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Gardens near the lead and zinc smelter plant "Zletovo" in the town of Veles, Republic of Macedonia, are the main suppliers with vegetables and fruits for the residents of this town. This area, was exposed thirty years to high environmental contamination with heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Zn). The smelter plant was a major source of heavy met-als pollution in the environment, including the garden soils used for the production of vegetables and fruits. The aim of this study is to determine the level of contamination (especially with Cd, Pb and Zn) in green garlic (Allium sa-tivum) and green onion (Allium scallion) produced on the contaminated soil and to determine its level of accumula-tion in the plants. The contents of 21 elements (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) in the vegetables and corresponding soils were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma - atomic emis-sion spectrometry (ICP-AES) after microwave digestion. It was found that the contents of Cd, Pb and Zn in the vege-tables from all of the four studied gardens is over the maximum permissible level according to the Macedonian regu-lations. The content of Cd in washed green garlic samples ranges from 0.60 to 2.70 mg kg-1, for Pb from 4.30 to 6.14 mg kg-1 and for Zn from 11.7 to 29.9 mg kg-1, while their contents in the washed green onion samples ranges from 0.77 to 2.66 mg kg-1 for Cd, from 3.98 to 5.35 mg kg-1 for Pb and from 21.2 to 38.0 mg kg-1 for Zn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metals have the potential to interact and induce several stress responses in the plants; thus, effects of heavy metal stress on DNA damages and total antioxidants level in Urtica dioica leaves and stems were investigated. The samples are sampled from areas with different metal exposition. Metal content was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES), for total antioxidants level assessment the Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay was used, and genomic DNA isolation from frozen plant samples was performed to obtain DNA fingerprints of investigated plant. It was found that heavy metal contents in stems generally changed synchronously with those in leaves of the plant, and extraneous metals led to imbalance of mineral nutrient elements. DNA damages were investigated by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique, and the results demonstrated that the samples exposed to metals yielded a large number of new fragments (total 12) in comparison with the control sample. This study showed that DNA stability is highly affected by metal pollution which was identified by RAPD markers. Results suggested that heavy metal stress influences antioxidant status and also induces DNA damages in U. dioica which may help to understand the mechanisms of metals genotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impact assessments of environmental pollutants are important in eco-genotoxicology. A random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to detect genotoxicity-induced DNA damage in Phaseolus vulgaris L. from heavy metals at two different concentrations. The results from six 10-base pair (bp) random RAPD primers with 60–70% GC content used, showed a total of 295 RAPD fragments of 700–4000 bp in molecular size in the seedlings of untreated and treated samples, of which only 163 fragments were polymorphic. Polymorphisms became evident as the disappearance and/or appearance of DNA fragments in treated samples compared to the control. A dendrogram constructed using the Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System (NTSYSps), showed that the control group merged with groups treated with CuSO4·5H2O (150 mg L−1) and MnSO4·H2O (150 mg L−1) in a separate cluster. These groups were linked with all of the other samples treated with metals at concentrations of 150 mg L−1 and CuSO4·5H2O and Cd(NO3)2 at concentrations of 350 mg L−1. Finally, the samples treated with metals at concentrations of 350 mg L−1 together with NiSO4 at the concentration of 150 mg L−1, clustered separately. The DNA polymorphism detected by RAPD analysis offered a useful biomarker assay for the detection of toxic chemicals genotoxicity in plant model systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban pollution with trace element occurs mainly in industrial regions and within centres of large settlements where industry, traffic and municipal wastes are the most important sources of trace elements. The results of a first systematic study of spatial distribution of different trace elements in surface soil over the Kavadarci region, Republic of Macedonia, known for its ferronickel mine and metallurgical activities, show some areas with critically high content of some elements. The purpose of this study was to establish contents and distribution of trace elements in attic dust in Kavadarci, and to define them according to geological and anthropogenic influences. Attic dust samples were collected in the rural area. A total of 46 elements (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Dy, Eu, Fe, Ga, Gd, Ge, Hf, Hg, Ho, I, K, La, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Sm, Sr, Tb, Th, Ti, U, V, Yb, Zn and Zr) were determined by mass spectrometry with in- ductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS). Samples of attic dust were collected from October to December 2008 at 31 sites of Kavadarci and its environs. A total of 46 elements were determined. The continuous probability distribution and enrichment ratio for the attic dust samples were studied. It was found that the content for Co. Cr, Mo and Ni in attic dust samples collected around a ferronickel smelter plant are separated by significantly higher values with those from the rest of the samples of the investigated region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of the International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE-ICP Vegetation) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), in 2002 and 2005, a moss biomonitoring technique was applied to air pollution studies in the Republic of Macedonia. The third moss survey took place in August and September 2010 when 72 samples of the terrestrial mosses Homalothecium lutescens and Hypnum cupressiforme were collected over the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, using the same sampling network grid as for the previous surveys. Using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), a total of 19 elements (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) were determined. To reveal hidden multivariate data structures and to identify and characterize different pollution sources Principal Component Analysis was used. Distributional maps were prepared to point out the regions most affected by pollution and related to known sources of contamination. As in the previous surveys, the regions near the towns of Skopje, Veles, Tetovo, Radoviš and Kavadarci were found to be most affected by pollution, even though the median elemental content in the mosses in 2010 for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn was slightly lower than in the previous surveys. For the first time, P content in the moss samples was analyzed, and a higher content of this element as well as K in the mosses was observed in the agricultural regions of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic study was carried out to investigate the distribution of fifty-six elements in the water samples from river Vardar (Republic of Macedonia and Greece) and its major tributaries. The samples were collected from 27 sampling sites. Analyses were performed by mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS) and atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES). Cluster and R mode factor analysis (FA) was used to identify and characterise element associations and four associations of elements were determined by the method of multivariate statistics. Three factors represent the associations of elements that occur in the river water naturally while Factor 3 represents an anthropogenic association of the elements (Cd, Ga, In, Pb, Re, Tl, Cu, and Zn) introduced in the river waters from the waste waters from the mining and metallurgical activities in the country.