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Environmental Geochemistry and Health May 2023South Pars Industrial Energy Zone, located in the southwest of Iran along the Persian Gulf coast, encompasses many industrial units in the vicinity of urban areas. This...
Spatial distribution, sources identification, and health risk assessment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds and polychlorinated biphenyl compounds in total suspended particulates (TSP) in the air of South Pars Industrial region-Iran.
South Pars Industrial Energy Zone, located in the southwest of Iran along the Persian Gulf coast, encompasses many industrial units in the vicinity of urban areas. This research study investigated the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on human health and the environment. Suspended particulate matters (SPM) in the air sampled, in summer and winter 2019, from ten stations next to industrial units and residential areas. The samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Spatial distribution maps of pollutants in the region were prepared using GIS software. The highest carcinogenic risk due to PAHs and PCBs measured as ([Formula: see text]) and ([Formula: see text], respectively. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency limit ([Formula: see text]), the cancer risks from PAH compounds were significant and need further investigation. The PCB cancer risks were within acceptable ranges. The highest adsorption ratios for PAHs were obtained through skin and PCBs by ingestion. The maximum measured non-carcinogenic hazard indexes (HI) turned out to be 0.037 and 0.023 for PAH and PCB, respectively, and were reported as acceptable risks. The predominant source of PAH in industrial areas was liquid fossil combustion, and in urban areas replaced by coal-wood-sugarcane combustion. Petrochemical complexes, flares, power plants (69%), electric waste disposal sites, and commercial pigments (31%) were reported as PCB sources. Industries activities were the most effective factors in producing the highest level of carcinogenic compounds in the region, and it is necessary to include essential measures in the reform programs.
Topics: Humans; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Polycyclic Compounds; Biphenyl Compounds; Environmental Monitoring; Iran; Dust; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Carcinogens; Neoplasms; Coal; Risk Assessment; Carcinogenesis; Air Pollutants
PubMed: 35567675
DOI: 10.1007/s10653-022-01286-w -
Microbial Ecology Oct 2023Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are recognized as persistent organic pollutants and accumulate in organisms, soils, waters, and sediments, causing major health and...
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are recognized as persistent organic pollutants and accumulate in organisms, soils, waters, and sediments, causing major health and ecological perturbations. Literature reported PCB bio-transformation by fungi and bacteria in vitro, but data about the in situ impact of those compounds on microbial communities remained scarce while being useful to guide biotransformation assays. The present work investigated for the first time microbial diversity from the three-domains-of-life in a long-term contaminated brownfield (a former factory land). Soil samples were ranked according to their PCB concentrations, and a significant increase in abundance was shown according to increased concentrations. Microbial communities structure showed a segregation from the least to the most PCB-polluted samples. Among the identified microorganisms, Bacteria belonging to Gammaproteobacteria class, as well as Fungi affiliated to Saccharomycetes class or Pleurotaceae family, including some species known to transform some PCBs were abundantly retrieved in the highly polluted soil samples.
Topics: Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Soil Pollutants; Biodegradation, Environmental; Soil Microbiology; Bacteria; Soil
PubMed: 36646913
DOI: 10.1007/s00248-022-02161-y -
International Journal of Environmental... Dec 2021Dietary acid load (DAL) may be associated with all-cause mortality (ACM) and breast cancer-specific mortality (BCM), and these associations may be modified by serum...
Dietary acid load (DAL) may be associated with all-cause mortality (ACM) and breast cancer-specific mortality (BCM), and these associations may be modified by serum polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels. Participants included 519 women diagnosed with first primary in situ or invasive breast cancer in 1996/1997 with available lipid-corrected PCB data. After a median of 17 years, there were 217 deaths (73 BCM). Potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP) scores calculated from a baseline food frequency questionnaire estimated DAL. Cox regression estimated covariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between PRAL and NEAP with mortality. We evaluated effect measure modification by total serum PCB levels (>median vs. ≤median). PRAL quartile 4 versus quartile 1 was associated with an ACM HR of 1.31 (95%CI = 0.90-1.92). In the upper median of PCBs, ACM HRs were 1.43 (95%CI = 0.96-2.11) and 1.40 (95%CI = 0.94-2.07) for PRAL and NEAP upper medians, respectively. In the lower median of PCBs, the upper median of NEAP was inversely associated with BCM (HR = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.19-0.85). DAL may be associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality following breast cancer among women with high total serum PCB levels, but inversely associated with breast cancer mortality among women with low PCB levels.
Topics: Acids; Breast Neoplasms; Diet; Female; Humans; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Proportional Hazards Models
PubMed: 35010632
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19010374 -
Reproductive Toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) Jun 2023The gut microbiota plays an important role throughout the lifespan in maintaining host health, and several factors can modulate microbiota composition including diet,...
