Radioactivity of the soil in Vojvodina (northern province of Serbia and Montenegro)

The widespread public belief that during the bombardment of Vojvodina (Yugoslavia) this region was contaminated by depleted uranium has recently raised public concern with respect to the potential contamination of agricultural products due to soil radioactivity. Based on the gamma-spectrometric analysis of 50 soil samples taken from the region of Vojvodina we concluded that there is no increase of radioactivity that could endanger the food production. Taking into account the transfer factors of 137Cs to plants, the measured activity concentrations of this isotope should not endanger the health safety of the produced food. No traces of depleted uranium have been found. The natural radioactivity levels are compared with the results form other countries.     

Influence of suspended clay minerals and humic matter on the solid phase extraction efficiency of selected pesticides from water

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of humic acids (HA) and Ca-montmorillonite (CaM) on the solid-phase extraction (SPE) efficiency of atrazine, alachlor and alpha-cypermethrin from water samples at various pH-values. The nature and intensity of binding of the studied pesticides to CaM were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis and termogravimetric analysis (TGA) test. The studied pesticides eluted from discs were analysed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). The effects of CaM and humic acid were generally pH-dependent and acted independently in extraction efficiency influence. Lower recovery of pesticides was observed at higher pH values when CaM was > or =0.1 g and was attributed to greater dispersion of clay, increased surface area and subsequent adsorption. Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in humic acid had less effect on the extraction efficiency when water was at pH 8 compared to water at pH 2, which was probably due to greater nonpolar interactions of the pesticides to the charge-neutralized humic acid molecule.     

功能基因组学在环境化学品毒性机制研究中的应用

认识化学品的毒性机制是开展化学品健康风险评估的基础。掌握化学品有害效应的遗传易感性机制是开展精准的健康风险评估的前提。传统的毒理基因组学主要分析化学品暴露诱导的组学表达图谱,不能建立生物学表型与特定基因/通路表达的直接关联。功能基因组学通过敲除或者敲降全基因组或者特定的基因集,建立基因-化学品毒性的直接关联,进而研究化学品致毒的过程和机制,同时可以提供与化学品暴露的遗传易感性相关的分子响应信息。本论文综述了功能基因组学技术的原理及其主要发展,介绍了酵母、鸡DT40细胞和RNA干扰等功能基因组学测试方法的优缺点。同时,详述了CRISPR功能基因组学的原理和特点,以及其在化学品毒性机制研究中的应用,展望了联合应用分子流行病学和CRISPR功能基因组学,开展化学品有害效应的易感性机制研究。     

Impact of a severe flood on large-scale contamination of arable soils by potentially toxic elements (Serbia)

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Extreme flooding in May, 2014 affected the sub-catchments of six major rivers in Serbia. The goal of the study was to evaluate the contents of potentially...     

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...     

Male reproductive toxicity involved in spermatogenesis induced by perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid in Caenorhabditis elegans

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - As a persistent organic pollutant, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) have gained increasing research attention over...