• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.17-25
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• 2018

The Boroo area in Mongolia is known to have been contaminated with heavy metals due to irregular gold mining activities and the release of mercury from gold extraction process. Soil and mine tailings were collected to analyze contamination patterns of heavy metals in the Boroo area. Analyses revealed that mercury, arsenic and cadmium concentrations exceeded the regulatory standard of the nation (Mongolia National Standard). In case of mercury, about 80% of the survey area was over the limit and the concentration distribution heavily influenced by influx of mercury through water transport. Soil contamination by arsenic was most severe that the concentration exceeded the regulatory limit in almost entire survey area, showing peak concentrations at nearby streams and river along with ore processing facilities. For cadmium, about 20% of the survey area was over the limit with the concentration distribution similar to that of arsenic.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.243-247
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• 2016

Arsenic (As) is a toxic element that easily taken up by plants root. Several toxic forms of As disrupt plant metabolism by a series of cellular alterations. In this study, we applied annealing control primer (ACP)-based reverse transcriptase PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in alfalfa roots in response to As stress. Two-week-old alfalfa seedlings were exposed to As treatment for 6 hours. DEGs were screened from As treated samples using the ACP-based technique. A total of six DEGs including heat shock protein, HSP 23, plastocyanin-like domain protein162, thioredoxin H-type 1 protein, protein MKS1, and NAD(P)H dehydrogenase B2 were identified in alfalfa roots under As stress. These genes have putative functions in abiotic stress homeostasis, antioxidant activity, and plant defense. These identified genes would be useful to increase As tolerance in alfalfa plants.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2009

The objective of the study was to develop a hybrid technology integrating biological and physicochemical technologies to efficiently remediate arsenic contaminated lands such as abandoned mine area. The tailing soil samples contaminated with As at a high level were obtained from Songchon abandoned mine, and the content of arsenic and heavy metals as well as physicochemical properties and mineral composition were investigated. In addition, two sets of sequential extraction methods were applied to analyze chemical speciations of arsenic and heavy metals to expect their leachability and mobility in geoenvironment. Based on these geochemical data of arsenic and heavy metal contaminants, column-type experiments on the bioleaching of arsenic were undertaken. Subsequently, experiments on the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching and electrokinetics were accomplished and its removal efficiency of arsenic was compared with that of the individual electrokinetic process. With the results, finally, the feasibilty of the hybrid technnology was evaluated. The arsenic removal efficiencies of the individual electrokinetic process (44 days) and the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching (28 days) and electrokinetics (16 dyas) were measured 57.8% and 64.5%, respectively, when both two processes were operated in an identical condition. On the contrary, the arsenic removal efficiency during the bioleaching process (28 days) appeared relatively lower (11.8%), and the result indicates that the bioleaching process enhanced the efficacy of the electrokinetic process as a result of mobilization of arsenic rather than removed arsenic by itself. In particular, the arsenic removal rate of the electrokinetics integrated with bioleaching was observed over than 2 times larger than that obtained by the electrokinetics alone. From the results of the study, if the bioleaching which is considered a relatively economic process is applied sufficiently prior to electrokinetics, the removal efficiency and rate of arsenic can be significantly improved. Consequently, the study proves the feasibility of the hybrid process integrating both technologies.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.348-357
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was conducted in order to examine the relationship between heavy metal concentrations in the soil and the level of heavy metals in the blood or urine of 216 local residents living near abandoned metal mines. Methods: Residents around abandoned metal mines were interviewed about their dietary habits, including seafood consumption, medical history, cigarette smoking, and drug history. Metal concentrations in the soil were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA-7000, Shimadzu, Japan). Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) contents in the blood or urine were analyzed by GF-AAS (AA-6800, Shimadzu). Mercury (Hg) contents in the blood were determined by means of a mercury analyzer (SP-3DS, NIC). Arsenic (As) content in the soil and urine were measured by a HG-AAS (hydride vapor generation-atomic absorption spectrophotometer). Results: The heavy metal concentrations in the soil showed a log normal distribution and the geometric means of the four villages were 8.61 mg/kg for Pb, 0.19 mg/kg for Cd, 1.81 mg/kg for As and 0.035 mg/kg for Hg. The heavy metal levels of the 216 local residents showed a regular distribution for Pb, Cd, Hg in the blood and As in the urine. The arithmetic means were 3.37 ${\mu}g$/dl for Pb, 3.07 ${\mu}g$/l for Cd and 2.32 ${\mu}g$/l for Hg, 10.41 ${\mu}g$/l for As, respectively. Conclusions: As a result of multi-variate analysis for the affecting factors on the bodily heavy metal concentrations, gender and concentration in the soil (each, p<0.01) for blood lead levels; gender and smoking status (each, p<0.01) for blood cadmium levels; gender (p<0.01) for urine arsenic levels; gender, age and concentration in the soil (p<0.01) for blood mercury levels were shown to be the affecting factors.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.2 no.2 s.2
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• pp.1-22
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• 1987

