Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31367176›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health insights2019

A Pilot Survey of Potentially Hazardous Trace Elements in the Aquatic Environment Near a Coastal Coal-Fired Power Plant in Taiwan.

Victor C Kok, Paul R Winn, Yi-Jer Hsieh, Jien-Wen Chien, Jer-Ming Yang, Guang-Perng Yeh

Erratum issuedAbstract read
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Article in Environmental health insights, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Victor C KokDepartment of Internal Medicine, Kuang Tien General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3440-8154
Paul R WinnWaterkeeper Alliance based in Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
Yi-Jer HsiehThe Scientific Committee, Air Clean Taiwan (ACT) Alliance, Changhua, Taiwan.
Jien-Wen ChienThe Scientific Committee, Air Clean Taiwan (ACT) Alliance, Changhua, Taiwan.
Jer-Ming YangThe Scientific Committee, Air Clean Taiwan (ACT) Alliance, Changhua, Taiwan.
Guang-Perng YehThe Scientific Committee, Air Clean Taiwan (ACT) Alliance, Changhua, Taiwan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA limited number of potentially hazardous trace elements were quantified in the aquatic environment near the world's second largest coal-fired power plant (CFPP) and the coal combustion residual (CCR) disposition sites in Central Taiwan. We postulated that contamination from specific trace elements would be present in the abovementioned aquatic environments.

methodsCross-sectional sampling of trace elements was first performed between September 24, 2017 and October 3, 2017 outside the CFPP, in the effluent sampled from Changhua, a county south of metropolitan Taichung, and at the historical CCR disposal sites, using the intertidal zone surface seawater and the seawater in an oyster farm as controls. Aqueous samples were collected from 12 locations for analysis of 13 trace elements (Al, As, B, Cd, total Cr, Co, Fe, Pb, Mn, Se, Sr, Tl, and V). We used inductively coupled plasma (ICP) optical emission spectrometry to determine B and Fe levels, and ICP mass spectrometry for all other trace elements. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (Rho) was calculated to examine the pairwise relation among the trace elements.

resultsAl (50% of all samples), B (66.7%), Fe (25%), Mn (50%), Sr (8.3%), and V (25%) were identified as being above the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation limit. The oyster farm seawater had no concerns. Mn (96.4 μg/L) in the CFPP drainage effluent was 1.9-fold above the regulation limit. Fe, Mn, and V were detected from the cooling channel at 4379, 625, and 11.3 μg/L, respectively. The effluent and water from the areas surrounding the 2 CCR dump sites revealed similar magnitudes of trace element contamination. B is highly correlated with Sr (Rho = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80-0.98). Meanwhile, Fe is highly correlated with Al (Rho = 0.77), Pb (Rho = 0.71), Co (Rho = 0.75), and V (Rho = 0.84).

conclusionsThe EPA must set an explicit regulation limit for aluminum, boron, iron, and strontium in the aquatic environment. This exploratory research will inform policymaking regarding certain trace elements that could potentially have an adverse impact on public health and wildlife.

Indexed as

aquaticboroncoal combustion residualscoal-fired power plantpollutionTrace elements

Identifiers

PMID31367176
PMCPMC6643181

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.