Epidemiologic studies have suggested the association between environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the increased risk of incurring asthma. Yet there is little data regarding the relationship between personal exposure to air pollution and the incidence of asthma in children. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of ex...

The hydrogenation reaction of muconic acid, produced from biomass using fermentative processes, to bio-adipic acid is one the most appealing green emerging chemical process. This can be promoted by catalysts based on a metal belonging platinum group, and use second preserve increase their activity. Pd–Au bimetallic nanoparticle samples supported high-temperature, heat-treated carbon nanofibers ...

OBJECTIVE To carry out a comprehensive field investigation to evaluate various conventional and recently developed biomarkers for exposure to low concentrations of benzene. METHODS Analyses were carried out on environmental air, unmetabolised benzene in blood and urine, urinary trans, transmuconic acid, and three major phenolic metabolites of benzene: phenol, catechol, and hydroquinone. Valid...

Transgenic exploitation of bacterial degradative genes in plants has been considered a favorable strategy for degrading organic pollutants in the environment. The aromatic ring characteristic of these pollutants is mainly responsible for their recalcitrance to degradation. In this study, a Plesiomonas-derived chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase (TfdC) gene (tfdC), capable of cleaving the aromatic ri...

The objective of this study is to assess the external and internal exposures to aromatic hydrocarbons in the cistern cleaning and cistern mechanic repair processes at a coke plant. 149 workers engaged as operators in cistern cleaning and cistern mechanic repair processes and 35 non-exposed subjects were examined. Personal analyses of the benzene, toluene, xylene isomers, ethylbenzene, PAH’s and...

Strain A81 of Nocardia corallina hydroxylates or demethylates p-anisic acid to p-hydroxybenzoic acid and isovanillic acid. It demethylates veratric acid to a mixture of vanillic and isovanillic acids. These are both demethylated to protocatechuic acid, which undergoes ring cleavage to afford beta-carboxy-cis-cis-muconic acid. The intermediacy of protocatechuic acid in the catabolic pathway of v...

Transposon mutant strains which were affected in bile acid catabolism were isolated from four Pseudomonas spp. Two of the mutant groups isolated were found to accumulate 12 alpha-hydroxyandrosta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione as the major product from deoxycholic acid. Strains in one of these two groups were able to grow on steroids such as chenodeoxycholic acid, which lacks a 12 alpha-hydroxy function, ...