Leaching behavior and gastrointestinal bioaccessibility of rare earth elements (REEs) from hospital waste incineration (HWI) fly and bottom ash samples collected from Beijing and Nanjing Cities were assessed. In the same ash sample, the leaching concentrations of individual REEs determined by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) were higher than those detected by the European standard protocol (EN-type test), thereby suggesting that the low pH value of leaching solution was an important factor influencing the leachability of REE. The REE bioaccessibility results, which were evaluated using the physiologically based extraction test (PBET), indicated that REEs were highly absorbed during gastric phase by dissolution; and subsequently precipitated and/or re-adsorbed in small intestinal phase. The relative amounts of the total REEs extracted by the TCLP method, EN-type test and PBET test were compared. In addition to the pH value of extraction solutions, the chelating role of REEs with organic ligands used in the PBET method was also an important parameter affecting REE adsorption in human body. Additionally, this study showed that REEs were extracted by these methods as concomitants of heavy metals and anions (NO3–, F–, SO42–, and Cl–) from HWI ash, which probably caused the remarkably complex toxicity on human body by the exposure pathway. 相似文献
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) has inflicted huge threats to the health of mankind. Metal pollution could be a potential risk factor of PTC occurrence, but existing relevant epidemiological researches are limited. The current case-control study was designed to evaluate the relationships between exposure to multiple metals and the risk of PTC. A total of 262 histologically confirmed PTC cases were recruited. Age- and gender-matched controls were enrolled at the same time. Urine samples were used as biomarkers to reflect the levels of environmental exposure to 13 metals. Conditional logistic regression models were adopted to assess the potential association. Single-metal and multi-metal models were separately conducted to evaluate the impacts of single and co-exposure to 13 metals. The increased concentration of urinary Cd, Cu, Fe, and Pb quartiles was found significant correlated with PTC risk. We also found the decreased trends of urinary Se, Zn, and Mn quartiles with the ORs for PTC. These dose-response associations between Pb and PTC were observed in the single-metal model and remained significant in the multi-metal model (OR25-50th=1.39, OR50-75th=3.32, OR>75th=7.62, p for trend <0.001). Our study suggested that PTC was positively associated with urinary levels of Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and inversely associated with Se, Zn, and Mn. Targeted public health policies should be made to improve the environment and the recognition of potential risk factors. These findings need additional studies to confirm in other population.
Pollution from urban highway runoff has been identified as one of the major causes of the deterioration of receiving water quality. The purpose of this study is to assess the toxicity of urban storm water samples in Shanghai using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo test and the bacterial luminescence (Vibrio qinghaiensis) assay. The toxicity of highway runoff from seventeen storm events was investigated in both grab and composite samples. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to the runoff samples and development parameters including lethality, spontaneous movements in 20 s, heart beat rate, hatching rate, and abnormality of zebrafish embryos were observed after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of exposure. Inhibition rates of luminescence intensity were also recorded. The results showed that in the zebrafish embryo toxicity tests, both grab and composite samples increased the lethality, reduced the percentage with spontaneous movements and heart beats, inhibited the hatching of embryos, and induced morphological abnormalities. In the Vibrio qinghaiensis toxicity test, all the grab samples inhibited the luminescence, while some of the composite samples promoted it, which indicated that different types of toxicants might have been affecting the species. The multivariate statistics analysis indicated that heavy metal (zinc, manganese, and copper) and PAHs might mainly contribute to the toxicity of runoff samples. 相似文献