Swifts appear monomorphic to human observers, though subtle dimorphisms are present. We first investigated the effects of weather conditions on adult body mass using a sliding window analysis approach. We report a positive effect of temperature and a negative effect of rainfall on adult body mass, as expected for an aerial insectivorous bird. We then quantified the additive genetic variance and heritability of body mass in both sexes and assessed the importance of genetic constraints on mass evolution by estimating the cross-sex genetic correlation. Heritability was different from zero in both sexes at ~0.30. The positive cross-sex genetic correlation and comparable additive genetic variance between the sexes suggest the possibility for evolutionary constraints when it comes to body mass. Finally, we assessed the sex-specific selection on adjusted body mass using multiple fitness components. We report directional positive and negative selection trending towards stabilizing and diversifying selection on females and males respectively in relation to the weighted proportion of surviving fledglings. Overall, these results suggest that while body mass may be able to respond to environmental conditions and evolve, genetic constraints would result in similar changes in both sexes or an overall absence of response to selection. It remains unclear whether the weak (1%) dimorphism in Alpine swift body mass we report is simply a result of the similar fitness peaks between the sexes or of genetic constraints., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.)

Emerging contaminants such as engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are of great concern because of their wide distribution and incomplete removal in conventional wastewater and soil treatment processes. The production and usage of ENPs and PPCPs inevitably result in their coexistence in different environmental media, thus posing various risks to organisms in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, the existing literature on the physicochemical interactions between ENPs and PPCPs and their effects on organisms is rather limited. Therefore, this paper summarized the ecotoxicity of combined ENPs and PPCPs by discussing: (1) the interactions between ENPs and PPCPs, including processes such as aggregation, adsorption, transformation, and desorption, considering the influence of environmental factors like pH, ionic strength, dissolved organic matter, and temperature; (2) the effects of these interactions on bioaccumulation, bioavailability and biotoxicity in organisms at different trophic levels; (3) the impacted of ENPs and PPCPs on cellular-level biological process. This review elucidated the potential ecological hazards associated with the interaction of ENPs and PPCPs, and serves as a foundation for future investigations into the ecotoxicity and mode of action of ENPs, PPCPs, and their co-occurring metabolites., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Detecting the presence of explosives is important to protect human lives during military conflicts and peacetime. Gas-phase detection of explosives can make use of the change of material properties, which can be sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. This paper describes a remote-controlled automatic shutter method for the environmental impact assessment of photoluminescence (PL) sensors under near-open conditions. Utilizing the remote-sensing method, we obtained environmental effects without being exposed to sensing vapor molecules and explained how PL intensity was influenced by the temperature, humidity, and exposure time. We also developed a theoretical model including the effect of exciton diffusion for PL quenching, which worked well under limited molecular diffusions. Incomplete recovery of PL intensity or the degradation effect was considered as an additional factor in the model.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are among the most widely used metal-based engineered nanomaterials in biomedicine and nanotechnology, and account for >50 % of global nanomaterial consumer products. The increasing use of AgNPs potentially causes marine ecosystem changes; however, the environmental impacts of man-made AgNPs are still poorly studied. This study reports for the first time that man-made AgNPs intruded into cold seeps, which are important marine ecosystems where hydrogen sulfide, methane, and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occur. Using a combination of electron microscopy, geochemical and metagenomic analyses, we found that in the cold seeps with high AgNPs concentrations, the relative abundance of genes associated with anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) was lower, while those related to the sulfide oxidizing and sulfate reducing were higher. This suggests that AgNPs can stimulate the proliferation of sulfate-reducing and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria, likely due to the effects of activating repair mechanisms of the cells against the toxicant. A reaction of AgNPs with hydrogen sulfide to form silver sulfide could also effectively reduce the amount of available sulfate in local ecosystems, which is generally used as the AOM oxidant. These novel findings indicate that man-made AgNPs may be involved in the biogeochemical cycles of sulfur and carbon in nature, and their potential effects on the releasing of methane from the marine methane seeps should not be ignored in both scientific and environmental aspects., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Kelei Zhu and Jiawei Liu contributed equally to this work., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Microplastics are an emerging contaminant that can persist in the environment for extended periods， posing risks to ecological systems. Recently， microplastic pollution has emerged as a major global environmental problem. In order to ensure accurate and scientific evaluation of the ecological risks associated with microplastic pollution， it is of paramount importance to improve the simplicity and reliability of microplastic identification， systematically analyze the pollution characteristics of microplastics in various environmental media， and clarify their environmental impacts. Machine learning technology has gained widespread attention in microplastic research by learning and analyzing large volumes of data to establish result evaluation or prediction models. The use of machine learning can enhance the automation and identification efficiency of visual and spectral identification of microplastics， provide scientific support for tracing the sources of microplastic pollution， and help reveal the complex environmental effects of microplastics. This review provides a summary of the application characteristics and limitations of machine learning in the aforementioned areas by reviewing the progress made in research that employs machine learning technology in microplastic identification and environmental risk assessment. Furthermore， the findings of the review will provide suggestions and prospects for the development and application of machine learning in related areas.

