ABSTRACT
There are many industrial sites, such as gas processing plants, that are contaminated with both mercury and hydrocarbons. These sites tend to be localized but can have very high concentrations of mercury in the soil and heterogeneous distribution of hydrocarbons. The original form of mercury in many cases was elemental mercury from broken manometers. Over time the mercury has become redistributed within soil and has undergone chemical transformations into new forms. The forms of mercury will govern the chemical behavior and the availability of the mercury to biological receptors. The availability of the mercury is important as it will govern the risk associated with the contaminated soil and will also determine the effectiveness of any attempts at remediation. In the present study a chemical extraction protocol was used to determine the forms of mercury in soil originally contaminated by spillage of elemental mercury and petroleum hydrocarbons. Chemical extractions have been used in the past to determine the forms of mercury in uncontaminated soils and several researchers have used them to study contaminated soils. However, to date, no researchers have studied the forms of mercury in soils following years of weathering of elemental mercury after a spill. This study shows that decades after the original spill the elemental mercury has transformed and is dominantly (up to 85%) associated with soil organic matter, and to a lesser extent the mineral fraction of soil.
Subject(s)
Environmental Pollutants/analysis , Hydrocarbons/analysis , Mercury/chemistry , Soil Pollutants/analysis , Biological Availability , Environmental Monitoring , Environmental Pollutants/metabolism , Industrial Waste , Mercury/analysis , Mercury/metabolism , Organic Chemicals , Risk Assessment , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Report on a patient with Opitz-Trigonocephaly-Syndrome who was diagnosed at the age of ten months. He had a trigonocephaly and multiple other stigmata including oblique orbital fissures, internal strabism, high and narrow palate with broad alveolar ridges, microstomia, large dysplastic ears, nuchal cutis laxa, broad clumsy fingers. Additionally he had a ventricular septal defect, was dystrophic and developmentally retarded. Chromosomal analysis was normal. A sister that was recently born showed no dysmorphic signs. So far, 24 cases have been reported in the literature. This is the 5th patient in Germany.
Subject(s)
Abnormalities, Multiple/diagnosis , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Skull/abnormalities , Abnormalities, Multiple/genetics , Abnormalities, Multiple/rehabilitation , Chromosome Aberrations/genetics , Chromosome Disorders , Genes, Recessive , Humans , Infant , Intellectual Disability/genetics , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Male , Physical Therapy Modalities , SyndromeABSTRACT
A precise velocimetry with good frequency response is an indispensable prerequisite to studying hemodynamic effects. The need to monitor minute changes of velocity prompted the development of a software-driven velocimeter that uses a laboratory computer without implementation of specialized arithmetic hardware. Without an on-line output, this setup offers high precision (6000 time shifts), extension of the measuring range to lower velocities by nearly two orders of magnitude, an excellent temporal resolution, and resistance to bad signal-to-noise ratios. The system is described and its characteristic parameters are demonstrated. Velocimetry was performed during experiments on thrombogenesis with and without pretreatment with antithrombotic agents and was found to be valuable in assessing thrombus growth and thrombus stability in vivo.
