Foliar application of Zn significantly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in rice leaves, and increased peroxidase (POD) activity. Also, it changed the distribution of Cd in the soluble fraction in leaves (expressed as proportion), which was significantly decreased, and the proportion of Cd in the cell wall increased. The structural equation model (SEM) revealed the positive effects of flag leaf Cd, first node Cd, old leaf Cd, and root Cd concentration on grain Cd concentration. Flag leaf Cd had the highest standardized total effects on grain Cd concentration, followed by old leaf Cd. These results indicated that foliar application of Zn was effective in reducing grain Cd concentration of late rice by enhancing antioxidant activities and Cd chelation onto cell wall of leaves, and reducing Cd concentrations in leaves.Chronic exposure of triclosan (TCS) to zebrafish triggers high incidence of fatty liver and hepatitis; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we identified miR-30b as a sensitive biomarker to TCS stress, reflecting in that its decreased expression caused metabolic toxicity, abnormal development and behavior, and lipid-metabolism disorder. By microinjecting the inhibitor and mimic experiments, miR-30b was proved to regulate lipid metabolism by its main target gene fto. Over-expression of FTO resulted in fat accumulation, elevation of the TG and TC levels and up-regulation of the PPARγ and CEBPα, as well as decrease of the global m6A level in larvae. On the contrary, the knock-down of FTO using MO caused the anti-lipogenic effect, decrease of the TG and T-CHO levels, and abnormal changes of cebpɑ, acsl5, fasn, ppap2c and pparγ etc. Further fortification tests of cycloleucine and betaine evidenced that the toxic effect was strongly dependent on regulation of the m6A level. The toxicity effects in the treatments of methylated donors and receptors were consistent with the changes in physiological functions of FTO knockdown and overexpression. The effects of cycloleucine on m6A level and lipid metabolism generally consisted with those of FTO, but this was not the case for betaine, reflecting in increased m6A level and lipid accumulation in larval liver. Consequently, we posit that TCS exposure caused zebrafish lipid-metabolism disorder by decreasing miR-30b expression to regulate fto-mediated m6A methylation level. These findings contribute to our deep understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms regarding contaminant-originating fatty liver and hepatocellular carcinoma, and also have practical significance in pollution warning and target therapy for related diseases.The aerosol scattering properties of submicron (PM1) and sub-10 μm particles (PM10) under dry conditions (RH less then 30%) were investigated in Beijing from 2018 to 2019. Using the simultaneous measurement of PM1 and PM10, the scattering properties of super micron (PM10-1) particles were also calculated. At 550 nm, the average of scattering coefficient (σsp) and asymmetry parameter (g) were 208.7 ± 204.9 Mm-1 and 0.61 ± 0.04 for PM10, 140.6 ± 130.2 Mm-1 and 0.60 ± 0.04 for PM1, and 69.8 ± 82.2 Mm-1 and 0.62 ± 0.04 for PM10-1, respectively, while the backscattering ratio (b) values were 0.13 ± 0.02 for PM10 and PM1, and 0.12 ± 0.02 for PM10-1. The mass scattering efficiencies (MSE) for PM10, PM1 and PM10-1 were 2.43 ± 2.37, 3.67 ± 0.96, and 1.73 ± 1.82 m2 g-1, respectively. In 2019, σsp decreased by approximately 18.4% for PM10, and 16.7% for PM1 compared with those in 2018, which was quite similar to the decrease of 17% and 19% for PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentrations during the same time period. The scattering Ångström exponent (SAE450/700), which was 1.88 ± 0.29 for PM1 and 1.50 ± 0.27 for PM10 indicated size distributions dominated by fine mode aerosols. This is also evidenced by the high submicron scattering ratio (Rsp) (71.1% ± 7.9%). The high SAE, Rsp, and high PM1 σsp in the study suggest that control of fine particle pollution is important to reduce overall PM pollution in urban Beijing. In addition, with an increase in σsp, b, Rsp, and SAE gradually decreased, while g and MSE increased. The clearly scattering coefficient-dependent MSE suggests that high aerosol loading and high MSE both play an important role in degraded visibility during heavy pollution periods.Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is well known to break glucose homeostasis. However, the effects of PFOA on glucose metabolism are difficult to be evaluated because related metabolites may be synthesized from other nutritional substrates. Here, the relative contribution of glucose to metabolites (e.g., pyruvate and citrate) in the PFOA-treated human liver cells (HepG2) was determined using the 13C isotope-based metabolic flux analysis (MFA), i.e., pathway activities. The relative percentage of [U-13C6] glucose-derived pyruvate in cells exposed to PFOA was not significantly different from that in the controls, indicating that the metabolic pattern of glycolysis was not substantially changed by PFOA. https://www.selleckchem.com/Bcl-2.html The pathway activity of [U-13C6] glucose-driven tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was dramatically inhibited by PFOA. Consequently, mitochondrial respiratory function was phenotypically impaired by PFOA, as observed from the decreasing basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ATP-linked OCR and spare respiratory capacity. This study suggests that PFOA may cause the abnormal glucose metabolism via altering the metabolic pattern of TCA cycle instead of glycolysis. The MFA is strongly recommended as a promising and robust tool to address the toxicity mechanisms of contaminants associated with glucose metabolism.Neural tube defects (NTDs) are among the most common and disabling fetal congenital defects. Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are ubiquitous in the environment. In this study, 119 women who had NTD-affected pregnancies (cases) and 119 women who delivered healthy neonates (controls) were recruited in a rural area of Northern China. We used concentrations of OCPs in umbilical cord tissue as markers of prenatal exposure to investigate the association between in utero exposure to OCPs and NTD risk. Concentrations of 20 OCPs were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and 16 of the 20 OCPs were included in the analyses. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the associations between levels of individual OCPs and NTD risk were estimated separately with logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders. The combined effects of exposure to the 16 OCPs as a mixture were analyzed with Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Logistic regression showed that the risk for NTDs increased 5.