Elements Calcium Research Articles

Micronutrient and Trace Element Levels in Serum of Women With Uterine Fibroids in Lagos.

Background: Uterine fibroids significantly affect the quality of life of reproductive-age women. The socioeconomic cost and psychological strain on patients cannot be overemphasized. The role of diet and micronutrients on the onset and development of uterine fibroids has come under review in recent times. This study assessed the levels of some micronutrients and trace elements in the serum of women with uterine fibroids.Methods: Eighty-eight women were recruited from the Gynecology Outpatient Clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, 44 with uterine fibroids and 44 women without uterine fibroids. Blood samples were obtained and analyzed for serum levels of selected micronutrients (vitamins A, C, D, and E) and trace elements (calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus). Pelvic ultrasonography was performed on all study participants.Results: Women with uterine fibroids had statistically significant lower serum levels of vitamin C (1.20 ± 0.59 vs 1.62 ± 1.75 mg/dl; p = 0.01), vitamin D (34.23 ±10.67 vs 37.06 ±11.46 ng/ml; p = 0.04), and calcium (2.27 ± 0.19 vs 2.32 ± 0.09 mmol/L; p = 0.02) compared with women without uterine fibroids. There was no significant difference in the serum levels of vitamins A (39.63 ± 15.71 vs 40.09 ±15.26 μ/dl; p = 0.91), vitamin E (5.44 ± 4.65 vs 5.26 ± 4.62 µg/mL; p = 0.87), magnesium (0.89 ± 0.09 vs 0.89 ± 0.08 mmol/L; p = 0.78), and phosphorus (1.29 ± 0.38 vs 1.19 ± 0.17 mmol/L; p = 0.14) in women with uterine fibroids compared to those without uterine fibroids.Conclusion: This study showed lower serum levels of vitamin C, vitamin D, and calcium in women with uterine fibroids when compared to women without uterine fibroids. It is possible that these micronutrients and trace elements may play a role in the etiopathogenesis, progression, and/or proliferation of uterine fibroids. However, whether the findings of low serum levels of these elements are a cause or an effect of uterine fibroid, is yet to be determined.

Quantification of soil element changes in long-term agriculture: A case study in Northeast China

Anthropogenic measures that are implemented to improve the nutrient status of soil for growing food can lead to soil and environmental contamination. The influence of agricultural measures (cultivation and fertilization) on a cropland soil can be explained and quantified by exploring the variety and distribution of elements (calcium iron, rubidium, titanium, etc) in the soil profile. In this study, a cropland soil subjected to long-term (1948–2019, 72 years) anthropogenic agricultural activity was compared with a natural, undisturbed forest soil. Results showed that the anthropogenic activity affected the correlation of different elements in the cropland soil to different degrees, with the degree of the effects ranked as follows: calcium (Ca) > iron (Fe) = rubidium (Rb) > titanium (Ti) = chromium (Cr) > potassium (K) = zirconium (Zr) = strontium (Sr) > sulfur (S) = nickel (Ni) = scandium (Sc) > manganese (Mn) > vanadium (V) = zinc (Zn) = tungsten (W) > copper (Cu) = lead (Pb) = cobalt (Co). The elements were distributed much more evenly throughout the profile of the natural forest soil than the disturbed cropland soil. Some elements, such as Fe, Ti, V, Pb, Cr, Rb, K, Ca, Mn, Sc, Sr, and Cu, can be absorbed by vegetable growth and participate in the plant physiological cycle, while others, such as K, Rb, Cr, and Ti, may be lost readily as the soil is tilled. Elements such as Pb, Sc, Zn, and Sr, gradually accumulate over time from continuous fertilizer applications. In order to maintain the health of cropland soils, both farmers and policy makers should strive to mitigate elemental pollution by carefully managing applications of micronutrient fertilizers.

