Mass balance approach to estimating radionuclide loads and concentrations in edible fish tissues using stable analogues

Humans can consume a number of types of biota tissues, which have varying propensities to accumulate radionuclides. As a result, depending upon the biota species, the radionuclide and the tissue under consideration, it may be necessary to estimate the percent radionuclide load in specific edible tissues, and in cases where whole organisms are consumed, to estimate the radionuclide load in the whole body of an organism, based on data that have been collected for individual tissues. To accomplish this, data were compiled that can be used to estimate the partitioning patterns and percent loads of various groups of elements in edible tissues of freshwater fishes. General trends in partitioning, such as those provided in this paper, can be used to predict radionuclide transfer to humans and the corresponding potential radiological dose to humans via dietary pathways, in this case following the consumption of fish.     

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls levels in human breast milk from different regions of Turkey

Human breast milk offers the optimal nutrition for all infants and have been widely used in biomonitoring programs to assess human exposure to lipophylic environmental contaminants such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). There are no previous reports from Turkey on chemically determined levels of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs in human breast milk expressed as World Health Organization (WHO) toxic equivalents (TEQ). To get an overview of the levels of these contaminants in Turkish human milk, samples from 51 Turkish women living in the Ankara, İstanbul, Antalya, Kahramanmaraş, and Afyon provinces were analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) throughout 2007. The mean concentrations of WHO_PCDD/F-TEQ and WHO_PCB-TEQ of all samples from the five regions were 7.5 and 3.1 pg g⁻¹ on a lipid basis, respectively. PCDD/F concentrations ranged between 0.78 and 29.3 pg WHO-TEQ g⁻¹ fat (1.7 and 36.2 pg WHO-TEQ g⁻¹ fat, respectively, including PCB). Of the five studied locations, the lowest levels of ∑TEQs (PCDD/F + PCB) were found in the Afyon (6.8 pg WHO-TEQ g⁻¹ fat) and the highest in the Antalya (15.6 pg WHO-TEQ g⁻¹ fat) province. The results have been discussed in terms of regions and PCDD/F and PCBs for which analyses had been made. The mean levels of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in Turkish human milk are comparable to that found in other countries.     

Substance-related environmental monitoring

Background  Due to the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive and other legal regulations (e.g., national laws like the German Federal Soil Protection Act), but also due to the implementation of the new EU chemicals management system REACH, environmental monitoring will gain increasing importance for the surveillance of environmental quality as well as for the assessment of chemicals. Against this background, the Work Group on ‘Environmental Monitoring’ of the Division of ‘Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology’ within the German Chemical Society has compiled a position paper on substance-related environmental monitoring. Scope  Core elements of this position paper are the definitions of important terms like monitoring, exposure monitoring, effect monitoring, and integrated monitoring. Moreover, temporal and spatial aspects (monitoring of spatial distributions, trend monitoring, and retrospective monitoring) and their applications are discussed. The main focus of this position paper is the coverage of aspects which have to be observed for the preparation and implementation of a monitoring program. Essential is the clear specification of the targets of the monitoring which determine the development of the monitoring concept and its realization, e.g., if environmental media (compartments) or organisms are most appropriate as samples for the aim of the study. Of course, also the properties of the target substances are important (e.g., lipophilicity/bioaccumulation as pre-requisite for an exposure monitoring with organisms). Finally, the monitoring phases of sample planning, sampling, storage and transport of samples, selection of analytical methods, quality assurance measures as well as reporting are discussed. Perspectives  An important issue for the future is to link the quantification of chemicals in environmental compartments (exposure and pollution monitoring) more closely to the study of biological effects (effect monitoring) than has been the case up to now. Furthermore, by inclusion of a spatial differentiation, a comprehensive evaluation of the state of an ecosystem can be obtained and the relevance of the results improved. Practical examples of monitoring studies which illustrate various aspects covered in this position paper will be presented in a series of publications by members of the Work Group in the following issues of this journal.

Risk assessment tools incorporating human error probabilities in the Japanese small-sized establishment

Although it has been estimated that as many as 80% of all occupational accidents have human errors as a cause, no risk assessment tools incorporating human-related elements have been developed for small companies. Human error probability (HEP) and human error analysis (HEA) have been used for large-scale, safety-critical industries for last three decades, but these tools are not suitable for smaller, more general industries that comprise the majority of accident settings.Here, we describe and verify a risk assessment tool that includes human-related elements for small companies. The tool expands on traditional risk assessment methods, such as matrix, risk graph and numerical scoring method, by adding human-related elements. The tool is easy-to-use in occupational environments, and includes assessments of human behavior and potentially outdated machinery at work place.     

