Tropical altitudinal gradient soil organic carbon and nitrogen estimation using Specim IQ portable imaging spectrometer.

The largest actively cycling terrestrial carbon pool, soil, has been disturbed during latest centuries by human actions through reduction of woody land cover. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content can reliably be estimated in laboratory conditions, but more cost-efficient and mobile techniques are needed for large-scale monitoring of SOC e.g.

Finding toxicological information: An approach for occupational health professionals.

Background: It can be difficult for occupational health professionals to assess which toxicological databases available on the Internet are the most useful for answering their questions. Therefore we evaluated toxicological databases for their ability to answer practical questions about exposure and prevention. We also propose recommended practices for searching for toxicological properties of chemicals.

Urinary 1-naphthol excretion in the assessment of exposure to creosote in an impregnation facility.

Objectives: This study explored the possibility of using urinary 1-naphthol excretion as a marker of complex exposure among workers handling creosote.

Methods: Urine specimens of 6 workers from a creosote impregnation plant, where railroad ties were impreganted with coal tar creosote, were collected during 1 workweek, and the concentration of 1-naphthol was determined. 1-Naphthol in spot urine samples of 5 occupationally nonexposed male smokers was used as the background reference.

Urinary 1-naphthol and 1-pyrenol as indicators of exposure to coal tar products.

Chemical exposure of assemblers handling creosote-impregnated wood and of a single worker chiselling coal tar pitch layer was assessed by measuring airborne naphthalene and various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and by measurement of urinary excretion of 1-naphthol and 1-pyrenol. The sum concentration of PAHs and of 4-6 aromatic ring-containing PAHs were high, 440 micrograms/m3 and 290 micrograms/m3, respectively, when chiselling. In the assembler's workplace, the PAH concentrations were about 1/50 of this value.

Biological monitoring of occupational exposure to low levels of benzene.

To obtain reference values for the biological monitoring of benzene, the kinetics of benzene were studied in volunteers. Benzene in blood and expired air could easily be followed until the next morning after a 4-h exposure to a benzene concentration of 10 cm3.m-3.