This is one of more than ten publications of Programme group that include non-target analysis. The oldest date back over 10 years ago when this branch of research was still developing proving that we were active in the area from the very beginning, while the more recent publications show that we have had a significant influence on the field. The common denominator of these publications is identification of novel transformation products using high-resolution mass spectrometry. In some papers, we have also shown that these newly formed transformation products are more toxic than parent compounds, what raised the question of evaluation treatment efficiency based solely on removal of parent compound. By simulating common water treatment processes (microbiological degradation with bacterial biomass, UV irradiation, chemical oxidation with chlorine dioxide) we followed the degradation of carbamazepine (antiepileptic, analgesic, sedative drug) and simultaneous formation of its degradation products. Seven of these were identified by complementary use of three mass analysers. Further, we compared the identified degradation products with the parent compound in respect to the efficiency of their degradation and their ecotoxicity, finding that the degradation products were more persistent and toxic than carbamazepine. Amongst all our published papers in this advanced research field requesting highly skilled personnel and equipment, we would like to point out those publications published in top range journals: -Kovačič et al, Science of the total environment, Photochemical degradation of BPF, BPS and BPZ in aqueous solution: Identification of transformation products and degradation kinetics, 2019, vol. 664, str. 595-604, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.064 (IF 4.610) -Kosjek et al, Science of the total environment, Aerobic activated sludge transformation of vincristine and identification of the transformation products, 2017, vol. 610/611, str. 892-904, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.061 (IF 4.610) -Kosjek et al, Chemosphere, Aerobic activated sludge transformation of methotrexate: Identification of biotransformation products, 2015, vol. 119, suppl. 1, str. S42-S50, doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.04.081 (IF 4.427) -Kosjek et al, Journal of chromatography. A, Fluorouracil in the environment: Analysis, occurrence, degradation and transformation, 2013, vol. 1290, str. 62-72, doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2013.03.046 (IF 4.258)
COBISS.SI-ID: 22749479
Chemical species of elements, which differ by isotopic composition, oxidation state, and/or molecular structure, play crucial role regarding their toxicity, essentiality and bioavailability. Individual chemical species in a sample are identified and quantified by the use of different separation techniques (e.g. liquid or gas chromatography) with elemental specific detection techniques (atomic spectrometry, mass spectrometry). In the last decade, the researchers from the Programme group published more than 200 papers, related to speciation of elements, in highly ranked international scientific peer-reviewed journals. These articles attracted high attention of the scientific community, which is evident through more than 7000 citations. The research was in particular devoted to the development and validation of analytical procedures, which provided reliable analytical data. The developed speciation procedures were then applied in the investigations of cycling of elements in the environment and biological systems, human health and diseases, food safety, quality of products and were used as support to the remediation technologies. MERCURY: Analytical method development and traceability (other reserch is listed in achievements #9 and 10) - KODAMATANI, HORVAT, et al. Chemosphere, 2017, 169, 32-39, doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.10.129. - RIJAVEC, HORVAT, et al. 34, 596-605, doi: 10.1080/01490451.2016.1257661 - ŽIVKOVIĆ, HORVAT, et al. . Marine Chemistry, 2017, 193, 3-7, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2017.03.003. - QUETEL, HORVAT, et al. . Analytical chemistry, 2014, 86, str. 7819-7827, doi: 10.1021/ac5018875. - JAFFE, HORVAT, et al. Environmental science & technology, , 2014, 48, 7204-7206, doi: 10.1021/es5026432. - ENT, HORVAT, et al. Measurement science & technology,2014, 25, 115801-1-115801-11, doi: 10.1088/0957-0233/25/11/115801. - KOCMAN, et al. Environmental chemistry, 2013, 10, 323-332, doi: 10.1071/EN12199. - KOCMAN and HORVAT. Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 2010, 10, str. 1417-1426. - ESBRÍ, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Journal of synchrotron radiation, , 2010, 17, 179-186, doi: 10.1107/S0909049510001925. TIN: Organotin (OTCs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) speciation studies were mainly related to 1.) cycling and transformation of OTCs in the terrestrial and aquatic environments - Vahčič et al., Anal. Chim. Acta 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2011.03.061 2.) biotic and abiotic degradation of OTCs and biomethylation of tin compounds in landfill leachates studied by the use of enriched tin isotopic tracers - Peeters et al., Water Res. 2104, doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.034 3.) occurrence of PBDEs in environmental samples and human serum - Bergant et al., 2018, J. Chromatogr., A 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2018.08.043 ARSENIC (As) speciation was mostly related to 1.) As metabolism and excretion in acute promyelocytic leukaemia patients treated with As trioxide - Šlejkovec et al., Biometals 2016, doi: 10.1007/s10534-015-9901-5 3.) As uptake from soil, its translocation and transformation in plants - Vromman et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.085 3.) food and drinking water safety - Halder et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, doi: 10.1021/es303522s 4.) environmental contamination and cycling of As Šlejkovec et al., Int. J. Mol. Sci., doi: 10.3390/ijms151222073 SELENIUM (Se) speciation was mostly oriented to 1.) Se fortification of common food crop plants (buckwheat, cabbage, pea) - Cuderman et al., Food Chem. 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.04.063 3.) Se species in aquatic biota - Kristan et al., Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 2013, doi: 10.1007/s12011-012-9560-0 4.) Se and iodine speciation in plant sprouts - Osterc et al., FEMS Yeast Res. 2009, doi: 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2008.00449.xALUMINIUM speciation studies were applied in 1.) rapid separation of low and high molecular mass Al complexes in human serum in support of the efficiency of chelation therapie
COBISS.SI-ID: 22605351
In the last decade, the rapid development of nanotechnology, which manipulates with materials at the nano-scale shape, resulted in production of numerous organic- and metal-based nanomaterials. Due to their extraordinary technical advantages, engineered nanoparticles (NPs) are used in different industrial applications, remediation technologies, biotechnology, food processing, in medical applications and personal care products. Engineered NPs may be released into the environment during various phases of their life cycles and may be accumulated in living organisms. As a result of increasing release of NPs in the environment, their potential effects on ecosystem health are becoming of great concern that needs to be addressed. For this reason, it is necessary to understand the behaviour of NPs and to follow their fate in the environment and living organisms. The researchers from the Programme group started with new field of NPs research before 4 years. During this period, they published 13 articles in highly ranked international scientific peer-reviewed journals, related to the use of NPs in remediation technologies, investigations of the fate of NPs after the nano-remediation, translocation and accumulation of NPs in organisms and tissues and the development and validation of analytical techniques, which provided reliable analytical data. Article Peeters et al. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.03.004, is an example of a study on the fate of iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) in contaminated environmental waters treated with nanoscale zero-valent iron, FeONPs and Fe3O4NPs. If FeNPs remain in these waters after the treatment, they can cause hazardous effects to the environment. A time dependent size distribution of FeNPs was investigated in Milli-Q water, forest spring water and landfill leachate after the different FeNPs treatments. The data revealed that settling and removal of FeNPs after the treatment of waters was related to the sample characteristics and the ways of NPs dispersion. The investigation significantly contributed to understand the mechanisms and kinetics of FeNPs settlings and their removal from remediated waters, which is essential to prevent nano-threat to living organisms. Other main investigations related to NPs research performed in our research group and in collaboration with other national and international research groups were oriented to i) critical evaluation of the use of different nZVI for the treatment of wastewater and study of their fate after nano-remadiation - Vidmar et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.081 - Oprčkal et al., Chem. Eng. J. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.03.104 ii) sample pre-treatment procedures for the characterization of metal NPs in aqueous and tissue samples - Vidmar et al., Anal. Methods 2016, doi: 10.1039/C5AY03305E - Vidmar et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 2018, doi: 10.1039/c7ja00402h iii) optimization of the instrumental parameters for sizing and simultaneous quantification of nanoscale titanium dioxide and a dissolved titanium form by single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - Vidmar et al., Microchem. J. