Stable lead isotope profiles in smelter and general urban communities: a comparison of environmental and blood measures

High-precision lead isotope ratios and lead concentrations have been compared statistically and graphically in women of child-bearing age (n = 77) from two smelter communities and one general urban community to evaluate the relative contributions to blood lead of tissue lead stores and lead from the contemporaneous environment (soil, floor dust, indoor airborne dust, water, food). Blood lead (PbB) contents were generally low (e.g. <10 g dL^–1). Statistically significant isotopic differences in blood and environmental samples were observed between the three cities although isotopic differences in blood for individual subjects living in close proximity (200 m radius) was as large as the differences within a city. No single environmental measure dominated the biological isotope profile and in many cases the low levels of blood lead meant that their isotopic profiles could be easily perturbed by relatively small changes of environmental exposure. Apportioning of sources using lead isotopes is possibly not feasible, nor cost effective, when blood lead levels are <5 g dL^–1. Interpretations based on statistical analyses of city-wide data do not give the same conclusions as when the houses are considered individually. Aggregating data from multiple subjects in a study such as this obscures potentially useful information. Most of the measures employed in this study, and many other similar studies, are markers of only short-to-medium integration of lead exposure. Serial sampling of blood and longer sampling times, especially for household variables, should provide more meaningful information.     

A Preliminary Study of Geographic Influence on Arsenic Concentrations in Human Hair

Past mining activities in the county of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, has exposed the local environment to raised levels of As. Previous research has shown an increased concentration of As in crops grown in such areas and the subsequent take-up of As through the food chain may lead to an increased body burden in man. In an attempt to evaluate this, a pilot study was carried out using Particle Induced X-ray Emission to compare the hair As concentration of a group of Cornish residents to that of a control group consisting of residents in the counties of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The null hypothesis being that there is no significant difference between the hair As concentrations of the two groups.Each group comprised thirty six age and sex matched subjects. The mean hair As concentration for the Cornish group was 2.51 g g-1, which is significantly greater than that of 0.7 g g-1 found in the control group (p = 0.004). The World Health Organisation suggests a hair As value greater than 1 g g-1 as evidence of increased exposure to As and 5 g g-1 is quoted by the Canadian Government as evidence of significant ingestion of As. Twenty one Cornish subjects registered a value at or above 1 g As g-1 compared to nine in the control group (p = 0.0003). Five subjects in the Cornish group had values that exceed 5 g As g-1, compared to only two in the control group (p = 0.23). We use the results of this study as evidence to support our continued work in this area in order to evaluate possible health implications.     

Estimating percentiles from composite environmental samples when all observations are nondetectable

Many environmental sampling problems involve some specified regulatory or contractual limit (RL). Often the interest is in estimating the percentile of the underlying contaminant concentration distribution corresponding to RL. The focus of this paper is on obtaining a point estimate and a lower confidence limit for that percentile when all observations are nondetectable, with the ith observation known to be less than some detection limit DLI, where DLi RL. Since composite samples are being considered, it is not unreasonable to assume an underlying normal distribution.     

气相色谱法测定水和气体样品中的二硫化碳

本文研究了用气相色谱电子捕获检测器测定水和气体样品中二硫化碳的方法。本方法采取顶空进样法测水质样品,直接进样测气体样品。色谱柱为ＧＤＸ—１０１填充柱。方法简单,灵敏度高,水质样品最低检出浓度可达００００５ｍｇ／Ｌ,气体样品最低检出浓度达０００５ｍｇ／ｍ３。方法的精密度为５７％,回收率为９０３％。     

北京公园水体中邻苯二甲酸酯类物质的测定及其分布特征

为了正确评估北京市公园水体受PAEs污染的程度,采集了北京11个公园湖水的水样,采用固相萃取-气相色谱联用技术检测了其中六种邻苯二甲酸酯类物质(PAEs)的含量,该方法加标回收率在73%～89.3%,RSD为5.9%～18.1%,检出限在0.40～4.58mg/L。实验结果为北京公园水体中总PAEs浓度在6.4～138.1μg/L,平均值为27.9μg/L,证明北京公园水体受到不同程度的PAEs污染,主要的污染物为邻苯二甲酸二丁酯(DBP)和邻苯二甲酸双(2-乙基己基)酯(DEHP),其中东南部以及西北部的公园污染较严重。分析了PAEs在公园湖水底泥中和水体中的分布特征,结果显示,PAEs在湖水底泥中的含量明显大于在水体中的含量。     

Comparative Metal Distribution in Hair of Pakistani and Libyan Population and Source Identification by Multivariate Analysis

Using nitric acid-perchloric acid wet digestion based FAAS method ten selected metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Fe, K, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determined in the scalp hair of male Pakistani and Libyan donors (n = 62), between 3–54 years age and residing in typical urban areas. The study was taken up to identify sources of metal distribution in two diverse population segments exposed to different environments. Sodium emerged with the highest mean hair concentration of 511.0 μg/g and 496.9 μg/g for Libyan and Pakistani donors respectively, followed by K, at 266.2 μg/g and 242.4 μg/g for the two donor categories. Cadmium showed the lowest mean hair concentration for both Pakistani (0.380 μg/g) and Libyan (0.530 μg/g) donors. Levels of Na, K, Pb, Cr and Cd were higher in hair of Libyan donors compared with Pakistani counterparts which showed higher comparative levels of Zn, Fe, Co, Ni and Mn. Strong metal-to-metal correlations were found between Na–K (r = 0.638) and Cd–Co (r = 0.574) for Pakistani donors, while for Libyan donors, Na–K (r = 0.680) and Fe–Mn (r = 0.624) correlations emerged as strongly significant. Only K was found to have a strong positive correlation (r = 0.611) with age for Pakistani donors while this correlation was significantly negative (r = −0.500) for Libyan donors, probably arising from individual food habits. Other metals showed no viable relationship with age. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) of the data evidenced food, industrial emissions and automobile emissions as possible sources of metal distribution. The results of the present study are compared with those reported for subjects from other regions of the world.     

