Sources of copper and cadmium contamination in small biological samples

Copper and cadmium contamination is investigated in this work with standard reference material no. 1571 (orchard leaf) from the National Bureau of Standards. Consideration is given to possible sources of contamination during the sampling and handling of small biological samples. Acid-washing techniques useful in removing potential contaminants are also discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the contamination problems related to the analysis of micro-samples.     

Solid sampling AAS methods in industrial product control

Summary The present-day capabilities of the solid sampling AAS are faced with the profile of requirements of the industrial practice on chemical trace analysis. It is shown that solid sampling AAS is a reasonable alternative to conventional techniques for a lot of types of analytical problems. A survey of solid sampling AAS applications in German industry up to 1986 is given and briefly discussed.

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M?glichkeiten der direkten Feststoff-AAS in der industriellen Produktionskontrolle

     

A comparison of location estimators for interlaboratory data contaminated with value and uncertainty outliers

While estimation of measurement uncertainty (MU) is increasingly acknowledged as an essential component of the chemical measurement process, there is little agreement on how best to use even nominally well-estimated MU. There are philosophical and practical issues involved in defining what is “best” for a given data set; however, there is remarkably little guidance on how well different MU-using estimators perform with imperfect data. This report characterizes the bias, efficiency, and robustness properties for several commonly used or recently proposed estimators of true location, μ, using “Monte Carlo” (MC) evaluation of “measurement” data sets drawn from well-defined distributions. These synthetic models address a number of issues pertinent to interlaboratory comparisons studies. While the MC results do not provide specific guidance on “which estimator is best” for any given set of real data, they do provide broad insight into the expected relative performance within broadly defined scenarios. Perhaps the broadest and most emphatic guidance from the present study is that (1) well-estimated measurement uncertainties can be used to improve the reliability of location determination and (2) some approaches to using measurement uncertainties are better than others. The traditional inverse squared uncertainty-weighted estimators perform well only in the absence of unrepresentative values (value outliers) or underestimated uncertainties (uncertainty outliers); even modest contamination by such outliers may result in relatively inaccurate estimates. In contrast, some inverse total variance-weighted-estimators and probability density function area-based estimators perform well for all scenarios evaluated, including underestimated uncertainties, extreme value outliers, and asymmetric contamination.     

Probability distributions of molecular observables computed from Markov models

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can be used to estimate transition rates between conformational substates of the simulated molecule. Such an estimation is associated with statistical uncertainty, which depends on the number of observed transitions. In turn, it induces uncertainties in any property computed from the simulation, such as free energy differences or the time scales involved in the system's kinetics. Assessing these uncertainties is essential for testing the reliability of a given observation and also to plan further simulations in such a way that the most serious uncertainties will be reduced with minimal effort. Here, a rigorous statistical method is proposed to approximate the complete statistical distribution of any observable of an MD simulation provided that one can identify conformational substates such that the transition process between them may be modeled with a memoryless jump process, i.e., Markov or Master equation dynamics. The method is based on sampling the statistical distribution of Markov transition matrices that is induced by the observed transition events. It allows physically meaningful constraints to be included, such as sampling only matrices that fulfill detailed balance, or matrices that produce a predefined equilibrium distribution of states. The method is illustrated on mus MD simulations of a hexapeptide for which the distributions and uncertainties of the free energy differences between conformations, the transition matrix elements, and the transition matrix eigenvalues are estimated. It is found that both constraints, detailed balance and predefined equilibrium distribution, can significantly reduce the uncertainty of some observables.     

Practical Aspects in Controlling the Human and Environmental Impact of a Waste Processing Facility

In this paper, reference is made to the environmental monitoring programme of the Belgoprocess waste processing company. Liquid and gaseous discharges, as well as clearance of solid materials, from the nuclear site are described. Reference is made to uncertainties related to the sampling and analysis methodology. Special attention is given to the clearance (free release) of materials originating from the dismantling of the former Eurochemic reprocessing facilities. A clearance case is elaborated, focusing on the difficulties encountered in representative sampling and analyses. In view of the large economical impact of the free release practice, as well as for psychological reasons, it is essential to have the availability of the most accurate information concerning sampling representation and residual activity. Moreover, for clearance of materials, release limits should not be minimized but optimized, taking into account all risk factors and treating all industries on an equal basis.     

