Prenatal low-level methyl mercury exposure and child development in an Italian coastal area.

Environmental studies have identified mercury pollution in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy). High- level methyl mercury exposure is a known cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the exposure-effect relation at levels <10ppm is controversial.

Human exposure to mercury in the vicinity of chlor-alkali plant.

The main objectives of our study were to estimate the impact of a mercury cell chlor-alkali (MCCA) complex in Rosignano Solvay (Tuscany, Italy) on the local environment and to assess mercury exposure of inhabitants living near the plant. Measurement campaigns of atmospheric Hg near the MCCA plant showed that the impact of the emitted Hg from the industry on the terrestrial environment is restricted to a close surrounding area. Total gaseous mercury concentrations in ambient air of inhabited area around the MCCA plant were in the range of 8.

Simultaneous determination of trace levels of ethylmercury and methylmercury in biological samples and vaccines using sodium tetra(n-propyl)borate as derivatizing agent.

Because of increasing awareness of the potential neurotoxicity of even low levels of organomercury compounds, analytical techniques are required for determination of low concentrations of ethylmercury (EtHg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in biological samples. An accurate and sensitive method has been developed for simultaneous determination of methylmercury and ethylmercury in vaccines and biological samples. MeHg and EtHg were isolated by acid leaching (H2SO4-KBr-CuSO4), extraction of MeHg and EtHg bromides into an organic solvent (CH2Cl2), then back-extraction into Milli-Q water.

Increased ethyl mercury load in protein a immunoadsorption.

Immunoadsorption is an adsorption technique for extracorporeal removal of circulating autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases. To prevent microbial growth during storage, the protein A columns are primed with thiomersal, which contains toxic ethyl mercury, which may be released during the procedure and potentially begin to accumulate and become toxic. To reduce the thiomersal-related mercury release during immunoadsorption treatment, we introduced a modified rinsing solution containing N-acetylcysteine, which is an avid mercury scavenger.

Element content and element correlations in Chinese human liver.

The amounts of the 19 elements As, Br, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, K, La, Mo, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, Sm, and Zn in 92 lyophilized autopsy human liver samples from normal subjects have been analyzed by instrumental neutron-activation analysis (INAA). For intercomparison and quality control ten samples were independently analyzed in two institutes, the Institute of High Energy Physics in China and the "Jozef Stefan" Institute in Slovenia. Most of the element contents determined by the two institutes were in quite good agreement, even though different experimental conditions were applied, indicating the reliability of the analytical results.

Total mercury, methylmercury and selenium in mercury polluted areas in the province Guizhou, China.

The province of Guizhou in Southwestern China is currently one of the world's most important mercury production areas. Emissions of mercury from the province to the global atmosphere have been estimated to be approximately 12% of the world total anthropogenic emissions. The main objective of this study was to assess the level of contamination with Hg in two geographical areas of Guizhou province.

Simultaneous determination of inorganic mercury and methylmercury compounds in natural waters.

The purpose of the present work was to develop a simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate method for the simultaneous determination of inorganic mercury (Hg(2+)) and monomethylmercury compounds (MeHg) in natural water samples at the pg L(-1) level. The method is based on the simultaneous extraction of MeHg and Hg(2+)dithizonates into an organic solvent (toluene) after acidification of about 300 mL of a water sample, followed by back extraction into an aqueous solution of Na(2)S, removal of H(2)S by purging with N(2), subsequent ethylation with sodium tetraethylborate, room temperature precollection on Tenax, isothermal gas chromatographic separation (GC), pyrolysis and cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometric detection (CV AFS) of mercury. The limit of detection calculated on the basis of three times the standard deviation of the blank was about 0.