Reference values for chromium, nickel and vanadium in urine of youngsters from the urban area of Rome

In the assessment of human health risk, the obtainment of reference values in biological tissues and/or fluids is crucial to estimate the type and magnitude of occupational and environmental exposure. In this context, urine is the major excretion route for many noxious substances that have entered the organism and can be viewed as one of the most useful materials for biomonitoring campaigns. In this study, reference concentration ranges for Cr, Ni and V in urine were achieved in a sub-population of 131 youngsters, aged 6-10, attending primary schools in the urban area of Rome. Subjects under drug therapy or affected by any pathological diseases were not included in this investigation. Strict precautions against contamination or loss of the analytes of interest were adopted for all steps. Determinations were performed by means of high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In general, the natural log-transformed concentration data for the three elements investigated conformed to a satisfactorily normal distribution. The estimated reference ranges were as follows (microg g(-1) creatinine): Cr, 0.07-0.76; Ni, 0.20-1.23; V, 0.02-0.22. The sex of the youngsters was tentatively treated as a statistical explanatory variable using the Fischer F-test on variance.     

Efficient search procedures for extreme pollutant values

Extreme pollutant values are of great interest in water quality monitoring because of their frequent toxicological significance. The principal barrier to the detection of these values, however, is the cost of extensive and comprehensive monitoring. This paper demonstrates an efficient method to determine the maximum sample measurement from a finite set of sequential samples without explicitly testing them all. It is assumed that the process of sample measurement is distinct from collection and has higher costs. It is further assumed that the measurements have high positive autocorrelation.A methodology is presented based on a common industrial testing procedure referred to as composite sampling—the physical pooling or compositing of a set of sequential samples before measurement. A method known as primary first order compositing (PFOC) was found to be superior to the traditional technique of random sampling, particularly if small composite sizes are utilized.The authors are, respectively, operations research analyst, Vancouver, B. C.; Associate Professor and Chairman, Policy Analysis Division, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia; and Associate Professor, Management Science Division, Faculty of Commerce, U.B.C.     

X-ray diffraction spectrometric analysis of nickel refinery aerosols,process materials and particulates isolated from worker lung tissues

Results are reported of X-ray diffraction analysis of extracts derived from lungs of two nickel refinery workers and of three stationary air samples collected inside a nickel refinery. Since environmental samples from the 1950s and 1960s do not exist, two archived production control samples from that period were also analyzed. Because nickel has been found in respiratory tissue of workers retired for more than twenty years, it was likely that the residual nickel compounds must be rather insoluble. Preliminary surveys showed that sulfur was not present in the lung tissue deposits and thus water-soluble and sulfidic nickel were therefore extracted from the ten process samples before the X-ray analysis. A common compound that was found in all 10 samples was trevorite. This is a spinel-type mineral, much like magnetite where the divalent iron is replaced by nickel. It may be formed when trivalent iron reacts with nickel at 1100 degrees C. It has magnetic properties and is very insoluble. Samples from the lungs were obtained by burning off the organic tissue at 630 degrees C. Due to a relatively high detection limit for the X-ray diffraction technique, we were initially not able to detect any mineral nickel compound. But when particles extracted with a magnet were analyzed, a very clear diffraction pattern of trevorite was identified. The main residue after the magnetic separation had a low concentration of nickel (4 microg g(-1)), which suggests that trevorite was the dominating, if not the only, nickel compound present. In addition, chemical analyses were performed on 13 tissue samples from one single lung; one from each main bronchus, two from each lobe, and an additional one from the lower right lobe. Statistical testing showed a highly significant correlation between the five elements determined: Ni, Co, Cu, Fe and Cr. This suggests that these metals are isomorphous and substitute for each other in the mineral structure. These results may indicate that the nickel left in the lungs some years after exposure is trevorite, and may be biologically inert. However, further speciation of nickel compounds in the lungs seems warranted, and trevorite should be tested for its potential toxic effects.     

Hygienic guidance values for wipe sampling of antineoplastic drugs in Swedish hospitals

