Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Jia Zhan, Xi-Zhi Shi, Yi Ding, Ning Qian, Jie Zhou, Shao-Dong Xie, Guo-Zhou Cao, Xian-Feng Chen
Summary: A generic, rapid, simple, and low-cost analytical method for screening and confirming 400 veterinary drugs and other contaminants in raw honey was developed. The method employs one-step extraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry, providing good extraction efficiency and analysis accuracy.
JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY A
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Maria del Carmen Gomez-Regalado, Lydia Espin-Moreno, Laura Martin-Pozo, Alberto Zafra-Gomez
Summary: This study compares the efficiency of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) in determining 17 commonly prescribed antibiotics in human nails. After optimizing the extraction parameters using multivariate techniques, MAE was found to be more practical and provided better extraction efficiencies. The optimized method was then applied to nail samples from 10 volunteers, revealing the presence of one or more antibiotics in all samples, with sulfamethoxazole, danofloxacin, and levofloxacin being the most commonly found.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lesly Paradina Fernandez, Romina Brasca, Maria Rosa Repetti, Andres M. Attademo, Paola M. Peltzer, Rafael C. Lajmanovich, Maria J. Culzoni
Summary: This study evaluates the bioaccumulation of antiretroviral drugs abacavir and efavirenz in amphibian tadpoles and finds that efavirenz has the highest bioaccumulation levels. This indicates an ecological risk for aquatic organisms, including R. arenarum, exposed to these drugs in the environment.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sara Leston, Andreia Freitas, Joao Rosa, Ana Sofia Vila Pouca, Jorge Barbosa, Patrick Reis-Santos, Vanessa F. Fonseca, Miguel A. Pardal, Fernando Ramos
Summary: An analytical method based on UHPLC-TOF-MS was developed to detect pharmaceutical residues in estuarine and seawaters. The method has high selectivity and sensitivity, with detection limits ranging from 0.01 to 8.92 ng/L and quantification limits ranging from 0.02 to 29.73 ng/L. The method was highly efficient for multi-residue quantification in complex environmental samples.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
D. Mooney, K. G. Richards, M. Danaher, J. Grant, L. Gill, P-E Mellander, C. E. Coxon
Summary: A comprehensive study in the Republic of Ireland investigated the occurrence of 40 anthelmintic residues in groundwaters, revealing 17 compounds detected at 22% of sites, with albendazole and its transformation products being most frequently found. Multivariate statistical analysis identified significant source and pathway factors related to the occurrence of anthelmintics in groundwater, and temporal variations showed higher frequencies and concentrations during specific months coinciding with increased usage and meteorological events. This study provides valuable insights into the presence of anthelmintics in Irish groundwater and seasonal trends critical for assessing potential impacts of climate change.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Delia Castilla-Fernandez, David Moreno-Gonzalez, Marcos Bouza, Andrea Saez-Gomez, Evaristo Ballesteros, Juan F. Garcia-Reyes, Antonio Molina-Diaz
Summary: A novel sample treatment approach based on a modified QuEChERS method was developed for simultaneous determination of veterinary drug and pesticide residues in salmon. Enhanced Matrix Removal-Lipid dSPE cleanup sorbent was used to improve the performance of QuEChERS, showing significant enhancement in sample cleanup efficiency.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yanli Man, Marianne Stenrod, Chi Wu, Marit Almvik, Roger Holten, Jihong Liu Clarke, Shankui Yuan, Xiaohu Wu, Jun Xu, Fengshou Dong, Yongquan Zheng, Xingang Liu
Summary: The laboratory experiments revealed that difenoconazole undergoes oxidation, dechlorination, and hydroxylation reactions in the environment, leading to the formation of various transformation products. Four novel transformation products showed lower acute toxicity compared to difenoconazole, but were predicted to be chronically very toxic to fish, posing a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Klaudia Kokoszka, Joanna Wilk, Ewa Felis, Sylwia Bajkacz
Summary: A method was developed to detect sulfonamide antibiotics in water samples and non-targeted analysis was conducted to determine their transformation products in this study. Sulfamethoxazole and sulfapyridine were identified as the most common pollutants in surface waters, with trace amounts of sulfadiazine also detected. Several transformation products of sulfadiazine and sulfamethoxazole were confirmed in environmental samples during the screening process.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Sergio H. Monteiro, Steven J. Lehotay, Yelena Sapozhnikova, Ederina Ninga, Alan R. Lightfield
