• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2024

Mercury is a chemical pollutant widely present in the environment. Humans are generally exposed to mercury in the form of organic Hg (methylmercury) through the consumption of seafood. Koreans enjoy eating fish therefore blood mercury concentration is usually higher than in developed countries. By investigating blood mercury concentration according to the frequency of seafood consumption and sociodemographic factors, we aimed to identify recent trends in blood mercury concentration in Korean adults. This study was conducted using KoNEHS cycle 4 (2018~2020) from the National Institute Environmental Research Survey. The geometric mean concentration of blood mercury of the subjects was 2.959 (±1.018) ㎍/L, which was significantly higher in men than in women. It was observed that as the frequency of fish and shellfish consumption increased, the blood mercury concentration increased. In adjusted logistic regression, fish consumption was associated with 36.7% increased risk of blood mercury levels [Odds ratio, 1.367; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.246~1.500], and shellfish consumption was associated with 26.5% increased risk of blood mercury levels [Odds ratio, 1.265; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.134~1.410]. Blood mercury concentration was also found to increase as the socioeconomic level increased. In conclusion, the geometric mean concentration of blood mercury was increased compared to the one in the 3rd KoNEHS (2015~2017) and seafood consumption and socioeconomic level were still significantly associated with increasing blood mercury concentration in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage healthy seafood consumption habits and conduct continuous monitoring considering various factors to reduce blood mercury levels.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 1993

This study was conducted to examine the levels of mercury in tissue of Carassius carassius collected at five areas(Andong, Sangju, Waekwan, Gangjung and Gaejin) in Nakdong river from February to March, 1993. The contents of total and organic mercury were determined by methods of Gold amalgam and Selective atomic absorption with mercury analyzer(Model SP-3A). The total mercury contents in muscle were $0.148{\pm}0.0646$ ppm by the Gold amalgam, and $0.113{\pm}0.0345$ ppm by the Selective atomic absorption, but in all parts of Carassius carassius were $0.342{\pm}0.4235$ ppm and $0.240{\pm}0.2974$ ppm respectively. These two methods were extremely high correlated(r=0.9812, p<0.001). The mean value of total and organic mercury by the two methods was high in the order of bone>fin>muscle, respectively, and the proportion of organic mercury to the total was 69.0%. Mean value of total and organic mercury in the muscle was the highest at Wakeman located in middle basin of Nakdong river, and in the bone and fin was the highest at Andong dam located in upper basin. According to sizes and parts of fish, the concentration of mercury was the highest in the muscle of 15-19 cm group, the highest in the bone of 10-14 cm group and in the fin of 20-24 cm group.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 1991

This study was initiated to investigate the effects of organic germanium on cadmium and mercury intoxication. The effect was determined by the metallothionein induction in liver and kidney. Male rats (Sprague-Dawley) were treated with CdCI$_{2}$ (2mg/kg), HgCI$_{2}$ (1 mg/kg) and organic germanium (GE-132) (100 mg/kg) in single and in combination via intraperitoneal injection or intragastric administration every other days for 17 days. Experimental animals were sacrificed after 7, 12 and 17 days treatment. The serum transaminase activities (SGOT, SGPT), concentration of metal and metallothionein, metal-binding capacity of metallothionein in liver and kidney were determined and pathomorphological observations were undertaken. The combined treatment of GE-132 and CdCI$_{2}$ significantly decreased the increment of serum transaminase activities in rats treated with CdCI$_{2}$ only, but the combined treatment of GE-132 and HgCI$_{2}$ did not affect to activities of transaminases induced by mercury only. The concentration of metals (Cd and Hg) except Ge in the liver and kidney of rats increased with the time of treatment. Mercury concentration in kidney of rat treated with HgCI$_{2}$ only was significantly higher than the combined treatment of GE-132 and HgCI$_{2}$. The combined treatment of GE-132 and CdCI$_{2}$ significantly increased the concentration of metallothionein in liver compared to the CdCI$_{2}$ only, although the concentration of cadmium in liver were not significantly different between two groups. This indicates that GE-132 decreased toxicity of cadmium in liver by promoting metallothionein induction. There were no significant differences in metallothionein concentration in liver and kidney of rats between the combined treatment of GE-132 and HgCI$_{2}$ and HgCI$_{2}$ only. Metal-binding capacity of metallothionein varied with each time intervals in liver and kidney of metals treated rats except the liver of the combined treatment of GE-132 and CdCI$_{2}$. This finding explains the concentration of metallothionein in liver keeps abreast with the concention of metal. Furthermore, the combined treatment of GE-132and CdCl$_{2}$ revealed pathologically less changes in liver tissue than CdCl$_{2}$ only; the damages of liver cell, such as lobular necrosis and portal inflammation, were relieved and appeared more later. From the above results, organic germanium is considered to have some beneficial effect on the protection of liver from the cadmium intoxication.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.3 s.36
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• pp.235-241
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• 2005