Objective: Psychosis is one of the most vital disorders in children and youths. The definite pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in the growth period has remained ambiguous. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the predictive value of parental psychiatric disorders and the mediator role of comorbid disorders of children and youths. Method : The sample, consisting of 29884 individuals aged between 6 to 18 years old from the Iranian population, were selected by multistage cluster sampling during September 22, 2016 to January 3, 2018. Parents were requested to complete a survey around their potential psychiatric disorders, based on their Millon's Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III). The Semi-Structured Interview (Kiddie-SADS-Present, Lifetime Form (K-SADS-PL)) was utilized to analyze psychiatric disorders concurring to the DSM. Results: The fit indices of the model show that the research model has a good fit and the psychiatric disorders of parents directly and indirectly through comorbid disorders are effective on the psychosis symptoms of children and adolescents (RMSEA=0.06, CFI=0.89, PGFI=0.75, PNFI=0.75).The incidence of Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Anxiety, Bipolar Spectrum Disorder, PTSD, Schizophrenia Spectrum and Delusional Disorder were statistically higher in parents of psychotic children and adolescents. However, Borderline Personality Disorder was more frequent among their mothers while Alcohol Dependency and Drug Dependency were significantly more prevalent among their fathers. Conclusion: The outcomes of our study showed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of each scale assessed by Millon's inventory between parents of psychotic versus non-psychotic pediatric cases. In addition, psychiatric disorders were more common among children and youths with psychosis spectrum in comparison with the general population., Competing Interests: None., (Copyright © 2024 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

The physicochemical properties, chemical fractions of six metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Mn), and microbial communities of soil around a typical sanitary landfill were analyzed. The results indicate that soils around the landfill were from neutral to weak alkalinity. The contents of organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), and activities of catalase, cellulase, and urease were significantly higher in landfill soils than those in background soils. Negative correlations were found between pH and metals. Cr was the dominant metal. Cu, Pb, Cr, and Mn were accumulated in the nearby farmland soils. Cd had the highest percentage of exchangeable fraction (33.7%-51.8%) in landfill and farmland soils, suggesting a high bioavailability to the soil environment affected by the landfill. Pb, Cr, and Mn existed mostly in oxidable fraction, and Cu and Zn were dominant in residual fraction. There was a low risk of soil metals around the landfill based on the RI values, while according to RAC classification, Cd had high to very high environmental risk. The MisSeq sequencing results showed that Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteria were the dominant phyla of bacteria, and the most abundant phylum of fungi was Ascomycota. The NMDS analysis revealed that the landfill could influence soil fungal communities more intensely than bacterial communities. TN, cellulase, and bioavailable metals (Pb-Bio and Cr-Bio) were identified to have main influences on microbial communities. Pb-Bio was the most dominant driving factor for bacterial community structures. For fungi, Pb-Bio was significantly negatively related to Olpidiomycota and Cr-Bio had a significantly negative correlation with Ascomycota. It manifests that bioavailable metals play important roles in assessing environmental risks and microbial community structures of soil around landfill., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mining wastewater can have adverse effects on the ecosystem; thus, treatment before discharging into the environment is of utmost importance. This manuscript reports on the effect of mining wastewater on the environment. Moreover, the currently used, effective and commercialised mine wastewater treatment technologies such as SAVMIN®, SPARRO®, Biogenic sulphide, and DESALX® are reported in this study. These technologies integrate two or more separation processes, which have been proven to be effective for the high recovery of salts and water for reuse. Some of the technologies reported can significantly recover salts and >95% of water. Modern pilot-stage and laboratory-scale treatment systems used for the recovery and removal of metals are also reported herein. Since some treatment technologies can generate highly toxic sludge and other waste products, the management of the generated waste was also considered. Some studies have focused on the treatment of wastewater at the laboratory level using the adsorption process. Most adsorbents exhibit promising results; however, there is insufficient research on reusability, toxic sludge management, and the economic analysis of the systems. Moreover, the implementation of adsorption systems in wastewater is necessary. Furthermore, the integration of treatment systems to recover precious metals at low concentrations is desirable in addition to water reclamation to achieve circular mine water., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Tibetan Plateau (TP) is known as the water tower of Asia, and glaciers are solid reservoirs that can regulate the amount of water. Black carbon (BC), as one of the important factors accelerating glacier melting, is causing evident environmental effects in snow and ice. However, a systematical summary of the potential sources, analytical methods, distributions, and environmental effects of BC in snow and ice on the TP's glaciers is scarce. Therefore, this study drew upon existing research on snow and ice BC on glaciers of the TP to describe the detection methods and uncertainties associated with them to clarify the concentrations of BC in snow and ice and their climatic effects. The primary detection methods are the optical method, the thermal-optical method, the thermochemical method, and the single-particle soot photometer method. However, few studies have systematically compared the results of BC and this study found that concentrations of BC in different types of snow and ice varied by 1-3 orders of magnitude, which drastically affected the regional hydrologic process by potentially accelerating the ablation of glaciers by approximately 15% and reducing the duration of snow accumulation by 3-4 days. In general, results obtained from the various testing methods differ drastically, which limited the systematical discussion. Accordingly, a universal standard for the sampling and measurement should be considered in the future work, which will be beneficial to facilitate the comparison of the spatiotemporal features and to provide scientific data for the model-simulated climatic effects of BC., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Nigeria has struggled to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs) on environmental sustainability, transportation, and petroleum product distribution for decades, endangering human and ecological health. Petroleum product spills contaminate soil, water, and air, harming humans, aquatic life, and biodiversity. The oil and gas industry contributes to environmental sustainability and scientific and technological advancement through its supply chain activities in the transport and logistics sectors. This paper reviewed the effects of petroleum product transportation at three accident hotspots on Nigeria highway, where traffic