A simple, rapid and selective complexometric method is proposed for the determination of mercury(II). Mercury(II) and other related metal ions are first complexed with an excess of EDTA and the surplus EDTA is back-titrated with a standard lead nitrate solution at pH 5.0-6.0 (hexamine buffer) using xylenol orange as an indicator. A 0.2% solution of 2-thiazolinethiol in acetone is then added to displace EDTA from the Hg(II)-EDTA complex. The released EDTA is titrated with a standard lead nitrate solution as before. Reproducible and accurate results are obtained in the range of 0.8 g l-1-15.8 g l-1 of mercury with a relative error less than ±0.25% and a coefficient of variation (n = 6) not higher than 0.28%. The interference of various ions was studied and the method was employed for the analysis of mercury in its synthetic alloy mixtures and in complexes.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors, consider as a manifestation of obesity. However, a proportion of obese patients do not develop MetS. The aim of our study was to deter-mine whether concentration of plasma adiponectin and leptin differ between metabolic unhealthy obese (MUO) patients and comparable age-and sex-matched control groups. Methods: In this case-control study, we assigned 51 obese patients with MetS (MUO) in cases group and 102 metabolic healthy obese (MHO) and normal weight metabolic healthy subjects matched for age and gender to cases in control groups. The study was conducted between December 2014 and February 2016 in the Endocri-nology Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. We measured serum adi-ponectin, leptin, their ratio, and body composition in all subjects. Results: No significant differences were observed between MHO and MUO in term of total fat mass and trunk fat (P>0. 05). Compared to MHO and normal weight metabolic healthy subjects, MUO subjects had low-er levels of plasma adiponectin (P<0. 001) and lower plasma adiponectin to leptin ratio (P<0. 001) and a higher level of plasma leptin (P<0. 002). A Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was used to identify the ability of adiponectin and leptin level to predict the MetS. The area under the Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was 0. 66 (P<0. 01), 0. 73 (P<0. 001) and 0. 75 (P<0. 001) for leptin, adiponectin, and adiponectin/leptin ratio levels respectively. Conclusion: Our study introduced adiponectin and leptin as indicator of MetS and obesity respectively.

The presence of heavy metals in water makes water unfit for use and causes various hazardous health problems. This research investigates the physical and chemical properties of the collected industrial effluent samples of different industries and the use of burnt potato peels (BPP) as adsorbents to remove heavy metal ions from industrial effluents. Various parameters such as pH, adsorbent volume, and contact time were investigated. The concentration of heavy metal ions was accurately quantified using complexometric titration and atomic absorption spectroscopic analyses. Various heavy metals such as Co+, Mg+, Fe+, Pb+, and Cd+ were found in the samples with varying concentrations. The burnt potato peels showed the maximum adsorption of about 61% at pH 9, 60 min contact time, 0.5 g of burnt potato peels, and 10 mg/L of sample concentration.