In present work, the concentrations of toxic elements, aluminium (Al), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb) were measured in different solid baby foods (BFs), primarily to evaluate whether the ...intakes comply within permissible levels of these toxic elements (TEs). The BFs were evaluated for total contents of TEs, using a simple and fast ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method. The accuracy of the proposed UAE method was ensured by using certified reference materials and results obtained by conventional wet acid digestion method on same CRM, at 95% confidence level. The range of the investigated TEs in different BFs were 4770–35,200, 25.6–88.3, 124–332 and 52.5–90.6
μg/kg for Al, Cd, Ni and Pb, respectively. The results indicated that BFs including rice cereals have high level of all four TEs. The daily intakes of TEs for children through BFs have also been estimated, and are well below the recommended tolerable levels.
Gastrointestinal(GI) endoscopic procedure has become an essential modality for evaluation and treatment of GI diseases.Intravenous(IV) sedation and General Anesthesia(GA) have both been employed to ...minimize discomfort and provide amnesia.Both these procedures require,at the very least,monitoring of the level of consciousness,pulmonary ventilation,oxygenation and hemodynamics.Although GI endoscopy is considered safe,the procedure has a potential for complications.Increased awareness of the complications associated with sedation during GI endoscopy in children,and involving the anesthesiologists in caring for these children,may be optimal for safety.Belonging to a younger age group,having a higher ASA class and undergoing IV sedation were identified as risk factors for developing complications.Reported adverse events included inadequate sedation,low oxygen saturation,airway obstruction,apnea needing bag mask ventilation,excitement and agitation,hemorrhage and perforation.A complication rate of 1.2% was associated with procedures performed under GA,as compared to 3.7% of complications associated with IV sedation.IV sedation was seen to be independently associated with a cardiopulmonary complication rate 5.3% times higher when compared to GA.GA can therefore be considered safer and more effective in providing comfort and amnesia.
A method has been developed for speciation of total, total inorganic and organic arsenic (As) species in groundwater samples. The inorganic species of As(III,V) were separated from organic forms by ...adsorbing on alumina (Al2O3) whereas the organic As was eluted out. The retained inorganic As species was eluted by 0.2 M HCl. Then eluent AsIII and AsV were formed as complexes with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) and molybdate, respectively. Then AsIII-PDC and AsV-molybdate complexes were quantitatively extracted into a non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114. The total As was determined by conventional preconcentration procedures. The resulting solutions of each method were determined by ETAAS with modifier. The main factors affecting the separation and cloud point extraction (CPE) were investigated in detail. The limits of detection values were found as 0.04 and 0.20 μg L−1 for AsIII and AsV, respectively, whereas limits of quantification were observed as 0.13 and 0.33 μg L−1 for AsIII and AsV, respectively. Standard addition method confirmed the accuracy. The recoveries of AsIII and AsV were found in the range of 98 – 99%. The proposed method was applied to groundwater samples collected from different areas of Sukkur district.
A new method is reported for the separation of aluminium ions (Al
3+
) from interfering cations in dialysis concentrate solutions (DS) through solid phase extraction (SPE) using ...2-methyl-8-hydroxyquinoline (2-MHQ). While separated Al
3+
was preconcentrated by cloud point extraction (CPE) using 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) as complexing reagent, the resulting complex was entrapped in non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-114). Then fluorescence intensity of the Al
3+
-8-HQ complex was measured by spectrofluorimetry and the results were compared with those obtained by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The chemical variables affecting the analytical performance of the CPE were studied and optimized. The validity of methodology was checked by the standard addition method, under optimum experimental conditions >98% recovery of Al
3+
was obtained. The enrichment factor and detection limit of Al
3+
for the preconcentration of 50 ml of DS were found to be 200 and 0.384 μg L
−1
, respectively. The relative standard deviation for six replicate determinations of Al
3+
at a concentration level of 50 μg L
−1
for both techniques was <6%. The effect of different interferent species was also studied. The proposed method has been applied for the determination of trace amount of Al
3+
in DS samples with satisfactory results. The concentration of Al
3+
in DS was observed in the range of 15.2-43.8 μg L
−1
, which is above the permissible limit.
To overcome the problem of high matrices concentration, which is thought to interfere with the determination of low levels of Al
3+
in dialysate solution used for renal failure patients
Sequential extraction procedures are widely used to characterize the different operational fractions with different potential toxicity of metals in environmental solid samples. The present work ...describes the application of different analytical approaches for sequential extraction of aluminum to evaluate its mobility, availability, and persistent chemical forms in sediment samples of different fresh water ecosystems (lake, canal, and river). The conventional BCR three‐stage sequential extraction procedure (C‐BCR) was modified at each stage, by applying ultrasonic device (U‐BCR), in order to shorten the required shaking time of 16 h for each three steps (excluding the hydrogen peroxide digestion in step 3, which was not performed with ultrasonic bath), could be completed in 40, 50, and 45 min, respectively. The aluminum in all extracts were determination by atomic absorption spectrometry using nitrous oxide – acetylene flame. The accuracy of results obtained from C‐BCR and proposed U‐BCR was verified with literature reported values of certified sediment sample (BCR 701). The overall recoveries of aluminum obtained by proposed U‐BCR were found in the range of 96.7–113% of those values obtained with C‐BCR for all fractions. Use of ultrasonic device, provided a large saving in extraction time relative to conventional shaking. It was observed that major part of Al in real sediment samples (80–83% of total Al) were bound to residual fraction. The acid soluble fraction of aluminum extracted by 0.11 mol/L CH3COOH has good correlation with aluminum content in corresponding water samples of each ecosystem.