and accident records are alarming due to the road axis connecting the southern and northern regions of the country. The preliminary data was statistically analysed to optimise the review process and reduce risk factors through ongoing data monitoring. Studies on Nigeria's petroleum product transportation spills and environmental impacts between the years 2013 and 2023 were critically analysed to generate updated information. The searches include Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Five hundred and forty peer-reviewed studies were analysed, and recommendations were established through the conclusions. The findings show that petroleum product transport causes heavy metal deposition in the environment as heavy metals damage aquatic life and build up in the food chain, posing a health risk to humans. The study revealed that petroleum product spills have far-reaching environmental repercussions and, therefore, recommended that petroleum product spills must be mitigated immediately. Furthermore, the study revealed that better spill response and stricter legislation are needed to reduce spills, while remediation is necessary to lessen the effects of spills on environmental and human health., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Global expansion of marine renewable energy (MRE) technologies is needed to help address the impacts of climate change, to ensure a sustainable transition from carbon-based energy sources, and to meet national energy security needs using locally-generated electricity. However, the MRE sector has yet to realize its full potential due to the limited scale of device deployments (i.e., single devices or small demonstration-scale arrays), and is hampered by various factors including uncertainty about environmental effects and how the magnitude of these effects scale with an increasing number of devices. This paper seeks to expand our understanding of the environmental effects of MRE arrays using existing frameworks and through the adaptation and application of cumulative environmental effects terminology to key stressor-receptor interactions. This approach facilitates the development of generalized concepts for the scaling of environmental effects for key stressor-receptor interactions, identifying high priority risks and revealing knowledge gaps that require investigation to aid expansion of the MRE sector. Results suggest that effects of collision risk for an array may be additive, antagonistic, or synergistic, but are likely dependent on array location and configuration. Effects of underwater noise are likely additive as additional devices are deployed in an array, while the effects of electromagnetic fields may be dominant, additive, or antagonistic. Changes to benthic habitats are likely additive, but may be dependent on array configuration and could be antagonistic or synergistic at the ecosystem scale. Effects of displacement, entanglement, and changes to oceanographic systems for arrays are less certain because little information is available about effects at the current scale of MRE development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. The project funders had no role in the design of the study, in the synthesis of the available information, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the study., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ice cover restructures the distribution of substances in ice and underlying water and poses non-negligible environmental effects. This study aimed to clarify the spatiotemporal variability and environmental effects of methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in ice and water columns during different ice-covered periods. We surveyed the ice-growth, ice-stability, and ice-melt periods in an ice-covered reservoir located in Northeast China. The results showed that underlying water (CH 4 : 1218.9 ± 2678.9 nmol L -1 and N 2 O: 19.3 ± 7.3 nmol L -1 ) and ice (CH 4 : 535.2 ± 2373.1 nmol L -1 and N 2 O: 9.9 ± 1.5 nmol L -1 ) were sources of atmospheric greenhouse gases. N 2 O concentrations were the highest in the bottom water of the reservoir while CH 4 accumulated the most below the ice in the riverine zone. These can be attributed to differences in the solubilities and relative molecular masses of the two gases. Higher concentrations of N 2 O, TN, TP, DOC, and DIC were recorded in the underlying water than those in the ice due to the preferential redistribution of these substances in the aqueous phase during ice formation. Additionally, we distinguished between bubble and no-bubble areas in the riverine zone and found that the higher CH 4 concentrations in the underlying water than those in the ice were due to CH 4 bubbles. In addition, we reviewed various substances in ice-water systems and found that the substances in ice-water systems can be divided into solute exclusion and particle entrapment, which are attributed to differences between dissolved and particulate states. These findings are important for a comprehensive understanding of substances dynamics during ice-covered periods., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As a common geo-engineering method to control internal load of nutrients and pollutants, sediment dredging has been used in many freshwater basins and has achieved certain effects. However, dredging can disturb water bodies and substrates and cause secondary pollution. It negatively affects the water environment system mainly from the following aspects. Dredging suddenly changes the hydrological conditions and many physical indicators of the water body, which will cause variations in water physicochemical properties. For example, changes in pH, dissolved oxygen, redox potential, transparency, and temperature can lead to a series of aquatic biological responses. On the other hand, sediment resuspension and deep-layer sediment exposure can affect the cycling of nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus), the release and valence conversion of heavy metals, and the desorption and degradation of organic pollutants in the overlying water. This can further affect the community structure of aquatic organisms. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relevant literature on freshwater sediment dredging, and to summarize the current knowledge of the potential environmental risks caused by the dredging and utilization of freshwater sediments. Based on this, the paper attempts to propose suggestions to mitigate these adverse environmental impacts. These are significant contributions to the development of environmentally friendly freshwater sediment dredging technologies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In social species, group members commonly show substantial similarity in gut microbiome composition. Such similarities have been hypothesized to arise either by shared environmental effects or by host relatedness. However, disentangling these factors is difficult, because group members are often related, and social groups typically share similar environmental conditions. In this study, we conducted a cross-foster experiment under controlled laboratory conditions in group-living Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) and used 16S amplicon sequencing to disentangle the effects of the environment and relatedness on gut microbiome similarity and diversity. Our results show that a shared environment is the main factor explaining gut microbiome similarity, overshadowing any effect of host relatedness. Together with studies in wild animal populations, our results suggest that among conspecifics environmental factors are more powerful drivers of gut microbiome composition similarity than host genetics., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society for Evolutionary Biology.)