The use of antineoplastic drugs in health care steadily increases. Health care workers can be occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs classified as carcinogenic or teratogenic. Monitoring of surface contamination is a common way to assess occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs, since wipe sampling is used as a surrogate measure of dermal exposure. Since no occupational limits for antineoplastic drugs in work environments exist, 'hygienic guidance values' (HGVs) should be used instead. HGVs are practicable, achievable levels, not health based, and can be calculated from exposure data from representative workplaces with good occupational hygiene practices. So far, guidance values for surface monitoring of antineoplastic drugs only exist for pharmacies where antineoplastic drugs are prepared. The objective was to propose HGVs for surface monitoring of cyclophosphamide (CP) and ifosfamide (IF) in Swedish hospitals where antineoplastic drugs are administered to patients. In total, 17 workplaces located at six hospitals in Sweden were surveyed by wipe sampling. Wipe samples were collected, worked up and then analyzed with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Surface contamination of CP and IF was found on 80% and 73% of the sampled surfaces, thus indicating that there is potential for health care workers to be exposed to CP and IF via the skin. The median surface load of CP was 3.3 pg cm(-2) (range <0.05-10,800 pg cm(-2)). The corresponding value for IF was 4.2 pg cm(-2) (range <0.13-95,000 pg cm(-2)). The highest surface loads were found on the floors. The proposed HGVs were set at 90th percentile values, and can be applicable to hospital workplaces where patients are treated with CP or IF. Surface monitoring combined with HGVs is a useful tool for health care workers to regularly benchmark their own surface loads which could control and reduce the occupational exposure to CP and IF in hospital workplaces. Thus, the occupational safety of the health care workers will be increased.     

Harmonization problems in the implemention of the EEC directive on air quality limit values and guide values for sulphur dioxide and suspended particulates

This report deals with the implementation of Article 10 of the Directive on air quality limit values and guide values for sulphur dioxide and suspended particulates (80/779/EEC). For this purpose the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, has prepared a ‘Common Measurement Programme’ which basically provides for:

1. examination and improvement of the reference measurement methods,
2. examination of the comparability of the measuring procedures and equipment used for monitoring purposes in the Member States,
3. the provision of guidelines and the carrying out of measurements to determine the corresponding stringency of the limit values laid down in Annexes IV and I of the Directive.

     

Prolonged toxicity characteristic leaching procedure for nickel and copper aluminates

The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) is a regulatory testing method widely employed to evaluate the environmental friendliness of waste materials. TCLP analysis provides a fast, easy and economical way to determine the mobility of waste pollutants under simulated landfill conditions. Recent studies on metal stabilization have reported the potential for nickel and copper aluminates to form in thermal treatment conditions, and suggested a more reliable method of stabilizing hazardous metals, particularly when products are to be reused. There is thus an urgent need for a convenient and effective method of quantifying metal leachability and identifying the metal leaching behavior of sparingly soluble materials. In this study, standard TCLP analysis was modified into a prolonged leaching experiment to investigate the leaching behavior of nickel and copper oxides (NiO and CuO) and their aluminates (NiAl(2)O(4), CuAl(2)O(4) and CuAlO(2)). The results demonstrate the difficulty of differentiating the leachability of highly insoluble phases, such as NiO and NiAl(2)O(4), using the standard TCLP. The prolonged TCLP method, however, confirmed NiAl(2)O(4) to have a lower degree of intrinsic leachability than NiO and that it could be expected to undergo congruent dissolution under landfill conditions. For the more soluble copper system, the aluminates were still found to possess a much lower degree of leachability, and their leaching behavior to follow an incongruent dissolution pattern. The results of this study prove prolonged TCLP analysis to be a convenient and effective way to evaluate the environmental friendliness of metal waste and to identify the leaching behavior of waste materials.     

试论环境监测站良好站风建设

运用管理学、心理学、教育学的原理,结合监测站的特点与论述了站风建设的重要性,并从监测方针,发展目标,民主管理等方面阐述了良好站风的建设,指出了站风建设是监测站精神文明建设的集中体现。     

Determination of nickel, copper, zinc and lead in human scalp hair in Syrian occupationally exposed workers by total reflection X-ray fluorescence

In this study, an attempt has been made to study methane flux and quantification of heavy metals from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill areas of selected cities in India. During the period of study, the average value of methane flux was estimated from these landfill areas varied from 146–454 mg/m2/h. Methane emission from landfill is of serious environmental global concern as it accounts for approximately 15 percentages of current Greenhouse gas emissions. It has been estimated that methane emission, from landfill areas in the world, in next two decades would be same as that what is emitted from paddy fields presently. Besides, the estimation of methane flux, quantification of some heavy metals was conducted to analyse the suitability of using MSW as compost. The average values for metals were observed to be both within the range of USEPA and Indian standards for MSW disposal in landfill areas and to be used as compost respectively.     

