ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effects of smoking and alcohol drinking on arsenic metabolism of people exposed to different concentrations of arsenic in drinking water.Methods Residents in Shanxi exposed to different concentrations of arsenic in drinking water and age ≥ 18 years old adults were chosen as the subjects for this study in 2008,the subjects were divided into three groups according to the concentrations of arsenic in drinking water: high-arsenic exposure group (more than 0.05 mg/L),low-arsenic exposure group (between 0.01 and 0.05 mg/L) and control group(less than 0.01 mg/L),excluded recently had eaten seafood and had poisoning symptoms of chronic arsenic in drinking water in the crowd.Smoking and alcohol drinking habits were investigated by questionnaire.Arsenic species in the urine samples were detected with hydride generation atomic absorption spectroscopy.Total arsenic(tAs) was the sum of iAs％,MMA％ and DMA％.iAs％,MMA％ and DMA％ were calculated as iAs/tAs,MMA/tAs and DMA/tAs,respectively.The first methylation ratio(FMR) and the secondary methylation ratio(SMR) were calculated as (MMA + DMA)/tAs and DMA/(MMA + DMA),respectively.Results Three hundred and ninety-five adults were chosen in this study.In the high exposure group the alcohol drinking and smoking subjects had higher MMA％(16.24％) but lower SMR(82.19％ ) than the non-drinking and non-smoking subjects (12.16％ and 86.13％,respectively).The differences of both MMA％ and SMR were significant(P ＜ 0.05 ).No significant difference was observed between the non-smoking/non-drinking subjects and the smoking or the drinking subjects(all P ＞ 0.05 ).In the low exposure group there were higher MMA％( 13.86％,13.99％) lower DMA％(72.87％,77.76％)and lower SMR (83.48％,83.90％ ) in those with smoking or drinking/smoking compared with the non-drinking and non-smoking subjects (11.83％,80.35％ and 86.54％,respectively,all P ＜0.05 ).No significant difference was observed between drinkers and non-drinking/non-smoking subjects(P ＞ 0.05).In the control group there were a higher MMA％( 17.27％,17.06％) lower DMA％ (73.89％,72.29％) and lower SMR (81.48％,82.58％ ) in those with smoking or drinking/smoking compared with the non-drinking and nonsmoking subjects( 11.52％,79.68％ and 87.19％,respectively,all P ＜ 0.05).No significant difference was observed between drinkers and the non-drinking/non-smoking subjects (all P ＞ 0.05).ConclusionThe arsenic methylation capacity of people with drinking and smoking is poorer than that of non-drinking and non-smoking subjects after arsenic exposure.
ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo construct geographic information database of drinking water type of endemic arsenism at village level with Google Earth and provide scientific basis for prevention and management of endemic arsenism.MethodsDrinking water samples were collected in the field of Shilegetu village,Tuoketuo county,Inner Mongolia in 2008.Arsenic concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry.Global positioning system(GPS) was performed to obtain the geographic information of the water sources.Google Earth was applied to establish the geographic information database.Results There were 5 drinking water resources in this village.They were located between 40°29′09″ N and 40°29′36″ Nlatitude and 111°28′00″ E and 111°29′02″ E longitude,with the altitude between 1010 m and 1021 m.For all drinking water resources,four water arsenic concentrations was beyond 0.05 mg/L and one below 0.05 mg/L.In addition,one water source had been abandoned and the remaining four were providing daily drinking water for residents of the villages.ConclusionsThe geographic information database,established by Google Earth,can intuitively reflect the real situation of the endemic village.It can provide more useful information for field epidemiological research.It is an effectively tool in control and management of endemic arsenism.