Also vertical distribution of deeper-dwelling L. balthica differed among treatments. The clam penetrated deeper sediment layers in microcosms treated with MPs than in the control (on average 62% of the total number of bivalves found in the sediment layer 2-4 cm vs. 65% in the upper 2 cm) which may suggest an avoidance behaviour or escape reaction in response to MPs addition to the topmost sediment. Total sediment community oxygen consumption was significantly higher in MPs-amended sediments than in the control, with the highest rates in treatment with the largest microspheres. However, oxygen uptake increase seemed to be unrelated to addition of MPs per se, suggesting rather an interaction between MPs and bivalves. The need for future studies on MPs effects on benthic community structure and functioning is highlighted.The toxicity of arsenic (As) can be influenced by many nutrients in food. However, the combined effects and underlying mechanisms of As and palmitic acid (PA) are still unclear. Here, cell viability, oxidative stress, lipids accumulation, gene expression profiles, and metabolome profiles of human hepatoma HepG2 cells exposed to As, PA, and As + PA were analyzed and compared. Results showed that co-exposure of 100 μM PA and 2 μM As induced lower cell viability, higher intracellular reactive oxygen species level, more lipid droplet accumulation, and more intracellular triglyceride contents than As alone or PA alone exposure. High-throughput quantitative PCR and 1H NMR-based metabolomics analysis showed that co-exposure of As and PA caused all toxic effects on gene expression and metabolome profiles induced by As alone or PA alone exposure, and showed higher toxicities. Gene expression profiles in the As + PA group had higher similarity with those in the As group than the PA group. However, PA played a more important role in metabolism disorder than As in their interactive effects. Oxidative stress and lipid metabolism disorder were found to be the main toxic effects in the As + PA group. Several differentially expressed genes (such as OXR1, OXSR1, INSR, and PPARA) and changed metabolites (such as pyruvate, acetate, and L-phenylalanine) were involved in the combined toxicity of As and PA. This study provides basic information on the interactive effects of As and PA, which is useful for the health risk assessment of As and FFA.Different from the previous studies that evaluated the degrees of carbon market efficiency as constant, the novelty of this work is to capture degrees of market efficiency that are time-varying over time and its static and dynamic relationship with liquidity in China's five emissions trading system (ETS) pilots (Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hubei) from January 2017 to June 2019. For this purpose, this work employs the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity in mean (GARCH(1,1)-M) model with state space time-varying parameter (Kalman filter), Modified Amihud illiquidity ratio, fixed effect variable intercept panel regression model and panel impulse response analysis. The empirical results are as follows (1) Shenzhen pilot is the best performer for the market efficiency, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Hubei; although the other four except the Shenzhen pilot are inconsistent with weak-form efficiency, the market efficiency of Beijing pilot has improved and the Hubei pilot has the lowest market efficiency; (2) there are the positively long-term equilibrium relationship between market efficiency and market liquidity of pilots; and (3) market liquidity can positively affect the market efficiency of pilots lasting three months. These findings suggest that the market participation ability, linkages between carbon markets, speculation of low market efficiency and carbon derivatives tools can be considered by unified China's national carbon market.The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has not only created a global health crisis, but it is also now threatening the environment. A multidisciplinary collaborative approach is required to fight against the pandemic and reduce the environmental risks associated with the disposal of used personal protective equipment (PPE). This paper explores an innovative way to reduce pandemic-generated waste by recycling the used face masks with other waste materials in civil constructions. In this research, for the first time, a series of experiments, including modified compaction, unconfined compression strength and resilient modulus tests, were conducted on the blends of different percentages of the shredded face mask (SFM) added to the recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) for road base and subbase applications. The experimental results show that RCA mixed with three different percentages (i.e., 1%, 2% and 3%) of SFM satisfied the stiffness and strength requirements for pavements base/subbase. The introduction of the shredded face mask not only increased the strength and stiffness but also improved the ductility and flexibility of RCA/SFM blends. The inclusion of 1% SFM to RCA resulted in the highest values of unconfined compressive strength (216 kPa) and the highest resilient modulus (314.35 MP). However, beyond 2%, increasing the amount of SFM led to a decrease in strength and stiffness.Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) otherwise known as heavy metals are ubiquitous in soils and can have a range of negative health and environmental impacts. In terrestrial systems understanding how PTEs move in the environment is made challenging by the complex interactions within soil and the wider environment and the compositional nature of PTEs. PTEs are compositional because data of individual PTEs within in a sample are ratios which may be under a sum constraint, where individual components sum up to a whole. In this study three different scenarios were considered, one using the centred log ratio transformation (clr) a compositional transformation, the more "traditional" log10 transformation (log10) and untransformed data acting as a comparison (unt) were applied to four different datasets.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sitagliptin.html  Three were the Liver, Muscle and Kidney tissue of Eurasian Badgers (Meles meles) and the fourth was soil and data were extracted from a regional geospatial survey. Cluster analysis demonstrated that the clr and log10 transformation were able to resolve compositional trends at the point of the individual sample, whilst unt could not and did not meet the preconditions for the next phase of analysis.