Biomarkers of organochlorine pesticides were measured in both venous and umbilical cord blood from 35 pregnant Hispanic women living in Brownsville, Texas, USA. Gas chromatography with an electron capture detector was used to analyze specimens for 30 individual pesticides or their metabolites. Results indicate that blood concentrations were relatively low for most individual compounds, but that...

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widely dispersed in the environment. Occupational exposure to PCBs takes place, e.g., in manufacture and repair of capacitors and transformers. A special type of exposure of workers to PCBs may occur in connection with accidents where capacitors or transformers containing PCBs products are damaged, as in the case of a fire or electric arcing. The quantitatio...

A method was developed that offers a rapid, simple and accurate technique for the determination of chlorophenols at trace levels in aqueous samples with very limited volumes of organic solvents. These compounds were acetylated, then preliminarily extracted with n-hexane. The enriched chlorophenols were directly analyzed using gas chromatography with an electron-capture detector. The detection l...

Long-term antibiotic therapy is one of the main risk factors for mycosis. The urinary D-arabinitol/L-arabinitol (D-/L-ARA) ratio (a biomarker of several Candida species) was determined by gas chromatography with an electron capture detector in samples from 51 infants undergoing long-term antibiotic therapy. Although 47 of these children had higher D-/L-ARA ratios than healthy controls (P<0.0003...

In this paper a kinetic study is made of the biodegradability of Aroclor 1242 in sandy soil employing a mixed culture of acclimatized bacteria. The assays were done in stirred tank reactors, and the biodegradation process was monitored by High Resolution Gas Chromatography (HRGC) with Electron Capture Detector. These results are supported by other indirect measurements and indicators of the exi...

Soft tissues of species of marine fauna; crabs (Crustacea), oysters (Pelecypoda, Bivalvia), sea stars (Asterroidea), sea urchin (Echinoidea) and bony fishes (Osteichtyes) sampled along the Kenya-Mombasa coastal region were analyzed to determine the levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Analysis was done using gas chromatography with an electron capture detector. This study showed that mar...

A headspace solid-phase microextraction method has been developed for the determination of 8 pesticides in vegetables and fruits by using gas chromatography with an electron capture detector. Two types of fibers (polyacrylate, 85 microm and polydimethylsiloxane, 100 microm) have been assayed and compared. The main factors: extraction and desorption parameters, ionic strength, and the effects of...

a colorimetric method for detection and assay of mustard gas in urine after addition of thymolphthalein is reported. the detection limit was 80 ng/ml of llrine. mustard gas could also be detected in urine after extraction with gas chromatography using fid detector. the detection limit was 10 ng/ml. in addition, thiodiglycol, a metabolite of mustard gas, could be converted to mustard with concen...