Effect of deuterium-depleted water on reproduction of rainbow trout

During the artificial reproduction of salmonides, the fecundity can be increased either by improving the viability of spermatozoa, or by extending the time period during which a roe micropile remains open, thus allowing its fecundation. Practically, this can be achieved by the use of some fertilising techniques suitable for fish species. Here, we show that the reproduction of rainbow trout in a 1:1 solution of deuterium-depleted water and distilled water led to a significant increase in survival of roes during their embryonic development. Moreover, the addition of glucose and fructose into the deuterium-depleted fertilising solutions led to a further increase in roe survival during embryonic development. The increase in survival is mainly explained by an increase in the motility of spermatozoa.     

Effect of temperature and particle size on the thermal desorption of PCBs from contaminated soil

Thermal desorption is widely used for remediation of soil contaminated with volatiles, such as solvents and distillates. In this study, a soil contaminated with semivolatile polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was sampled at an interim storage point for waste PCB transformers and heated to temperatures from 300 to 600 °C in a flow of nitrogen to investigate the effect of temperature and particle size on thermal desorption. Two size fractions were tested: coarse soil of 420–841 μm and fine soil with particles <250 μm. A PCB removal efficiency of 98.0 % was attained after 1 h of thermal treatment at 600 °C. The residual amount of PCBs in this soil decreased with rising thermal treatment temperature while the amount transferred to the gas phase increased up to 550 °C; at 600 °C, destruction of PCBs became more obvious. At low temperature, the thermally treated soil still had a similar PCB homologue distribution as raw soil, indicating thermal desorption as a main mechanism in removal. Dechlorination and decomposition increasingly occurred at high temperature, since shifts in average chlorination level were observed, from 3.34 in the raw soil to 2.75 in soil treated at 600 °C. Fine soil particles showed higher removal efficiency and destruction efficiency than coarse particles, suggesting that desorption from coarse particles is influenced by mass transfer.     

A review on thermal analyses of cyclodextrins and cyclodextrin complexes

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Cyclodextrins are valuable natural or synthetically modified cyclic oligosaccharides that are widely used for ameliorating properties of biologically active...     

Winter arsenic pollution in 10 forest ecosystems in the mountainous border regions of the Czech Republic

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Arsenic (As) concentrations and deposition fluxes were measured in snow and rime at 10 mountain-top sites near the borders between the Czech Republic...     

Comparative study of the suitability of three lichen species to trace-element air monitoring

To investigate the suitability of three lichen species (Cetraria islandica, Evernia prunastri, and Ramalina farinacea) as transplants to trace-element air biomonitoring, they were exposed on substratum-free supports, from July 1996 until July 1997, in three European countries with different climates (Germany, Italy, Romania), at six sites with different types of air pollutants (two in each country). After 2, 4, 6, and 12 months of exposure, some portions of thallus were collected, prepared, and measured by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) at the Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering in Bucharest and by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (EDXRFA) at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. Fifteen environmentally relevant elements: As, Br, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, Ni, Pb, S, Sb, V, and Zn were determined. The analytical results were compared statistically. To study the distribution of the trace-elements between the lichens and the lichen throughfall water inside a virtual column, the throughfall water was collected under the lichen transplants during 6 and 12 months. The dried residues were analysed by INAA at Bucharest. The accumulating capacity for all investigated species is evident. For a comparative evaluation, the initial element contents, the "accumulation factors" relative to the bulk deposition, the interspecies "calibration factors", and the "retention efficiencies", defined as ratios of the lichen enrichment to the sum of this enrichment and the content in the lichen throughfall water, were considered. These criteria attest the best suitability for Evernia prunastri, followed by Ramalina farinacea and Cetraria islandica.     

Urinary level of homovanillic acid and mercury in autistic children

Catecholamines and their metabolites affect children's nervous system. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in the brain. In the routine analysis for diagnostics of diseases, the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) is determined. Mercury is a neurotoxic agent and can cause different undesirable effects on the brain. In the present work a putative correlation between HVA, the main metabolite of dopamine, and mercury in urine of healthy and autistic children was studied. The level of HVA was higher in the urine of autistic children (14.5 ± 8.3 mg L^?1) compared to generally healthy children (4.4 ± 0.5 mg L^?1). The level of mercury in the urine of autistic children was lower (0.36 ± 0.24 µg L^?1) than in the urine of healthy children (2.1 ± 1.0 µg L^?1) showing that there is no correlation between HVA and mercury.