Background: Estimating arbovirus transmission potential requires a mechanistic understanding of how environmental factors influence the expression of adult mosquito traits. While preimaginal exposure to environmental factors can have profound effects on adult traits, tracking and predicting these effects remains challenging., Methods: Using Aedes albopictus and a structural equation modeling approach, we explored how larval nutrition and temperature jointly affect development rate and success, female body size, and whether these metrics capture carry-over effects on adult female longevity. Additionally, we investigated how larval diet and temperature affect the baseline expression of 10 immune genes., Results: We found that larval development success was primarily determined by diet, while temperature and diet both affected development rate and female body size. Under a low larval diet, pupal wet weight and wing length both declined with increasing temperature. In contrast, responses of the two morphometric measures to rearing temperature diverged when females were provided higher larval nutrition, with pupal wet weight increasing and wing length decreasing at higher temperatures. Our analyses also revealed opposing relationships between adult female lifespan and the two morphometric measures, with wing length having a positive association with longevity and pupal weight a negative association. Larval diet indirectly affected adult longevity, and the time to pupation was negatively correlated with longevity. The expression of eight immune genes from the toll, JAK-STAT and Imd pathways was enhanced in mosquitoes with higher nutrition., Conclusions: Our results highlight deficiencies from using a single body size measure to capture carry-over effects on adult traits. Further studies of larval development rate under varying environmental conditions and its potential for tracking carry-over effects on vectorial capacity are warranted., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Carbonate rocks are closely related to the genesis and spatial distribution of polymetallic sulfide deposits. The natural buffering of carbonate rocks can reduce the ecological impact of heavy metals produced by mining and smelting. Ignoring the buffering effect of carbonate rocks on the heavy metals in the mine environment leads to inaccurate ecological risk assessment, wasting land resources and funds. This study investigates Cd, Zn, and Pb distribution and speciation in the water and soil-rice system in the polymetallic sulfide deposit at Daxin, Guangxi. The study aims to reveal the effects of the natural buffering of carbonate rocks on the migration and transformation of heavy metals. The results show that the water Zn and Cd concentrations decreased from 1857.0 to 0.9 mg L -1 to 0.16 and 0.001 mg L -1 , respectively, from the mining area to 4 km downstream. The natural buffering of carbonate increases the water pH from 2.80 to 7.64, resulting in a tendency for Cd, Zn, and Pb to separate from the aqueous phase and enrich the sediments. Soil Cd content in the mining area reached 110.0 mg kg -1 (mean value 55.88 mg kg -1 ), and rice Cd seriously exceeded the maximum limit. However, the weathering of carbonate reduces the migration ability and bioavailability of Cd. Soil Cd is mainly in the Fe-Mn bound and carbonate-bound fractions, resulting in lower Cd content in downstream soils (mean value 2.73 mg kg -1 ). Soil CaO, tFe 2 O 3 , and Mn hindered the uptake of soil Cd by rice rendering a lower exceedance of Cd in downstream rice. Therefore, this study recommends a farmland management plan under the premise of rice Cd content and integrated soil Cd content, which ensures food safety and fully utilizes farmland resources. This result provides a scientific basis for ecological risk assessment, mine environmental protection, and management in the carbonatite sulfide mine environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: In many taxa, adverse early-life environments are associated with reduced growth and smaller body size in adulthood. However, in wild primates, we know very little about whether, where, and to what degree trajectories are influenced by early adversity, or which types of early adversity matter most. Here, we use parallel-laser photogrammetry to assess inter-individual predictors of three measures of body size (leg length, forearm length, and shoulder-rump length) in a population of wild female baboons studied since birth., Materials and Methods: Using >2000 photogrammetric measurements of 127 females, we present a cross-sectional growth curve of wild female baboons (Papio cynocephalus) from juvenescence through adulthood. We then test whether females exposed to several important sources of early-life adversity-drought, maternal loss, low maternal rank, or a cumulative measure of adversity-were smaller for their age than females who experienced less adversity. Using the "animal model," we also test whether body size is heritable in this study population., Results: Prolonged early-life drought predicted shorter limbs but not shorter torsos (i.e., shoulder-rump lengths). Our other measures of early-life adversity did not predict variation in body size. Heritability estimates for body size measures were 36%-67%. Maternal effects accounted for 13%-17% of the variance in leg and forearm length, but no variance in torso length., Discussion: Our results suggest that baboon limbs, but not torsos, grow plastically in response to maternal effects and energetic early-life stress. Our results also reveal considerable heritability for all three body size measures in this study population., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Quantification of how different environmental cues affect protein allocation can provide important insights for understanding cell physiology. While absolute quantification of proteins can be obtained by resource-intensive mass-spectrometry-based technologies, prediction of protein abundances offers another way to obtain insights into protein allocation. Here we present CAMEL, a framework that couples constraint-based modelling with machine learning to predict protein abundance for any environmental condition. This is achieved by building machine learning models that leverage static features, derived from protein sequences, and condition-dependent features predicted from protein-constrained metabolic models. Our findings demonstrate that CAMEL results in excellent prediction of protein allocation in E. coli (average Pearson correlation of at least 0.9), and moderate performance in S. cerevisiae (average Pearson correlation of at least 0.5). Therefore, CAMEL outperformed contending approaches without using molecular read-outs from unseen conditions and provides a valuable tool for using protein allocation in biotechnological applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An individual's telomere length early in life may reflect or contribute to key life-history processes sensitive to environmental variation. Yet, the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in shaping early-life telomere length is not well understood as it requires samples collected from multiple generations with known developmental histories. We used a confirmed pedigree and conducted an animal model analysis of telomere lengths obtained from nestling house sparrows (Passer domesticus) sampled over a span of 22 years. We found significant additive genetic variation for early-life telomere length, but it comprised a small proportion (9%) of the total biological variation. Three sources of environmental variation were important: among cohorts, among-breeding attempts within years, and among nestmates. The magnitude of variation among breeding attempts and among nestmates also differed by cohort, suggesting that interactive effects of environmental factors across time or spatial scales were important, yet we were unable to identify the specific causes of these interactions. The mean amount of precipitation during the breeding season positively predicted telomere length, but neither weather during a given breeding attempt nor date in the breeding season contributed to an offspring's telomere length. At the level of individual nestlings, offspring sex, size and mass at 10 days of age also did not predict telomere length. Environmental effects appear especially important in shaping early-life telomere length in some species, and more focus on how environmental factors that interact across scales may help to explain some of the variation observed among studies., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The aim of the work was primarily to determine the relationship between the doses of Fenton's reagents and the effectiveness of the ecotoxicity removal of aqueous solutions containing selected antibiotics. The degradation process of ampicillin, doxycycline, and tylosin in an acidic environment in the presence of H 2 O 2 and FeSO 4 was studied. The effect of reagent doses on the degree of degradation and identification