Influence of gasoline emissions on tomato fruit rot by two fungi in tropical ambient conditions

Background The release of pollutant gases into the atmosphere as a result of anthropogenic activities exert effect on biological systems at many levels. Combustion engines such as those in vehicles and power generators pollute the air with emissions from their exhausts. The gases released which are oxides of carbon, nitrogen; sulphur and particulate matter have effect on living things in the immediate environment. Up to 25% of harvested fruits and vegetables are lost mainly due to microbial activities before consumption. Disease development in ripe tomato fruit (host) by two of its fungal pathogens in the presence of generator emissions is presently being studied. Results Treatment produced variable effects depending on the fungus and the route of infection. For Rhizopus stolonifer coated and Fusarium oxysporum wound inoculated fruits, significant disease reduction was noticeable in the later days of storage, specifically from day 11. Fruits coated with F. oxsporum spores without wounding however, rotted more with gasoline emissions treatment also noticeably at the later period of storage. Long exposures caused greater rot reduction where disease was reduced and more severe rot where disease was enhanced. Rhizopus infected fruits were best preserved for 14 days by 40 min exposure while wound inoculated Fusarium infected fruits were best preserved by 45 min exposure. Disease reduction was 40–50% in both types of infection. Conversely, disease was most aggravated by about 50% by 45 min exposure of unwounded Fusarium infected fruits. Other exposures also caused increased rotting by about 5–35%. Conclusions The results demonstrate that air pollution by fumes from generators may under certain host–pathogen conditions be advantageous in prolonging postharvest life of ripe tomatoes, while at other times could be devastating when fruits are subsequently stored or marketed at tropical ambient temperature. The advantage, however, outweighs the negative effects.

Ordinary Gasoline Emissions Induce a Toxic Response in Bronchial Cells Grown at Air-Liquid Interface

Gasoline engine emissions have been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans and represent a significant health risk. In this study, we used MucilAir™, a three-dimensional (3D) model of the human airway, and BEAS-2B, cells originating from the human bronchial epithelium, grown at the air-liquid interface to assess the toxicity of ordinary gasoline exhaust produced by a direct injection spark ignition engine. The transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), production of mucin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and adenylate kinase (AK) activities were analyzed after one day and five days of exposure. The induction of double-stranded DNA breaks was measured by the detection of histone H2AX phosphorylation. Next-generation sequencing was used to analyze the modulation of expression of the relevant 370 genes. The exposure to gasoline emissions affected the integrity, as well as LDH and AK leakage in the 3D model, particularly after longer exposure periods. Mucin production was mostly decreased with the exception of longer BEAS-2B treatment, for which a significant increase was detected. DNA damage was detected after five days of exposure in the 3D model, but not in BEAS-2B cells. The expression of CYP1A1 and GSTA3 was modulated in MucilAir™ tissues after 5 days of treatment. In BEAS-2B cells, the expression of 39 mRNAs was affected after short exposure, most of them were upregulated. The five days of exposure modulated the expression of 11 genes in this cell line. In conclusion, the ordinary gasoline emissions induced a toxic response in MucilAir™. In BEAS-2B cells, the biological response was less pronounced, mostly limited to gene expression changes.

Source-Specific Volatile Organic Compounds and Emergency Hospital Admissions for Cardiorespiratory Diseases

Knowledge gaps remain regarding the cardiorespiratory impacts of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for the general population. This study identified contributing sources to ambient VOCs and estimated the short-term effects of VOC apportioned sources on daily emergency hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory diseases in Hong Kong from 2011 to 2014. We estimated VOC source contributions using fourteen organic chemicals by positive matrix factorization. Then, we examined the associations between the short-term exposure to VOC apportioned sources and emergency hospital admissions for cause-specific cardiorespiratory diseases using generalized additive models with polynomial distributed lag models while controlling for meteorological and co-pollutant confounders. We identified six VOC sources: gasoline emissions, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) usage, aged VOCs, architectural paints, household products, and biogenic emissions. We found that increased emergency hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were positively linked to ambient VOCs from gasoline emissions (excess risk (ER%): 2.1%; 95% CI: 0.9% to 3.4%), architectural paints (ER%: 1.5%; 95% CI: 0.2% to 2.9%), and household products (ER%: 1.5%; 95% CI: 0.2% to 2.8%), but negatively associated with biogenic VOCs (ER%: −6.6%; 95% CI: −10.4% to −2.5%). Increased congestive heart failure admissions were positively related to VOCs from architectural paints and household products in cold seasons. This study suggested that source-specific VOCs might trigger the exacerbation of cardiorespiratory diseases.

Risk of Lead Exposure from Transport Stations to Human Health: A Case Study in the Highland Province of Vietnam

Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal that negatively affects human health. Many studies have shown the relationship between lead exposure and various human activities, of which automobile service stations with gasoline emissions are considered the main cause. However, a limited number of studies have specifically considered lead exposure from automobile stations in Vietnam, as well as its impact on human activities and the surrounding natural resources. The objective of this study was to assess the possible risks of lead exposure to the surrounding agricultural and non-agricultural farms of a bus station located in the center of Dalat city, Lamdong province, Vietnam. To address this objective, 45 samples were collected from the soil, irrigated water resources, and vegetable crops of areas both close to and far away from the bus station. These samples were tested using the atomic absorption spectrometry technique. Our findings demonstrated higher lead concentration levels from all three types of samples collected from areas near the bus station. Of which, soil and water samples showed higher than normal exposure values of lead, but these were still under the allowed limits established by the Vietnam standard. Different from the soil and water, vegetable samples surrounding the bus station presented greater lead contamination than the permitted limit. High risk quotient (RQ) indexes were detected to point out that accumulative consumption of leaded vegetables over time could cause lead poisoning and harm human health. This study not only provides significant inferential evidence of the risk of lead exposure to agricultural activities and human health in Vietnam, but also delivers a real-life example for a real-world context.