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Identification and Quantitation of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment and Their Human Exposure Risks

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2022) | Viewed by 10877

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hongkai Zhu

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Guest Editor

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
Interests: emerging contaminants; biomonitoring; exposure assessment; bio-availability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Adela Jing Li

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Guest Editor

School of Resources and Environment South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: human exposure; environmental analysis; ecotoxicology

Prof. Dr. Jingchuan Xue

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: emerging organic pollutants; gut microbiome; environmental exposure; metabolomics; exposome

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

People use chemical-based products each day. It is estimated that there are more than 150,000 human-made chemicals on the market, with another 2000 added to the market annually. A large percentage of these synthetic chemicals have never been assessed until they are reported to have adverse effects on the ecological environment and human health. A phenomenon often occurs, i.e., one toxic chemical is replaced with compound that is later also found to be toxic, therefore another problem. In addition, the majority of these synthetic chemicals are primarily utilized as additives rather than reactive, and they are not firmly bonded with host products, which means they can get released into the environment by volatilization, abrasion, and leaching. Human exposure to these toxicants may occur through the following pathways: inhalation, ingestion, or dermal. A study found that on average we have around 700 synthetic chemicals in our body that are not a natural part of the human body chemistry, which are believed to be a big part of the explanation for many human chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infertility, and even various cancers.

The aim of this Special Issue on “Identification and quantitation of emerging contaminants in the environment and their human exposure risks” is to publish high-quality papers of original research or review articles addressing, but not limited to, the following topics: (i) identification of emerging contaminants, or contaminants with emerging concern, in the environment via targeted and untargeted mass spectrometric approaches. Emerging contaminants include, but are not limited to: pharmaceutical and personal products, hormones and endocrine disruptors, flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds, nanoparticles, disinfection by-products, and pesticides; (ii) quantitation of their behaviours including source, migration, transformation, and bioconcentration in the environment by using monitoring studies; and (iii) biomonitoring and epidemiological studies with regard to emerging contaminants in populations, especially children and pregnant women, and the relationships between their exposure and adverse outcomes and potential pathophysiologic mechanisms.

Dr. Hongkai Zhu
Prof. Dr. Adela Jing Li
Prof. Dr. Jingchuan Xue
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

emerging contaminants
environmental behaviours
monitoring study
biomonitoring study
epidemiological study
human exposure risk assessment
external exposure routes
internal exposure dose
targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1010 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Method for the Analysis of Glyphosate, Aminomethylphosphonic Acid, and Glufosinate in Human Urine Using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

by Zhong-Min Li and Kurunthachalam Kannan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(9), 4966; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094966 - 19 Apr 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3640

Abstract

The extensive use of herbicides, such as glyphosate and glufosinate, in crop production during recent decades has raised concerns about human exposure. Nevertheless, analysis of trace levels of these herbicides in human biospecimens has been challenging. Here, we describe a method for the determination of urinary glyphosate, its degradation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), and glufosinate using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). The method was optimized using isotopically labelled internal standards (¹³C₂, ¹⁵N-glyphosate, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, D₂-AMPA, and D₃-glufosinate) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) with cation-exchange and anion-exchange cartridges. The method provides excellent chromatographic retention, resolution and peak shape of target analytes without the need for strong acidic mobile phases and derivatization steps. The instrument linearity was in the range of 0.1–100 ng/mL, with R > 0.99 in the matrix for all analytes. The method detection limits (MDLs) and the method quantification limits (MQLs) were in the ranges of 0.12 (AMPA and glufosinate)–0.14 (glyphosate) ng/mL and 0.40 (AMPA)–0.48 (glyphosate) ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries of analytes spiked into urine matrix ranged from 79.1% to 119%, with coefficients of variation (CVs) of 4–10%. Repeated analysis of samples for over 2 weeks showed intra-day and inter-day analytical variations of 3.13–10.8% and 5.93–12.9%, respectively. The matrix effects for glyphosate, AMPA, and glufosinate spiked into urine matrix averaged −14.4%, 13.2%, and 22.2%, respectively. The method was further validated through the analysis of external quality assurance proficiency test (PT) urine samples. The method offers optimal sensitivity, accuracy, and precision for the urine-based assessment of human exposure to glyphosate, AMPA, and glufosinate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identification and Quantitation of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment and Their Human Exposure Risks)