of antibiotic transformation products was measured by the UPLC qTOF method. The degree of mineralisation was determined based on changes in the concentration of total organic carbon. The ecotoxicity of products was determined with commercial MARA® and MICROTOX® bioassays, as well as against unselected microorganisms from polluted rivers and wastewater treatment plant effluent. It was found that the complete degradation of antibiotics and the simultaneous elimination of the toxicity of the Fenton process products required the use of a precisely defined amount of reagents. When an insufficient dose of reactants was used, the post-reaction solutions contained antibiotic derivatives showing antimicrobial activity. On the other hand, the toxicity of the post-reaction solution against to microbiocenoses was observed when too high doses of H 2 O 2 were used in the process. This effect resulted from the presence of unreacted reagent or other unidentified peroxides., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Infrared thermographs (IRTs) are commonly used during disease pandemics to screen individuals with elevated body temperature (EBT). To address the limited research on external factors affecting IRT accuracy, we conducted benchtop measurements and computer simulations with two IRTs, with or without an external temperature reference source (ETRS) for temperature compensation. The combination of an IRT and an ETRS forms a screening thermograph (ST). We investigated the effects of viewing angle ( θ , 0-75°), ETRS set temperature (TETRS, 30-40 °C), ambient temperature (Tatm, 18-32 °C), relative humidity (RH, 15-80%), and working distance ( d , 0.4-2.8 m). We discovered that STs exhibited higher accuracy compared to IRTs alone. Across the tested ranges of Tatm and RH, both IRTs exhibited absolute measurement errors of less than 0.97 °C, while both STs maintained absolute measurement errors of less than 0.12 °C. The optimal TETRS for EBT detection was 36-37 °C. When θ was below 30°, the two STs underestimated calibration source (CS) temperature (TCS) of less than 0.05 °C. The computer simulations showed absolute temperature differences of up to 0.28 °C and 0.04 °C between estimated and theoretical temperatures for IRTs and STs, respectively, considering d of 0.2-3.0 m, Tatm of 15-35 °C, and RH of 5-95%. The results highlight the importance of precise calibration and environmental control for reliable temperature readings and suggest proper ranges for these factors, aiming to enhance current standard documents and best practice guidelines. These insights enhance our understanding of IRT performance and their sensitivity to various factors, thereby facilitating the development of best practices for accurate EBT measurement.

Study Question: Does the meteorological season at the time of oocyte retrieval affect live birth rates in subsequent frozen embryo transfers?, Summary Answer: Frozen embryo transfers resulting from oocytes retrieved in summer have 30% increased odds of live birth compared to frozen embryo transfers resulting from oocytes retrieved in autumn, regardless of the season at the time of embryo transfer., What Is Known Already: Season at the time of frozen embryo transfer does not appear to be associated with live birth rate. One study in the northern hemisphere found increased odds of live birth with frozen embryo transfer resulting from oocytes collected in summer when compared to those collected in winter., Study Design, Size, Duration: Retrospective cohort study including all frozen embryo transfers performed by a single clinic over eight years, from January 2013 to December 2021. There were 3659 frozen embryo transfers with embryos generated from 2155 IVF cycles in 1835 patients. Outcome data were missing for two embryo transfers, which were excluded from analysis. Outcomes were analysed by the season, temperatures, and measured duration of sunshine at the time of oocyte collection and at the time of frozen embryo transfer., Participants/materials, Setting, Methods: There were no significant differences between patients with oocyte collection or embryo transfers in different seasons. Meteorological conditions on the day of oocyte collection and the day of frozen embryo transfer, and in the preceding 14- and 28-day periods, were collected including mean, minimum, and maximum temperatures, and recorded duration of sunshine hours. Clinical and embryological outcomes were analysed for their association with seasons, temperatures, and duration of sunshine with correction for repeated cycles per participant, age at the time of oocyte retrieval, and quadratic age., Main Results and the Role of Chance: Compared to frozen embryo transfers with oocyte retrieval dates in autumn, transfers with oocyte retrieval dates in summer had 30% increased odds of live birth (odds ratio (OR): 1.30, 95% CI: 1.04-1.62) which remained consistent after adjustment for season at the time of embryo transfer. A high duration of sunshine hours (in the top tertile) on the day of oocyte retrieval was associated with a 28% increase in odds of live birth compared to duration of sunshine hours in the lowest tertile (OR 1.28, 95% CI: 1.06-1.53). Temperature on the day of oocyte retrieval did not independently affect the odds of live birth. The odds of live birth were decreased by 18% when the minimum temperature on the day of embryo transfer was high, compared with low (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69-0.99), which was consistent after correction for the conditions at the time of oocyte retrieval., Limitations, Reasons for Caution: This was a retrospective cohort study, however, all patients during the study period were included and data was missing for only two patients. Given the retrospective nature, causation is not proven and there are other factors that may affect live birth rates and for which we did not have data and were unable to adjust, including pollutants and behavioural factors. We were also not able to stratify results based on specific patient populations (such as poor- or hyper-responders) nor report the cumulative live birth rate per commenced cycle., Wider Implications of the Findings: These findings may be particularly relevant for patients planning oocyte or embryo cryopreservation. Given the increasing utilization of cryopreservation, identification of factors that influence outcomes in subsequent frozen embryo transfers has implications for future therapeutic and management options. Further studies to clarify the physiology underlying the influence of sunshine hours or season on subsequent frozen embryo transfer outcomes are required, including identification of specific populations that may benefit from these factors., Study Funding/competing Interests: No funding was provided for this study. S.L. has received educational travel assistance from Besins, Merck and Organon outside the submitted work. R.H. is National Medical Director of City Fertility and Medical Director of Fertility Specialists of Western Australia, has received honoraria from MSD, Merck Serono, Origio and Ferring outside the submitted work, and has equity interests in CHA SMG. C.R., M.W., and E.N. declare that they have no conflicts of interest., Trial Registration Number: N/A., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Ketoprofen, a bicyclic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly used in human and veterinary medicine, has recently been cited as an environmental contaminant that raises concerns for ecological well-being. It poses a growing threat due to its racemic mixture, enantiomers, and transformation products, which have ecotoxicological effects on various organisms, including invertebrates, vertebrates, plants, and microorganisms. Furthermore, ketoprofen is bioaccumulated and biomagnified throughout the food chain, threatening the ecosystem function. Surprisingly, despite these concerns, ketoprofen is not currently considered a priority substance. While targeted eco-pharmacovigilance for ketoprofen has been proposed, data on ketoprofen as a pharmaceutical contaminant are limited and incomplete. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the most recent findings (from 2017 to March 2023) regarding the global distribution of ketoprofen in the environment, its ecotoxicity towards aquatic animals and plants, and available removal methods. Special emphasis is placed on understanding how ketoprofen affects microorganisms that play a pivotal role in Earth's ecosystems. The review broadly covers various approaches to ketoprofen biodegradation, including whole-cell fungal and bacterial systems as well as enzyme biocatalysts. Additionally, it explores the potential of adsorption by algae and phytoremediation for removing ketoprofen. This review will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including ecologists, microbiologists, policymakers, and those concerned about pharmaceutical pollution., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Tyumina, Subbotina, Polygalov, Tyan and Ivshina.)

