Medical geology in tropical countries with special reference to Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka provides an ideal opportunity for the study of the effect of geology on human health. The vast majority of the people of Sri Lanka still live in rural areas within areas termed geochemical provinces. Very broadly, one could say that a geochemical province has characteristic chemical composition in soil, water stream sediments and rocks, enabling their delineation from others. The chemical composition is presumed to be have an impact on the health of the inhabitants of the particular geochemical province, particularly because of the fact that their food and water are obtained mostly from the terrain itself. This leads to the concept of “diseases of geochemical origin”. Among these are dental fluorosis, iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) and selenium-based diseases. The Dry Zone of Sri Lanka has several areas rich in groundwater fluoride, the ingestion of which leads to dental fluorosis. Iodine deficiency diseases are more common in the Wet Zone, though their aetiologies are more complicated. Interestingly, it has also been observed that significant proportions of the female population of Sri Lanka are selenium-deficient, which could well be related to the geological environment. Chronic renal failure (CRF) has been observed in some areas of the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka, where there is a relationship of CRF with the mineral content of drinking water. This subject matter falls under the auspices of Medical Geology, a scientific discipline still in its infancy, and much more concerted studies are needed to attract the attention of medical research.     

硼酸-碘分光光度法测量混合印染废水中聚乙烯醇的研究

采用硼酸-碘分先光度法测量聚乙烯醇的浓度,对显色剂用量、最大吸收波长、显色时间、淀粉干扰、样品存放时间等进行研究.结果表明,最佳工作波长为645nm,淀粉的干扰可以通过加酸水解消除.该法标准曲线线性良好,相关系数达0.99915.     

Partition of iodine (¹²⁹I and ¹²⁷I) isotopes in soils and marine sediments

Natural organic matter, such as humic and fulvic acids and humin, plays a key role in determining the fate and mobility of radioiodine in soil and sediments. The radioisotope ¹²⁹I is continuously produced and released from nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, and as a biophilic element, its environmental mobility is strongly linked to organic matter.Due to its long half-life (15.7 million years), ¹²⁹I builds up in the environment and can be traced since the beginning of the nuclear era in reservoirs such as soils and marine sediments. Nevertheless, partition of the isotope between the different types of organic matter in soil and sediment is rarely explored. Here we present a sequential extraction of ¹²⁹I and ¹²⁷I chemical forms encountered in a Danish soil, a soil reference material (IAEA-375), an anoxic marine sediment from Southern Norway and an oxic sediment from the Barents Sea. The different forms of iodine are related to water soluble, exchangeable, carbonates, oxides as well as iodine bound to humic acid, fulvic acid and to humin and minerals. This is the first study to identify ¹²⁹I in humic and fulvic acid and humin. The results show that 30-56% of the total ¹²⁷I and 42-60% of the total ¹²⁹I are associated with organic matter in soil and sediment samples. At a soil/sediment pH below 5.0-5.5, ¹²⁷I and ¹²⁹I in the organic fraction associate primarily with the humic acid while at soil/sediment pH > 6 ¹²⁹I was mostly found to be bound to fulvic acid. Anoxic conditions seem to increase the mobility and availability of iodine compared to oxic, while subaerial conditions (soils) reduces the availability of water soluble fraction compared to subaqueous (marine) conditions.     

碳酸盐体系离子色谱法快速测定水体中碘化物

采用亲水性强的AS22型阴离子交换分离柱处理水样,用离子色谱法测定样品中的碘化物,通过优化样品预处理条件、色谱条件,消除常见阴离子干扰,使方法在0 mg/L~5.00 mg/L范围内线性良好。方法检出限为0.002 mg/L,3个质量浓度水平的标准溶液7次测定结果的RSD为0.5%~3.5%,实际水样的加标回收率为85.2%~100%。     

Preparation of iodine doped titanium dioxide to photodegrade aqueous bisphenol A under visible light

Highly photoactive iodine-doped titanium dioxide (I-doped TiO₂) photocatalysts were synthesized to degrade aqueous bisphenol A (BPA) under irradiation by visible light and sunlight. The band gap energies of TiO₂ and I-doped TiO₂ (I/Ti mole ratio = 0.5%) were 3.01 and 3.04, and the BPA photodegradation rate constants were 1.61, and 5.11 h⁻¹, respectively. The most probable reaction mechanism was proposed to involve IO₄⁻ and IO₃⁻ as electron acceptors that generate an inductive effect, increasing the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO₂. Results indicated that I-doped TiO₂ not only acted favorably as a photocatalyst, but also exhibited considerable mineralization effects. In addition, a recycling test after ten experiments demonstrated the stability and reusability of the photocatalyst.     

