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PubMed1988

Drug-induced and toxic granulomatous hepatitis.

The ability to induce granulomatous hepatitis has been attributed to numerous drugs; some sixty causative drugs have been culled from the literature for this review. Additionally, granulomas or granulomatoid lesions have resulted from occupational exposure to toxic substances (e.g. silica, copper sulphate, beryllium compounds), and particulate material from various therapeutic or diagnostic procedures (e.g. reactions to starch, talc, suture material, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, silicone, barium sulphate, thorium dioxide) or from intravenous drug abuse (e.g. talc). Clinically, patients with drug-induced or toxic granulomatous hepatitis may be asymptomatic. More frequently, the presentation is that of an acute febrile illness, with or without a rash and eosinophilia, followed by jaundice and biochemical evidence of hepatic dysfunction. The diagnosis of drug-induced granulomatous hepatitis is based largely on ruling out other aetiologies. Liver biopsy plays a key role in diagnosis. Recovery is the rule following withdrawal of the drug. Morphologically, drug-induced granulomas may be impossible to distinguish from those due to other causes. Associated lesions suggesting a drug aetiology include significant tissue eosinophilia, unicellular hepatocytic degeneration and necrosis, cholestasis and acute cholangitis or vasculitis. Special stains, polarizing and phase contrast microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis all play a role in the aetiologic diagnosis of some types of granulomas.

Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sequential extraction for radionuclide fractionation in soil samples: a comparative study.

Two sequential extraction procedures, Tessier's method (Anal. Chem. 51(7) (1979) 844), and a current version known as Schultz's method (J. Environ. Radioact. 40(2) (1998) 155), were compared. The two procedures were applied to a natural soil sample that presents high activity concentrations in natural radionuclides of the 238U series. Reproducibility studies of each method and a comparison between the two sets of results were performed for uranium, thorium, and radium. The results were different for each radionuclide. Analysis of the extracted fractions was carried out by alpha spectrometry.

Alpha Particles↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of instrumental neutron activation and multivariate statistic analyses in differentiation of Brazilian phosphate ores.

Phosphated rocks from three ores located in the Middle-West region of Brazil can be used as low-level radioactive reference material due to the fact that they contain significant concentrations of thorium and, in some cases, of uranium. This paper describes the procedure to characterise those samples using several analytical methods. Statistical analysis and correlations studies have shown several geochemical similarities and the results obtained suggest the possibility to produce a reference material composed of a mixture of two similar ores.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

On the integrated decay and ingrowth equations used in the measurement of radioactive decay families: the general solution.

In the measurement of radioactivity, a finite measurement time is employed to collect data. Usually, this time is small with respect to the half-life of the nuclide being measured and the 'usual' decay equations can be used to decay measured activities to a given reference time. In some applications, such as neutron activation, an integrated form of the decay equation needs to be employed as the measurement time is comparable to the half-life and using the non-integrated form introduces a significant error. This correction is well known and is used widely. For radionuclide families, such as the natural decay series of uranium and thorium or simple parent--daughter systems, no such integrated form of the decay and ingrowth series appears to have been published in the open literature. This paper sets out the general solution for integrated decay and ingrowth of sequential decay and illustrates the validity of this theoretical solution by applying it to real examples.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Characterization of the NIST seaweed Standard Reference Material.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Material (SRM) for seaweed was developed through an interlaboratory comparison with 24 participants from 16 countries. After evaluating different techniques to calculate certified values for the radionuclides, the median method was found to be the most representative technique. The certified values were provided for 13 radionuclides and information values were given for 15 more radionuclides. Results for the natural decay series showed disequilibrium in both the uranium and thorium series.

International Cooperation↗
PubMed2007

Sorption of Th (IV) to silica as a function of pH, humic/fulvic acid, ionic strength, electrolyte type.

