TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background: A limited number of studies have investigated the role of environmental chemicals in the etiology of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We performed a cross-sectional study of the association between exposure to selected trace elements and the biomarkers of cognitive decline. Methods: During 2019–2021, we recruited 128 newly diagnosed patients with MCI from two Neurology Clinics in Northern Italy, i.e., Modena and Reggio Emilia. At baseline, we measured serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. With immuno-enzymatic assays, we estimated concentrations of β-amyloid 1-40, β-amyloid 1-42, Total Tau and phosphorylated Tau181 proteins, neurofilament light chain (NfL), and the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) to assess cognitive status. We used spline regression to explore the shape of the association between exposure and each endpoint, adjusted for age at diagnosis, educational attainment, MMSE, and sex. Results: In analyses between the serum and CSF concentrations of trace metals, we found monotonic positive correlations between copper and zinc, while an inverse association was observed for cadmium. Serum cadmium concentrations were inversely associated with amyloid ratio and positively associated with Tau proteins. Serum iron concentrations showed the opposite trend, while copper, manganese, and zinc displayed heterogeneous non-linear associations with amyloid ratio and Tau biomarkers. Regarding CSF exposure biomarkers, only cadmium consistently showed an inverse association with amyloid ratio, while iron was positively associated with Tau. Cadmium concentrations in CSF were not appreciably associated with serum NfL levels, while we observed an inverted U-shaped association with CSF NfL, similar to that observed for copper. In CSF, zinc was the only trace element positively associated with NfL at high concentrations. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study, high serum cadmium concentrations were associated with selected biomarkers of cognitive impairment. Findings for the other trace elements were difficult to interpret, showing complex and inconsistent associations with the neurodegenerative endpoints examined.
AU  - Urbano, T.*
AU  - Vinceti, M.*
AU  - Carbone, C.F.*
AU  - Wise, L.A.*
AU  - Malavolti, M.*
AU  - Tondelli, M.*
AU  - Bedin, R.*
AU  - Vinceti, G.*
AU  - Marti, A.*
AU  - Chiari, A.*
AU  - Zamboni, G.*
AU  - Michalke, B.
AU  - Filippini, T.*
C1  - 72938
C2  - 56788
CY  - St Alban-anlage 66, Ch-4052 Basel, Switzerland
TI  - Exposure to cadmium and other trace elements among individuals with mild cognitive impairment.
JO  - Toxics
VL  - 12
IS  - 12
PB  - Mdpi
PY  - 2024
SN  - 2305-6304
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The intensive use of antibiotics (for human, veterinary, and agricultural purposes) has steadily increased over the last 30 years. Large amounts of antibiotic residues are released into aquatic systems, mostly due to inefficient wastewater treatment. Conventional wastewater treatments are not designed to remove emerging contaminants (such as antibiotics) from wastewater. Therefore, algae treatment (phycoremediation) has emerged as a promising choice for cost-effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable wastewater treatment. For this reason, we investigated the removal performance of a well-established algal consortia (Chlorella protothecoides and Chlorella vulgaris) used in passive wastewater treatment ponds (Mosselbay, South Africa). Five antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin, trimethoprim, ofloxacin, and clarithromycin) were selected for their ubiquity and/or low removal efficiency in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For each antibiotic, two concentrations were used: one environmentally relevant (10 ppb) and another 10 times higher (100 ppb), tested in triplicate and collected at two-time points (7 and 10 days). The algae remained viable over the exposure period (which is similar to the retention time within maturation ponds) and exhibited the capacity to remove sulfamethoxazole (77.3% ± 3.0 and 46.5% ± 5.3) and ofloxacin (43.5% ± 18.9 and 55.1% ± 12.0) from samples spiked with 10 and 100 ppb, respectively. This study demonstrates the potential and innovation of algal remediation for contaminants in a developing country context, where minimal infrastructure is available.
AU  - Ndlela, L.L.*
AU  - Schröder, P.
AU  - Genthe, B.*
AU  - Cruzeiro, C.
C1  - 68058
C2  - 54536
CY  - St Alban-anlage 66, Ch-4052 Basel, Switzerland
TI  - Removal of antibiotics using an Algae-Algae consortium (Chlorella protothecoides and Chlorella vulgaris)
JO  - Toxics
VL  - 11
IS  - 7
PB  - Mdpi
PY  - 2023
SN  - 2305-6304
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Anthropogenic activities and industrialization render continuous human exposure to semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) inevitable. Occupational monitoring and safety implementations consider the inhalation exposure of SVOCs as critically relevant. Due to the inherent properties of SVOCs as gas/particle mixtures, risk assessment strategies should consider particle size-segregated SVOC association and the relevance of released gas phase fractions. We constructed an in vitro air–liquid interface (ALI) exposure system to study the distinct toxic effects of the gas and particle phases of the model SVOC dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in A549 human lung epithelial cells. Cytotoxicity was evaluated and genotoxic effects were measured by the alkaline and enzyme versions of the comet assay. Deposited doses were assessed by model calculations and chemical analysis using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The novel ALI exposure system was successfully implemented and revealed the distinct genotoxic effects of the gas and particle phases of DBP. The empirical measurements of cellular deposition and the model calculations of the DBP particle phase were concordant.The model SVOC DBP showed that inferred oxidative DNA damage may be attributed to particle-related effects. While pure gas phase exposure may follow a distinct mechanism of genotoxicity, the contribution of the gas phase to total aerosol was comparably low.
AU  - Binder, S.
AU  - Rastak, N.
AU  - Karg, E.W.
AU  - Huber, A.
AU  - Kuhn, E.
AU  - Dragan, G.C.*
AU  - Monsé, C.*
AU  - Breuer, D.*
AU  - Di Bucchianico, S.
AU  - Delaval, M.N.
AU  - Oeder, S.
AU  - Sklorz, M.
AU  - Zimmermann, R.
C1  - 67103
C2  - 53473
CY  - St Alban-anlage 66, Ch-4052 Basel, Switzerland
TI  - Construction of an in vitro air–liquid interface exposure system to assess the toxicological impact of gas and particle phase of semi-volatile organic compounds.
JO  - Toxics
VL  - 10
IS  - 12
PB  - Mdpi
PY  - 2022
SN  - 2305-6304
ER  -