For over three decades from 1939, Polish-born Regina Schoental (1906-1995) studied, successively, at Oxford and Glasgow, syntheses and identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metabolites of carcinogenic PAHs, and, at the Medical Research Council, Carshalton, Surrey, the carcinogenic action of pyrrolizidine (Senecio) alkaloids, and diazomethane and nitroso compounds. In partic...

Airborne particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in industrial, background and urban atmosphere environments were investigated using toxic equivalent factors (TEFs) in central Taiwan during the period of August-December 2002. Concentrations of airborne particles were 93.4, 81.3 and 102.4 microg/m3 for industrial, background and urban sites, respectively. Concentrations of 21 gaseo...

A variety of xenobiotic chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aryl- and heterocyclic amines and tobacco related nitrosamines, are ubiquitous environmental carcinogens and are required to be activated to chemically reactive metabolites by xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, including cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP), in order to initiate cell transformation. Of various human P450...

In the oil-rich Niger Delta, hydrocarbon pollution and oil spillages, gas flaring and sundry anthropogenic activities constitute sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), with food contamination playing a major role in human exposure. In this study we assessed PAH levels in wild and cultivated edible mushroom species consumed by the general population from the oil producing Niger Delt...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their hazards in surface soil (n = 92) were investigated in Taizhou, China, which is an area in East China famous for production and exporting of rice. Total concentrations of PAHs in soils ranged from 2.3 × 10(1) to 7.6 × 10(2) with a mean of 1.8 × 10(2) μg/kg (dry mass; dm). Concentrations of 16 PAHs reported here were less than those observed in mo...

This work characterizes levels of eighteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the breathing air zone of firefighters during their regular work shift at eight Portuguese fire stations, and the firefighters' total internal dose by six urinary monohydroxyl metabolites (OH-PAHs). Total PAHs (ΣPAHs) concentrations varied widely (46.4-428ng/m3), mainly due to site specificity (urban/rural) an...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental carcinogens and metabolized by a variety of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes such as cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP), epoxide hydrolase, glutathione transferase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, sulfotransferase, NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1, and aldo-keto reductase. These enzymes mainly participate in the conversion of PAHs to m...

The loading and removal efficiency of 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were examined in an inverted A²/O wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in an urban area in China. The total PAH concentrations were 554.3 to 723.2 ng/L in the influent and 189.6 to 262.7 ng/L in the effluent. The removal efficiencies of ∑PAHs in the dissolved phase ranged from 63 to 69%, with the highes...

BACKGROUND The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games provided a unique case study to investigate the effect of source control measures on the reduction in air pollution, and associated inhalation cancer risk, in a Chinese megacity. OBJECTIVES We measured 17 carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and estimated the lifetime excess inhalation cancer risk during different periods of the Beijin...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans are persistent organic pollutants with well-known toxicity and carcinogenic activity. These organic pollutants have the tendency to bioaccumulate, present little or no biodegradation and subsequently, could cause a menace to the ecosystems and human health. This review discusses the occurrence, fate an...