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Environmental pollution is a global problem, while bioremediation technology removes pollutants from the environment using microorganisms. This study was aimed at investigating how a bioremediation process affected soil humification. In soil polluted with petroleum and its derivatives that was submitted to bioremediation, besides the total petroleum hydrocarbons and the number of microorganisms, quantitative and qualitative changes of isolated humic acids were determined during the process. The bioremediation of 150 m³ of polluted soil lasted 150 days. The level of total petroleum hydrocarbons decreased by 86.6 %, while the level of humic acids increased by 26.5 %. The elemental analysis showed the reduction of C and the H/C ratio and the increase of O and the O/C ratio of isolated humic acids during the process. The ratio of absorbencies at 465 and 665 nm also increased. Based on this and the Fourier-transform infrared spectra, it was shown that the humic acids isolated at the end of bioremediation were enriched with oxygen functional groups and aromatic structures. This study provides one of the first insights into the relationship between bioremediation and humification, as well as evidence of how hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms have a significant influence on changes to humic acid structure during bioremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human milk is a biofluid with a unique composition among mammalian milks. Besides this milk's major components, its bioactive compounds, like hormones, immune factors, and oligosaccharides, are unique and important for infant growth and development. The best form of nutrition for term and preterm infants is the mother's own milk. However, in the absence of the mother's own milk, donor milk should be made available. Milk banks support neonatal intensive care units by providing preterm infants with human milk that generally has reasonable nutritive value for this sensitive population. However, neither mother's own milk nor donor milk has sufficient energy content for the growth of preterm babies, so adequate human milk supplementation is crucial for their progress. Due to the different characteristics of human breast milk, as well as ubiquitous environmental pollutants, such as microplastics, new methods are required for monitoring the quality and characteristics of human milk, which will lay a solid foundation for the further development and progress of human milk research.