• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.188-197
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• 2008

This research was a preliminary case study to determine the levels of total mercury in the tissues of sentinel species (Zacco platypus) and ecological health in relation to habitat characteristics and chemical conditions. We collected fishes in Gap Stream during June$\sim$October 2007 and analyzed the total mercury from five types of tissues such as liver, kidney, gill, vertebrae and muscle of Zaceo platypus using Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80, US EPA Method 7473). Mean concentrations of total [Hg], based on all tissues, was 67.2 and $20.7\;{\mu}g\;kg^{-1}$, in the upstream and downstream site, respectively, indicating 3 times greater level in the upstream. In other words, the levels were higher in the pristine upstream than the downstream influenced by the wastewater disposal plant. Chemical water quality, based on BOD, COD and nutrients (TN, TP) showed that severe degradation occurred in the downstreams than the upstreams. Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish multi-metric model averaged 32, indicating a "good$\sim$fair" condition and varied from 42 (excellent$\sim$good) at S2 to 22 (fair$\sim$poor) at S5 depending on the sites sampled. Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) in the all sites averaged 142, which was judged as "good" habitat health, but showed a high variation (181 in Site 2 vs. 67 in Site 5). Overall data suggest that health conditions, based on IBI and QHEI, was better in the upstream sites but the mercury bioaccumulation levels in the fish tissues were opposite. We believe that measurements of various parameters are required for a diagnosis of integrative ecosystem health.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2005

The content of the trace metals in the cultured and wild fishes were determined. The tested fishes were genuin porgy (Pagrus major) and black porgy (Acanthopogrus schlegeli). The samples of the cultured and wild fishes were collected from slices of raw fish in shops, during 2003 to 2004. The samples were digested with acids, then analyzed by ICP (inductively Coupled plasma Spectrometer) and AAS (Automic Absorption Spectrometer) for the content of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn). The content of mercury (Hg) was determined using mercury analyzer. The mean contents of trace metals in cultured and wild fish was 0.031,0.047mg/kg far total-mercury,0.321,0.407 for Pb, 0.048,0.063 for Cd, 1.006, 1.132 for As, 0.467,0.806 for Cu, 0.233, 0.293 for Cr, 9.69, 12.20 for Zn,0.798, 0.624 mg/kg far Mn, respectively. The content of all the trace metals except manganese in wild fish was more than that in cultured fish. The highest level of total-mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc, chromium and arsenic in the samples analyzed were all below the quarantine limit of Korean regulation and guideline established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration f3r human consumption. The level of the trace metals in the samples was negligible, which could be endogenous. Our data obtained in this study showed that the average weekly intakes of lead, cadmium and mercury from cultured and wild fishes takes about $6\∼13\%$ of Un(Provisional Tolerance Weekley Intakes) that FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee has set to evaluate their safeties.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.334-343
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• 2019

We investigated the sanitary characteristics of Alaska pollock Theragra chalcogramma roe as a raw material based on the standards of several countries. The standards for raw materials of Alaska pollock roe for lead, total mercury, $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, and $^{131}I$ were those of the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety; Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Clostridium botulinum, methyl mercury, $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, $^{131}I$, $^{239}Pu$, and $^{90}Sr$ were those of the United States Food and Drug Administration; lead, methyl mercury, inorganic arsenic, chrome, $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, and $^{131}I$ were those of the Ministry of Agriculture of China; nitrite ion, $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, $^{239}Pu$, and $^{235}U$ were those of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan; $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, $^{131}I$, $^{239}Pu$, and $^{90}Sr$ were those of Codex; and $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, $^{131}I$, $^{239}Pu$, $^{241}Am$, and $^{90}Sr$ were those of the European Food Safety Authority. The results for the global standard items other than C. botulinum (lead, total mercury, methyl mercury, inorganic arsenic, chrome, $^{134}Cs+^{137}Cs$, and $^{131}I$, S. aureus, and Salmonella spp.) suggest that Alaska pollock roe is safe for use as a raw material.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2014

