Assessment of public exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials from mining and mineral processing activities of Tarkwa Goldmine in Ghana

Studies have been carried out in a Goldmine in Ghana to determine the exposure of the public to naturally occurring radioactive materials from processing of gold ore. Direct gamma spectrometry and neutron activation analysis techniques were used to analyse soil, rock, water and dust samples from the mining environment. The mean activity concentrations measured for (238)U, (232)Th and (40)K in the soil/rock samples were 15.2, 26.9 and 157.1 Bq kg(?-?1), respectively. For the water samples, the mean activity concentrations were 0.54 and 0.41 Bq l(?-?1)) and 7.76 Bq l(?-?1) for (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K, respectively. The mean activity concentrations measured in the dust samples were 4.90 and 2.75 μBq m(?-?3) for (238)U and (232)Th, respectively. The total annual effective dose to the public was estimated to be 0.69 mSv. The results in this study compared well with typical world average values. The results indicate an insignificant exposure of the public from the activities of the Goldmine.     

Flame ionization gas chromatographic determination of phthalate esters in water, surface sediments and fish species in the Ogun river catchments, Ketu, Lagos, Nigeria

The detection and quantification of four phthalate esters??dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP)??in water, sediment, and some fish species were carried out using flame ionization gas chromatography. The samples were collected from the Ogun river catchments, Ketu, Lagos. The DMP was not detected in the water and fish samples but was detected in sediments collected from four of the six sampling sites. The concentration of DEP, DBP, and DEHP in the fish species ranged from 320.0?C810.0, 380.0?C1,080.0, and 40.0?C150.0 ??g/kg in Tilapia sp.; 310.0?C860.0, 400.0?C1,170.0, and 40.0?C110.0 ??g/kg in Chrysichthys sp.; and 320.0?C810.0, 400.0?C3,970.0, and 30.0?C300.0 ??g/kg (DEHP) in Synodontis sp., respectively. The differences in fish phthalate levels are not statistically significant at p?<?0.05, an indication that phthalate esters accumulation is not fish species dependent. The DEP, DBP, and DEHP values recorded are considerably higher than the maximum allowed concentrations for drinking water prescribed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The phthalate pollution index and biosediment accumulation factor values were also calculated.     

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Parental response to mid-trimester therapeutic abortion following amniocentesis

This article reports the results of a retrospective study designed to examine the responses of couples to genetic amniocentesis and subsequent therapeutic abortions due to birth defects. Fourteen women and 12 men were interviewed by experienced interviewers using a structured format designed by the authors, and each interview was audiotaped for later rating. The 5 raters (all women) were instructed to independently rate each interview using forms designed by the authors to elicit information about many aspects of the participant's individual responses as well as perceptions of spouse's responses to the process of pregnancy, amniocentesis, therapeutic abortion, and sequelae. Ratings of all 5 raters were conjoined and an homogeneous narrative was constructed for each interview. Results indicate, in general, that the respondent couples coped well with this experience. In fact 70 per cent of the respondent couples described their marital relationships as becoming closer as a result of their experience. Only a few participants reported long-term deleterious effects. Most couples coped by relying on relatives, friends, and occasionally, professional counsellors. In addition, most participants in this study suggested ways to improve the medical and psychological aspects of this experience.     

A Survey of Trace Metals in Vegetation, Soil and Lower Animal Along Some Selected Major Roads in Metropolitan City of Lagos

The concentration of trace metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in a total of 144 samples of grass, soil and lower animal (earthworm, Lybrodrilus violaceous) were collected and analysed for their metallic content. Levels of cadmium ranged from 0.01–0.07 g g^–1; 0.01–0.12 g g^–1 and from trace–0.05 g g^–1 dry weight for plant, soil and animal samples respectively. Mean concentration of copper ranged 0.10–1.48 g g^–1; 0.10–2.90 g g^–1 and 0.01–0.08 g g^–1 for samples in similar order as above. The levels of Pb varied from 0.01–0.14 g g^–1; 0.02–0.23 g g^–1 and from trace–0.07 g g^–1 while that of Zn ranged from 0.19–1.80 g g^–1; 0.51–3.35 g g^–1and 0.01–0.08 g g^–1 also in the same order of samples as mentioned above. Levels of metals in soil samples were higher than the background levels with the exception of Zn but lower than European Union (EU) limits. The results generally revealed the presence of metals in plant and animal samples and metal dynamics up the food chain is highly possible. Acceptable recoveries of the spiking experiment validate the experimental protocol.     

Bioindicator organisms: Heavy metal pollution evaluation in the Ionian Sea (Mediterranean Sea—Italy)

Trace metal concentrations of mercury, cadmium, lead and chromium in Patella caerulea, and Mullus barbatus were investigated to provide information on pollution of Ionian Sea, since these metals have the highest toxic potential. High chromium levels (0.47–0.97 g g^–1 ww) were registered in limpet samples collected from two station near the Gulf of Taranto, while elevated concentration of mercury (0.31–1.50 g g^–1 ww) were found in mullet specimens from Sicily. The metal concentrations recorded at the clean stations may be considered as useful background levels to which to refer for comparison within the Mediterranean area. On the contrary, the high levels of chromium and mercury found respectively in the areas near the Gulf of Taranto and at Capo Passero being of concern in terms of environmental health need frequent monitoring.     

Optimizing the removal of small fish passage barriers

Removing small artificial barriers that hinder upstream migrations of fish is a major problem in riparian habitat restoration. Because of budgetary limitations, it is necessary to prioritize barrier removal and repair decisions. These have usually been based on scoring and ranking procedures, which, although simple to use, can be very inefficient in terms of increasing the amount of accessible instream habitat. We develop a novel decision-making approach, based on integer programming techniques, which optimizes repair and removal decisions. Results show based on real datasets of barrier culverts located in Washington State that scoring and ranking is over 25% below the optimum on average and a full 100% below in the worst case, producing no net habitat gain whatsoever. This is compared to a dynamic programming method that was able to find optimal solutions in less than a second, even for problems with up to several hundred variables, and a heuristic method, which found solutions with less than a 1% average optimality gap in even less time.