Occurrence and Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Drinking Water of Self-Supplied Wells in Northern China.

Self-supplied wells, an important water resource in remote and scattered regions, are commonly deteriorated by environmental pollution and human activity. In this study, 156 self-supplied well-water samples were collected from remote and scattered areas of Inner Mongolia (NMG), Heilongjiang (HLJ), and the suburbs of Beijing (BJ) in Northern China. Twenty-four heavy metals were identified by using the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and the associated human health risks were assessed by using standards of the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).

[Estrogen Receptor Subtype-mediated Luciferase Reporter Gene Assays for Determining (anti) Estrogen Effect of Chemicals].

Objective: To establish gene assays for determining (anti) estrogen effect of environmental chemicals; and to compare the reactivity and sensitivity of two assays with different estrogen subtype.

Methods: Human estrogen receptor a (hERalpha) and hERbeta mediated reporter gene assays employing firefly luciferase (Luc) were developed. The expression plasmid hERalpha or hERbeta was constructed and transiently co-transfected into LLC-MK2 cells with pERE-minP-Luc2P reporter plasmid and the control plasmid pGL4.