• Advances in environmental research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.281-299
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• 2017

Single (0.005 M DTPA), sequential (six-step) and kinetic (0.05 M EDTA) extractions were performed to assess Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn mobilization and their potential ecological risks in Abuja (Nigeria) water (WTS) and wastewater (WWTS) treatment sludges. Total metal levels (mg/kg) in WTS and WWTS, respectively were: Cd(3.67 and 5.03), Cr(5.70 and 9.03), Cu(183.59 and 231.53), Ni(1.33 and 3.23), Pb(13.43 and 17.87), Zn(243.45 and 421.29). DTPA furnished metal extraction yields (%) in WTS and WWTS, respectively as: Cd(11 and 6), Cr (15 and 7), Cu(17 and 13), Ni(23 and 3), Pb(11 and 12), and Zn(37 and 33). The metals were associated with the soluble/exchangeable, carbonate, Mn/Fe-oxide, organic matter and residual forms to varying degrees. Kinetic extractions cumulatively leached metal concentrations akin to the mobilizable fractions extracted sequentially and the leaching data fitted well into the Elovich model. Metal mobilities were concordant for the three leaching procedures and varied in the order:WTS>WWTS. Calculated ecological risk indices suggested moderate and considerable metal toxicity in WTS and WWTS, respectively with Cd as the worst culprit. The findings may be useful in predicting heavy metals bioavailability and risks in the sludges to guide their disposal and use in land applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.860-866
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• 2019

The lead element or its salts are good radiation shielding materials. However, their toxic effects are high. Due to less toxicity of bismuth salts, the radiation shielding properties of the bismuth salts have been investigated and compared to that of lead salts to establish them as a better alternative to radiation shielding material to the lead element or its salts. The transmission geometry was utilized to measure the mass attenuation coefficient (${\mu}/{\rho}$) of different salts containing lead and bismuth using a high-resolution HPGe detector and different energies (between 81 and 1333 keV) emitted from point sources of $^{133}Ba$, $^{57}Co$, $^{22}Na$, $^{54}Mn$, $^{137}Cs$, and $^{60}Co$. The experimental ${\mu}/{\rho}$ results are compared with the theoretical values obtained through WinXCOM program. The theoretical calculations are in good agreement with their experimental ones. The radiation protection efficiencies, mean free paths, effective atomic numbers and electron densities for the present compounds were determined. The bismuth fluoride ($BiF_3$) is found to have maximum radiation protection efficiency among the selected salts. The results showed that present salts are more effective for reducing the intensity of gamma photons at low energy region.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2024

Cadmium (Cd) is non-essential heavy metal that negatively affects plant metabolism. Nitric oxide (NO) is an increasingly important molecule for plant metabolism that makes signaling. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the alleviating effect of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) application as NO donor in white poplar (Populus alba) under Cd stress conditions. SNP and without SNP treatments increased the Cd accumulation in root tissue. While photosynthetic pigments (Chl a, Chl b, Chl a+b, and carotenoid) content decreased by only Cd application, SNP+Cd application decreased the rate of photosynthetic pigments reduction. When the results of Cd and Cd+SNP applications were evaluated for mineral (Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu) uptake, it was found that the positive effect of SNP was heterogeneously affected. Depending on SNP application, it was found that malondialdehyde (MDA) amount decreased in leaf in 100 µM Cd applications while hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) amount decreased in 100 and 500 µM Cd applications. When antioxidant enzyme activities were examined, it was found that catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzyme activities increased with 100 µM SNP applications under all Cd applications. As a result, it was found that SNP application under Cd stress generally supports physiological processes positively in white poplar, suggesting that NO molecule plays important alleviating roles in plant metabolism.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.230-236
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the application of compost on the availability of micronutrients in lettuce. Micronutrient contents of manure-based composts containing various other source materials were investigated. Total and extractable contents of micronutrients in the composts were analysed. Pots containing soil of relatively low micronutrient levels were treated with 1,000 and $2,000kg\;10a^{-1}$ of compost and used to grow lettuce plants under greenhouse conditions. Fresh and dry weights of lettuce and micronutrient uptake were determined after harvest. Manure-based composts of various other source materials contained very different amounts of total and extractable micronutrients. Total contents of B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo and Zn were in the range of 26-42, 27-160, 4,300-9,500, 290-790, 0-0.5 and $140-420mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. The contents of 0.1 N HCl extractable B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were 23-32, 1.3-2.6, <1, 7-32 and 0.5-5% of total content, respectively. Contents of micronutrients extractable in DTPA solution were generally higher than those extractable in 0.1 N HCl. It was found that the fresh and dry matter productions of the plants were significantly higher in the compost treatment of $2,000kg\;10a^{-1}$. Lettuce grown in soil treated 1,000 and $2,000kg\;10a^{-1}$ of manure-based compost contained higher levels of B, Cu, Mo and Zn than lettuce grown without compost application. However, contents of Fe and Mn in lettuce were relatively lower in the compost treatments. In the compost treatments the proportions of micronutrients in soil and plant were all in the optimum ranges and below the toxicity levels. The results obtained allow us to establish that commercial composts could be used as soil amendment for plastic film house crop production with sufficient supply of micronutrients.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.66-85
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• 2002

