Predictors of intention to reduce meat consumption due to environmental reasons - Results from Poland and Slovakia.

The current study examines the determinants of the intention to reduce meat consumption for pro-environmental reasons. The research model includes variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM). The research was conducted in Poland and Slovakia, which are similar in terms of economic, social, and cultural conditions, located next to each other in the same climate zone, but differ greatly in terms of meat consumption and the direction of its change.

Study of distribution and interaction of arsenic and selenium in rat thyroid.

Seventy-eight Wistar weanling rats were pretreated with arsenate (100 mg/L As), selenite (1 mg/L Se), and arsenate (100 mg/L As) plus selenite (1 mg/L Se) added to the drinking water. After 4 w, all the animals were sacrificed and serum T3 and T4 were determined by double-antibody radioimmunoassay. Thyroid tissue concentrations of As and Se were determined in female rats by neutron activation analysis, and tissue specimens were examined histopathologically.

Effects of orally administered vanadium on the immune system and bone metabolism in experimental animals.

Experiments were carried out to gain more information on the effects of long term exposure to low doses of vanadium administered to mice and rats in drinking water. The selective immunotoxic effects of vanadium were depression of phagocytosis, splenotoxicity, enlargement of spleen, elevation of peripheral blood leucocytes and T and B cell activation. Vanadium accumulates in hard tissues and influences the mineralisation of epiphyseal cartilage.

Vanadium levels in hair and blood of normal and exposed persons.

Vanadium was determined by both instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and NAA with radiochemical separation (RNAA) in hair of normal children and of children potentially exposed by accidental drinking of vanadium contaminated water (long-term, low-dose exposure). Vanadium hair levels in the two groups did not differ significantly and were in the range 46-313 micrograms/kg (median 98 micrograms/kg) and 24-235 micrograms/kg (median 88 micrograms/kg for the normal and exposed groups, respectively. Using RNAA with proven reliability at the ultratrace level, vanadium was determined in whole blood of the exposed and normal children, normal adults and workers professionally exposed to vanadium in a factory producing vanadium pentoxide.

Distribution and excretion of 74As and 75Se in rats after their simultaneous administration. The effect of arsenic, selenium and combined pretreatment.

The exposure of man to isolated toxic agent in the environment is rather a rare phenomenon. Therefore the study of a combined action of toxic substances is of increasing importance. The excretion and distribution of 74As (500 micrograms As.