Humans and machines in biomedical knowledge curation: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy molecular mechanisms\u2019 representation

BackgroundBiomedical knowledge is dispersed in scientific literature and is growing constantly. Curation is the extraction of knowledge from unstructured data into a computable form and could be done manually or automatically. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited cardiac disease, with genotype–phenotype associations still incompletely understood. We compared human- and machine-curated HCM molecular mechanisms’ models and examined the performance of different machine approaches for that task.ResultsWe created six models representing HCM molecular mechanisms using different approaches and made them publicly available, analyzed them as networks, and tried to explain the models’ differences by the analysis of factors that affect the quality of machine-curated models (query constraints and reading systems’ performance). A result of this work is also the Interactive HCM map, the only publicly available knowledge resource dedicated to HCM. Sizes and topological parameters of the networks differed notably, and a low consensus was found in terms of centrality measures between networks. Consensus about the most important nodes was achieved only with respect to one element (calcium). Models with a reduced level of noise were generated and cooperatively working elements were detected. REACH and TRIPS reading systems showed much higher accuracy than Sparser, but at the cost of extraction performance. TRIPS proved to be the best single reading system for text segments about HCM, in terms of the compromise between accuracy and extraction performance.ConclusionsDifferent approaches in curation can produce models of the same disease with diverse characteristics, and they give rise to utterly different conclusions in subsequent analysis. The final purpose of the model should direct the choice of curation techniques. Manual curation represents the gold standard for information extraction in biomedical research and is most suitable when only high-quality elements for models are required. Automated curation provides more substance, but high level of noise is expected. Different curation strategies can reduce the level of human input needed. Biomedical knowledge would benefit overwhelmingly, especially as to its rapid growth, if computers were to be able to assist in analysis on a larger scale.

Global-scale latitudinal patterns of twelve mineral elements in leaf litter

Litter mineral elements carry out the cycling and storage of multiple nutrients and heavy metals in soil, and thus shape many key soil processes. Driving factors of global geographic patterns of multiple litter elements along with the driving factors are largely limited to N and P. By compiling data on 12 major mineral elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, aluminium, iron, manganese, sodium, zinc, and copper) in leaf litter from 1, 666 species and 69 countries and 1, 018 studies, we conducted a global meta-analysis of the effects of climate, soil chemistry, plant functional types, and resorption on latitudinal patterns of multiple mineral elements in litter. We showed that leaf litter phosphorus and manganese concentrations increased and zinc concentration kept unchanged with latitude, while the other elements declined, indicative of specific climatic effects on plant physiology. The climate-related gradients including soil nutrients and woody plant distribution play a key role in the latitudinal patterns of elements (except N), while soil pH was a poor explanatory factor. Because of lower nitrogen resorption at higher temperature, nitrogen in leaf litters responded to latitude in a contrary manner as that in green leaves. Overall, we suggest that fundamental constraints on plant physiology and nutrient usage strategies lead to predictable global-scale patterns in multiple litter elements.

Investigation of medieval archeological ceramics using XRD, WD-XRF and SEM/EDX analyses

Some medieval ceramic finds obtained from Zeytinli Island (Erdek, Turkey) excavations were examined using archaeometry techniques. Firstly, the color values of the ceramics were determined using the Munsell color system. The morphological structures, chemical and mineralogical contents of the samples were determined by scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray, wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Information was obtained about the matrix, mineral phases, particle sizes and porosity of ceramics by elemental analyses by observations SEM, XRD and XRF measurements. Quartz, vermiculite, sepiolite, illite, calcite and hematite mineral phases were found in the AD sixth- and seventh-century ceramic samples by evaluating the obtained XRD measurements. Berlinite, caracolite and enstatite phases were observed in AD thirteenth-century ceramics. In the samples, the elements oxygen (O), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si) and calcium (Ca) were found in major amounts. The compounds silicon dioxide (SiO2) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) were found to have varying concentrations of 67.37–52.95 and 34.39–15.65%, respectively. Elements such as copper (Cu), strontium (Sr), rubidium (Rb), nickel (Ni) and manganese (Mn) were observed in trace amounts. The element lead (Pb) was found in the glazes of the studied ceramics excavated from the Eastern Church. It was seen that the chemical compositions and production techniques of Byzantine and late Roman ceramics were nearly similar.