Arsenism Clinical Stages and their Relation with Hair Arsenic Concentration of Residents of Bayinmaodao Rural District, Inner Mongolia, China

The clinical skin lesions of arsenism in men and women in Bayinmaodao rural district in Inner Mongolia, Peoples Republic of China, have been examined by doctors, and their hair and drinking water samples analysed for arsenic by hydride generation and ICP-AES. Altogether 311 arsenism patients with a 15.53% prevalence rate for the district were recorded. The disease prevalence rate was positively related to population, age, and their exposure to elevated arsenic concentrations in the drinking water from 1983 when new wells were dug and drinking of surface water was abandoned. Hyperkeratosis was the most serious skin lesion with the highest occurrence rate, then depigmentation and pigmentation in decreasing order. With increasing severity of the disease, ranging from skin lesion with single hyperkeratosis 1° to hyperkeratosis 3° with depigmentation 3° and pigmentation 3°, the results showed that arsenic concentrations in head hair had increased. Arsenic concentrations in hair were positively correlated with the arsenic concentrations in drinking water obtained from local wells.     

Effects of Selenium Supplementation on Arsenism: An Intervention Trial in Inner Mongolia

This paper reports the effects of a placebo-controlled Se-enriched yeast supplementation trial, conducted for 14 months, on arsenism in adult farmers living in a rural community in Inner Mongolia, China. The farmers had been naturally exposed to elevated concentrations of As in drinking water from tube-wells since 1983 but changed to arsenic-free drinking water when the trial began in June 1996. Blood and hair Se and As concentrations were analysed pre-intervention and at the end of the 3rd, 9th and 14th month, while skin lesions were assessed pre-intervention, as well as at the end of the 14th month, using the Arsenism Clinical Criteria established by the Ministry of Health, China. As the trial was a voluntary one, a number of farmers did not routinely have their blood and hair samples taken for analysis. Consequently, the data have been analysed in two categories. Fifty-four farmers from the Se-group and 29 from the placebo-group who were sampled on each occasion were considered as one group, which has been compared with the second group comprising up to a total of 100 farmers in the Se-group and 86 in the placebo-group. Results calculated for those farmers who were sampled on each occasion, showed that at the end of the trial, blood and hair Se concentrations of the Se-group increased from 0.130 to 0.186 µg ml^–1 and from 0.431 to 0.502 µg g^–1, respectively, while those of the placebo-groups remained constant. Blood and hair As concentrations of the Se-group decreased from 0.051 to 0.015 µg ml^–1 and from 2.57 to 0.680 µg g^–1, respectively, a greater reduction than those in the placebo-group that went from 0.064 to 0.024 µg ml^–1 and from 2.62 to 1.25 µg g^–1, respectively. When the data from all patients were examined, the analytical trends were similar. An evaluation of skin lesions in the category who were sampled for hair and blood on each occasion showed that 41.2% of hyperkeratosis, 50.0% of depigmentation and 44.7% of pigmentation in the Se-group improved one or more degrees, while those in the placebo-group improved by only 7.1, 12.0 and 6.7%, respectively. A total of 61.1% of the adults in Se-group improved in one or more type of skin lesion, but only 17.2% improved in the placebo-group. Comparable results were obtained when all the data from both categories of farmers were examined. Results from the trial showed that Se supplementation was more effective for the improvement of adults who were affected by double or triple skin lesions. In the placebo-group, most of the severely affected adults improved in only one kind of skin lesion, but in the Se-group, more adults improved in two or three kinds of skin lesions. Although the trial was limited by its relatively small size, the results have provided some evidence of the usefulness of Se supplementation for people affected by arsenism.     

Simulation of sludge-dredging effects in controlling nutrient release of Lake Kasumigaura with large-size core samples

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低压离子色谱法测定水和酸雨样品中的Li~+,Na~+,NH_4~+,K~+,Ca~(2+)和Mg~(2+)离子

本文介绍了低压离子色谱仪测定水样(井水、湖水、矿泉水、自来水)和酸雨中锂、钠、铵、钙、钾和镁离子的方法、欲测阳离子在阳离子交换柱上被分离,分别用1.4mmol·1~(-1)HNO_3和0.6mmol·1~(-1)乙二胺+1.2mmol·1~(-1)HNO_3溶液作流动相,流速为1.6ml·min~(-1).各离子的流分用电导检测.进样量为10μl时,Li~+,Na~+,NH_4~+,K~+,Ca~(2+)和Mg~(2+)离子的检出限(2倍噪音比),分别为0.020,0.050,0.100,0.250,2.5和1.0μg·ml~(-1).