流域重点工业污染源识别特征成分谱建立技术

研究了基于生产排放全过程、多相、多类污染物并举的污染源识别特征成分谱建立技术。首先建立污染源排放完整图谱,包括原辅料、中间物质、产品、各工艺废水污染物、水处理设施进口和出口污染物等。然后从排放完整图谱中解析出特征污染物。对于废水中的常规污染物和金属污染物,采用与受纳水体浓度相比较的方式得到污染源识别特征污染物,建议将浓度超过受纳水体1倍的污染物定为特征污染物。对于有机污染物,将质量分数之和大于90%的污染物集定为特征有机污染物,并按照有机物类别进行分类。最后开发建立动态的水污染源排放数据库。应用该技术建立了石化行业典型企业的排放特征成分谱,发现这些特征组分具有很好的代表性,为水污染源的识别提供了基础数据。     

Characterisation of workers' exposure in a Russian nickel refinery

In support of a feasibility study of reproductive and developmental health among females employed in the Monchegorsk (Russia) nickel refinery, personal exposure and biological monitoring assessments were conducted. The inhalable aerosol fraction was measured and characterised by chemical speciation and particle-size distribution measurements. Unexpected findings were that: (i), pyrometallurgical working environments had significant levels of water-soluble nickel; (ii), significant exposure to cobalt occurred for the nickel workers; (iii), particles of size corresponding to the thoracic and respirable fractions appeared to be virtually absent in most of the areas surveyed. The water-soluble fraction is judged to be primarily responsible for the observed urinary nickel and cobalt concentrations. It is concluded relative to current international occupational-exposure limits for nickel in air, and because of the high nickel concentrations observed in urine, that the Monchegorsk nickel workers are heavily exposed. The implication of this finding for follow-up epidemiological work is alluded to.     

Application of network method as a tool for integrating biodiversity values in Environmental Impact Assessment

Highway construction or expansion projects are among major activities of economic development especially in developing countries. However, road development consistently can lead to major damages to the environment, including habitat fragmentation and ecological instabilities and a considerable threat to fauna and flora. At this point, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in road developments is needed to address and evaluate the ecological issues in decision-making. The object of this study is to strengthen the consideration of ecological issues, i.e., biodiversity in the existing EIA tools. This paper regards a network method as a means to make informed planning decisions by the lessons from a case study. The results indicate that network method is well suited to be applied in ecological impacts assessment. However, some limitations such as complexity and time consumed make casual networks unpopular. Also, impact of traffic noise on acoustic communication (wildlife and human) was performed. It has been shown that sound level for human is much higher than admissible standards. Finally, the study expresses some mitigation measures to improve the acquisition for environmental impact assessment process.     

美国制定水质基准的方法概要

水质基准保护对象不同可分为保护水生生物的水质基准和保护人体健康的水质基准。概要介绍了美国推导这两种水质基准的方法及其数据要求。     

Quantitative tolerance values for common stream benthic macroinvertebrates in the Yangtze River Delta,Eastern China

Aquatic organisms’ tolerance to water pollution is widely used to monitor and assess freshwater ecosystem health. Tolerance values (TVs) estimated based on statistical analyses of species-environment relationships are more objective than those assigned by expert opinion. Region-specific TVs are the basis for developing accurate bioassessment metrics particularly in developing countries, where both aquatic biota and their responses to human disturbances have been poorly documented. We used principal component analysis to derive a synthetic gradient for four stressor variables (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and % silt) based on 286 sampling sites in the Taihu Lake and Qiantang River basins (Yangtze River Delta), China. We used the scores of taxa on the first principal component (PC1), which explained 49.8 % of the variance, to estimate the tolerance values (TV_r) of 163 macroinvertebrates taxa that were collected from at least 20 sites, 81 of which were not included in the Hilsenhoff TV lists (TV_h) of 1987. All estimates were scaled into the range of 1–10 as in TV_h. Of all the taxa with different TVs, 46.3 % of TV_r were lower and 52.4 % were higher than TV_h. TV_r were significantly (p?<?0.01, Fig. 2), but weakly (r ²?=?0.34), correlated with TV_h. Seven biotic metrics based on TV_r were more strongly correlated with the main stressors and were more effective at discriminating references sites from impacted sites than those based on TV_h. Our results highlight the importance of developing region-specific TVs for macroinvertebrate-based bioassessment and to facilitate assessment of streams in China, particularly in the Yangtze River Delta.     

Evaluating the utility and seasonality of NDVI values for assessing post-disturbance recovery in a subalpine forest

Forest disturbances around the world have the potential to alter forest type and cover, with impacts on diversity, carbon storage, and landscape composition. These disturbances, especially fire, are common and often large, making ground investigation of forest recovery difficult. Remote sensing offers a means to monitor forest recovery in real time, over the entire landscape. Typically, recovery monitoring via remote sensing consists of measuring vegetation indices (e.g., NDVI) or index-derived metrics, with the assumption that recovery in NDVI (for example) is a meaningful measure of ecosystem recovery. This study tests that assumption using MODIS 16-day imagery from 2000 to 2010 in the area of the Colorado’s Routt National Forest Hinman burn (2002) and seedling density counts taken in the same area. Results indicate that NDVI is rarely correlated with forest recovery, and is dominated by annual and perennial forb cover, although topography complicates analysis. Utility of NDVI as a means to delineate areas of recovery or non-recovery are in doubt, as bootstrapped analysis indicates distinguishing power only slightly better than random. NDVI in revegetation analyses should carefully consider the ecology and seasonal patterns of the system in question.     

