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The article "Potentially Toxic Elements Determination by X-Ray Spectrometry" discusses the importance of detecting potentially toxic elements (PTEs) for environmental monitoring and health diagnostics. Various studies showcased in the article demonstrate the effectiveness of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) techniques in analyzing and quantifying PTEs in different applications, such as environmental pollution assessment, mercury detection in human hair, and screening for toxic metals in seafood. The research highlights the versatility and sensitivity of XRF technologies in addressing PTEs detection and monitoring, encouraging further innovations in this field. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this study was the comparison of the results obtained in the determination of the content of essential elements such as Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn in vegetation samples using different analytical approaches, including suspension preparation and total reflection X‐ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis as well as most commonly used spectroscopic methods in the field of vegetal analysis such as acid digestion in combination with atomic emission (AES) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). In the case of TXRF analysis, two instruments equipped with different X‐ray tubes anodes (W and Mo) were used to better evaluate the potential of TXRF for vegetal samples analysis. Analytical figures of merit for the considered methods were determined by the analysis of plant reference materials. The one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) applied to the analysed and certified values showed that the results were not statistically different at the significance level of p‐values <0.05. Therefore, suspension preparation and TXRF analysis proved to be a sustainable and fast analytical alternative to the most commonly used ones involving a previous digestion of the sample and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES) or flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) analysis. Finally, the different analytical approaches were applied to the determination of Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn in a set of herbal teas used for medical purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most clinical and nutritional studies, it is of significance to know information about the multielemental composition of biological samples. Conventional analysis of biological samples relies upon sample digestion followed by atomic spectrometry detection. This approach is essential for the quantification of ultratrace elements in biological samples. While in other applications it could be of interest to have simpler analytical methods with multielemental capability but involving a minimum sample treatment, reduce the amount of sample and a more cost‐effective analysis. In the present contribution, the possibilities and drawbacks of simple sample treatments (i.e., dilution and suspension) in combination with total reflection X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) for the analysis of different types of biological samples have been critically evaluated. For that, a set of reference materials or well‐characterized biological human fluids (blood, serum, plasma and seminal plasma) and animal/vegetal tissues have been used to estimate the analytical capabilities in terms of limits of detection, trueness and precision of the proposed TXRF methods. The results are based on the authors' experience in analysing biological samples using TXRF, and it is expected that they can be useful for new TXRF users in this field and they can provide a good basis for further application of this technique in clinical studies and other applications dealing with the analysis of biological samples in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]