The removal behavior of thorium (Th(IV)) has been investigated in multicomponent systems containing silica (SiO2) as the model of inorganic particles because of its widespread presence in the earth's crust and soil humic acid (HA)/fulvic acid (FA) by batch experiments. The influence of pH from 2 to 12, ionic strength from 0.02 to 0.2 M KNO3, soil HA/FA concentration from 8.3 to 22.5 mg/L, and foreign cations (Li+, Na+, K+) and anions (NO3(-), Cl-) on the sorption of Th(IV) onto SiO2 was also tested. The sorption isotherms of Th(IV) at approximately constant pH (3.50+/-0.02) were determined and analyzed regressively with three kinds of sorption isotherm models, i.e., linear, Langmuir, and Freundlich models. The results demonstrated that the sorption of Th(IV) onto SiO2 increased steeply with increasing pH from 2 to 4. Generally, humic substances (HSs) were shown to enhance Th(IV) sorption at low pH, but to reduce Th(IV) sorption at intermediate and high pH. It was a hypothesis that the significantly positive influence of HA/FA at pH from 2 to 4 on the sorption of Th(IV) onto SiO2 was attributed to strong surface binding of HA/FA on SiO2 and subsequently the formation of ternary surface complexes such as [triple bond]MO-O-HA-Th or [triple bond]MO-O-FA-Th. The results also demonstrated that the sorption was strongly dependent on the concentration of HA/FA, and independent of ionic strength and foreign ions under our experimental conditions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

The importance of atmospheric deposition, charge and atomic mass to the dynamics of minor and rare elements in developing, ageing, and wilted leaves of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.).

The amounts of sixty elements in developing, maturing, senescent and wilting leaves, and in the wintering dead leaves attached to the branches, are reported for a beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest on mor Podzol in south Sweden, a site with no local sources of pollution or geological anomalies. The amounts (contents per leaf) of K (potassium), Rb (rubidium), Cs (caesium), Cu (copper) and P (phosphorus) were highest in young leaves, decreasing throughout the growing season and usually in the subsequent winter. The entirely opposite pattern with a continuous, mostly even increase of the amounts was measured with Be (beryllium), Ba (barium), Hg (mercury), Al (aluminium), Tl (thallium), Pb (lead), Bi (bismuth), V (vanadium), W (tungsten), As (arsenic), Sb (antimony), and Se (selenium). Amounts of rare-earth elements and some transition metals, such as Co (cobalt), Ti (titanium), and the actinides Th (thorium) and U (uranium) were more stable during the growing season, after an initial increase in early summer, but increased greatly in the winter. This winter increase in dead attached leaves has to be accounted for by uptake from long-distance transported constituents in dry and wet deposition. It was similar to deposition rate estimates using moss carpets from the same locality. A passive uptake was positively related to ionic charge and atomic mass. However, the amounts of several, mainly non-essential elements, such as Ni (nickel), Sc (scandium), Zr (zirconium), Cr (chromium), Ag (silver), and Cd (cadmium) were not much lower in the young or maturing leaves than in the wintered dead leaves of this deciduous (hardwood) forest and a proportion apparently originated from internal translocation in the trees. Seasonal fluxes or cycling of many of the scarce or rare elements reported here have never been studied before in forest ecosystems.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2005

A study on natural radiation exposure in different realistic living rooms.

