Relationship of hair calcium concentration to incidence of coronary heart disease.

This study was designed to evaluate whether hair calcium concentration reflects the mortality from coronary heart disease on a UK-wide basis and to determine the effect--if any--of environmental factors which might affect calcium metabolism on this relationship. The study was based on our earlier findings of an inverse relationship between hair calcium concentration and that in the intima of the aorta and the association of high aorta calcium with severe alterations to the vessel walls which was found never to co-exist with hair calcium concentrations greater than 700 ppm. Hair samples were collected from 4393 males in an ethically approved study in 40 different health districts.

Beard calcium concentration as a marker for coronary heart disease as affected by supplementation with micronutrients including selenium.

Hair calcium concentration is biologically regulated and inversely correlated to the concentration in the aorta. Populations generally divide into high and low hair calcium groups which differ significantly from each other. It has been found that about 90% of people who suffer an acute myocardial infarction belong to the low hair calcium group.

Determination of gold accumulation in human tissues caused by gold therapy using x-ray fluorescence analysis.

Human autopsy tissues from five patients with rheumatoid arthritis, who had been treated with aqueous solutions of gold and from an untreated control cadaver with the same disease, were analysed by x-ray flurescence spectrometry using a conventional Si(Li) detection system. The gold and zinc concentrations of tissues were determined and compared to some results available in the literature. Correlation has been found between Zn and Au concentrations in heart, lung, kidney and liver tissues.

Use of hair as a biopsy tissue for calcium.

Experimental and literature values for hair calcium levels were evaluated to identify their physiological significance. The distribution of values obtained from different populations indicates that the calcium content of scalp hair reflects calcium metabolism in the body. Correlations between the hair calcium concentrations from different anatomical sites support this indication.