Adverse lung outcomes from exposure to per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known; however, the mechanism of action is poorly understood. To explore this, human bronchial epithelial cells were grown and exposed to varied concentrations of short-chain (perfluorobutanoic acid, perflurobutane sulfonic acid and GenX) or long-chain (PFOA and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)) PFAS, alone or in a mixture to identify cytotoxic concentrations. Non-cytotoxic concentrations of PFAS from this experiment were selected to assess NLRP3 inflammasome activation and priming. We found that PFOA and PFOS alone or in a mixture primed and activated the inflammasome compared with vehicle control. Atomic force microscopy showed that PFOA but not PFOS significantly altered the membrane properties of cells. RNA sequencing was performed on the lungs of mice that had consumed PFOA in drinking water for 14 weeks. Wild type (WT), PPARα knock-out (KO) and humanized PPARα (KI) were exposed to PFOA. We found that multiple inflammation- and immune-related genes were affected. Taken together, our study demonstrated that PFAS exposure could alter lung biology in a significant manner and may contribute to asthma/airway hyper-responsiveness.

Electrofiltration, an electric field-assisted membrane process, has been a research topic of growing popularity due to its ability to improve membrane performance by providing in situ antifouling conditions in a membrane system. The number of reports on electrofiltration have increased exponentially over the past two decades. These reports explored many innovations, such as novel configurations of an electric field, engineered membrane materials, and interesting designs of foulant compositions and membrane modules. Recent electrofiltration literature focused mainly on compiling results without a comprehensive comparative analysis across different works. The main objective of this critical review is to, first, organize, compare and contrast the results across various electrofiltration studies; second, discuss various types of mechanisms that could be incorporated into electrofiltration and their effect on membrane system performance; third, characterize electrofiltration phenomenon; fourth, interpret the effects of various operational conditions on the performance of electrofiltration; fifth, evaluate the state-of-the-art knowledge associated with modeling efforts in electrofiltration; sixth, discuss the energy costs related to the implementation of electrofiltration; and finally, identify the current knowledge gaps that hinder the transition of the lab-scale observations to industry-scale electrofiltration as well as the future prospects of electrofiltration.

Wastewater surveillance for monitoring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an important epidemiologic tool for the assessment of population-wide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This tool can be successfully implemented ...

Coated and bare iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) enhance H ₂ O ₂ -generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) through the Fenton reaction to improve antibacterial activity.

Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is an emerging biogeotechnical technique that facilitates a bio-cementation process through biomineralisation and which can bond otherwise loose soil particles, thereby increasing the shear strength and stiffness of the soil while decreasing its permeability and compressibility. However, the uniformity of calcite (calcium carbonate) precipitation may have a relatively low ‘certainty of execution’ in situ due to strict environmental conditions required for the reaction, highlighting a strong need for in situ monitoring of the subsurface during and following the treatment. This research explored an electrochemical approach to monitoring MICP treatment through the development and use of potentiometric ion-selective sensors to measure ammonium and calcium ions continuously in both aqueous batch reactors and small laboratory-scale soil test cells. Sensor calibrations indicate a strong and reliable correlation between the electrochemical potential and target ion concentration, which shows promise in sensor technology for monitoring MICP and other similar processes. Improvements to the current design are, however, needed, as fouling due to calcite precipitation, and to some extent biofouling of the sensor, was observed in the highly dynamic, biomineralisation environment, which caused data drift/interference. These effects should be considered in data analysis and eliminated/minimised for eventual adoption towards monitoring the efficacy of MICP treatment in situ.