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Objective: To establish a method for the simultaneous determination of 22 elements, including beryllium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, calcium, magnesium, barium, cobalt, cadmium, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, titanium, strontium, nickel, molybdenum, tin, antimony, thallium and lead, in whole blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) . Methods: In September 2023, the analysis conditions were determined by optimizing the detection mode of the instrument, the pretreatment mode and the dilution factor of the samples, etc. Whole blood samples were diluted with a mixture of 0.1% nitric acid and 0.05% triton X-100, and centrifuged at 2000 r/min by high-speed centrifuge for 2 min. The supernatant was taken into inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to determine the content of 22 elements, and the detection limit and precision of the method were analyzed. Results: The 22 elements had a good linear relationship in their respective measurement ranges ( r =0.9991-0.9999), the detection limit ranged from 0.003 μg/L to 0.012 mg/L. The intra-batch precision ranged from 0.5% to 7.2%, the inter-batch precision ranged from 0.4% to 9.4%, and the average recoveries ranged from 80.6% to 114.9%. Conclusion: ICP-MS method has a good effect on the determination of 22 elements in whole blood. The method is fast and simple, and can be used for clinical detection of multiple elements in whole blood.

Objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common metabolic disorder in overweight and obese children, and its etiology and pathogenesis remain unclear, lacking effective preventive and therapeutic measures. This study aims to explore the association between whole blood copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron levels and NAFLD in overweight and obese children aged 6 to 17 years, providing a scientific basis for the prevention and intervention of early NAFLD in overweight and obese children., Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to collect relevant data from overweight and obese children who visited the Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 through questionnaire surveys. Fasting blood samples were collected from the subjects, and various indicators such as blood glucose, blood lipid, and mineral elements were detected. All children were divided into an overweight group ( n =400) and a NAFLD group ( n =202). The NAFLD group was divided into 2 subgroups according to the ALT level: A non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) group and a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) group. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the association between minerals (copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and iron) and NAFLD, NAFL and NASH., Results: A total of 602 subjects were included, of whom 73.6% were male, with a median age of 10 (9, 11) years, and a body mass index (BMI) of 24.9 (22.7, 27.4) kg/m 2 . The intergroup comparison results showed that compared with the overweight group, the NAFLD group had higher levels of age, BMI, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and lower level of high density lipoprotein (HDL). The NAFL group had higher levels of age, BMI, DBP, SBP, ALT, and AST, and lower levels of HDL compared with the overweight group. The levels of age, BMI, DBP, SBP, TG, LDL, ALT, and AST of NASH were higher than those in the overweight group, while the level of HDL was lower than that in overweight group (all P <0.017). After adjusting for a variety of confounders, the OR of NAFLD for the highest quantile of iron was 1.79 (95% CI 1.07 to 3.00) compared to the lowest quantile, and no significant association was observed between copper, zinc, calcium, and magnesium, and NAFLD. The subgroup analysis of NAFLD showed that the OR for the highest quantile of iron in children with NAFL was 2.21 (95% CI 1.26 to 3.88), while no significant association was observed between iron level and NASH. In addition, no significant associations were observed between copper, zinc, calcium, and magnesium levels and NAFL or NASH., Conclusions: High iron level increases the risk of NAFLD (more likely NAFL) in overweight and obese children, while copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and other elements are not associated with the risk of NAFLD in overweight and obese children.

Objective: To investigate the distribution and changes of blood copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron in Chinese rural children aged 6 to 12 years in 2002 and 2012., Methods: A total of 3420 blood samples were randomly selected from the China Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 and 2012. Metal concentrations in whole blood were determined by inductively coupled mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) after the dilution of 0. 5%(V/V) HNO&#95;3 and 0. 05%(V/V) Triton-X-100. The changes between 2002 and 2012 of blood five elements concentration in children of 6-12 years in rural China were compared., Results: The median of blood levels of copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron in 2002 were 1. 02(95% CI 0. 79-1. 32), 4. 88(95% CI 3. 17-6. 77), 58. 59(95% CI 44. 97-74. 24), 41. 56(95% CI 33. 01-52. 28) and 423. 21(95% CI 338. 83-540. 69) mg/L, respectively. And in 2012, the median values were 1. 00(95% CI 0. 75-1. 31), 5. 12(95% CI 3. 17-7. 37), 63. 36(95% CI 41. 14-79. 16), 41. 78(95% CI 30. 89-52. 53) and 422. 06(95% CI 297. 83-522. 56) mg/L, respectively. There were significant differences in blood copper, zinc, calcium and iron levels in general, gender and age. There were also significant area differences in the distribution of copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron, but the changes were opposite., Conclusion: In 2002 and 2012, there were differences in the blood distribution of Cu, Zn, Ca, Mg and Fe of children aged 6-12 in rural China in terms of general, gender, age and area.

Wilson disease (WD) is a rare and treatable genetic disorder. This paper describes the new advances and author's long-term experiences in the diagnosis of WD. The characteristics in clinical and routine tests are: the age of presentation can be quite broad, the WD could not be excluded based on age only; the patients usually have mild digestive symptoms but obvious chronic liver disease signs; liver function tests may reveal normal or a mild elevation in bilirubin, ALT and AST, but quite abnormal in serum albumin and prothrombin time in most patients; Coombs-negative hemolytic anemia, normal or markedly subnormal serum alkaline phosphatase (typically < 40 IU/L) are useful for the diagnosis of fulminant WD. In china, Kayser-Fleischer rings are present in 72.2% of patients at the time of diagnosis, the positive rate is significantly higher in patients with a neurological presentation (93.4%) than patients presenting with liver disease (63.3%), however, they are usually absent in children under 6 years old, occasionly present in patients with chronic cholestatic liver disease. The mean serum ceruloplamin level in WD patients is 71.1 ± 48.7 mg/L, the level is < 200 mg/L in 98.9% of patients, < 100 mg/L in about three fourths patients, < 50 mg/L in about half patients, but it may be low in 50% of patients with severe end-stage liver disease of any etiology too, and even lower than 50 mg/L in patients with nephritic syndrome. Basal 24-hour urinary copper excretion may be≥100 g at presentation in 86.7% of patients with WD, but also in 22% of Patients with certain chronic liver diseases, the sensitivity of penicillamine challenge test is lower than basal urinary copper excretion, however, the specificity is significantly higher than former (97% versus 78%). Hepatic copper determination remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of WD. We have designed a standard method for hepatic copper determination. The most useful cut-off value is 209 g/g dry wt using our method, with the sensitivity of 99.4%, and specificity of 96.1%. However, long-standing hepatic failure and or obstruction can cause heptic copper elevations into the WD area. In recent years, direct complete DNA sequencing has become easy, rapid, less expensive and commercially available. Currently reported mutation detection rate is 90%, the specificity is almost 100%. The limitation to the method has been the ability to identify all the affected alleles in suspected individuals. If no mutation is identified, the diagnosis of WD could not be excluded. None of the laboratory parameters alone allows a definite diagnosis of WD. The WD diagnostic scoring system based on a composite of key parameters helps clinicians to gauge the degree of certainty of the diagnosis: WD scores greater than 4, the diagnosis of WD is highly likely; score 0 or 1, the diagnosis is unlikely. However, the WD diagnosis could not be excluded in suspected patients who do not perform genetic test and hepatic copper determination. Patients with chronic cholestatic liver disease may have scores more than 4.