Traditional herbal medicine is used extensively among the Korean populations, and other Asian countries employ similar therapies as well In recent years, extensive focus was laid on adulteration of the herbal medicine with heavy metals. This may be mainly due to a soil contamination by an environmental pollution. The objective of this study is to identify the contents of various heavy metals in the blood from OhJeokSan-Decoction (OD) treated-rats. For this study, 13 kinds of metals including essential and heavy metals, i.e. Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn were analyzed by a slight modification of EPA methods and the following results are obtained. ; 1. There is no significant difference between the OD-treated groups and control group in liver, kidney, bone, brain, weight, food intake. 2. The amount of each metal analyzed in the liver are as follows; Al ; $0.235{\sim}4.215mg／kg$, As ; $0.103{\sim}0.461mg／kg$, Cd ; $0.005{\sim}0.010mg／kg$, Co ; $0.017{\sim}0.046mg／kg$, Cr ; $0.137{\sim}0.403mg／kg$, Cu ; $1.736{\sim}4.827mg／kg$, Fe ; $54.472{\sim}381.447mg／kg$, Hg ; not detected, Mn ; $1.159{\sim}2.803mg／kg$, Ni ; $0.007{\sim}0.095mg／kg$, Pb ; not detected, Se ; $0.682{\sim}1.887mg／kg$, Zn ; $10.213{\sim}26.119mg／kg$, by groups, respectively. In control and other experimental group, several metal (Co, Cu, Mn, Zn, As, Cr) has a significant difference, but in experimental I and other experimental II, III, IV, V groups, there are no significant difference. 3. The amount of each metal analyzed in the kidney are as follows; Al ; $1.712{\sim}31.230mg／kg$, As ; $0.062{\sim}0.439mg／kg$, Cd ; $0.010{\sim}0.062mg／kg$, Co ; $0.000{\sim}0.101mg／kg$, Cr ; $0.125{\sim}0.636mg／kg$, Cu ; $3.385{\sim}12.502mg／kg$, Fe ; $41.148{\sim}99.709mg／kg$, Hg ; $0.000{\sim}0.270mg／kg$, Mn ; $0.433{\sim}2.301mg／kg$, Ni ; $0.000{\sim}0.221mg／kg$, Pb ; $0.000{\sim}0.584mg／kg$, Se ; $0.540{\sim}1.600mg／kg$, Zn ; $8.775{\sim}17.060mg／kg$, by groups, respectively. The concentration of Cu, Se, Cr, and Hg are variated significantly in control and other experimental group, and Cu, Se, Cd, Cr are variated significantly in experimental I and other experimental II, III, IV, V groups. 4. The amount of each metal analyzed in the bone(tibia and fibula) are as follows; Al ; $9.557{\sim}119.464mg／kg$, As ; $0.139{\sim}12.250mg／kg$, Cd ; $0.000{\sim}0.295mg／kg$, Co ; $0.022{\sim}0.243mg／kg$, Cr ; $0.239{\sim}1.999mg／kg$, Cu ; $0.000{\sim}2.291mg／kg$, Fe ; $240.249{\sim}841.956mg／kg$, Hg ; $0.000{\sim}0.983mg／kg$, Mn ; $0.214{\sim}7.353mg／kg$, Ni ; $5.473{\sim}11.453mg／kg$, Pb ; $0.000{\sim}8.502mg／kg$, Se ; $0.000{\sim}3.005mg／kg$, Zn ; $61.158{\sim}195.038mg／kg$, by groups, respectively. The concentration of Se, Cd are variated significantly in control and other experimental groups, and Se is variated significantly in experimental I and other experimental II, III, IV, V groups. 5. Exceptionally several metal concentration is increased or decreased. but there is no significant harmful difference of metal concentration in the liver, kidney and bone, from the OD-treated-rats compared to those of the control group even if higher dosage($1{\sim}8$ times dosage of person) of OD was administered. Thus, it is expected that the herbal decoction in the traditional herbal medicine would not lay any burden on the body and the heavy metal toxins would not affect our physiological system. However, other kinds of herbal treatment, such as i.v. and i.p. should be considered in terms of metal toxicity in the body since the level of certain metal.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2018

