Mercury in saliva and the risk of exceeding limits for sewage in relation to exposure to amalgam fillings.

The concentration of total mercury in stimulated saliva was studied in humans with dental amalgam fillings and in 2 nonamalgam groups. The probability of exceeding the limits of mercury permitted in wastewater increased proportionally as the number of amalgam-filled surfaces increased. The mercury limit for sewage is 0.

Dental amalgam fillings and the amount of organic mercury in human saliva.

We studied differences in the amounts of organic and inorganic mercury in saliva samples between amalgam and nonamalgam human study groups. The amount of organic and inorganic mercury in whole saliva was measured in 187 adult study subjects. The mercury contents were determined by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry.

Ambient and biological monitoring of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at a coking plant.

The exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) was measured in a Finnish coking plant over a 7-year period (1988-1994), since the beginning of production. Hygienic measurements including dust and vapour sampling were performed and the correlations between the concentrations of airborne pyrene with the levels of pyrene metabolite 1-pyrenol in urine were calculated. The profile of measured 12 or 15 PAHs was very similar between mean concentrations of personal samples, which suggests that it is possible to calculate the concentrations of total PAH by using e.

Antimicrobial and mercury resistance in aerobic gram-negative bacilli in fecal flora among persons with and without dental amalgam fillings.

Antimicrobial resistance is more widespread than can be accounted for as being a consequence of the selection pressure caused by the use of antibiotics alone. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a high mercury content in feces might select for mercury-resistant bacteria and thus for antimicrobial resistance linked to mercury resistance. Three subject groups with different exposures to dental amalgam fillings were compared.

Assessment of exposure to inorganic arsenic by determining the arsenic species excreted in urine.

Urinary concentrations of inorganic arsenic metabolites (AsIII, AsV, monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA)) and occupational exposure to arsenic were measured in 24 copper smelter and arsenic trioxide refinery workers during a study period consisting of 2 pairs of work days and the 6 (partly 4) days off between them. The correlations between the time-weighted average (TWA) concentrations of arsenic in air (0.8-45 micrograms/m3) and the concentrations of arsenic species in urine 0, 0-8, 8-16 and 16-20 h after the exposure were calculated.