Optimization of Bio-Foamed Concrete Brick Strength via Bacteria Based Self-Healing and Bio-Sequestration of CO2.

This research aimed to optimize the compressive strength of bio-foamed concrete brick (B-FCB) via a combination of the natural sequestration of CO2 and the bio-reaction of B. tequilensis enzymes. The experiments were guided by two optimization methods, namely, 2k factorial and response surface methodology (RSM). The 2k factorial analysis was carried out to screen the important factors; then, RSM analysis was performed to optimize the compressive strength of B-FCB. Four factors, namely, density (D), B. tequilensis concentration (B), temperature (T), and CO2 concentration, were selectively varied during the study. The optimum compressive strength of B-FCB was 8.22 MPa, as deduced from the following conditions: 10% CO2, 3 × 107 cell/mL of B, 27 °C of T and 1800 kg/m3 of D after 28 days. The use of B. tequilensis in B-FCB improved the compressive strength by 35.5% compared to the foamed concrete brick (FCB) after 28 days. A microstructure analysis by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) reflected the changes in chemical element levels and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation in the B-FCB pores. This was due to the B. tequilensis surface reactions of carbonic anhydrase (CA) and urease enzyme with calcium in cement and sequestered CO2 during the curing time.

Transition-Metal Chemistry of the Heavier Alkaline Earth Atoms Ca, Sr, and Ba.

ConspectusAlkaline earth elements beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and barium with an ns2 valence-shell configuration are usually classified as main-group elements that belong to the s-block atoms. For a long time, the elements were considered to be rather chemically uninteresting atomic species due to preconceived ideas about bonding, structure, and reactivity. They typically use the two ns valence electrons in forming ionic salt compounds with the metal in a formal oxidation state of +2. For the heavier alkaline earth atoms, calcium, strontium, and barium, their (n - 1)d atomic orbitals (AOs) are empty but lie close in energy to the valence np orbitals. Earlier theoretical investigations have already suggested that these elements can employ the (n - 1)d AOs to some extent to form polar bonds in divalent species in which the alkaline earth metal centers are sufficiently positively charged. The d orbital involvement increases from Ca to Sr and markedly in Ba. Thus, barium has been termed an honorary transition metal.Recently, molecular complexes of Ca, Sr, and Ba were prepared in the gas phase and in a low-temperature solid neon matrix and were detected by infrared spectroscopy. An analysis of the electronic structures of [Ba(CO)]+, [Ba(CO)]-, saturated coordinated octacarbonyls [M(CO)8] and [M(CO)8]+, isoelectronic dinitrogen complexes [M(N2)8] and [M(N2)8]+, and the tribenzene complexes [M(Bz)3] (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) revealed that the metal-ligand bonding can be straightforwardly discussed using the traditional Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson (DCD) model as in classical transition-metal complexes. The metal-ligand bonds can be explained with metal → ligand π back donation from occupied metal (n - 1)d AOs to vacant antibonding π molecular orbitals of the ligands with concomitant σ donation from occupied MOs of the ligands to vacant metal d orbitals of the alkaline earth atoms. In addition, heteronuclear Ca-Fe carbonyl cation complexes were also produced in the gas phase. Bonding analysis of the coordination saturated [CaFe(CO)10]+ complex implies that it can be described by the bonding interactions between a [Ca(CO)6]2+ fragment and an [Fe(CO)4]- anion fragment in forming a Fe → Ca d-d dative bond. The nature of metal-ligand and metal-metal bonding was quantitatively elucidated by the energy decomposition analysis in conjunction with the natural orbitals for the chemical valence (EDA-NOCV) method, which indicate that the (n - 1)d AOs of the alkaline earth metals are the dominant orbitals participating in the covalent interactions, just as typical transition metals. The results indicate that the heavier alkaline earth elements have a much richer covalent chemistry than previously thought. These findings, along with earlier studies, suggest that the heavier alkaline earth atoms Ca, Sr, and Ba should be classified as transition metals rather than main group atoms in the periodic table of the elements. This interesting structural chemistry, together with some recently reported examples of spectacular reactivity, establishes these elements as exciting and promising research targets in current research.