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.microc.2017.02.030 iv) biomedical research The interdisciplinary investigation was performed in collaboration with Group for Nano-Bio Science (National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa, Switzerland). We studied translocation and accumulation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the human ex vivo placenta perfusion model by SP-ICP-MS. The results revealed that AgNPs and ionic Ag were detected in the fetal circulation in low but not negligible amounts. Perfusion with ionic Ag size in the fetal circulation revealed the formation of Ag containing NPs in amount and their size comparable to perfusion experiments with engineered AgNPs. Our study highlights that the uptake of Ag ions and/or dissolution of AgNPs
COBISS.SI-ID: 29324583
This is one of more than 100 papers in international scientific peer-reviewed journals published by the proponent’s group in the interdisciplinary field of research of biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, coupled to the water cycle under changing environmental and climate conditions. It is a result of collaborative research between two institutions, exploiting machine learning for prediction of biological response in the hyporheic zone in the northern part of the Sava river catchment to environmental stressors. A highly relevant finding is that for the study area, an individual stressor, (e.g. sulphate or nitrite), can act as a stimulator or inhibitor of biological processes when exceeding certain threshold values. Moreover, when combined with other environmental variables and stressors, it can have the same impact even if it falls below the defined threshold value. The coupled water and nutrient biogeochemical cycles link together all spheres, ecosystems and ecological niches of our planet. Interactions operating at short time scales have relevant implications for long-term processes, governing the global carbon and nitrogen budgets. They encompass a variety of research topics including water and nutrient cycling from the atmosphere (precipitation, CO2 budget) through biosphere (aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems) to lithosphere (water-rock interactions, hydrochemistry, carbon budget and storage) and their response to natural and anthropogenic pressure, including industrial and urban contamination, agriculture and climate change. Coupled water and nutrient cycles have been studied from various aspects: (1) hydrology of rivers and aquifers in Sava river basin for surface- and groundwater management; the representative references describe the groundwater flow and recharge and connections between surface- and groundwater: - Ogrinc et al., J. Hydrol. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.08.024, - Vrzel et al., J. Hydrol. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.11.022; - Vrzel et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.396 (2) rivers as geochemical setting for nutrient transport, cycling and transformation; the most representative references analyse the processes delivering nutrients to rivers, temporal storage of nutrients in river sediments and biota and nutrient budgets: - Perdrial et al., Biogeochemistry 2014, doi: 10.1007/s10533-013-9929-y; - Tamše et al., Cont. Shelf Res. 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.csr.2014.09.009; - Vrzel et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.213; - Vasiljević et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.206; - Milačič et al., Sci. Tot. Environ. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.260 (3) nutrient cycling in basins, which is intertwined with the functioning of ecosystems and aquatic food webs and depends upon environmental conditions and environmental change; the representative references deal with mineralization and transformations of sedimentary organic matter in lacustrine environments, and application of stable isotopes for appointment of sources of sedimentary organic compounds and as ecological indicators: - Vreča and Muri, Hydrobiol. 2010, doi: 10.1007/s10750-010-0148-4; - Muri et al., J. Paleolimnol. 2013, doi: 10.1007/s10933-013-9738-2; - Gams Petrišič et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, doi: 10.1021/es303832v; - Gams Petrišič et al., Geomicrobiol. J. 2013, doi: 10.1080/01490451.2012.688789; - Žvab Rožič et al., Ecol. Indicators 2014, doi: 10.1017/S0025315414001015; - Kanduč et al., Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.09.052; (4) analysis of air moisture, river- and groundwater for the interpretation of regional paleoclimate from terrestrial archive; the representative references describe the influence of sources on the isotope composition of atmospheric moisture and translation of isotopic fingerprints from precipitation and nutrients to authigenic carbonate: - Krklec et al., J. Hydrol. 2018,
COBISS.SI-ID: 4885071
