Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring element that has metallic, inorganic and organic forms, each with their own implications for human health. Exposure to mercury primarily occurs by inhalation of metallic mercury vapors and by dietary intake of organic mercury. Early health effects are often not well detected. Therefore, determination of the internal dose is a valuable approach in primary pr...

Incident radiation has been reported to facilitate mercury release from soils. In this study the influence of light on mercury emissions from substrates amended with pure synthetic mercury species, and from naturally and anthropogenically mercury-enriched substrates were investigated using laboratory experiments and in situ flux measurements. Light-enhanced emissions were found to occur from su...

THE LOSS OF MERCURY due to volatilization and incomplete removal of oxidizing agents which destroy dithizone are among the major problems in determining mercury in urine. This paper describes a method by which these difficulties are reduced to a minimum. In actual use, this method has been found efficient in screening large numbers of workers exposed to a mercury hazard. Most methods require a ...

Contents of total mercury, organic carbon, total sulfur, iron, aluminum and grain size and clay mineralogy were used along with Pearson's correlation and Hg thermal desorption technique to investigate the presence, distribution and binding behavior of Hg in soils from three depths from the Tripuí Ecological Station, located near Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The soils studied had pred...

There is a huge and rapidly growing scientific literature on the distribution of mercury in ecosystems. Mercury has been measured in aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, in a variety of plants, and in many higher organisms including humans. High concentrations of mercury have been associated with developmental and behavioral abnormalities, impaired reproduction and survival, and in some cases...

Humans may be exposed to organic forms of mercury by either inhalation, oral, or dermal routes, and the effects of such exposure depend upon both the type of mercury to which exposed and the magnitude of the exposure. In general, the effects of exposure to organic mercury are primarily neurologic, while a host of other organ systems may also be involved, including gastrointestinal, respiratory,...

Mercury, with its reactive forms being the most deleterious for the trophic chains, has been identified as a major pollutant in a few confined bodies of the coastal zone. Due to feeding, burrowing, and bioirrigation activities, infauna are known to play a crucial role in the biogeochemical processes of contaminants. The main goal of the present study is to evaluate the effects of Hediste divers...

Four groups of male Wistar rats, 4 animals in each, were fed a diet containing 3ppm of methylmercury in addition to ion exchange water containing 0% (control), 1%, 2% and 4% ethanol for drinking during the 40-day experimental period. Samples of urine and feces were collected every 8 days and the brain, liver and kidneys excised at the end (day 40) of the experimental period were analysed for co...