In the first part of the paper, the factors affecting 222Rn properties in 25 different realistic living rooms (with low ventilation rates) of different houses in El-Minia City (Upper Egypt) have been studied; they included the activity concentration of 222Rn gas (C(o)), the unattached fraction (f(p)) of 218Po and 214Pb, the unattached potential alpha energy concentration (PAEC) and the equilibrium factor (F). The activity distributions of unattached 218Po and 214Pb as well as for the PAEC were determined. With a dosimetric model calculation [ICRP, 1994b. Human Respiratory Tract Model For Radiological Protection. Pergamon Press, Oxford. ICRP Publication 66] the total deposition fraction of unattached 218Po and 214Pb in human respiratory tract was evaluated to determine the total equivalent dose. An electrostatic precipitation method and a wire screen diffusion battery technique were both employed for the determination of 222Rn gas concentration and its unattached decay products, respectively. The mean activity concentration of 222Rn gas (C(o)) was found to be 110+/-20 Bq m(-3). The mean unattached activity concentrations of 218Po and 214Pb were found to be 0.6 and 0.35 Bq m(-3), respectively. A mean unattached fraction (f(p)) of 0.09+/-0.01 was obtained at a mean aerosol particle concentration (Z) of (2.9+/-0.23) x 10(3)cm(-3). The mean equilibrium factor (F) was determined to be 0.31+/-0.02. The mean PAEC of unattached 218Po and 214Pb was found to be 8.74+/-2.1 Bq m(-3). The activity distributions of 218Po and 214Pb show mean activity median diameters (AMD) of 1.5 and 1.85 nm with mean geometric standard deviations (SD) of 1.33 and 1.45, respectively. The mean activity distribution of the PAEC shows an AMD of 1.65 nm with a geometric standard deviation of 1.25. At a total deposition fraction of about 97% the total equivalent dose to the lung was determined to be about 133 microSv. The second part of this paper deals with a study of natural radionuclide contents of samples collected from the building materials of the rooms under investigations in part one. Analyses were performed in Marinelli beakers with a gamma multichannel analyzer equipped with a NaI(Tl) detector. The samples revealed the presence of the uranium-radium and thorium radioisotopes as well as 40K. Nine gamma-lines of the natural radioisotopes corresponding to 212Pb, 214Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 40K and 208Tl were detected and measured. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were determined with mean activity concentrations of 58+/-19, 31+/-11 and 143+/-62 Bq kg(-1), respectively. These activities amount to a radium equivalent (Ra(eq)) of 113 Bq kg(-1) and to a mean value of external hazard index of 0.31.

Construction Materials↗
PubMed2005

Radioactivity concentration in liquid and solid phases of scale and sludge generated in the petroleum industry.

Scales and sludge generated during oil extraction and production can contain uranium, thorium, radium and other natural radionuclides, which can cause exposure of maintenance personnel. This work shows how the oil content can influence the results of measurements of radionuclide concentration in scale and sludge. Samples were taken from a PETROBRAS unit in Northeast Brazil. They were collected directly from the inner surface of water pipes or from barrels stored in the waste storage area of the E&P unit. The oil was separated from the solids with a Soxhlet extractor by using aguarras at 90+/-5 degrees C as solvent. Concentrations of 226Ra and 228Ra in the samples were determined before and after oil extraction by using an HPGe gamma spectrometric system. The results showed an increase in the radionuclide concentration in the solid (dry) phase, indicating that the above radionuclides concentrate mostly in the solid material.

Background Radiation↗
PubMed2005

Vertical distribution, migration rates, and model comparison of actinium in a semi-arid environment.

Vertical soil characterization and migration of radionuclides were investigated at four radioactively contaminated sites on Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB), New Mexico to determine the vertical downward migration of radionuclides in a semi-arid environment. The surface soils (0-15 cm) were intentionally contaminated with Brazilian sludge (containing (232)Thorium and other radionuclides) approximately 40 years ago, in order to simulate the conditions resulting from a nuclear weapons accident. Site grading consisted of manually raking or machine disking the sludge. The majority of the radioactivity was found in the top 15 cm of soil, with retention ranging from 69 to 88%. Two models, a compartment diffusion model and leach rate model, were evaluated to determine their capabilities and limitations in predicting radionuclide behavior. The migration rates of actinium were calculated with the diffusion compartment and the leach rate models for all sites, and ranged from 0.009 to 0.1 cm/yr increasing with depth. The migration rates calculated with the leach rate models were similar to those using the diffusion compartment model and did not increase with depth (0.045-0.076, 0.0 cm/yr). The research found that the physical and chemical properties governing transport processes of water and solutes in soil provide a valid radionuclide transport model. The evaluation also showed that the physical model has fewer limitations and may be more applicable to this environment.

Actinium↗
PubMed2006

Determination of dose rates from natural radionuclides in dental materials.

