Investigation of rare earth elements in urine and drinking water of children in mining area.

To compare the contents of rare earth elements in urine and drinking water of children in the mining and control areas and evaluate the health risk of children in the mining area.Urine and drinking water of 128 children in the mining area and 125 children in the control area were collected from June to July 2015. The contents of rare earth elements were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.The detection rates of rare earth elements, including yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and samarium (Sm), in the urine of children in the exposed group were all 100%, except for samarium (98%); the rates in the control group were 85.7%, 100%, 100%, 98%, 98%, and 59.2%, respectively, and the remaining elements were not detectable. The concentrations of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm in the urine of children in the exposed group were significantly higher than that in the control group (P < .01). In addition, the composition ratio of lanthanum was higher than that in the control group. The detection rates of lanthanum and Ce in the drinking water of children in the exposed group were 1.44% and 0.72%, respectively. The others were not detectable; the rates in the control group were all 0%.The pollution caused by the presence of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm in the mining area might affect the health of children in the area, but drinking water might not be the cause.

[An investigation of lanthanum and other metals levels in blood, urine and hair among residents in the rare earth mining area of a city in China].

Objective: To investigate the levels of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium in the blood, urine, and hair samples from residents in the rare earth mining area of a city in China, and to provide a scientific basis for the control of rare earth pollution and the protection of population health. Methods: A total of 147 residents who had lived in the rare earth mining area of a city for a long time were selected as the exposure group, and 108 residents in Guyang County of this city who lived 91 km away from the rare earth mining area were selected as the control group. Blood, urine, and hair samples were collected from the residents in both groups. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine the content of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium in blood, urine, and hair samples. Results: In the exposure group, the median levels of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium were 0.854, 1.724, 0.132, and 0.839 µg/L, respectively, in blood samples, 0.420, 0.920, 0.055, and 0.337 µg/L, respectively, in urine samples, and 0.052, 0.106, 0.012, and 0.045 µg/g, respectively, in hair samples. The exposure group had significantly higher levels of the four rare earth elements in blood, urine, and hair samples than the control group (P<0.01) . Conclusion: The residents in the rare earth mining area of this city have higher content of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium in blood, urine, and hair than those in the non-mining area; the content of cerium is highest, followed by lanthanum, neodymium, and praseodymium.

Assessment the Exposure Level of Rare Earth Elements in Workers Producing Cerium, Lanthanum Oxide Ultrafine and Nanoparticles.

In order to assess occupational exposure level of 15 rare earth elements (REEs) and identify the associated influence, we used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) based on closed-vessel microwave-assisted wet digestion procedure to determinate the concentration of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu in urinary samples obtained from workers producing ultrafine and nanoparticles containing cerium and lanthanum oxide. The results suggest that La and Ce were the primary component, together accounting for 97 % of total REEs in workers. The urinary levels of La, and Ce among the workers (6.36, 15.32 µg.g-1 creatinine, respectively) were significantly enriched compared to those levels measured in the control subjects (1.52, 4.04 µg.g-1 creatinine, respectively) (p < 0.05). This study simultaneously identified the associated individual factors, the results indicate that the concentrations in over 5 years group (11.64 ± 10.93 for La, 27.83 ± 24.38 for Ce) were significantly elevated compared to 1-5 years group (2.58 ± 1.51 for La, 6.87 ± 3.90 for Ce) (p < 0.05). Compared the urinary levels of La and Ce at the separation and packaging locations (9.10 ± 9.51 for La, 22.29 ± 21.01 for Ce) with the other locations (2.85 ± 0.98 for La, 6.37 ± 2.12 for Ce), the results show urinary concentrations were significantly higher in workers at separation and packaging locations (p < 0.01). Inter-individual variation in levels of La and Ce in urine is the result of multi-factorial comprehensive action. Further researches should focus on the multiple factors contributing to the REEs levels of the occupationally exposed workers.

Direct Quantification of Rare Earth Elements Concentrations in Urine of Workers Manufacturing Cerium, Lanthanum Oxide Ultrafine and Nanoparticles by a Developed and Validated ICP-MS.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have undergone a steady spread in several industrial, agriculture and medical applications. With the aim of exploring a sensitive and reliable indicator of estimating exposure level to REEs, a simple, accurate and specific ICP-MS method for simultaneous direct quantification of 15 REEs ((89)Y, (139)La, (140)Ce, (141)Pr, (146)Nd, (147)Sm, (153)Eu, (157)Gd, (159)Tb, (163)Dy, (165)Ho, (166)Er, (169)Tm, (172)Yb and (175)Lu) in human urine has been developed and validated. The method showed good linearity for all REEs in human urine in the concentrations ranging from 0.001-1.000 µg ∙ L(-1) with r² > 0.997. The limits of detection and quantification for this method were in the range of 0.009-0.010 µg ∙ L(-1) and 0.029-0.037 µg ∙ L(-1), the recoveries on spiked samples of the 15 REEs ranged from 93.3% to 103.0% and the relative percentage differences were less than 6.2% in duplicate samples, and the intra- and inter-day variations of the analysis were less than 1.28% and less than 0.85% for all REEs, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of 15 REEs in 31 urine samples obtained from the control subjects and the workers engaged in work with manufacturing of ultrafine and nanoparticles containing cerium and lanthanum oxide. The results suggested that only the urinary levels of La (1.234 ± 0.626 µg ∙ L(-1)), Ce (1.492 ± 0.995 µg ∙ L(-1)), Nd (0.014 ± 0.009 µg ∙ L(-1)) and Gd (0.023 ± 0.010 µg ∙ L(-1)) among the exposed workers were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the levels measured in the control subjects. From these, La and Ce were the primary components, and accounted for 88% of the total REEs. Lanthanum comprised 27% of the total REEs while Ce made up the majority of REE content at 61%. The remaining elements only made up 1% each, with the exception of Dy which was not detected. Comparison with the previously published data, the levels of urinary La and Ce in workers and the control subjects show a higher trend than previous reports.