Measurements of kidney, liver, lung along with blood trace metal levels were obtained in 20 exposed and 40 control cattle. The level of cadmium, mercury and arsenic were the highest in the kidney while copper, lead and zinc concentrations were the highest in the liver. Statistically significant correlation between the kidney and the liver were found for cadmium, copper, zinc, mercury and arsenic. No significant differences were observed between the area, sex and age in this study. The levels found were generally within the ranges compared with those found in similar studies in and outside.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2000

Effects of acids and pre-reductants in the analysis of arsenic have been studied by hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry. The analytical results were strongly dependent on the acid concentrations. All the pre-reductants was very effective to observe the arsenic signal at strong acid concentrations (3 M-5 M). However, at the low acid condition (${\leq}0.1M$), L-cysteine only showed a reasonable effect on the absorption signal. When the sample was treated with the nitric acid, absorption signal was unstable and was also decreased. Although interference effects were observed from metal ions such as $Cr^{6+}$ and $Br^{5+}$ at low acid condition, the generation of hydride could be increased by the strong acid condition.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

Heavy metals were removed from CCA- and CCFZ- treated wood using a brown-rot fungi Tyromyces palustris. The amount of effective elements extracted from treated woods was compared for different treatment methods. The relationship between the amount of heavy metals removed and concentrations of oxalic acid for treated wood was examined. Also, the relationship between mycelia weight and removal rate was examined. The removed quantity of heavy metal from treated wood according to fermentation methods was examined. The extraction amount of chromium and arsenic components increased with increasing oxalic acid concentration, but the extraction amount of copper did not improved much. A 287 mg of mycelia weight can remove chromium and arsenic over 60% in 3 g CCA chips and copper was also removed over 50%. The chromium, copper and arsenic were removed over 60% by shaking fermentation, the removal rate of copper by static cultivation was higher than that of shaking fermentation. The removal rate of chromium, copper and arsenic were 72%, 61% and 59% with air-lift bioreactor, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.282-282
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• 2022

Arsenic (As) is a toxic heavy metal that affects the major rice-growing regions of the world and can cause cancer in humans. Rice paddy fields in South Asia are mostly dependent on arsenic-contaminated water sources due to which rice takes up the arsenic from the soil through roots and accumulates it in plant different parts. Here, we present a quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping study to find out candidate genes conferring As toxicity tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) at the seedling stage. Three weeks old, 120 double haploid CNDH lines derived from a cross between the Indica variety Cheongcheong and the Japonica variety Nagdong and their parental lines were used by treating with 25 μM As. After 2 weeks ofAs stress, 5 traits such as; shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot fresh weight (SFW), root fresh weight (RFW), and chlorophyll contents (CHC) were measured. A linkage map of 12 rice chromosomes was constructed from genotypic data DH lines using 778 SSR markers. The linkage map covered a total genetic distance of 2121.7 cM of the rice genome with an average interval of 10.6 cM between markers. A total of seventeen QTLs (LOD>2) were mapped on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 using composite interval mapping with trait-increasing alleles coming from both parents. Five QTLs for SL, Two QTLs for RL, Five QTLs for SHL, Three QTLs for RFW, and Two QTLs for CHC were detected. The QTLs related to CHC were selected for forther study.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.29-38
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• 2016

There have been only a few studies focused on the stabilization of metal (loid)s in anaerobic soils such as paddy soils. In this study, laboratory-scale column tests were conducted to artificially manipulate anoxic conditions in submerged paddy fields and we observed the release behavior of As, Cd, Pb, and Zn, as well as to examine the stabilization effect of steel refining slag (SRS) on the metal(loid)s. The leachate samples were collected and chemical parameters were monitored during the test period. Results suggest that anoxic conditions were developed during submersion, and that As or heavy metals (particularly Cd) fractions bound to ferrous (Fe) /manganese (Mn) oxides were easily dissociated. Moreover, As is also reduced by itself to a trivalent form with higher mobility in the reducing environment of rice paddy soil. However, it was also shown that SRS significantly decreased the dissolution of Zn, Pb, Cd, and As in the the leachates; their removal rates in the SRS-treated soil were 66 %, 45 %, 24 %, and 84 %, respectively, of those in the control soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2017

This study was conducted to identify transition characteristics of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) and to calculate bio-concentration factors (BCF) in the three perennial root medicinal plants, namely Codonopsis lanceolata (Deoduck), Platycodon grandiflorum (Balloon flower) and Panax ginseng (Korean ginseng) grown in major medicinal plant producing districts in Korea. Average BCF values ranged from 0.009~0.029 in As, 0.334~1.453 in Cd, and 0.021~0.023 in Pb in three perennial root medicinal plants. The BCF values increased in the order of ginseng (0.029) > deodeok (0.012) > balloon flower (0.009) for As, balloon flower (1.453) > deodeok (0.685) > ginseng (0.334) for Cd, and ginseng (0.023) > deodeok (0.022) > balloon flower (0.021) for Pb. The BCF values calculated in this study will be useful for predicting the uptake of heavy metal (loid)s. Further study on uptake and accumulation mechanism of toxic metal (loid)s by agricultural products is required to assess the human health risk associated with soil contamination.