Objective: To investigate the level of zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in whole blood among general population from 8 provinces in China, and to analyze the characteristics of distribution among different regions., Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 8 provinces from eastern, middle and western China between 2009 and 2010, including 13 110 subjects from 24 regions, and the blood and urine samples were collected. The ICP-MS was applied to test the content of ICP-MS in blood samples, and the results were used to analyze the characteristics of contents and distributions of Zn and Cu among population from different ages, genders and regions groups., Results: Totally, the mean (95%CI) contents of Cu and Zn in blood were 795 (791-799)µg/L and 3 996(3 976-4 015) µg/L, respectively. The characteristics of distribution of Cu content were as followed, the content of males were lower than it of females (male:767 µg/L; female: 822 µg/L, t = -13.302, P < 0.01). The contents of blood Cu in groups of people aging 6-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-30, 31-45 and 46-60 years old were separately 860(853-868), 758(748-769), 734(728-734), 782(774-790), 811(795-827) and 820(815-826) µg/L. The differences showed statistical significance (F = 78.77, P < 0.01). The blood Cu content of people in eastern China (800µg/L) were also significantly higher than it in middle (774 µg/L)and western China (782 µg/L) (F = 10.94, P < 0.01). Distribution of blood Zn content showed characteristics as follows: the Zn content was higher in males than in females (male 4 085 µg/L and female 3 908 µg/L, t = 8.78, P < 0.01). The contents of blood Zn in groups of people aging 6-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-30, 31-45 and 46-60 years old were separately 3 306 (3 261-3 350), 3 888 (3 839-3 937), 3 948 (3 902-3 994), 4 272(4 228-4 315), 4 231(4 180-4 281) and 4 250 (4 205-4 294)µg/L, which showed significant statistical differences (F = 233.68, P < 0.01). The blood Zn content of people in eastern China (3 938 µg/L) were significantly lower than it in middle (4 237 µg/L)and western China (4 105 µg/L) (F = 53.16, P < 0.01). In addition, the study also compared the relation between content of Cu and Zn and the frequency of eating seafood. The results found that the frequency of eating seafood could influence the content of Cu and Zn (Cu: F = 13.54, P < 0.01; Zn: F = 200.20, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: The contents and distributions of Cu and Zn in blood differs among people from different groups in ages, genders and regions. The baseline data of this study provided reliable scientific evidence for further research.

Objective: To investigate the effect of lead exposure on copper and copper metalloenzyme and the intervention effect of quercetin., Methods: Twenty-four specific pathogen-free male Sprague-Dawley rats of good health were randomly divided into control group (n = 8), lead acetate group (n = 8), and lead acetate + quercetin group (n = 8). The rats in lead acetate group were poisoned by drinking water with 1 g/L lead acetate for 8 weeks, while the rats in control group were fed by drinking water with sodium acetate of the same volume for 8 weeks; the rats in lead acetate+quercetin group were intraperitoneally injected with quercetin (30 mg × kg-1 × d-1) for 8 weeks while drinking water with lead acetate. The Morris water maze was used to test the learning and memory abilities of rats. The lead and copper levels in the serum, hippocampus, cortex, and bone were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The level of advanced glycation end products, activity of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD), and content and activity of ceruloplasmin (CP) in the hippocampus and serum were measured using a test kit. HE staining was performed to observe the pathological changes in the hippocampus., Results: The Morris water maze test showed that the latency in lead acetate group (52.50±12.04 s) was significantly longer than that in control group (28.08±7.31 s) (P<0.05), and the number of platform crossings was significantly lower in the lead acetate group than in the control group. Compared with those in the control group, the lead levels in the cortex and hippocampus in lead acetate group increased 2.72-fold and 3.79-fold, and the copper in the cortex and hippocampus, and serum free copper levels in lead acetate group increased 1.15-fold, 1.48-fold, and 6.44-fold. Compared with the control group, the lead acetate group had a lower content of CP in the hippocampus (1.23±0.40 U/mg provs0.78±0.08 U/mg pro) and 31.81%and 19.49%decreases in CP content and Cu/Zn SOD activity. Free copper level in serum was positively correlated with the latency and lead levels in the serum, cortex, and hippocampus. The escape latency of rats in lead acetate + quercetin group was decreased by 42.15% (P<0.05). The lead levels in the cortex and hippocampus in lead acetate + quercetin group (0.246 ± 0.58 µg/g and 0.202±0.049 µg/g) were significantly lower than those in lead acetate group (0.391±0.49 µg/g and 0.546±0.120 µg/g), but the free copper and copper levels in the hippocampus and cortex were not significantly reduced. The lead acetate + quercetin group had higher Cu/Zn SOD activity and CP content in the hippocampus than the lead acetate group (P < 0.05). The light microscope observation showed that the number of cells in the hippocampus was reduced with disordered arrangement in the lead acetate group; with quercetin intervention, the hippocampus damage was reduced., Conclusion: Lead exposure results in disorder of copper homeostasis, while quercetin may alleviate the damage induced by lead to some extent.

Objective: To understand the distribution of chemical elements in soil. To investigate the differences between patients under different state of fluorosis and normal population after preventive measurement was implemented to get rid of some chemical elements and to lower the urine fluoride levels so as to illustrate the pathogenesis of the disease., Methods: Both ecological and comparative studies had been used to analyze the rates and levels of chemical elements. Teeth and skeletal from the patients with fluorosis and controls were taken and florin ion-selective-electrode method was used to determine urine the content of fluorine. Atomic Absorption Spectrometry was used to determine the copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron contents in the whole blood. Differences of contents were analyzed., Results: In Wushan county, the soil contents of nickel (r = 0.553, P = 0.050), iodine (r = 0.571, P = 0.041), fluorine (r = 0.303, P = 0.005), pH value (r = 0.304, P = 0.005) and the rates of fluorosis showed weaker positive relationship. In Fengjie county, the soil contents of mercury (r = 0.285, P = 0.001), nickel (r = 0.212, P = 0.00) and the rates of fluorosis also showed weaker positive relationship. In Wushan county, the urine fluoride level in the patients group [(0.64 ± 0.34) mg/L] was higher than that in the control group [(0.44 ± 0.59) mg/L], (P < 0.05). In Fengjie county, copper [(29.63 ± 3.32) µmol/L] and urine fluoride [(0.83 ± 0.37) mg/L] levels in the patients group showed higher than that in the control group [(26.76 ± 3.63) µmol/L, (0.53 ± 0.23) mg/L], (P < 0.05). zinc (Zn) [(76.13 ± 11.24) µmol/L], calcium (Ca) [(1.87 ± 0.25) mmol/L], magnesium (Mg) [(1.41 ± 0.18) mmol/L] and fluoride[(0.83 ± 0.37) mg/L]levels in urine of the patients in children were higher in Fengjie than that in Wushan [(71.95 ± 7.53) µmol/L, (1.43 ± 1.34) mmol/L, (1.34 ± 0.15) mmol/L, (0.64 ± 0.34) mg/L], (P < 0.05). Mg [(1.56 ± 1.96) mmol/L], ferrum [(8.15 ± 1.00) mmol/L] and fluoride [(2.17 ± 0.99) mg/L] levels among adult patients were significantly higher than in the control group [(1.46 ± 0.16) mmol/L, (7.64 ± 1.00) mmol/L, (1.44 ± 1.22) mg/L] (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Soil, rich in alkaline and fluorosis could increase the intake of fluorine while nickel, cadmium, iodine content in soil might relate to the occurrence of fluorosis. Residents living in endemic areas where anti-fluorine elements as Zn, Ca and Mg were in shortage, might be affected by these chemical elements that related with fluorosis.

