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To improve farming productivity, a large number of pesticides have been used worldwide in recent decades, leading to the pollution of soil, agri-products, and water, directly/indirectly affecting human health. In this regard, many studies were conducted in different countries on residual pesticides in the environment. In the current study, residual pesticides including chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, diazinon, malathion, and metalaxyl in tomatoes were meta-analyzed and health risk of consumers was estimated. For this purpose, based on a systematic review, data from 47 studies were extracted and meta-analyzed, and the health impact of pooled concentrations was assessed via a health risk method. According to the results, metalaxyl had the most concentration followed by malathion, cypermethrin, diazinon, and chlorpyrifos, respectively. The non-carcinogenic risk (n-CR) was calculated from crop consumption also showed that exposure to malathion has the most risk. Among the investigated communities, Iranian consumers were in considerable health risk (THQ > 1). Considering that the potential for the use of pesticides will increase with the need for food in the future, hence, governments must manage the usage by governments via alternative methods such as cultural, biological, physical, and genetic modifications., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study presents a systematic study on sequential treatment of highly resistant landfill leachate by electrocoagulation (EC)/aeration, sulfate radical advanced oxidation process (SR-AOP) and electro-Fenton (EF). In case of SR-AOP, peroxymonosulfate (PMS) catalyzed by zero valent iron (ZVI) and ultraviolet irradiation (UV) system was developed. Treatment process was optimized in respect to COD removal. Analysis of results revealed that sequential application of EC/aeration, PMS/ZVI/UV, and EF processes provide an extraordinary performance and meet the environmental regulations. The source of iron for EF process was provided from previous process reducing the cost of sequential process. Separately, EC/aeration (inlet COD = 4040 mg/L), PMS/ZVI/UV (inlet COD = 1560 mg/L), and EF (inlet COD = 471 mg/L) removed 61, 69 and 82% of COD respectively. Overall, sequential processes of EC/aeration, PMS/ZVI/UV and EF could remove the COD, TOC and ammonia of the landfill leachate around 98%, 93% and 94%, respectively. The comparison of different sequences of following processes indicated that current configuration (EC/aeration-PMS/ZVI/UV-EF) could meet the discharge standards. Furthermore, humification degree was significantly improved after oxidative processes. Biodegradability study was also performed by means of BOD/COD, average oxidation state (AOS), and Zahn-Wellens test, and the best results associated with these indices were obtained 0.56, 2.37, and over 98%, respectively. Phytotoxicity of leachate was remarkably reduced and the final effluent can be considered as a non-phytotoxic wastewater., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Potential toxic element (PTE) contamination in the Persian Gulf has become an important health concern in recent decades. This investigation aimed to meta-analyses of potential toxic elements including lead (Pb), inorganic arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and mercury (Hg) in the coastal sediment of the Persian Gulf. In this study, an attempt was made to retrieve papers conducted on the concentration of PTE in the coastal sediment of the Persian Gulf by searching in international databases including Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and PubMed. Meta-analysis concentration of PTE in the coastal sediment of the Persian Gulf was conducted using random effects model based on the country subgroup. Additionally, non-dietary risk assessment including non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks from ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact routes and ecological risk assessment was estimated. Seventy-eight papers with 81 data-reports (1650 sample size) were included in our meta-analysis. The rank order of heavy metals in coastal sediment of the Persian Gulf based on pooled concentration was Ni (65.44 mg/kg) > Pb (58.35 mg/kg) > As (23.78 mg/kg) > Cd (1.75 mg/kg) > Hg (0.77 mg/kg). The highest concentration of As, Cd, Pb, Ni, and Hg was observed in the coastal sediment of Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Although the I geo index in coastal sediment of the Persian Gulf was in grade 1 (uncontaminated) and grade 2 (slightly contaminated) but total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) of adults and adolescent was higher than 1 value in Iran, Saudi Arabic, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Total cancer risk (TCR) for adults and adolescent due to As was higher than 1E-6 in Iran, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar but TCR for adolescents due to As was higher than 1E-6 in Saudi Arabic. Therefore, it is recommended to monitor the concentration of PTE and implementation of programs to reduce the emission of PTE from resources in the Persian Gulf., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)