Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world’s rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This review is focused on distribution and redistribution of trace elements in various tissues of different shrimp species, especially genus Penaeus. The possible roles of metallothionein in this regard are emphasized. Factors affecting heavy metals uptake and distribution have also been reviewed separately. Moreover, patterns of metals bioaccumulation and their order of occurrence have been evaluated. Another part of this paper deals with comparison of the related data from different aquatic environments as well as existing guidelines and limits for human consumption. Generally, the number of conducted studies in some related context, especially in the case of possible roles of metallothionein during storage of organisms is very limited.

Concentrations of cadmium, lead, nickel and vanadium were determined in water, surficial sediments and the muscle of three demersal fish species (Epinephelus coioides, Psettodes erumei and Solea elongate) from 15 sampling sites in the northern part of Persian Gulf. Concentrations of the elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. There were no significant differences among the sampling sites in Cd and Pb levels in the sediments. The highest concentrations of Ni and V in sediments were found near the southern coast of Qeshm Iland and Bandar Lengeh. Concentrations of Cd, Pb and Ni in the sediments were notably higher than global baseline values. Nearly in all cases the element concentrations in the sediments were considerably greater than RSA (ROPME Sea Area) and the ERL (Effects Range Low) guidelines. Significant differences among the sampling sites could be found for concentrations of all the four metals in water. The mean Ni, Pb and Cd levels in the water samples were relatively higher than those in some other regions of the Persian Gulf. Except few cases, the mean concentrations of the elements in muscle of the selected fish species were markedly below the international guidelines for human consumption.

Lead, Copper, Zinc and Manganese were measured in surficial sediments, chironomid larvae, tubificid worms and two species of bivalve molluscs (Mytilaster lineatus and Corbicula fiuminalis) from the Anzali wetland, Iran .No distinct relationship was observed between heavy metal levels and percentage fine fraction in sediments . The pattern of Mn accumulation was parallel to trends of organic matter variation . There were highly significant differences between sampling sites in contents of heavy metals but no significant differences between seasons . Significant differences were found in bioaccumulation of Lead and Zinc in three size categories of chironomid larvae . Lead was higher in smaller M. lineatus, while the reverse was observed for Copper .

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