• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.19 no.2 s.20
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• pp.307-313
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• 1986

This study was carried out in order to estimate the residual amount of mercury in soy-bean sprouts in each steps of cooking. Samples were taken at markets and also cultured at home without applying the mercury containing pesticides as control. Mercury was determined by dithizone method. It was disclosed that soy-bean sprouts purchased at markets contained $1.32{\pm}0.274ppm$, 13 times as high as the maximal allowable concentration of mercury in food recommeded by Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. Mercury contents, however, dropped off steadily by steps of cooking: rinsed with distilled water and boiled in distilled water showing concentrations of $0.11{\pm}0.025ppm$ in boiled sprouts and $0.03{\pm}0.022ppm$ in sprout-soup. These values were not statistically different from those in control samples, and not exceeded the maximal allowabled levels of mercury in food. It can be concluded that the use of mercury containing pesticides in the cultivation of soy-bean sprouts is not so serious problem as it has been suspected in respect of food contamination, but careful attention must be paid to indiscriminate use of mercury containing pesticides as they may contaminate air, water and soil and secondarily bring harm to human health through food chains.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.448-454
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• 2022

An intralaboratory comparison of the realization of the triple-point temperature of mercury, which is defined as -38.8344℃ on the international temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90), was conducted at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), the national metrology institute of Korea. To this end, four triple-point-of-mercury cells were compared using the resistance ratio measurement of a standard platinum resistance thermometer to validate the calibration results obtained using the triple-point-of-mercury cells at KRISS. The triple-point temperatures of all the four cells, one of which is designated as the national standard cell, were within 0.3 mK of the national standard. Based on 13 experiments on the four triple-point-of-mercury cells, the uncertainty in the comparison of the triple-point-of-mercury cells was 0.08 mK, and the uncertainty in the realization of the triple-point temperature of mercury was 0.19 mK. The results of the intralaboratory comparison validated that utilizing any of the four triple-point-of-mercury cells would result in the realization of a temperature within 0.3 mK of the average value determined by two key international comparisons for the realization of -38.3844℃ following the ITS-90.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.192-205
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• 2023

Objectives: Previous studies have evaluated the association between mercury exposure and obesity but have yielded mixed conclusions. The aim of this study was to systematically review and summarize scientific evidence regarding the association between mercury exposure and obesity in the human population. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct for articles related to mercury exposure and obesity. Meta-analyses of the highest and lowest categories of mercury levels were evaluated using a random effects model. Begg's test was used to detect publication bias. Results: A total of 9 articles were included. The pooled random effects odds ratio (OR) for mercury exposure and obesity of all 9 studies was 1.66 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-2.38). This positive association was evident in adults (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.02-2.54) and among studies with Asian populations (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.53-2.59), but not among those with North America/African populations (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.50-1.65). Conclusions: The present meta-analysis identified a positive association between mercury exposure and obesity. These findings suggest that toxic environmental metals such as mercury may be an important risk factor for obesity along with dietary habits and lifestyles.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence regarding injury and poisoning associated with the clinical mercury thermometer. Methods: Electronic literature searches were conducted for identification of relevant studies and case reports of injury and poisoning associated with the clinical mercury thermometer. The search outcomes were limited to literature with English and Korean languages published from 1966. Studies related to occupational mercury exposure, or mercury exposure from sphygmomanometer, barometer, and fluorescent light were excluded. Results: A total of 60 reports, including 59 case reports, were finally included. Of those, nine cases pertained to an intact thermometer as a foreign body, 25 injuries were related to a thermometer, and 26 cases involved exposures to mercury from a broken thermometer. Case reports were classified according to severity into 16 mild, 41 moderate, and two severe cases. Two cases of mortality were reported, one was deliberate intravenous injection of mercury and the other was acute vapor inhalation of mercury from broken thermometers. Conclusion: Findings of this systematic review suggested that the mercury thermometer could cause various forms of poisoning and injury. In particular, inhalation of mercury vapor from a broken thermometer can lead to systemic toxicity requiring chelating therapy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.218-225
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• 2011

