Silver-white Metal Research Articles

Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Nickel in Zhejiang Province, China.

Nickel (Ni) is a silver-white metal with high antioxidative properties, often existing in a bivalent form in the environment. Despite being the fifth most abundant metal on Earth, anthropogenic activities, including industrial processes, have elevated Ni levels in environmental media. This study investigated Ni contamination in various food groups in Zhejiang Province, China, mainly focusing on Ni levels in beans, vegetables, aquatic foods, meat products, cereal products, and fruits. A total of 2628 samples were collected and analyzed. Beans exhibited the highest Ni content in all samples. The overall detection rate of Ni was 86.5%, with variation among food categories. For plant-origin foods, legumes had the highest Ni concentration while for animal-origin foods, shellfish showed the highest median Ni concentration. The results indicate generally acceptable Ni exposure levels among Zhejiang residents, except for children aged 0-6. Beans were identified as the primary contributor to high Ni exposure risk. The paper suggests monitoring Ni contamination in food, especially for vulnerable populations, and provides insights into exposure risks in different age groups.

EFFECTS OF NICKEL TOXICITY ON VARIOUS ORGANS OF THE Swiss albino MICE

Nickel was discovered by A. F. Cronstedt in 1754 and is a bountiful metal in the Earth's outside layer, it is the 24th most plentiful element and 28th component of the periodic table. It is a silver-white metal found in a few oxidation states (going from - 1 to +4); nonetheless, the +2 oxidation state [Ni (II)] is the most widely recognized one in natural systems. Nickel is famous as a haematotoxic, immunotoxic, neurotoxic, genotoxic, regenerative harmful, aspiratory poisonous, nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, and cancer-causing operator. The mass number of nickel (Ni) is 58.71 and the atomic number of Nickel is 28 just as the thickness is 8.9g/cm3 and the softening point is 1453°C and the edge of boiling over is 2732°C. Nickel (Ni) is silver-white pliable metal. In the living cells of plants, animals, and humans, minor components have a significant influence on synthetic, organic, biochemical, metabolic, catabolic, and enzymatic actions. Nickel (Ni), an occurring element, is found in a variety of environments, including soil, water, and air. Many industrial and commercial applications for Ni compounds and metallic Ni exist, including alloy manufacture, luster, nickel-cadmium batteries, and catalytic agent in the chemical and foodstuff industries. Acute and intense toxicity in mammals resulting from assimilation by consumption through lungs or gastro-intestinal tract was mainly reported. Nickel carbonyl ingestion produces two types of acute venomous effects. Nickel produces the variation of the (p53 gene), which is a transcription factor and crucial tumor suppressor gene, in epithelial cells of the kidney. The removal of sewage and industrial is a significant issue. It is oftentimes drained to agricultural regions, where it is used to develop yields like vegetables. Heavy metal pollution in wastewater water systems represents various dangers to the climate. . Most vegetables have contained a large number of organic compounds that are role-playing in cell reinforcement. The significant cell reinforcements in vegetables are phenolic acids, flavonoids, α-tocopherol, β-carotene, lutein, and ascorbic destructive. Although in different nourishments like grains, nuts and a few types of meat, chicken meat and fish.

Process Performance Analysis and Improvement for the Manufacture of 6063 Aluminum Alloy

As industrial manufacturing technologies continuously improve, many conventional industrial materials are struggling to meet the needs of today’s industries. Aluminum alloys are currently the most extensively used non-ferrous metal in the industry, whose properties include corrosion resistance, high strength, and high ductility. As a result, they are widely used in many products, such as doors and windows, vehicles, and electronics. Pure aluminum though, is a very soft, silver-white metal, so to increase its strength, aluminum alloy manufacturers add in various chemical elements (such as magnesium, silicon, and zinc) according to international standards, and then adjust the proportions based on customer needs. If the chemical element composition does not meet specification requirements, it will affect the quality of the aluminum alloy product or even delay delivery and subsequently impact the operational performance of the manufacturer. To ensure and increase aluminum alloy quality, this study used a combined Six Sigma quality index (SSQI), Qpc, to develop a multi-characteristic quality analysis model (MCQAM) with five steps for the aluminum alloy industry. A practical example with a manufacturer specializing in producing 6063 aluminum alloys in Taiwan is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of this proposed approach. The result shows that the proposed method not only effectively improves the quality of 6063 aluminum alloy, but also enhances its performance and capability (that is, corrosion resistance increases by 17%, strength increases by 8%, and stiffness increases by 3%). Finally, future works are also discussed in this context.

ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF CADMIUM

Cadmium (Cd) is a soft, silver-white metal being together with zinc and mercury in group II b in the periodic table. It's melting and boiling point are 320.9 0 C and 765 0 C, respectively. Cd is rapidly oxidized into cadmium oxide in the air. When reactive gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide and hydrogen chloride or water vapour are present in the air, cadmium vapour reacts to produce cadmium carbonate, cadmium sulphite, cadmium sulphate, cadmium chloride or cadmium hydroxide. These compounds may be formed in chimneys and emitted into the environment. It is indicated that zinc-bearing coals of the central United States and carboniferous age coals of other countries contain large sub economic resources of cadmium. Although some cadmium compounds such as acetate, chloride and sulphate are soluble in water; cadmium oxide, carbonate and sulphide are insoluble.

Nickel.

Nickel is an essential element for at least several animal species. These animal studies associate nickel deprivation with depressed growth, reduced reproductive rates, and alterations of serum lipids and glucose. Although there is substantial evidence of an essential status for nickel in animals, a deficiency state in humans has not been clearly defined. Nickel is a silver-white metal with siderophilic properties that facilitate the formation of nickel-iron alloys. In contrast to the soluble nickel salts (chloride, nitrate, sulfate), metallic nickel, nickel sulfides, and nickel oxides are poorly water-soluble. Nickel carbonyl is a volatile liquid at room temperature that decomposes rapidly into carbon monoxide and nickel. Drinking water and food are the main sources of exposure for the general population with the average American diet containing about 300 micrograms Ni/d. Nickel is highly mobile in soil, particularly in acid soils. There is little evidence that nickel compounds accumulate in the food chain. Nickel is not a cumulative toxin in animals or in humans. Almost all cases of acute nickel toxicity result from exposure to nickel carbonyl. The initial effects involve irritation of the respiratory tract and nonspecific symptoms. Patients with severe poisoning develop intense pulmonary and gastrointestinal toxicity. Diffuse interstitial pneumonitis and cerebral edema are the main cause of death. Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is an investigational drug used to chelate nickel following exposure to nickel carbonyl. Nickel is a common sensitizing agent with a high prevalence of allergic contact dermatitis. Nickel and nickel compounds are well-recognized carcinogens. However, the identity of the nickel compound or compounds, which cause the increased risk of cancer, remains unclear. Currently, there are little epidemiological data to indicate that exposure to metallic nickel increases the risk of cancer, or that exposure to the carcinogenic forms of nickel causes cancer outside the lung and the nasal cavity.

Nuclear Energy

It is fascinating to contemplate the train of scientific events from the silent therapeutic action of radium emanations, through the devastating explosive force of atomic bombs to the production of harnessed industrial energy resulting from atomic fission. A few pertinent names may be mentioned in this connection. Klaproth isolated uranium oxide from its black ore, pitchblende, in 1789. Becquerel discovered in 1896 that radiation is given out by uranium. Pierre Curie and his scientist wife, Marie Curie, twice a Nobel laureate (Physics, 1903, chemistry, 1911) isolated radium from pitchblende in 1902. Hahn and Meitner observed in 1939 that by splitting the uranium atom by bombarding it with neutrons large amounts of energy were produced. Apropos of the latter, Einstein (1879-1955) formulated the equation E=MC2 where E represents energy, M, mass, and C, the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). This permits the conclusion that “the energy of one gram of mass is sufficient to keep a 1,000-watt electric-light bulb glowing for 2,850 years” (Encyclopedia International, New York, Grolier, 1963). Uranium is a silver-white metal somewhat softer than steel and almost as heavy as gold. Its richest deposits are in the United States (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming), Australia, Canada, Congo, Czechoslovakia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa. Natural uranium is 99.3 percent nonfissionable, inert 238U and about 0.7 percent fissionable 235U. The latter's atomic fission releases exorbitant quantities of energy: “one pound of uranium being potentially equivalent to more than 1,500 tons of coal (The New Caxton Encyclopedia, London, Thames, 1969). There are some 20 nuclear reactors in the United States. In preparing fuel for them, uranium is extracted from its ore, pulverized and then converted into gas. By heating the latter, 238U and 235U are separated. Then the fissionable 235U content is raised to at least 3 percent (enrichment process). The final product is made into small pellets of the same weight and width and enclosed in metal tubes which are assembled in a predetermined accurate design (fuel bundle). The heat derived from nuclear reaction is used for producing steam and the latter for driving electric generators serving industry. Also, nuclear energy is being used to propel surface vessels and submarines. Health hazards of underground mining of uranium have been recorded in several publications. In individuals who worked in the uranium mines of Schneeberg, Saxony, (Germany) and of Jachimov, (Czechoslovakia) the occurrence of bronchogenic carcinoma reached 50 to 75 percent. Wagoner (Internat Symp Radiol Health in Nuclear Material Mining and Milling, Vienna, 1963) reported that in the United States, among uranium miners working underground for at least five years, ten times more died of lung cancer than expected of all white males of comparable age in the same areas. Other reports and animal experiments confirmed these findings and the carcinogenic role of exposure to uranium emanations. Carcinogenesis has been attributed to the inhalation of radioactive atoms of uranium and their decay products. Archer et al (J Occup Med 15: 204, 1973) noted that lung cancer developed earlier in cigarette smoking uranium miners than in nonsmokers of the same occupation. Most uranium deposits are found in highly silicous sandstone. Consequently, there is a possibility of silicosis in underground uranium miners. Engelbrecht et al (Ann Occup Hyg 2:257, 1960) observed that in rats radioactive mine dust accelerated fibrosis caused by inhalation of silica. This may explain radiologically demonstrable silicosis in uranium miners employed in mines with low atmospheric concentration of silica. As a corollary, it may be mentioned that inhalation of radioactive substances might cause impairment of the defensive function of neutrophilic leukocytes (Halley et al: AMJ Path 75:61, 1974) and perhaps accelerated aging.

