Was passiert mit einem Produkt, wenn es zu Abfall wird?

In the course of the past 50 years, the environmental load has taken alarming proportions. Since nature could not absorb any more the increasing pollution without damage, the need for immediate action had become vital. In the early seventies, the integration of Article 24 within the Swiss Federal Constitution has laid the foundations for today's legislation on environmental protection in our country. The following contribution shows diverse waste disposal possibilities for products after use, based on the Swiss Environmental Legislation. In addition, the main activities of our departments in the field of environmental research are presented

Traceability in Chemical Analysis – What Does that Mean?

Today, many results of chemical analyses show a poor comparability as can be shown by interlaboratory comparisons. This is partly due to the fact that a widely accepted metrological measurement basis is not yet existing for chemical analysis. Also, in many cases the uncertainty of the whole analytical procedure is not known. However, due to increasing globalisation, the mutual recognition and thus the reliability and comparability of measurement results is an important issue. Chemists and metrologist worldwide have been working on a concept to achieve comparable results. The present activities in order to improve comparability of results are described and a concept to achieve traceability to the SI (Système International d'Unités) is presented

Ion Analysis at the Highest Stage - The Metrological Approach by National Metrological Institutes

Abstract.: National Metrological Institutes (NMI's) from fifteen different countries participated in interlaboratory comparisons where concentrations of about 1 g kg−1 in solutions of aluminium, copper, iron, magnesium, chloride and phosphate were measured. A very high comparability of the results irrespective of the analyte and the applied measurement technique was observed. The relative in-between laboratory standard deviations of the results as reported by the participating laboratories were between 0.13% for copper and chloride up to 0.33% for aluminium, and all of the 81 results were found in the range of ±1% with respect to the reference value. Due to the gravimetric preparation of the samples, a conventional true reference value was calculated, and no significant deviations of the reference values and the means of all results reported by the institutes were foun

Chemical Analysis in the Life Cycle of Products

Chemical analysis has an important function in the life-cycle of consumer goods and technical products. In this paper the variety of analytical chemistry provided at EMPA St. Gallen is shown by three typical examples concerning the two product categories plastic packaging materials and textile detergents. In addition EMPA is engaged in an overall promotion of the accuracy and reliability of amount-of-substance data

Quantitative Bestimmung von Phosphonaten in Waschmitteln

The selective determination of phosphonates in detergents with ion chromatography is disturbed by the presence of Al or other metal ions. Due to the formation of stable metal-phosphonate complexes, phosphonate is linked and thus a determination is not possible. The disturbance caused by AlIII can be eliminated by adding a competing agent to the analyte solution

LPIN1 gene mutations: a major cause of severe rhabdomyolysis in early childhood.

International audienceAutosomal recessive LPIN1 mutations have been recently described as a novel cause of rhabdomyolysis in a few families. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of LPIN1 mutations in patients exhibiting severe episodes of rhabdomyolysis in infancy. After exclusion of primary fatty acid oxidation disorders, LPIN1 coding sequence was determined in genomic DNA and cDNA. Among the 29 patients studied, 17 (59%) carried recessive nonsense or frameshift mutations, or a large scale intragenic deletion. In these 17 patients, episodes of rhabdomyolysis occurred at a mean age of 21 months. Secondary defect of mitochondrial fatty oxidation or respiratory chain was found in skeletal muscle of two patients. The intragenic deletion, c.2295-866_2410-30del, was identified in 8/17 patients (47%), all Caucasians, and occurred on the background of a common haplotype, suggesting a founder effect. This deleted human LPIN1 form was unable to complement ∆pah1 yeast for growth on glycerol, in contrast to normal LPIN1. Since more than 50% of our series harboured LPIN1 mutations, LPIN1 should be regarded as a major cause of severe myoglobinuria in early childhood. The high frequency of the intragenic LPIN1 deletion should provide a valuable criterion for fast diagnosis, prior to muscle biopsy