Diagnostic potential of trace metals concentration in expressed prostatic secretion and serum of patients with category IV prostatitis

BackgroundThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) category IV prostatitis is a painless prostate gland inflammation, just as its name implies, this type of prostatitis is related with inflammation of the prostate, but most men are not conscious of it. However, category IV prostatitis is fairly common in general populations and reported having indirect relationships with prostate cancer. MethodWe analyzed the concentration of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) and serum of patients with category IV prostatitis and healthy controls, investigating the diagnostic potential of different metals in category IV prostatitis using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS). ResultsMetal concentration combined clinical characteristics analysis suggested that average level of Zn, Ca, Mg were significantly lower in the EPS of patients with category IV prostatitis (P-value< 0.000), while Cu level raised obviously (P-value< 0.000). And in the serum, mean concentrations of Ca was also found to increase significantly in the patients with category IV prostatitis compared to healthy controls. Moreover, the correlation analysis indicated that age showed a positive correlation with EPS Zn, Ca, Mg concentration (P-value< 0.05), while albumin correlates with EPS Zn, Ca, Mg concentration reversely (P-value< 0.05) in patients with category IV prostatitis. ConclusionOur report revealed that determination of the metal elements zinc, copper, calcium and magnesium in the serum and EPS could be a new and promising strategy for the rapid diagnosis of category IV prostatitis.

Nutritional Compositional Characterization on Five Diets for Development of Pollen Substitute Diet

The western honey bee, Apis mellifera L. is an essential pollinator for wild plant and commercial crops in the world. High honey bee colony population losses are occurring globally due to effect of multiple stressors. Beekeepers need to provide pollen substitute diets regularly to maintain healthy colony and continuity of bee-related products in apiculture. This study focuses on development of pollen substitute diets, through investigation of different contents in nutritional components on five samples, namely canola pollen, mixed pollen, bee bread, MegaBee, and Test A. Among them, Test A was developed as pollen substitute diet and was compared with other samples. The five samples were analyzed on pH, mineral (ions), total phenol, vitamin B6 and vitamin C. The value of pH for the Test A was 4.30 and it was similar with beebread and Megabee with pH 4.03 and 4.05, respectively. For analysis of mineral (ions), the elements chlorine (Cl), hydrogen sulfate (SO₄), monohydrogen phosphate (PO₄), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), bromine (Br), lithium (Li), sodium (Na), ammonium (NH₄), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca) was detected. The total phenol content of five samples was ranked from high to low as following: Canola pollen (16230 mg/kg), Bee bread (15660 mg/kg), Mixed pollen (9588 mg/kg), Megabee (4093 mg/kg), and Test A (3392 mg/kg). Among the five samples the only test A and Canola pollen were found to contain vitamin B6 and C with 83 mg/kg and 479 mg/kg, respectively. Nutritional content, balance and efficiency needs to be considered for the development of pollen substitute diets. This study will contribute to provide future directions on development of pollen substitute diets.

Content of minerals and deoxynivalenol in the air‐classified fractions of durum wheat

AbstractBackground and objectivesDurum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), such as other cereals, contains several interesting bioactive compounds mostly found within the coating structure of the kernel; also, these structures included in the bran fractions, contain the highest concentration of both minerals and organic contaminants (mycotoxins). The purpose of this project was to employ the micronization and air‐classification technology to obtain fewer refined milling fractions with an adequate good quality in regard to safety and nutritional aspects to manufacture end products (e.g., pasta).FindingsThe results have identified the milling fraction as the best compromise among satisfactory technological traits, high decrease of cadmium (−83%) and lead (−59%) in comparison to the whole grain, high content of iron (+37%), and the maintenance of useful elements (calcium, potassium, and magnesium). A significant decrease of the deoxynivalenol (−16%) content, as compared with the micronized sample, and a not significant increase (+19%), if compared with semolina, have occurred.ConclusionsThe air‐classification process has been used as an appropriate tool to reach a good compromise between minerals and deoxynivalenol content in milling fractions.Significance and noveltyThe same process has proved to be a proper technology to produce high‐quality mixtures suitable to obtain both healthier end products and better raw matter exploitation.

