The Effects Of Heavy Metal Decontamination Of Sluil

vulgaris plants, via the formation of a standard curve prepared using varying concentrations of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. Following absorbance readings of the various BSA solutions, they were plotted against their concentrations providing an indirect measure for determining protein concentrations of the plant samples within the assay tubes, and through further calculations the sample protein concentration. The mean protein concentration for the control group was calculated to be 3.34 ± 1.30 mg/mL, while the mean treated group concentration was 2.01 ± 1.26 mg/mL. These results similarly like the chlorophyll results correlate with the literature articles, as a reduced protein content within the Paraquat treated plants can be expected to some extent (Chia et al., 1981). This reduction in protein concentration is the result of those superoxide anions produced by Paraquat, disrupting the chloroplast membranes and allowing for intracellular components including some proteins to leak out, hence the decrease in protein concentration in comparison to the non-treated plants (Qian et al., 2009). A slight outlier may exist within the treated groups protein concentrations as one of the groups provided a negative value for protein concentration which is not valid, but even after exclusion of that data value, results are still supportive of the expected outcome. Though these results support the claim of Paraquat toxicity causing membrane deterioration and leakiness, protein concentration values are rather more purposeful when used to analyze malondialdehyde (MDA) values on per mg of protein

Bioremediators need to be able to grow in order to remediate the soil of pollutants. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the presence of Stropharia rugoso-annulata in the soil will support and accelerate the growth of ryegrass in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. If the growth of the ryegrass is accelerated and supported, the combination of the two bioremediators could potentially accelerate the degradation of PAHs in the soil. Techniques such as soil washing, soil flushing, vitrification, etc., exist to remediate contaminated soil. Although, these techniques are effective, they also disturb the natural environment to some degree. Bioremediation is often accomplished in situ resulting in minimal environmental disturbance. This study is being performed because healthy soil is a limited resource that needs to be preserved and replenished. The state of soil can impact the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems, therefore, it’s important to be able to monitor and control the pollutants in

Most people are surprised to learn that their bodies are contaminated with heavy metals. This is a little-known problem that has grown into a widespread issue. There are many different ways your body becomes contaminated with heavy metals, such as through the type of cookware you use, the tap water you drink and the fillings you have in your teeth. Fortunately, there are natural ways to cleanse your body of these harmful toxins, such as with chlorella. This is an algae found in nature and is oftentimes used in integrative medicine by naturopathic doctors in Arizona.

Another common remediation technique is stabilization or solidification which aims to alter the contaminants into a less soluble or mobile form (Wuana and Okieimen, 2011; Mulligan, Yong, and Gibbs, 2001; United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1991). In both methods water and a site-specific chemical solution is mixed into the soil to either alter its physical - make it less soluble - or chemical - reduce mobility - properties to make it less likely that the contaminants will move into other locations or be inhaled (Wuana and Okieimen, 2011; Mulligan, Yong, and Gibbs, 2001). Chemical treatment can also fall under the umbrella term of stabilization. Chemical treatment is add chemical solutions to the soil to detoxify the soil and can be used as a pre-treatment for other techniques such as solidification (Wuana and Okieimen, 2011; Mulligan, Yong, and Gibbs, 2001). These techniques are typically preferred due to lower costs but other physical elements of the soil, such as boulders, can make mixing the soil difficult and the process can volatilize and release volatile compounds (Mulligan, Yong, and Gibbs, 2001; United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1991). Mobility of contaminants can also be reduced by using the technique of vitrification through the process of heating up the soil (Wuana and Okieimen, 2011; United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1991). This method results

Available resources during this course includes two textbooks; “Introduction to ecotoxicology,” and “A textbook of modern toxicology.” Additional resources include various videos, complimentary transcripts to the videos, supplemental readings, the UOP online Library, and web searches.

