In 68% of the samples the requirement for S. aureus ( less then 1/100 ml) was met. A linear mixed effect analysis showed that E. coli and intestinal enterococci concentrations were significantly dependent on the log10 of turbidity. P. aeruginosa concentrations were significantly dependent on water temperature. 31-45% of the variation between swimming ponds was explained by considering ‘pond’ as a random effect in the analysis. The monitoring of microbiological parameters in swimming pond water needs selective analytical methods, such as those used in this study, due to large numbers of background bacteria. selleck kinase inhibitor The draft new Dutch swimming pool legislation provides proper guidance to ensure the microbiological safety of swimming pond water; it would benefit from inclusion of turbidity as an extra parameter. S. aureus is a relevant parameter for non-fecal shedding, although scientific literature does not provide evidence for a norm value based on a dose-response relation for exposure to S. aureus in water. BACKGROUND Previous studies have observed that cadmium (Cd) exposure of pregnant women was associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the potential mechanism still remains unclear. In addition, various animal studies have suggested that Cd exposure could affect fatty acids (FAs) metabolism, but data on humans are scant. OBJECTIVES We conducted a nested case-control study to investigate the associations of urinary Cd concentrations with levels of circulating FAs and risk of GDM in pregnant women, and further to examine the role of FAs in mediating the relationship between Cd exposure and risk of GDM. METHODS A total of 305 GDM cases were matched to 305 controls on pregnant women’s age (±2 years) and infant’s gender from a birth cohort study conducted in Wuhan, China. Urinary Cd concentrations and levels of plasma FAs between 10 and 16 gestational weeks were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Cofatty acids, total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and n-3 PUFAs/n-6 PUFAs ratio. We did not observe evidence that the association of Cd exposure and risk of GDM was mediated through FAs. CONCLUSIONS Our findings confirmed the association of higher Cd exposure with increased risk of GDM in pregnant women, and provided forceful epidemiological evidence for the relation of Cd concentrations and levels of FAs. The direct use of digestate on farmlands as soil amendment is becoming an uneconomic option for farmers. Moreover, there are serious environmental concerns about its oversupply in regions with intensive biogas plants. Downstream technologies, offering innovative upcycling methods to handle huge amounts of digestate, have absorbed great interest in this context. In this study, three digestate treatment technologies were compared from a life cycle assessment perspective to combine the environmental impacts from pig manure transportation to biogas plants, biogas production, different digestate treatment technologies, and the use of final products. The results showed that scenario including digestate fractionation into solid and liquid, and their use for compost production and microalgae cultivation, respectively, would be a suitable downstream strategy with lower impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, and climate change damage categories, however future improvements still required. The results showed that sealed storage system or fast-continuous downstream processes as well as shorter distances between biogas plants and farms can significantly enhance the environmental performance of coupled anaerobic digestion and microalgae production. The high energy payback also signified that co-digestion of pig manure and microalgae would be energetically favorable in this context. However, having compared the results with a baseline scenario demonstrated that the direct use of digestate on farmlands, under controlled conditions to avoid its over application, is still the most environmentally favorable option, despite being a costly option for farmers. The results achieved in the present study suffered some uncertainties because technologies under consideration are at their infancy stage, thus further research still is required to find the most sustainable solutions. The lung has been reported to be one of the target organs of polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans (PCDD/Fs) in many toxicological studies. While the associations between PCDD/Fs exposure and lung function levels have not been investigated thoroughly. This study aimed to explore these associations and the potential mediating role of oxidative stress. In this study, 201 foundry workers and 222 non-exposed general residents were recruited from central China, and their lung function parameters were measured. Air and food samples were collected to determine the PCDD/Fs levels for individual PCDD/Fs exposure estimation. Serum PCDD/Fs levels were determined in a subgroup of individuals randomly selected from the study population to reflect the body burden. It was found that each 1-unit increase in ln-transformed concentration of PCDD/Fs exposure (fg TEQ/bw/day) was associated with a 0.47 L decrease in FVC and a 0.25 L decrease in FEV1. Each 1-unit increase in ln-transformed concentration of serum PCDD/Fs (fg TEQ/g lipid) was associated with a 0.36 L decrease in FVC and a 0.24 L decrease in FEV1. Urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was not only positively related to PCDD/Fs exposure, but also inversely associated with FVC and FEV1 are FVC (β = -0.15, 95% CI -0.22 to -0.08) and FEV1 (β = -0.07, 95% CI -0.13 to -0.02). Mediation analysis revealed that urinary 8-OHdG mediated 12.22% of the associations of external PCDD/Fs exposure with FVC levels, 28.61% and 27.87% of the associations of serum PCDD/Fs with FVC and FEV1 levels respectively. Our findings suggested that PCDD/Fs exposure was associated with decreased lung function levels by a mechanism partly involving oxidatively generated damage to DNA. Exposure to phthalates is a public health concern. In this study, we collected both urine and wastewater samples from 2012 to 2017 and analysed for 14 phthalate metabolites to assess human exposure to phthalates in Southeast Queensland (SEQ), and for associations between phthalate metabolites in urine and wastewater samples. Twenty-four pooled urine samples were prepared from 2400 individual specimens every two years (stratified by age, gender and collection year). Wastewater samples were collected from the three major wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) representing locations in the SEQ region including a regional city, part of the state capital city and a third major urban WWTP in the region. Over the period, decreases for most phthalate metabolites, i.e. mono-butyl phthalate (MBP), mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP), monocyclohexyl phthalate (MCHP), mono(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP), mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and monomethyl phthalate (MMP), but an increase in monoethyl phthalate (MEP, particularly in young children) were observed in urine.