Different types of materials used for dental prosthetics restoration, including feldspathic ceramics, glass ceramics, zirconia-based ceramics, alumina-based ceramics, and resin-based materials, were investigated with regard to content of natural radionuclides by means of thermoluminescence beta dosimetry and gamma spectrometry. The gross beta dose rate from feldspathic and glass ceramics was about ten times higher than the background measurement, whereas resin-based materials generated negligible beta dose rate, similarly to natural tooth samples. The specific activity of uranium and thorium was significantly below the levels found in the period when addition of uranium to dental porcelain materials was still permitted. The high-beta dose levels observed in feldspathic porcelains and glass ceramics are thus mainly ascribable to (40)K, naturally present in these specimens. Although the measured values are below the recommended limits, results indicate that patients with prostheses are subject to higher dose levels than other members of the population. Alumina- and zirconia-based ceramics might be a promising alternative, as they have generally lower beta dose rates than the conventional porcelain materials. However, the dosimetry results, which imply the presence of inhomogeneously distributed clusters of radionuclides in the sample matrix, and the still unsuitable structural properties call for further optimization of these materials.

Ceramics↗
PubMed2006

Trace elements in rock salt and their bioavailability estimated from solubility in acid.

In this study, 18 partly commercially available samples of rock salt from Austria, Germany, Pakistan, Poland, Switzerland, and Ukraine were investigated with respect to their content of trace elements using instrumental neutron activation analysis. Elements detected were Al, Ba, Br, Ca, Ce, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Mn, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, and Zn, some of them only in individual cases. An estimation of the bioavailability of these trace elements was performed by dissolving an equivalent of the sodium chloride samples in diluted hydrochloric acid (simulating stomach acid), filtering off the insoluble components, and analyzing the evaporated filtrate. It could be shown that in most cases bioactive trace elements like Fe can be found in rock salt in the form of almost insoluble compounds and are therefore not significantly bioavailable, whereas thorium, for example, was partly bioavailable in two cases. A significant contribution to the recommended daily intake of metal trace elements by using rock salt for nutrition can be excluded.

Biological Availability↗
PubMed2004

Ionic charge, radius, and potential control root/soil concentration ratios of fifty cationic elements in the organic horizon of a beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest podzol.

The root/organic soil concentration ratio; R/S) of 50 cationic mineral elements was related to their ionic properties, including ionic radius (r), ionic charge (z), and ionic potential (z/r or z2/r). The materials studied were ectomycorrhizal beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) roots and their almost purely organic soil substrate, the O-horizon (mor; raw humus) of a Podzol in South Sweden, developed in a site which has been untouched by forestry or other mechanical disturbance since at least 50 years and located in an area with no local sources of pollution. Elements determined by ICP-AES were aluminium, barium, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium and strontium. Determined by ICP-MS were silver, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, cerium, cobalt, chromium, caesium, copper, dysprosium, erbium, europium, gallium, gadolinium, hafnium, mercury, holmium, indium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, niobium, neodymium, nickel, lead, praseodymium, rubidium, scandium, samarium, tin, terbium, thorium, titanium, thallium, thulium, uranium, vanadium, yttrium, ytterbium, zinc and zirconium. The R/S ratios were most clearly related to the ionic potential of the cationic elements studied, which accounted for approximately 60% of the variability in R/S among elements. The ionic charge of an element was more important than the ionic radius. Elements with high ionic charge had low R/S ratios and vice versa. No clear differences in R/S between essential and non-essential plant nutrients were observed, especially when ions of similar charge were compared.

Cations↗
PubMed1999

Angiosarcoma of the chest wall.

Angiosarcoma is a rare and highly malignant tumor of vascular origin. The causative factors include trauma, radiation, foreign bodies, thorium dioxide, and viral infections. We report a case of angiosarcoma occurring in a thoracotomy incision 17 years after operation for stage I lung cancer.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

On the lysosomal function of juxtaglomerular granules.