During rain events, a combination of contaminants from roadways, parking lots, manufacturing facilities and industrial sites enter storm drains [2]. This runoff is a major contributor to oil contamination in public water domains and if left untreated, it leads to greater pollution of our oceans, lakes, and rivers. Runoff can also contain heavy metals, such as potassium (K + ) , zinc (Zn 2+ ), lead (Pb 2+ ), copper (Cu 2+ ), and chromium (Cr 3+ ), all of which in large quantities are extremely toxic to biological environments [3]. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Clean Water Act (CWA) 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 122 indicates that facilities are required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems

Currently, knowledge of factors, whether from soils or plants, controlling Pb uptake into food crops from soils is inadequate to reliably predict Pb contamination levels in crops (Clemens and Ma, 2016; McGrath and Zhao, 2015; Sharma and Dubey, 2005; Zhao et al., 2004). Specifically, the total Pb concentration in vegetables and soils are poorly correlated under field conditions (Ding et al., 2016; Legind and Trapp, 2010;

Mixed contamination of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) is a major environmental and human health concern. The mixture toxicity data on these co-contaminants are important for their risk assessment. In this study, we have determined the mixture toxicity of As, Cd and Pb and B[a]P with As, Cd or Pb in HepG2 cells. The binary mixtures of Cd + As, Cd + Pb and As + Pb and B[a]P + metals (B[a]P + As, B[a]P + Cd and B[a]P + Pb) were evaluated for their interaction on the cytotoxicity using the MTS assay. A full factorial design (4 × 5) was used to determine the interaction toxicity and all the six mixtures showed significant interaction on the cytotoxicity. We further investigated the role of oxidative stress (reactive

Currently, the environmental pollution is becoming a significant issue which caused by factories waste and nuclear waste. This pollution has increased around the world since the wide application of nuclear energy in 20th century. The harmful substances in factories wastes like toxic materials can dissolve easily in water and this leads to negative effects on lives. There are many resources of these substances such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which contain hydrogen, carbon and chlorine, pesticides, ammonium and dioxins. According to Mole (2015) many researchers found that ammonium and iodide have high levels in many waste water sample in the New York and Arkansas. The most popular process used to remove toxic metals from wastewater

Chemical elements can cause harmful effects on human health due to the use of plants that are grown in contaminated soil. Through bioaccumulation, over plants that absorb an element from the soil, elements enter into the food chain and shall be deposited in the human body. Root system in plants plays an important role in the distribution of elements from the soil through the plant. Elevated pH values can affect the lack of accessible forms of specific nutritious elements. The value of pH has a decisive influence on the dynamics of all the elements in the soil, especially micro elements and heavy metals. In the acidic environment the solubility of metals increases, they cross to the solution of the soil from which the plant adopted them, which can lead to greater adoption of these elements by plants. The increase in soil acidity reduces the amount of plant available phosphorus, which by binding to iron and aluminum becomes difficult soluble phosphates (Resulović, Čustović 2002) Also, there is a more intensive adoption of manganese and its toxic effects on

Chronic cadmium poisoning can result in nephrotoxicity, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, testicular necrosis, prostatic and testicular cancers, renal failure and neurodegenerative conditions (Yu et al., 2007). Moreover, it was reported that spermatogenesis is disturbed by free radical toxicity (Aruldhas et al., 2005) . It depletes many essential metal antioxidants including selenium in the body (Sato and Takizawa, 1982). Apparently, its exposure results in decreases of glutathione (GSH) levels which causes an increase in reactive oxygen species leading to increase in lipid peroxidation, change intercellular stability, damage deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), membranes and consequently inducing cell death (Stohs et al., 2000). The metal accumulates in human body affecting negatively several organs: liver, kidney, lungs, bones, placenta, brain and central nervous system (Castro-González and Méndez-Armenta, 2008). Therefore, the maximum concentration limit for cadmium (II) ions in drinking water must be strictly regulated. The World Health Organization (WHO), set a maximum guideline concentration of 0.003 mg/L for cadmium (II) in drinking water (WHO, 2008). Hence, there is great interest regarding the removal of cadmium from wastewater streams.