Designing a contaminated soil sampling strategy for human health risk assessment

Human health risk assessment is a site-based approach used to identify the potential health hazards which are induced by an old site contamination. For a proper evaluation of the daily doses of contaminants to which people will be exposed given the future occupation of the site, both a characterization and a quantification of soil pollution are needed. Such information can be provided by soil sampling. Thus the choice of the location, the number, depth and type of soil samples is very important and ought to follow a well-defined strategy. A review of contaminated site sampling practices in Europe and North America could not identify any completely formalized sampling strategy for human health risk assessment. On the contrary there are several approaches which can be roughly classified into two categories: a systematic sampling scheme over the whole site, on the one hand, and a sampling design driven by an initial knowledge of the contamination sources and fitted to the suspected pollution pattern, on the other. The first approach provides a complete coverage of the site but it may be rather expensive and entail useless sampling. The performance of the second depends on the quality of prior information. Actually both methods can be combined as explained hereafter. In view of the specificity of each site, the requirements of health risk assessment and the time and cost constraints, it seems difficult to work out a typical soil sampling strategy suitable for all sites. However, some recommendations can be made according to the site dimensions, the nature, degree and heterogeneity of contamination, and the (future) use of the site. The scientist should thus rely on a thorough examination of all available information (site history, geology and hydrogeology, soil properties, contaminants behaviour , etc.) to delimit contaminated areas as homogeneous as possible and then distribute the sampling points (e.g.using a sampling grid). They should also take the potential exposure paths into account in order to define the areas and soil strata to be sampled as a priority. Statistical and geostatistical tools can be helpful for formulating a sampling strategy as well as for interpreting the collected data. Received: 7 December 2001 Accepted: 24 February 2002     

Evaluation of the solid sampling technique for the determination of aluminium in biological materials by atomic absorption and atomic emission spectrometry

Summary Results for the determination of aluminium in several biological materials by atomic absorption and atomic emission spectrometry using the solid sampling technique in connection with a constant temperature furnace are given. A comparison was made with a dissolution procedure and good agreement was generally obtained. With the solid sampling technique it was possible to calibrate against aqueous standards and to achieve a precision of better than 10% r.s.d. for NBS 1577a Bovine Liver and IAEA H-4 Animal Muscle, providing that the sample mass was greater than 1.3 mg and that the peak area was evaluated. Laboratory air and the solid sampling procedure were identified as possible sources of contamination.

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Auswertung der Feststofftechnik für die Bestimmung von Aluminium in biologischen Materialien durch AAS und AES

     

Soil sampling uncertainty on arable fields estimated from reference sampling and a collaborative trial

On three fields of arable land of (3–6)×10⁴ m², simple reference sampling was performed by taking up to 195 soil increments from each field applying a systematic sampling strategy. From the analytical data reference values for 15 elements were established, which should represent the average analyte mass fraction of the areas. A “point selection standard deviation” was estimated, from which a prediction of the sampling uncertainty was calculated for the application of a standard sampling protocol (X-path across the field, totally 20 increments for a composite sample). Predicted mass fractions and associated uncertainties are compared with the results of a collaborative trial of 18 experienced samplers, who had applied the standard sampling protocol on these fields. In some cases, bias between reference and collaborative values is found. Most of these biases can be explained by analyte heterogeneity across the area, in particular on one field, which was found to be highly heterogeneous for most nutrient elements. The sampling uncertainties estimated from the reference sampling were often somewhat smaller compared to those from the collaborative trial. It is suspected that the influence of sample preparation and the variation due to sampler were responsible for these differences. For the applied sampling protocol, the uncertainty contribution from sampling generally is in the same range as the uncertainty contribution from analysis. From these findings, some conclusions were drawn, especially about the consequences for a sampling protocol, if in routine sampling a demanded “certainty of trueness” for the measurement result should be met.     

Synthesis of no-carrier-added 6-[11C]methyl-l-DOPA

Taking advantages of nuclear analytical techniques (NATs) with non-destruction, multielement capability, small and estimable uncertainties over a wide range of sample sizes, the sampling behavior of multielements for a home-made natural matrix material was studied with sample sizes ranging from several hundred mg down to tenths ng, namely nine orders of magnitude, by a combination of three NATs, neutron activation analysis (NAA), proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and synchrotron radiation X-ray flurescence (SR-XRF), in an effort to explore a procedure for the development of certified reference materials (CRMs) suitable for quality control of microanalysis. For accurately weighable sample sizes (>1?mg), sampling uncertainties for 13 elements were found to be less than 1% by INAA. For sample sizes unable to be accurately weighed (<1?mg), PIXE and SR-XRF were used, respectively. Sampling uncertainties were found to be less than 1% at sample sizes of tenth mg level for seven elements, and less than 10% on ng levels for three elements. Considering these three elements have satisfied homogeneity (sampling uncertainty less than 10%) at ng sample size level, any one of them can be served as a ??relative balance?? in sampling behavior characterization of multielements on sample size levels larger than ng (e.g., ??g level). On this basis, sampling uncertainties for nine elements were found to be less than 10% on ??g sample size level by INAA. The results indicate that the matrix is eligible as a candidate of CRMs suitable for quality control of solid sampling microanalysis.     

