Study of heavy metal pollution in seawater of Kepez harbor of Canakkale (Turkey)

In this work, the heavy metals cadmium and lead in Kepez harbor were studied with regard to the determination of the environmental pollution levels. Seawater samples of the Dardanelles (Canakkale Strait) were collected from the nearest station to Kepez harbor in July 2007. Then, the concentrations of these metals were determined after simple pretreatment of samples by the proposed inductively coupled plasma?Catomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) method. The analysis of a given sample is completed in about 15 min by the ICP-AES method, and the concentrations of Cd and Pb were found to be 73.80 mg L^???1 (relative standard deviation [RSD], 1.07%) and 9.39 mg L^???1 (RSD, 0.70%), respectively. The accuracy of the applied ICP technique was checked by recovery studies, and good recoveries were obtained. The pollution levels of Cd and Pb recorded in this study were compared with those in other studies to analyze the water sample in Kepez harbor.     

Prenatal sonographic features of esophageal and ileal duplications at 18 weeks of gestation

We present a case of esophageal and ileal duplications at 18 weeks of gestation. Transabdominal ultrasonography of the fetus showed multiple cystic masses of 12 to 17 mm in diameter and continuity with each other in the abdomen and a unilocular cystic mass of 15 mm in diameter in the posterior mediastinum. The cystic mass filled the abdominal cavity with signs of intestinal obstruction. The thoracic cystic mass was tubular, sausage-shaped and behind the heart, which was displaced to the antero-lateral wall of the chest. Amniocentesis revealed a normal fetal karyotype 46,XY. Peristaltic movements in the abdominal cystic structure at 30 weeks of gestation suggested dilated intestinal loops. Follow-up ultrasound examinations showed polyhydramnios with amniotic fluid index of 30 cm and gradual enlargement of the cystic structures to 50 mm in the abdomen and 30 mm in the posterior mediastinum at 38 weeks of gestation. A male infant weighing 3900 g was delivered. Postnatal ultrasonographic examination and the findings of magnetic resonance imaging also suggested enteric duplication cysts. Prenatal diagnosis allowed prompt neonatal evaluation and surgical treatment of the esophageal and the ileal duplications, which was confirmed by pathological examination. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Health risk assessment of soil trace elements using the Sequential Gaussian Simulation approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the performance of the Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS) approach was studied with the aim of accurately determining local health...     

Evaluation of ecological risk,source, and spatial distribution of some heavy metals in marine sediments in the Middle and Eastern Black Sea region,Turkey

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the present study, the concentration levels of heavy metals such as Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Pb in sediment samples collected from 16 sampling...     

Radioactivity measurements in moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) and lichen (Cladonia rangiformis) samples collected from Marmara region of Turkey

The present study was conducted to compare the ¹³⁷Cs, ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U activity concentrations in epigeic moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) and lichen (Cladonia rangiformis). The activity levels in 37 moss and 38 lichen samples collected from the Marmara region of Turkey were measured using a gamma spectrometer equipped with a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U in the moss samples were found to be in the range of 0.36-8.13, 17.1-181.1, 1.51-6.17, and 0.87-6.70 Bq kg⁻¹ respectively, while these values were below detection limit (BDL)-4.32, 16.6-240.0, 1.32-6.47, and BDL-3.57 Bq kg⁻¹ respectively in lichen. The average moss/lichen activity ratios of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U were found to be 1.32 ± 0.57, 2.79 ± 1.67, 2.11 ± 0.82, and 2.19 ± 1.02, respectively. Very low ¹³⁷Cs concentrations were observed in moss and lichen samples compared to soil samples collected from the same locations in a previous study. Seasonal variations of the measured radionuclide activities were also examined in the three sampling stations.     

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration from turbidity measurements using artificial neural networks

Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is generally determined from the direct measurement of sediment concentration of river or from sediment transport equations. Direct measurement is very costly and cannot be conducted for all river gauge stations. Therefore, correct estimation of suspended sediment amount carried by a river is very important in terms of water pollution, channel navigability, reservoir filling, fish habitat, river aesthetics and scientific interests. This study investigates the feasibility of using turbidity as a surrogate for SSC as in situ turbidity meters are being increasingly used to generate continuous records of SSC in rivers. For this reason, regression analysis (RA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed to estimate SSC based on in situ turbidity measurements. The SSC was firstly experimentally determined for the surface water samples collected from the six monitoring stations along the main branch of the stream Harsit, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. There were 144 data for each variable obtained on a fortnightly basis during March 2009 and February 2010. In the ANN method, the used data for training, testing and validation sets are 108, 24 and 12 of total 144 data, respectively. As the results of analyses, the smallest mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) values for validation set were obtained from the ANN method with 11.40 and 17.87, respectively. However these were 19.12 and 25.09 for RA. It was concluded that turbidity could be a surrogate for SSC in the streams, and the ANNs method used for the estimation of SSC provided acceptable results.     

