[Evaluation of professional exposure to chloride vinyl monomer and vinyl idene chloride for a pharmaceutical packaging worker]. / Valutazione dell'esposizione professionale a cloruro di vinile monomero e cloruro di vinilidene di un lavoratore addetto al confezionamento farmaci.

The study was conducted by Judicial Policy investigations of Prosecution's Office. The event was connected by a professional founded suspicion disease of a pharmaceutical worker. First information coming from the Authority indicated a chloride vinyl monomer (CVM) exposure. We applied a chemical risk assessment method to estimate real professional exposure. The method was based on the productive cycle, physical and chemical and toxicological properties. The method combined to environmental data permitted to formulate etiological hypothesis. The worker during drugs packaging was exposed to CVM and vinylidene chloride (CVDM) caused by blister warming and by glue deposition. We explain the evaluations by which we could consider the pollutant different distribution in workplaces.

[Biological and chemical risks in haemodialysis centres]. / Il rischio biologico e chimico in emodialisi.

Haemodialysis technique was introduced in 1965 for people afflicted to chronic renal insufficiency, permitting them to survive. The method purifies patient blood who is connected to the equipment by tubes. The equipment uses saline solutions and water and it operates by osmotic pressure and by filtration. In this paper biological and chemical occupational risks are analysed. Main biological risks are caused by haematic viruses such as HIV, HBV, HCV. Chemical risks are mainly caused by disinfection products such as acid, basic and saline solutions. Workers exposed to chemical and biological risks are nursing staff, doctors, assistants, maintenance men. The paper analyses these risks and it shows prevention and protection solutions to reduce significantly the risks. The S.Pre.S.A.L. (Prevention and Protection Service in Work Places) operators of ASL RMC (Health Local Agency of Rome) visited six haemodialysis centres situated in Rome in the ASL RMC territory. They verified the application of safety and healthy measures by use of a check list about risk assessment, the lay-out, the equipment, the preventive and protective measures and the application of law. Experimental data were organized in relation of legislative accomplishments and technical measures. The aim of our work was to improve workers' safety in the haemodialysis centres, proposing the better technical solutions to realise this objective.

Ultrasound extraction and thin layer chromatography-flame ionization detection analysis of the lipid fraction in marine mucilage samples.

This paper reports an analytical procedure based on ultrasound to extract lipids in marine mucilage samples. The experimental conditions of the ultrasound procedure (solvent and time) were identified by a FT-IR study performed on different standard samples of lipids and of a standard humic sample, before and after the sonication treatment. This study showed that diethyl ether was a more suitable solvent than methanol for the ultrasonic extraction of lipids from environmental samples because it allowed to minimize the possible oxidative modifications of lipids due to the acoustic cavitation phenomena. The optimized conditions were applied to the extraction of total lipid amount in marine mucilage samples and TLC-flame ionization detection analysis was used to identify the relevant lipid sub-fractions present in samples.

An ultrasound assisted extraction of the available humic substance from marine sediments.

In this paper an ultrasound assisted procedure for the extraction of the bio-available fraction of humic substance in marine sediments is described. The proposed method is based on a preliminary 24 h 8 M HCl treatment already proposed in a previous paper [M. Mecozzi, E. Pietrantonio, M. Amici, Fres. Environ. Bull. 7 (1998) 605], followed by consecutive extractions by 0.5 M NaOH coupling to an ultrasonic treatment. The main advantages of the ultrasound procedure are the reduced times of extraction which take 30 min in contrast to the 24 h required by shaking method and the possibility to perform also the quantitative estimation of the extractable fraction of humic substance present in marine samples.

Characterization of mucilage aggregates in Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Sea: structure similarities between mucilage samples and the insoluble fractions of marine humic substance.

The appearance of gelatinous aggregates called mucilages causes serious damages to tourism and fishery industries of the Adriatic Sea. So, many studies have been planned and some of them are still in progress to clarify the origin and causes of the phenomenon. The scientific research has showed that mucilages are produced by several marine organisms when peculiar climatic and trophic conditions occur. Moreover, as far as the mucilage composition is concerned, although it is well known that polysaccharides give a high contribution, knowledge of the structural characteristics of mucilages and their relationship with the natural organic matter of the marine environment has not been clarified yet. In this paper a study on the characterization of the marine mucilage samples collected in the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas is described. The study was performed by spectroscopic (infrared and colorimetric) techniques, and elemental analysis. The results showed that mucilage samples have chemical and structural similarities with the insoluble fraction of the marine humic substance (humin). According to experimental evidences it is possible to establish the relationship between mucilages and the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the marine environment in order to identify the most likely pathways of mucilage formation.

Determination of carbonate in marine solid samples by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy.

A method for detecting carbonate in marine solid samples (sediments, corals) by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) coupled to the total attenuated reflectance (ATR) technique is described. Compared to other techniques, the proposed method is not based on the measurement of CO2 evolved by combustion or acidification of the sample, but on the direct measurement of carbonate present in the sample. For this reason, the method by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy does not require any chemical pre-treatment. The proposed method allows determination of carbonate in the range 6-100% (w/w) as Na2CO3 and gives comparable results with the determination of inorganic carbon by elemental analysis.

Ultrasound-assisted analysis of total carbohydrates in environmental and food samples.

Analytical methods to determine total carbohydrates in environmental and food samples usually require a preliminary chemical hydrolytic procedure to convert polysaccharides into monosaccharides prior to detection by colorimetric or chromatographic techniques. In this paper, an alternative hydrolytic procedure is presented. The method for hydrolysis of polysaccharides is based on the application of ultrasound at room temperature. The advantages of the method proposed here are reduced time required for analysis (4-5 h) and the improvement of the analytical accuracy due to the absence of the most common reactions of oxidation. The proposed method was applied to the determination of total carbohydrates in several environmental samples (seawater and marine mucilage) and starchy food samples. Results for total carbohydrate obtained using the ultrasound procedure for hydrolysis of samples agreed with those found when applying other published procedures.