show an EF consistently greater than 1 was methidathion.

BackgroundSwimming pool disinfectants and disinfection by-products (DBPs) have been linked to human health effects, including asthma and bladder cancer, but no studies have provided a comprehensive identification of DBPs in the water and related that to mutagenicity.ObjectivesWe performed a comprehensive identification of DBPs and disinfectant species in waters from public swimming pools in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that disinfect with either chlorine or bromine and we determined the mutagenicity of the waters to compare with the analytical results.MethodsWe used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to measure trihalomethanes in water, GC with electron capture detection for air, low- and high-resolution GC/MS to comprehensively identify DBPs, photometry to measure disinfectant species (free chlorine, monochloroamine, dichloramine, and trichloramine) in the waters, and an ion chromatography method to measure trichloramine in air. We assessed mutagenicity with the Salmonella mutagenicity assay.ResultsWe identified > 100 DBPs, including many nitrogen-containing DBPs that were likely formed from nitrogen-containing precursors from human inputs, such as urine, sweat, and skin cells. Many DBPs were new and have not been reported previously in either swimming pool or drinking waters. Bromoform levels were greater in brominated than in chlorinated pool waters, but we also identified many brominated DBPs in the chlorinated waters. The pool waters were mutagenic at levels similar to that of drinking water (~ 1,200 revertants/L-equivalents in strain TA100–S9 mix).ConclusionsThis study identified many new DBPs not identified previously in swimming pool or drinking water and found that swimming pool waters are as mutagenic as typical drinking waters.

The study of fish concentrations and sediment inventories in 19 European high mountain lakes (40-67 degrees N) shows that a fraction of organochlorine compounds (OCs), the less volatile compounds (LVC; subcooled liquid vapor pressure < or = 10(-2.5) Pa), are trapped in the higher locations. This general trend is not significantly influenced by possible local sources. Compound distribution is related to average air temperatures. The phase-change pseudoenthalpies calculated from the sediment inventories closely match the summed theoretical volatilization and dissolution enthalpies. This fractionation effect is responsible for the accumulation of high concentrations of the LVC, the more persistent and toxic according to literature data, in organisms inhabiting sites far from the locations of synthesis or use.

trans-Resveratrol (t-RESV; 1-10 M), a phenolic component of wines, had no effect on phenylephrine-(PE; 1 M) and high KCl-(60 mM) induced contractions in endothelium-denuded rat aortic rings. However, it relaxed the contractile response produced by these vasoconstrictor agents in intact rat aorta. The vasorelaxing effects of t-RESV were completely inhibited by N G -nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG; 0.1 mM) and methylene blue (10 M), but they were unaffected by atropine (10 M) and yohimbine (1 M). The reversal effect produced by L-NOARG was antagonized by L-arginine but not by D-arginine (0.1 mM). t-RESV (1-10 M) did not significantly modify rat aorta constitutive nitric-oxide synthase activity. However, this natural compound decreased NADH/NADPH oxidase activity in rat aortic homogenates. In addition, t-RESV (1-10 M) was ineffective in scavenging superoxide anions (O 2 . ) generated enzymatically by a hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase (HX/XO) system and/or to inhibit XO. The above data demonstrate that the characteristic endothelium-dependent vasorelaxant effect of t-RESV in rat aorta seems to be caused by the inhibition of vascular NADH/ NADPH oxidase and the subsequent decrease of basal cellular O 2 . generation and, therefore, of NO biotransformation. Under the assumption that t-RESV exhibits a similar behavior in human blood vessels and bearing in mind that an overactivity of NADH/NADPH oxidase has been found in a number of cardiovascular pathologies, the results obtained in this work suggest that t-RESV could play an important role in the cardioprotective effects induced by the long-term moderate wine consumption.

Historical records of the deposition fluxes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in 10 remote high altitude lakes distributed throughout Europe have been studied. Cores from each site were dated radiometrically, and the results were used for the reconstruction of the pollutant changes between 1830 and present. In general, both PAH pyrolytic fluxes and concentrations (Σ = 23 compounds) increased from uniform background levels (5−30 μg m-2 yr-1, 20−100 ng g-1 dw, respectively) at the turn of the century to maximum values in 1960−1980. After these peak values a slight decrease to present day levels has been observed in some lakes, though they are still 3−20 times greater than the preindustrial period. Distinctive features in the downcore PAH profiles and concentrations between sites allowed for differentiation between five regions in Europe:  peripheral areas (Norway and the Iberian Peninsula), Pyrenees and western Alps, central Alps, Tatra Mountains, and the Arctic. Atmospheric PAH inventories were estimated from the vertical integration of sedimentary inventories using 210Pb to correct for postdepositional transport processes. This approach consistently reduces variability among lakes from the same region. The results obtained define the lakes in the Tatra mountains and that on Spitsbergen Island as those of highest and lowest atmospheric PAH input. The other lakes exhibit lower differences although their atmospheric inventory values group consistently with the above-mentioned regions.