Elemental analysis of Andrographis echioides (L.)Nees. leaves, a potential pharmaceutical plant using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).

Andrographis echioides (L.) Nees.is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Acanthaceae family, which is widely used for traditional medicinal purposes. The present study was aimed to analyze the elemental composition in leaves of Andrographis echioides (L.) Nees. using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)..A total of 12 elements Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Cadmium, Nickel, Sodium, Lead, Chromium, Zinc, Silver, and Copper have been analyzed quantitatively. The results showed that Calcium has the highest concentration among other elements analyzed. It shows the ability of this plant to maintain the proper functioning of cells in our body. It also plays an important role in the functioning of our nervous system. The concentration of iron and magnesium was also significant. Iron is an essential element for blood production and Magnesium play an important role in human body to maintain cholesterol levels, maintains heart rhythm and also has the capacity to converts blood sugar into energy. Andrographis echioides (L.) Nees. plant can be utilized for treating deficiencies of different essential macro and micro-nutrients for maintaining good health. The plant can be utilized for various other pharmaceutical purposes also.&#x0D;

Effects of Ca doping on the crystallization kinetics of GeTe

Doping is an effective way to improve the performance of conventional phase-change materials. We introduced an alkaline element calcium (Ca) in GeTe films and studied their crystallization kinetics by using flash DSC. It was found that a small amount of Ca doping (4.0 at. %) can significantly enhance the thermal stability, but the maximum crystal growth rate does not decrease significantly. Moreover, no any Ca-related crystalline phase and Ca-related chemical bond can be found in Ca-doped GeTe, implying that Ca atoms are in free state in GeTe matrix.

Blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth.) fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium: Effect on anthracnose under controlled conditions

In order to seek management alternatives for anthracnose caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth.), at the Tibaitatá Research Center of the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation AGROSAVIA (formerly CORPOICA), an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of the application of the major elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) on infections of the fungus C. gloeosporioides strain-52. For this purpose, a randomized complete block design was used with an arrangement of treatments in an orthogonal central composite design. To evaluate the relationship of fertilization levels and disease severity, an artificial inoculation was made on thorny blackberry stems using 0.5 cm mycelial discs at a concentration of 9.53 × 104 conidia. Observations consisted of: disease severity (S), incubation period (IP) and rate of development (r). Data analysis was done by the cluster method on the severity variable, a Pearson correlation analysis between variables, as well as a regression to estimate the effect of nutrients applied on the severity of C. gloeosporioides strain-52. The treatments were concentrated in four groups with the ranges (in parentheses) S (15.9% and 91.8%), PI (9 and 15.3) and Tr (0.0254 and 0.0468). A positive and significant correlation was observed between S and r (P &lt; 0.001) and a negative correlation between PI with S and r (P &lt; 0.001). By means of regression analysis, a linear model was generated that showed a reduction in disease severity with increasing N dose and an increase with the levels of P and Ca applied.

Fast determination of mineral elements in wheat flour by near-infrared spectroscopy

Near-infrared(NIR) spectroscopy combined with partial least squares(PLS) were applied to establish a rapid method for green direct determination of mineral elements(calcium, phosphorus and potassium) in wheat flour samples. NIR spectra and analytical measurements of calcium, phosphorus and potassium were collected from 117 wheat flour samples with different processing levels(whole grain wheat, special grade No. 1 wheat and wheat core flour). Principal components analysis(PCA) was developed to assign 81 wheat flour samples to build models and 36 samples as the validation set to evaluate the performance of the developed models. The influence of wavelength range and spectral preprocessing method on the predictive ability of the model were discussed, and the best models were selected. For calcium, the best NIR model showed a good prediction performance(r~2=0. 7907, RMSEP=5. 35, RPD=2. 19); the best NIR model for phosphorus gave an excellent prediction performance(r~2=0. 9777, RMSEP=15. 3, RPD=6. 71); the best model for potassium also gave an excellent prediction performance(r~2=0. 9777, RMSEP=18. 9, RPD=6. 84). NIR spectroscopy can realize the rapid prediction of mineral elements(calcium, phosphorus and potassium) in wheat flour. By selecting the wavelength range and spectral preprocessing method, the prediction ability of the NIR model can be significantly improved.

