• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.618-622
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• 2010

This study examines the relationship between urinary arsenic concentration and urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) concentrations, an index of oxidative DNA damage, among women who live near abandoned metal mines. The sample consisted of 165 residents living near two abandoned metal mines located in Chungbuk Province. Demographic characteristics as well as environmental factors relevant to arsenic exposure were collected through interviews, and urinary arsenic concentrations and urinary 8-OHdG concentrations of the research subjects were measured. The collected data were subsequently analyzed using the statistics program SPSS 12.0. The geometric average of urinary arsenic concentrations among the research subjects was $5.65\;{\mu}g/g$ creatinine. In a correlation analysis between urinary arsenic and 8-OHdG concentrations, the correlation coefficient was significant (p<0.001) at 0.399. This study suggests that urinary 8-OHdG concentrations may be a DNA damage marker for chronic arsenic exposure in women.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.920-924
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• 2012

This study was performed to estimate total contents of arsenic (As) by stepwise multiple-regression analysis using chemical properties and extractable contents of metal in paddy soil adjacent to abandoned mines. The soil was collected from paddies near abandoned mines. Soil pH, electrical conductively (EC), organic mater (OM), available phosphorus ($P_2O_5$), and exchangeable cations (Ca, K, Mg, Na) were measured. Total contents of As and extractable contents of metals were analyzed by ICP-OES. From stepwise analysis, it was showed that the contents of extractable As, available phosphorus, extractable Cu, exchangeable K, exchangeable Na, and organic mater significantly influenced the total contents of As in soil (p<0.001). The multiple linear regression models have been established as Log (Total-As) = 0.741 + 0.716 Log (extractable-As) - 0.734 Log (avail-$P_2O_5$) + 0.334 Log (extractable-Cu) + 0.186 Log (exchangeable-K) - 0.593 Log (exchangeable-Na) + 0.558 Log (OM). The estimated value in total contents of As was significantly correlated with the measured value in soil ($R^2$=0.84196, p<0.0001). This predictive model for estimating total As contents in paddy soil will be properly applied to the numerous datasets which were surveyed with extractable heavy metal contents based on Soil Environmental Conservation Act before 2010.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2010

We determined arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium concentrations in Chinese herbal medicines sold in the United States by medical use parts. 54 kinds of herbal products including 9 medical use parts (radix, rhizoma, cortex, pericarpium, fructus, lignum, semen, folium, and herba) were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for arsenic, lead and cadmium, and using mercury analyzer for mercury. Arsenic (median concentration, 0.25 mg/g), mercury (0.20 mg/g), lead (3.78 mg/g) and cadmium (0.39 mg/g) were detected in 71%, 54%, 35%, and 18% of 143 herbal medicine samples, respectively. A total of 27% and 12% of 143 products analyzed contained mercury and cadmium above the regulatory standards. Herba and folium (leaves of herbal plants) were the most contaminated parts from metals, whereas pericarpium, lignum and semen (outer layers and seeds) were less contaminated. This study suggests that metal contamination is different by medical use parts. Our findings provide further evidence that efforts to protect people using traditional remedies from metal intoxication should be made to enforce the regulatory standards.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2013

This study was conducted to analyse the effectiveness of shading on growth and arsenic absorption of Pteris multifida, known as hyperaccumulator of arsenic, from paddy soils contaminated with heavy metals. Study was carried out in paddy soil polluted by arsenic near the former Janghang smelter. P. multifuda in the same growth stage was planted with $20{\times}20cm$ intervals in each experimental plot ($2{\times}2m$), and cultivated for 24 weeks. The growth of P. multifuda according to shading conditions was evaluated, the accumulated amount of arsenic in plants and arsenic variation in the soil was analyzed using ICP. In the result of this study, the growth of P. multifida cultivated under shading treatment was vigorous than non-shading. Accumulated amount of arsenic in aerial parts of P. multifida cultivated under non-shading ($169.8mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) was slightly higher than shading ($140.9mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$), and those in underground part were almost the same. But the growth was great in 70% shading treatment. Therefore, arsenic contents absorbed from soils was much higher in shading treatment. Arsenic translocation rate (TR) of P. multifida was very high (0.87~0.89) regardless of shading conditions. So arsenic in soil could be efficiently eliminated by removal of aerial parts.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2005

This study was performed to investigate the effect of humic acid on the adsorption of arsenic onto hematite and its binding mechanism through the chemical speciation modeling in the binary system and the adsorption modeling in the ternary system. The complexation modeling of arsenic and humic acid was suitable for the binding model with the basis of the electrostatic repulsion and the effect of bridging metal. In comparison with the experimental adsorption data in the ternary system, the competitive adsorption model from the binary intrinsic equilibrium constants was consistent with the amount of arsenic adsorption. However, the additive rule showed the deviation of model in the opposite way of cationic heavy metals, because the reduced organic complexation of arsenic and the enhanced oxyanionic competition diminished the adsorption of arsenic. In terms of the reaction mechanism, the organic complex of arsenic, neutral As(III) and oxyanionic As(V) species were transported and adsorbed competitively to the hematite surface forming the inner-sphere complex in the presence of humic acid.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.955-966
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• 2017

