The use of microwave-assisted extraction and an acid-base clean-up process to determine the amount of methylmercury (MeHg) in marine products was suggested in order to improve the complicated sample preparation process. The optimal conditions for microwave-assisted extraction was developed by using a 10% NaCl solution as an extraction solution, setting the extraction temperature at 50℃, and holding for 15 minutes to extract the MeHg in marine products. A NaOH solution was selected as a clean-up substitute instead of L-cysteine solution. Overall, 670 samples of marine products were analyzed for total mercury (Hg). Detection levels were in the range of 0.0006~0.3801 μg/kg. MeHg was analyzed and compared using the current food code and the proposed method for 49 samples which contained above 0.1 mg/kg of Hg. Detection ranges of methylmercury followed by the Korea Food Code and the proposed method were 75.25 (ND~516.93) μg/kg and 142.07 (100.14~244.55) μg/kg, respectively. The total analytical time of proposed method was reduced by more than 25% compared with the current food code method.

Mercury is known as harmful element and significant negative effect on human and living creatures. The current study investigates the effective removal of toxic mercury from aqueous solution by reverse osmosis with low pressure. The various operating conditions as concentration, time and pressure used for the rejection study. The rejection study carried out in both terms as adsorption and pore size for long term (48 h) and achieved 99% mercury rejection. Further, the fouling propensity of membranes was studied and the fouling layer formed on the surface of the membranes was analyzed by the AFM imaging and the flux recovery ratio of the membranes was also calculated. The compatibility, thermal stability, hydrophilicity, surface energy, and morphology of the membranes were systematically investigated.

In this study, total mercury (THg) variations of Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) eggs laid on Baengnyeongdo, West Sea of Korea were compared between within- and among clutch in order to ensure statistical representativeness of an egg sampling method. In the ANOVA analysis, the THg variation (59%) among clutches was much higher than within-clutch (27%). This means that the mercury variation of sampled eggs was significantly influenced by the mercury variation among female individuals occupying different nests. In spite of relatively smaller variation of THg in the within-clutch, the THg concentration depending on an egg-laying sequence within a clutch significantly appeared higher in the first-laid eggs rather than the second-laid eggs. Therefore, it is necessary to take one egg from one nest in order to sample more nests in terms of better sampling representativeness. Also, one egg selection from one nest should be consistently applied in order to ensure comparability of mercury concentrations among monitoring sites and monitoring years.

The aim of this study was to determine total mercury and methyl mercury level in fishes (Deepsea Fish, Tuna, Billfish) and fishery products. A total of 101 fishes and 44 fishery products samples collected from commercial market in Gyeonggi-do. Total mercury were analysed by mercury analyzer and methyl mercury were analyzed by gas chromatography with electron capture detector. In the fishes, total mercury was detected in all samples and methylmercury was detected in 92 samples of them. The detection rate of methylmercury was 91.1% in fishes. The mean concentration (mg/kg) of total mercury and methylmercury were 1.968 ± 0.505/0.496 ± 0.057 for Billfish, 0.665 ± 0.091/0.252 ± 0.033 for Deep-sea Fish and 0.577 ± 0.085/0.218 ± 0.025 for Tuna, respectively. The Swordfish contains the highest level of total mercury (1.968 mg/kg) and methylmercury (0.496 mg/kg). In Mabled rockfish, the ratio of methylmercury’s contents about total mercury’s contents was the highest as 66.5%. In case of fishery products, frozens made of 100% of raw material contained the highest level of total mercury and methyl mercury. The weekly intake of total mercury and methylmercury was calculated in 4.72% and 5.24% of Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) respectively. This study showed that the weekly intake of methylmercury from Deep-sea Fish, Tuna and Billfish was less than the PTWI recommended by the Joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives.