氨基化有机-无机杂化整体柱分离富集环境水中五价砷

将四乙氧基硅烷(TEOS)和N-(β-氨乙基)-γ-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷(AEAPTES)作为共聚前体,采用在毛细管内原位聚合的方式制备得到氨基功能化的有机-无机杂化整体柱,将其作为针式固相微萃取(SPME)介质,建立了现场分离富集环境水中As(V)的SPME方法,优化了有机-无机杂化整体柱富集As(V)的实验条件,并研究了整体柱对As(V)的吸附/洗脱性能和富集能力,实现了环境水样中As(V)的高效、快速、高选择性检测。     

高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱法测水中不同形态砷

采用高效液相色谱(HPLC)分离水中两种常见的砷形态As(III)、As(V),电感耦合等离子体质谱系统进行检测鉴定,利用C8色谱柱,探讨了甲醇含量、磷酸二氢钾浓度、四丁基氢氧化铵浓度、p H等测试条件,由此建立了水中砷形态的分析方法。结果表明,以1.5 mmol/L磷酸二氢钾、2 mmol/L四丁基氢氧化铵(TBAOH)、5%甲醇作为流动相,调节流动相为p H 5.5,流速为1.4 m L/min,上述两种不同形态的砷可在5.5 min内得以有效分离,As(III)、As(V)检出限分别为0.001、0.01μg/L,定量下限分别为0.005、0.03μg/L。该方法实现了对水中常见的不同形态砷(As(III)、As(V))的同时分析,具有灵敏度高、选择性好、检测速度快的特点,在水质分析领域具有重要意义与应用价值。     

Using multivariate regression modeling for sampling and predicting chemical characteristics of mixed waste in old landfills

Municipal solid waste landfills pose a threat on environment and human health, especially old landfills which lack facilities for collection and treatment of landfill gas and leachate. Consequently, missing information about emission flows prevent site-specific environmental risk assessments. To overcome this gap, the combination of waste sampling and analysis with statistical modeling is one option for estimating present and future emission potentials. Optimizing the tradeoff between investigation costs and reliable results requires knowledge about both: the number of samples to be taken and variables to be analyzed.This article aims to identify the optimized number of waste samples and variables in order to predict a larger set of variables. Therefore, we introduce a multivariate linear regression model and tested the applicability by usage of two case studies. Landfill A was used to set up and calibrate the model based on 50 waste samples and twelve variables. The calibrated model was applied to Landfill B including 36 waste samples and twelve variables with four predictor variables.The case study results are twofold: first, the reliable and accurate prediction of the twelve variables can be achieved with the knowledge of four predictor variables (Loi, EC, pH and Cl). For the second Landfill B, only ten full measurements would be needed for a reliable prediction of most response variables. The four predictor variables would exhibit comparably low analytical costs in comparison to the full set of measurements. This cost reduction could be used to increase the number of samples yielding an improved understanding of the spatial waste heterogeneity in landfills.Concluding, the future application of the developed model potentially improves the reliability of predicted emission potentials. The model could become a standard screening tool for old landfills if its applicability and reliability would be tested in additional case studies.     

反应气耦合等离子体降解沙林模拟剂

采用水蒸气、氨气、过氧化氢气雾和臭氧4种气体对沙林模拟剂氟磷酸二异丙酯(DFP)进行降解研究,发现臭氧对DFP具有较好的降解作用,在流量200 L/h,DFP初始浓度50 mg/m3时,降解率最高可达56.1%。对高浓度DFP(大于80 mg/m3)进行降解研究时,等离子体单独作用最高降解率为89%,而添加臭氧后的降解率都在95%以上。计算得到臭氧作用的能量利用率为0.05 mg/(W·h),等离子体的能量利用率为0.55 mg/(W·h),而添加臭氧后的等离子体能量利用率为0.68 mg/(W·h)明显高于臭氧和等离子体能量利用率之和,因此对高浓度DFP进行处理时,臭氧与等离子体存在耦合作用。对等离子体和臭氧耦合等离子体降解DFP反应进行了产物分析,发现主要的降解产物基本一致,但是臭氧的存在能使降解更加彻底。     

辉光放电等离子体氧化降解水中邻苯二甲酸二丁酯

研究了辉光放电等离子体降解水中典型的环境内分泌干扰物邻苯二甲酸二丁酯(DBP)及降解过程中过氧化氢(H2O2)的生成规律。考察了电解质种类、共存污染物(甲醇、叔丁醇)及催化剂等条件对DBP降解及H2O2生成的影响。结果表明,在硫酸钠溶液中DBP降解效率和H2O2生成速率最高;甲醇、叔丁醇等共存污染物对DBP降解和H2O2生成有抑制作用;Fe2+,Fe3+和Cu2+对DBP的降解有催化作用,其催化效果为Fe2+>Fe3+>Cu2+。用高效液相色谱、离子色谱及气质联用仪等仪器分析了降解中间产物,提出了可能的降解机理。