Objective: To study the concentration difference and source of five kinds of heavy metals in the adult blood in four cities., Method: Concentrations of five kinds of heavy metals in the healthy man blood were determined and compared by ICP-MS or AFS, which came from four different kinds of dietary cities, those are Taiyuan, Tianjin, Chengdu, Zhenjiang., Results: Contents of blood Pb and Cd in Chengdu, Taiyuan were higher thanjian Jin, Zhenjiang, Taiyuan were higher than Zhenjiang in blood Cu and higher than other cities in blood Hg, however, contents of blood As in Zhenjiang were higher than other three cities. In the whole, there was a phenomenon, that was, contents of five heavy metals in Chengdu, Tai Yuan were higher than Tianjin, Zhenjiang. Correlation of heavy metals in the blood were of statistical significance., Conclusion: The difference of heavy metals in the blood related to different living surrounding and dietary habit. The correlation result suggested we should study the poisoning effect integrating other relative element.

Objective: To investigate the effect of combined occupational exposure of chromium and iron on erythrocyte metabolism, and the possible mechanism., Methods: A total of 115 chromate production workers were selected in a chemical factory of Jinan as exposure group, Dec, 2008, and 60 healthy residents from a community which was far away from the factory were enrolled as control group. Environmental concentrations of chromium and iron were collected by filter membrane sampling and determined. The peripheral blood of subjects were collected for determination of chromium, iron, copper in whole blood and folate, vitamin B₁₂ in serum, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and correlation analysis was conducted., Results: The median (quartile interval) concentration of air-chromium and air-iron in workplace were 9.0 (10.5) and 11.2 (10.1) µg/m³, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of the control (0.1 (0.1) and 7.2 (2.5) µg/m³) (all P values < 0.01). Blood-chromium and blood-iron of the exposed group were 15.5 (14.1) µg/L and (895.1 ± 90.2) mg/L, which were significantly higher than the counterpart of the control (3.6(2.0) µg/L, (563.7 ± 49.3) mg/L) (all P values < 0.01). Serum folate ((6.9 ± 2.5) µg/L), serum vitamin B₁₂ ((396.4 ± 177.0) µg/L) and blood copper ((777.6 ± 103.5) µg/L) of the exposed group were all significantly lower comparing to the control group ((558.0 ± 330.8), (8.1 ± 3.8), (812.1 ± 94.6) µg/L) (all P values < 0.05). The relationships between blood chromium and serum folate, serum vitamin B₁₂ were statistical significant (r = -0.319 and -0.293, P < 0.01). Both serum vitamin B₁₂ and blood copper correlated with mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (r = -0.223, -0.242, -0.261, -0.292, all P values < 0.01)., Conclusion: Combined chromium and iron exposure existed in the workplace. Adverse effect of Chromium on human erythrocyte may via folate and vitamin B₁₂ metabolism, while iron may via copper metabolism.

Objective: Through determine the copper content of decidua, chorion and blood serum of first pregnancy women with Cu-IUD, we offer date for security of offspring., Methods: March 2010 to December 2010, in family planning clinics of the general hospital of Tianjin medical university, we selected twenty-five first pregnancy women with Cu-IUD who intended to terminate pregnancy to be experimental group and twenty-five normal first pregnancy women who intended to terminate pregnancy to be control group, and determined the copper content of decidua, chorion and blood serum in experimental group and control group., Results: The copper content of decidua, chorion and blood serum in experimental group is (0.91 ± 0.51) mg/kg, (0.72 ± 0.50) mg/kg, (0.79 ± 0.15) mg/L; the copper content of decidua, chorion and blood serum in control group is (0.57 ± 0.21) mg/kg, (0.46 ± 0.21) mg/kg, (0.71 ± 0.15) mg/L. The copper content of blood serum has no significant difference between experimental group and control group (P > 0.05). The copper content of decidua, chorion of experimental group is higher than control group (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Copper ion released from Cu-IUD only has an influence on the uterus tissues, but having no influence on the copper metabolism all over the body. The effects of high copper content of chorion in first pregnancy women with Cu-IUD on the offspring security will be researched further.

Objective: To explore the effective treatment and prognostic factors for fulminant Wilson's disease (FWD)., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics, therapeutic Methods and outcomes of 13 FWD patients. We investigated the treatment effect of the joint use of hormones, decoppering, and plasma exchange therapy in patients with FWD, compared the difference in the clinical features, biochemical data and treatment between the survival group and the death group., Results: Thirteen patients with FWD presented with acute hepatic failure and severe jaundice: 7 accompanied with severe hemolytic anemia, 5 with primary peritonitis, 8 with hepatic encephalopathy. Prothrombin activity (PTA) of 5 was below 30% in the 13 patients. Plasma exchange (PE), dimercaptopropansulfonate sodium (DMPS) and short-term methylprednisolone /dexamethasone administration were performed in 7 patients, in which 6 survived and the other 1 who had primary peritonitis with PTA below 30% died. The other 6 patients without above-mentioned treatments all died, in which 4 accompanied with primary peritonitis with PTA all below 30%., Conclusion: The level of hepatic failure and the occurrence of infection are the decisive factors for prognosis of patients with FWD. PE with decoppering treatment and corticosteroid administration are effective.

