Emerging contaminants: A One Health perspective.

Environmental pollution is escalating due to rapid global development that often prioritizes human needs over planetary health. Despite global efforts to mitigate legacy pollutants, the continuous introduction of new substances remains a major threat to both people and the planet. In response, global initiatives are focusing on risk assessment and regulation of emerging contaminants, as demonstrated by the ongoing efforts to establish the UN's Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution Prevention. This review identifies the sources and impacts of emerging contaminants on planetary health, emphasizing the importance of adopting a One Health approach. Strategies for monitoring and addressing these pollutants are discussed, underscoring the need for robust and socially equitable environmental policies at both regional and international levels. Urgent actions are needed to transition toward sustainable pollution management practices to safeguard our planet for future generations.

Mixed exposure to phthalates and organic UV filters affects Children's pubertal development in a gender-specific manner.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed phthalates and UV filters are endocrine-disruptive and associated with puberty. However, few studies have examined effects of mixed exposure. METHODS: Six phthalate metabolites and 12 organic UV filters were detected among 223 school-age children. Puberty development was evaluated at baseline and after 18 months of follow-up. Ordered logistic regression models, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and quantile-based g-computation (qgcomp) were used to evaluate relationships between phthalate metabolites or UV filters exposure and pubertal development. RESULTS: Six phthalate metabolites and 5 UV filters were detectable in urine samples. In boys, BP-3 and 4'-MAP were negatively associated with genital (ORBP-3 = 0.52, (0.27, 0.93), OR4'-MAP = 0.45, (0.25, 0.74)) and pubic hair development (ORBP-3:0.24, (0.05, 0.76), OR4'-MAP:0.24, (0.05, 0.77)). In girls, MEP levels were associated with advanced breast development (OR: 1.29, (1.04, 1.64)). LASSO regression identified BP-3, 4'-MAP, and OD-PABA for inverse associations with pubertal development in boys. MEP was related to an increase in girls' breast development (OR: 1.64, (1.08, 2.63)). Overall mixture was related to a 70% reduction in boys' genital development stage, with a larger effect size than a single chemical in qgcomp. Mixed exposure was associated with girls' earlier puberty onset (OR: 2.61, (1.06, 6.42)). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested higher levels of phthalate metabolites and UV filters were associated with delayed pubertal development in boys but with earlier puberty in girls. Higher effect size of joint exposure than single chemicals suggested phthalates and UV filters might have synergistic effects on puberty and distort adolescent endocrine function together.

Organic UV filters mixture exposure and childhood adiposity: A prospective follow-up study in China.

BACKGROUND: UV filters are emerging contaminants with endocrine disrupting effects, but little is known about their health effects, especially for children. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between multiple organic UV filters exposure and adiposity measures and by gender in peripubertal children. METHODS: This prospective follow-up study included 327 children aged 7-15 years old. Urinary organic UV filters including benzophenone derivatives (BP-2, BP-3), octyl dimethyl para-aminobenzoic acid (OD-PABA), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC) and its metabolite (4-MCA and 4'-MAP) were quantified. Six adiposity biometrics including height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness were measured with 1.5-year duration. The Bayesian kernel machine regression method was used to estimate the associations of UV filters mixture with adiposity measurements, and longitudinal analyses were then considered to further evaluate the associations between individual UV filters and trajectories of growth development using linear mixed models or generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS: Exposure to mixture of UV filters was negatively associated with most adiposity measurements, with a reduction of 1.399 kg/m2 (95% CI: -2.246 to -0.551 kg/m2) in BMI, 0.674 (95% CI: -1.045 to -0.304) in BMI z-score, 0.033 BF% (95% CI: -0.053 to -0.013), and 2.301 mm (95% CI: -3.823 to -0.78) in subscapular skinfold thickness at baseline, comparing the 75th percentile to the 25th level of UV filters mixture exposure. Consistent associations were found at follow-up. Both baseline and follow-up results suggested that EHMC was identified as the most important contributor to lower adiposity measurements, which was also confirmed by linear mixed models in longitudinal analyses. No significant effects were found in girls. CONCLUSION: This study found that childhood organic UV filters exposure was negatively associated with adiposity measures in peripubertal boys, but not girls.

Transformations of organic micropollutants undergoing permanganate/bisulfite treatment: Kinetics, pathways and toxicity.

Permanganate/bisulfite (PM/BS) is a relatively new advanced oxidation process that can degrade organic micropollutants at extraordinary high rates. In this study, the degradability of PM/BS process towards different representative types of compounds was studied by investigating the kinetics, reaction site specificity and transformation chemistry. Acesulfame (ACE) and carbamazepine (CBZ) were two typical compounds containing olefinic moieties. Sucralose (SUC) was selected as a reference compound, and it is without aromatic and olefinic moieties. The kinetics results indicated that ACE and CBZ were effectively degraded while SUC was not. Preferred reaction sites of Mn3+ species was elucidated by identification of the ACE-transformation products (TPs) and CBZ-TPs with UHPLC-QTOF-MS. Seventeen ACE-TPs including two new compounds and eleven CBZ-TPs produced during the PM/BS process were identified and characterized. Transformation pathways revealed that cleavage of olefinic double bonds was the main reaction mechanism. Chemical structures containing electron-donating groups preferentially reacted with electrophilic Mn3+ species during the process. In addition, transformation products of ACE and CBZ during PM/BS process did not induce higher toxicity. This study provides a preliminary interpretation on the selectivity of PM/BS process according to the micropollutants' chemical structures, which hope to shed light on the future development of PM/BS treatment.

Measurement of yunaconitine and crassicauline A in small-volume blood serum samples by LC-MS/MS: tracing of aconite poisoning in clinical diagnosis.

Aconite poisoning is one of the most serious types of herb-related medical emergencies. In Hong Kong, many if not most of these poisoning cases are due to confusion in herbal species; that is, the wrong herbs are used in prescriptions. Such human errors, while inevitable perhaps, can be serious, and sometimes fatal. The chemical components responsible for aconite poisoning are yunaconitine and crassicauline A. In the present study, a rapid and sensitive method for the screening and quantification of yunaconitine and crassicauline A in human serum, using LC-MS/MS, was developed and validated. Methyllycaconitine was chosen as the internal standard. The limit of detection (LOD) of yunaconitine and crassicauline A were found to be 0.022 and 0.021 ng/mL, respectively. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.1 ng/mL for both yunaconitine and crassicauline A. The recovery of yunaconitine and crassicauline A ranged from 78.6% to 84.9% and 78.3% to 87.2%, respectively. The matrix effect of yunaconitine and crassicauline A ranged from 110.0% to 130.4% and 121.2 to 130.0%, respectively. Both yunaconitine and crassicauline A were stable in serum for at least 3 months at -20 °C, and the extracts were stable for at least 7 days. For clinical applications, serum samples of two patients confirmed to have had aconite herbs poisoning in 2008 were quantified using the developed method. The result showed that this method can be utilized in clinical routine applications. This screening method expedites the diagnosis in cases of suspected aconite poisoning, thus enabling doctors to treat the condition more quickly and effectively.