BACKGROUND Cobalt has been shown to induce mainly asthma, allergic contact dermatitis and hard metal disease. The data on cobalt asthma are mainly based on case reports. AIMS To characterize all the cases of occupational cobalt asthma encountered in a cobalt plant at the time of diagnosis and 6 months later. We also evaluated the incidence of cobalt asthma in different departments on the basi...

Zirconium aerosol was ignited and burned in atmospheric pressure air in microgravity using a 2.2-s drop tower. Combustion products were collected and analyzed using electron microscopy. The elemental composition analyses indicated that combustion product compositions fell along two linear traces on a ternary Zr–O–N diagram. Currently, the equilibrium Zr–O–N phases are not characterized at tempe...

As a part of the production of nitride nuclear fuel for use in fast nuclear reactors, zirconium is hydrided followed by nitriding and mixing with uranium nitride. This work concludes a study of unwanted metallic particles present in a powder that is supposed to be a zirconium hydride. Sponge zirconium was hydrided at different temperatures and different time intervals, and the resulting hydride...

A new ionic liquid loaded silica gel amine (SG-APTMS-N,N-EPANTf₂) was developed, as an adsorptive material, for selective adsorption and determination of zirconium, Zr(IV), without the need for a chelating intermediate. Based on a selectivity study, the SG-APTMS-N,N-EPANTf₂ phase showed a perfect selectivity towards Zr(IV) at pH 4 as compared to other metallic ions, including gold [Au(III)], co...

Complications involving the patellofemoral joint, caused by malrotation of the femoral component during total knee replacement, are an important cause of persistent pain and failure leading to revision surgery. The aim of this study was to determine and quantify the influence of femoral component malrotation on patellofemoral wear, and to determine whether or not there is a difference in the ra...

Backgrounds: The purpose of this study was to investigate clinical relevance of preoperative screening for metal sensitivity (MS), and to assess whether there is any difference in the MS after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) between oxidized zirconium (OxZr) and cobalt-chrome (Co-Cr) implants. Methods: A total of 48 subjects referred for TKA were enrolled the study with no history of metal allerg...

The effect of nanomaterials on biota under realistic environmental conditions is an important question. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on how different illumination conditions alter the toxicity of some photocatalytic nanomaterials. We have investigated how environmentally relevant UV-A exposure (intensity 8.50 ± 0.61 W/m(2), exposure dose 9.0J/cm(2)) affected the toxicity of ceriu...

TiO2/ZrO2 nanocomposite was obtained by the sonochemical technique. In this method, two separate gels containing zirconium and titanium were prepared and mixed together. The precursor sol of zirconium was prepared from an aqueous solution of ZrCl4. The precursor titanium tetra isopropoxide (TTIP) dissolved in isopropanol. Mixing of Titanium and Zirconium gels was resulted in a yellow TiO2/ZrO2 ...

TiO2/ZrO2 nanocomposite was obtained by the sonochemical technique. In this method, two separate gels containing zirconium and titanium were prepared and mixed together. The precursor sol of zirconium was prepared from an aqueous solution of ZrCl4. The precursor titanium tetra isopropoxide (TTIP) dissolved in isopropanol. Mixing of Titanium and Zirconium gels was resulted in a yellow TiO2/ZrO2 ...