Prevention of contamination and other accuracy risks in voltammetric trace metal analysis of natural waters

Summary Methods reliably excluding contamination during sampling of surface waters in the open ocean, in coastal waters and estuaries and in inland waters are described in detail. In the open sea the research vessel is a significant source of contamination by heavy metals. Therefore, it must be left in a boat and water is sampled in sufficient distance from the research vessel taking into account all further contamination risks. Sampling in coastal waters is performed preferably from motorboats or cutters (10–25 m length), the size of which permits sampling in front of the boat by means of a sampling bottle attached to a telescope bar. The choice of sampling points must take into account oceanographic parameters, like tidal currents, and ecological aspects, like harbours or estuaries as regions of highlevel pollution. The risks of contamination by the boat are minimised by travelling upstream during sampling in rivers.Taken in part from the Doctor Thesis L. Mart, RWTH Aachen 1979. — Part I: Fresenius Z. Anal. Chem. 296, 350 (1979)     

New methodology for uranium analysis in swipe samples for nuclear safeguards purposes

Environmental swipe sampling for safeguards purpose has been used by International Atomic Energy Agency since 1997, being a powerful tool to detect undeclared materials and activities. This work describes a new methodology for swipe samples analysis based on ultrasound-assisted acid leaching and compares it with traditional total digestion bulk analysis. The proposed method requires few preparation steps, decreasing the risk of contamination, reduced amounts of reagents and a good option to extract uranium from swipe sample. In a real case study, the swipe samples were collected in a conversion plant at IPEN/CNEN, Brazil. The measurements were carried out by ICP-MS and the results showed relative error lower than 0.96 % for uranium isotopic ratios for the certified reference material (NBS U200). The uncertainties were estimated by following the ISO GUM, with a confidence level of 95 %. The uncertainties percentage for n(²³⁵U)/n(²³⁸U) ratio of the samples ranged from 2.5 to 4.3 %. The values of uranium isotopic ratio obtained for each method demonstrate the viability of using the methodology proposed in this work.     

From measurement to dose: Philosophy and practice

The aim of the work is to describe briefly the methodology for establishing and operating an internal dosimetry program in a complex waste processing facility, with special emphasis to the complexity of activities and problems and to the uncertainties in attributing doses from bioassay data. The purpose is not to make a fundamental study of the dosimetric models as such, but to give the viewpoint of the practical health physicist who is confronted with interpretation problems as the consequence of an intake of radionuclides. Some model parameters are discussed in relation to acute or chronic intakes. A practical contamination case is elaborated.     

Optimised uncertainty in food analysis: application and comparison between four contrasting 'analyte-commodity' combinations

The optimised uncertainty (OU) methodology is applied across a range of analyte-commodity combinations. The commodities and respective analytes under investigation were chosen to encompass a range of input factors: measurement costs (sampling and analytical), sampling uncertainties, analytical uncertainties and potential consequence costs which may be incurred as a result of misclassification. Two types of misclassification are identified-false compliance and false non-compliance. These terms can be used across a wide range of foodstuffs that have regulations requiring either minimum compositional requirements, maximum contaminant allowances or compositional specifications. The latter refers to foodstuffs with regulations that state an allowable tolerance around the compositional specification, i.e. the upper specification limit (USL) and the lower specification limit (LSL). The traditional OU methodology has been adapted so that it is applicable in these cases and has been successfully applied in practice. The Newton-Raphson method has been used to determine the optimal uncertainty value for the two case studies in which analyte concentration is assessed against a 'single threshold' regulatory requirement. This numerical method was shown to give a value of the optimal uncertainty that is practically identical to that given by the previously used method of visual inspection. The expectation of financial loss was reduced by an average of 65% over the four commodities by the application of the OU methodology, showing the benefit of the method.     

A practical approach to assessment of sampling uncertainty

The paper reports the approach followed in the SOILSAMP project, funded by the National Environmental Protection Agency (ANPA)of Italy. SOILSAMP is aimed at assessing uncertainties associated with soil sampling in agricultural, semi-natural, urban, and industrial environments. The uncertainty assessment is based on a bottom-up approach, according to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). A designated agricultural area, which has been characterized in terms of elemental spatial distribution, will be used in future as a reference site for soil sampling intercomparison exercises. Received: 19 November 2001 Accepted: 6 January 2002     

Radioiodination of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-diethylaminoethyl)-4-iodobenzamide (IBZA) as a new potent melanoma imaging and therapeutic agent via isotopic exchange reaction

Guidelines for the assessment of internal doses from monitoring suggest default measurement of uncertainties (i.e. lognormal scattering factor, SF) to be used for different types of monitoring data. In this paper, SF values have been evaluated for internal contamination due to ⁶⁰Co in two cases using whole body counting data. SF values of 1.04 and 1.03 were obtained for case I and II, respectively while SF value of 1.03 was obtained using bioassay data for case I. SF evaluated is in good agreement with the default values given by IDEAS guidelines. The present study also presents the follow up study of a case I of ⁶⁰Co internal contamination using whole body counting and bioassay analysis. The effect of medical intervention applied on the subject is studied. Medical intervention of d-Penicillamine (250 mg × 4 daily) was orally administered from 13th day of initial exposure for about a fortnight, which showed reduction of activity present by 33.4% through urine.     