This study aims to evaluate the impact of varying exposure to dental amalgam on urinary mercury levels in children by measuring the number of amalgam-filled teeth and the variance of mercury concentration in urine over a period of 2 years. A total of 317 (male 158, female 159) elementary school children (1st~4th graders) attending 2 schools in urban regions participated in this study. At 6-month intervals, 4 oral examinations were conducted to check any variance in the conditions of dental caries and the status of dental fillings. Also, urine tests were conducted followed by a questionnaire survey. To elucidate the factors potentially affecting the mercury concentration in urine, t-test, ANOVA, chi-square test and a mixed model were used for the analysis. Regarding the status of dental fillings in line with examination time periods, deciduous teeth had more amalgam-filled surfaces than those filled with resin, whereas permanent teeth had more resin-filled surfaces than those filled with amalgam. A significant relevance was found between the exposure to dental amalgam and urinary mercury levels. Specifically, subjects whose teeth surfaces had been filled with dental amalgam showed higher urinary mercury levels than those who had no dental amalgam fillings. Based on the analysis using the mixed model, the increase in the number of teeth surfaces filled with amalgam was found to be the factor affecting the increase in urinary mercury levels. The urinary mercury levels were found to be highly associated with the exposure to dental amalgam. The more the teeth surfaces filled with amalgam, the higher the urinary mercury levels. Hence, even a trace of dental amalgam fillings can liberate mercury, affecting the variance in the urinary mercury levels. These findings suggest that some criteria or measures should be developed to minimize the exposure to dental amalgam. Moreover, relevant further studies are warranted.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2022

CuCl₂-loaded V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst showed excellent activity in the catalytic oxidation of elemental mercury to oxidized mercury even under SCR condition in the presence of NH₃, which is well known to significantly inhibit the oxidation activity of elemental mercury by HCl. Moreover, it was confirmed that, when SO₂ was present in the reaction gas together with HCl, excellent elemental mercury oxidation activity was maintained even though CuCl₂ supported on the catalyst surface was converted to CuSO₄. This is thought to be because not only HCl but also the SO₄ component generated on the catalyst surface promotes the oxidation of elemental mercury. However, in the presence of SO₂, the total mercury balance before and after the catalytic reaction was not matched, especially as the concentration of SO₂ increased. In order to understand the cause of this, further studies are needed to investigate the effect of SO₂ in the SnCl₂ aqueous solution employed for mercury species analysis and the effect of sulfate ions generated on elemental mercury oxidation. It was confirmed that SO₂ also promotes NO_x removal activity, which is thought to be because the increase in acid sites by SO₄ generated on the catalyst surface by SO₂ facilitates NH₃ adsorption. The composition change and structure of the components present on the catalyst surface under various reaction conditions were measured by XRD and XRF. These measurement results were presented as a rational explanation for the results that SO₂ enhances the oxidation activity of elemental mercury and the NO_x removal activity in this catalyst system.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2001

The spatial distribution characteristics of airborbe mercury(Hg) were investigated used its concentration data from six measurement sites selected to represent:(1) three terminal sites with heavy traffic loads in urban area, (2) one urban residential site and (3) two mountainous sites in Korea. The measurement data obtained during September 1997 through May 1998 indicated that the mean concentration of Hg from different study sites were comparably high with the mean values spanning from 5-9ng./㎥. The concentration from all those sites were systmatically high compared to those of most background sites around world or to other Korean sites investigaed previously. When results of correlation analysis between Hg and relevant parameters were compared among different study sites. temperature was most frequently found out to be in strong correlation with Hg concentrations. Results of factor analysis also indicated that Hg concentrations could be affected simultaneously by th factors affecting such parameters as ozone, temperature, ozone, carbon monoxide, and PM. The findings of enhanced Hg levels from Ji-Ri Mountain relative to terminal site suggest that is distributions may be rather homogeneous not enough to clearly distinguish areal differences and the associated source signatures between urban and rural area. The existence of systmatically high concentrations from all investigated sites also indicate that the impact of its source processes should be quite ubiquitous, while highly variable in relatively long term scale.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.189-194
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• 2018

