Blood and placental concentrations of cadmium, lead, and mercury in mothers and their newborns.

Placental transfer of cadmium, lead and mercury was studied under the conditions of environmental exposures of pregnant women to these heavy metals. Fifty pregnant women from industrial area and a similar control group from a semirural area were examined. Cadmium, lead and total mercury levels were determined in maternal erythrocytes and plasma, in placenta, and in erythrocytes and plasma of umbilical cord blood using atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

[Microelements in the liver and kidney of laying hens kept on large-capacity poultry farms under normal and increased supply to the organism].

The contents of manganese, zinc, copper, and iron in the liver and kidney of laying hens (Shaver), kept on modern large-capacity poultry farms, were determined under the conditions of a normal and increased supply of these microelements to the organism. The content of the mentioned trace elements was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry, flameless technique, and with the use of graphite cell. In the layers fed a diet with a normal content of trace elements the average concentrations of the microelements in the liver were the following: manganese: 15.