This study aimed to evaluate the genotoxicity of Litsea japonica fruit-hexane extract (LJF-HE). In order to examine the genotoxicity, we carried out bacterial reverse mutation assay, chromosome aberration assay, and a micronucleus induction (MN) test according to the OECD and the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) toxicity test guidelines. In the bacterial reverse mutation assay, no significant increase in revertant colonies, nor bacterial toxicity, was observed in the LJF-HE treatment group, regardless of the absence or presence of metabolic activation by the S9 mixture. However, in the positive control group, revertant colony counts were shown to be more than twice that of the negative control group. The chromosome aberration test showed that the repetition rate of abnormal chromosome aberration was less than 5%, regardless of the treatment time, and with or without the S9 mixture. No significant change was observed when (p < 0.05) compared with the negative control group. The micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCE) repetition rate of the polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) showed no significant changes when compared with the negative control group (p < 0.05). The PCE portion of total erythrocytes also showed no significant changes (p < 0.05). These results showed that LJF-HE had no significant genotoxic effects.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 1998

An extracellular polysaccharide, methylan, was produced under the specific conditions by Methylobacterium organophilum from methanol. The specific growth rate of cells was approximately constant regardless of C/N ratio and the specific product yield was maximum at a C/N ratio of 30. Methylan production was suppressed by the deficiency of mineral ions such as Mn$^{++}$ or Fe$^{++}$ ion. The optimal pH for cell growth and methylan production was 7. Whereas the optimal temperature for cell growth was found to be 37$^{\circ}C$, that for methylan production was 3$0^{\circ}C$. The methanol concentration above 4% completely inhibited the cell growth. The initial methanol concentration for the maximal production of methylan was 0.5% (v/v) and above this concentration, methylan production was markedly inhibited. To overcome the substrate toxicity and inhibition for both cell growth and methylan production, a fed-bach culture of intermittent feeding within 5 g/l methanol was conducted under the optimal culture condition. Methylan production of was stimulated by nitrogen limitation and methylan was accumulated up to 8.7 g/1 and cell mass also increased up to 12.4 g/l.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations in the particulate matter inside the subway stations of Seoul. In particular, we examined the correlation between the heavy metals and studied the effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation. In six selected subway stations in Seoul, particulate matter was captured at the platforms and 11 types of heavy metals were analyzed. The results showed that the mean concentration of iron was the highest out of the heavy metals in particulate matter, followed by copper, potassium, calcium, zinc, nickel, sodium, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium in that order. The correlation analysis showed that the correlations between the heavy metals was highest in the following order: (Cu vs Zn), (Ca vs Na), (Ca vs Mn), (Ni vs Cr), (Na vs Mn), (Cr vs Cd), (Zn vs Cd), (Cu vs Cd), (Ni vs Cd), (Cu vs Ni), (K vs Zn), (Cu vs K), (Cu vs Cr), (K vs Cd), (Zn vs Cr), (K vs Ni), (Zn vs Ni), (K vs Cr), and (Fe vs Cu). The correlation coefficient between zinc and copper was 0.937, indicating the highest correlation. Copper, zinc, nickel, chromium and cadmium, which are generated from