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between the blood mercury concentration and cardiovascular risk factors in elderly Korean individuals living in coastal areas. Methods: The sample consisted of 477 adults (164 males, 313 females) aged 40 to 65 years who visited a Busan health promotion center from June to September in 2009. The relationship between blood mercury concentration and cardiovascular risk factors including metabolic syndrome, cholesterol profiles, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), was investigated. Variables related to blood mercury concentration were further evaluated using multiple regression analysis. Results: The blood mercury concentration of the study population was 7.99 (range, 7.60 to 8.40) ${\mu}g$/L. In males, the blood mercury concentration was 9.74 (8.92 to 10.63) ${\mu}g$/L, which was significantly higher than that in females (7.21, [6.80 to 7.64] ${\mu}g$/L). The blood mercury concentration of the study population was related to several cardiovascular risk factors including low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (p=0.044), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (p=0.034), BMI (p = 0.006), waist circumference (p = 0.031), and WHR (p < 0.001). In males, the blood mercury concentration was significantly correlated with WHR in the multiple regression analysis. Conclusions: In males, the blood mercury concentration was related to waist-to-hip ratio, which is a central obesity index and cardiovascular risk factor. Our finding suggests that cardiovascular disease risk in males was increased by mercury exposure via an obesity-related mechanism.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 1989

Atmospheric gaseous mercury was automatically measured by a mercury air monitor (Mercury monitor AM-1). The sample air was led to a scrubber and washed with buffer solution, and mercury was trapped with gold coated chromosorb P(AW) was successively eluted by heating the chromosorb and then detected by the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry. $SO_2, TSP, NO_x, CO, THC$. and some of meteorological factors were also measured simultaneously with mercury. A significant correlation between the concentration of mercury and those of 2,513 measurements, gaseous mercury concentration ranged from 4.73 to 112.8 $ng/m^3$ with an annual mean of 14.7$ng/m^3$ in urban area. At this place there was a clear seasonal variation with a maximuminDecember-January and aminimum in March-June. A secondary maximum existed in August to September. THe seasonal variation was found that the gaseous mercury in ambient air has a tendency to become low in spring and high in winter. Namely, the average of concentration in winter was about two times, 19.2 $ng/m^3$, higher than that in spring. In Seoul mercury levels on some months mainly Septermber-October increase with increasing relative humidity of the atmosphere. In Olympic park air levels were 8.2 (range 4.4-23.7)$ng/m^3$ with an coefficients of variation of 0.34 and in Seoul sports complex those were 7.7 (rnage 4.4-25.5) $ng/m^3$ with an coefficients of variation of 0.38 within the Seoul olympiad holding period of time. A significant diurnal mercury variation occurs both at the measuring sites and in the period of observation.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.121-128
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• 2018

Purpose: Obesity has been associated with higher total blood mercury levels, based on animal studies; however, studies that focus on children and adolescents are lacking. We aimed to assess the association between total blood mercury levels and the incidence of overweight and abdominal obesity in Korean adolescents. Methods: The study population comprised 1,567 adolescents (793 boys and 774 girls; aged 10-19 years), who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2013. We analyzed total blood mercury levels according to obesity status in all participants. Results: The geometric mean of total blood mercury levels was $1.93{\mu}g/L$. Participants with overweight ($2.20{\mu}g/L$) and obesity ($2.17{\mu}g/L$) had higher levels than those with normal weight ($1.86{\mu}g/L$, P<0.0001). The prevalence of overweight significantly increased with elevation of the total blood mercury quartile in both sexes. Increased incidence of abdominal obesity corresponding to increased total blood mercury level was observed in boys. After adjusting for covariates, those in the highest total blood mercury quartile were found to be at higher risk of overweight/obesity than those in the lowest quartile in both sexes (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: boys, 3.27 [1.66-6.41]; girls, 1.90 [1.03-3.49]). The association between total blood mercury quartile and abdominal obesity was significant after controlling for covariates in boys (2.35 [1.05-5.24]). Conclusion: Our results suggest an association between total blood mercury levels and overweight in Korean adolescents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.198-207
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• 1994