Objective: To explore the values of serum copper and serum free copper in the diagnosis of Wilson's disease (WD), its carrier and viral hepatitis and explore the guiding significance of monitoring serum copper in the treatment of WD., Methods: A total of 80 WD patients (hepatic type, n = 60; encephalic type, n = 20), 30 carriers, 20 patients with viral hepatitis were enrolled and their levels of serum copper were determined. The neural symptoms were scored by modified Young grade. Hemogram, hepatic functions, blood clotting functions, serum copper and urinary copper were tested throughout all 8 courses of treatment with sodium dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS). The patients were treated with zinc after discharging. All data were analyzed., Results: The free serum copper increased in the patients with WD (0.17 mg/L ± 0.04 mg/L), carriers (0.13 mg/L ± 0.03 mg/L) and severe viral hepatitis (0.12 mg/L). A slight increase was also observed in the WD carriers. The level of serum copper was correlated with hepatic functions but not with the severity of neural symptoms. The serum copper increased in the patients with no improvement of neural symptoms. However, the serum copper decreased in the WD patients with the improvement of neural symptoms. The serum copper was stabilized at approximately 0.2 mg/L during the long-term treatment period., Conclusion: There is auxiliary diagnosis significance of serum copper in the determination of WD. Hepatic functions in hepatic type WD affect the level of serum copper. The serum copper of encephalic type WD can not indicate the severity of neural symptoms. The elevated level of serum copper indicates a poor prognosis. The serum copper is an effective marker in monitoring the development and therapeutic efficacy of the disease.

A simple and reliable method was developed for the determination of serum copper and zinc in different chemical forms by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) with ethanol-EDTA precipitation. The serum and ethanol were mixed with volume ratio 1 : 2. The mixture was incubated at 70 degrees C and ultra-centrifuged to precipitate proteins. Zinc and copper can be released from albumin after EDTA treating. Thus, macroglobulin-zinc, ceruloplasmin-copper, and albumin-bound zinc or copper could be determined by two proposed precipitation steps. The determination limit of copper (3sigma) was 1.2 microg x L(-1) and the recovery was 92.3%-104%, while the determination limit of zinc (3sigma) was 0.098 microg x L(-1), and the recovery was 90%-107%. This two-step precipitation method can be used to determine serum zinc and copper in various chemical forms in tumor, Wilson patients and heathy human.

The influence of matrix effect on the determination of magnesium, copper and lead in human blood matrix stimulant and its correction was studied by using both conventional internal reference method & common analyte internal standardization (CAIS). The obtained results indicate that CAIS method is applicable for simultaneous correction of multi-elements in blood matrix. The relative errors between the determined and the true values are 3.05% (by CAIS method), 12.39% (by conventional internal reference correction) and 23.91% (without correction), respectively. Otherwise, the influences of the mass discrepancy and that of the determination intensities between elements are not obvious for the correction of blood matrix. The reliability of CAIS was validated by the determination of both bovine blood and bovine serum standard materials.

Objective: To investigate the levels and differences of plasma selenium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc among oldest elderly in longevity areas in China., Methods: 446 oldest elderly including 208 centenarians, 238 aged 90 and over, who lived in Xiayi county of Henan province (110 persons), Zhongxiang city of Hubei province (111 persons), Mayang county of Hunan province (60 persons), Sanshui district of Guangdong province (113 persons), Yongfu county of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region (52 persons) in China, were selected. The contents of plasma selenium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc were detected and compared among these elderly who were classified into different genders, different regions and different age groups., Results: In oldest elderly, the median (inter-quartile range) of content of plasma selenium was 1.44 (0.91) micromol/L, content of manganese was 0.54 (0.94) micromol/L, content of iron was 69.17 (102.85) micromol/L, content of copper was 20.19 (8.73) micromol/L, content of zinc was 31.66 (32.51) micromol/L. Contents of plasma selenium of oldest elderly in Xiayi, Zhongxiang, Mayang, Sanshui, Yongfu region were 1.46 (0.66), 1.30 (0.80), 1.06 (0.51), 2.39 (1.53) and 1.35(0.55) micromol/L; contents of plasma manganese were 0.56 (0.51), 1.40 (1.11), 0.35 (0.71), 0.44 (0.55) and 0.15 (0.21) micromol/L; contents of plasma iron were 86.77 (86.87), 141.42 (101.83), 38.88 (36.28), 31.38 (46.19) and 79.64 (75.34) micromol/L; contents of plasma copper were 22.16 (8.11), 19.46 (9.26), 21.36 (12.38), 18.12 (6.74) and 21.47 (7.85) micromol/L; contents of plasma zinc were 36.85 (26.18), 36.59 (35.94), 39.98 (56.91), 25.05 (24.92) and 16.74 (16.81) micromol/L. Contents of plasma trace elements among oldest elderly in different longevity areas were significantly different (F values were 29.76, 38.75, 47.18, 11.51 and 13.47, P values were all less than 0.05). Contents of plasma trace elements in different gender groups (contents of plasma selenium were 1.38 (0.83) micromol/L in male and 1.45 (0.91) micromol/L in female; contents of plasma manganese were 0.52 (0.95) and 0.54 (0.91) micromol/L; contents of plasma iron were 69.23 (104.06) and 69.11 (101.05) micromol/L; contents of plasma copper were 20.28 (8.72) and 20.06 (8.76) micromol/L; contents of plasma zinc were 28.39 (32.58) and 31.85 (34.26) micromol/L) were not significantly different (t(Se) = -1.82, P = 0.07; t(Mn) = 0.64, P = 0.52; t(Fe) = 0.65, P = 0.52; t(Cu) = -1.90, P = 0.06; t(Zn) = -0.96, P = 0.34). The contents of plasma selenium, iron, copper in centenarians were higher than those aged 90 and over (contents of plasma selenium were 1.63 (0.94) micromol/L and 1.30 (0.82) micromol/L, contents of plasma iron were 112.63 (119.78) and 60.13 (58.43) micromol/L, contents of plasma copper were 21.07 (9.03) and 18.81 (8.86) micromol/L, F value were 41.99, 27.32, 24.45, P values were less than 0.01). Content of plasma manganese in centenarians was lower than those aged 90 and over (0.44 (0.76) and 0.64 (0.93) micromol/L, F = 10.76, P < 0.01). No significant differences were detected in plasma zinc between concentration and those aged 90 and over (31.78 (34.06) and 31.11 (33.85) micromol/L; F = 1.32, P = 0.25)., Conclusion: The concentrations of plasma selenium, manganese, iron, copper and zinc were high in oldest elderly in the longevity areas. The contents of plasma selenium, iron, copper increased with age.

Objective: To study the relations among the copper concentration, the copper-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) and the biomarkers of lipid peroxidation by controlling the level of copper intake in copper deficiency, to analyze the effect of trace element copper on the rat lipid peroxidation., Methods: Determine the content of copper in blood and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (QSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), carrying out the relevant research., Results: The rats were treated with copper gluconate (Cu-G) in different doses in the case of insufficient copper intake, the copper concentration in the blood of each group rats presented irregular fluctuate, while the copper-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) showed a ascending trend following the increase of copper intake, and the results have statistical significance (P < 0.01). In the status of copper deficiency, the SOD activity is lower than the normal level, and then presented a rise trend with the increased of copper intake that is, the ratio of copper-zinc (Cu/Zn). The content of MDA is higher than the normal level, and the content of MDA decreased with the increased of copper intake and the Cu/Zn ratio, and maintained at a relatively low level. The decreased of Cu/Zn ratio could induce the decrease of the CAT activity in the rat blood, while there were no linear correlation be found between them. And no significant effect on the GSH-Px activity in the rat blood in inadequate of copper intake., Conclusion: In copper deficiency, the SOD activity in the rat blood would be lower than the normal level and the content of MDA would increase in rat blood, while with the increase of Cu/Zn ratio, the SOD activity increased gradually, and the content of MDA dropped to a lowed level. While the insufficient intake of copper could induce a increase of the CAT activity in blood and no effect on GSH-Px.

