Trace elements concentrations association with schizophrenia symptoms; A cross-sectional study in Croatia.

Background: Significant inconsistencies exist in findings on association of bio-elements (BE) concentrations and schizophrenia. Hypothesis of this research was that different concentrations of BE are associated with different psychopathological schizophrenia symptoms.

Subjects And Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed from 2014 to 2016 at Psychiatric Hospital "Sveti Ivan" and University Psychiatric Hospital "Vrapče", Zagreb, Croatia, on the consecutive sample of 67 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

In search of decoding the syntax of the bioelements in human hair - A critical overview.

The principles and practice of assessing the human body nutritional status or its environmental exposure through hair bioelement analysis are presented; herein the term "bioelements" is used as a common denominator for the major elements, trace elements and ultra-trace elements that are found in the human body. The accumulation of bioelements in the hair followed the statistical Power Law and the resulting sigmoid curve can be zoned into five regions in the ascending order of abundance (Low, Marginal, Adequate, High, and Excessive). The Adequate linear region of the bioassay sigmoid curve may be further subdivided into Low adequate, Recommended, and Ample adequate sub regions in a 60:30:10 ratio.

Assessing the boron nutritional status by analyzing its cummulative frequency distribution in the hair and whole blood.

Boron is a non-essential ubiquitous trace element in the human body. The aim of this study was to assess boron nutritional status by analyzing boron frequency distribution in the long-term biological indicator tissue of hair and the short-term biological indicator of whole blood. Hair samples were analyzed in 727 apparently healthy subjects (263 ♂ and 464 ♀) and the whole blood boron was analyzed in the random subsample of them (80 ♂ and 152 ♀).

Hair for a long-term biological indicator tissue for assessing the strontium nutritional status of men and women.

Strontium (Sr) is a trace element that closely resembles calcium metabolism. At the present time there is no available long-term biological indicator tissue for assessing the human Sr nutritional status. Here we have presented a novel concept on how to assess the Sr nutritional status by studying the frequency distribution properties of hair Sr (H) concentration.

Alterations of Hair and Nail Content of Selected Trace Elements in Nonoccupationally Exposed Patients with Chronic Depression from Different Geographical Regions.

The aim of this study was to determine if altered levels of selected trace elements manifest themselves during chronic depression. To identify elements strongly associated with chronic depression, relationships between the elemental contents of hair and nails and the interelement correlations were checked. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and ion chromatography were used to evaluate the contents of Zn, Cu, Co, Pb, Mn, and Fe in hair and nail samples from a total of 415 subjects (295 patients and 120 healthy volunteers).

High hair selenium mother to fetus transfer after the Brazil nuts consumption.

Lactating mother and her two month old healthy daughter (APGAR 10) gave their scalp hair for a multielement profile analysis; 25 elements were analyzed with the ICP MS. Mother's hair was divided into 5cm long segment proximal to the scull (Young), and the distal segment further up to the hair tip (Old). One centimeter of hair records one month of the metabolic activity of the bioelements in the body.

RETRACTED: A novel concept to derive iodine status of human populations from frequency distribution properties of a hair iodine concentration.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal).

Hair iodine for human iodine status assessment.

Background: Today, human iodine deficiency is, after iron, the most common nutritional deficiency in developed European and underdeveloped third world countries. A current biological indicator of iodine status is urinary iodine, which reflects very recent iodine exposure; a long-term indicator of iodine status remains to be identified.

Methods: We analyzed hair iodine in a prospective, observational, cross-sectional, and exploratory study involving 870 apparently healthy Croatians (270 men and 600 women).

The sister chromatide exchange rate is inversely related to the Se, Sr, Mn, Cu, and Be trace element nutritional status.

We studied the relationship of the 39 whole blood trace elements and the peripheral lymphocyte sister chromatide exchange (SCE) by factor analysis. Se, Sr, Mn, Cu, and Be were inversely related to SCE, and hence protective against the free radicals.

