Browsing by Author "Michalcová, Alena"
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- ItemDetection and identification of engineered nanoparticles in exhaled breath condensate, blood serum, and urine of occupationally exposed subjects(SPRINGER WIEN, SACHSENPLATZ 4-6, PO BOX 89, A-1201 WIEN, AUSTRIA, 2019-03) Lischková, Lucie; Pelclová, Daniela; Hlušička, Jiří; Navrátil, Tomáš; Vlčková, Štěpánka; Fenclová, Zdenka; Dvořáčková, Štěpánka; Popov, Alexey; Michalcová, Alena; Marek, Ivo; Marek, Ivo; Mikuška, Pavel; Ždímal, Vladimír; Koštejn, Martin; Ondráček, Jakub; Schwarz, Jaroslav; Zakharov, SergeyThe use of nanotechnology and the fields of application of nanomaterials are growing vastly, but the negative health effects on the exposed employees are not well studied. The standardized methods of monitoring of occupational exposure are still absent. The task of occupational physicians is to find the ways of evaluation of potential risks of exposure to engineered nanoparticles and to determine the biomarkers for early diagnostics and prevention of occupational diseases. The aim of our study was to detect and identify engineered nanoparticles in biological samples received from occupationally exposed subjects and to evaluate the association of findings with the results of external aerosol measurements on the workplace. The study cohort consisted of two groups of subjects. The first group was exposed to engineered nanoparticles containing mainly iron, manganese, and carbon compounds; the second group was exposed to the nanoparticles containing copper oxide. The post-shift biological samples (urine, blood serum, and exhaled breath condensate) were collected. The analysis was performed by transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The nanoparticles were detected in all the biological samples. The most common identified chemical elements were the biogenic ones (carbon, potassium, chlorine, oxygen), but the nanoparticles containing metals were identified in EBC, blood, and urine as well (gold, silver, copper, lanthanum, cerium, and tantalum). Our results demonstrate the possibility of detection of occupational exposure to the engineered nanoparticles in human biological fluids. Further studies are necessary to compare the pre-shift and post-shift burden of samples with engineered nanoparticles and to determine the magnitude of occupational exposure during the shift.
- ItemNovel chapter in hybrid materials: One-pot synthesis of purely organosilane fibers(Elsevier Ltd, 2020-03) Holubová, Barbora; Máková, Veronika; Müllerová, Jana; Brus, Jiří; Havlíčková, Kristýna; Jenčová, Věra; Michalcová, Alena; Kulhánková, Johana; Řezanka, MichalDespite the extensive literature on organosilane hybrid materials, there are very few reports on the preparation of purely organosilane non-woven fibrous mats. Nevertheless, their use in various application fields may be of great importance regarding the global issue of polymer fibers and the toxicity of other compounds used so far in the composite polymer-organosilane fiber-manufacturing process. The greatest obstacle seems to be the supposed difficulty in the polymerization of organosilanes in a spinnable polymeric solution. In this work, we report the one-pot synthesis of electrospun organosilane fibers without any kinds of surfactants, low-molecular-weight polymeric gelators or spinnable polymers. The purely organosilane fibrous mats were prepared only via a suitable adjustment of the sol-gel processing parameters and were successfully produced an industrial electrospinning device, promising possible fabrication on a large scale. Moreover, the use of two differently-structured model benzene functionalized organoalkoxysilanes proves the possibility of designing a molecularly engineered material tailored to specific applications. These organosilane fibrous mats seem to be promising in various application fields, such as reusable catalysts, adsorption or conducting membranes or as novel biomaterials. This latter of these areas was preliminarily studied herein.