A field experiment was conducted to find out the effect of FYM on the uptake of cadmium by Amaranth (Amaranthus viridis L.) on the alluvial soil of Sheila Dhar Institute experimental farm, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Four levels of organic matter (0, 10, 15 and 20 t ha-1), Cd (0, 5, 10 and 15 mg kg-1) were applied as FYM and CdCl2, respectively. The application of FYM 20 t ha-1 increased the dry biomass of Amaranth by 35.08% over the control. The application of 15 mg kg-1 Cd maximum reduces dry biomass of Amaranth by 17.45% compared to control and registered the highest accumulation of Cd in shoot and root of Amaranth by 1.86 mg kg-1 and 1.92 mg kg-1, respectively. Therefore, 20 t ha-1 FYM applications may be recommended to enhance dry biomass of Amaranth. The response of FYM was observed ameliorative in Cd-contaminated plots.

Hazards attributable to the natural radionuclides present in beach sands, from ten (10) landing beaches in the Volta Region of Ghana, was assessed in this study. The terrestrial radiation exposure levels at the beaches, in addition to hazards humans may face in using the analyzed sands were determined. Gamma-spectrometry was used to assess specific activities of radionuclides in the samples. Three different radiological hazard indices analogous to radiation hazards were estimated. Total absorbed gamma dose rate in the air and equivalent annual effective dose were assessed. The resulting specific activities range from 1.87 - 17.53 Bq Kg-1 for 226Ra, 3.84 - 24.81 Bq Kg-1 for 232Th and 77.40 - 1103.90 for 40K, while mean values of 30.02 nGy h-1, 0.18 mSv y-1, 61.24Bq kg-1, 0.17 and 0.19 were obtained, for absorbed dose rate, annual external effective dose, radium equivalent activity, external hazard index and internal hazard index respectively. Sands from the beaches studied cannot be considered as radiological hazard to human safety and health.

The aim of the present work was to study the variation of lipid and fatty acids composition as well as morphometric characteristics of Plantago media leaves from the different light conditions in northeastern Russia. The leaves of the plants grown under lower light had lower leaf mass/area ratio but larger areas of lamina. They accumulated lower levels of lipid peroxide products. It was found that as the duration of sunshine increased, the content of total lipids increased (r = 0.78), but an increase in temperature resulted in a decrease of their content (r = - 0.70), especially for plants in high-sunshine habitats. Concentration of GL in leaves of shaded plants increased with increasing precipitation but decreased with increasing temperature and the duration of sunshine. Amount of saturation FA increased with increasing temperature and the duration of sunshine. Precipitation contributed to the accumulation of unsaturation FA. Thus, the content of lipids in the leaves depended on weather and microclimate conditions.

Between February and March 2015, a radon awareness survey was conducted to measure general awareness and factual knowledge about some characteristics and health hazards of radon among residents in the southern part of West Bank - Palestine. Radon awareness among people is important for monitoring its level in their residential houses to reduce the risk of adverse health effects. Furthermore, radon awareness among the public would support and facilitate researchers working for such surveys during the field work. Questionnaire data consisted of knowledge and risk perception items about radon. A total number of 550 participants responded to the questionnaires. The questionnaire was distributed randomly to people in the region, and completed and returned directly. The survey found that 67.5% of 157 respondents males and 88.8%of 348 respondents females had heard of radon, but only 17.8% of males and 87.4% of females were knowledgeably as radon is harmful. With regard to radon testing, a small percentage of respondents who were aware of radon had their homes tested. The percentage of respondents who were aware or knowledgeably aware of radon increased with increasing education level. Awareness females in radon properties and its health effects in most questions is more than males. This study provides preliminary evidence that the residents in the area under investigation do not know much their risk of radon exposure or the deleterious consequences of exposure.

Human beings are persistently exposed to ionizing radiation caused by terrestrial, extra-terrestrial and anthropogenic radionuclides. In order to assess the risks associated with exposure due to the natural radioactivity in soil, a radiological environmental monitoring survey was carried out in Talagang area of district Chakwal. In the present study, activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K are measured in soil samples using an HPGe based gamma spectrometry system. The measured mean specific radioactivity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in the studied samples was 31.08 ± 1.2 Bqkg-1, 47.67 ± 2.30 Bqkg-1 and 558.23 ± 17.52 Bqkg-1, respectively. From the measured activity concentration, radium equivalent activity, external and internal hazard indices, terrestrial absorbed dose and annual effective dose were calculated. Mean radium equivalent activity (Raeq), outdoor radiation hazard index (Hex), indoor radiation hazard index (Hin) and absorbed dose rate (D) for the area under study were determined as 142.00 ± 5.98 Bqkg-1, 0.38 ± 0.2, 0.47 ± 0.2 and 66.08 ± 2.75 nGyh-1 respectively. The annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) varied in the range from 0.10 ± 0.01 mSv y-1 to 0.16 ± 0.01 mSv y-1. On the basis of measured activity and calculated values of hazards indices, it is concluded that the surveyed area does not pose any significant radiological risk to the population and environment.

Atrazine is an herbicide that causes serious damage to the environment and possibly affects the genetic material of organisms that come into contact with this agent, provoking mutations in their DNA. Although the herbicide Atrazine has been tested by various systems, a large number of deficiencies have been reported for many assays, and some evidence of its genotoxic effects still needs to be confirmed. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the herbicide Atrazine effects, analyzing the mitotic index alterations and the induction of chromosome aberrations, using the Allium cepa test system. Fifty Allium cepa seeds were used for germination in Atrazine solutions at the concentration used in the field (0.125 ppm) and at progressively lower concentrations (0.062, 0.031 and 0.015 ppm). After 20 h, some roots were then collected from each assay, while the remaining roots were transferred to plates containing Milli-Q water and allowed to recover for 48 h. The herbicide reduced the germination indexes of seeds, the mitotic indexes of cells and induced alterations in the genetic material of the test organism, what suggests that this herbicide presents genotoxic effect at all concentrations tested.