Summary: A new mega-method of sample preparation, QuEChERSER, was presented for efficient analysis of chemical contaminants in meat. The method allows for high-throughput residual analysis of pesticides, veterinary drugs, metabolites, and legacy environmental contaminants in bovine muscle, demonstrating high accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional methods.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Hui Wang, Lili Hu, Xiaotu Chang, Yuge Hu, Yan Zhang, Peng Zhou, Xiaojiao Cui
Summary: A method using UHPLC-MS/MS was developed for the determination of toxoflavin and fervenulin in 6 types of food, and the degradation products were identified.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Bowen Huang, Adabelle Ong, Wenli Wang, Yu He, Yongjun Xiao
Summary: The detection and understanding of emerging contaminants (ECs) pose new challenges to water pollution control. Triclosan (TCS), an emerging contaminant widely found in the environment, is a commonly used antibacterial agent. Microdialysis (MD), a sampling technique, combined with UHPLC-QTOF/MS analysis, was used to identify endogenous metabolites as biomarkers of TCS exposure in living crucian carp. The quantification of these biomarkers using UHPLC-MS/MS provided continuous monitoring of the effect of TCS on endogenous metabolites, contributing to a better understanding of its toxicological effect.
ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Jesus M. Gonzalez-Jartin, Ines Rodriguez-Canas, Amparo Alfonso, Maria J. Sainz, Mercedes R. Vieytes, Ana Gomes, Isabel Ramos, Luis M. Botana
Summary: A simple method for quantifying 40 mycotoxins in milk was developed using QuEChERS extraction and UHPLC-MS/MS detection, achieving low LOQs, high recoveries, and acceptable performance characteristics in line with European regulations. The method successfully quantified mycotoxins in raw milk, highlighting the high occurrence of beauvericin and enniatins in small amounts.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Hae-Ni Jung, Da-Hee Park, Kyung-Hee Yoo, Hee-Jung Cho, Jae-Han Shim, Ho-Chul Shin, A. M. Abd El-Aty
Summary: An analytical method for the simultaneous determination of 12 anthelmintics in fishery products was developed and proved suitable for real sample testing. This method utilized liquid-liquid extraction coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and exhibited moderate matrix effects.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Benjamin Velasco-Bejarano, Anuar Gomez-Tagle, Maria Olivia Noguez-Cordova, Maria L. Zambrano-Zaragoza, Alfonso Miranda-Molina, Jahir Bautista, Leonardo Rodriguez, Ricardo Velasco-Carrillo
Summary: A method for identifying and quantifying traces of clenbuterol in gelatin and jellies was successfully developed and validated in this study, showing high sensitivity, good selectivity, and short chromatographic run time. The results indicated that 57.4% of gelatin samples contained clenbuterol.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Peter Haglund, Andriy Rebryk
Summary: In this study, suspect screening was performed to evaluate the presence of dechloranes and their transformation products in Baltic Sea biota. A total of 31 compounds were identified, including dechloranes and their transformation products. Some transformation products had higher concentrations than the parent compounds, with Dechlorane 603 TPs being more than 10 times more abundant. The concentrations of contaminants in the most contaminated species showed little change over a period of 52 years. Most compounds exhibited a slow declining trend in concentrations, while DP and DP-TPs showed an increasing trend. The transformation products showed biomagnification, with similar or higher trophic magnification factors compared to the parent compounds.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
R. M. Murphy, K. G. Richards, D. J. Krol, A. W. Gebremichael, L. Lopez-Sangil, J. Rambaud, N. Cowan, G. J. Lanigan, M. Saunders
Summary: This study investigates the spatial and temporal variability of N2O emissions using both static chambers (CH) and eddy covariance (EC) techniques. It finds that hotspots and hot moments of N2O emissions are sensitive to changes in agricultural management and weather, making accurate quantification difficult. The study also suggests that Bayesian statistics are an appropriate method for estimating realistic means and ranges of uncertainty for CH flux datasets.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Rachael M. Murphy, Matthew Saunders, Karl G. Richards, Dominika J. Krol, Amanuel W. Gebremichael, James Rambaud, Nicholas Cowan, Gary J. Lanigan