Amendment of multi-binders was employed for the immobilization of metal(loid)s in field-contaminated soils to reduce the leaching potential. The effect of different types of multi-binders (lime/diammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate/ladle slag and lime/ladle slag) on the solidification/stabilization of metal(loid)s (Pb, Zn, Cu and As) from the smelter soil and mine tailing soil were investigated. The amended soils were evaluated by measuring Toxicity Characterization Leaching Procedure (TCLP) leaching concentration of metal(loid)s. The results show that the leaching concentration of metal(loid)s decreased with the immobilization using multi-binders. In terms of TCLP extraction, the mixed binder was effective in the order of lime/ladle slag > diammonium phosphate/ladle slag > lime/diammonium phosphate. When the mixed binder amendment (0.15 g lime+0.15 g ladle slag for 1g smelter soil and 0.05 g lime+0.1 g ladle slag for 1 g mine tailing soil, respectively) was used, the leaching concentration of metal(loid)s decreased by 90%. However, As leaching concentration increased with diammonium phosphate/lime and diammonium phosphate/ladle slag amendment competitive anion exchange between arsenic ion and phosphate ion from diammonium phosphate. The Standard, Measurements and Testing programme (SM&T) analysis indicated that fraction 1 (F1, exchangeable fraction) decreased, while fraction 4 (F4, residual fraction) increased. The increased immobilization efficiency was attributed to the increase in the F4 of the SM&T extraction. From this work, it was possible to suggest that both arsenic and heavy metals can be simultaneously immobilized by the amendment of multi-binder such as lime/ladle slag.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.113-121
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• 2015

The contaminated soil at abandoned smelter areas present challenge for remediation, as the degraded materials are typically deficient in nutrients, and rich in toxic heavy metals and metalloids. Bioremediation technique is to isolate new strains of microorganisms and develop successful protocols for reducing metal toxicity with heavy metal tolerant species. The present study collected metal contaminated soil and characterized for pH and EC values, and heavy metal contents. The pH value was 5.80, representing slightly acidic soil, and EC value was 13.47 mS/m. ICP-AES analytical results showed that the collected soil samples were highly contaminated with various heavy metals and metalloids such as lead (183.0 mg/kg), copper (98.6 mg/kg), zinc (91.6 mg/kg), and arsenic (48.1 mg/kg), respectively. In this study, a bacterial strain, Bacillus cereus KM-15, capable of adsorbing the heavy metals was isolated from the contaminated soils by selective enrichment and characterized to apply for the bioremediation. The effects of heavy metal on the growth of the Bacillus cereus KM-15 was determined in liquid cultures. The results showed that 100 mg/L arsenic, lead, and zinc did not affect the growth of KM-15, while the bacterial growth was strongly inhibited by copper at the same concentration. Further, the ability of the bacteria to adsorb heavy metals was evaluated.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.82-91
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• 2012

The heavy metal effects on the degradation of fluorene by Sphingobacterium sp. KM-02 was determined in liquid cultures. The results showed that 10 mg/L cadmium, copper, zinc, and lead not only affected the growth of KM-02 with fluorene but also the ability of growing or resting cells to degrade this compound. Growth and fluorene degradation were strongly inhibited by cadmium and copper at 10 mg/L, while the inhibitory effect of zinc and lead at the same concentration or at 100 mg/L were not significant. In contrast, arsenic did not affect degradation or growth, even at very high concentrations of 100 mg/L. Subsequent analyses additionally revealed that concentrations of arsenic remained unchanged following incubation, while those of cadmium and copper decreased significantly.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

Large-scale civil engineering works discharge a large amount of soil suspension contaminated with natural heavy metals. Most of the heavy metal ions due to industrial activities and minings are accumulated in the soils and the sediments of lakes and inner bays through the rivers. It is necessary to remove heavy metals from the soils and the sediments, because some of these heavy metals, such as arsenic and cadmium, have significant biological effects even in small amounts. This study proposes a new volume reduction method of the contaminated soils and sediments by superconducting magnetic separation. Our process can remove the specific minute minerals selectively, which adsorbs heavy metals depending on pH. As a fundamental study, the adsorption behaviors of arsenic and cadmium on minute minerals as a function of pH were investigated, and the adsorption mechanism was discussed based on the crystal structure and pH dependence of surface potential in each minute minerals.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.565-574
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• 2011

This study analyzed the concentration of the heavy metals(Cd, Hg, iAs) of urine(n=576) from May, 2007 to Oct 2007. The subject was residents in G, Y, H industrial area, Jeollanam-do, in which exposure due to the adjacency of the industrial complex. As to the heavy metal concentration in the urine of the residents in the whole exposed region and the comparing region, the content of cadmium, mercury, and inorganic arsenic in the exposed region group were 1.23, 1.85, and 8.80 ${\mu}g$/g_ct respectively, and those of the comparing region group were 1.87, 2.00, and 8.93 ${\mu}g$/g_ct respectively, which indicates that the concentration of the comparing group was higher than that of the exposed group. The heavy metal concentration for each age group increased in proportion to age except those under 10 for some substances(p<0.01). As to geometric mean concentration cadmium and inorganic arsenic in urine according to the smoking history of the subject, the concentration of the smoking group and the non-smoking group were 1.65 ${\mu}g$/g_ct and 9.13 ${\mu}g$/g_ct respectively, while those of the non-smoking group were 1.47 ${\mu}g$/g_ct and 8.91 ${\mu}g$/g_ct respectively, which indicates that the former is higher than the latter. As to the inorganic arsenic concentration in urine according to the food preference, in order of vegetable, fish, and meat showed high concentration (p<0.01). To clarify the factors affecting the heavy metal concentration in urine among the subjects, the multiple regression analysis was conducted. As a result, it turned out that as to cadmium content in urine, gender, age, drinking, and smoking have influence on the subjects, with explanatory adequacy of 37.5 %.