Studies on the biology of the red sea bream Chrysophrys major III. Metabolic response to starvation in different salinities

Red sea breams were kept at 20°C without food at 3 salinities (full sea water, 950 mOsm kg^-1; 2/3 sea water, 640 mOsm kg^-1; 1/3 sea water, 330 mOsm kg^-1). In fish adapted to all 3 salinities, starvation resulted in marked decline of plasma FFA and -hydroxybutyrate and liver glycogen levels but plasma glucose and lactate concentrations were maintained. These findings suggest that with the onset of starvation, enhanced hepatic glycogenolysis and decreased fat utilization occurred. Fish, adapted to full and 2/3 sea water, could not survive for more than 19 d without food. However, fish adapted to 1/3 sea water could tolerate 27 d of starvation. Enhanced survival during starvation in 1/3 sea water was observed to be associated with maintenance of plasma protein and elevation of hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. It is suggested that sea breams be transferred to an iso-osmotic medium whenever the threat of starvation prevails, but this suggestion has yet to be evaluated in economic terms.Please communicate with Dr. Norman Y. S. Woo     

Evaluating the seasonal changes of some water quality parameters of the Buyuk Melen River Basin (Duzce, Turkey)

In this study, some heavy metal concentrations (Pb, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu), suspended sediment, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), cyanide, phenol, fecal coliform and total coliform water parameters were determined in the streams (Kucuk Melen, Asarsuyu, Ugursuyu, Buyuk Melen and Aksu) of Buyuk Melen Watershed that provides drinking water to Istanbul in Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. Measurements of water quality parameters were done monthly in eleven separate stations (4 in Kucuk Melen Stream, 1 in Asarsuyu Stream, 1 in Ugur Stream, 1 in Aksu Stream and 4 in Buyuk Melen Stream) from August 2001 to August 2002. The seasonal changes in water quality parameters were evaluated statistically. The results, the parameters, COD, BOD, Pb, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu, cyanide, fecal coliform, total coliform and suspended sediment showed significant differences among seasons and streams (ANOVA; P <0.05). According to Turkish Standarts (TS) 266, European Union (EU) and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, the maximum values of each parameter in streams within the Buyuk Melen watershed are recorded and evaluated in this study.     

14C‐dimethoate residues in olive oil during oil processing

Abstract

An olive tree was treated twice in the field with ¹⁴C‐dimethoate (237.7 (μCi, 2.4 g) and ¹⁴C residues were determined in the olive fruits at harvest. The fruits were crushed and pressed to extract the crude oil, then refined by neutralization, bleaching and deodorization. The crude oil contained 14.1% of the total ¹⁴C in the olive fruits. Neutralization resulted in a reduction of ¹⁴C by about 50% of the total ¹⁴C residues in oil. Bleaching and deodorization processes further reduced the ¹⁴C residues and the refined oil contained 31.6% (which corresponds to 4.4% of ^I4C residues of the total ¹⁴C in olive fruits) of the total ¹⁴C in the crude oil. Industrially extracted crude oil was fortified with ¹⁴C‐dimethoate at 1.8 mg kg^‐1 (0.02 μCi) level and subjected to the same refining process. A sharp decrease in the amount of ¹⁴C was observed by neutralization and the amount of ¹⁴C remaining in the refined oil was about 7.3% of the total ^l4C in the crude fortified oil. The data suggest that the ¹⁴C residues in the aged and the fortified oil amples were not of the same nature. The terminal ¹⁴C residue in the refined oil obtained from the field experiment did not contain dimethoate and/or its oxon.     

Is frequent consumption of tuna fish safe? Evidence of liver damages in rats fed on red or white meat from tuna fish caught in the Gulf of Gab��s (Tunisian coast)

In recent years, a number of studies have clearly pointed out the nutritional benefits of fish consumption. However, some concerns about potential health risks derived from contaminants found in fish have also been raised. Therefore, balancing adequately the risks and benefits of fish consumption is currently a health key issue. As tuna fish represents a large part of the traditional food in some countries, the possible impact of tuna fish consumption on public health was investigated. Hepatic damages following consumption of tuna fish white (ordinary) or red (dark) muscle were evaluated in rat. Under our experimental conditions, feeding the animals for 60?days with white or, more markedly, red tuna meat resulted in 1) an elevated uric acid level in blood, 2) an accumulation of lead in liver, 3) an atrophy of liver, 4) an increase in plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities, and 5) an oxidative stress in liver including an increased level of lipids peroxidation and enhanced activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. In addition, liver histology revealed several abnormalities. These alterations could be attributed to both lead accumulation and high purine levels in tuna meat. We conclude that attention should be paid to a possible health impact of frequent and important consumption of tuna fish meat, especially the dark one.