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The burials of famous Xiongnu people are a unique source of information about Xiongnu culture, due to the variety of organic findings. SRXRF analysis of hair, clay, bones, teeth and woollen cloth was carried out. An anomalously high copper content was observed in all hair samples, whereas the levels of copper in bone and clay were low. To define the hair morphology and the elemental distribution in the hair cross-section, high-resolution X-ray computed tomography ( HRXCT) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy ( EDS) with scanning electron microscopy ( SEM) were used. The X-ray absorption fine-structure method ( XAFS) was applied to determine the local copper environment. The majority of the copper species in the hair and enamel samples are present as Cu2+ cations in a distorted octahedral (4 + 2) coordination, surrounded by light ligands (oxygen/nitrogen). A similar distorted octahedral coordination is typical for both inorganic mixed oxide/hydroxide Cu nanosystems and metal-organic Cu complexes (with oxygen/nitrogen). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have presented results of study of bottom sediments of the proglacial lakes enriched with meltwater of Peretolchin Glacier (the East Sayan Ridge), Chersky Glacier (the Baikalsky Ridge) and glaciers of the Kodar Ridge. Bottom sediments formed from the end of the Little Ice Age to 2013 were investigated with time resolution in year-season, using X-ray fluorescence with synchrotron radiation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Depth-age models of the cores were estimated from year laminate layers, using Pb and Cs chronology. Intense glacier thawing was calculated from the amount of clastic matter supplied by glacier meltwater into proglacial lakes. A high content of some elements was closely associated with clastic material (e.g. Rb, Zr, Nb, Y or Th) in bottom sediments, and most likely these elements affected the intensity of glacier melting. We have defined three periods in significant increase of glacier flow/melting during the last 210 years. The first period (ca. 1800-1890), supply of suspended material by meltwater into Lake Ekhoy (the East Sayan Ridge) and Lake Preobrazhenskoe (the Kodar Ridge), was not intense until 1850 and 1875, respectively. However, the rate of meltwater supply into Lake Izumrudnoe (the Baikalsky Ridge) was high during the Little Ice Age, and it is likely attributed to local moisture from Lake Baikal. The regional glacier water balances were most likely positive during the second period (ca. 1890-1940). The third period (ca. 1940-till present) was characterised by moderate melting rate of glaciers located on the Kodar and Baikalsky Ridges, in contrast to Peretolchin Glacier that demonstrated the highest rate of melting and changes in outlines during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain lakes in East Siberia have been studied for recent changes in water chemistry, turbidity and diatom assemblages preserved in bottom sediments. We performed a regional analysis of the relative effect of climate and glacier changes on change in diatom diversity and supply of meltware in proglacial lakes. We analysed sediment records from East Siberian glacier lakes using geochemical and diatoms proxies. We found that dramatic changes in communities and abundance of diatoms and biogenic proxy could be induced by low nutrient concentrations in glacial lakes and high turbidity due to active degradation of glaciers and snow patches as a result of the global increase in temperature in the Northern Hemisphere. Our evidences show that diatoms have been gradually decreased since ca. the 1880s. A significant tendency towards diatom reducing occurred at high summer regional temperatures. This tendency may be attributed to the fact that glaciers and snow patches thawed actively in East Siberia during ca. 1880-1958, which was induced by the beginning of the Recent Warming (ca. 1850-1860) and a long period of relatively warm regional climate from ca. 1900 to 1960. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The techniques of X-ray fluorescence analysis with synchrotron radiation (SRXRF) use mainly the external standard method, which imposes an essential requirement of similarity of absorption and scattering of the primary and fluorescence radiation by the matrices of the test sample and the reference one. In this connection, there is an actual problem of shortage or absence of required standard reference samples. In this paper we consider a variant of analysis of a biological tissue (certified reference material NCSZC 85005 Beef liver) with a standard sample of geological matrix (certified reference material IAEA Soil-7) as a reference sample. The concentrations of K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb and Sr were determined in the standard liver sample with and without allowance for fluorescence radiation absorption by the differing matrices. Using the absorption correction enabled full account of the difference in the absorption properties of the matrices under study (liver and soil) and obtaining chemical element concentrations having no significant difference from certified values. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study of bottom sediments of proglacial Lake Ehoy, which intakes the meltwater of Peretolchin glacier, the East Sayan Ridge. A bottom sediment sequence that formed in the period of 1885-2013 was investigated with a year/season time resolution using X-ray fluorescence with synchrotron radiation and conventional analysis. A depth-age model of the core was based on counting of the annual laminae. The model was checked by an analysis of the distribution of activity of 210Pb, 137Cs, 238U, and 226Ra. The dynamics of the glacier is considered through the intensity of clastic material inflow into the lake with the glacier melt water. In the elemental composition of the sediments, there are three groups of elements that reflect the periods of movement of the front edge of the glacier and the intensity of development of the aquatic biota. The first group of elements (Ca, K, Ti, Fe, and Mn) characterizes the inflow of clastic material when there are no significant changes in the boundaries of the glacier. The second group of elements (Ni, Cu, Br, and U) reflects the aquatic biota intensity. The third group of elements (Rb, Sr, Zr, Nb, Y, and Th) is some evidence that the displacement of the front edge of the glacier was significant. The glacier retreated rapidly in 1947-1970. The next period of steady degradation of the glacier took place in 1980-2000. Since 2000, the melting rate has slowed down. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Siberia is very sensitive to moisture regimes because it is located in a margin area, where moisture from the North Atlantic is strongly depleted, and the penetration of the East Asian monsoon is weak and rare. In winter months, the Siberian anticyclone strongly blocks and reduces the external influences on the region. The high latitude of the study area at 52°N is probably sensitive to variation in insolation and solar activity. We analysed a 42-cm-long sediment record from Lake Mountain located in East Siberia (Russia) for geochemical, mineralogical, subfossil diatoms, chironomids, and pollen to provide a reconstruction of the climate history of the area for the last 850 years. According to our reconstruction, a clear decrease in summer temperatures occurred in East Siberia after ca. 1400 and we linked this temperature drop with the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The coldest summer occurred about ca. 1570-1700 and 1830-1900. We assumed that the most significant changes of the lake bio-productivity and the catchment area were occurred about ca. 1160-1350, 1350-1590, 1590-1730, 1730-1900 and 1940 to the present. The most dramatic period with unfavorable climate conditions for lake-biota was during 1590-1730. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered stacks of the structure Si(100)/Ni/BCxNy were produced by physical (Ni) and chemical (BCN) vapor deposition. The BCN layers were deposited at temperatures of 200, 300, 400, and 500 °C. The resulting samples were characterized by ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, secondary ion mass spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray reflectometry. The formed structures of the samples synthesized at 200 and 500 °C, respectively, were determined. For the synthesis temperature of 200 °C, compounds with Ni-C bonds were found at the interface Ni/BCxNy. For the sample produced at 500 °C, compounds with Ni-Si bonds were identified, dispersed as particles or droplets in the corresponding interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered samples Si(100)/C/Ni/BCN and Si(100)/C/Cu/BCN were produced by physical vapor deposition of a metal (Ni, Cu, resp.) and low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of the boron carbonitride on a Si(100) substrate. Between the Si and the Ni (Cu) and on the surface of the Ni (Cu) layer, thin carbon layers were deposited, as a diffusion barrier or as a protection against oxidation, respectively. Afterwards, the surface carbon layer was removed. As precursor, trimethylamine borane and, as an auxiliary gas, H and NH were used, respectively. The chemical compositions of the layers and of the interfaces in between were characterized by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry combined with near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The application of H yielded the BCN compound whereas the use of NH led to a mixture of h-BN and graphitic carbon. At the BCN/metal interface, metal borides could be identified. At the relatively high synthesis temperature of 700 °C, broad regions of Cu or Ni and Si were observed between the metal layer and the substrate Si. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this investigation is to analyze 20 nails in individuals (and several persons) for the definition of how chemical elements distribute from nail to nail. The aim was to determine whether it will be rightful to take only one nail for the elemental analysis for the diagnostic of human state in future or not? Another purpose of the research is to analyze the elemental content of nails in temporal dynamic (in several persons). Analytical determinations of 20 nails of nine donors (healthy persons), nails of both hands and both feet were carried out. The analysis was performed by SRXRF. Symmetry of the elemental distribution in nails of right and left hands and right and left feet was found. The analysis of the distribution of chemical elements on the total area of a nail (55 points) was performed. The nail cutaway reflects adequately the distribution of several chemical elements over the nail plate area. In this study the elemental concentrations in nails of three donors in a 6-month period was determined. This study found the content of the chemical elements in donors' nails changes with time, individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the Pazyryk hair and nail cuttings found in the ancient burials on the Ukok Plateau in Russia. It is believed that it was sufficient to acquire either the hair or nails of a person to gain power over his/her soul and influence his/her life. However, belief in immortality and afterlife obliged people to preserve the body and its parts. The results show that Pazyryk people often experienced copper poisoning and that their hair had higher concentration of many microelements, which include zinc, gallium, and lead, than that of modern people. Tables of the analysis, including microelement composition of human hair and nails, and horse tail hair, are also presented.

The synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence technique (SRXRF) was applied to the determination of K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Br, Rb, and Sr concentrations in the liver and lungs in Wistar rats. The animals in the experiment included (1) healthy rats, (2) rats with alimentary obesity (AO), and (3) rats with alimentary obesity that were being given zinc sulphate with water for a long time (АО+Zn). Each group was divided into two subgroups. The experiment with the first subgroup was terminated with the animals in the state of physiological hunger and subsequent retrieval of liver and lung tissue, while the animals of the second subgroup were sacrificed two hours after ingestion of lard. The rats in physiological hunger manifested intergroup differences in the content of the bioelements (BEs) neither in the liver nor in the lungs. The rats with AO, as compared with the healthy animals, demonstrated in physiological hunger redistribution of inter-element correlations (IECs), which is an indirect reflection of sustained metabolic disorder. Additional zinc in the rats' ration did not affect their body weight and the concentration of the BEs (including zinc) in the liver and the lungs. However, the IECs in the tissues of these animals in physiological hunger also changed. This redistribution differed from that in the rats with AO. The IECs soon after ingestion of lard also changed, which also reflects sustained changes in the metabolism in the animals., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Information about X-ray mass attenuation coefficients in different materials is necessary for accurate X-ray fluorescent analysis. The X-ray mass attenuation coefficients for energy of 7-12keV were measured in biological (Mussel and Oyster tissues, blood, hair, liver, and Cabbage leaves) and geological (Baikal sludge, soil, and Alaskite granite) samples. The measurements were carried out at the EXAFS Station of Siberian Synchrotron Radiation Center (VEPP-3). Obtained experimental mass attenuation coefficients were compared with theoretical values calculated for some samples., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Using a high-fat diet in experiment on rats received model alimentary obesity (AO). Adding zinc to the diet did not affect the severity of the AO. The concentration of K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Br, Rb, Sr in the liver and lungs of rats with obesity in both groups did not differ from that of healthy animals. As in the liver and lungs in rats of both groups with obesity has been a redistribution of interelement correlation (COP) and during physiological hunger and soon after consumption of pork fat. Redistribution of interelement COP in a state of physiological hunger reflects the strong changes of metabolic processes of the body. The nature of rearrangements of the COP in the liver and lungs were significantly different in each group of rats. Soon after intake of fatty foods in control rats and rats AO not receiving zinc, found an increase in the total number interelement COP in the lungs and major decline in the liver, which indirectly indicates the active participation of the lungs in the metabolism of dietary fat, over-expressed in control animals. In rats receiving more zinc, the increase in the total number of correlations after eating found in both bodies.