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13 pages, 1489 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations of Dietary Intake with Urinary Melamine and Derivative Concentrations among Children in the GAPPS Cohort

by Melissa M. Melough, Drew B. Day, Amanda M. Fretts, Sarah Wang, Joseph T. Flynn, Ian H. de Boer, Hongkai Zhu, Kurunthachalam Kannan and Sheela Sathyanarayana

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(9), 4964; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094964 - 19 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1963

Abstract

Melamine is a nephrotoxic industrial chemical. Diet is one source of melamine exposure, yet little work has examined the main dietary contributors, particularly among children. We evaluated associations of diet with urinary melamine and derivative concentrations among 123 children aged 4–6 years in the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth cohort. Children’s diets on the day preceding urine collection were assessed using 24-h dietary recalls. Associations of meat, fruit, and grain intakes with melamine exposure were examined using multiple linear regression. Remaining food groups were examined in secondary analyses. Mean (SD) melamine, ammelide, and cyanuric acid concentrations were 6.1 (12.4), 1.9 (2.1), and 60.6 (221.2) ng/mL, respectively. The second tertile of red meat consumers had 98% (95% CI: 15%, 241%) greater melamine exposure than non-consumers, yet the highest consumers did not have increased exposure. Greater consumption of certain fruits was associated with lower urinary ammelide. The top yogurt consumers had 112% (95% CI: 29%, 247%) greater melamine exposure than non-consumers. Consumption of starchy vegetables excluding potatoes was associated with 139% (95% CI: 6%, 437%) greater urinary ammelide. These observed associations should be confirmed in future studies using larger samples and increased monitoring of non-dietary routes of exposure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identification and Quantitation of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment and Their Human Exposure Risks)

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Review

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30 pages, 8891 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Critical Review on Artificial Intelligence—Based Microplastics Imaging Technology: Recent Advances, Hot-Spots and Challenges

by Yan Zhang, Dan Zhang and Zhenchang Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 1150; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021150 - 9 Jan 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4189

Abstract

Due to the rapid artificial intelligence technology progress and innovation in various fields, this research aims to use science mapping tools to comprehensively and objectively analyze recent advances, hot-spots, and challenges in artificial intelligence-based microplastic-imaging field from the Web of Science (2019–2022). By text mining and visualization in the scientific literature we emphasized some opportunities to bring forward further explication and analysis by (i) exploring efficient and low-cost automatic quantification methods in the appearance properties of microplastics, such as shape, size, volume, and topology, (ii) investigating microplastics water-soluble synthetic polymers and interaction with other soil and water ecology environments via artificial intelligence technologies, (iii) advancing efficient artificial intelligence algorithms and models, even including intelligent robot technology, (iv) seeking to create and share robust data sets, such as spectral libraries and toxicity database and co-operation mechanism, (v) optimizing the existing deep learning models based on the readily available data set to balance the related algorithm performance and interpretability, (vi) facilitating Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology coupled with artificial intelligence technologies and data sets in the mass quantities of microplastics. Our major findings were that the research of artificial intelligence methods to revolutionize environmental science was progressing toward multiple cross-cutting areas, dramatically increasing aspects of the ecology of plastisphere, microplastics toxicity, rapid identification, and volume assessment of microplastics. The above findings can not only determine the characteristics and track of scientific development, but also help to find suitable research opportunities to carry out more in-depth research with many problems remaining. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Identification and Quantitation of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment and Their Human Exposure Risks)

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