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Material and Methods: This study was done in 176 wood pigeons (Columba palumbus). In 2002, assays were performed on 24 immature (imm) and 66 adult (ad) individuals. In 2003, 15 immature birds could be assayed, while the 2004 sample consisted of a total of 71 individuals (12 imm and 59 ad). Pigeons were caught near the villages of Skarbimierzyce and Dołuje situated west of Szczecin. Fluorine and calcium content in ash and dry mass of the wood pigeon's tarsometatarsus bones was determined. Fluorine content in ash and dry mass increased with age of the bird. It was only in 2002 samples that significant differences between immature and adult pigeons in calcium ash content were detected. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) failed to reveal significant differences between 2002 and 2004 samples in calcium content of adult bone ash. The remaining parameters in this group of birds differed significantly. The immature group showed no significant differences between 2002 and 2004 samples in fluorine content of bone ash and dry mass. Significant differences (p < 0.01) in fluorine content were revealed between 2002 and 2003 as well as between 2003 and 2004 samples. Ash calcium content showed no differences for immature birds of 2002 and 2003; however, significant differences (p < 0.001) were revealed between 2002 and 2004 as well as between 2003 and 2004. No significant differences were revealed between the immature bone dry mass calcium contents in 2002 and 2003 as well as in 2002 and 2004; on the other hand, the difference between the 2003 and 2004 data proved significant (p < 0.05)., Results: The present study demonstrated a number of differences in fluorine and calcium content in bones of the plant-eating wood pigeon. In addition, fluorine was found to undergo an intense age-related accumulation in bones. Fluorine content showed marked year-to-year variability., Conclusions: It is highly probable that fluorine content in wood pigeon bone reflects environmental fluorine contamination from industrial plants in Szczecin and its environs which are the major source of fluorine emissions.

Purpose: Studies were carried out in 1995-2005 in the Warta oxbow lake at Luboń on the accumulation of fluorine by abiotic and biotic elements of this water ecosystem., Material: The reservoir had been polluted for several decades with fluorine compounds as by-products from a plant producing phosphate fertilizers. We present the results on the accumulation of fluorine by filiform algae (Chlorophyta) agglomerations. Fluorine content ranged on the average from 433 to 608 mgF/kg dry mass., Result: Studies carried out so far demonstrate that the greatest amount of fluorine accumulated in phytoplankton.

Radiochemical stability of three fluorine containing therapeutic substances: dexamethasone, fludrocortisone acetate (steroid derivatives) and fluconazole (azole derivative) has been studied. The compounds in the solid phase were exposed to ionising radiation in the form of electron beam using doses of 20-400 kGy. The inital and irradiated compounds were subjected to comparative analyses by organoleptic, spectrophotometric (UV and IR) and chromatographic (TLC and HPLC) methods. For all compounds studied the irradiation was found to lead to a decrease in the active substance content (HPLC), appearance of radiolysis products (TLC), changes in the physical and chemical properties such as colour (fluconazole), formation of agglomerates (dexamethasone), decrease (dexamethasone, fludrocortisone acetate) or increase in UV absorption (fluconazole). The two steroid derivatives were found resistant to ionising radiation at doses of 25-50 kGy and can be sterilised by radiation, whereas fluconazole was too sensitive to electron beam irradiation and should be sterilised by other methods. The results were compared with those of earlier studies on radiation sterilisation of other steroid derivatives. An interesting conclusion is that the presence of the fluorine atom in the molecule of fludrocortisone acetate has no significant effect on its radiochemical stability when compared with that of hydrocortisone acetate--the analogue without fluorine.

The objective of these studies was to examine the lead and flurorine contents in vegetables and apples exposed to emission of these elements by the "Sudety" Glassworks in Szczytna (Wałbrzych voivodeship). After mineralization of plant material, lead was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Fluorine was isolated from plant material samples by microdiffusion and was assayed spectrophotometrically using its complex with alizarin. The results indicate that 68% of the vegetables display lead contents exceeding the polish standard (i.e. 0.3 mg Pb per 1 kg of vegetable wet weight). Lead contents are highest in the overground parts of some plants, e.g. onion, lettuce, sorrel and rhubarb. The standard is exceeded from 23 to 13 times. So high a vegetable contamination is due to objectionable location of the "Podzamcze" employees' plots of gardens in Szczytna, related to the close vicinity of the "Sudety" Glassworks, wind rose and traffic arteries. The fluorine level in the vegetables examined is not very high. Only 4 of the analysed 21 vegetables exhibited fluorine contents exceeding those admitted by the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (2.5 mg F per 1 kg of vegetable wet weight); they included: young beet leaves, parsley tops, lettuce and sorrel.

Fluorine and lead were determined by spectroscopic methods in some vegetables harvested in 1988 in two groups of Employees' Gardens in Inowrocław ("Transportowiec" and "Irena", distant from the Household Glassworks "Irena" by ca. 500 and 2600 m, respectively). Employees' Gardens "Irena" were divided into 2 belts, in consideration of a vicinal traffic artery. It was found that 42% of the plants harvested in Employees' Gardens "Transportowiec" exhibited excessive contents of fluorine, and 91%--of lead; fluorine contamination of vegetables was, however, slight, except for parsley leaves containing 56.0 mg F per 1 kg dry weight. In the case of Employees' Gardens "Irena", in the I belt (30-40 m from the traffic artery) the level of fluorine was excessive in 8.3% of plants, and that of lead--in 63.6% of plants; in the II belt (80-100 m from the traffic artery) the respective values were 17% for fluorine and 66.6% for lead.