The presence of acid phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase and aryl sulfatase in juxtaglomerular cell granules (JGG) as well as the uptake and concentration of certain low molecular weight dyes by these granules have repeatedly suggested that they are akin to lysosomes. In the present experiments, rats were injected with three substances of widely different molecular weight and physicochemical properties--sucrose, iron sorbitol-citric acid complex (Jectofer) and horseradish peroxidase--that are well known to selectively concentrate in renal tubular cell lysosomes. None of these substances was found to enter the JGG to any significant degree, although both sucrose and Jectofer were evident in juxtaglomerular cells. Contrary to previous reports, thorium dioxide (Thorotrast) particles were not detected in the JGG after parenteral injection. These results indicate that JGG do not possess any significant lysosomal function and raise the question of the role of hydrolytic enzymes in the physiology of these granules.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed2000

Separation and direct UV detection of lanthanides complexed with cupferron by capillary electrophoresis.

Separation and detection of lanthanides by capillary zone electrophoresis in the presence of cupferron (N-nitroso-N-phenylhydroxylamine) as UV absorbing complexing agent were investigated. The resolution of partially complexed positively charged cupferron complexes is improved by using a buffer ligand competing with cupferron for metal ions. When hydroxyisobutyric acid (HIBA) is used as buffer and competing ligand, it provides complete separation of all 14 lanthanides with good peak shapes. An on-column separation of 14 lanthanides was achieved in only 7 min using 0.1 mmol/l cupferron, 15 mmol/1 HIBA at pH 4.9. The separation efficiencies for the optimum separation condition are between 77,000 and 208,000 theoretical plates. Determination of lanthanide complexes was performed by direct UV detection at 210 nm. Detection limits (signal-to-noise ratio=3) are ca. 0.24-0.47 microg/ml for lanthanides. Under optimum conditions, the complete separation of thorium and uranium from mixed lanthanides was achieved.

Metals, Rare Earth↗
PubMed2001

Determination of actinides in environmental and biological samples using high-performance chelation ion chromatography coupled to sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

High-performance chelation ion chromatography, using a neutral polystyrene substrate dynamically loaded with 0.1 mM dipicolinic acid, coupled with sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been successfully used for the separation of the actinides thorium, uranium, americium, neptunium and plutonium. Using this column it was possible to separate the various actinides from each other and from a complex sample matrix. In particular, it was possible to separate plutonium and uranium to facilitate the detection of the former free of spectral interference. The column also exhibited some selectivity for different oxidation states of Np, Pu and U. Two oxidation states each for plutonium and neptunium were found, tentatively identified as Np(V) and Pu(III) eluting at the solvent front, and Np(IV) and Pu(IV) eluting much later. Detection limits were 12, 8, and 4 fg for 237Np, 239Pu, and 241Am, respectively, for a 0.5 ml injection. The system was successfully used for the determination of 239Pu in NIST 4251 Human Lung and 4353 Rocky Flats Soil, with results of 570+/-29 and 2939+/-226 fg g(-1), respectively, compared with a certified range of 227-951 fg g(-1) for the former and a value of 3307+/-248 fg g(-1) for the latter.

Actinoid Series Elements↗
PubMed2001

Concentrations of natural radionuclides in imported mineral substances.

Levels of natural radionuclides, such as thorium-232 (232Th), radium-226 (226Ra) and potassium-40 (40K), were determined in about 2,000 samples of imported mineral substances using gamma spectrometry. The maximum concentration levels of 232Th, 226Ra and 40K were 1,260 +/- 54, 13,400 +/- 94 and 1,256 +/- 260 Bq kg(-1), respectively, in zirconium compounds. Due to relatively high concentrations of the above-mentioned radionuclides in some imported mineral substances, the National Radiation Protection Department (NRPD), as the competent authority, has established national limits (900 Bq kg(-1) for 232Th, 1800 Bq kg(-1) for 226Ra and 11,000 Bq kg(-1) for 40K), based on the external exposures, for general importation permits of these materials.

Commerce↗