Among the different biological methods, bioaccumulation and biosorption have been demonstrated to possess good potential for the removal of metals (Volesky and Holan, 1995; Malik, 2004). Biosorption possesses certain inherent advantages over bioaccumulation processes, which are listed in Table 1. Bioaccumulation is the phenomenon of uptake of toxicants by living cells; whereas, biosorption mechanism is the passive uptake of toxicants by dead/inactive biological materials. Both living and dead microbial biomass are able to uptake metal ions and offer potential economical alternative to conventional absorbents (Knorr D, 1991; Khoo K M and Ting Y P,

Along with this finding, they also found that copper was accumulating in the leaves over the roots (Upadhyay and Panda, 2009) and studies have shown that copper may also affect the photosynthetic process. According to Lombardi and Sebastiani, excess copper can induce oxygen-related stress, which leads to damages of RNA and DNA in plants. Biochemical processes are interrupted by reactive oxygen leading to damage to macromolecules, negatively affecting the electron transport chain and also damaging the thylakoid membrane, which is a site for photosynthesis (Lomardi and Sebastiani, 2005). Minimal Risk Levels (MRL) are estimates for the dosage of toxic substances that give a likely chance of having adverse effects on humans over a period of time (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2004). The minimal risk level for acute copper toxicity over 1-14 days is 0.01 mg per kilogram of weight per day. Acute copper toxicity affects primarily the gastrointestinal system, causing minor symptoms such as nausea and vomiting (Stern, 2010). There is not sufficient data to construct a minimal risk level for chronic copper toxicity since it takes years to develop (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2004). Chronic copper toxicity in humans is a rare occurrence that causes liver damage, which can lead to cirrhosis (Fraga, 2005; Gaetke and Chow, 2003). Approximately 10-20 mg of copper taken orally will kill an adult if left untreated.

Beside the natural activities, almost all human activities also have potential contribution to Arsenic contamination in the environment as side effects occurs in many parts of the world and is a global problem. In many areas As level has crossed the safe threshold level. Large-scale groundwater pollution by geogenic arsenic (As) in West-Bengal and Bangladesh has recently promoted this element into an environmental pollutant of prime concern. Epidemiological studies have documented various adverse effects on the human population. Arsenic contaminated soils, sediments, and sludge are the major sources of arsenic contamination of the food chain, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water (WT Frankenberger & Arshad, 2002). Other potential sources of arsenic contamination are the chemicals used extensively in agriculture as pesticides, insecticides, defoliants, wood preservatives, and soil sterilants (AZCUE & NRIAGU, 1994). Currently available techniques for the remediation of As contaminated soil are very expensive and time-consuming, often hazardous to workers, and capable of producing secondary wastes (LOMBI, ZHAO, DUNHAM, & MCGRATH, 2000). Phytoextraction, the use of green plants to clean up contaminated soil, has attracted attention as an environmentally- friendly, low-input remediation technique. It uses plants that extract heavy metals from the soil and accumulate it in the harvestable, above ground biomass.

As opposed to depending on organisms and their flexibility in achieving bioremediation of polluted environments, plants either alone or in combination with microorganisms have been used for this reason. The idea of utilizing plants to help with the cleanup of contaminated ecosystems is not new. About 300 years ago, plants were proposed for utilization in the treatment of waste water. Vegetation-based bioremediation shows potential for aggregating, immobilizing and changing a low level of persistent contaminants (Rayu et al., 2012). The phytoremediation approach has several advantages including decreased expense, public acceptance and in particular the capacity of simultaneous evacuation of organic and inorganic contaminants. Phytoremediation might additionally be utilized as a last cleaning venture in combination with other microorganism driven treatment technologies, a technique called microbe-assisted phytoremediation. Regardless of its positive aspects, the commercial application of phytoremediation is slow. According to experts (Rayu et al., 2012), this is because of the following limitations: (1) lack of or slow development of plants at polluted locations which results into low viability of phytoremediation, (2) the proficiency is constrained by the diminished capacity of plants to enter in the soil through their root system and access the hazardous wastes, (3) the time needed for viable phytoremediation is frequently long with