Incorporation of solid electrodes frequently involves plasma-based processing. The effect of plasma can influence the physical characteristics, depending on the magnitude in plasma. The undesired feature of plasma-induced damage should be prevented in characterizing the ultra-thin materials, such as ultra-thin films and organic monolayers. The current work at first proves the applicability of a liquid phase electrode in the electrical/dielectric properties through comparative work using Al and Hg on ultrathin $Al_2O_3$ films deposited through atomic layer deposition at low temperature: Two types of metals such as Aluminum (Al) and mercury (Hg) were used as electrodes in $Al_2O_3$ thin films in order to investigate the effect of electrode preparation on the current-voltage characteristics and impedance features as a function of thickness in $Al_2O_3$ film thickness. The success of Hg in $Al_2O_3$ thin films is applied to the AC and DC characterization of the organic monolayers obtained using the Langmuir-Blodgett method. From the DC current-voltage characteristics, the diode-like response is found to originate from the bulk response of the organic materials, evidenced by the fact and the capacitance is inversely related to the absolute thickness of organic layers.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.109-121
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• 1991

For the analysis of mercury in blood and urine, many literatures have been reffered and many kinds of reducing agents for mercury reduction and many acids for pretreatmr are known to be varied. $So HNO_{3}$ and $H_{2}SO_{4}$ among acids and $SnCl_{2}$ and $NaBH_{4}$ as a reducing agent being chosen for the establishment of more efficient and less erroneous analysis, and comparing the absorbance by using vapor generator, the results are followings. 1. The difference of absorbance from concentration of $HNO_{3}$ and $H_{2} SO_{4}$ was not nearly found when mercury reduced by $NaBH_{4}$ after pretreatment. But for more precise analysis, conc acid treatment need to be used. 2. Higher absorbance was shown by using conto acid treatment (P<0.005) when mercury reduced by $NaBH_{4}$ after treating acid primer. And sample which has 99.5% reliability in T-test, treated by conc $H_{2}SO_{4}$(P<0.005) was shown higher absorbance than treat by CORC $HNO_{3}$. 3. The difference of absorbance was not in the slightest in higher 0.1 w/v% $NaBH_{4}$ proved by uruskal-wallis H-Test 4. Some difference of absorbance in $SnCl_{2}$(P<0.005) having 99.5% reliability was found but there was no difference in these 20 w/v% , 25 w/v% and 30 w/v% SnCl$_{2}$ by the experiment of T-test. 5. According to these test results, organic materials were much affect the absorballce when reducing mercury by using $SnCl_{2}$ rather than by $NaBH_{4}$. For bio sample which is contained various organic substances, reduclng agent $NaBH_{4}$ is a lot more efficient to reduce the error then $SnCl_{2}$. 6. analytic method for this study is as following. 7. As the recovery test was done by this, the rate of recovery was shown form 94% to 100.7% .