Benzodiazepine derivatives are prescribed in large quantities globally and are potentially new emerging environmental contaminants. Unfortunately, a dearth of data exists concerning occurrence, persistence and fate in the environment. This paper addresses this by reviewing existing literature, assessing the occurrence of selected benzodiazepine anxiolytics (diazepam, oxazepam and bromazepam) in wastewater influent and effluent and surface waters from Slovenia, evaluating their removal during water treatment and identifying the transformation products formed during water treatment. Results reveal the recalcitrant nature of benzodiazepine derivatives and suggest that only combinational treatment is sufficient to remove them. In addition, eight novel diazepam and four novel oxazepam transformation products are reported. The study was presented in international conferences in Europe, USA and Canada, where the study received a lot of attention. The impact of the presented study can also be seen in studies of another group in field of environmental toxicity. Herein, Swedish scientists exposed perch to the benzodiazepine tranquilizer oxazepam finding that the compound had caused a more aggressive and antisocial behaviour of the fish. The results of the study were published in Science 15 (2013), DOI: 10.1126/science.1226850) and cite our work. The outstanding research contribution is one of 10 papers showing capacity of the research group elucidating the questions, which cannot be answered merely by investigating microbial communities, but must involve top end analytical methods, those that the researchers developed within the research program. The research paper is a result of cooperative work involving two institutions. The main contribution of this achievement to the science is the understanding of effects of different water treatment technologies, involving physical as well as biological treatments, through determining not only removal of parent compounds, but also formation of newly formed transformation products that could have even higher toxicity than parent compounds. Benzodiazepine derivatives were shown to be extremely recalcitrant against the biodegradation and only coupling different combinational treatment, the most effective one showed to be the coupled biological and photochemical treatment followed by the adsorption to activated carbon, resulted in a removal efficiency of 99.99%. Understanding environmental metabolic pathways and measuring the type and amounts of intermediate products (i) enable development of the most suitable methods for purification of the emerging contaminants, (ii) determine real microbial metabolic pathways in the environment and (iii) can amend the taxonomic information of microbial communities with their activities by measuring concentrations of metabolic products. Accordingly, the chemical analytical methods were developed and used during the research programme that enabled understanding functioning of environmental microbial communities from 2 different aspects: 1. Biodegradation of variety of pharmaceuticals Different analytical methods has been developed for studying fate, biodegradation and formation of intermediate products of chemotherapeutics used in: Pharmaceuticals used in cancer treatment vincristine: Kosjekt et al., Sci. Total Environ. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.061 etoposide: Kosjek et al., Environ. Sci. Pollut. R. 2016, doi: 10.1007/s11356-016-6889-5 Ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide: Česen et al., Sci. Total Environ. 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.109. Florouracil: Kosjek et al. J. Chromatogr. A 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2013.03.046. Neuroleptics Carbamezepine: Kosjek et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, doi: 10.1021/es900070h Antiinflamatory drugs and triglyceride-lowering pharmaceuticals Diclofenac and clofibric acid: Kosjek et al. J. Hydrol. 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.04.006 2. Combining chemical analytical methods and analysis of microbial
COBISS.SI-ID: 25246759
Mercury is one of the 10 most complex substances of global significance. In addition to the research on the negative effects of this toxic metal, described in the achievement9, the program group carried out a series of investigations, which deal with, in particular, the cycling of Hg in the contaminated area of Idrija, the Soča catchment and the Gulf of Trieste and the lagoons Marano and Grado. Research has contributed significantly to a better understanding of the effects of environmental factors on Hg mobility. Thus, it was possible to propose measures to reduce the negative effects. We published 24 papers in 1A1 category on these topics in collaboration with Italian and USA groups. 1. BRATKIČ, HORVAT, Milena, et al Marine Chemistry, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2018.01.001. 2. FAGANELI et al.Nutrients, , 2018, 10, 278-1-278-11, doi: 10.3390/nu10030278. 