Objective: To investigate antagonism effects of total flavonoids from Chrysanthemum morifolium. (TFCM) against lead induced oxidative injury., Method: Ninety male mice were randomly divided into 9 groups. Mice except normal control group inject lead acetate every other day for 20 days. In the next 10 d, drugs were orally administrated to mice once a day. After the last aministration, mice were sacrificed and immediately subjected to necropsy. The concentration of lead, zinc and copper in blood, brain, liver and kidney were determined. The body weight, relative organ weight, antioxidant enzyme levels (GSH, GSH-Px, SOD and CAT) and lipid peroxidation products (MDA) were performed., Result: TFCM might antagonize the decrease of body weight and the increase of organ weight/body weight ratio. The combined treatment with TFCM and DMSA can significantly lower the lead levels in blood, brain, liver and kidney. In contrast, lead concentration in mice treated with TFCM alone did not show significant change in these organs. The other trace elements such as zinc and copper had no significant decrease after TFCM or DMSA treatment. Middle and high-dose TFCM was more effective than DMSA in increasing the activity of GSH, GSH-Px, SOD, CAT and decreasing the concentration of MDA in mice brain. In addition, high-dose TFCM was more effective than DMSA in increasing the activity of GSH-Px, CAT and decreasing the concentration of MDA in mice liver and kidney. The combined treatment with TFCM and DMSA also can reverse lipid peroxidation and increase antioxidant enzyme levels in lead poisoning mice dose-dependently, and it had more beneficial effects than treatment with DMSA alone., Conclusion: TFCM might improve antioxidant defense system, reverse lipid peroxidation and protect brain, liver and kidney against lead induced oxidative damage in mice significantly.

Objective: To investigate the T lymphocyte subgroups and the levels of serum zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) in patients with diarrhea type of irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS)., Methods: A total of 30 D-IBS patients and 30 control subjects were enrolled in this study, and their peripheral blood samples were collected. The percentage of peripheral CD3, CD4, CD8 T lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry, and the ratio of CD4/CD8 was calculated. Serum Zn, Fe and Cu levels were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry(AAS), and the Se level by atomic fluorometry., Result: Compared with control group,the percentage of CD4 T lymphocyte and the ratio of CD4/CD8 in D-IBS group were significantly lower (P<0.01). However, there was no significant difference in serum Zn, Se, Fe, Cu levels between two groups (P>0.05)., Conclusion: The declines of peripheral blood CD4 T lymphocytes and the ratio of CD4/CD8 may suggest a cellular immune abnormality in D-IBS patients. There was no significant difference in trace elements levels between the two groups.

Objective: To study the distribution and correlation of trace elements in peripheral blood of children in Beijing so as to offer scientific evidence for the supplementation of trace elements and to prevent lead intoxication., Methods: Contents of trace elements in whole blood of 13 929 children in Beijing region were detected by Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. According to developmental condition, children were divided into young infancy group, infancy group, toddler's age group, preschool age group, school age group and adolescence group. Every group was divided into males and females. Distribution and correlation of trace elements in different age groups and in different sex sets were then analyzed and compared., Results: The level of copper, calcium and magnesium were stable in different age groups and in different sex sets. There were no obvious significant differences in age groups and sex sets and there were no deficiency of copper, calcium and magnesium discovered. The level of zinc increased gradually following the growth of age and the level of zinc was (81.71 +/- 15.91) micromol/L. There were significant differences in different age groups noticed as well in sex sets of infancy group, toddler's age group and preschool age group. The rate of deficiency of zinc decreased gradually following the growth of age. The rate of zinc deficiency was 13.7% and there were obvious differences noticed in sex sets of toddler, preschool and school age groups. The level of iron increased gradually following the growth of age with the level of iron as (8.28 +/- 0.78) mmol/L. There were significant differences noticed in different age groups, after infancy stage. There was significant difference noticed also in sex sets after school age group. The rate of iron deficiency decreased obviously following the growth of age. The iron deficiency rate was 12.9%, and significantly different in sex sets of young infancy, school age and adolescence groups. The level of lead increased gradually following the growth of age, with the overall level as (59.97 +/- 26.52) microg/L; There was an obvious significant differences noticed in different age groups with significant differences noticed in sex sets after toddler's age group. The rate of lead intoxication increased gradually following the growth of age. The rate of lead intoxication was 8.2%. There were significant differences noticed in sex sets after toddler's age group. However, there were negative correlations noticed among the levels of lead and copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron. There were no correlations between the level of calcium and iron found but showed positive correlation among other trace elements., Conclusion: The deficiency of calcium was basically corrected but the deficiency of zinc and iron were still obvious. There was a high level of lead noticed in these children. It is important to advocate on healthy feeding program, on culture good hygienic habit and on away from the lead pollution sites.

Since biological functions of the elements are generally different, depending on their chemical forms, chemical speciation analysis is really important in metallomics research. Thus, multielement analysis and chemical speciation of the elements in serum were carried out in the present work. A hyphenated technique was developed for high-throughput speciation analysis of the copper, iron and zinc in serum by molecular biology technology and flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Here, Cu, Fe and Zn in serum were classifyied as the forms of combination and non-combination. The serum protein was precipitated by 60% concentration of ethanol under hypothermy. The forms of combination of Cu, Fe and Zn in serum which combined with proteins were in precipitations, and the forms of non-combination of Cu, Fe and Zn in serum, which were free ions, were in supernatant. The total amount of Cu, Fe and Zn in serum and the amount of the forms of non-combination of Cu, Fe and Zn were analyzed by AAS. The amount of the forms of combination of Cu, Fe and Zn was obtained by calculation. The detection limit of Cu in serum by the method is around and 9.84 x 10(-3) microg x mL(-1). For Fe and Zn, the detection limit is about 2.76 x 10(-2) microg x mL(-1) and 1.06 x 10(-3) microg x mL(-1), respectively. The percentage recovery of trace elements Cu, Fe and Zn by the proposed procedure is in the range 95.0%-101.0%, 95.0%-102.0% and 95.0%-103.0%, respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of trace elements Cu, Fe and Zn in the serum is in the range 1.88%-2.26%, 0.56%-1.59% and 0.34%-1.36%, respectively. Speciation of trace elements Cu, Fe and Zn in the serum of SD rat were analyzed by the method.

