Assessment of the release of metals from cigarette butts into the environment

Cigarette butts are known to contain toxic metals which pose a potential threat to the environment and human health. The seriousness of this threat is largely determined by the leachability of these toxic metals when the butts are exposed to aqueous solutions in the environment. The aims of this study were to determine the presence and mobility of toxic and non-toxic elements found in discarded cigarette butts; to relate this mobility to two different contact situations with leaching liquids: tumbling and trampling (batch test) and percolation in a static position (column test); and finally, to verify possible variations in solubility by simulating different environmental systems. Five leachants with different pH values were used to simulate various environmental conditions The concentrations of the solubilized metals were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). CH3COOH pH 2.5 showed the greatest capacity to dissolve many elements. On the contrary, weakly acidic or alkaline environments did not favor the leachability of the elements. The best extraction capacity of the column with respect to the batch is statistically significant (p <0.05) for the elements Al, Fe, Ni and Zn, while the batch for P, Si, S. Pb, Cd, As were not detectable in cigarette butts, while Hg had an average concentration of 0.0502 μg/g. However, Hg was < LOD in all different leachants

Analisis Percepatan terhadap Waktu Proyek (Study Kasus : Kantor Dinas SKPD Gedung B3 di Tenayan Raya)

Project implementation have always refers to the construction assumption and forecast while time plans and schedule were made, Therefore, the contruction problem will arise if there is a discrepancy between plan and assumptions comparing to the actual project. Delays of project implementation is generally always lead to adverse consequences both for the owner and contractor. The project the (SKPD) Unit City Government of Pekanbaru in Riau is having a delay of 75 days. The Best construction time acceleration is 45 days. Construction acceleration can be conducted by 3 alternatives solutions such as: overtime alternative, equipment and workers addition alternative, and shift system alternative. The analysis started from the critical path. Network project the analysis, was obtained from the cost due to delay stands at Rp. 4.761.786.975,00. Cost of construction acceleration caused by overtime alternative is Rp. 2.152.360.596,00 with a total 11.136 hours of extra work for workers, cost of construction acceleration by the workers and equipments additionionally for alternative result Rp. 2.434.965.492,00 with a total 14 new workers, with additional of 2 new equipment units. Cost of construction acceleration from shift alternative is Rp. 2.434.965.492,00 with a total of 14 new workers, a total 2 of equipment units. In conclusion, the most effective construction acceleration method is overtime alternative, obtained the minimum financial loss and recommended to use for the construction acceleration

Do Italian consumers value health claims on extra-virgin olive oil?

The present study aims to extend the existing literature on EVOO consumers by assessing the importance of health claims in selecting EVOO products by jointly accounting for consumer preferences for the many search, experience, and credence attributes potentially available on EVOO, as well as by accounting for attitudinal and psychographic individual characteristics which affect consumer decision to prefer products with health claims over conventional ones (i.e. subjective nutritional knowledge, nutritional knowledge, nutritional importance, attitudes towards using food as a medicine, general health interest). The latter characteristics play a pivotal role in individual decisions to consider health claims when purchasing food, as indicated in the general literature on consumers and health claims. Such individual related characteristics capture the individual attitude and interest in preventing health losses through food choices and diet (see for instance, Roininen et al. (1999), Van Trijp &amp; Van der Lans (2007) Dean et al. (2012)). To achieve our research goal, we employed a best-worst (BW) approach on a representative sample of Italian household members who are responsible for food shopping. Consumers tested competitively the multiple product attributes of EVOO. The share of consumers interested in health claims was detected by a latent class clustering model and characterized based on their socio-demographic, attitudinal, and psychographic features. Thus, this is the first study attempting to identify the features of consumers interested in health claims while purchasing EVOO using a large sample of household responsible of food purchases

Untailored vs. Gender- and Body-Mass-Index-Tailored Skeletal Muscle Mass Index (SMI) to Assess Sarcopenia in Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

