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Persistent organic pollutants pose a great threat to amphibian populations, but information on the bioaccumulation of contaminants in amphibians remains scarce. To examine the tissue distribution and maternal transfer of organic halogenated pollutants (OHPs) in frogs, seven types of tissues from black‐spotted frog (muscle, liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, heart, and egg) were collected from an e‐waste–polluted area in South China. Among the seven frog tissues, median total OHP concentrations of 2.3 to 9.7 μg/g lipid weight were found (in 31 polychlorinated biphenyl [PCB] individuals and 15 polybrominated diphenyl ether [PBDE], dechlorane plus [syn‐DP and anti‐DP], bexabromobenzene [HBB], polybrominated biphenyl] PBB153 and ‐209], and decabromodiphenyl ethane [DBDPE] individuals). Sex‐specific differences in contaminant concentration and compound compositions were observed among the frog tissues, and eggs had a significantly higher contaminant burden on the whole body of female frogs. In addition, a significant sex difference in the concentration ratios of other tissues to the liver was observed in most tissues except for muscle. These results suggest that egg production may involve the mobilization of other maternal tissues besides muscle, which resulted in the sex‐specific distribution. Different parental tissues had similar maternal transfer mechanisms; factors other than lipophilicity (e.g., molecular size and proteinophilic characteristics) could influence the maternal transfer of OHPs in frogs. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1557–1568. © 2024 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photochemistry is one of the key processes that shape the quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic systems, yet the photoreactivity of DOM from different sources remains largely unclear. In this study, DOM from 10 typical autochthonous and allochthonous sources in Lake Taihu basin were exposed to simulated sunlight, and quantitative and compositional changes of the DOM were explored by measuring its UV–Visable absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Photochemical release of nutrients was also explored during the incubations. Results showed that, although DOM from most sources experienced photobleaching effects with decreased absorption coefficients at 254 nm (a(254)) and fluorescence component intensities after light exposure, photochemical alterations of DOM linked to their original composition. Macrophyte-derived (Potamogeton malaianus) DOM, with the largest molecular size, showed increased a(254), humic- and protein-like fluorescence component (C1 and C2) abundances, and inorganic nutrient concentrations relative to dark controls, indicating photo-release of labile components. However, DOM with relatively higher aromaticity, e.g., from agricultural water and the lake, showed photobleaching effects and increased humification degree, probably due to the loss of aromatic components. Allochthonous anthropogenic DOM, e.g., from sewage, showed stronger photo-ammonification, likely relating to the fresh labile N-containing compositions. The form of inorganic nutrient releases during the DOM photolysis also varied with the original DOM sources. Macrophyte-derived DOM incubations showed larger photo-releases of NO3− and PO43−, while NO2− dominated inorganic nutrient releases during groundwater DOM light incubations. Thus, this study concludes that the photoreactivity of DOM closely relates to its original composition and sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the most sensitive indicators of changes in the soil environment, and it is the most mobile and active soil component that serves as an easily available source of nutrients and energy for microbes and other living organisms. In this paper, DOM structural characteristics and main properties were investigated by three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy (EEM) and UV–visible spectrum technology in the farmland soils around Urumqi of China, and its possible sources and pathways were analyzed by spectroscopic indices. The results showed that humic-like substances were the main composition of the soil DOM, and its autogenesis characteristics were not obvious. Main DOM properties such as aromatability, hydrophobicity, molecular weight, molecular size, and humification degree in the southern region of Urumqi were higher than those of the northern region of Urumqi and Fukang in China, and higher on the upper layers of the soil (0–0.1 and 0.2 m) than in the deeper layer (0.2–0.3 m).This may be because the tilled layer is more subjected to fertilization and conducive to microbial activities. The spectroscopic analysis showed that the source of DOM of these regions is mainly from microbial metabolites. These results provide basic scientific data for the further research on the environmental chemical behavior of pollutants and pollution control in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the issues of reservoir blockage and sharp decline in fluid output of production wells in the polymer injection zone of the Henan oilfield, physical modeling has been used to study the blockage mechanism and blockage locations of the polymer-flooded reservoir based on oil reservoir characteristics and blockage knowledge. The results show that all the constant pressures in the low, moderate, and high permeability cores subjected to polymer injection and subsequent waterflooding were higher than the constant pressure during primary waterflooding; hence, polymer retention and blockage phenomena were obvious in the cores; in the high permeability core, the pore surface adsorbed more polymer molecules though pore throat radii were still much greater than the size of the polymer molecule, suggesting that polymer blockage is mainly caused by adsorption and retention. For the low permeability core, the specific surface area of the inlet end was much larger than that in the high permeability core, leading to more serious capture of