The concentrations of lead, cadmium and copper in roadside soil and plants in Elazig, Turkey were investigated. Soil samples were collected at distances of 0, 25 and 50 m from the roadside. The concentrations of lead, cadmium and copper were measured by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (FAAS). A slotted tube atom trap (STAT) was used to increase the sensitivity of lead and cadmium in FAAS. Lead concentrations in soil samples varied from 1.3 to 45 mg kg(-1) while mean lead levels in plants ranged from120 ng g(-1) for grape in point-4 to 866 ng g(-1) for apple leaves in point-2. Lead analyses showed that there was a considerable contamination in both soil and plants affected from traffic intensity. Overall level of Cd in soil samples lies between 78 and 527 ng/g while cadmium concentration in different vegetations varied in the range of 0.8-98.0 ng g(-1). Concentrations of copper in soil and plant samples were found in the range of 11.1-27.9 mg kg(-1) for soil and 0.8-5.6 mg kg(-1) for plants. Standard reference material (SRM) was used to find the accuracy of the results of soil analyses.

Imbalance in the composition of trace metals, recognized to be essential to normal human homeostasis, besides the accumulation of potentially toxic or nonessential trace metals, may cause disease. Thus, there is a need for their analysis in cancerous and noncancerous human tissues to examine the relationship between cancer and these elements. Trace metal concentrations including Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Fe, Mg, and Ca in both malign and benign prostate samples were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The tissues were digested by using microwave energy. In contrast to the literature data for zinc, the concentrations of calcium and zinc in the malign human prostate were found to be significantly higher than those in the benign human prostate (p < 0.05 for both metals). Similarly, the concentrations of iron, nickel, and magnesium in the malign prostate were also found to be higher than those in the benign prostate (p

Recent evidence indicates that boron and borates may have anticarcinogenic properties. In this study, we have investigated the incidence of adverse cytological findings in cervical smears and the micronucleus (MN) frequency in women living in boron-rich and boron-poor regions. Cervical smears were prepared from 1059 women with low socioeconomic status; 472 of the women lived in relatively boronrich rural areas, while 587 lived in relatively boron-poor regions. The average and standard deviation values for the age of the women screened with the cervical Pap smear test were 41.55 6 8.38. The mean dietary intake of boron was 8.41 mg/day for women from the boron-rich regions, and 1.26 mg/day for women living in the boron-poor regions (P < 0.0001). Women from the boron-rich regions had no cytopathological indications of cervical cancer, while there were cytopathological findings for 15 women from the boronpoor areas ( 2 ¼ 10.473, P < 0.05). Sixty women, 30 from each region, were chosen for evaluating MN frequencies in exfoliated buccal cells. MN frequencies for women from the boron-rich and boron-poor regions were not significantly different (t ¼ À0.294, P > 0.05). Also, there were no significant correlations between age and MN frequency for women from both the boron-rich (r ¼ 0.133, P ¼ 0.48, P > 0.05) and boron-poor (r ¼ À0.033, P ¼ 0.861, P > 0.05) regions. The results suggest that ingestion of boron in the drinking water decreases the incidence of cervical cancer-related histopathological findings. There was no correlation between the pathological findings from the cervical smears and buccal cell MN frequency suggesting that the two study populations were exposed equally to gentotoxic agents. Nonetheless, cervical cancer-related histopathological findings should be validated by other researchers. # 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 22: 17-25, 2007.

No abstract

Studies on boron, its mechanism and health effects are growing although the safe limits of daily boron exposure have not been clarified. Current knowledge about the toxic levels of boron on humans is not sufficient and needs to be improved. The main toxic effect of boron in animals involves the reproductive system, including specific adverse effects in the male reproductive tract in rats, mice and dogs. Boron determination in biological matrices needs sufficiently sensitive procedures for detection at trace levels, and many techniques do exist. In this paper, we reviewed the general view of potential impact of boron on health, exposure of boron and its determination techniques.

Although, the safe limits of human daily boron (B) exposure are not absolutely clear, there is a growing interest in B and its effects on human health. The aim of the present study was to estimate daily B exposure in 66 males in Turkey living in a B-rich area using water containing at least 2 mg/l boron, with an average age of 38·55 (SE 1·66) years and an average number of years of residence in the B-rich area of 35·89 (SE 1·73). Another group of males (n 57), living in the city centres of Balıkesir and Ankara, were taken as controls; the average age and number of years of residence for this group were 29·44 (SE 1·43) and 10·26 (SE 1·83) years, respectively. As it is assumed that the B level in urine reflects daily B exposure, the amount of urinary B of both the study and control groups was analysed by using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique. The average daily B exposure value was calculated as 6·77 (SE 0·47) mg in the study group and 1·26 (SE 0·1) mg in the controls. The results of this study are expected to contribute to creating a reference value for a safe daily B exposure. Boron: Daily exposure: Risk assessmentRecent studies conducted both in vitro and epidemiologically have indicated that boron (B) exposure may make significant contributions to human health 1 -3 . Humans are naturally exposed to B via food and drinking water 4 . B is absorbed almost completely by the gastrointestinal and respiratory system if exposure occurs, and is mostly present in body tissues and fluids as boric acid, B(OH) 3 , and in lesser amounts as B(OH) 4 2 anion 5 . Studies indicate that B homeostasis is basically maintained by urinary excretion 6 .B was defined as a trace element in 1980 7 . In spite of the lack of epidemiological data, the WHO reported that boron may provide a physiological benefit for human health 8 . Safe and/or beneficial B levels have not been determined for humans, though animal studies have defined deleterious and beneficial B levels for animals 9 .In a study by Penland 10 , it was outlined that B improves brain function and psychomotor response. It increases steroid hormone concentrations and has antioxidant properties in postmenopausal women 9,11 . There is also evidence that B plays a role in healthy bones and joints 12,13 . Additionally, in recent years there have also been some promising results concerning the treatment of certain malignancies 14,15 .Toxicological effects have also been reported in animals at higher doses, e.g in mice, rats and rabbits skeletal malformations and cardiovascular defects have been observed 16,17 . Although not confirmed, it was claimed that B had a deleterious effect in humans, the target organ being the testis. Atrophy and eventual degeneration of the organ in several animal species at high doses have been shown 18,19 . Initially, reproduction toxicology studies were based upon data obtained from animal studies and adapted to human risk evaluations 20 . It was reported in several field studies that B does not affect human r...

No abstract

AbstractCarcinogenic and mutagenic properties of aflatoxin species are known in literature. Their intake over a long time period might be health-dangerous for human even at trace levels. It is well known that different foodstuffs can be contaminated by aflatoxin species through growing and storage. Due to the serious health effects, sensitive determination of aflatoxin species in any matrices related with the human being is very crucial at trace levels. In literature, there are sensitive techniques to analyze the different samples for the contents of their aflatoxin species. Each technique has some advantages and disadvantages over the other techniques. This review aims to summarize the different health effects of aflatoxin species, development of analytical techniques and applications of developed techniques in a variety of matrices.