3. TOMIYASU,HORVATet al. Chemosphere, 2017, 184, 244-252, doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.05.123. 4. BRATKIČ, HORVAT et al. Geomicrobiology journal, 2017, 34, 587-595. 5. KOCMAN, HORVAT et al. International journal of environmental research and public health, 2017, doi: 10.3390/ijerph14020138. 6. HORVAT et al, Environmental science and pollution research international, , 2014, doi: 10.1007/s11356-013-2262-0. 7. KRISTAN, Marine pollution bulletin, 2014, 89, 455-463, doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.09.046. 8. RAMŠAK, Horvat et al.. Environmental research, 2013, 125, 103-112, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2012.12.013. 9. STERGARŠEK, HORVAT et al. Fuel, 2013, 107, 183-191, doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2012.08.001. 10. BRATKIČ, HORVAT et al. Environmental research 2013, 125, 2013, 171-178, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2013.01.004. 11. ACQUAVITA, HORVAT et al. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012, 113, 20-31, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2012.02.012. 12. ACQUAVITA, FAGANELI et al. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012, 113, 32-40, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2011.12.012. 13. EMILI, HORVATet al. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012, 113, 71-84, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2012.05.018. 14. HINES, HORVAT et al. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012,. 113, 85-95, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2011.12.021. 15. BALDI, Horvat et al.. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012, 113, 96-104, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2012.04.017. 16. BALDI, HORVAT, et al. Estuarine, coastal and shelf science, 2012, 113, 105-115, doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2012.02.008. 17. ŽIŽEK, HORVATet al. Chemosphere, 2011, 85, 883-891, doi: doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.06.110. 18. COVELLI, FAGANELI et al.. Continental Shelf Research, 2011, 31, 1777-1789, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2011.08.005. 19. LJUBIČ-MLAKAR, HORVAT, et al. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 2011, 1811/4, str. 225-241, doi: 10.1007/s10661-010-1825-5. 20. KOCMAN, David, HORVAT et al. Environmental research 2011, 111, 1-9, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2010.10.012. 21. KOCMAN, HORVATJournal of environmental management, ISSN 0301-4797, 2011, vol. 92, issue 8, str. 2038-2046, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.03.034. 22. LJUBIČ-MLAKAR, HORVAT, Milena, Fuel, 2010, 89, 1936-1945, doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2010.01.009. 23. STERGARŠEK, HORVAT et al. Fuel, 2010, vol. 89, 3167-3177, doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2010.04.006. 24. FOUCHER, OGRINC. Environmental science & technology, 2009, 43, 33-39, doi: 10.1021/es801772b. Likewise, we studied the negative consequences at the global level; in particular by measuring Hg in the marine environment and the lakes of northern Patagonia in S America. Since Hg measurement in air and environmental media is one of the measures of the effectiveness evalautiaon of the Minamata convention, the program contributed to the creation of global monitoring, which is also indicated in achievement 1. We published 16 papers in 1A1 category. 1. SPROVIERI HORVAT, et al. Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 2017, 17, 2689-2708, doi: 10.5194/acp-17-2689-2017. 2. KOTNIK et al. Marine Chemistry, , 2017, 193, 8-19, doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2017.03.002. 3. NERENTORP MASTROMONAC
COBISS.SI-ID: 4929615
In recent years more and more work of the proponent’s group is dedicated to both development as well as real-life applications of novel earth observation (EO) systems enabling better characterisation of our living environment, focused but not limited to urban systems and air quality related issues, both outdoors and indoors. The approaches used are based on use of new sensing technologies and fusion of multimodal EO data with information coming from crowdsourcing and participatory sensing. To this end, the above listed paper summarizes some of the practicalities of using data streams from sensor nodes for air quality measurement and the required methods to tune the results to different stakeholders and applications. Reported work is based on recent advances in communication and sensor technologies that enable the deployment of dense grids of Wireless Distributed Environmental Sensor Networks for air quality monitoring, and evaluates current state-of-art and the capability of these technologies and approaches to capture urban-scale spatiotemporal pollutant patterns and suggests several novel in situ field calibrations procedures. Along these lines, novel EO systems have been studied from various aspects, comprising the whole chain from testing of sensing technologies to in-depth studying