Objective: The present study aims to determine the concentrations of seven trace elements [chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cesium (Cs), lead (Pb), thorium (Th), and uranium (U)] in tap, well, spring, river, and lake waters in the town of Angono, Rizal in the Philippines, consumed for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing. In the town of Angono, both of the tap and purified tap waters produced in the refilling station are consumed as the water for drinking. Methods: Water samples from six unpurified tap, six purified taps, 10 wells, two springs, two rivers, and one lake water were obtained in October 2015. Samples were analyzed using solution nebulization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results were evaluated for health risks of the trace elements in the water samples using WHO guideline values. The provisional WHO guideline values are as follows: Cr: 50 μg/L, As: 10 μg/L, Cd: 3 μg/L, Pb: 10 μg/L, and U: 30 μg/L. That of Cs has not been proposed yet. The WHO guideline value for the naturally occurring radioactive isotope 232Th in drinking water is 1 Bq/L, which is equivalent to 250 μg/L. Results: The concentrations of the trace elements in the tap water samples were <0.5% of the WHO guideline values, except Cs and Cd, with those of Cd being ~9% of the WHO guideline value. Purified tap waters contained the seven trace elements in lower concentrations, with the exception of Pb, which may have been added in small amounts from equipment used for water purification. The concentrations of the trace elements in water samples from the wells and springs in Angono were more variable than those of the tap waters, and these were also below the WHO guideline values. The concentrations of Cs in all water samples were <0.3 μg/L. The trace-element concentrations of the waters from Angono River and Laguna Lake were almost the same as those of the well and spring waters. Conclusion At present, the concentrations of trace elements in daily life water consumed in Angono are at safe levels.
Trace Elements

No abstract available.
Plasma* ; Spectrum Analysis* ; Trace Elements*

Introduction: We analyzed the concentrations of the trace elements [chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cesium (Cs), lead (Pb), thorium (Th), and uranium (U)] in commercial bottled water consumed in the town of Angono, Rizal province, Luzon island, Philippines to evaluate the health risks of the trace elements in drinking water. There are some arguments that water resources available in the Philippines are heavily polluted by various materials, inparticular heavy metal elements. Method: The concentrations of seven trace elements in commercial bottled water produced and consumed in the Philippines were analyzed using a solution nebulization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SN−ICP−MS). Result: The concentrations of the trace elements except for Cs, which does not yet have a WHO guideline value, in the locally produced bottled water were below the WHO guideline values. The Cs concentrations (<0.6 μg/L) of the bottled water of the Philippines were generally similar to those of the bottled water produced and consumed in other countries such as Japan, China, and Indonesia. Conclusion The concentrations of trace elements in bottled water consumed in Angono, Philippines can be regarded as being at safe levels, as well as those of daily life water (i.e. tap, well, and spring water) consumed in the said town.
Drinking Water ; Trace Elements ; Philippines

Humans ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Microwaves ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Trace Elements ; blood

OBJECTIVETo establish a method of determining more elements in whole blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

METHODSThe whole blood samples were treated by 5% nitric acid to remove the proteins, then were centrifuged. Sixteen elements (Be, Al, Mn, V, Cr, Co, Ni, As, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba,Tl, Pb and U) in the supernatant were directly measured by ICP-MS.

RESULTSThe detection limits of 16 elements were 0.01 ∼ 6.51 µg/L. The linear correlation coefficient was ≥ 0.999. The relative standard deviations were below 5 %. The recovery rates were 105% ∼ 115%. Seronorm Trace Elements SerumL-1 LOT 0903106 and GBW09139g or GBW09140g were used in the quality control, the detected results corresponded with the standard values.

CONCLUSIONICP-MS technique is a simple, rapid, accurate and reliable method, which can be used to measure several trace elements in whole blood samples.

OBJECTIVES: Copper and Zinc, the trace elements of a living body, take a part in immunologic mechanism and induce the pulmonary fibrosis which is the pathologic progress of pneumoconiosis. This study was performed to assist the identification of the pathologic process of pulmonary fibrosis in pneumoconiosis. METHODS: The subjects of this study was 200 diagnosed persons as pneumoconiosis, of whom 100 persons was the visitors in the outpatients departments of pneumoconiosis and 100 admissive pneumoconiosis patients. The serum copper and zinc are measured and com pared. RESULTS: The mean serum copper concentration of visitor group was significantly higher than that of control group, and that of stage V3 subgroup of visitor group was highest because of their advanced fibrosis. But, there was not the difference of serum copper concentration between patient and control group. We thought that the reason was poor nutritional and health status of the patient. The mean of serum zinc concentration of visitor and patient control was lower than that of control group. As the degree of pulmonary fibrosis was more severe from stage Vl, V2, V3 of visitor to stage Pl, P2, P3 of patient, the mean of serum zinc concentration was lower. The ratio of serum copper/zinc of visitor and patient was higher than that of control, and that of patient was higher than that of visitor. Those results showed that the ratio of serum copper/zinc ratio more greatly expressed the degree of progression of pneumoconiosis than only copper or zinc concentration by adjustment of nutritional and health status of the patient. CONCLUSIONS: As above study results, the degree of pulmonary fibrosis of pneumoconiosis could be estimated by means of serum copper/zinc ratio.
Copper* ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Pneumoconiosis* ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Trace Elements ; Zinc*

OBJECTIVETo study the heat processing technics of Nanhanshuishi.