The effect of usage two methods of garlic extraction( foliar and ground application) on the growth of the tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) plant

Garlic is rich in nutritional and medicinal value as it has been found that the water extract of garlic plant contains 31% carbohydrates and rich in elements calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, manganese, vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and pyridoxine. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of garlic extract (Allium sativum L.) on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant. The trend is to use plant extracts in foliar and ground fertilization. Three levels of foliar application (4, 6, 8%), three levels of ground application (10, 20, 40%), one treatment 6% of foliar and 20% ground application together and the treatment of control (0) were used. The results showed that the usage of garlic extract led to a significant increase in the height of the plant 98.00 cm, chlorophyll content 46.33 spadm, increase the Carbohydrates 7.95%, the number of branches, the number of leaves, the foliar area, the dry weight of vegetative group, the number of flowers, the leaves content of nitrogen, protein and carbohydrates, fruit weight, fruit size, measurement T.S.S. and solidity of treated plant compared to control plants.

Trace elements and the carotid plaque: the GOOD (Mg, Zn, Se), the UGLY (Fe, Cu), and the BAD (P, Ca)?

Multiple epidemiological studies have suggested that industrialization and progressive urbanization should be considered one of the main factors responsible for the rising of atherosclerosis in the developing world. In this scenario, the role of trace metals in the insurgence and progression of atherosclerosis has not been clarified yet. In this paper, the specific role of selected trace elements (magnesium, zinc, selenium, iron, copper, phosphorus, and calcium) is described by focusing on the atherosclerotic prevention and pathogenesis plaque. For each element, the following data are reported: daily intake, serum levels, intra/extracellular distribution, major roles in physiology, main effects of high and low levels, specific roles in atherosclerosis, possible interactions with other trace elements, and possible influences on plaque development. For each trace element, the correlations between its levels and clinical severity and outcome of COVID-19 are discussed. Moreover, the role of matrix metalloproteinases, a family of zinc-dependent endopeptidases, as a new medical therapeutical approach to atherosclerosis is discussed. Data suggest that trace element status may influence both atherosclerosis insurgence and plaque evolution toward a stable or an unstable status. However, significant variability in the action of these traces is evident: some - including magnesium, zinc, and selenium - may have a protective role, whereas others, including iron and copper, probably have a multi-faceted and more complex role in the pathogenesis of the atherosclerotic plaque. Finally, calcium and phosphorus are implicated in the calcification of atherosclerotic plaques and in the progression of the plaque toward rupture and severe clinical complications. In particular, the role of calcium is debated. Focusing on the COVID-19 pandemia, optimized magnesium and zinc levels are indicated as important protective tools against a severe clinical course of the disease, often related to the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to cause a systemic inflammatory response, able to transform a stable plaque into an unstable one, with severe clinical complications.

Determinants of the Essential Elements and Vitamins Intake and Status during Pregnancy: A Descriptive Study in Polish Mother and Child Cohort.