of environmental processes: (1) evaluation of AQ sensors performance; metrological support is a crucial part in the process of sensors testing and the representative first reference discusses development of comprehensive Sensor Evaluation Toolbox (SET) for evaluating sensors performance in varied applications. Moreover, in addition to technical capabilities, usability and acceptability among common people and their user experience (UX) is reported in the second one: - Fishbain, Kocman, Horvat et al., Science of the total environment, 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.061; - Robinson, Kocman, Horvat et al., Sensors, 2018, doi: 10.3390/s18113768 (2) outdoor air processes – atmospheric air transport and mixing, urban air pollution; there are various methods tracing the origin of air masses (remote, regional, local), their transport and the tendency of lower atmosphere to suppress or enhance, so called atmospheric stability; in the first representative reference, a method is described to use radon as a tracer in the atmospheric stability study in the Ljubljana Basin during persistent temperature inversions, and was applied to interpret air pollution by particulate matter (PM10), and in the second reference, the role of aerosol particles is shown to study aerosol dispersion in the small-scale valleys: - Kikaj, vaupotič, et al., Atmos. Meas. Tech. 2019, doi: 10.5194/amt-2018-405; - Wang, tič, et al., Remote Sens. 2019, doi: 10.3390/rs11020106. (3) indoor air processes – air quality in living and working environment; it is reflection of emission of gasses and particulate matter in indoor air (appearing both naturally, such as radon, and produced by human activities, e. g. sprays, heating, smoking) and the level of outdoor air pollution (urban, rural); the representative references deal with an integrated approach in assessing radioactive and non-radioactive nano aerosols (particle size range 10?1000 nm), and gaseous pollutants (radon, thoron) in indoor air of urban and rural areas: - Vaupotič et al., J. Environ. Radioact. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.11.023; - Kolarž, Vaupotič, et al., J. Aerosol Sci. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2016.02.002; - Kolarž, Vaupotoč, et al., J. Environ. Radioact. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.11.006. (4) air dynamics in caves and tectonic fault indicators and precursors of seismicity; radon and carbon dioxide, radioactive, non-radioactive and bioaerosols can be used as natural indicators of air dynamics in karst caves; the representative first six papers focus on the air circulation in the morphometric different parts of the Postojna Cave by following radon and carbon dioxide, on cave tectonics b
COBISS.SI-ID: 30846759
Food quality, safety, autenticity and traceability are topics that are well represented within scientific achievements of the program group reflected in more than 80 scientific papers. Herein only papers ranked within 5% (A'') and 10% (A') leading journals in the selected field are selected. The selected paper published in the JAFC (A'') deals with the use of stable isotope ratios of C, N and S as a new powerful tool for differentiating hops according to geographical origin and can be of use to the brewing industry or to hop traders in resolving issues relating to authenticity. The methodology is straightforward, fast, and cheap, relative to standard GC or HPLC techniques and does not need any special sample pretreatment except for weighing the samples. In the case of botanical origin, the same methodology gives only limited success. 1) The traceability and geographical origin using stable isotope approach usually in combination with elemental composition or other techniques (primary, secundary metabolites) is a subject of different studies including different food commodities such as fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, honey: - Mahne Opatić et al., Food Cont., 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2017.11.013 - Mahne Opatić et al., J. Food Comp. Anal., 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2018.04.005 - Hofman et al., Talanta, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.04.040 - Bat Bizjak et al., LWT, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.lwt.2017.12.026 Mahne Opatić et al., Food Cont., 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2017.05.010 - Bat Bizjak et al., Food Chem., 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.02.039 - Nečemer et al., J. Food Comp. Anal., 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2016.07.002 - Kropf et al., Food Chem., 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.12.094 - Kropf et al., J. Agric. Food Chem., 2010, doi: 10.1021/jf102940s - Sacco et al., Food Chem., 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.11.056 - Nečemer et al., J. Agric. Food Chem., 2009, doi: 10.1021/jf900930b - Ogrinc et al., J. Agric. Food Chem., 2009, doi: 10.1021/jf9009944 Similarly, heavier stable isotopes such as strontium (Sr) determined by MC ICP-MS can be used to trace the geochemical isotope signature of a particular region from environment to food: - Epova et al., Food Chem., 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.10.143. 