Background: Trace elements are major components of biological structures; however, excessive levels of these elements can be toxic. Materials and Methods: In the present study, serum levels of trace elements were measured in 30 patients with newly diagnosed as prostate cancer and 32 healthy volunteer by using furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results: It was found that there was an increase in serum levels of Co, Cu, Mg and Pb (p<0.05), whereas a decrease in serum levels of Fe, Mn, and Zn levels in patients with prostate cancer (p<0.05). Conclusions: These changes may be important in the pathogenesis of prostate cancers; however, further prospective studies are needed to identify relationships between prostate cancer and trace elements.

A set of trials has been conducted to examine the efficiency of ozonation afterclearing on poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibres dyed with disperse dyes. The afterclearing process was performed in neutral distilled water at room temperature with 12.8 AE 0.3 mg/min ozone at 400 ml/min ozone gas flow rate.The results indicate that 1 min ozonation time is adequate to achieve wash fastness results comparable with conventional reduction clearing without significant colour yield losses. Ozonation periods greater than 1 min not only caused significant colour yield losses, but also caused a severe decrease of the breaking load of the fabric. The advantages of ozonation afterclearing are: savings in energy and time, as it is performed at room temperature for only 1 min, and decrease of environmental load as it avoids the use of the harsh chemicals used in conventional reduction clearing.

A set of trials have been conducted to examine the efficiency of ozonation on afterclearing of disperse dyed poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibres. Ozonation was performed in the cooled dyebath after the completion of the dyeing cycle. The ozone concentration used was 12.8 ± 0.3 mg/min at a gas flow rate of 400 ml/min. The results indicate that 3 min ozonation time is appropriate to achieve wash fastness results comparable to conventional reduction clearing. These results were obtained with simultaneous dyebath decolorisation ratios up to 67% and without significant colour yield (K/S value) losses of the dyed fabric. Ozonation periods exceeding 3 min caused significant colour yield (K/S value) losses, although dyebath decolorisation ratios increased up to 82% and wash fastness properties further improved. The chemical oxygen demand of the dyeing process decreased up to 62% by the ozonation afterclearing. The advantages of the ozonation afterclearing process are savings in terms of water, energy and time and reduction in environmental load.

Ozone is a strongly oxidative gas that is generally used in medical sterilization and decolorization of the effluent of textile spent dyebaths. Recent studies have reported the use of ozone to bleach textile fabrics. In this study, ozone was utilized in cotton preparation for greige, desized and scoured 100% cotton fabrics. Hydrogen peroxide bleaching was performed as the control treatment. The degree of whiteness of cotton increased after prolonged ozonation times. The scoured samples reached the whiteness level of the control (hydrogen peroxide bleached) samples. The whiteness of the hydrogen peroxide bleached, 60-min ozonated and 90-min ozonated samples all had a Stensby degree of whiteness of 81 for the scoured fabric samples. The strength loss after prolonged ozonation times was negligible. Ozonation increased the starch-size removal of the greige cotton samples and the water absorbency of the greige and desized cotton samples.

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