Objective: To explore the changes in the serum Cu2+ and the indexes for the liver pathology and biochemistry before and after the copper needle retained in the central veins of the rabbit ears., Methods: Forty-nine New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 5 groups: Group A (copper needles retained for 1 d), Group B (3 d), Group C (5 d), Group D (7 d), and Group E (the control group, without any copper needles retained). In each experimental group, there were 10 rabbits, and in the control group there were 9 rabbits. The rabbits in each group were arranged to have their venous blood drawn for determination of the Cu2+ concentration, and for observation on the changes in the liver biochemical indexes for 5 times before and after the copper needles were retained in the central veins of the rabbit ears. At the same time, a piece of the liver tissue in each rabbit was taken for examination of the pathological changes. All the liver samples were given the basic pathological examination; if the liver sample had some extraordinary pathological features, the specific pathological examination would be given, even using the transmission electron microscope., Results: After the copper needles were retained in the central veins of the rabbit ears, the Cu2+ concentration increased with the passing time. The concentrations in the groups were 1. 40+/-0.49 microg/ml in Group A, 1.45+/-0.53 microg/ml in Group B, 2.01+/-0.40 microg/ml in Group C, 2.38+/-0.83 microg/ml in Group D, and 1.34+/-0.45 microg/ml in Group E, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between Group D and Group E (P<0.05). There were no significant changes in the ALT and AST levels when compared with those before the copper needles were retained (P>0.05); however, there was a considerably positive correlation on 1st day (r=0.686, P<0.05), 5th day (r=0.712, P<0.05), and 7th day (r=0.768, P<0.01) when compared with those after the copper needles were retained. The histological examination showed that aseptic inflammation subsided with the time in part of the liver. The Masson staining and the Ag staining showed that there were no obvious changes in the hepatic lobules, with no fibrosis of the liver tissues found under light microscope., Conclusion: There are no obvious toxic and side effects on the rabbit liver after the copper needles are retained in its central veins.

Support vector machine (SVM) has shown its excellent learning and generalization ability for the binary classification of real problems and has been extensively employed in many areas. In this paper, SVM, K-Nearest Neighbor, Decision Tree C4.5 and Artificial Neural Network were applied to identify cancer patients and normal individuals using the concentrations of 6 elements including macroelements (Ca, Mg) and microelements (Ba, Cu, Se, Zn) in human blood. It was demonstrated, by using the normalized features instead of the original features, the classification performances can be improved from 91.89% to 95.95%, from 83.78% to 93.24%, and from 90.54% to 94.59% for SVM, K-NN and ANN respectively, whereas that of C4.5 keeps unchangeable. The best average accuracy of SVM with linear dot kernel by using 5-fold cross validation reaches 95.95%, and is superior to those of other classifiers based on K-NN (93.24%), C4.5 (79.73%), and ANN (94.59%). The study suggests that support vector machine is capable of being used as a potential application methodology for SVM-aided clinical cancer diagnosis.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine primarily the concentration of plasma copper and collagen in fetal membrane of the preterm's mothers, and explore the relation of copper status and fetal membrane collagen of preterm's mothers., Methods: The general situations were collected both in neonatos and their mothers. The plasma copper concentrations of mother venous blood and cord blood were analyzed by ICP-OES. Sirius Red dyeing was first used in fetal membrane to detect the thickness and collagen in preterm's and full-term's mothers., Results: The prevalence of premature rupture of membrane (PROM) was 40.00% in preterm's mothers, and 9.09% in the full-term's mothers. The mothers' preconceptual weight, infant body length and body weight at birth were lower in preterm group than those of the full-term group. The cord blood plasma copper was significantly lower in preterms than in full-terms. Both the thickness and the concentration of collagen I and II of non-split fetal membrane of preterm's mothers were significantly less than those of the full-term's mothers., Conclusion: Both the concentration of plasma copper and fetal membrane collagen of preterm's mothers were lower than that of the full-term's. It can confer that the deficient copper status could lead to immature collagen in fetal membrane which induce PROM and have preterm birth finally. More work need to be done in this field.

In this paper, the color reaction of copper with trimethoxyphenylfluorone (TM-PF) in microemulsion has been studied. Copper (II) reacts with TM-PF to form a stable 1:2 complex at pH 10.40. Its apparent molar absorptivity is 1.46 x 10(5) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1) at 552 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0-0.6 microg x mL(-1). Sulphydryl dextran gel (SDG), in which sulphydryl group has a big share, is a new type of metallic ion adsorbent. It presents the advantage of higher adsorption capacity, better reuse ability and higher mechanical stability. So the coexistent metal ions can be separated effectively and copper can be enriched by SDG, greatly improving the selectivity and sensibility of the system. The method was used to determine trace amount of copper in blood, urine, iron ore and water samples with satisfactory results, the relative standard deviation is less than 4.8%, and the recovery is 94.2%-106%.

The contents of four microamount elements (Sr, Cu, Mg and Zn) in human blood were chosen as recognition index of coronary heart disease patients and normal persons. The recognition pattern of Levenberg-Marquardt Backpropagation algorithm has been established. The first-layer transfer function is Tansig function; the second-layer transfer function is linear Purelin function. There are four input vectors, eight neurons on hidden layer, and one neuron of output vector. Four samples were chosen as a teat group and 22 samples as a training group. The weights and biases of the neural network were given. The given data could be completely identified, which predicted that this method could be a supplementary tool to diagnose this kind of disease with the determined contents of microamount of elements in human blood.

The serum levels of Zn, Cu, cholesterol (Ch) and triglyceride (TG) were determined in 44 patients with hypertension complicated with hyperlipemia, 42 patients with hypertension (HP) and 30 healthy controls by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and automatic biochemical analytical instrument of reagent kit. It was found that the contents of Zn, Ch, TG and Zn/Cu ratio in hypertension complicated with hyperlipemia were significantly higher than in HP and control, while Cu in hypertension complicated with hyperlipemia was significantly lower than in HP and control. The contents of Zn, Ch, TG and Zn/Cu ratio in hypertension were significantly increased. It is suggested that hypertension complicated with hyperlipemia is closely related with Zn and Cu.

Objective: To study the contents, distribution and correlation of Cu, Fe, Cr, B in normal fetal organs., Methods: The samples were digested by closed-vessel microwave HNO3 + H2O2 dissolution system. The solution was directly analyzed by ICP-AES for determination of Cu, Fe, Cr, B in fetal cerebra, cerebellum, heart, liver, kidney, gastrocnemius, placenta and mother serum., Results: The four elements mainly existed in fetal liver. There were correlations between four elements in the same organ as well as between the same element in different organs., Conclusion: There existed some correlations in the contents and distribution of Cu, Fe, Cr, B in normal fetal organs.

