Showing papers by "Sezgin Bakırdere published in 2007"

Determination of lead, cadmium and copper in roadside soil and plants in Elazig, Turkey.

Abstract: The concentrations of lead, cadmium and copper in roadside soil and plants in Elazig, Turkey were investigated. Soil samples were collected at distances of 0, 25 and 50 m from the roadside. The concentrations of lead, cadmium and copper were measured by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (FAAS). A slotted tube atom trap (STAT) was used to increase the sensitivity of lead and cadmium in FAAS. Lead concentrations in soil samples varied from 1.3 to 45 mg kg(-1) while mean lead levels in plants ranged from120 ng g(-1) for grape in point-4 to 866 ng g(-1) for apple leaves in point-2. Lead analyses showed that there was a considerable contamination in both soil and plants affected from traffic intensity. Overall level of Cd in soil samples lies between 78 and 527 ng/g while cadmium concentration in different vegetations varied in the range of 0.8-98.0 ng g(-1). Concentrations of copper in soil and plant samples were found in the range of 11.1-27.9 mg kg(-1) for soil and 0.8-5.6 mg kg(-1) for plants. Standard reference material (SRM) was used to find the accuracy of the results of soil analyses.

Effects of dietary boron on cervical cytopathology and on micronucleus frequency in exfoliated buccal cells.

Abstract: Recent evidence indicates that boron and borates may have anticarcinogenic properties. In this study, we have investigated the incidence of adverse cytological findings in cervical smears and the micronucleus (MN) frequency in women living in boron-rich and boron-poor regions. Cervical smears were prepared from 1059 women with low socioeconomic status; 472 of the women lived in relatively boron-rich rural areas, while 587 lived in relatively boron-poor regions. The average and standard deviation values for the age of the women screened with the cervical Pap smear test were 41.55 +/- 8.38. The mean dietary intake of boron was 8.41 mg/day for women from the boron-rich regions, and 1.26 mg/day for women living in the boron-poor regions (P 0.05). Also, there were no significant correlations between age and MN frequency for women from both the boron-rich (r = 0.133, P = 0.48, P > 0.05) and boron-poor (r = -0.033, P = 0.861, P > 0.05) regions. The results suggest that ingestion of boron in the drinking water decreases the incidence of cervical cancer-related histopathological findings. There was no correlation between the pathological findings from the cervical smears and buccal cell MN frequency suggesting that the two study populations were exposed equally to gentotoxic agents. Nonetheless, cervical cancer-related histopathological findings should be validated by other researchers.

Estimation of human daily boron exposure in a boron-rich area

Abstract: Although, the safe limits of human daily boron (B) exposure are not absolutely clear, there is a growing interest in B and its effects on human health. The aim of the present study was to estimate daily B exposure in 66 males in Turkey living in a B-rich area using water containing at least 2 mg/l boron, with an average age of 38.55 (se 1.66) years and an average number of years of residence in the B-rich area of 35.89 (se 1.73). Another group of males (n 57), living in the city centres of Balikesir and Ankara, were taken as controls; the average age and number of years of residence for this group were 29.44 (se 1.43) and 10.26 (se 1.83) years, respectively. As it is assumed that the B level in urine reflects daily B exposure, the amount of urinary B of both the study and control groups was analysed by using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique. The average daily B exposure value was calculated as 6.77 (se 0.47) mg in the study group and 1.26 (se 0.1) mg in the controls. The results of this study are expected to contribute to creating a reference value for a safe daily B exposure.