A comparison of different detection techniques for 137Cs measurements of cattle in vivo.

Agricultural lands with farm animals (e.g. cattle) can be significantly affected by radioactive contamination following nuclear or radiation accidents.

Neurological and Neurophysiological Findings in Workers with Chronic 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin Intoxication 50 Years After Exposure.

Unlabelled: The last eight survivors of 80 workers accidentally exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) during production of herbicides based on trichlorophenoxyacetic acid in 1965-1967 in a chemical factory were followed. All were men, mean age 72.4 ± 1.

PERSISTENT ORGANOCHLORINE POLLUTANTS IN OBESE WOMEN AFTER DIET INDUCED WEIGHT LOSS: FIVE YEARS FOLLOW UP STUDY.

Aim: Persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) from the environment are still bioaccumulating in human tissues. The aim of our study was to analyze the development of plasma POPs levels in obese women in relationship with their weight loss success in five year follow-up study.

Methods: 20 obese women aged 25-73 years were studied just before and after having completed a 3 month controlled low calorie diet (LCD) intervention (5 MJ daily), and again after 6 and 60 months since the beginning of the study.

Contamination of fish in important fishing grounds of the Czech Republic.

The aim of this study was to compare the contamination levels of certain important fishing grounds in the Czech Republic and to assess the health risk of consuming the fish from these localities. The assessment was performed from 2006 to 2010 in 27 fishing grounds. Within this project, 707 fish from 14 different species were sampled.

Rapid determination of melamine and cyanuric acid in milk powder using direct analysis in real time-time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

The use of fast semi-automated method employing direct analysis in real time (DART) ion source coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) for analysis of melamine (MEL) and cyanuric acid (CYA) in milk powder and milk based products has been demonstrated in this study. Simple sample extraction procedure employing methanol-5% aqueous formic acid mixture, which enabled disruption of melamine-cyanurate complex, was followed by direct, high-throughput (30s per run) examination of sample extracts spread on a glass rod by mass spectrometry under ambient conditions, without any prior chromatographic separation. After optimization of instrument parameter settings, limits of detection (LODs) 170 and 450microgkg(-1) were achieved for MEL and CYA, respectively.

Methylsulfonyl PCB and DDE metabolites and their enantioselective gas chromatographic separation in human adipose tissues, seal blubber and pelican muscle.

In the present investigation, eleven human adipose tissue samples, two seal blubber samples and two pelican muscles samples were analyzed with regard to their concentrations of PCB parent compounds as well as to the respective chiral methylsulfonyl metabolites 3-MeSO2-CB 91, 4-MeSO2-CB 91, 3-MeSO2-CB 95, 4-MeSO2-CB 95, 3-MeSO2-CB 149, 4-MeSO2-CB 149, 3-MeSO2-CB 132, 4-MeSO2-CB 132, 3-MeSO2-CB 174, and 4-MeSO2-CB 174 and the achiral metabolites 3-MeSO2-CB 49, 4-MeSO2-CB 49, 3-MeSO2-CB 101, 4-MeSO2-CB 101, 3-MeSO2-CB 110, 4-MeSO2-CB 110 and 3-MeSO2-DDE. In order to verify enantioselective transformation processes and to compare the different enzymatic transformation pathways in birds and mammals, the enantioselective excesses of the chiral PCB-metabolites were determined by enantioselective gas chromatography with electron capture and mass spectrometric detection using modified cyclodextrin phases, including heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl-6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-)-beta-cyclodextrin/OV1701 (1:1) for the parent PCBs and heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl-6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-)-beta-cyclodextrin/SE52 (1:4) for the metabolites, respectively.