Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in amniotic fluids of pregnant women in south-central Turkey†

The concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in amniotic fluid of 200 pregnant women from the Cukurova region of Turkey. The concentrations of OCPs [hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (p,p′-DDT), and various metabolites], and different PCB congeners (28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, 180) were determined by gas chromatography with electron capture detection as follows: HCB 6.6 ± 4.7, ΣHCH 21.6 ± 14.2, ΣDDT 12.5 ± 7.5, and ΣPCBs 74.0 ± 54 ng mL^?1. Correlations of maternal or gestational age and levels of OCPs and PCBs were not significant. The levels of these organochlorine compounds (OCs) were below detection limit for 5% of the samples, 80% contained more than one OC. This study illustrates that prenatal exposure of a fetus to OCs is prevalent in the Cukurova region.     

The risk estimation and assessment of heavy metal exposure by biomonitoring in the breast milk of mothers in the Cukurova Region,Turkey

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Toxic heavy metals released into the environment through various industrial processes have potential adverse effects on the environment and human...     

SO2 modeling in İzmit Gulf, Turkey during the winter of 1997: 3 cases

In this study, SO₂ dispersion over İzmit Gulf is simulated by California Puff (CALPUFF) model for three air pollution cases, which occurred on January 28, February 12, and February 26, 1997. These days are generally characterized by dominant high-pressure systems – pressure values reaching 1032 mb, low wind speeds and sometimes calm conditions, and low temperatures with a minimum of 0°C. Hourly simulations during those critical cases were carried out and results revealed very high concentrations of SO₂ transported to the downwind regions of Tüpraş and Gebze, and values sometimes exceeded 1,000 μg/m³. Nighttime and morning simulations associated with inversion produced considerably higher values of SO₂ than the afternoon simulations associated with breeze. Model verification was conducted by comparing the measured daily average values of eight stations with the model predicted values at the same receptor points. Results showed that the model well predicted the values at station Gebze in all three cases. The model sometimes underestimated and sometimes overestimated the concentrations at other receptor stations.     

Composition of wet deposition in Kaynarca,Turkey

In this work, composition of wet deposition in Kaynarca, Turkey is studied by collecting precipitation samples during more than a 2-year period. August 1993-November 1995. Concentrations of the main cations Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NH4+ and the main anions Cl-, NO3- and SO4(2-) together with pH were studied. The average pH value at Kaynarca was near neutral, 5.59. Results indicated that SO4(2-) concentration in precipitation was very high, as was Ca2+, neutralizing the acidity. Acidic wet deposition samples were generally obtained in winter. Enrichment factors for sea and soil indicate the strong effects of sea and soil, specifically limestone on the composition of precipitation. Non-sea salt fractions of SO4(2-) were found to range from 0.955 to 0.980, showing the effect of non-sea sources, especially emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, on the pH of samples. Trajectory analysis showed that cyclones originating from northwestern, central and eastern parts of Europe have generally high sulfate and nitrate concentrations and low pH.     

Study of Bulk and Sub-Event Wet Deposition in Gebze,Turkey

This study presents the chemical composition of bulk deposition during the period of February 1996–May 1997 and the chemical composition of sub-event wet deposition on 13 August 1997 in Gebze. Samples were analyzed for SO₄ ^2-, NO₃ ^-, Cl^-,Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺, Na⁺, and NH₄ ⁺ in addition to pH. The source of some ionic components in the bulk deposition such as K⁺ and Ca²⁺ were found to be the terrestrial regions, as expected. The (non-sea Cl^-)/Cl^- ratio of 0.05 suggests that the very large portion of Cl^- in the bulkdeposition was of marine origin. The ratio of (non-sea SO₄ ^2-)/SO₄ ^2- varied between 0.86 and 0.99,indicating that the main source of sulfate was not the sea. It is found that the sulfate and calcium concentrations were highest in summer and lowest in fall. The analysis of bulk deposition also indicated that nearly 24% of the events were acidic (pH < 5.6). During sub-event wet deposition collectedon the same site pH decreased continually, and during the passageof cold front concentrations of Cl^-, SO₄ ^2- and NO₃ ^- increased.     

Immigration and electricity consumption: The case of Northern Cyprus

The present article uses the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure to identify the impact of immigration and economic growth on electricity consumption in the case of North Cyprus using annual data from 1977 to 2007. The results suggest that both economic growth and immigration are in a long-run equilibrium relationship with electricity consumption.     

Four storms with sub-events: sampling and analysis

Analysis of ion concentration of samples taken sequentially during a storm event is important in order to reveal the relation between the atmospheric conditions and ion concentrations in each sub-event. This study presents the interrelationship among the chemical composition parameters and atmospheric variables for four storm events that were sampled in Istanbul during a) January 21-23, 2004 b) November 9-11, 2003 c) February 12-13, 2004 and d) October 27-28, 2003. These events lasted 53.3, 47.9, 27.5 and 13.2 h and the number of collected samples for each event was 22, 14, 7 and 4, in order. Generally values of pH and concentrations of ions in the first sub-events for all four cases were found higher than those of the other sub-event samples taken in sequence owing to the strong initial washout of the atmosphere by raindrops. Precipitation events a and c include rain and snow together where precipitation started as rain and continued as snow after 16th and 3rd sub-events. Higher concentration of ions in the snow in comparison with that of rain sub-events samples can be explained by more efficient below cloud scavenging of atmospheric constituents, especially aerosol particles, by snowflakes. In general, all of the ions sampled in the sub-events for four storms have variability similar to each other, with high correlation coefficient among themselves. Cl(-) and SO(4)(2-) were found to be the dominant ions in average overall sub-events. Calculated NSS concentration values of ions indicated that the main source of SO(4)(2-) was industrial and domestic emissions, most of the Ca(2+) and K(+) came from soil, nearly half of the Mg(2+) and all of the Cl(-) originated from sea.