Characteristics and health risks of population exposure to phthalates via the use of face towels

The production of face towels is growing at an annual rate of about 4%in China,reaching 1.13 million tons by 2021.Phthalates(PAEs)are widely used in textiles,and face towels,as an important household textile,may expose people to PAEs via the skin,further leading to health risks.We collected new face towels and analyzed the distribution characterization of PAEs in them.The changes of PAEs were explored in a face towel use experiment and a simulated laundry experiment.Based on the use of face towels by 24 volunteers,we calculated the estimated daily intake(EDI)and comprehensively assessed the hazard quotient(HQ),hazard index(HI),and dermal cancer risk(DCR)of PAEs exposure in the population.PAEs were present in new face towels at total concentrations of<MDL–2388 ng/g,with a median of 173.2 ng/g,which was a lower contamination level compared with other textiles.PAE contents in used face towels were significantly higher than in new face towels.The concentrations of PAEs in coral velvet were significantly higher than those in cotton.Water washing removed some PAEs,while detergent washing increased the PAE content on face towels.Gender,weight,use time,and material were the main factors affecting EDI.The HQ and HIwere less than 1,which proved PAEs had no significant non-carcinogenic health risks.Among the five target PAEs studied,DEHPwas the only carcinogenic PAE andmay cause potential health risks after long-term exposure.Therefore,we should pay more attention to DEHP.

Influence of cadmium and copper mixtures to rhizosphere bacterial communities

To study the effects of combined Cd and Cu pollution on rhizosphere bacterial community.High-throughput sequencing was used to examine the response of rhizosphere bacterial communities to heavy-metal stress under single and mixed pollution of cadmium(Cd)and copper(Cu).With additions of Cd and Cu,the mean diversity index of rhizosphere bacterial community was in the order Cu alone>Cd-Cu mixtures>Cd alone.In all Cd and Cu treatments,the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria,Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria.In the additions with different concentrations of Cd-Cu mixtures,LEfSe indicated that there were differences in the predominant species of rhizosphere bacterial communities.Some genera such as Streptomyces and Microbacterium belonging to Actinobacteria as biomarkers were significantly enriched in both control and treatments,while some genera such as Pseudoxanthomonas and Rhodopseudomonas belonging to Proteobacteria as biomarkers were observed to be enriched in the additions with single and mixture of Cd and Cu.According to the Nonmetric multidimensional scaling(NMDS)analysis,the structure of rhizosphere bacterial community was different between treatments and the CK.Principal Component Analysis(PCA)and permutational multivariate analysis of variance(PERMANOVA)showed that there were significant differences among treatments(p<0.01),and that the addition of Cu might be the primary factor affecting the composition of rhizosphere bacterial communities.