Metals in urban soils of Europe: A systematic review.

Metal contamination of soils is widespread across Europe and is of great concern as it may impact food production, the supply of drinking water and human health (European Environment Agency, 2014; Panagos et al., 2013). Most research to date on soil metal contamination has focussed on agricultural soils (Tóth et al., 2016a). Current knowledge of the extent of urban soil metal contamination in Europe, however, is limited, especially for soils in recreational areas, which is particularly concerning as these areas may have a high footfall. Here, we conducted a systematic analysis of metal contamination in European urban soils based on 174 peer-reviewed studies spanning 143 urban sites and 29 European countries. The results show that reporting of data on urban soil metals is highly heterogeneous across the study area. Over half of all studies are from only five countries (Italy, Spain, UK, Poland and Serbia) and no data are available for 14 other European countries. The metals that most commonly exceed national safety thresholds are Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr and Ni. Elevated levels of these metals are usually attributed to anthropogenic sources, primarily traffic and industry. Some 22 % of urban sites studied show anthropogenic enrichment; this phenomenon is most common in Italy, Serbia and Finland. In contrast, 44 % of urban sites studied show geogenic metal enrichment; this is most common in Italy, the UK and Serbia. The dataset is subject to a sample size bias, whereby soil metal enrichment is identified more frequently in regions with more data. Future studies should focus on key knowledge gaps, such as urban soils in locations with current or historical heavy industrialisation and locations in central and eastern Europe. Study methods should be standardised to facilitate comparison of soil metal data from different studies and European safety thresholds should be identified for key elements.

Characteristics of wastewater originating from dental practices using predominantly mercury-free dental materials.

Dental materials are currently undergoing a revolution. Mercury use, including traditional amalgam (mercury-containing) material used in dental fillings, is now being widely regulated under the Minamata convention, and dental amalgam is currently being replaced by resin formulations in dentistry. These resin-based materials can be tuned to offer varying material properties by incorporation of a range of nano- and micro-particle based 'fillers' for different dental properties and applications. However, these innovations may have a concomitant effect on the waste streams associated with common dental applications, in particular the potential for higher concentrations of novel micro- and nanomaterials within wastewater streams, and a potential route for novel nanomaterials into the wider Environment. These new materials may also mean that wastewater filtering apparatus commonly deployed at present, such as amalgam separators, may be less efficient or insufficient to capture these new filler materials in dental facility wastewater. In this work, we analyse dental wastewater streams from three dental facilities in Ireland with differing amalgam separators in place. The potential overall toxicity, particulate load and physicochemical properties are analysed. The overall risk posed by these new materials is also discussed.

Long-term follow-up of scoliosis fusion.

One hundred and ten scoliotic patients underwent correction and spine fusion by one of us (J. H. M.) at Gillette Children's Hospital between 1947 and 1957. Sixty-one of these patients were evaluated in 1977 for this follow-up study. The evaluation consisted of physical and roentgenographic examination, photographs, and a detailed psychosocial analysis. The aims of the study were to evaluate: (1) the long-term stability of the fusion; (2) the incidence and severity of low-back pain; and (3) the degree of integration of the patient into society. The results showed that a solid fusion had no significant loss of correction with time. Eighty-four per cent of the patients lost only zero to 5 degrees of correction during an average follow-up of twenty-six years. Low-back pain was found to be no more frequent than in the normal population in this age group, and there was less low-back pain than in a comparable series of scoliotic patients without fusion. There was no correlation between the occurrence of low-back pain and the length or magnitude of the fused curve or the lowest extent of the fusion. An unexpected finding was the high incidence of neck pain, the cause of which is unknown. Psychosocial analysis revealed that the patients were productive, active, stable persons who were working and contributing members of society.