2) Other studies include stable isotope approach to determine food authenticity. One of the most recent significant advances in analytical chemistry has been the development of compound-specific stable isotope analysis of organic compounds: - Strojnik et al., Food Chem., 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.10.140. - Potočnik et al., J. Food Comp. Anal., 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2016.09.005 3) However, stable isotopes and elemental fingerprinting alone is not sufficient and what is needed is a suitable reference dataset of analyzed authentic products. Indeed, a large dataset, comprising samples of a product representative of a wide range of geographical, seasonal, dietary and production conditions is needed and the structure defined. Large data sets can be processed to detect and integrate compound data not only on traceability and authenticity, but also in the food composition: - Eftimov et al., Food Chem., 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.10.118 - Korošec et al., Food Chem., 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.01.005 - Koroušić-Seljak et al., Food Chem., 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem. 2013.02.061 4) A great deal of studies were also concentrated how to improve the quality of foods that represents the sum of all properties and assessable attributes of a food item described by the following articles: - Cividini et al., Animal: Int. J. Anim. Biosci., 2018, doi: 10.1017/S1751731118002598 - Kacjan-Maršič et al., J. Sci. Food. Agri., 2012, doi: 10.1002/jsfa.4546 - Simčič et al., Food Chem., 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.09.055 - Burnik Šturm et al., J. Sci. Food Agri., 2011, doi: 10.1002/jsfa.4179 - Pograjc et al., Food Chem., 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.03.031 5) Research performed in fo
COBISS.SI-ID: 910199
Environmental pollutants, including selected toxic elements and their species and organic compounds, are among the known causes for neurodevelopmental diseases, the prevalence of which seem to be increasing world-wide. Sub-clinical decrements in neuro-psychological functions are even more common than neurodevelopmental disorders and can play an important role in aetiology of neurological disorders later in life. Response depends strongly on the individual's compensation mechanisms, particularly at low, environmentally relevant exposures, and may include (epi)genetic predisposition and/or human microbiome. A notable increase of intensity of studies related to the variability in susceptibility to neurotoxic effects at low low-level of exposure to environmental toxicants has been evidenced. During the last years the research of the programme addressed three main aspects: Exposure science as practised by human biomonitoring (23 papers); exposure and health outcomes (5 papers) and gene-environment interactions (5 papers). Only papers in A1A category are listed below. Exposure and human biomonitoring: 1. SNOJ TRATNIK, Janja et al. Environmental research 2019, vol. 168, str. 32-40, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.09.004. 2. BASU, Nilardi, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental health perspectives, 2018, 14 doi: 10.1289/EHP3904. 3. STECKLING, Nadine, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environment research, 2018, 164, 597-624, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.041. 4. RENTSCHLER, Gerda, , HORVAT, Milena, et al. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 2018, 221, 2, str. 223-230, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.10.017. 5. DEN HOND, Elly, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental health perspectives, 2015, 123,3, 255-263, doi: 10.1289/ehp.1408616. 6. FIDDICKE, Ulrike, HORVAT, Milena, al. Environmental research 2015, 141, 15-23, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.08.039. 7. ESTEBAN, Marta, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental research 2015, 141, 24-30, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.11.014. [ 8. BERGLUND, Marika, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental research, 2015, 141, 69-76, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.09.042. 9. COVACI, Adrian, HORVAT, Milena, HEATH, Ester, et al., Environmental Research, 2015, 141, 77-85, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.08.008. 10. SMOLDERS, R., HORVAT, Milena, MAZEJ, Darja, et al. Environmental Research, 2015, 141, 86-95, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.08.016. 11. FUCIĆ, A., HORVAT, Milena, , et al.. Environmental research, 2015, 141, 125-131, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.10.008. 