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Copyright of Agriculture / Poljoprivreda is the property of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Central European Agriculture is the property of Journal of Central European Agriculture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper gives an overview of published data on levels of lead, cadmium, total and methyl-mercury in various food items, and of a daily dietary intake assessment in Croatia focusing on the last 10 years. It briefly describes the most reliable methods for quantitative analysis of lead, cadmium, and mercury in biological material. Lead and cadmium concentrations in vegetables and in organs of domestic animals refer to non-exposed rural areas. Mercury concentrations in fish and mussels refer to industrially polluted and non-polluted areas of the Adriatic. The daily dietary intake of lead and cadmium was assessed on the basis of duplicate-diet-collection and food-disappearance method. The assessment of the total and methyl-mercury dietary intake was based on dietary surveys of family seafood consumption. Lead and cadmium intake through food in the general population was 6-40% of the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI), depending on the assessment method. The only Croatian population consuming more mercury through seafood is the one living in Dalmatia, approaching the PTWI defined by WHO.

This paper describes a pilot study of lead, manganese, and cadmium content in thoracic particle fraction and high-risk respirable fraction of airborne particles. Samples were collected at one measuring site in Zagreb during autumn 1998 and spring 1999. The results show that the total heavy metal contents is found in the high-risk respirable particle fraction, and point to two main pollution sources, the first for lead and manganese and the other for cadmium.

This paper presents a study on the relationship between trace metal concentrations and the state of the atmosphere at the Croatian EMEP station Puntijarka, Zagreb. PM10 and PM2.5 particle fractions are hazardous in terms of morbidity and hospitalization due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and in terms of total mortality. In Zagreb, PM10 and PM2.5 monitoring started on a daily basis at a sampling site located in the northern, residential part of the city. Trace metal concentrations were determined from daily samples. Air mass back trajectories were used to determine particulate air pollution from local and remote sources. The investigation has shown a statistically significant association between air mass back trajectories and metallic air concentration levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the biomonitoring of cadmium (Cd) heavy metal in the three selected Tricholoma mushroom species collected from wild habitats of central and coastal Croatia. For this, mushroom (T. columbetta: n = 38, T. portentosum: n = 35, and T. terreum: n = 34) and surface soil samples were collected from nine forest localities of Croatia and analyzed for Cd concentration using inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES) through the acid digestion method. The findings revealed that Cd was present in Tricholoma spp. and surface soil. However, the maximum mean Cd concentration (mg/kg dry weight) was recorded in T. portentosum (cap: 0.98; stipe: 0.72), followed by T. columbetta (cap: 0.96; stipe: 0.73) and T. terreum (cap: 0.81; stipe: 0.63). The bioconcentration factor (BCF) value (>1) revealed that the selected Tricholoma spp. had the potential for Cd accumulation. Moreover, the principal component (PC) and hierarchical cluster (HC) analyses were used to derive the interactions and similarities between Cd levels Tricholoma spp. and sampling localities. The multivariate analysis suggested that central sampling localities had higher Cd levels as compared to coastal localities. However, the daily intake of metals (DIM < 0.426) and health risk index (HRI < 1) showed that there was no potential health risk associated with the consumption of selected Tricholoma spp. The findings of this study are helpful to understand the Cd accumulation behavior of wild edible Tricholoma spp. collected from Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of metals lead, cadmium and manganese in total suspended particulate matter started in 1971 in Zagreb and continued until 2005. Monitoring of lead in PM10 particles started in 1999 at one measuring site in the northern part of the city as an independent research project. In correspondence with the Croatian Air Protection Acts, monitoring of lead, cadmium and manganese in PM10 particles in Zagreb started at the beginning of 2006, while monitoring of nickel and arsenic started at the beginning of 2007, as a part of the official air quality monitoring network. Monitoring was carried out at five measuring sites located in the city centre and in the northern, southern, western and eastern parts of the city. Since 2011 monitoring of lead, cadmium, manganese, arsenic and nickel in PM10, PM2,5 and PM1 particles has been going on as an independent research project. Monitoring is conducted at one measuring site in the northern part of the city. The paper also presents the preliminary results of metal monitoring in PM10, PM2,5 and PM particles from January to February 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of MESO is the property of Zadruzna Stampa D.D. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objectives of this study were to (i) establish the background variation and determine a threshold values for aqua regia soluble cadmium (Cd) in Terra Rossa soil at the local scale (Dalmatia, Croatia), (ii) check for possible soil Cd enrichment comparing its concentration at two different depths, and (iii) compare the threshold values for Cd calculated applying different statistical techniques with soil guideline values (SGV) as defined in Croatia and other national systems in Europe. The four statistical methods (the mean ± 2 standard deviations [mean ± 2SD], the median ± 2 median absolute deviations [median ± 2MAD], the (upper) Tukey inner fence (TIF), and the percentile-based approach) were used to establish the threshold values for Cd and identify samples with high Cd concentrations deviating from the background variation in a studied dataset. Overall, 74 samples from the A horizon of Terra Rossa soil were analyzed for aqua regia soluble Cd concentration (CdA); major soil properties—pH, CaCO3, soil organic carbon (SOC) content, P2O5, K2O, and particle-size distribution—were also determined in these samples. The underlying cambic B horizon was analyzed only for Cd concentration (CdB) The median CdA and CdB values of 1.84 and 1.70 mg kg–1, respectively as well as the maximum value of 8.53 mg kg–1 in the A horizon and 7.56 mg kg–1 in the B horizon obtained in this study attested to anomalously high Cd concentrations. The median CdA/CdB ratio was close to unity (1.07) indicating very low Cd enrichment in the A horizon. The [median ± 2MAD] method achieved the lowest threshold Cd value of 4.68 mg kg–1 and, consequently, a maximum number of outliers; it was followed by the classical [mean ± 2SD] method (5.01 mg kg–1), the Q95th percentile (5.29 mg kg–1), the Q98th percentile (5.64 mg kg–1), and the TIF method with the highest threshold value of 6.93 mg kg–1. All specified threshold values for Cd concentration repeatedly exceeded the maximum admissible concentrations (MACv) for agricultural land as defined in soil guideline values developed in Croatia and in several countries of the European Union. These findings indicate that more attention should be paid to the unusually high Cd concentrations in Terra Rossa soils originating from the natural sources; a more detailed geochemical survey of these soils should be performed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Macedonian Journal of Animal Science is the property of Macedonian Journal of Animal Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Concentrations of cadmium, lead and mercury were determined in muscle, liver and kidney tissue from three different age groups of red deer (young animals aged 6 or 7 months, middle-aged animals aged 3 to 5 years, old animals aged over 8 years) from the Baranja region of Croatia. Median cadmium concentrations were low in the muscles of all investigated age groups (0.0002; 0.0009 and 0.0020 μg/g), higher in the liver (0.0279; 0.0656 and 0.1463 μg/g) and highest in the kidneys (0.4792; 2.8531 and 6.1657 μg/g). A positive correlation was established between cadmium concentration and age. In all analyzed tissues the median lead concentration was higher in young (muscle 0.0024; liver 0.0364 and kidney 0.0618 μg/g), compared to middle-aged animals (muscle 0.0001; liver 0.0184 and kidney 0.0160 μg/g). In contrast to cadmium, mercury had a negative correlation to age but median concentrations were very low (in muscle: 0.0011; 0.0001 and 0.0006 μg/g; in liver: 0.0051; 0.0037 and 0.0022 μg/g and in kidney: 0.0145; 0.0183 and 0.0106 μg/g) especially compared to cadmium. From the hygienic point of view all the examined tissues are edible since concentrations of the analyzed metals do not exceed values proposed by the official regulations, with the exception of a few kidney samples, which contained cadmium above the recommended value. Furthermore, mercury concentrations are no longer (since 2008) a matter of legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentration of three heavy metals (mercury (Hg), lead, (Pb), and cadmium, (Cd)) and one metalloid (arsenic [As]), were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in five tissues (muscles, liver, kidneys, gills, and gonads) of five fish species (carp— Cyprinus carpio, tench— Tinca tinca, sval— Leuciscus svallizi, gray mullet— Mugil cephalus, and eel— Anguilla anguilla) taken out from the end fIow (last 20 km) of the river Neretva, south Croatia, in the wider region of town Metković, during the summer of the year 2003. Only Cd concentration in all fish types was higher than the maximal allowed concentration (MAC) in Croatia, but its concentration in muscles reaches this value only in four samples. However, in carp, tench, and mullet, Cd concentrations higher than MAC in some other countries were found. Hg concentration is much lower than MAC in the most countries. Pb is found in higher quantities only in carp, some values reaching MAC in Germany, and many values being higher than MAC in Denmark (with exception of gonads). As concentrations are much lower than MAC in all countries, but it seems that mullet tends to accumulate this metalloid, especially in the muscles. Therefore, in several samples, muscle As concentration in mullet reached half of the MAC value in the most countries. Of the analyzed fish types, eel, containing the smallest quantities of heavy metals, is recommended for human diet, while carp, consumed most frequently by local inhabitants and numerous tourists, shares with mullet the last place on the recommendation list. Also, it is suggested that meals prepared with analyzed fish sorts should not contain some inner organs (kidneys and liver), as well as gills (alternatively, the whole head). Our final conclusion is that fish types eating predominantly meat contain less heavy metal in their tissues, and therefore are more suitable for human diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]