Use of zeolite to neutralise nickel in a soil environment

Nickel is a heavy metal which is a stable soil pollutant which is difficult to remediate. An attempt to reduce its impact on the environment can be made by changing its solubility. The right level of hydrogen ions and the content of mineral and organic colloids are crucial in this regard. Therefore, methods to neutralise heavy metals in soil are sought. There are no reports in the literature on the possibility of using minerals in the detoxication of a soil environment contaminated with metals. It is important to fill the gap in research on the effect of zeolites on the microbiological, biochemical and physicochemical properties of soils under pressure from heavy metals. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted on two soils which examined the effect of various levels of contamination of soil with nickel on the activity of soil enzymes, physical and chemical properties and growth and development of plants. An alleviating effect of zeolite Bio.Zeo.S.01 on the negative impact of nickel on the soil and a plant (oats) was examined. The enzyme activity and the oat yield were found to be significantly and negatively affected by an excess of nickel in the soil, regardless of the soil type. The metal was accumulated more in the oat roots than in the above-ground parts. An addition of zeolite decreased the level of accumulation of nickel in oats grown only on sandy-silty loam. Zeolite Bio.Zeo.S.01 used in the study only slightly alleviated the negative effect of nickel on the biochemical properties of soil. Therefore, its usability in the remediation of soil contaminated with nickel is small.     

Pedogenesis and nickel biogeochemistry in a typical Albanian ultramafic toposequence

This study aimed at relating the variability of Ni biogeochemistry along the ultramafic toposequence to pedogenesis and soil mineralogy. Hypereutric Cambisols dominate upslope; Cambic Vertisols and Fluvic Cambisols occur downslope. The soil mineralogy showed abundance of primary serpentine all over the sequence. It is predominant upslope but secondary smectites dominate in the Vertisols. Free Fe-oxides are abundant in all soils but slightly more abundant in the upslope soils. Whereas serpentines hold Ni in a similar and restricted range in every soil (approx. 0.3 %), Ni contents in smectites may vary a lot and Mg-rich and Al-poor smectites in the Vertisol could hold up to 4.9 % Ni. Ni was probably adsorbed onto amorphous Fe-oxides and was also exchangeable in secondary smectites. High availability of Ni in soils was confirmed by DTPA extractions. However, it varied significantly along the toposequence, being higher in upslope soils, where Ni-bearing amorphous Fe-oxides were abundant and total organic carbon higher and sensibly lower downslope on the Vertisols: Ni_DTPA varied from 285 mg kg^?1 in the surface of soil I (upslope) to 95.9 mg kg^?1 in the surface of Fluvic Cambisols. Concentration of Ni in Alyssum murale shoots varied from 0.7 % (Hypereutric Cambisols) to 1.4 % (Hypereutric Vertisol). Amazingly, Ni uptake by A. murale was not correlated to Ni_DTPA, suggesting the existence of specific edaphic conditions that affect the ecophysiology of A. murale upslope.     

Quantifying nickel in soils and plants in an ultramafic area in Philippines

In this study, concentrations of nickel (Ni) were quantified in the soils and plants in the agricultural areas of Salcedo watershed in Eastern Samar Island, Philippines. The quantity of total Ni in soils (TS-Ni) was significantly high with a mean of 1,409 mg kg^?1, while the soil available Ni (SA-Ni) was low with a mean of 8.66 mg kg^?1. As the levels of TS-Ni in the Salcedo watershed greatly exceeded the maximum allowable concentrations for agricultural soils, the site is not suitable for agricultural purposes. Despite significant TS-Ni levels, SA-Ni levels were very low due to tight binding between Ni and soil components. Consequently, all plants investigated did not meet the criterion for a Ni hyperaccumulator plant with low Ni contents (mean TP-Ni of 14.7 mg kg^?1). Comparison of Ni levels between food plants and its recommended daily intake (RDI) suggests that consumption of food-plants grown in the study area is unlikely to pose health risks. However, caution must be taken against combined consumption of food plants with high Ni levels or their prolonged consumption, as it can induce accumulation of Ni above RDI.