NNK (4-(methylnitrosamino)―1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone) is a major form of nitrosamine abundant in cigarette smoke and is a powerful carcinogen. Mercury is a major component of the amalgam that is widely used as dental filling material. Concurrent exposure to these two agents may result in their interaction and alter their carcinogenic potential. The present study used an immortalized human epithelial cell system that allows continuous exposure to potential carcinogens, in an attempt to elaborate the carcinogenic potential of mercury and NNK in humans. Cytotoxicity of mercury chloride and NNK was measured by an MTT assay. Parameters of neoplastic cellular transformation such as cell saturation density, soft-agar colony formation, and cell aggregation were analyzed to examine the carcinogenic potential of mercury chloride and NNK. The study showed that exposure to mercury chloride with NNK resulted in increased soft agar colony formation and cell aggregation. ROS generation by mercury chloride was further enhanced by treatment with NNK. The apoptosis that was observed following mercury chloride exposure was further increased upon co-treatment with NNK. The interaction between these two agents was also observed in cytokine mRNA induction. In the present study, mercury alone did not seem to pose a significant threat as a carcinogen, but it may have potential to enhance the carcinogenic potential of a known carcinogen from cigarette smoke. The present study provides valuable data regarding the evaluation of potential carcinogenic risk of mercury chloride and NNK on concurrent exposure.

In this work, recent progress on graphene/metal oxide composites as advanced materials for HgCl2 and CO2 capture was investigated. Density Functional Theory calculations were used to understand the effects of temperature on the adsorption ability of HgCl2 and water vapor on CO2 adsorption on CaO (001) with reinforced carbon-based nanostructures using B3LYP functional. Understanding the mechanism by which mercury and CO2 adsorb on graphene/CaO (g-CaO) is crucial to the design and fabrication of effective capture technologies. The results obtained from the optimized geometries and frequencies of the proposed cluster site structures predicted that with respect to molecular binding the system possesses unusually large HgCl2 (0.1- 0.4 HgCl2 g/g sorbent) and CO2 (0.2-0.6 CO2 g/g sorbent) uptake capacities. The HgCl2 and CO2 were found to be stable on the surface as a result of the topology and a strong interaction with the g-CaO system; these results strongly suggest the potential of CaO-doped carbon materials for HgCl2 and CO2 capture applications, the functional gives reliable answers compared to available experimental data.

In this work, nanoporous carbons (NPCs) were prepared by the self-assembly of polymeric carbon precursors and block copolymer template in the presence of tetraethyl orthosilicate and colloidal silica. The NPCs' pore structures and total pore volumes were analyzed by reference to N2/77 K adsorption isotherms. The porosity and elemental mercury adsorption of NPCs were increased by activation with carbon dioxide. It could be resulted that elemental mercury adsorption ability of NPCs depended on their specific surface area and micropore fraction.

People have been concerned about mercury emissions for decades because of the extreme toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation of methyl Hg transformed from emitted Hg. This paper presents an overview of research related to mercury control technology and identifies areas requiring additional research and development. It critically reviews measured mercury emissions progress in the development of promising control technologies. This review provides useful information to scientists and engineers in this field.

Phytoextraction은 식물을 이용하여 환경 정화하는 기술로서 금속으로 오염된 토양을 정화하는 것이다. 토양에 존재하는 금속의 추출을 용이 하기 위해서 현재 다양한 킬레이트가 사용되고 있다. Phytoextraction이 경제적이고 친환경적인 장점이 있지만 고농도로 오염된 지역에서는 적용이 어려운데 이는 식물이 이러한 지역에서 살아남기 어렵기 때문이며 이러한 문제점을 해결하는 것이 본 연구의 목적이다. 연구 대상의 금속으로서 수은을 선택하였고, 킬레이트는 아미노산인 시스테인과 히스티딘, 작은 크기의 유기산으로서 citric acid, malic acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, 그리고 ethylenediamine (EDA)를 선택하였으며, EDTA는 비교 대상으로 본 연구에 사용되었다. 다양한 농도의 수은을 포함하는 배지에 식물을 키우면서 여러 킬레이트가 식물의 뿌리 성장에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 수은에 의한 식물의 성장 억제는 시스테인과 EDA에 의해서 완화되었으며 히스티딘과 citrate는 별 다른 영향이 없었다. Malate, succinate, 그리고 oxalate는 수은에 의한 식물 성장 억제를 더 촉진시켰다. 따라서 수은의 식물성장억제를 완화시켜주는 시스테인과 EDA는 고농도의 수은으로 오염된 지역에서 식물의 성장이 가능하도록 유용하게 사용될 수 있을 것이다.