The gut microbiota plays an important role throughout the lifespan in maintaining host health, and several factors can modulate microbiota composition including diet, exercise, and environmental exposures. Maternal microbiota is transferred to offspring during early life; thus, environmental exposures before gestation may also modulate offspring microbiota. Here we aimed to investigate the effects of maternal exposure to dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on the microbiota of aged offspring and to determine if lifestyle factors, including maternal exercise or offspring high-fat feeding alter these associations. To test this, dams were exposed to PCB 126 (0.5 μmole/kg body weight) or vehicle oil by oral gavage during preconception, gestation, and during lactation. Half of each group was allowed access to running wheels for ≥ 7 days before and during pregnancy and up through day 14 of lactation. Female offspring born from the 4 maternal groups (PCB exposure or not, with/without exercise) were subsequently placed either on regular diet or switched to a high-fat diet during adulthood. Microbiota composition was quantified in female offspring at 49 weeks of age by 16 S rRNA sequencing. Maternal exposure to PCB 126 resulted in significantly reduced richness and diversity in offspring microbiota regardless of diet or exercise. Overall compositional differences were largely driven by offspring diet, but alterations in specific taxa due to maternal PCB 126 exposure, included the depletion of Verrucomicrobiaceae and Akkermansia muciniphila, and an increase in Anaeroplasma. Perturbation of microbiota due to PCB 126 may predispose offspring to a variety of chronic diseases later in adulthood.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Aged; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Maternal Exposure; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Diet, High-Fat; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
PubMed: 37061048
DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2023.108384 -
Environmental Research Aug 2020Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in electrical equipment and a range of construction materials. Although banned in the United States and most of Europe in the...
BACKGROUND
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in electrical equipment and a range of construction materials. Although banned in the United States and most of Europe in the 1970s, they are highly persistent in the environment and bioaccumulate. Whether PCBs are associated with liver cancer risk at general population levels is unknown.
METHODS
This study consisted of 136 incident liver cancer cases and 408 matched controls from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Multiphasic Health Checkup (MHC) cohort and 84 cases and 252 matched controls from the Norwegian Janus cohort. Sera collected in the 1960s-1980s were measured for 37 PCB congeners and markers of hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) infection. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for tertiles of each lipid-adjusted PCB were estimated from conditional logistic regression. We also examined the molar sum of congeners in groups: total PCBs; low, medium, and high chlorination; and Wolff functional groups.
RESULTS
Concentrations of individual congeners from the 1960s/1970s sera ranged from 1.3-123.0 and 1.4-116.0 ng/g lipid among MHC cases and controls, respectively, and from 1.9-258.0 and 1.9-271.0 ng/g lipid among Janus cases and controls, respectively. Among MHC participants with sera from the 1960s, collected an average of 27 years before diagnosis among cases, the top tertile of PCBs 151, 170, 172, 177, 178, 180, and 195 was significantly associated with elevated odds of liver cancer (OR range = 2.01-2.38); most of these congeners demonstrated exposure-response trends. For example, OR = 2.38 (95% CI: 1.22-4.64, p-trend = 0.01) for PCB 180. As a group, Wolff group 1b congeners, which are biologically persistent and weak phenobarbital inducers, were associated with increased odds. In MHC participants, ever vs. never HBV or HCV infection modified the PCB-liver cancer associations. There was little evidence of an association between PCBs and odds of liver cancer among the Janus cohort.
DISCUSSION
We observed associations between a number of PCB congeners and increased odds of liver cancer among MHC, but not Janus, participants with sera from the 1960s/1970s.
Topics: Case-Control Studies; Environmental Pollutants; Europe; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Norway; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Prospective Studies
PubMed: 32474310
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109690 -
The Journal of Biological Chemistry 2021Polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs) continue to contaminate food chains globally where they concentrate in tissues and disrupt the endocrine systems of species throughout...
Polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs) continue to contaminate food chains globally where they concentrate in tissues and disrupt the endocrine systems of species throughout the ecosphere. Hydroxylated PCBs (OH-PCBs) are major PCB metabolites and high-affinity inhibitors of human estrogen sulfotransferase (SULT1E1), which sulfonates estrogens and thus prevents them from binding to and activating their receptors. OH-PCB inhibition of SULT1E1 is believed to contribute significantly to PCB-based endocrine disruption. Here, for the first time, the molecular basis of OH-PCB inhibition of SULT1E1 is revealed in a structure of SULT1E1 in complex with OH-PCB1 (4'-OH-2,6-dichlorobiphenol) and its substrates, estradiol (E2), and PAP (3'-phosphoadenosine-5-phosphosulfate). OH-PCB1 prevents catalysis by intercalating between E2 and catalytic residues and establishes a new E2-binding site whose E2 affinity and positioning are greater than and competitive with those of the reactive-binding pocket. Such complexes have not been observed previously and offer a novel template for the design of high-affinity inhibitors. Mutating residues in direct contact with OH-PCB weaken its affinity without compromising the enzyme's catalytic parameters. These OH-PCB resistant mutants were used in stable transfectant studies to demonstrate that OH-PCBs regulate estrogen receptors in cultured human cell lines by binding the OH-PCB binding pocket of SULT1E1.
