Taken together, our data establish a key role for TLR4-dependent hypothalamic inflammation in regulating the effects of BPA on prediabetes.The heavy metal pollution is a worldwide problem and has received a serious concern for the ecosystem and human health. In the last decade, remediation of the agricultural polluted soil has attracted great attention. Phytoremediation is one of the technologies that effectively alleviate heavy metal toxicity, however, this technique is limited to many factors contributing to low plant growth rate and nature of metal toxicities. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) assisted alleviation of heavy metal phytotoxicity is a cost-effective and environment-friendly strategy. AMF have a symbiotic relationship with the host plant. The bidirectional exchange of resources is a hallmark and also a functional necessity in mycorrhizal symbiosis. During the last few years, a significant progress in both physiological and molecular mechanisms regarding roles of AMF in the alleviation of heavy metals (HMs) toxicities in plants, acquisition of nutrients, and improving plant performance under toxic conditions of HMs has been well studied. This review summarized the current knowledge regarding AMF assisted remediation of heavy metals and some of the strategies used by mycorrhizal fungi to cope with stressful environments. Moreover, this review provides the information of both molecular and physiological responses of mycorrhizal plants as well as AMF to heavy metal stress which could be helpful for exploring new insight into the mechanisms of HMs remediation by utilizing AMF.Electrokinetic (EK) remediation is a promising technology for soil decontamination, although basic pH in the soil close to cathode has constrained EK effectiveness due to heavy metal precipitation. AZD9291 solubility dmso This study aimed to enhance copper removal from kaolinite soil by integrating EK with compost (C) as recyclable reactive filter media (RFM) for the first time. Compost placed near the cathode served as an adsorbent to bind copper ions while buffering the advancement of the alkaline front in soil. The total copper removal rate increased from 1.03% in EK to 45.65% in EK-100%C under an electric potential of 10 V. Further experiments conducted by using biochar (BC) and compost/biochar (C + BC) mixture RFM at different ratios showed total Cu removal efficiency decreasing as EK-100%C > EK-(10%BC + 90%C) > EK-(20%BC + 80%C) > EK-(30%BC + 70%C) > EK. The application of a constant electric current of 20.00 mA further enhanced copper removal to 84.09% in EK-100%C although did not show significant enhancement in EK-(BC + C). The compost RFM was regenerated by acid extraction and then reused twice, achieving a total removal of 74.11%. The findings demonstrated compost as a promising and reusable RFM for the efficient removal of copper in contaminated soil.It is known that organic nitrogen may modify uptake and toxicity of metals but direct metabolic and microbial comparison of various organic N sources is not available. We therefore studied comparative impact of additional N sources (nitrate, urea or allantoin as 1 mM of N for each compound in addition to 15 mM of inorganic N in the Hoagland solution) on Cd toxicity and microbial activity in common crop cucumber. Organic N significantly elevated the growth, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic activity under Cd excess in comparison with inorganic N though the impact on Cd uptake was negligible. Both organic N compounds also affected accumulation of mineral nutrients, total N, amino acids, and protein content in Cd-stressed plants. Among organic acids, mainly allantoin and partially urea affected accumulation of citrate and tartrate. The most notably, we detected that allantoin was decomposed even within 24 h by microbes into the urea, but it significantly elevated rhizosphere microbial activity. All these data indicate that allantoin is metabolized by plants/microbes into the urea and that it affects microbes mainly in the rhizosphere, which could contribute to amelioration of Cd toxicity.Potential of the magnetic hollow-sphere nanocomposite, graphene oxide-gadolinium oxide (GO-Gd2O3) for arsenic (As) removal from real field water with developing a continuous operating system and antimicrobial activity were investigated. The characterization results suggest that the prepared GO-Gd2O3 is a hallow sphere wool-like nanocomposite having 50.91 m2 g-1 surface area. The sorption studies revealed that a high adsorption capacity (216.70 mg g-1) can be achieved using GO-Gd2O3 (0.1 g L-1) at a pH of 6.0, and temperature of 293 K. The main and novel observations from the loading of Gd2O3 are that the GO adsorption efficiency, adsorbent separation rate from aqueous solutions, and the stability of the composite have been altered. Thus, the developed material can overcome the separation and stability issues associated with the bare GO, and exhibits an enhanced adsorption capacity toward arsenic was higher or comparable with existing magnetic material. In addition, the developed adsorption method was well applied for real field water samples collected from the mining area of South Korea where the GO-Gd2O3 can reduce the quantity of arsenic under the maximum accepted concentration of arsenic considered fit for drinking water stipulated by environmental protection agencies. Furthermore, the GO-Gd2O3 nanocomposite shows a high bacterial photocatalytic inactivation and was comparable with other reports.Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a sort of carbon-based nanofillers blended into polymer nanocomposites to improve both of the flame retardancy and mechanical properties. However, the CNTs tend to entangle into bundles and the channels are too narrow to allow the entry of polymer chains, harmful to the dispersion and interaction within the polymer matrix. Therefore, by means of a facile pyrolysis method, boron and nitrogen co-doped larger-diameter graphitic nanotubes with decorated nickel nanocrystals (Ni/GNTs) were developed as flame retardant for epoxy resin (EP). The nanotubes are short but with large specific surface area. Compared to the commercial CNTs, the epoxy chain could infiltrate into the channels of Ni/GNTs which was approved by different techniques. The unique nanostructure endowed the product with strong interaction with the polymer matrix. The fire behaviors were examined by cone calorimeter tests, and the results showed that with the addition of 2 wt% Ni/GNTs, the peak of heat release rate and the total smoke production values of the nanocomposites were reduced by 43.AZD9291 solubility dmso