Seasonality of 214Bi activity in the human body and of 222Rn concentration in home ambient air.

We studied the seasonal variation of the environmental radon progeny (214)Bi activity in the whole bodies (WB) of women and men participating in community-based studies at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center (GFHNRC), the (214)Bi background activity of the GFHNRC whole body counter (WBC) steel room, and ambient air (222)Rn concentration in the homes of Grand Forks residents, over the 1988-2004 time period. In this cross-sectional epidemiological study, (214)Bi activity in women and men, in the WBC steel room, and (222)Rn concentration in resident homes fluctuated such that the highest values were observed in winter and the lowest in summer, respectively. (214)Bi activity in the WB of human subjects was higher in women who have more (214)Bi activity per unit mass than men.

Natural distribution of environmental radon daughters in the different brain areas of an Alzheimer disease victim.

Background: Radon is a ubiquitous noble gas in the environment and a primary source of harmful radiation exposure for humans; it decays in a cascade of daughters (RAD) by releasing the cell damaging high energy alpha particles.

Results: We studied natural distribution of RAD 210Po and 210Bi in the different parts of the postmortem brain of 86-year-old woman who had suffered from Alzheimer's disease (AD). A distinct brain map emerged, since RAD distribution was different among the analyzed brain areas.

Ion release from gold/platinum dental alloy: could release of other elements be accountable in the contact allergy attributed to the gold?

Objectives: The release of metal ions (Al, Ag, Au, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mo, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ti, and Zn) from the commercial gold/platinum (Au/Pt) dental alloy of declared composition was studied.

Methods: Au/Pt was soaked in pH 6.0 phosphate buffer, 3.

Environmental lead-210 and bismuth-210 accrue selectively in the brain proteins in Alzheimer disease and brain lipids in Parkinson disease.

We studied the occurrence of the environmental radon daughters, 210Po (alpha particles), and 210Bi (beta particles), in the protein and lipid fractions of cortical gray and subcortical white matter from the frontal and temporal lobes of human brains of persons with Alzheimer disease (AD), persons with Parkinson disease (PD), smokers, or persons with no previous evidence of clinical neurologic disease (controls). We found a 10-fold increase in 210Po and 210Pb radioactivity in the protein fraction from both the cortical gray and subcortical white matter in AD and smokers, and a similar increase in the lipid fraction in PD. The pathognomonic distribution of the radon daughters to the lipids in PD and to the proteins in AD was inferred to reflect the increase of local chlorine availability to which radon daughters bound selectively.

Idiorrhythmic zinc dose-rate induction of intestinal metallothionein in rats depends upon their nutritional zinc status(dagger).

The idiorrhythmic dose-rate feeding experimental model was used to study the induction of intestinal metallothionein (iMT) by zinc (Zn) in the gastrointestinal (GIT) mucosa of young growing male rats relative to their nutritional Zn status. The idiorrhythmic approach requires that the average dietary Zn concentration, referred to as modulo (M), is kept constant across different groups over the whole experimental epoch (E). This is done by adjusting the Zn concentration of the supplemented diet to compensate for the reduction in the number of days on which this diet is fed, the latter being spread evenly over the whole experiment.

Environmental radon daughters reveal pathognomonic changes in the brain proteins and lipids in patients with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, and cigarette smokers.

This paper presents an investigation of the retention of environmental radon daughters, 210Po (alpha particle emitting radio-nuclide) and 210Bi (beta particle emitting radio-nuclide), in lipid and protein fractions of the cortical grey and subcortical white matter from the frontal and temporal brain lobes of patients who had suffered from Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease, of cigarette smokers, and of control subjects. 210Po and 210Bi radioactivity increased tenfold in the cortical grey and subcortical white protein fraction in patients with Alzheimer's disease and smokers, and tenfold in the cortical grey and subcortical white lipid fraction in patients with Parkinson's disease. Free radicals generated by radon daughters may add to the severity of the radio-chemical injury to the brain astrocytes.