The study objective was to identify determinants of essential elements and vitamins intake, and microelements and vitamins concentration in blood among pregnant women from Poland. Based on the data from food frequency questionnaires and information about supplements taken (n = 1252), daily supply of six elements (calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, selenium) and nine vitamins (folate, vitamins A, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12) was calculated. Zinc, copper, selenium (n = 340), vitamin A and E (n = 358) concentration was determined in blood collected during pregnancy. Most of the women did not meet the demand for essential elements and vitamins with a diet. About 94% of the respondents declared supplements use. The women with higher education, indicating leisure-time, physical activity and multiparity had a higher chance of meeting the average demand for the majority of the analyzed nutrients. On the other hand, factors such as BMI < 18.5kg/m2, a higher level of stress, and late first medical-care visit were associated with a lower chance of meeting the recommendations. Higher socio-economic status was a determinant of a higher selenium concentration in plasma (β = 3.1; 95%CI: 0.2–5.9), whereas BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, and multiparity of a higher copper concentration in plasma (β = 0.2; 95%CI: 0.03-0.4; β = 0.2; 95%CI: 0.1–0.4). Higher plasma concentration of vitamin E was noted among women older than 30 years of age comparing to those who were 30 or younger (β = 1.5; 95%CI: 0.6–2.4). Although more studies are required, especially such based on laboratory measures, our results indicate target groups for dietary interventions during pregnancy for children’s optimal health and development.

Assessment of Urinary Lead (Pb) and Essential Trace Elements in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Case-Control Study Among Preschool Children in Malaysia

Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal which is abundant in the environment and known to cause neurotoxicity in children even at minute concentration. However, the trace elements calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) are essential to children due to its protective effect on neurodevelopment. The primary objective of this study was to assess the role of Pb and trace elements in the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among preschool children. A total of 81 ASD children and 74 typically developed (TD) children aged between 3 and 6 years participated in the study. Self-administered online questionnaires were completed by the parents. A first-morning urine sample was collected in a sterile polyethene urine container and assayed for Pb, Ca, Mg, Zn and Fe using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Comparisons between groups revealed that the urinary Pb, Mg, Zn and Fe levels in ASD children were significantly lower than TD children. The odds of ASD reduced significantly by 5.0% and 23.0% with an increment of every 1.0 μg/dL urinary Zn and Fe, respectively. Post interaction analysis showed that the odds of ASD reduced significantly by 11.0% and 0.1% with an increment of every 1.0 μg/dL urinary Zn and Pb, respectively. A significantly lower urinary Pb level in ASD children than TD children may be due to their poor detoxifying mechanism. Also, the significantly lower urinary Zn and Fe levels in ASD children may augment the neurotoxic effect of Pb.

Influence of developments in the field of high-energy physics on the biochemical parameters of the blood serum of Clarius catfish grown in RAS

The data on the influence of innovative hydrological developments in the field of high energy physics on the biochemical parameters of blood serum of Clarius catfish grown in a closed water supply installation are presented. The essence of innovative developments in the field of high energy physics consists in the treatment of water in which fish and feed are grown with crystal structures created by a group of Russian scientists. The energy of these crystal structures has a beneficial effect on the biological activity of objects, improving their natural properties. During the experiment, the content of total bilirubin, enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (AsT) and alanine aminotransferase (AlT), total protein, creatinine, glucose, urea, alkaline phosphatase, macro elements (calcium and phosphorus) were determined. The biochemical blood parameters of the fish in the control and experimental groups had significant differences in some parameters, which may indicate a positive effect of feeds with a modified molecular structure and biologically active liquid (BAF) on the organism of Clarius catfish.

Relative statistics of Metals in a Smoker’s Gallbladder Stones using X-Ray Fluorescence

In this work, the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique was used to investigate the concentration of elements in gallbladder stones for smokers and non-smokers. Many elements have been detected in the non-smoker gallstone samples. The most important elements include calcium (Ca), potassium (K), phosphorous (P), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), iron (Fe) and lead (Pb). However, significantly, concentrations of the most toxic elements have been found within the group of the smokers. The maximum concentrations of toxic elements such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and cobalt (Co) were found in people older than 60 years. Furthermore, the minimum concentrations of the trace elements calcium (Ca), phosphorous (P) and sodium (Na) were detected in this age group. The relative statistics of Ca concentration in smokers’ and non-smokers’ were studied, and these groups were divided according to age. It was concluded that the maximum Ca concentration for non-smokers was found in the 20- to 40-year age group when compared with the other groups.