Background: Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies provide insights into regulatory mechanisms underlying disease risk. Expanding studies of gene regulation to underexplored populations and to medically relevant tissues offers potential to reveal yet unknown regulatory variants and to better understand disease mechanisms. Here, we performed eQTL mapping in subcutaneous (S) and visceral (V) adipose tissue from 106 Greek individuals (Greek Metabolic study, GM) and compared our findings to those from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) resource., Results: We identified 1,930 and 1,515 eGenes in S and V respectively, over 13% of which are not observed in GTEx adipose tissue, and that do not arise due to different ancestry. We report additional context-specific regulatory effects in genes of clinical interest (e.g. oncogene ST7) and in genes regulating responses to environmental stimuli (e.g. MIR21, SNX33). We suggest that a fraction of the reported differences across populations is due to environmental effects on gene expression, driving context-specific eQTLs, and suggest that environmental effects can determine the penetrance of disease variants thus shaping disease risk. We report that over half of GM eQTLs colocalize with GWAS SNPs and of these colocalizations 41% are not detected in GTEx. We also highlight the clinical relevance of S adipose tissue by revealing that inflammatory processes are upregulated in individuals with obesity, not only in V, but also in S tissue., Conclusions: By focusing on an understudied population, our results provide further candidate genes for investigation regarding their role in adipose tissue biology and their contribution to disease risk and pathogenesis., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Nutrients of carbon, nitrogen and water of farmland ecosystem are essential foundation to guarantee crop production, but also environmental flows associated greenhouse gas (GHG), reactive nitrogen (Nr) releases, and water consumption. Their flow characteristics serve as a crucial starting point for creating efficient management practices and mitigation measures. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to quantify the carbon footprint (CF), nitrogen footprint (NF), water footprint (WF), and comprehensive environmental footprint (ComF) of six paddy-upland rotation systems, including fallow-paddy rice (FA-PR), Chinese milk vetch-paddy rice (CMV-PR), wheat-paddy rice (WH-PR), rapeseed-paddy rice (RA-PR), green forage wheat-paddy rice (WF-PR), and vicia faba bean-paddy rice (FB-PR), as well as to analysis their relationships and define driving factors. Results showed that the lowest area-scaled CF of 3.74 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 were observed in the CMV-PR rotation, which were 41% lower than that for WH-PR (the highest CF, 9.13 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 ) when soil carbon change was taken into account. It is of importance that soil carbon sequestration in CMV-PR rotation could offset up to around 57% of its CF, while the WH-PR rotation only offset 25%. The RA-PR rotation had the highest area-scaled NF and WF, which was 1.8 and 1.9 times greater than those of the lowest rotation in FA-PR. In terms of comprehensive environmental effects, the six rotation systems showed the order of FA-PR < CMV-PR < FB-PR < RA-PR < WF-PR < WH-PR, with NH 3 volatilization accounting 60.7%-66.7% and blue-green WF for 17.5%-26.6% of the total. Therefore, priority should be given to optimizing N fertilizer application and water consumption for paddy-upland rotation systems. The study also suggested that appropriate inter-annual adjustment of rotation system could contribute to achieving GHG mitigations and Nr losses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a technique that involves gathering information to ensure that a structure is safe and behaving as expected. Within SHM, vibration-based monitoring is generally seen as one of the more cost-effective types of monitoring. However, vibration-based monitoring has mostly been undertaken on long-span bridges using data collected with a dense network of sensors. Historically, the logistical difficulty of collecting data on short- and medium-span bridges has meant that the usefulness of vibration-based methods on these bridges is largely unknown. Therefore, this study proposes Minimal Information Data-modelling (MID). MID is an approach that utilises low-cost, easily implementable sensors that are potentially feasible for operators to purchase and operate across a network. This approach will be investigated to determine whether MID is a feasible approach for monitoring short- and medium- span bridges. The results from MID were assessed to determine whether they could detect a suitably small shift in frequency, which is indicative of damage. It was determined that the data models could reliably detect frequency shifts as low as 0.01 Hz. This magnitude of frequency shift is similar to the level of frequency shift reported for a range of bridge damage cases found by others and validated with FE models. The accuracy achieved by the data models indicates that MID could potentially be used as a damage detection method. The cost of the equipment used to collect the data was approximately £370, demonstrating that it is feasible to use MID to monitor bridges across an entire network.