The present study was carried out to assess the dietary exposure and the risk for arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) through mushrooms intake. Various samples (n = 536) covering 17 kinds of mushrooms were collected from retail outlets and markets in Korea. The contents of As were 0.003 (King oyster) ~ 1.952 (Matsutake) mg/kg in raw mushrooms and 0.015 (Fuscoporia obliqua) ~ 16.95 (Matsutake) mg/kg in dry mushrooms, respectively. The contents of Hg were 0.001 (King oyster) ~ 0.030 (Matsutake) mg/kg in raw mushrooms and 0.004 (Oyster) ~ 0.588 (Matsutake) mg/kg in dry mushrooms, respectively. The mean dietary exposures of As was 0.151 μg/day, taking 0.005% of provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI). The mean dietary exposures of Hg was 0.022 μg/day, corresponding to 0.071% of PTWI. Therefore, the level of overall dietary exposure to As and Hg for Korean population through mushroom was far below the levels recommended by Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additivies, indicating little possibility of concern.

Julio Romano decorated the facade of his house in Mantua with a statue of Mercury to give expressions to his ideas on painting. Hereby the painter from Rome could show his home to the world as that of a painter. To be concrete, Mercury was the planet god to which visual artists belonged, and so was basically related to visual arts. In his role to deliver diverse features of art works Mercury could also convey concepts and emotions expressed in a picture to the viewer. The power of a painting to arouse certain emotions or move the mind of the viewer was further connected to the role of Mercury as the guide of the human soul. This function again related the Roman god to the characteristic of a portrait to present absent persons to the viewer. Above the statue of Mercury, a Lucian head of the god is seen, so that they together form the central axis of the facade. This seems to emphasize that the theme of the facade decoration was the powerful persuasive forces of eloquence. The two masks on the left could then refer to sources of eloquence, I.e. various beautiful expressions of a language and its generative process. On the other hand, the masks on the right could represent consequences of eloquence, for instance, prudence, evil effects which come about to imprudent listeners, and other influences on listeners. Finally, it would be useful to remind us of a line from On Architecture by Leon Battista Alberti. According to the humanist architect parts of a building which are seen from the outside, like a facade, should be appropriately designed, since the decoration of a house could play a significant role to enhance the fame and honor of the family and its fatherland. This theory of Alberti could have provided the foundation to the facade decoration of the Casa Pippi which proudly presented the profession of painting to the public in visual form.

Bio assay of mercury and cadmium ions were searched using voltammetric analysis using DNA doped carbon nanotube paste electrodes (DCP). The square-wave stripping voltammetryic optimized results indicated working ranges of 1-10.0 ngL-1 and 20-100 ugL-1, Hg(II) Cd(II) within an accumulation time of 120 seconds, in 0.1-M phosphate buffer solutions of pH 6.3. The relative standard deviations of 5 ngL-1 Hg(II) and Cd(II) that observed were 0.14 and 0.22% (n=12), respectively, using optimum conditions. The low detection limit (S/N) was pegged at 0.1 ngL-1 (4.9×10-11M) Hg(II) and 0.2 ngL-1 (1.77×10-10M) Cd(II). The developed methods can be applied to assays in biological fish kidneys and water samples.

Fish contain both the neurotoxin methyl mercury (MeHg) and nutrients important for brain development. The developing brain appears to be most sensitive to MeHg toxicity and mothers who consume fish during pregnancy expose their fetus prenatally. Although brain development is most dramatic during fetal life, it continues for years postnatally and additional exposure can occur when a mother breast feeds or the child consumes fish. This raises the possibility that MeHg might influence brain. We evaluated the relationship between fish consumption and mercury exposure levels in umbilical cord blood of the pregnant women of the city of Tongyeong city, Korea. A total of 159 pregnant women residing in the city of Tongyeong, Korea were recruited for the study between October 2010 and March 2011. Fish consumption was evaluated using food frequency questionnaires including detailed questions on fish consumption. We used ANOVA to estimated the particular relevance between the frequency of fish consumption and the umbilical cord blood mercury concentration, and other various factors. The average mean concentration of mercury levels in umbilical cord blood of pregnant women who participated in our study were 2.69 ± 2.50 ppb, ranging from 0.01 to 14.80 ppb. The mean concentration of umbilical cord blood mercury exposure was lower than the level recommended by WHO (5.0 ppb), but the mercury exposure level exceeded the WHO recommended in 17 (10.7%) cases of umbilical cord blood. Mercury levels in cord blood of pregnant women were 2.04 ± 2.00 ppb, ranging from 0 to 8.00 ppb in below 29 years old and 3.18 ± 2.74 ppb, ranging from 0.01 to 14.80 ppb in more 30 years old. In this study, there was a significant difference for the frequency of eating fish between the groups (p < 0.01). The level of the groups that ate fish 3 to more times per week (4.15 ± 4.02 ppb) was significant higher as compared with the level of other groups that ate fish 1 to times per week (2.63 ± 2.22 ppb) and none per week (1.06 ± 1.44 ppb), respectively. We found that the mercury concentration of umbilical cord blood associate with fish consumption and this was statistically significant and this fact revels that fish consumption is positively related to mercury levels in the umbilical cord blood. We need systematic and periodic research on the general population to prevent mercury poisoning, which can be cause by low-level mercury exposure from dietary intake such as chronic fish consumption

