Environmental contaminants, treatment

Ma, M., Li, J., and Wang, Z.J. (2005). Assessing the detoxication efficiencies of wastewater treatment processes using a battery of bioassays/biomarkers. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 49, 480-487. 

Shukla, O.P., Dubey, S., and Rai, U.N., Preferential accumulation of cadmium and chromium Toxicity in Bacopa monnieri L. under mixed metal treatments, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 78, 252-257, 2007. 

The application of flavonoids for the treatment of various diseases associated with free radical overproduction is considered in Chapter 29. However, it seems useful to discuss here some studies describing the activity of flavonoids under certain pathophysiological conditions. Oral pretreatment with rutin of rats, in which gastric lesions were induced by the administration of 100% ethanol, resulted in the reduction of the area of gastric lesions [157]. Rutin was found to be an effective inhibitor of TBAR products in the gastric mucosa induced by 50%i ethanol [158]. Rutin and quercetin were active in the reduction of azoxymethanol-induced colonic neoplasma and focal area of dysplasia in the mice [159], Chemopreventive effects of quercetin and rutin were also shown in normal and azoxymethane-treated mouse colon [160]. Flavonoids exhibited radioprotective effect on 7-ray irradiated mice [161], which was correlated with their antioxidative activity. Dietary flavones and flavonols protected against the toxicity of the environmental contaminant dioxin [162], Rutin inhibited ovariectomy-induced osteopenia in rats [163],... 

As liquid chromatography plays a dominant role in chemical separations, advancements in the field of LC-NMR and the availability of commercial LC-NMR instrumentation in several formats has contributed to the widespread acceptance of hyphenated NMR techniques. The different methods for sampling and data acquisition, as well as selected applications will be discussed in this section. LC-NMR has found a wide range of applications including structure elucidation of natural products, studies of drug metabolism, transformation of environmental contaminants, structure determination of pharmaceutical impurities, and analysis of biofiuids such as urine and blood plasma. Readers interested in an in-depth treatment of this topic are referred to the recent book on this subject [25]. 

Environmental contamination by pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) has become an issue of great concern to many countries in recent years. Hence, the European Community has recently funded several projects to quantify their presence in water bodies and wastewaters, to evaluate the removal rates of compounds from major therapeutic classes during conventional and advanced treatments and to assess the risks they pose to the environment. Notable examples of these studies are ... 

Seif, H.A.A. Joshi, S.G. Gupta, S.K. Treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater by anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic fixed film reactors. First Symposium on Hazard Assessment and Control of Environmental Contaminants in Water, Kyoto, Japan, 1991 630-637. 

Since petroleum and petroleum-derived products are the single most pervasive environmental contamination problem, we have provided two chapters directly related to hydrocarbon treatment. Chapter 4 specifically addresses petroleum, while Chapter 5 discusses polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a particularly problematic component of petroleum and other fossil residues. 

Citnbacter sp. uptake of lanthanum and a strategy for the biological treatment of liquid wastes containing plutonium. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 44, 173-80. 

Oil production operations along seacoasts have always required attention to waste water treatment to avoid environmental contamination In recent years the development of offshore oil fields has lead to the development of improved methods to remove trace oil from oil-field brines. 

The USEPA estimates that over 6000 facilities are currently operated as treatment, storage, or disposal facilities (TSDFs) regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which assigns the responsibility of corrective action to facility owners and operators and authorizes the USEPA to oversee corrective actions. Unlike the Superfund, RCRA responsibility is delegated to states. The USEPA and authorized states have completed initial assessment of potential environmental contamination at over 70% of RCRA facilities, as required by statute to address corrective action. Environmental contamination at many RCRA facilities is expected to be less severe than at Superfund sites however, the total number of RCRA facilities exceeds the number of Superfund sites. The USEPA developed a computer-based system known as the RCRA National Corrective Action Prioritization System (NCAPS) to help establish priorities for corrective action activities. Among the factors considered in NCAPS are the history of hazardous waste releases, the likelihood of human and environmental exposure, and the type and quantity of waste handle at the facility. 

Ward NI. 1989. Environmental contamination of aluminum and other elements in North Cornwall as a result of the Lowermoor water treatment works incident. In Vemet J-P, ed. Heavy metals in the environment. Edinburgh CEP Consultants, 118-121. 

While cleaning up previous contamination is a high priority, developing new technologies to prevent future contamination is equally important, if not more so. Without environmentally acceptable industrial processes, power production, and consumer activity, the Earth s environment will continue to be threatened. Development of inherently clean technologies as well as implementation of effective waste stream treatment are viable routes to preventing future environmental contamination. 

Wilk CM (1998) Portland cement-based solidification/stabilization treatment of waste. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium and Exhibition on Environmental Contamination in CEE, 4 pp... 

Beard hairs have the slowest growth rate (approximately 0.27 mm/d) and a long growth/rest cycle duration of 14-22 months/9-12 months. Beard hairs are exposed to sweat and sebum secretions, the latter being, on the contrary to scalp hairs, excreted through a duct that opens directly onto the surface of the skin. Like scalp hair, beard hair may be subject to environmental contamination and/or cosmetic treatments. In addition, when beard hair samples are obtained by shaving, they are likely to be contaminated by pieces of epidermis. Like scalp hair, beard hair follicles are of the male sexual type. 

Axillary and pubic hairs are quite similar in terms of growth rate (approximately 0.3 mm/d) and growth/rest cycle durations (11-18 months/12-17 months). They are both exposed to sweat and sebum secretions in addition to the secretions of the apocrine glands which are present only in the axilla and pubic area and discharge directly into the hair follicle rather than onto the surface of the surrounding skin. Axillary hair is less exposed to environmental contamination, but may be subjected to cosmetic treatments. Pubic hair may be contaminated by urine. Both types of hair are composed of ambosexual follicles. 

Category 1 materials (animal byproducts presenting highest risk, e.g., transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or scrapie residues of prohibited substance, e.g., hormone used for growth promotion or environmental contaminants, e.g., dioxins, PCBs) must be completely disposed of as waste by incineration or landfill after appropriate heat treatment. 

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