artificial sources in general, showed correlations with many of the other metals and the correlation coefficients were also relatively high. The effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation was also investigated in this study. Cultured cell was exposed to 10 mg/l or 100 mg/l of iron, copper, calcium, zinc, nickel, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium for 24 hours. The cell proliferation in all the heavy metal-treated groups was not inhibited at 10 mg/l of the heavy metal concentration. The only exception to this was with the cadmium-treated group which showed a strong cell proliferation inhibition. This study provides the fundamental data for the understanding of simultaneous heavy metal exposure tendency at the time of particulate matter exposure in subway stations and the identification of heavy metal sources. Moreover, this study can be used as the fundamental data for the cell toxicity study of the subway-oriented heavy metal-containing particulate matter.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2019

Bisphenol A (BPA), a representative endocrine disrupting chemicals, has adverse effects on growth, development and reproduction in aquatic organisms. The object of this study was to investigate the modulation of antioxidant enzyme-coding genes using quantitative real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR), enzyme activity and total protein content, to understand oxidative stress responses after exposure to BPA for 48 h in brackish water flea Diaphanosoma celebensis. The BPA ($3mg\;L^{-1}$) significantly upregulated the expression of Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD, and catalase (CAT) mRNA. Three GST isoforms (GST-kappa, GST-mu, and GST-theta) mRNA levels significantly increased at the rate of $0.12mg\;L^{-1}$ of BPA. In particular, GST-mu showed the highest expression level, indicating its key role in antioxidant response to BPA. SOD activity was induced with a concentration-dependent manner, and total protein contents was reduced. These findings indicate that BPA can induce oxidative stress in this species, and these antioxidants may be involved in cellular protection against BPA exposure. This study will provide a better understanding of molecular mode of action of BPA toxicity in aquatic organisms.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.409-419
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• 2023

Acid mine drainage(AMD) treatment is classified as both passive and active treatment. During the treatment, about 5,000 tons of neutralization sludge is generated as a by-product per year in Korea. This study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of sludge generated from physico·chemical treatment processes as an active treatment from 5 different sources (D, H, S, T, Y) and the possibility of the sludges being recycled. The sludges have a pH range of 5.86 ~ pH 7.89, and a water content range of 51% ~ 82%. Most of particle sizes were less than 25 ㎛. In analysis of inorganic elements, the concentration of Al, Fe, and Mn were between 1,189 mg/kg ~ 129,344 mg/kg, 106,132 mg/kg ~ 338,011 mg/kg, and 3,472 mg/kg ~ 11,743 mg/kg, respectively. The concentration of As and Zn in sludge-T, Cd in sludge-D, Ni in sludge-H, Zn in sludge-S, and Cd in sludge-Y exceeded the soil contamination standards of Korea. The results from 2 separate kinds of leaching test, the Korea Standard Leaching Test(KSLT) and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure(TCLP), showed that all the sludges met the Korea groundwater standards. From the XRD and SEM-EDS analysis, the peaks of calcite and quartz were found in the sludges. The sludge also had a high proportion of Fe and O, and the majority of the composition was amorphous iron hydroxide.