12. EXLEY, Karen, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental science and pollution research, 2015, 22, 20, 15821-15834, doi: 10.1007/s11356-015-4772-4. 13. OJO, Joshua O., HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environmental science and pollution research international, , 2014, 21, 2, str. 1124-1132, doi: 10.1007/s11356-013-1951-z. 14. MIKLAVČIČ VIŠNJEVEC, Ana, KOCMAN, David, HORVAT, Milena. Environmental toxicology and chemistry, 2014, vol. 33, 6, 1259-1270, doi: 10.1002/etc.2482. 15. BECKER, Kerstin, HORVAT, Milena, et al. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, , 2014, 217, 2-3, str. 312-322, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2013.07.004. 16. SCHINDLER, Birgit Karin, HORVAT, Milena, et al. et al. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 2014, 217, 6, 653-661, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2013.12.002. 17. BELLANGER, Martine, HORVAT, Milena, et al.. Environmental health, 2013, 3, 12, 20 18. MIKLAVČIČ VIŠNJEVEC, HORVAT, Milena. Et al. Environmental research, 2013, 120, 7-17, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.010. 19. MIKLAVČIČ VIŠNJEVEC, HORVAT, Milenaet al. Environmental Reserch, 2011, 111, 1201-1207. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2011.07.006. 20. BARREGARD, Lars, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Toxicological sciences. an official journal of the Society of Toxicology, , 2011, 120, 2, 499-506, doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfr009. 21. HRUBÁ, Františka, HORVAT, Milena, et al. Environment international, 2012, 41, 29-34, doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2011.12.001. 22. JOAS, Reinhard, HORVAT, Milena, et
COBISS.SI-ID: 29739047
Environmental health remains ever developing and demanding research area. It will dictate our integrative activities on modeling, evaluating environmental impacts, and risk assessment also in the future. During period of the last 10 years the focus was on predictions of long-term environmental changes related to, e.g., consequences of climate change, electric energy production, transport in big urban areas, and on the integration of risk assessment and spatial planning. In this relation we developed approaches and methods for credible evaluation and integration in the framework of strategic impact assessment. Examples of our research results in these areas are: MATKO, Maruša, GOLOBIČ, Mojca, KONTIĆ, Branko. Reducing risks to electric power infrastructure due to extreme weather events by means of spatial planning: case studies from Slovenia. Utilities policy, 2017, 44, p. 12-24, doi: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.10.007. KONTIĆ, Branko, BOHANEC, Marko, KONTIĆ, Davor, TRDIN, Nejc, MATKO, Maruša. Improving appraisal of sustainability of energy options - a view from Slovenia. Energy policy, 2016, 90, p. 154-171, doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.12.022. KONTIĆ, Branko, DERMOL, Urška. Confronting reality in strategic environmental assessment in Slovenia - Costs and benefits. Environmental impact assessment review, 2015, 50, p. 42-52, doi: 10.1016/j.eiar.2014.08.002. Recently, a need has been recognised – based on policy development requirements given by decision-makers – for evaluating health risks and societal consequences with the aim of providing inputs to the creation of future environmental health policies and measures in the environment-climate change-health nexus. In this context our research will thoroughly investigate ways of solving a problem of conveying research results to decision-makers and the public. We will particularly explore different past and possible future interactions between risk assessor and a manager and their success in ensuring that the risk manager understands the results of risk assessment, including the uncertainties. In this view a special attention will be given to the role of monitoring in the context of risk assessment and management with the aim of making them targeted and fit for purpose (unfortunately, much more attention has been devoted in the past to designing monitoring programmes than to determining how the results are to be used; as a result, reports of many monitoring studies commissioned by the public agencies and other decision makers, serve primarily to take up shelf space, and only occasional attempts are made to take benefit from them). Presentation of the results of the risk assessment to the public is an extension of the risk assessment-risk management interchange in that a democratic public is the ultimate risk manager. Although there is an extensive literature on communicating risks to the public, ever new adaptations and research requirements for specific cases is needed as to achieve trustworthiness by the public concerned about (hidden) risks in their neighbourhood and related to their habits and activities. These topics will also be covered in our future research.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30086183