Pseudemys is a genus of commonly occurring freshwater turtles with limited growth information across their long lifespans. We used 11,361 mark-recapture events to estimate the somatic growth rates of P. nelsoni , P. peninsularis , P. concinna suwanniensis , and P. texana from freshwater springs and developed a Bayesian growth model to estimate the species-specific, site-specific, and individual effects on growth. We corroborated evidence for fast juvenile growth and slower adult growth in Pseudemys but found uncommonly fast growth rates, with turtles doubling or tripling in size in the first year. P. texana males had the smallest average maximum size (L∞, 243 mm), while P. c. suwanniensis females had the largest (423 mm). Environmental conditions at springs had significant effects on k, the growth coefficient, but not L∞. We derived, using a ratio of length at maturity to L∞ (71.7% and 87%, males and females), that females matured 1.15-1.57 times older than males except for P. c. suwanniensis, which matured three times older. Given the local abundance declines in many Pseudemys from anthropogenic impacts, this study provides important baseline life history information for Pseudemys species for use in ongoing conservation efforts and presents a novel hierarchical modeling approach using a long-term mark-recapture dataset.

Nanoparticles have been found in large-scale environmental media in recent years, causing toxic effects in various organisms and even humans through food chain transmission. The ecotoxicological impact of microplastics on specific organisms is currently receiving much attention. However, relatively little research to date has examined the mechanisms through which nanoplastic residue may exert an interference effect on floating macrophytes in constructed wetlands. In our study, the aquatic plant Eichhornia crassipes was subjected to 100 nm polystyrene nanoplastics at concentrations of 0.1, 1 and 10 mg L -1 after 28 days of exposure. E. crassipes can decrease the concentration of nanoplastics in water by 61.42∼90.81% through phytostabilization. The abiotic stress of nanoplastics on the phenotypic plasticity (morphological and photosynthetic properties and antioxidant systems as well as molecular metabolism) of E. crassipes was assessed. The presence of nanoplastics reduced the biomass (10.66%∼22.05%), and the functional organ (petiole) diameters of E. crassipes decreased by 7.38%. The photosynthetic efficiency was determined, showing that the photosynthetic systems of E. crassipes are very sensitive to stress by nanoplastics at a concentration of 10 mg L -1 . Oxidative stress and imbalance of antioxidant systems in functional organs are associated with multiple pressure modes from nanoplastic concentrations. The catalase contents of roots increased by 151.19% in the 10 mg L -1 treatment groups compared with the control group. Moreover, 10 mg L -1 concentrations of the nanoplastic pollutant interfere with purine and lysine metabolism in the root system. The hypoxanthine content was reduced by 6.58∼8.32% under exposure to different concentrations of nanoplastics. In the pentose phosphate pathway, the phosphoric acid content was decreased by 32.70% at 10 mg L -1 PS-NPs. In the pentose phosphate pathway, the phosphoric acid content was decreased by 32.70% at 10 mg L -1 PS-NPs. Nanoplastics disturb the efficiency of water purification by floating macrophytes, which reduces the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency (from 73% to 31.33%) due to various abiotic stresses. This study provided important information for further clarifying the impact of nanoplastics on the stress response of floating macrophytes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To alleviate the environmental impact of net cage fish farming in terms of phosphorous (P) emissions to the Baltic Sea, this study aimed at developing and documenting a diet concept for large rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in brackish water (∼15 ppt) that minimizes the excretion of dissolved P and reduces the excretion of particulate P without compromising fish performance and gonadal development. This was to be achieved by reducing the total dietary P content and matching dietary bioavailable P concentrations to fish requirements using whole-body P concentration and expected individual raw material digestibility as criteria. The diet concept was firstly tested in a laboratory mass-balance study with all female rainbow trout (∼1100 g fish -1 ) fed three commercial-like low-P diets with 0.74% total P, 0.67% total P, or 0.62% total P plus phytase. Comparing the highest and lowest P diets showed that it was possible to reduce the excretion of dissolved P by 87% to 0.08 g dissolved P kg -1 biomass gain without compromising P requirements and fish performance. To verify the concept on commercial scale, an 8 mm P-reduced test diet with 0.63% total P and targeted a bioavailable P concentration of 0.41% by adding phytase was tested against a commercial control diet with 0.81% total P, feeding each diet to four commercial net cages for 5½ months. Harvest data along with ovary and whole-body P analysis confirmed that there were no performance differences between treatment groups, further sustaining that the specific P discharge may be reduced from an estimated 5.1 to 3.2 kg P t -1 fish produced by minimizing the total dietary P content while tailoring the bioavailable P concentration to match fish requirements. Applying the diet concept to the current (2020) Baltic salmonid production could theoretically reduce P emissions by 147 t yr -1 including 79 t dissolved P and 68 t particulate P., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The environment is the foundation for human existence, and the digital economy has exacerbated the impact of human beings on the environment. Based on data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, we used the spatial Durbin model to research the impact of the digital economy on the environment and its spatiotemporal characteristics. We found that the digital economy has a significant positive impact on the environmental effects of the region, and also has a positive spatial overflow. This conclusion still holds after robustness test and endogenous treatment (changing the space weight matrix, applying the instrumental variables, and two-stage least-squares method). Second, we found that environmental effects of the digital economy have a time lag, and the lag decreases gradually over time. Third, we used geographically and temporally weighted regression model and K-means clustering, which shows that digital economy has a strong effect on the environment in western region. The western region may need to increase digital infrastructure construction to achieve better environmental effects. In addition, China needs to upgrade its industrial structure as soon as possible, accelerate technological innovation, and advocate a green lifestyle, so as to realize the coordinated development of human beings and nature., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Rotary friction welding (RFW) could result in lower welding temperature, energy consumption, or environmental effects as compared with fusion welding processes. RFW is a green manufacturing technology with little environmental pollution in the field of joining methods. Thus, RFW is widely employed to manufacture green products. In general, the welding quality of welded parts, such as tensile strength, bending strength, and surface hardness is affected by the peak temperature in the weld joint during the RFW of dissimilar plastic rods. However, hitherto little is known about the domain knowledge of RFW of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) polymer rods. To prevent random efforts and energy consumption, a green method to predict the peak temperature in the weld joint of dissimilar RFW of ABS and PC rods was proposed. The main objective of this work is to investigate the peak temperature in the weld joint during the RFW using COMSOL multiphysics software for establishing an empirical technical database of RFW of dissimilar polymer rods under different rotational speeds. The main findings include that the peak temperature affecting the mechanical properties of RFW of PC and ABS can be determined by the simulation model proposed in this work. The average error of predicting the peak temperature using COMSOL software for five different rotational speeds is about 15 °C. The mesh element count of 875,688 is the optimal number of meshes for predicting peak temperature in the weld joint. The bending strength of the welded part (y) using peak welding temperature (x) can be predicted by the equation of y = -0.019 x 2 + 5.081x - 200.75 with a correlation coefficient of 0.8857. The average shore A surface hardness, impact energy, and bending strength of the welded parts were found to be increased with increasing the rotational speed of RFW.

