Purpose: To determine the blood and urine concentrations of a number of metals and organic substances in workers at a hazardous waste incinerator (HWI) in Catalonia, Spain, 8 years after regular operations in the facility. To compare these concentrations with the baseline (1999) levels and with those obtained in previous (2000 and 2005) surveys.
Methods: The employees were divided into three groups according to their specific workplaces. Plasma analyses of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs 28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), as well as urinary analyses of 2,4- and 2,5-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,5- and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), pentachlorophenol (PCP) and 1-hydroxypyrene (1-HP) were carried out. Blood concentrations of manganese and mercury, and urinary levels of nickel were also determined.
Results: For organic compounds in plasma, the comparison of the current levels with those of previous surveys did not show any significant increase for any of the compounds analyzed. In contrast, plasma levels of PCBs 28, 52 and 101 were significantly lower than the respective baseline concentrations, while especially notable was the significant reduction in the levels of PCDD/Fs in plasma of plant workers, which decreased from 26.7 pg I-TEQ/g lipid in the baseline survey to the current 2.5 pg I-TEQ/g lipid.
Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, there are no evident signs of occupational exposure to a number of metals and organic substances in the workers of the HWI.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00420-008-0350-0 | DOI Listing |
J Agric Food Chem
January 2025
China-Kenya Joint Laboratory for Ecological Pest Control of Citrus, State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, Key Laboratory of Biopesticide and Chemical Biology, MOE, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
RNA pesticides have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional chemical pesticides due to their high specificity and minimal environmental impact. However, the instability of RNA molecules in the environment and the challenges associated with their effective delivery to target pests limit their broader application. This study addresses these challenges by developing a dual delivery system using chitosan (CS) and Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to enhance the delivery and efficacy of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and cycloxaprid against , a vector of citrus greening disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanoscale
January 2025
Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
The Lieb lattice is one of the simplest lattices that exhibits both linear Dirac-like and flat topological electronic bands. We propose to further tailor its electronic properties through periodic 1D electrostatic superlattices (SLs), which, in the long wavelength limit, were predicted to give rise to novel transport signatures, such as the omnidirectional super-Klein tunnelling (SKT). By numerically modelling the electronic structure at tight-binding level, we uncover the evolution of the Lieb SL band structure from the discrete all the way to the continuum regime and build a comprehensive picture of the Lieb lattice under 1D potentials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJACS Au
January 2025
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
Altermagnets, characterized by spontaneous spin-splitting without net magnetization, are challenging to realize due to their unique spin group symmetries. Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with tunable topologies and spins, offer promising platforms for achieving altermagnetism. In this study, we propose a general strategy to create 2D altermagnetic monolayers by bridging Cr with organic ligands exhibiting nonbonding molecular orbitals (NBMOs) based on the Hückel molecular orbital theory and first-principles calculations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJACS Au
January 2025
Key Lab for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
The creation of spatially coupled meso-/microenvironments with biomimetic compartmentalized functionalities is of great significance to achieve efficient signal transduction and amplification. Herein, using a soft-template strategy, UiO-67-type hierarchically mesoporous metal-organic frameworks (HMMOFs) were constructed to satisfy the requirements of such an artificial system. The key to the successful synthesis of HMUiO-67 is rooted in the utilization of the preformed cerium-oxo clusters as metal precursors, aligning the growth of MOF crystals with the mild conditions required for the self-assembly of the soft template.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Sci
January 2025
Research Institute for Science & Technology, Tokyo University of Science Tokyo 162-8601 Japan
The scarcity of approaches to assembling copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) has restricted advancements in Cu NCs research, largely due to stability challenges of the individual NCs. By utilizing the structural adaptability of Cu NCs, we systematically investigate how variations in organic linkers and solvents affect the cluster node size, shape, and their assembling dimensionality. Here, we introduce a facile, one-pot synthesis method for obtaining a range of crystalline Cu cluster-assembled materials (CAMs) through a liquid-liquid interfacial crystallization technique.
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