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

SiO₂-coated magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ NPs) were modified by 3-nitrobenzelidenmalononitrile and used as green linkages for removal of Hg²⁺ form the wastewater. In this research, it has been attempted to refer to the harmful effects of mercury ions for living things and how to remove such ions using very easy and practical technique. This study shows that by optimizing the test conditions, the efficiency of the removal of harmful ions such as mercury from the water contaminated with these ions can be increased. Conditions such as temperature, speed of agitation, pH of solution were tested for removal of mercury ions. The advantages of this method over other methods listed in the article are the rapid and easy nanocry synthesis. The generated and modified Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy spectroscopy. The results show that the synthesized magnetic nanoparticles have the excellent performance for the removal of mercury(II) ion from the waste water.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.76-82
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• 1990

In samples taken from mouth of the Nakdong River, mercury-resistant bacteria grown on the media supplemented with over 20 ppm of mercuric chlorice were below 0.3% of all aerobic heterotrophs. Among them, seven strains grown over 100 ppm of mercuric chloride were isolated and all were identified as Pseudomonas. The toxic effect of mercury on the growth of the most resistant strain N14 was influenced by the organic compounds and concentration. The growth and physiological activity to N14 strain were affected by toxic mercury in the early stage: The viable count and glucose turn over rate of N14 strain dropped to the lowest level as soon as the bacteria came into contact with mercury. During the extended lag period, however, bacteria accommodated to the stress and the viable count and glucose turnover rate increased. After the lag period, bacteria began to proliferate and their growth reached similar level to that of control. In crude extracts of N14 strain grown in nutrient browth containing. $10{\mu}M$ $HgCl_{2}$, a mercuric ion dependent oxidation of NADPH was demonstrated. Therefore the mechanism of mercury-resistance of the N14 strain involved the elimination of the mercury from growth media. In the N14 strain which a wide range of resistance to antibiotics was observed in, four multiple plasmids were detected. As a result, the supposition that N14 strain has a plasmid-encoded enzyme system may be quite within the realms of possobility.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 1991

The present study was performed to explore the antioxidant effect of selenium on damaged brain induced by organic mercury. Male ICR mice were given consecutively 7 injections for 7 days of : (I) sodium selenite 1 mg/kg s.c. alone, (2) methylmercuric chloride 10mg/kg s.c. alone, (3) methylmercuric chloride simultaneously in combination with sodium selenite, and (4) saline alone as control respectively. Based on the above protocol, we monitored various oxyradical scavenging system as well as the finding of electron microscopy. The results from brain tissues were as follows` 1. Selenium inhibited the rate of generation of superoxide radical.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.202-211
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• 2011

In this study the seasonal and spatial pattern of mercury (Hg) concentrations in multimedia environments were investigated in Lake So-Yang. Total mercury (TM) in water column greatly enhanced as turbidity and particulate organic carbon (POC) increased due to the severe runoff, suggesting that most of Hg existed as particulate Hg in Lake Soyang. We also collected 22 species of fish in Lake Soyang and Han River, and the average total mercury in fish was 0.073 ppm, lower than both Korean (0.5 ppm) and EPA criteria (0.3 ppm). However when considering the amount of fish intake for Korean the Hg criterion in fish must be more stringent than current value, and the advisory for fish consumption should be made. Hg in fish considerably varied with sampling sites, having the highest in the upper region (Yang-gu) and the lowest in downstream (Han River). This spatial variation was possibly derived by "bloom dilution" associated with high phosphorus loading or elevated DOC concentrations, or both. Total mercury in sediment varied from 69.9 to $98.3{\mu}g/kg$, which was relatively lower than those measured in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota in USA ($102{\sim}364{\mu}g/kg$).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-139
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• 1991

Four group(Control I II, Treatment I II ) of Rats, each consisting of 10 rats, were studied Methylmercury Chloride MMc was orally given to Sprague-Dawley male at does of 10mg/kg (5 mg/kg $\cdot$ day), 10mg/kg after two weeks. This study was designed to investigate the distribution, the difference and the ratio of organic mercury, total mercury, zinc and copper in tissue, in each others group. The result were as follows: 1. There was no significantly difference in the body weight between two groups( p > 0.05). 2. There was significantly difference in the distribution of zinc concentration in liver, kidndey, blood, spleen between control I and treatment I, and in blood, spleen between control II and treatment II (P < 0.05). 3. There was significantly difference in the distribution of copper concentration in kidney, blood between control I and treatment I, and in spleen brain between control II and treatment II. 4. The ratio of zinc concentration in treatment/control was high at spleen. 5. The ratio of methylmercury/totalmercury was high at spleen.