polymer molecules at the small pores, indicating that blockage under polymer injection is mainly caused by capture and retention; for the lower permeability (91.81 mD) core, as compared with the case prior to polymer injection, the polymer-injected core had fewer large pores and throats, the mean pore throat radius decreased from 42.2 μm to 39.9 μm, and the mean throat-to-pore coordination number decreased from 3.36 to 3.19; thus, polymer capture and retention led to core blockage; the leftward shift of the curve corresponding to the porosity component, high porosity peak weakening after polymer injection, moderate and low porosity peaks appearing after polymer injection, and enhancement of lower porosity peaks indicate that, after polymer injection and subsequent waterflooding, polymer adsorption and capture led to blockage of some large pores; the highest pressure gradient, i.e., 6.3 MPa/m, was achieved at the P2-P3 segment; thus, the worst blockage occurred at the P2-P3 stage, or 1/8-1/4 of the sandpack length. In this paper, Nanbaxian oil and gas field, China, was taken as an example to investigate the interpretation method of gas saturation in a complex pore structure. The "four properties" relationship of the formation reservoir in the Nanbaxian oil and gas field was studied in depth according to the conventional logging data and core analysis data. The neural network algorithm was used to reconstruct the resistivity curve of the water layer to eliminate the influence of lithology, shale content, and pore structure on the resistivity. The difference between the reconstructed curve and the measured resistivity curve was used to identify the gas and water, and the ratio of the two was used to calculate the gas saturation, and good results were achieved. It was found that the sedimentary types of the Nanbaxian oil and gas field cause the reservoir to be thin, numerous, and dispersed; the lateral correlation is difficult. In addition, the structural features lead to the reservoir types being various in the vertical direction, which makes the identification of reservoir fluid more difficult. The results revealed that the rock compaction, poor physical properties, complex pore structure, high resistivity of surrounding rocks, and low formation water salinity make the water layer with high resistivity and difficult to identify gas and water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the starch fine structure during growth and its impact on the gelatinization behavior of cassava starch (CS) was investigated by isolating starch from South China 6068 (SC 6068) cassava harvested from the 4th to 9th growth period. During growth, the short-range ordered structure, crystallinity as well as particle size distribution of starch were increased. Meanwhile, the starch molecular size and amylopectin (AP) proportion increased, while the proportion of amylose (AM) exhibited a decreasing tendency. The chains of short-AM (X ~ 100–1000) were mainly significantly reduced, whereas the short and medium-AP chains (X ~ 6–24) had the most increment in AP. The solubility, thermal stability, shear resistance, and retrogradation resistance of starch were enhanced after gelatinized under the influence of the results mentioned above. This study presented a deeper insight into the variation of starch fine structure during growth and its influence on gelatinization behavior, which would provide a theoretical basis for starch industrial applications. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Commercial soy protein isolates (SPIs) were grouped by physicochemical properties. • Pre-denatured SPIs showed high surface hydrophobicity and contained large particles. • Partially hydrolyzed SPIs exhibited low surface hydrophobicity and high solubility. • Commercial SPIs had a narrow range of 11S/7S ratio, but various subunit composition. • Processing instead of subunit composition mainly affected protein functionality. This study aimed to illustrate the relationship among physicochemical properties, subunit composition and protein functionalities in a broad collection of commercial soy protein isolates (SPIs) from China and the EU. The results indicated that SPIs had large variations in glycinin/β-conglycinin composition, protein denaturation, and water- and oil-binding capacity (WBC and OBC) and solubility. These SPIs could be roughly divided into pre-denatured SPI, partially hydrolyzed SPI, and less modified SPI. The pre-denatured SPI with high surface hydrophobicity and large particle sizes showed reduced WBC and OBC due to increased protein aggregation, and partially hydrolyzed SPI showed high protein solubility owing to the exposure of hydrophilic regions and reduction in molecular size. The processing-induced physicochemical changes played a pivotal role in determining protein functionalities, whereas subunit composition affected protein functionality less. Overall, this study highlighted the obvious difference in raw material quality of commercial SPI, and provided promising methods for SPI categorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angelica dahurica is an upright perennial herb that is becoming more and more fashionable in the garden in the world. The complete chloroplast genome of A. dahurica was annotated and studied in this paper. It was a circular molecular genome with a size of 146,918 bp in length, which was composed of four distinct regions such as a large single-copy region of 93,605 bp, a small single-copy region of 17,669 bp and a pair of IR regions of 17,822 bp. We annotated and found comprised 129 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 36 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and eight ribosome RNA genes (rRNAs). The overall nucleotide composition is A of 30.8%, T of 31.7%, C of 19.1% and G of 18.4%, with a total A + T content of the chloroplast genome 62.5% and G + C of 37.5%. Phylogenetic analysis with the reported chloroplast genomes revealed that A. dahurica is most closely related to Angelica gigas in the phylogenetic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]