: (1) background: sarcopenia lasting &gt;1 year might be considered a chronic condition in many HNSCC patients. CT-scan-derived skeletal muscle mass Index (SMI) is an established surrogate of sarcopenia; yet, the cut-off reported in the literature (literature-based, lb-SMI &lt; 43.2) is mainly based on the risk of chemoradiotherapy-induced toxicity, and the optimal value to discriminate OS is under-investigated. (2) methods: the effect on OS of the lb-SMI cutoff was compared with an untailored OS-oriented SMI cutoff obtained in a cohort of consecutive advanced HNSCC patients treated with primary chemoradiotherapy, bio-chemotherapy or chemo-immunotherapy (cohort-specific, cs-SMI cutoff). gender- and BMI-tailored (gt-SMI and bt-SMI) cut-offs were also evaluated. cutoff values were identified by using the maximally selected rank statistics for OS. (3) results: In 115 HNSCC patients, the cs-SMI cutoff was 31.50, which was lower compared to the lb-SMI reported cut-off. the optimal cut-off separately determined in females, males, overweight and non-overweight patients were 46.02, 34.37, 27.32 and 34.73, respectively. gt-SMI categorization had the highest effect on survival (p &lt; 0.0001); its prognostic value was independent of the treatment setting or the primary location and was retained in a multivariate cox-regression analysis for OS including other HNSCC-specific prognostic factors (p = 0.0004). (4) conclusions: a tailored SMI assessment would improve clinical management of sarcopenia in chemoradiotherapy-, bio-chemotherapy- or chemo-immunotherapy-treated HNSCC patients. gender-based SMI could be used for prognostication in HNSCC patients

Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. AIM: To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. METHODS: Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi-parametric extrapolation having as reference an age-, sex- and year-of-onset-matched population derived from national life tables. RESULTS: Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years-of-life lost for each patient. The youngest age-quartile group (18-61 years) had the highest number of years-of-life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years-of-life lost from 12.6 years in 1986-1999, to 10.7 in 2000-2006 and 7.4 years in 2007-2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour <2 cm results in 3.7 years-of-life lost while the diagnosis when a single tumour 65 2 cm or 2/3 nodules still within the Milan criteria, results in 5.0 years-of-life lost, representing the loss of only approximately 5.5% and 7.2%, respectively, of the entire lifespan from birth. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence results in the loss of a considerable number of years-of-life, especially for younger patients. In recent years, the increased possibility of effectively treating this tumour has improved life expectancy, thus reducing years-of-life lost

Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the staff attitude to coercion scale: an exploratory factor analysis

AimsThe current study aimed to validate the Italian version of the Staff Attitude to Coercion Scale (SACS), which assesses mental health care staff’s attitudes to the use of coercion in treatment.MethodsThe original English version of the SACS was translated into Italian, according to the back-translation procedure. Subsequently, it was empirically validated by performing an exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 217 mental health professionals (Mean = 43.40 years, SD = 11.06) recruited form Italian general hospital (acute) psychiatric wards (GHPWs), with at least 1 year of work experience (i.e., inclusion criteria).ResultsResults confirmed the three-factor solution of the original version for the Italian version of the SACS, though three items loaded on different factors, compared to the original. The three extracted factors, explained 41% of total variance, and were labeled similarly to the original scale and according to their respective item content, i.e., Factor 1 “Coercion as offending” (items: 3, 13, 14, and 15), Factor 2 “Coercion as care and security” (items: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9), and Factor 3 “Coercion as treatment” (items: 6, 10, 11, and 12). The internal consistency of the three-factor model of the Italian version of the SACS was assessed through Cronbach’s α and yielded acceptable indexes, ranging from 0.64 to 0.77.ConclusionThe present findings suggest that the Italian version of the SACS is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward coercion