The spawning grounds are important areas for the survival and reproduction of aquatic organisms and play an important role in the replenishment of fishery resources. The density of fish larvae in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) was analyzed to establish Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) based on marine environmental factors. Survey data and satellite remote sensing data, including sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and chlorophyll a concentration, from 2014 to 2017 during April-September were analyzed. Results showed that the accuracy of the HSI model based on the larval density and environmental factors was more than 60%, and the distribution trend of HSI was consistent with the distribution trend of larval density. The HSI models constructed based on Arithmetic Mean Model (AMM), Geometric Mean Model (GMM) and Minimum Model (MINM) methods can better predict the spatial-temporal distribution of larvae in the PRE. Among them, the accuracy of the HSI model constructed by the AMM and GMM methods was the highest in April (71%) and September (93%); the accuracy of the HSI model constructed by the MINM method was the highest in June (70%), July (84%) and August (64%). In general, the areas with high HSI values are mainly distributed in the offshore waters of the PRE. The spatial-temporal distribution of larvae in the PRE was influenced by monsoon, Pearl River runoff, Guangdong coastal currents and the invasion of high-salinity seawater from the outer sea.

We describe the influence of seasonal meteorologic variations and rainfall events on Anopheles stephensi mosquito populations during a 40-month surveillance study at a US military base in Djibouti. Focusing surveillance and risk mitigation for An. stephensi mosquitoes when climatic conditions are optimal presents an opportunity for malaria prevention and control in eastern Africa.

Background: Numerous studies have reported declines in semen quality and other markers of male reproductive health. Our previous meta-analysis reported a significant decrease in sperm concentration (SC) and total sperm count (TSC) among men from North America-Europe-Australia (NEA) based on studies published during 1981-2013. At that time, there were too few studies with data from South/Central America-Asia-Africa (SAA) to reliably estimate trends among men from these continents., Objective and Rationale: The aim of this study was to examine trends in sperm count among men from all continents. The broader implications of a global decline in sperm count, the knowledge gaps left unfilled by our prior analysis and the controversies surrounding this issue warranted an up-to-date meta-analysis., Search Methods: We searched PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE to identify studies of human SC and TSC published during 2014-2019. After review of 2936 abstracts and 868 full articles, 44 estimates of SC and TSC from 38 studies met the protocol criteria. Data were extracted on semen parameters (SC, TSC, semen volume), collection year and covariates. Combining these new data with data from our previous meta-analysis, the current meta-analysis includes results from 223 studies, yielding 288 estimates based on semen samples collected 1973-2018. Slopes of SC and TSC were estimated as functions of sample collection year using simple linear regression as well as weighted meta-regression. The latter models were adjusted for predetermined covariates and examined for modification by fertility status (unselected by fertility versus fertile), and by two groups of continents: NEA and SAA. These analyses were repeated for data collected post-2000. Multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine assumptions, including linearity., Outcomes: Overall, SC declined appreciably between 1973 and 2018 (slope in the simple linear model: -0.87 million/ml/year, 95% CI: -0.89 to -0.86; P < 0.001). In an adjusted meta-regression model, which included two interaction terms [time × fertility group (P = 0.012) and time × continents (P = 0.058)], declines were seen among unselected men from NEA (-1.27; -1.78 to -0.77; P < 0.001) and unselected men from SAA (-0.65; -1.29 to -0.01; P = 0.045) and fertile men from NEA (-0.50; -1.00 to -0.01; P = 0.046). Among unselected men from all continents, the mean SC declined by 51.6% between 1973 and 2018 (-1.17: -1.66 to -0.68; P < 0.001). The slope for SC among unselected men was steeper in a model restricted to post-2000 data (-1.73: -3.23 to -0.24; P = 0.024) and the percent decline per year doubled, increasing from 1.16% post-1972 to 2.64% post-2000. Results were similar for TSC, with a 62.3% overall decline among unselected men (-4.70 million/year; -6.56 to -2.83; P < 0.001) in the adjusted meta-regression model. All results changed only minimally in multiple sensitivity analyses., Wider Implications: This analysis is the first to report a decline in sperm count among unselected men from South/Central America-Asia-Africa, in contrast to our previous meta-analysis that was underpowered to examine those continents. Furthermore, data suggest that this world-wide decline is continuing in the 21st century at an accelerated pace. Research on the causes of this continuing decline and actions to prevent further disruption of male reproductive health are urgently needed., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)