Quantifying the emissions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from Australian wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is of high importance due to potential impacts on receiving aquatic ecosystems. The new Australian PFAS National Environmental Management Plan recommends 0.23 ng L −1 of PFOS as the guideline value for 99% species protection for aquatic systems. In this study, 21 PFAS from four classes were measured in WWTP solid and aqueous samples from 19 Australian WWTPs. The mean ∑ 21 PFAS was 110 ng L −1 (median: 80 ng L −1 ; range: 9.3–520 ng L −1 ) in aqueous samples and 34 ng g −1 dw (median: 12 ng g −1 dw; range: 2.0–130 ng g −1 dw) in WWTP solids. Similar to WWTPs worldwide, perfluorocarboxylic acids were generally higher in effluent, compared to influent. Partitioning to solids within WWTPs increased with increasing fluoroalkyl chain length from 0.05 to 1.22 log units. Many PFAS were highly correlated, and PCA analysis showed strong associations between two groups: odd chained PFCAs, PFHxA and PFSAs; and 6:2 FTS with daily inflow volume and the proportion of trade waste accepted by WWTPs (as % of typical dry inflow). The compounds PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFNA, and PFDA increased significantly between influent and final effluent. The compounds 6:2 FTS and 8:2 FTS were quantified and F–53B detected and reported in Australian WWTP matrices. The compound 6:2 FTS was an important contributor to PFAS emissions in the studied Australian WWTPs, supporting the need for future research on its sources (including precursor degradation), environmental fate and impact in Australian aquatic environments receiving WWTP effluent.

Petroleum hydrocarbons represent the most frequent environmental contaminant. The introduction of petroleum hydrocarbons into a pristine environment immediately changes the nature of that environment, resulting in reduced ecosystem functionality. Natural attenuation represents the single, most important biological process which removes petroleum hydrocarbons from the environment. It is a process where microorganisms present at the site degrade the organic contaminants without the input of external bioremediation enhancers (i.e., electron donors, electron acceptors, other microorganisms or nutrients). So successful is this natural attenuation process that in environmental biotechnology, bioremediation has developed steadily over the past 50 years based on this natural biodegradation process. Bioremediation is recognized as the most environmentally friendly remediation approach for the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from an environment as it does not require intensive chemical, mechanical, and costly interventions. However, it is under-utilized as a commercial remediation strategy due to incomplete hydrocarbon catabolism and lengthy remediation times when compared with rival technologies. This review aims to describe the fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in the environment and discuss their interactions with abiotic and biotic components of the environment under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, the mechanisms for dealing with petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in the environment will be examined. When petroleum hydrocarbons contaminate land, they start to interact with its surrounding, including physical (dispersion), physiochemical (evaporation, dissolution, sorption), chemical (photo-oxidation, auto-oxidation), and biological (plant and microbial catabolism of hydrocarbons) interactions. As microorganism (including bacteria and fungi) play an important role in the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, investigations into the microbial communities within contaminated soils is essential for any bioremediation project. This review highlights the fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in tertial environments, as well as the contributions of different microbial consortia for optimum petroleum hydrocarbon bioremediation potential. The impact of high-throughput metagenomic sequencing in determining the underlying degradation mechanisms is also discussed. This knowledge will aid the development of more efficient, cost-effective commercial bioremediation technologies.

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Per‐ and poly‐fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitously distributed throughout aquatic environments and can bioaccumulate in organisms. We examined dietary uptake and depuration of a mixture of 3 PFAS: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; C8HF15O2), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS; C8HF17SO3), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HPFO‐DA; C6HF11O3; trade name GenX). Benthic fish (blue spot gobies, Pseudogobius sp.) were fed contaminated food (nominal dose 500 ng g–1) daily for a 21‐d uptake period, followed by a 42‐d depuration period. The compounds PFOA, linear‐PFOS (linear PFOS), and total PFOS (sum of linear and branched PFOS) were detected in freeze‐dried fish, whereas GenX was not, indicating either a lack of uptake or rapid elimination (<24 h). Depuration rates (d–1) were 0.150 (PFOA), 0.045 (linear‐PFOS), and 0.042 (linear+branched‐PFOS) with corresponding biological half‐lives of 5.9, 15, and 16 d, respectively. The PFOS isomers were eliminated differently, resulting in enrichment of linear‐PFOS (70–90%) throughout the depuration period. The present study is the first reported study of GenX dietary bioaccumulation potential in fish, and the first dietary study to investigate uptake and depuration of multiple PFASs simultaneously, allowing us to determine that whereas PFOA and PFOS accumulated as expected, GenX, administered in the same way, did not appear to bioaccumulate. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:595–603. © 2019 SETAC

This systematic review found evidence to suggest a possible association between kissing and oropharyngeal gonorrhea after controlling for other sexual practices, including fellatio and rimming.

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Almost every abiotic surface of a material is readily colonised by bacteria, algae, and fungi, contributing to the degradation processes of materials. Both biocorrosion and microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) refer to the interaction of microbial cells and their metabolic products, such as exopolymeric substances (EPS), with an abiotic surface. Therefore, biofouling and biodeterioration of manufactured goods have economic and environmental ramifications for the user to tackle or remove the issue. While MIC is typically applied to metallic materials, newly developed and evolving materials frequently succumb to the effects of corrosion, resulting in a range of chemical reactions and transport mechanisms occurring in the material. Recent research on biocorrosion and biofouling of conventional and novel materials is discussed in this paper, showcasing the current knowledge regarding microbial and material interactions that contribute to biocorrosion and biofouling, including biofilms, anaerobic and aerobic environments, microbial assault, and the various roles microorganisms’ play. Additionally, we show the latest analytical techniques used to characterise and identify MIC on materials using a borescope, thermal imaging, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical and epifluorescence microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, and chemometrics.