Gas-phase catalytic hydration of I2O5 in the polluted coastal regions: Reaction mechanisms and atmospheric implications

Marine aerosols play an important role in the global aerosol system. In polluted coastal regions, ultra-fine particles have been recognized to be related to iodine-containing species and is more serious due to the impact of atmospheric pollutants. Many previous studies have identified iodine pentoxide (I₂O₅, IP) to be the key species in new particles formation (NPF) in marine regions, but the role of IP in the polluted coastal atmosphere is far to be fully understood. Considering the high humidity and concentrations of pollutants in the polluted coastal regions, the gas-phase hydration of IP catalyzed by sulfuric acid (SA), nitric acid (NA), dimethylamine (DMA), and ammonia (A) have been investigated at DLPNO-CCSD(T)//ωB97X-D/aug-cc-pVTZ + aug-cc-pVTZ-PP with ECP28MDF (for iodine) level of theory. The results show that the hydration of IP involves a significant energy barrier of 22.33 kcal/mol, while the pollutants SA, NA, DMA, and A all could catalyze the hydration of IP. Especially, with SA and DMA as catalysts, the hydration reactions of IP present extremely low barriers and high rate constants. It is suggested that IP is unstable under the catalysis of SA and DMA to generate iodic acid, which is the key component in NPF in marine regions. Thus, the catalytic hydration of IP is very likely to trigger the formation of iodine-containing particles. Our research provides a clear picture of the catalytic hydration of IP as well as theoretical guidance for NPF in the polluted coastal atmosphere.     

催化动力学光度法测定环境样品中微量碘的研究和应用

在柠檬酸介质中，Ｉ－对ＫＩＯ３氧化结晶紫的反应有催化效应，据此建立了测定微量Ｉ－新的催化动力学光度法．方法的检出限为０．１８５μｇ／ｍｌ，测定范围为５～７０μｇ／２５ｍｌ，用本法对环境水样进行了测定，结果满意。     

微量元素碘对儿童身心发育影响的研究

本文研究结果表明,在自然环境缺碘地区持续投放含碘浓度25ppm 的“NaCLI—固”后出生的儿童身高体重发育水平接近对照地区的中等水平;缺碘地区儿童甲状腺激素 T_4、T_3、T_4/T_3比值均在正常范围,甲状腺功能状态基本正常,提示机体内环境缺碘程度已得到纠正;缺碘区儿童 IQ 低下检出率明显高于对照区,血清 Zn 水平则无显著性差异,表明这部分低智儿童与在胚胎期间碘元素相对缺乏有着密切关系.     

含硫和硫代硫酸根离子的非酸性污水中Cr~(+6)测定方法的探索

利用碘消除碱性和中性溶液中硫化物及硫代硫酸盐对 Cr+ 6 测定的干扰 ,经实验找出了含硫化物和硫代硫酸盐工业废水中 Cr+ 6的测定方法     

Chemical endemic diseases and their impact on population in china

This paper deals with some endemic diseases related to selenium, iodine and fluoride in eco-environment. Keshan disease and Kaschin-Beck disease are associated with low selenium, they mainly occur in a belt zone across China ranging from North-East to South-West. Selenium contents in food grains and human hair from the disease affected areas are usually below 0.020ppm and 0.20ppm respectively. The endemic goitre caused by iodine deficiency distributes extensively in China, mainly in mountainous and hilly districts, swamp and peat areas, some sand soil and limestone areas. Also there is another kind of endemic goitre which caused by iodine excess in interior and coast areas. Endemic cretinism usually occurs in the endemic goitre seriously affected areas. Endemic fluorosis is also widely distributed in China, but mainly occurs in dry or semi-dry areas of north China. The fluoride sources for causing endemic fluorisis are drinking water and food grains polluted by coal smoke in the backing process of maize