Using data for 27 Texas counties from 1978-1987, it is shown that the incidence rates of suicide, homicide, and rape are significantly higher in counties whose drinking water supplies contain little or no lithium than in counties with water lithium levels ranging from 70-170 micrograms/L; the differences remain statistically significant (p less than 0.01) after corrections for population density. The corresponding associations with the incidence rates of robbery, burglary, and theft were statistically significant with p less than 0.05. These results suggest that lithium has moderating effects on suicidal and violent criminal behavior at levels that may be encountered in municipal water supplies. Comparisons of drinking water lithium levels, in the respective Texas counties, with the incidences of arrests for possession of opium, cocaine, and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, and codeine) from 1981-1986 also produced statistically significant inverse associations, whereas no significant or consistent associations were observed with the reported arrest rates for possession of marijuana, driving under the influence of alcohol, and drunkenness. These results suggest that lithium at low dosage levels has a generally beneficial effect on human behavior, which may be associated with the functions of lithium as a nutritionally-essential trace element. