Pesticide residues on children's hands, home indoor surfaces, and drinking water among conventional and organic farmers in Thailand.

This study measured pesticide levels on children's hands, home indoor surfaces, and drinking water among Thai conventional and organic farm families in three provinces. Farm families in Nakhonsawan and Phitsanulok provinces were the conventional farmers and those in Yasothon province were the organic farmers. Samples were collected in the dry and wet seasons over 2 years (2017 and 2018). All samples were analyzed for organophosphates (OPs), carbamate, pyrethroid, triazines, glyphosate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). On children's hands, the highest concentrations for the 2 palmar surfaces were found for cypermethrin (7.46 µg) and fipronil (2.88 µg). On home surfaces of approximately 1000 cm2, the highest concentrations were found for cypermethrin (27.94 µg) and fipronil 49.76 µg)/1000 cm2. For the conventional farmers, the most common pesticides on children's hand wipes were cypermethrin and fipronil, which are used as in-home pesticides as well as agricultural pesticides. However, home surface wipes showed other pesticides associated with agriculture were presented in the home during the seasons when they were used, suggesting spray drift or carry home sources for these pesticides. During the wet season, pesticides were found in the drinking water of all provinces. Most common were fenitrothion, profenofos, fenthion, atrazine, and AMPA. Profenofos was found at levels above the health guidelines. During 2017, there was extensive flooding in Thailand which may have contributed to the drinking water contamination, even though most farmers report using tap water or bottled drinking water. Future work is needed to assess the risk of all sources of pesticide exposures in children and to repeat the drinking water pesticide contamination analysis.

Highly sensitive voltammetric immunosensor for the detection of prostate specific antigen based on silver nanoprobe assisted graphene oxide modified screen printed carbon electrode.

In this work, we developed an effective voltammetric immunosensing platform for the sensitive detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) utilizing a graphene oxide (GO) modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) hybridized with the ex-situ prepared silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as a probe and signal transducer. The sensing platform comprises a direct-type immunoassay involving the selective interaction of PSA with anti-PSA. The surface morphology and analytical performance of the modified SPCE were characterized through relevant instrumentations. The changes in the voltammetric reduction current of AgNPs at 0.11 V in the sensor electrode was correlated to the PSA concentration. Under optimum conditions, the fabricated immunosensor exhibited a sensitive response to PSA with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.27 ng mL-1 and a dynamic calibration range of 0.75-100.0 ng mL-1. We demonstrated that the participation of AgNPs along with GO modification contribute to the desired signal amplification and sensitive detection of PSA. It is anticipated that the proposed immunosensor can serve as a biomarker and potentially be utilized for the real sample quantification of PSA.

Sequential injection differential pulse voltammetric method based on screen printed carbon electrode modified with carbon nanotube/Nafion for sensitive determination of paraquat.

The screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) modified with various nanoparticles has been studied for using as a working electrode in voltammetric technique. The electrochemical behavior of paraquat on different electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), and then differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) has been employed for trace analysis of paraquat based on redox reaction which the peak current was directly proportional to the concentration of paraquat in the solution. The SPCE modified with carbon nanotube dispersed in Nafion and ethanol (SPCE-CNT/Nafion) gave the best result. Sequential injection-differential pulse voltammetric (SI-DPV) method has been developed for more automated analysis and to reduce chemical consumption. The parameters affecting the SI-DPV system such as step potential, modulation amplitude, flow rate, and concentration of sodium chloride as an electrolyte were studied to improve the sensitivity. Under the optimum condition of the system, i.e., Nafion concentration of 1% (w/v), volume of CNT suspension of 2µL, flow rate of 100µLs-1, step potential of 5mV, modulation amplitude of 100mV and concentration of sodium chloride of 1M, a linear calibration graph in the range of 0.54-4.30µM with a good R2 of 0.9955 and a limit of detection of 0.17µM (0.03mgL-1) were achieved. The proposed system shows high tolerance to some possible interfering ions in natural water, surfactant, and other pesticides. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 4.2% for 11 replicate measurements with the same electrode. The reproducibility for the preparation of 7 modified electrodes was 2.3% RSD. Recoveries of the analysis were obtained in the range of 82-106%. The developed system can be conveniently applied for analysis without pretreatment of the samples.

Simple flow injection colorimetric system for determination of paraquat in natural water.

A simple and low cost flow injection colorimetric system has been developed for determination of paraquat in natural water. The developed method is based on the reduction of paraquat by using sodium dithionite as a reducing agent in an alkaline medium to produce a blue free radical ion that can be detected by a simple light emitting diode-light dependent resistor (LED-LDR) colorimeter. The standard or sample solution was injected via a set of 3-way solenoid valves into a water carrier stream and flowed to merge with reagent to generate a colored product which is proportional to the concentration of paraquat ion in the solution. Under the optimum condition of the system, i.e., mixing coil length 30 cm, flow rate 2.0 mL min(-1), sample volume 100 µL, concentrations of dithionite 0.1% (w/v) and sodium hydroxide 0.06 mol L(-1), a linear calibration graph in the range of 0.2-10.0 mg L(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996, and a limit of detection of 0.15 mg L(-1) were achieved. Relative standard deviation for 9 replicate injections of 1 mg L(-1) paraquat is 3.7%. A sample throughput of 40 injections h(-1) was achieved. The limit of detection can be improved by off-line preconcentration of paraquat employing a column packed with Dowex 50WX8-100 (H) cation exchange resin and eluted with 10% (w/v) ammonium chloride in ammonium buffer solution pH 10. The eluting solution was then injected into the FI system for paraquat determination. The proposed system did not suffer from interferences of some possible ions in natural water and other herbicides. Recoveries obtained by spiking 0.5 and 5.0 mg L(-1) paraquat standard into water samples were in the range of 104-110% and 101-105%, respectively. The developed system can be conveniently applied for screening of paraquat contaminated in natural water.