Summary: This study quantified field scale N2O emissions from grazed pastures under rotational grazing management using eddy covariance (EC) and static chamber techniques. The results showed that the EC technique was more accurate in quantifying N2O emissions, while static chamber measurements had higher uncertainty due to small chamber sample size per treatment and highly variable N2O flux measurements over space and time. Nitrous oxide emissions from grazing were mainly derived from animal excreta, highlighting the importance of considering different nitrogen sources when quantifying N2O-N losses.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Fiona C. Anderson, Timothy J. Clough, Leo M. Condron, Karl G. Richards, Camille Rousset
Summary: This study examined the influence of phosphorus (P) fertility on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from grazed pasture systems. The researchers found that increasing P fertility enhanced soil microbial biomass P, leading to increased N2O emissions. However, the emissions were primarily driven by nitrate additions, with relatively small contributions from denitrification. Glucose addition further increased N2O emissions, and the addition of P fertiliser increased emission factors, suggesting that N2O emissions will increase with P fertilisation if carbon limitation is overcome.
NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rajat Nag, Lauren Russell, Stephen Nolan, Agathe Auer, Bryan K. Markey, Paul Whyte, Vincent O'Flaherty, Declan Bolton, Owen Fenton, Karl G. Richards, Enda Cummins
Summary: Farmyard manure and slurry, as well as anaerobic digestate, are valuable soil conditioners providing essential nutrients for plant growth, but they may also pose microbial health risks to humans. A quantitative microbial risk assessment model was developed to investigate potential human exposure to pathogens post-application, revealing low risk probabilities in most scenarios.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
C. Deveautour, P. A. Rojas-Pinzon, M. Veloso, J. Rambaud, A. M. Duff, D. Wall, R. Carolan, L. Philippot, K. G. Richards, V O'Flaherty, F. Brennan
Summary: This study evaluated the impact of abiotic and biotic factors on potential denitrification and identified soil physico-chemical properties and prokaryotic community composition as key factors in predicting potential denitrification. Soil phosphorus content was equally important in predicting potential denitrification.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Eoin McAleer, Catherine Coxon, Per-Erik Mellander, Jim Grant, Karl Richards
Summary: This study examines the environmental loss of nitrogen in agricultural landscapes and its consequences, and investigates the effectiveness of mitigation strategies to control nitrate contamination. The research finds that agronomic, meteorological, and hydrogeological factors significantly affect nitrate concentrations in groundwater and streams, emphasizing the need to minimize nitrogen applications in areas with high risk.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Kevin Atcheson, Per-Erik Mellander, Rachel Cassidy, Sally Cook, Stewart Floyd, Colin McRoberts, Phoebe A. Morton, Phil Jordan
Summary: This study investigates the hydrological pathway processes of the agricultural acid herbicide MCPA in drinking water source catchments. The findings suggest that MCPA is mainly lost through acute, storm-dependent processes during the spraying season, with a portion being transported via deep baseflows. Reducing usage and implementing surface pathway disconnection measures are effective mitigation options.
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. McGinley, M. G. Healy, P. C. Ryan, P. -E. Mellander, L. Morrison, J. Harmon O'Driscoll, A. Siggins
Summary: This study investigates the adsorption characteristics of five herbicides onto raw and pyrolysed waste materials from an industrial setting. The results show that granulated activated carbon exhibits the highest herbicide removal efficiency and the adsorption process involves both physical and chemical mechanisms. The Freundlich model best describes the adsorption of herbicides onto heterogeneous surfaces.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Eva Skarbovik, Sofie Gyritia Madsen van't Veen, Emma E. Lannergard, Hannah Wenng, Marc Stutter, Magdalena Bieroza, Kevin Atcheson, Philip Jordan, Jens Folster, Per-Erik Mellander, Brian Kronvang, Hannu Marttila, Oyvind Kaste, Ahti Lepisto, Maria Kamari
Summary: Climate change and land use alterations can cause significant changes in soil erosion and sediment fluxes in streams. Optical turbidity sensors can be used as a proxy for suspended sediment concentration (SSC), but there is a need for calibration. This study analyzed calibration data from 31 streams in Northern Europe to identify correlations between turbidity and SSC.