METHODTo find the best processing technic, the single factor experiments and orthogonal experiments were designed basing on the processing technics summarized by consulting documents, scriptures and investigating some Tibetan hospitals, meanwhile, the content of Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu in the processed Nanhanshuishi in single factor experiments and orthogonal experiments were detected.

RESULTThe best processing technic of Nanhanshuishi was as follows: Nanhanshuishi was crashed to 10-20 mm in diameter, the ratio of the weight of Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix and potassium nitrate was 1: 2, and the boiling time was 3 h.

CONCLUSIONThe work in this article provided a basic processing technic data for clarifying the mechanism of processing and establishing the perfect processing technics of Nanhanshuishi.

Objective: To quantitatively evaluate the content differences of trace elements in workers with occupational exposure to lead. Methods: In January 2021, relevant literatures on the contents of trace elements in workers with occupational exposure to lead published from 1990 to 2020 were searched through CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, web of science and Embase. Screened and extracted the literatures, and evaluated the quality of the included literatures with Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Meta analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.3 software, and standardized mean difference (SMD) and its 95% confidence interval were used as effect indicators. Results: A total of 20 literatures were included, and the quality scores were 5-7. The results of Meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, the contents of blood zinc (SMD=-1.01, 95%CI: -1.53, -0.49) , hair zinc (SMD=-0.17, 95%CI: -0.33, -0.01) , hair copper (SMD=-0.50, 95%CI: -1.01, 0) , hair iron (SMD=-3.91, 95%CI: -5.80, -2.03) and hair manganese (SMD=-1.09, 95%CI: -2.02, -0.15) in occupational lead exposure group were significantly lower (P<0.05) . Compared with the control group, the content of cobalt in hair of occupational lead exposure group (SMD=1.41, 95%CI: 0.72, 2.10) was higher, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . There was no significant difference in the contents of blood chromium, blood copper, blood iron, blood manganese, blood selenium and hair nickel between the two groups (P>0.05) . Conclusion: Workers with occupational exposure to lead have abnormal trace elements.
Copper ; Humans ; Iron ; Lead ; Manganese ; Occupational Exposure ; Trace Elements ; Zinc

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Essential hypertension has been accepted as being associated with a loss of the balance between pro- and anti-oxidations. Essential trace elements, such as Se, Mn, Cu and Zn, participate in various enzyme reactions necessary for the antioxidant defense system of cells. The object of the present study was to evaluate the serum levels of anti-oxidant minerals, which may be related to the pathophysiology of essential hypertension. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The subjects were composed of 50 normotensive controls; 25 men and 25 women (14 premenopausal, 11 postmenopausal), and 50 hypertensive patients; 16 men and 32 women (19 premenopausal, 13 postmenopausal). ICP-MS was employed to measure the mineral concentrations. RESULTS: Compared with controls, the serum Se and Zn concentrations in the essential hypertensive patients were elevated (Se 12.78+/-0.47 vs. 17.85+/-0.58 microliter/dL, p=0.0008; Zn 110.87+/-5.36 vs. 134.36+/-5.95 microliter/dL, p=0.0040), whereas those of Mn and Cu were decreased (Mn 0.49+/-0.02 vs. 0.28+/-0.03 microliter/dL, p=0.0121; Cu 127.84+/-5.07 vs. 93.88+/-2.90 microliter/dL, p<0.0001). The mean Cu/Zn ratio of the patients was higher than that of the controls (1.14+/-0.03 vs. 0.67+/-0.02, p=0.0057). In the hypertensive patients, there was a negative correlation between the Zn and Cu concentrations (correlation coefficient -0.36458, p=0.0395). CONCLUSION: The analyzed mineral concentrations were significantly different between the essential hypertensive patients and the controls. It remains to be determined whether the alterations in the serum concentrations of antioxidant minerals are responsible for the pathogenesis of essential hypertension or just a simple consequence of hypertension.
Copper ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Male ; Manganese ; Minerals* ; Selenium ; Trace Elements ; Zinc

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between serum trace element levels with disease activity in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The serum levels of zinc, copper and ceruloplasmin were measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometers in 80 patients th , 26 osteoarthritis (OA), and 30 healthy controls (HC). We also measured the levels of zinc and copper in the synovial fluid (SF) of patients with RA. We nvestigated the clinical parameters simultaneously obtained at sampling of serum and analyzed correlation between serum levels of trace elements and disease activity in RA. RESULTS: In RA, the levels of serum zinc were significantly lower than that of HC, and thelevels of serum copper and ceruloplasmin were significantly higher than those of HC. In active RA, the levels of serum zinc were more decreased , and the levels of serum copper and ceruloplasmin were more increased than those of inactive group of RA. The levels of both copper and ceruloplasmin showed positive correlation with the levels of serum ESR and CRP. On the other hand, the levels of serum zinc showed negative correlation with the levels of serum ESR and CRP. CONCLUSION: Serum zinc levels are significantly lower and serum copper levels significantly higher in patients with active RA and these trace elements were useful parameter of disease activity in RA.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Ceruloplasmin ; Copper* ; Hand ; Humans ; Osteoarthritis ; Plasma ; Synovial Fluid ; Trace Elements ; Zinc*