Improvement in the performance of functional nanoscaled devices involves novel materials, more complex structures, and advanced technological processes. The transitions to heavier elements and to thicker layers restrict access to the chemical and physical characterization of the internal material interfaces. Conventional nondestructive characterization techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suffer from sensitivity and quantification restrictions whereas destructive techniques such as ion mass spectrometry may modify the chemical properties of internal interfaces. Thus, novel methods providing sufficient sensitivity, reliable quantification, and high information depths to reveal interfacial parameters are needed for R&D challenges on the nanoscale. Measurement strategies adapted to nanoscaled samples enable the combination of Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure and Grazing Incidence X-ray Fluorescence to allow for chemical nanometrology of internal material interfaces. Their validation has been performed at nanolayered model structures consisting of a silicon substrate, a physically vapor deposited Ni metal layer, and, on top, a chemically vapor deposited B(x)C(y)N(z) light element layer.

The aim of the study was to investigate possible changes in the elemental content of small biological tissue samples (with low weight) during the short period of fixation in formalin. Therefore, the effect of the fixation time (4 h to 6 days) was studied on the elemental content of the tissue. Synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescent analysis (SRXRF) technique was used for the determination of the elemental concentrations. The levels of Cl, K, Ca, Br, Rb, and Sr in the samples fixed for 4h (and longer) show significant differences in comparison with levels in fresh samples, because these ions have a high mobility and capacity for moving through the cell membrane. The content of Zn, Se, Fe, and Cu in the samples fixed by formalin solution during 4h do not show significant differences compared with fresh samples. The ions of these elements can form complexes with the large protein molecules in the tissue and can hardly be removed from it., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

The purpose - to establish the role of lungs in the metabolic processes in normal and alimentary obesity. The method of X-ray fluorescence analysis using synchrotron radiation, the determination of concentrations Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Se, As in the tissue of the lungs and liver in 19 control rats and 19 rats with alimentary obesity. On the basis of many strengths and very strong positive correlation between the content of chemical elements shows that in the control rats, fasting metabolism in the lung more intense than the liver, which in case of obesity is significantly reduced. After receiving the lard in the lungs decreases the number of correlations between the concentrations of microelements in the control animals. Obesity changing their character, indicating a switch of metabolism in connection with the utilization of triglycerides in the body of the control rats, and a malfunction of this process in obesity.

By the method of autopsy in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) who died of acute heart failure we took samples of myocardium from 6 parts of the heart: left and right atrium, left and right ventricle, region of myocardial infarction, and scar of the left ventricle. Simultaneously we conducted histological study of these parts of myocardium. For the control we investigated content of chemical elements in myocardium of healthy victims of traffic accidents. By the method of roentgen fluorescent analysis with the use of synchrotron emission we detected content of 17 chemical elements: 4 macroelements (S, Cl, K, Ca) and 13 microelements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, As, Mo, Hg). It was established that in patients with IHD who had died of acute heart failure content of Ca was elevated 4-8 fold in all parts of the heart. In infarction zone compared with other regions of the heart maximal quantity of Sr, Cr, Hg was contained. These elements can be looked upon as markers of infarction. In myocardium of patients with IHD especially in the zone of infarction elevation of activity of processes of lipid peroxidaton has been noted (calculated activity of malone aldehyde as example).

The method of X-ray fluorescence employing synchronous radiation was used to study the content of chemical elements (CE) in the aortic wall in patients suffering from CAD (Group I), patients diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm (Group II), and those presenting with aortic dissection (Group III). The obtained findings revealed a pronounced CE disbalance in the aortic wall in Group II and III patients as compared with Group I patients, suggesting an important role of trace and macroelements in metabolic processes related to formation of artic aneurysms. Based on the degree of the ascending aorta dilatation, we determined the coefficient of the ratio of the ascending aorta maximal diameter to the fibrous ring aortic valve diameter, equalling 1.88 +/- 0.04, above which metabolic processes in the aortic wall change over to a qualitatively another level. This point was arbitrarily termed the metabolic process reversibility point.

Contents of 11 microelements (Se, Rb, K, Sr, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Ni, Zn) in various parts (zone of infarction, of scar, periinfaction zone) of left ventricular myocardium of patients with ischemic heart disease was studied with method of rentgenofluorescent analysis with the use of synchrotron irradiation (overall 2112 analyses). Left ventricular myocardium of victims of accidents without cardiovascular pathology was studied as control. Compared with control dysbalance of various degree was noted in left ventricular myocardium of patients with ischemic heart disease. Four groups of microelements were distinguished: lowered content (Se, Rb, K); close to normal content (Mn, Cu); moderately elevated content (Cr, Sr, Fe); elevated content (Ni, Zn). Several orders of magnitude elevation of Ni and Zn was noted in all parts of left ventricle, especially in the zone of infarction and periinfarction zone.

On reviewing the data in the literature it is obvious that the differences in the concentrations of certain special elements in human hair for a various number of people are too large to be used as standards or deviations from standards for determining the trace-elemental composition of hair. New questions have arisen with the publication of non-compatible data. What is the distribution of elements on the donor's head area? What is the character of this distribution? Is the distribution function identical for all elements? Hair samples were taken from five points on the heads of six people. The hair samples were analysed using the method of X-ray fluorescence excited by synchrotron radiation (SRXRF), and the results were compared with those from a similar sample analysed using the method of total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF). Elements which show a constant concentration all over the head are identified.