Review
Environmental Sciences
J. McGinley, M. G. Healy, Harmon O'Driscoll, L. Morrison, A. Siggins, P-e. Mellander, P. C. Ryan
Summary: Pesticides used in agriculture have negative impacts on aquatic environments when they enter water bodies. The EU's Farm to Fork strategy aims to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. However, the prevalence of legacy pesticides from historical applications may hinder the EU's goal of reducing chemical pesticide use and risk by 50% by 2030. This review examines pesticide use and movement in Europe, the issues of legacy pesticides, and methods of pesticide remediation.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
L. W. Gill, J. Mac Mahon, J. Knappe, P. Morrissey
Summary: The suitability of a location for on-site wastewater treatment requires assessment of soil permeability. Falling head percolation tests are widely used, but lack a sound theoretical framework and international standardization. Constant head permeameter tests provide more suitable metrics for design. A study in Ireland used numerical modeling and field tests to establish correlations between percolation time (PT) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), and compared Irish thresholds to international standards.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Conor Murphy, Anthony Kettle, Hadush Meresa, Saeed Golian, Michael Bruen, Fiachra O'Loughlin, Per-Erik Mellander
Summary: Climate change could impact water quality, resource availability, and riverine ecosystems. Comparing projected changes from different ensembles is important for robust adaptation, as different ensembles could yield wide ranges of change. This study evaluates future climate change impacts on 26 Irish catchments, comparing impacts from a national ensemble, CORDEX, and CMIP6 ensembles. Results indicate increasing winter flows and wide ranges of change in summer, low, and flood flows across catchments under RCP8.5 by the 2080s. Smaller catchments show more extreme impacts and wider ranges of change. The national ensemble shows more modest and narrower changes compared to CMIP6 and CORDEX ensembles, emphasizing the importance of evaluating impacts across ensembles for informed adaptation decisions.
WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ruchita Ingle, Saheba Bhatnagar, Bidisha Ghosh, Laurence Gill, Shane Regan, John Connolly, Matthew Saunders
Summary: PEATLANDS in Ireland cover only 20% of the land area but store 2320 million tonnes of carbon, with 90% of this drained and emitting 10 million tonnes of carbon annually. This research used satellite imagery and ground-based measurements to assess the gross primary productivity (GPP) of a near-natural peatland in Ireland. The study found that hybrid models using NDVI, EVI, and NDWI2 performed well in estimating GPP and showed a significant correlation of 89-96% with ground-based measurements.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Aishwarya Ray, Patrick Forrestal, Chikere Nkwonta, Niharika Rahman, Pilar Byrne, Martin Danaher, Karl Richards, Sean Hogan, Enda Cummins
Summary: NBPT is an efficient urease inhibitor that can reduce ammonia loss from urea fertiliser. Its use not only helps address environmental issues such as soil acidification, eutrophication, and global warming, but also benefits farmers by reducing reliance on expensive nitrate fertiliser. The present study concludes that NBPT presents negligible risk to human health under the studied conditions.
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Review
Water Resources
Arghadyuti Banerjee, Leo Creedon, Noelle Jones, Laurence Gill, Salem Gharbia
Summary: Ensuring the quantity and quality of groundwater resources is crucial for human and ecological health, society, and the economy. Groundwater vulnerability modeling techniques have become essential for groundwater protection and management, but spatiotemporal variations in precipitation and evapotranspiration have not been adequately considered. A holistic approach integrating multicriteria decision support tools is needed to evaluate the dynamic vulnerability of groundwater contamination.