Topics: Enzyme Inhibitors; Estrogens; Humans; Hydroxylation; Models, Molecular; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Receptors, Estrogen; Sulfotransferases
PubMed: 33524392
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100353 -
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Aug 2021Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure-response relationships for ecologically relevant endpoints in fish vary greatly whether based on lowest-effect thresholds (Berninger...
Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure-response relationships for ecologically relevant endpoints in fish vary greatly whether based on lowest-effect thresholds (Berninger and Tillitt 2019) or all-response data (sensitivity analyses), which precludes use of a single fitted model per endpoint to predict risk or injury to mixed fish populations. PCB = polychlorinated biphenyl.
Topics: Animals; Fishes; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Reproduction
PubMed: 34291842
DOI: 10.1002/etc.5071 -
Environmental Science & Technology Jun 2022Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), "famous" as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have been managed nationally since the 1970s and globally under the Stockholm...
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), "famous" as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have been managed nationally since the 1970s and globally under the Stockholm Convention on POPs since 2004, requiring environmentally sound management (ESM) of PCBs by 2028. At most, 30% of countries are on track to achieve ESM by 2028. Globally over 10 million tonnes of PCB-containing materials remain, mostly in countries lacking the ability to manage PCB waste. Canada (Ontario) and Czechia, both parties to the Stockholm Convention, are close to achieving the 2028 goal, having reduced their stocks of pure PCBs by 99% in the past 10 years. In contrast, the USA, not a party to the Stockholm Convention, continues to have a substantial but poorly inventoried stock of PCBs and only ∼3% decrease in mass of PCBs since 2006. PCB management, which depends on Stockholm Convention support and national compliance, portends major challenges for POP management. The failure to manage global PCB stocks >30 years after the end of production highlights the urgent need to prioritize reducing production and use of newer, more widely distributed POPs such as chlorinated paraffins and per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, as these management challenges are unlikely to be resolved in the coming decades.
Topics: Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants; Ontario; Paraffin; Polychlorinated Biphenyls
PubMed: 35647669
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c01204 -
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination... Sep 2021Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of highly toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals comprising 209 homologs. PCBs are extensively found in the environment and... (Review)
Review
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of highly toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals comprising 209 homologs. PCBs are extensively found in the environment and can induce typical estrogenic and profound, long-lasting effects on animals. In this article, the introduction of PCB residues into the environment and the pathways of PCB enrichment in animals are described. PCBs are widely deposited and eventually accumulate in human tissues and body fluids through biomagnification. PCBs can significantly decrease animal fertility and interfere with endocrine processes, leading to the development of various diseases and even cancer. The effects of PCBs on the reproductive systems of animals can also be passed to their offspring, indicating that PCBs may affect the epigenetic modification process. There is currently no treatment to effectively inhibit the toxicity of PCBs in organisms; therefore, the severity of PCB toxicity needs to be widely recognized.
Topics: Animals; Bioaccumulation; Endocrine Disruptors; Epigenesis, Genetic; Genitalia; Humans; Polychlorinated Biphenyls
PubMed: 34110444
DOI: 10.1007/s00128-021-03285-6 -
Journal of Hazardous Materials Mar 2023Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) driven by diazotrophs is a major means of increasing available nitrogen (N) in paddy soil, in addition to anthropogenic fertilization....
Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) driven by diazotrophs is a major means of increasing available nitrogen (N) in paddy soil, in addition to anthropogenic fertilization. However, the influence of long-term polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination on the diazotrophic community and nitrogen fixation in paddy soil is poorly understood. In this study, samples were collected from paddy soil subjected to > 30 years of PCB contamination, and the soil diazotrophic community and N fixation rate were evaluated by Illumina MiSeq sequencing and acetylene reduction assays, respectively. The results indicated that high PCB contamination increased diazotrophic abundance and the N fixation rate, and altered diazotrophic community structure in the paddy soil. The random forest model demonstrated that the β-diversity of the diazotrophic community was the most significant predictor of the N fixation rate. Structure equation modeling identified a specialized keystone diazotrophic ecological cluster, predominated by Bradyrhizobium, Desulfomonile, and Cyanobacteria, as the key driver of N fixation. Overall, our findings indicated that long-term PCB contamination enhanced the N fixation rate by altering diazotrophic community abundance and structure, which may deepen our understanding of the ecological function of diazotrophs in organic-contaminated soil.
Topics: Soil; Nitrogen Fixation; Polychlorinated Biphenyls; Soil Microbiology; Nitrogen
PubMed: 36599277
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130697