Water and Cancer Mortality in Taiwan," Environ. Res. 1998, 78(1), 1-6) Contamination vector. Results indicate that birds can act as mechanica carriers of infectious oocysts that can be disseminated in the environment, including drinking water supplies. (Graczyk, T. K.; Fayer, R.; Trout, J. M.; Lewis, E. J.; Farley, C. A.; Sulaiman, I.; Lai, A. A. "Giardia Sp. Cysts and Infectious Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts in the Feces of Migratory Canada Geese {Branta Canadensis)," Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 1998, 64(7), 2736-2738)
Health Fungus contamination. A causal connection between fungal exposure and health is supported. (Dales, R.; Miller, D.; White, J.; Dulberg, C ; Lazarovits, A. I. "Influence of Residential Fungal Contamination on Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Populations in Children," Arch. Environ. Health 1998, 53(3), 190-195) Hazardous air pollutants. Air toxics concentrations may pose a health problem. (Woodruff, T. J.; Axelrad, D. A.; Caldwell, J.; Morello-Frosch, R.; Rosenbaum, A. "Public Health Implications of 1990 Air Toxics Concentrations Across the United States," Environ. Health Perspect. 1998, 106(5), 245-251) Pentachlorophenol exposure. Health effects, such as chloracne and biochemical abnormalities, that are associated with pentachlorophenol production workers may persist for years after exposure. (Hryhorczuk, D. O.; Wallace, W. II.; Persky, V; Furner, S.; Webster Jr., J. R.; Oleske, D.; Haselhorst, B.; Ellefson. R.; Zugerman, C. "A Morbidity Study of Former Pentachlorophenol-Production Workers " Environ. Health Perspect. 1998, 106(7), 401-408)
Pollutants in aquatic systems It is difficult to determine the free concentration of pollutants in aqueous samples that contain dissolved organic carbon (DOC) because DOC is essentially inseparable from the aqueous phase. E. Ramos and colleagues investigated the utility of a negligible depletion solid-phase microextraction technique (SPME) for measuring the free concentrations of highly hydrophobic chemicals in aquatic samples containing humic acids. They found that by minimizing the depletion, the method could be used to determine water/DOC partition coefficients and the freely dissolved (bioavailable) fraction of hydrophobic organic pollutants Use of the nondepleting SPME method minimized perturbation of equilibrh in the natural matrix {Environ Sci Technol this issHP nn 3430-3435)
Sediments Carbon transport. Linkages between the carbon cycle and sedimentary processes on land were examined. (Stallard, R. F. "Terrestrial Sedimentation and the Carbon Cycle: Coupling Weathering and Erosion to Carbon Burial," Global Biogeochem. Cycles 1998, 12(2), 231-257)
Soils Biofilm behavior. Packed-bed reactors were used to examine the effects of electric charge and molecular size on biofilm sorption of organic compounds selected for their similarity to the size and charge ranges of aquatic natural organic matter. (Carlson, G.; Silverstein, J. "Effect of Molecular Size and Charge on Biofilm Sorption of Organic Matter," Water Res. 1998, 32(5), 1580-1592)
Monitoring Tobacco smoke. Environmental tobacco smoke is shown to contribute significantly to toxic air contaminant exposure. (Miller, S. L.; Branoff, S.; Nazaroff, W W "Exposure to Toxic Air Contaminants in Environmental Tobacco Smoke: An Assessment for California Based on Personal Monitoring Data," /. Exposure Anal. Environ. Epidemiol. 1998, 8(3), 287-311)
Heavy metals. Sorption processes in tropical soils are reviewed. (Naidu, R.; Sumner, M. E.; Harter, R. D. "Sorption of Heavy Metals in Strongly Weathered Soils: An Overview," Environ. Geochem. Health 1998, 20(1), 5-9)
Toxicology Carcinogens. There are more rodent liver carcinogens than were identified
by the National Toxicology Program. (Crump, K. S.; Krewski, D.; Wang, Y. "Estimates of the Number of Liver Carcinogens in Bioassays Conducted by the National Toxicology Program," Risk Anal. 1998, 18(3), 299-308) Predicting toxicity. Quantitative shape-activity relationship modeling provides good correlations between experimental toxicity and molecular shape features of PAH molecules. (Mezey, P G.; Zimpel, Z.; Warburton, P.; Walker, P. D.; Irvine, D. G; Huang, X-D;; Dixon, D. G.; Greenberg, B. M. "Use of Quantitative Shape-Activity Relationships to Model the Photoinduced Toxicity of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Electron Density Shape Features Accurately Predict Toxicity" Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 1998 17(7) 1207-1215)
Wastewater Phosphorus bioavailability. Total phosphorus in purified municipal wastewaters is not a sufficient criterion for establishing eutrophication control measures. (Elkholm, R; Krogerus, K. "Bioavailability of Phosphorus in Purified Municipal Wastewaters," Water Res. 1998, 32(2), 343-351) Phosphorus removal. Conditions are described by which good biological phosphorus removal was accomplished in a sequencing batch reactor. (Stephens, H.; Stensel, H. "Effect of Operating Conditions on Biological Phosphorus Removal," Water Environ. Res. 1998, 70(3), 362-369) Roadway runoff. Results provide guidance for assessing the impact of urban runoff and treatment strategies. (Sansalone, J.; et al. "Physical Characteristics of Urban Roadway Solids Transported During Rain Events," /. Environ. Eng. 1998, 124(5), 427-440) Contributors: Michael Brauer, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Brian Eitzer, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.; Stephen Geiger, Remediation Technologies, Inc., King of Prussia, Pa.; Vincent Hand, Miami University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Oxford, Ohio; Louis Kovach, Ecolife Associates, Wilmington, Dei; and Raewyn Town, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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