Objective: To investigate living donor liver transplantation for Wilson disease with neurologic features., Methods: From Jan 2001 to Mar 2003, fifteen cases of living donor liver transplantation were performed for Wilson Disease (WD), five of those were complicated with neurologic features. A retrospective analysis was given for cooper metabolism and neurologic features., Results: All operation were living related liver transplantation and donors were mothers. Four left lobes with hepatic middle vein and one right lobe without hepatic middle vein were harvested from donors, and graft volume to recipient body weight ratio was 0.79 approximately 1.08. One patient occurred hepatic artery thrombosis and performed retransplantation later, the other recipients recovered satisfactorily. All patients showed Extrapyramidal sign and three patients companying with language handicap and dyskinesia alleviated postoperation follow-up between 2 and 16 months. All recipients are alive and remain well, and none have developed signs of recurrent WD., Conclusion: Living donor liver transplantation is effective treatment for WD complicated with nervous system symptom, ceruloplasmin is normal and Kayser-Fleischer ring and nervous system symptom are to various extents.

Objective: To observe the effect of copper ion electrochemistry (CIE) in treatment of bleeding and prolapse due to hemorrhoid., Methods: Bleeding was caused at several points on the sacrospinal muscles of 26 rabbits. Routine hemostasis was used at one side (control side) and CIE was used on the opposite side (experimental side). The stanch times at the different sides were recorded. Then the rabbits were killed. Pathological examination was made to the lung, liver, and kidney to observe the amount of small thrombus and inflammation. CIE was performed at the right side of anus of 6 dogs and the right side was used as control side. Tissue specimens of rabbit muscle and dog anus mucosa were collected to examine the copper ion concentration. A copper needle was inserted into each pile to the depth of 10 - 15 mm for 4'40" (with the mean number of treated points of 9.8) upon 202 patients suffering from bleeding due to hemorrhoid, 79 with inner hemorrhoids and 123 patients with mixed hemorrhoids (experimental group). Another 171 patients suffering from bleeding due to hemorrhoid, 64 with inner hemorrhoids and 107 with mixed hemorrhoids were treated with suppository as controls. CEI was performed on 128 patients suffering from prolapse of hemorrhoid, 41 with inner hemorrhoids and 87 with mixed hemorrhoids (experimental group). Another 115 patients suffering from prolapse of hemorrhoid, 40 with inner hemorrhoids and 75 with mixed hemorrhoids were treated with suppository as controls. Biopsy specimens of anus mucosa were taken from 18 patients with mixed hemorrhoid who underwent CIE. The copper ion concentration was measured in 30 patients undergoing CIE., Results: The stanch time in the experimental side of rabbit was (1.16 +/- 0.18) min, significantly shorter than that in the control side [(2.13 +/- 0.46) min, P = 0.0037]. Extensive small thrombi and edema of vascular wall were seen in the rabbit liver, lung, kidney, and muscle tissues in comparison with the tissues of the control side (P < 0.01). Copper ion complex was seen in the experimental rabbit tissues. The copper ion concentration was significantly higher in the experimental area of dog anus mucosa than in the control area. Clinical study showed that after CIE the curative rate for bleeding was 95.5%, significantly higher than that of the control group (8.8%, U = 44.6, P < 0.001). The curative rate for prolapse in the experimental group was 60.8%, significantly higher than that of the control group (20.9%, U = 313.2, P < 0.01). No patient felt pain while treated and later. After the CIE treatment, the patients only needed to take a rest for 4 hours. Pathology showed there were much more small thrombi in the treated tissues. The blood copper ion concentration in the trial group did not increase significantly after CIE in comparison with that before treatment., Conclusion: CIE is safe, effective and easy to perform in treatment of bleeding and prolapse due to hemorrhoid.

A method for the determination of copper in hepatolenticular degeneration patient's serum and urine by flame atomic absorption spectrometry was developed, and the meaning of clinic diagnosis and therapy for copper lever of hepatolenticular degeneration patient in serum and urine was discussed. The detection limit and linear range for copper are 7.3 x 10(-3) micrograms.mL-1 and 0.008-5 micrograms.mL-1 respectively. The relative standard deviation is less than 1.4% and the recovery is 94%-104%. The experimental results show that serum copper and urine copper contents are really important reference index for diagnosing the disease, with guiding significance for timely monitoring and controlling serum copper and urine copper excretion, especially in therapy, although they do not have separate diagnosing significance for hepatolenticular degeneration disease and have to be combined with clinic symptoms and other biochemical indexes to make a comprehensive diagnosis. This method has been applied to clinic diagnosis and therapy with satisfactory results.

Using AAs method, we detected serum Zn, Cu, Mg, Cr in the women with barrenness and hysteromyoma disease. The results showed that the level of serum Cu and Cr of women with hysteromyoma were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group. (P < 0.01), the level of serum Zn of those were significantly lower than those in the control (P < 0.01). In the serum of those with barrenness disease, the level of Zn, Cr is significantly lower than the control group (P < 0.01). It is suggested that trace element Cu, Zn, Cr are interrelated with hysteromyoma disease, Zn, Cr are interrelated with women barrenness disease.

The effects of iron deficiency anemia(IDA) on the reproduction of female rats and the development of their offspring were studied. Four-week-old female Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups. The rats in experimental group and control group were fed on low iron or normal diet respectively for 14 weeks, and then they were mated with normal adult male rats. The development and growth of the newborn, weanling and four-day-old offspring was observed and the trace element Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and Se in serum were measured. IDA made notable impacts on the reproduction of female rats with small sized litters, less living fetal rats. The survival rate of female rats in the IDA group was less than that in control group. Hemoglobin and packed cell volume in blood were lower in IDA group than those in control group(P < 0.0001). The content of serum Fe and Cu in IDA group was also lower than that in control group. Iron deficiency might cause metabolism disorders of other trace element.

Purpose: To investigate the relation of senile cataract with superoxide dismutase(SOD) and trace elements., Methods: Superoxide dismutase of red blood cells and trace elements(Cu, Zn, Ca, Fe) of serum in 61 patients with senile cataract and 121 normal persons were investigated., Results: The activity of superoxide dismutase in patients with senile cataract decrease dramatically in comparison with normal control, and there was no statistical difference about trace elements of Cu, Zn, Ca between senile cataract and control group. But Fe element in patients is higher than that of the normal group., Conclusion: The results support the hypothesis that the formation of senile cataract is capable of antioxidative scavenger system of lens decreases with age.

Using AAS method, we detected serum Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Mg in the people with hepatoma, cirrhosis and hepatophyma disease. The results showed that the level of serum Cu of people with hepatoma and cirrhosis were significantly higher than those in the healthy control and with hepatophyma disease (P < 0.01). The levels of serum Mn, Cr of those with hepatoma and cirrhosis disease were significantly lower than those with hepatophyma and the healthy control (P < 0.01). It is concluded that determination of Cu, Mn, Cr may be one of the methods to diagnose hepatoma and cirrhosis disease.