The notion that dental amalgam is a potential source of mercury exposure remains a controversial issue. However, there are few epidemiological analyses that have addressed whether this occurs in children. We aimed in our current study to identify the relationship between dental amalgam filling surfaces and the blood mercury levels in a cohort of 711 South Korean children aged between 8-9 years. Oral examinations were conducted to detect the number of amalgam filling surfaces on the teeth of these individuals. Blood samples were also taken from these children to assess the levels of mercury accumulation in the body. The amalgam filling surfaces were classified into four groups based on their number: 0 (n = 368), 1-5 (n = 219), 6-10 (n = 89), and 11+ (n = 35). The blood mercury levels in the children with more than 10 amalgam surfaces was 0.47 μg/L higher on average than those with no amalgam surfaces after adjusting for the frequency of fish or seafood consumption, age, and gender (P < 0.05). We found from our data that a higher number of dental amalgam fillings correlated with a higher blood mercury level in Korean children. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these elevated mercury levels exert neurotoxic or nephrotoxic effects.

Public concern has recently increased over the potential risk of toxic elements emitted from anthropogenic sources. Among these, mercury has drawn special attention owing to its increasing level of bioaccumulation in the environment and in the food chain, with potential risks for human health. This paper presents an overview of research related to mercury control technology and identifies areas requiring additional research and development. It critically reviews measured mercury emissions progress in the development of promising control technologies, including catalytic oxidation, sorbent injection, photochemistry oxidation, and air pollution control devices.

수은이 DNA 수복에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위해 E. fetida를 염화수은(II)과 이온화 방사선에 순차적으로 노출시킨 후, 단세포 겔 전기영동 기법을 이용하여 DNA의 손상 수준과 방사선 조사 후 시간 경과에 따른 수복 양상을 관찰하였다. 염화수은(II)의 농도를 40 mg kg-1으로 하여 48시간 동안 in vivo 노출 시험을 수행한 뒤 20Gy의 감마선을 조사한 결과, 시간이 지날수록 대체로 DNA 손상의 수준이 감소했다. 이온화

E. fetida를 방사선과 수은에 각각 노출시킨 후, 체강세포를 추출하고 단세포 겔 전기영동 기법을 이용하여 DNA의 손상정도와 시간의 경과에 따른 수복 양상을 평가해 보았다. 그 결과, 방사선 조사 후의 시간이 경과할수록 대체로 DNA 손상정도가 감소했으며, 12시간 내에 모든 실험군의 DNA가 완전히 수복되었다. 정확한 수복 완료 시간을 알아보기 위해 OTM 값을 대조군과 비교해 보면 2.5와 5Gy는 방사선 조사 후 약 2시간, 10과 20 Gy

각종 유전독성학적 물질로 인한 생물체내의 영향을 평가해보기 위해 E. fetida를 대상으로 본 연구를 수행하였다. 염화수은에 대한 DNA 손상을 알아보는 실험에서는 노출 시간에 상관없이 노출 농도에 비례한 유전자의 손상이 나타났다. 방사선이 지렁이의 DNA 손상에 미치는 영향을 알아본 실험에서도 역시 방사선 총 선량의 증가에 따라 DNA 손상이 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 염화수은에 48시간 동안 노출시키고 방사선을 조사한 지렁이의 세포를 comet as