A PRACTICAL MECHANICAL METHOD OF END-TO-END ANASTOMOSIS OF BLOOD-VESSELS

This work was done in the laboratory of the department of Experimental Surgery of Northwestern University Medical School, with the cooperation and assistance of Prof. Robert Zeit and Drs. Wolfer, Violet Deason and Solmon. It is accomplished by the use of rings of metallic magnesium. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND METALLURGY OF MAGNESIUM Magnesium is a hard, silver-white metal, having a specific gravity of 1.75 and possessing a melting point of 800 degrees. As it tarnishes in the air the bright luster is soon lost, but the change is unimportant at the ordinary temperature. At a high temperature combustion follows, with production of the well-known brilliant white light. At ordinary room temperature the action increases and hydrogen gas is slowly liberated, the hydroxid of magnesium being formed at the same time. The action of water on magnesium is hastened by the presence of salts, such as sodium chlorid, from which it follows

Aluminium1

CHEMISTS of many lands have contributed to our knowledge of the metal aluminium. Davy, in 1807, tried in vain to reduce alumina by means of the electric current. Oerstedt, the Dane, in 1824 pointed out that the metal could be obtained by treating the chloride with an alkali metal; this was accomplished in Germany by Wöhler in 1827, and more completely in 1845, whilst in 1854, Bunsen showed how the metal can be obtained by electrolysis. But it is to France, by the hands of Henri St. Claire Deville, in the same year, that the honour belongs of having first prepared aluminium in a state of purity, and of obtaining it on a scale which enabled its valuable properties to be recognized and made available, and the bar of “silver-white metal from clay,” was one of the chemical wonders in the first Paris Exhibition of 1855. Now England and America step in, and I have this evening to relate the important changes which further investigation has effected in the metallurgy of aluminium. The process suggested by Oerstedt, carried out by Wöhler, and modified by Deville, remains in principle unchanged. The metal is prepared, as before, by a reduction of the double chloride of aluminium and sodium, by means of metallic sodium in presence of cryolite; and it is therefore not so much a description of a new reaction as of improvements of old ones of which I have to speak.

XXXIV. On the presence of Magnesia in rocks

Magnesia enters largely into the composition of the crust of the earth. As chloride and sulphate, we find it in sea, river, and spring water; in some cases it occurs in considerable quantity. In the Dead Sea, Th. T. & W. Herapath found 7.822 per cent., and Booth and Muckle as much as 14.590 per cent. of magnesium chloride. Some of the brine pools of Russia contain even a much higher per centage. Carbonate of Magnesia is found in pretty considerable quantities in Greece; but it occurs more frequently in combination with carbonate of lime, as dolomite or magnesian limestone, one of the most durable of our building stones when properly selected. Silicate of Magnesia is a constant ingredient of such rocks as hornblende, olivine, asbestos, &c. Magnesium is a brilliant silver-white metal, somewhat brittle at the ordinary temperature; at a red heat it melts, and burns with a brilliant white light, which is available for photographic purposes, and, by its agency, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth is at present engaged in taking photographs of the interior of the Pyramids. It was first separated from magnesia by Sir H. Davy in 1808, but produced only as a mere chemical curiosity till 1863, when Mr. E. Sonstadt secured a patent for its manufacture in large quantities at a comparatively moderate cost. The white powder produced by the combustion of the metal is the oxide, or magnesia. It is generally seen as a white powder sparingly soluble in water; it occurs naturally as This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract