The remediation of groundwater contaminated with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the xylenes (BTEX) typically involves in situ biodegradation. Although the mechanisms of aerobic BTEX biodegradation in laboratory cultures have been well studied, less is known about the microorganisms responsible in mixed culture samples or at contaminated sites. In this study, the microorganisms responsible ...

Blood concentrations of 11 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured up to four times over 2 years in a probability sample of more than 150 children from two poor, minority neighborhoods in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Blood levels of benzene, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethene, and m-/p-xylene were comparable with those measured in selected adults from the Third National Health and Nutriti...

OBJECTIVES Ethanol may be a significant combined factor in human solvent toxicity. Lipid peroxidation has been suggested to be an important contributing mechanism involved in experimental alcohol-induced liver injury. The aim of the study was to investigate whether a short-term ethanol ingestion in rats chronically exposed to m-xylene vapor may influence the lipid peroxidation rate in the intra...

The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and FT-Raman spectra of α,α'-dibromo-o-xylene (DBOX), α,α'-dibromo-m-xylene (DBMX) and α,α'-dibromo-p-xylene (DBPX) of the configuration BrCH(2)C(6)H(4)CH(2)Br have been recorded in the range 4000-400 and 4000-100 cm(-1), respectively. The conformational analysis of these compounds was performed. The complete vibrational assignment and analysis of the funda...

The effects of chronic exposure to xylene on cognitive ability were studied in a group of 35 medical workers occupationally exposed to low-level concentrations of xylene for at least five years by using event-related potentials (ERPs), and compared with a control group of 21 subjects. The exposure to xylene was confirmed through determination of m-methylhippuric acid, a reliable biological indi...

A novel strain of p-xylene-degrading sulfate reducer was isolated in pure culture. Strain PP31 was obtained from a p-xylene-degrading enrichment culture established from polluted marine sediment. Analyses of the 16S rRNA gene and two functional genes involved in sulfate respiration and anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds revealed that the isolate was closely related to members of the ge...

In the present work, the transformation of m-xylene was studied over fresh and pre-coked HZSM-5 catalyst in a riser simulator over the temperature range of 350-500C.Significant differences were observed in both the activity and product selectivity pattern for the two forms of the catalyst. While, the fresh catalyst generally gave higher m-xylene conversion, the pre-coked catalyst produced highe...

In the present study, a laboratory scale corn-cob based biofilter inoculated with pseudomonas fluorescents (mtcc 9768) was used for investigating the degradation of ethylbenzene and m-xylene for a period of 60 days in two phases. for ethylbenzene maximum removal efficiency (re) was 72% at an inlet concentration of 4.26 gm -3 and for m-xylene re was 76% at an inlet concentration of 6.39 g m -3 a...