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental intervention of work place, metal mercury concentration in air and in urine of the total 43 workers for 3years from December 1991 to October 1993 in a fluorescent lamp manufacturing industry exposed to mercury, was measured before and after implementation of controls such as establishing exhaust ventilation at the department of exhaustion, coating the floor of work place with epostane, cleaning of the floor, improved housekeeping, and etc. The results were as follows. 1. Before the intervention(December 1991) 39.0% exceeded metal mercury Threshold Limit Value(TLV, $0.05mg/m^3$). After the intervention(October 1993) 10.0% exceeded TLV and geometric mean of mercury in air was $0.1mg/m^3$, and showed effectiveness rate of intervention to be 74.4% 2. After the intervention, geometric means of mercury concentrations in air were 0.013, $0.019mg/m^3$ and showed effectiveness rate of intervention to be 76.6%, 65.5% in A factory(right tube lamp)and at exhaustion department, respectively, A follow up survey fround statistically significant reductions in mercury concetration in air three years later. 3. Mercury concentration in urine of 11 workers(29.7%) exceeded warning level of $100{\mu}l/l$ before the intervention. After the intervention, of 3workers(8.8%) exceeded warning level and geometric mean of mercury concentration($26.5{\mu}l/l$) in urine was 2.4 times than that of before the intervention. Geometric means of mercury concentrations in urine of workers at exhaustion department, at sealing and aging department were 44.0, $77.7{\mu}l/l$, respectively and they decreased 2.3, 3.2 times than that of before the intervention.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.25-39
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• 2017

A total number of 668 apparently healthy fish were obtained from farm to study the effect of two heavy metals in a form of (Copper sulfate and Mercuric chloride) on some hematological and biochemical parameters of blood. The $LC_{50}$ /96 hr. of Cu and Hg were estimated and fish exposed to $\text\tiny{^1/_2}$ $LC_{50}$ for 7 days and for $1/_{10}$ $LC_{50}$ for 8 weeks from each product separately. Results showed decrease in RBCs count, PCV% and Hb in acute and chronic mercury while a significant increase was shown in acute and chronic copper toxicity, total leucocytic count showed decrease in acute mercury toxicity and increase in the chronic case, while in copper toxicity non-significant decrease in acute and significant decrease in chronic toxicity was noticed. Elevated serum urea and creatinine in both acute and chronic mercury and copper toxicity was detected. No changes in total bilirubin in the acute mercury and chronic copper toxicity while significant increase in chronic mercury and acute copper. Elevation of serum AST and ALT in some days of acute toxicity of mercury and copper while in chronic mercury toxicity a significant elevation of both serums AST and ALT were detected .while in chronic copper toxicity serum AST was fluctuated and ALT showed no significant changes. CK study revealed significant decrease in acute mercury with fluctuation in the chronic toxicity while in copper toxicity it showed fluctuation in acute and significant decrease in chronic toxicity. Glucose value decreased in acute and chronic mercury toxicity while in copper toxicity it showed significant increase in the acute and increase followed by significant decrease in the chronic copper toxicity.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.453-458
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• 2013

Fly ash has capacity to oxidize or adsorb mercury in a flue gas. Mercury oxidation and adsorption efficiencies of fly ash vary depending on the properties of fly ash. This study was designed to understand reaction characteristics of mercury with fly ash components. The fly ash components were tested to determine their oxidation and adsorption capabilities for elemental mercury and oxidized mercury. A sample was synthesized with fly ash components and tested. The test results were compared with those of the fly ash sample obtained from a coal-fired power plant. $Fe_2O_3$, CuO and carbon black showed higher oxidation or adsorption efficiency for elemental mercury while CaO, MgO, CuO and carbon black showed higher adsorption efficiency for mercury chloride. In addition, the synthesized sample showed comparable mercury oxidation and adsorption efficiencies to the fly ash sample.