Aquatic passive sampling of a short-term thiacloprid pulse with the Chemcatcher: impact of biofouling and use of a diffusion-limiting membrane on the sampling rate

We examined the performance of the Chemcatcher (University Portsmouth, UK) in two different configurations when used for the aquatic passive sampling of a 1-day pulse contamination with thiacloprid under field-relevant conditions. The configuration without diffusion-limiting membrane led to biofouling of the Empore disk receiving phase resulting in a fourfold reduction in analyte uptake compared to unfouled passive samplers. The sampling rate for the configuration with diffusion-limiting polyethersulfone membrane was also much lower than in a long-term exposure scenario, although no biofouling occurred. Both configurations of the Chemcatcher exhibited high variation in analyte uptake with up to 100% RSD. Short-term contamination events may be underestimated in passive sampling when the receiving phase is biofouled or a diffusion-limiting membrane is employed.     

Multi-analyte optimisation of uncertainty in infant food analysis

The Optimised Uncertainty (OU) methodology has been developed to optimise multi-analyte situations. It has then been applied to a retail survey of infant food for trace elements, classifying the food as compliant or non-compliant with the regulatory thresholds or specification limits that are appropriate for each element. The large-scale survey of infant foods was successfully adapted to allow the estimation of uncertainties, from both primary sampling and chemical analysis, for elemental concentrations in infant formula (milk) and wet meals. The analytes included in this investigation comprised both contaminants (Pb and Cd) and elements essential for child development (Zn and Cu). Optimisation of the measurement process for a 'single analyte' demonstrated the potential financial benefits of optimising future surveys for a false compliance scenario. Uncertainty estimates for the measurement of elemental concentrations in infant formula were dominated by uncertainty from the analytical method. Large potential savings (up to pounds 575,000 per batch) are predicted for both Pb and Zn by increasing the expenditure on chemical analysis to the optimal level. In comparison the uncertainty estimates for elemental concentration in wet meals showed a dominance of sampling as a source of uncertainty for Cd and Cu due to the increased heterogeneity. The feasibility of 'multi-analyte' optimisation is demonstrated for the case study of infant milk. Single analyte optimisation of the four analytes for a false compliance scenario indicated a decrease in expectations of financial loss of between 99% and 8%. An overall decrease in the total expectation of financial loss of 99% is indicated following multi-analyte optimisation.     

Estimation of measurement uncertainty by the budget approach for heavy metal content in soils under different land use

A reference database was used for the estimation of the standard uncertainties resulting from sampling, sample preparation, and analysis of soil samples from a target area in Switzerland. This evaluation was based on an extended reference sampling of the Comparative Evaluation of European Methods for Sampling and Sample Preparation of Soils Project. Samples were taken according to the national sampling protocols of 15 European countries and were analyzed for zinc, cadmium, copper, and lead. The combined uncertainty for all laboratories was estimated according to the ISO Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. It was found that the sampling uncertainty was not larger than the analytical uncertainty if more than ten sample increments were taken. The uncertainty due to variation in sampling depth and sample size reduction was only significant under unfavorable conditions. On the basis of an uncertainty budget the sampling protocols can be optimized and a ranking is possible, aimed at conditions that are fit for the specific purpose.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary Material is available in the online version of this article at     

Determination of trace metals in sea water by chelex-100 or solvent extraction techniques and atomic absorption spectrometry

Determinations of cadmium, lead, nickel, copper and zinc in sea water are discussed. Two different methods of preconcentration are compared: the trace metals are preconcentrated either by extraction with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate/diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate into freon followed by back-extraction into nitric acid, or by collection on a Chelex-100 resin followed by elution with nitric acid. Cd, Pb, Ni, and Cu are determined by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, while zinc is determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The comparison of methods shows that cadmium can be determined accurately whereas results for the other trace metals may be biased by reagent contamination in the Chelex-100 method. Recovery data are given for both methods of preconcentration. Filtering experiments with Chelex-100 method are described. Results are compared for sea-water samples preconcentrated immediately after sampling and some weeks after sampling, with only freezing for preservation. The present results are consistent with other recent work. The importance of blank values is discussed.