The traditional gold mining in Kulon Progo district, Special Region of Yogyakarta Province produced tailings containing mercury (Hg) from the gold amalgamation process. Mercury accumulated in tailings has 164.19 mg/kg - 383.21 mg/kg in total concentration. Stabilization/solidification (S/S) is one of the remediation technologies to reduce waste pollution. Portland cement is one of the additive materials in S/S that effective encapsulates heavy metal waste. The aim of this research is to know the optimum composition of tailings mixture with Portland cement in S/S process. This research used variation of tailings composition. Variation of Portland cement composition with tailing are 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, 30:70, 20:80 and 10:90. The result of this study found that the optimum composition of Portland cement: tailings was 10:90, with compression test of $257ton/m^2$ and TCLP test was 0.0069 mg/L. The compression test results were in accordance to US EPA Standard quality of $35ton/m^2$. TCLP test results meet the standard of Indonesian Government Regulation No. 101 Year 2014 of 0.05 mg/L.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.535-543
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• 2019

Objectives: Internal exposure to certain heavy metals is thought to be associated with periodontitis. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the relationship between blood levels of heavy metals and periodontitis among the Korean population. Methods: Data from the 2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was analyzed. A total of 1,968 adults aged 19 years or above were included. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between blood lead levels of lead, cadmium, and mercury, and periodontitis. Confounders such as sex, age, brushing frequency, smoking, etc. were adjusted. Results: Blood levels of lead, cadmium, and mercury showed a significant relationship with periodontitis in a crude model of logistic regression analysis. However, participants with the highest blood levels of cadmium showed higher risk of periodontitis, than those with lower blood levels of cadmium (OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.11-2.70) after adjusting for the confounders. Conclusions: High blood levels of cadmium may be associated with periodontitis among the Korean population.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.172-182
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• 2009

This study was to analyze characteristics based on tolerance and trophic guilds and to determine the level of total mercury in tissues of sentinel species, Zacco platypus at 3 sampling sites of the Mangyeong River in 2007. Total sampled fishes were 26 species and the most dominant species was Zacco temminckii (47%). Fish community analysis was resulted that eveness index and diversity index showed low value at S1. However, diversity index and richness index at other sites showed high. According to various guilds analysis, relative abundance of sensitive species was 70% and 42% at S1 and S2, respectively. While sensitive species were decreased (1%) and tolerant species were increased (60%) at S3. It was mainly carried to the impacts of wastewater treatment plants near the location. Relative abundance of insectivore species was decreased from up (S1) to midstream area (S3). In addition, chemical water quality, based on analyses of BOD, COD, TP, TN, EC, MPN and SS concentration showed similar trends. Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) was averaged 164, judged as "good" habitat condition. Average concentrations of total [Hg] was 146.9 ${\mu}g$ $kg^{-1}$. In the muscles of total [Hg] was the highest, and then followed by kidney, vertebrae, liver, and gills. According to FDA standards (500 ${\mu}g$ $kg^{-1}$) of Korea, total [Hg] has not affected to the individual fish health.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.971-981
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to measure ambient total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in Seoul, to analyze the characteristics of TGM concentration, and to identify of possible source areas for TGM using back-trajectory based hybrid receptor models like PSCF (Potential Source Contribution Function) and RTWC (Residence Time Weighted Concentration). Ambient TGM concentrations were measured at the roof of Graduate School of Public Health building in Seoul for a period of January to October 2004. Average TGM concentration was $3.43{\pm}1.17\;ng/m^3$. TGM had no notable pattern according to season and meteorological phenomena such as rainfall, Asian dust, relative humidity and so on. Hybrid receptor models incorporating backward trajectories including potential source contribution function (PSCF) and residence time weighted concentration (RTWC) were performed to identify source areas of TGM. Before hybrid receptor models were applied for TGM, we analysed sensitivities of starting height for HYSPLIT model and critical value for PSCF. According to result of sensitivity analysis, trajectories were calculated an arrival height of 1000 m was used at the receptor location and PSCF was applied using average concentration as criterion value for TGM. Using PSCF and RTWC, central and eastern Chinese industrial areas and the west coast of Korea were determined as important source areas. Statistical analysis between TGM and GEIA grided emission bolsters the evidence that these models could be effective tools to identify possible source area and source contribution.