OBJECTIVES Exposure misclassification is a major obstacle to obtain accurate dose-response relationships. In order to solve this problem, the impact of hair treatment on total mercury in hair was assessed in Japanese women. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out among 327 women at age 24-49 years to determine hair mercury levels and estimate daily mercury intakes from seafood by usin...

OBJECTIVE To assess the mercury accumulating capacity in contaminated soils from the community of Mina Santa Cruz, in the south of the department of Bolívar, Colombia, of the pepper plant (Capsicum annuum), in order to establish the risk to the health of the consuming population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Samples were taken from tissues (roots, stems, and leaves) of pepper plants grown in two soi...

The focus of this work is to explore the use of the netted whelk, Nassarius reticulatus (L.), as an indicator of mercury (Hg) contamination, by assessing the concentration of Hg in the sediments and in the whelk along the entire Portuguese coast. Total Hg concentrations ranged from below the detection limit (0.01 ng absolute mercury) up to 0.87 mg kg(-1) dry weight (dwt) in sediments and betwee...

A bench-scale entrained-flow reactor was used to extract flue gas produced by burning a subbituminous Belle Ayr coal in a 580-MJ/h combustion system. The reactor was operated at 400 degrees, 275 degrees, and 150 degrees C with a flow rate corresponding to residence times of 0-7 s. Transformations of elemental mercury (Hg0) and total gas mercury (Hg(gas)) in the reactor were evaluated as functio...

background: mercury (hg) is a hazardous metal responsible for environmental contamination and human intoxication. methyl mercury bio-accumulation through food chain can be responsible for chronic mercury exposure of south caspian sea communities with a diet rich in fish. uncertainties about exposure levels that could have damaging consequences for nervous system development of infants makes bio...

In this procedure a single-beam spectrophotometer is used without background correction. By the method of Magos [Analyst (London) 96, 847 (1971)] mercury in undigested urine is complexed to L-cysteine in acid solution. At high pH and in the presence of stannous ions, mercury ions are reduced to elemental mercury. The mercury vapor is partitioned above the reagent solution in a specially designe...

by either decreased methylmercury production or increased methylmercury degradation in ecosystems containing high levels of total mercury. Methylmercury degradation is mediated by bacteria in sediments, in natural waters and in soils. This activity is a part of the bacterial mercury detoxification mechanism, resulting in the degradation of methylmercury to gaseous elemental mercury, which can e...

To clarify the maternal-fetal transfer of mercury across the placenta, inorganic and organic mercury were determined in 41 paired samples of maternal blood, placenta, umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord obtained from pregnant women who had no particular exposure to mercury compounds in their history. Both inorganic and organic mercury were detected in all the samples but the ratio of organi...

This chapter first presents available measurement data for mercury in environmental media and biota. This is followed by a discussion of efforts to collect measurement data from remote locations and near anthropogenic sources of concern. Note that this chapter does include measured mercury concentrations in wildlife that function as vectors to humans but does not include measured concentrations...

The aim of this study was to examine the experimental uptake of mercury and the enzymatic response, i.e., glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity, to this metal introduced into the medium under organic (methylmercury chloride) and nonorganic (mercury chloride) forms. Shoots of Posidonia oceanica were collected in a nonpolluted area in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea and were treated in aqua...