The concentration of organochlorines (OCs) such as organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls were measured in adipose tissue collected from 14 male hippopotami at Mfuwe in the southern part of the Luangwa National Park, Zambia. The samples contained low levels of OCs, and the concentrations of OCs were comparable to or lower than reported for wild herbivores studied in other parts...

Ship-board air samples collected between The Netherlands and South Africa in January-February 2001 were analyzed for PCBs and selected organochlorine compounds. Broad latitudinal trends in compound concentrations were influenced by proximity to source areas, land, and air mass origin. Lowest concentrations were observed in the remote south Atlantic (1-32 degrees S), where sigma7PCB concentratio...

Ultrastructural alterations of liver parenchymal cells involving the endoplasmic reticulum are known to occur in animals exposed to chlorinated diphenyl-p-dioxins in the diet (1-4). The observed changes are similar to those reported for other aromatic chlorinated hydrocarbons (5-8) and are usually associated with induction of hepatic microsomal enzyme systems (7, 9, 10). The present study was u...

Petroleum hydrocarbons are important energy resources used by industry and in our daily life, whose production contributes highly to environmental pollution. To control such risk, bioremediation constitutes an environmentally friendly alternative technology that has been established and applied. It constitutes the primary mechanism for the elimination of hydrocarbons from contaminated sites by ...

In this review we discuss the degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by microorganisms, emphasizing the physiological, biochemical, and genetic basis of the biodegradation of aliphatic, aromatic, and polycyclic compounds. Many environmentally important xenobiotics are halogenated, especially chlorinated. These compounds are manufactured and used as pesticides, plasticizers, paint and printing-...

A bacterium that is able to utilize a number of halogenated short-chain hydrocarbons and halogenated carboxylic acids as sole carbon source for growth was identified as a strain of Xanthobacter autotrophicus. The organism constitutively produces two different dehalogenases. One enzyme is specific for halogenated alkanes, whereas the other, which is more heat stable and has a higher pH optimum, ...

ports’ activities could result in oil spills occurrences and oil pollution in different ways including the discharges of ships’ oily wastes, discharges of oily ballast water and leaks at oil terminals. in this paper, using the results of the analyses of the hydrocarbon compounds in the samples collected from the sediments in the anzali port in the caspian sea in iran, the levels of oil pollutio...