A case report of acute human molybdenum toxicity from a dietary molybdenum supplement--a new member of the "Lucor metallicum" family.

The paper gives a brief review of human molybdenum metabolism and toxicity and presents the first known case of acute clinical poisoning with molybdenum from the dietary molybdenum (Mo) supplement in a male patient in late thirties. In over 18 days, the patient had consumed a cumulative dose of 13.5 mg Mo (300-800 micrograms Mo/day).

["More is not better"--evaluation of toxicologic risks of the heavy metals, lead and cadmium, and the herbicides, linuron, fluazifop-P-butyl and cycloxydim in dried Chamomile flowers (Chamomilla recutita L. Rauschert)].

Cadmium and all three enumerated herbicide residues in dried samples of industrially grown true chamomile were found to be above the suggested and accepted tolerance values. The results are discussed with regard to the current Croatian regulation and FAO/WHO recommendations on herbicides and to human toxicology risk assessment. The paper gives a critical evaluation of the herbicide overuse in agricultural practice and strongly discouraged such practice.

[Megamin, faith, hope and placebos---a critical review].

Megamin is a registered nutriceutical in Croatia. Allegedly, it consists mostly of a naturally occurring zeolite (aluminum silicate) ion-exchange material tagged with vitamins and minerals. Mass-media claimed that Megamin possessed strong anticancer properties although it had not been tested through an appropriate, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical trial.

Contribution of lead poisoning to renal impairment.

The late effects of lead on kidney function and blood pressure were studied in 38 persons occupationally poisoned in the past and in 23 workers exposed to lead. Parameters evaluated in all subjects were: creatinine clearance, hippuran renal flow, blood lead, erythrocyte protoporphyrin, aminolevulinic acid dehydratase, and blood pressure. Out of 11 combined variables, four significant factors were identified by factor analysis.

Idiorrhythmic dose-rate variability in dietary zinc intake generates a different response pattern of zinc metabolism than conventional dose-response feeding.

We compared the effects of idiorrhythmic dose-rate feeding and conventional dose-response on the induction of intestinal metallothionein (iMT), expression of aortal heat-shock protein mRNA (HSP70mRNA) induced by restraint stress, and accumulation of Zn in the femur and incisor of young growing male rats. An idiorrhythmic approach requires that the average dietary Zn concentration (modulo, M) over the whole experiment (epoch, E) is kept constant across different groups. This is done by adjusting the Zn concentration of the supplemented diet supplied to compensate for the reduction in the number of days on which Zn-supplemented diet is fed, the latter being spread evenly over the experiment.

Chronic lead poisoning, renal function and immune response.

The aim of this study was to investigate possible correlations between chronic, recurrent lead poisoning, renal function and immune response. The study involved 74 patients with a history of at least one lead poisoning. Fifty-three patients were occupationally poisoned, and 21 were poisoned accidentally after consumption of alcohol beverages or food from lead glazed pottery.

Coupling of zinc dose to frequency in a regularly recurrent pattern shows a limited capacity of excessive dietary zinc to compensate for a previously deficient intake.

The impact of feeding a proportional dose of zinc in a regularly recurrent pattern (idiorrhythmic feeding) on body growth of weanling rats was studied to assess the extent to which an intake exceeding the requirement could compensate for a previously deficient intake. The idiorrhythmic regimen (1) was designed so that the overall dose-time equivalent (modulo; Mx) was kept constant over a selected period of time (epoch; E), whereas the actual dose and frequency varied regularly according to a predetermined pattern; that is, I = dnth(Mx)/dnth, where Mx and dnth are the selected dose-time equivalent and the sequential number of zinc-dosing days, respectively. For example, 3 mg Zn.

Delayed effects of lead on the kidney--factor analysis.

A late, i.e. delayed, effect of lead on kidney function and blood pressure was studied in 23 workers with a history of occupational lead poisoning.