The contents of trace elements Fe, Cr, Co and Ni in serum of middle-aged and aged people with slight and severe diabetes were determined and compared with the control group. The results showed that the concentrations of Fe and Cr of the case groups were lower than those of the control group, and there was a significant difference between the two case groups (P < 0.01). The content of Ni was lowered during the initial stage of diabetes, and changed into normal gradually. There was significant difference between group of higher blood sugar and the control group (P < 0.05), and even more significant difference between the two case groups(P < 0.01). The content of Co rose with the patient's condition worsened, but there was no statistical significance (P < 0.05).

The levels of trace element and protein were determined in eight male sikas. The results revealed that the levels of phosphorus, zinc, copper, ferrin and manganese were 2.68 mmol/L, 51.3 mumol/L, 21.4 mumol/L, 255.6 mumol/L and 0.16 mumol/L respectively and which were significantly higher than the human normal values. Serum levels of albumin and globulin were 34.9 g/L and 35.5 g/L respectively. Among them, the level of gamma-globulin was the highest (25.2%) which was threefold than the human serum normal value. From the above results, sika blood has great value in medicinal use.

The levels of serum trace elements Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn and Ca were measured by PE3030 atomic absorption spectrophotometer in 300 patients with lung cancer, 50 with nonmalignant pulmonary diseases and 100 healthy subjects. In addition, these trace elements were also measured in 60 cases with lung cancer (40 remitted, 20 non-remitted) before and after treatment. Results showed that the concentrations of serum Cu, Mn and Cu/Zn ratio were significantly higher (P < 0.01) but Zn, Ca were significantly lower (P < 0.05-0.01) in lung cancer and nonmalignant pulmonary diseases than in healthy controls. Within the three groups there has no difference among profession, area and age discovered. In the remitted patients with lung cancer, the levels of serum Cu and Cu/Zn ratio were significantly lower (P < 0.01) but Zn, Ca were significantly higher (P < 0.01) after treatment. In the non-remitted group, only Cu/Zn ratio was significantly higher (P < 0.01) after treatment. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the Odds Ratio (OR) of serum Ca was 0.9950 with 95% Confidence interval (CI) 0.9910-0.9990, and the OR of Cu/Zn was 7.9914 with 95% CI 3.4310-18.6134. It was suggested that Ca might play a protective vole while Cu/Zn ratio a risk factor for lung cancer. Results also showed that if the threshold of Cu/Zn ratio set at 1.10 in the healthy control group, the positive rate of Cu/Zn ratio was 68% which might be important in diagnosis and to assessing the prognosis of lung cancer.

Forty rats fed with basic diets were randomly divided into 4 groups. NG group were fed with basic diets. The other three groups were fed with high fat diets. The rats in TA group and EC group were given TA 100 mg/kg or EC 100 mg/kg each day respectively in addition to high fat diet for 8 weeks. The results showed that taurine and extraction of cristata L not only increased the level of red cell SOD and the content of serum Zn (P < 0.05), but also decreased the contents of TC, MDA in the wall of artery and decreased the level of serum LDH significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). TA and EC increased significantly the content of serum Cu and decreased the ratio of serum Cu to Zn in the high fat diet rats (P < 0.01), and decreased the contents of serum Ca also. The results indicate that TA and EC may play some role in lipid metabolism and inhibit atherosclerosis by regulating the levels of Zn, Cu and Ca in rats.

The effects of six kinds of surfactants were studied in the detection of copper in serum by atomic absorption spectrometry. The results demonstrated that the absorption decreased when polyvinyl alcohol was used alone or together with the other one, and the absorption increased when one or two of Tween-20, emulgent-OP, palmityl trimethyl ammonium bromide, arabicgum and sodium laurylsulfate were used. Tween-20 and sodium laurylsulfate used together are most effective. A method of determination of serum copper by atomic absorption spectrometry sensitized with mixture of Tween-20 and sodium laurylsulfate was established. The absorption increased by 50%. The relative standard deviation was 1.35%-2.11%. The recovery was 98.00%-98.13%. The detection limit was 0.0524 mumol/L.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of HLD-Tablet I in treating hepatolenticular degeneration (HLD) and its effect on urinary trace element in 24 hours., Methods: After 4 weeks of treatment on 34 cases of HLD by oral taken HLD-Tablet I, the clinical practice was closely observed on the patients' change of symptoms, signs and daily life pattern, and measured the level of urinary trace element in 24 hours before the therapy and after that every week., Results: The total effective rate reached 70.59%, marked effective rate was 8.82%. The effect of treatment was better in the infantile and mild patient. After treatment, the daily output of urinary copper was obviously increased every week than that before (P < 0.01). It was highly negative linear correlated with the duration of treatment (r = -0.96, P < 0.05). But it was insignificantly different between any two weekly excretion of urinary copper per 24 hours after treatment by the HLD-Tablet I (P > 0.05), so its effect on urinary copper excretion was not decreased., Conclusion: The HLD-Tablet I could increase the output of urinary copper, hence it was effective in treating HLD without apparent toxic or side reaction.

This paper established a new and convenient method for the determination of Cu, Zn, Ca, Mg and Fe microelements content in whole blood samples from human's ear by using flame AAS with microsample injection. The results show that recoveries of these microelements are above 96.0% and relative standard deviation of Zn, Ca, Mg and Fe are less than 2.0%, Cu is less than 3.9%. Satisfactory results are obtained with only 10 microL whole blood samples from human's ear.

Objective: To investigate the effect of treatment of cachexia with Umbellatus Polyporus Polysaccharide (UPP)., Methods: UPP was used to treat cachexia induced by toxohormone-L., Results: Toxohormone-L from ascites fluid with primary hepatoma could induce lipolysis in vitro significantly, inhibit the intake behavior, decrease the level of blood zinc, increase that of blood copper (P < 0.01), upp could inhibit these effects., Conclusion: Toxohormone-L was closely related with neoplastic cachexia and UPP could inhibit this effect induced by toxohormone-L significantly.

Eighty-one children aged 8 to 12 years were divided into three groups, i.e., obese, normal, and thin ones according to their body fat percentage, and serum thyroid hormone, zinc and copper concentrations were determined for them to study relationship between body composition and serum thyroid hormone, zinc and copper. Results indicated serum level of free 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (FT3) was significantly higher in the obese group than in the other two groups, and that in the normal group was higher than that in the thin one. Analysis showed body fat composition correlated with serum FT3 positively. No correlation between body composition, serum thyroid hormone, and serum zinc and copper in children aged 8 to 12 years was observed in this experiment.

Objectives: To explore the pathogenesis of age-related macular degenerastion (AMD) for its early prevention and treatment., Methods: The enzymes of red blood cells, levels of serum mineral elements and antiretinal antibodies were determined in AMD and controls. Electronic microscopy, immunohistochemical survey of the AMD patient subretinal neovascular membrane were performed. The light exposure of animal experiment was also made., Results: The levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase as well as serum zinc were decreased in AMD patients, the ratio of copper and zinc was increase. The retinal antibody reaction was higher than that of controls, and the subretinal neovascular membrane showed inflammatory granulomatous appearance., Conclusions: In addition to age, AMD may be related to light damage, change in human defense system and chronic inflammatory process.