Natural and artificial radioactivity evaluation of some medicinal plants

Several medicinal plants used in Italy were analysed to determine natural and artificial radioactivity in those parts (leaves, fruits, seeds, roots, peduncles, flowers, barks, berries, thallus) used generally as remedies. The radionuclides were determined by alpha ((238)U, (210)Po) and gamma ((214)Pb-Bi, (210)Pb, (40)K and (137)Cs) spectrometry. (238)U ranged between <0.1 and 7.32 Bq kg(dry)(-1); (210)Po between <0.1 and 30.3 Bq kg(dry)(-1); (214)Pb-(214)Bi between <0.3 and 16.6 Bq kg(dry)(-1); (210)Pb between <3 and 58.3 Bq kg(dry)(-1); (40)K between 66.2 and 3582.0 Bq kg(dry)(-1); (137)Cs between <0.3 and 10.7 Bq kg(dry)(-1). The percentage of (210)Po extraction in infusion and decoction was also determined; the arithmetical mean value of percentage of (210)Po extraction resulted 20.7 +/- 7.5

Neptunium-237 determination in depleted uranium ammunition by alpha spectrometry

It is well known that ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) was used by NATO during the Balkan conflict. To evaluate the DU origin (natural uranium enrichment of or spent nuclear fuel reprocessing) it is necessary to check the presence of activation products (236U, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Am and 237Np, etc.) in the ammunition. Uranium isotopes, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Am concentrations in DU were determined in the past in our Laboratory: the present paper describes a new and accurate method for the separation and determination of 237Np ultratraces in a DU penetrator. After sample dissolution, neptunium was separated by two chromatographic columns consisting of micropourous polyethylene (Icorene) supporting tri-n-octylamine (TNOA); after elettrodeposition, Np was counted by alpha spectrometry. The decontamination factor of neptunium from uranium was higher than 106; the detection limit was 0.5 Bq/kg for 0.10 g of ammunition; the average Np yield was 54.0 ± 3.1%. 237Np concentration in DU resulted 30.1 ± 2.4 Bq/kg. The presence of this anthropogenic radionuclides in the penetrator indicates once more that at least part of the uranium originated from the reprocessing of nuclear fuel, but, because of the very low concentration, its radiotoxicological effect is negligible

Natural radionuclides in seafood from the Central Adriatic Sea (Italy)

Activity concentrations of 210Po, 210Pb, and 40K were measured in different samples of marine organisms from the central Adriatic Sea. The marine organisms were purchased from the local consumer market during the four seasons of the year, to evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of the natural radioactivity. The concentration trend is the following: 40K > 210Po > 210Pb. 40K concentration ranged between 54.9 and 235.9 Bq kg-1 fresh weight, 210Pb concentration arithmetical mean for all samples is < 0.7 Bq kg-1 fresh weight. 210Po activity concentration ranged between 0.3 and 44.6 Bq kg-1 fresh weight; its arithmetic mean was 5.7±7.2 Bq kg-1 fresh weight. Among the pelagic species, anchovy displayed the highest polonium concentration. The data obtained depend upon the type of the marine organism and the period of the sampling. Committed effective dose due to 210Po ingestion from marine food for the individual of two different population groups was calculated to be 95.9 and 466.4 microSv y-1 respectively

Mineralogical characterization of commercial clays used in cosmetics and possible risk for health

The present studywas carried out to determine the suitability of 15 clay samples used for cosmetic purposes. The mineralogical composition of both the bulk sample and the clay fraction was determined by X-ray powder diffraction, and the bulk chemical composition was also obtained by energy-dispersive polarized X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, with particular focus to the trace elements to assess the possible risk for health. The bulk mineralogical composition of the studied clay samples is characterized by the presence of a significant non-clay fraction made up of calcite and quartz, withminor dolomite, feldspars, and gypsum. The clay fraction is composed of illite, smectites, interstratified illite/smectite, kaolinite and chlorites in variable amounts and diverse associations. The most represented samples are green clays which are composed of interstratified illite/smectite + illite + chlorites, with considerable amounts of Ni and Sr, while the other green samples are composed of illite only and are enriched in As. The almost pure smectite samples (both brown and white in color) are depleted of almost all trace elements and, therefore, represent the most suitable samples for commercialization. In contrast, the white kaolinite-rich sample is notably enriched in Zn, As, Ba and Pb, and is thus the most potentially hazardous product for human health