The BCR sequential extraction procedure was applied for chemical speciation of Al in sediment samples of different ecosystems by using an ultrasonic bath. The vast majority of Al in real samples (80–83% total Al) is bound to the residual fraction, reflecting that Al was mainly present as primary and secondary silicate mineral.
A simple and rapid cloud point extraction method was applied for preconcentration of trace quantities of zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) in biological samples (serum and urine) of thyroid patients prior to ...determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The metals in serum and urine samples were complexed with 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol and entrapped in the surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114). After centrifugation, the surfactant-rich phase was diluted with 0.1 M HNO3 in methanol. For optimum recovery of analytes, the influences of the analytical parameters, including pH and amounts of complexing and surfactant reagents, were investigated. Enrichment factors of 66.4 and 70.2 were obtained for the preconcentration of Zn(II) and Fe(III), respectively. The obtained results showed sufficient recoveries (>98%) for Zn(II) and Fe(III) in certified reference materials (CRMs). The proposed method was applied to the determination of Zn(II) and Fe(III) in biological (serum and urine) samples and CRMs.
This study was focused on the analysis of arsenic (As) levels in scalp hair of children (age, <10 years) collected from two towns of Khairpur, Pakistan, to evaluate the effects of As-contaminated ...groundwater. For comparative purposes, scalp hair samples of children were also collected from that area having low levels of As (<10 μg/L) in drinking water. Groundwater and scalp hair samples of children were collected and analyzed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry prior to microwave-assisted acid digestion. The average As concentrations in groundwater samples of two towns, Thari Mirwah and Gambat, were found to be 28.5 and 98.3 μg/L, respectively. The range of As concentrations in scalp hair samples of children who belong to Thari Mirwah and Gambat was 1.25–1.61 μg/g and 1.73–3.63 μg/g, respectively. Twenty percent of the total children who belong to Gambat have skin lesions on their hands and feet. A positive correlation coefficient (
R
= 0.91–0.99) was obtained between As contents in drinking water and scalp hairs of children of both towns.
Advanced extraction methods have been developed for direct speciation of dissolved inorganic and organic selenium (Se) species in aqueous extracts of medicinal plants (MPs). The inorganic species of ...Se (SeIV and SeVI) were separated from organic forms by adsorbing inorganic Se on alumina, while the organic Se was not retained. The retained inorganic Se species was eluted with 10 mL 0.2 M HCl. The total inorganic Se species was determined after prereduction of SeVI into SeIV with concentrated HCl. The SeIV in the eluent and total inorganic Se species were then complexed with diethyldithiocarbamate. The resultant complexes were entrapped in the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114. The total Se, organic Se, total inorganic Se, and SeIV species were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with a modifier. The SeVI concentration was obtained by subtracting SeIV from total inorganic Se contents. The main factors affecting the methodologies were investigated in detail. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the LOD for SeIV was 50 microg/L. Among dissolved inorganic and organic Se species in aqueous extracts of MPs, organic Se species were present in the range of 74-84%, SeIV 3.62-7.47%, and SeVI 12.4-18.57% of total Se contents.
A simple and rapid ultrasound-assisted extraction procedure was developed for the determination of total mercury (Hg) in muscle tissues of freshwater fish species. A Plackett-Burman experimental ...design was used as a multivariate strategy for the evaluation of the effects of variables, such as presonication time (without ultrasonic stirring), sonication time, ultrasonic bath temperature, nitric acid concentration, hydrochloric acid concentration, and sample mass of muscle tissues. Some variables showed a significant effect on recovery, and they were further optimized by a 2(3) + star central composite design that involved 16 experiments. The validation was carried out by analysis of certified reference material DORM-2 (dog fish muscles); for comparative purposes, an acid digestion induced by microwave energy was used. Cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry was used for the determination of total Hg. No significant differences were established between the analytical results and the certified values (paired t-test at P > 0.05). The LOD and LOQ of Hg were 0.133 and 0.445 μg/kg, respectively, which demonstrated the high sensitivity of the proposed procedure for the determination of Hg at trace levels. The Hg concentrations in the muscle tissues of 10 freshwater fish species were found in the range of 35.3–67.8 μg/kg on a dried basis, which were within the permissible limit of the World Health Organization.
A long cystic duct remnant may be found after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Stone may form in the remnant cystic duct and can cause postcholecystectomy syndrome. Remnant cystic duct calculus may ...rarely result in postcholecystectomy Mirizzi's syndrome. Traditionally, Mirizzi's syndrome has been diagnosed with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and treated with open surgery. We report a case of postcholecystectomy Mirizzi's syndrome that developed 3 years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A non-invasive diagnosis of Mirizzi's syndrome was made comprehensively by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. Endoscopic stone removal was achieved successfully with ERCP without any complication.
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