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The field of ecological environment health is developing continuously in our country, and it has already formed a well-developed education system and curriculum chain. However, it still lacks an experimental teaching system in laboratories to match the theoretical education in classrooms. Such a lack brings challenges in educating professionals integrated with innovative spirits and practical abilities. Caenorhabditis elegans has solid biological background information and is a model organism in the fields of life science and ecological environmental health. An experimental teaching system is established with C. elegans in the present study. It includes preparation of culture medium, microscopic observation, individual development, reproduction, total protein contents, enzyme activities and also gene expression levels. The overall contents strongly match the theoretical contents in microbiology, biochemistry, environmental toxicology and ecological toxicology. The experimental teaching system can improve the students' capacities in practical operation and experimental design, which will pave ways for their innovative spirits and practical abilities to solve scientific problems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionic liquids (ILs) belong to emerging pollutants, and their hormesis earned particular attentions on their ecological impacts at low concentrations with long-term exposure. As one representative IL, N-ethylpyridinium bromide ([epyr]Br) was chosen as the target chemical. Its reproductive toxicities on Caenorhabditis elegans were determined with multi- and trans-generational exposure arrangements, and effects on the metabolites and enzyme activities in lipid metabolism were explored to elucidate the mechanisms. In the multi-generational exposure over 11 consecutive generations, [epyr]Br at 0.53 mg⋅L-1 caused stimulation on the reproduction in F1, F2, F3, F7, F8, F9 and F10, and provoked inhibition in F6 and F11. At 53 mg⋅L-1, it caused greater inhibitions in more generations than at 0.53 mg⋅L-1. In the trans-generational influences, [epyr]Br at both concentrations caused significant residual inhibition in the first non-exposed offspring of F1 (i.e., T3). Meanwhile, the residual effects of [epyr]Br exposure at the low concentration in the first non-exposed offspring of F11 (i.e., T3') showed stimulation, and those at the high did not show significant residual effects. The effects of [epyr]Br on the lipid metabolites, e.g., triacylglycerol (TG) and acetyl-CoA (ACA), and those on the activities of enzymes, e.g., glycerol-3-phosphate acyltrans-ferases (GPAT) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT), also showed oscillation between stimulation and inhibition over generations. Moreover, close relationships were found among the effects of [epyr]Br on the bio-indicators and also between the biochemical effects and the reproductive toxicities with influences by the exposure concentrations. In T3 and T3', [epyr] also showed significant residual effects on the biochemical indicators. Summing up, the reproductive toxicities of [epyr]Br in multi-generational exposure scenario and the residual effects in the trans-generational scenario were closely connected to effects on the lipid metabolism with influences by exposure concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, nano porous materials NiCuCoMn@TMOs were prepared by melt-spining and chemical delloying methods, and R-NiCuCoMn@TMOs were further prepared through heat treatment. The characterization of the material was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrochemical performance testing of the electrodes was tested. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, R-NiCuCoMn@TMOs has a high capacity (394.9 mAh/g) at a current density of 0.1 A/g and exhibits an excellent capacity retention of 97.53% after 200 cycles. The material after heat treatment has the more abundant vacancies, lower charge transfer resistance (38 Ω) and better rate capability (with a specific capacity of 141.1 mAh/g at a current density of 2 A/g). Unique nano porous structure provides rich active site for reaction. The synergetic effect of multiple metal cations with different radius, valence states and reaction potentials makes R-NiCuCoMn@TMOs have a good volume tolerance to accommodate the volume change during the lithium-deintercalation process, and display a superior electrochemical performance. In addition, the raw material reserves of the electrode material are abundant, the price is low, and it is easy to realize mass production. This work provides a new idea for simple multielement transition metal oxide anode materials designing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic chlorine pesticides (OCPs) and antibiotics represent persistent organic pollutants and emerging pollutants, respectively. They can coexist in various environmental matrix, while their combined effects were seldom explored. Lindane was chosen to represent OCPs, and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TET) were chosen to represent antibiotics. The present study focused on the influences on tumor migration which is essential for both carcinogenesis and cancer treatment and aimed to explore the effects of the binary mixtures on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The individual effects showed that lindane significantly enhanced the tumor migration from the eye and brain of the larvae to the ventral nerve cord (VNC) in the concentration range of 40 -100 ng-g-1( P<0.05). SMX enhanced the tumor migration at the highest concentration of 400 ng-g-1, while TET increased the tumor migration from 600 to 1 000 ng-g-1 with a concentration-dependence. The binary mixtures were designed by direct equipartition method. The binary mixtures that contained lindane and SMX or TET significantly enhanced the tumor migration, with a dependence on the lindane-s concentrations. Compared with the predicted effects by independent action (IA) model, the binary mixtures showed synergistic toxicity interactions. Determination on the antioxidant responses showed that, lindane, SMX, TET and the binary mixtures commonly increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) while decreased glutathione (GSH). The effects of binary mixtures containing lindane and SMX on tumor migration were negatively correlated with their influences on catalase (CAT) activities, while such correlation was not observed in the effects of mixtures containing lindane and TET. Such difference was attributed to the different effects of SMX and TET on the antioxidants. Moreover, the effects of binary mixtures containing lindane and SMX, and those containing lindane and TET showed different hierarchical clustering positions. The effects of binary mixtures containing lindane and SMX on tumor migration were closely connected with both ROS and superoxide dismutase (SOD), while those of binary mixtures containing lindane and TET were closely connected with ROS. Such differences supported the attribution to the individual effects of SMX or TET on the antioxidants and also indicated that the antibiotic types can influence the toxicity mechanism of the binary mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]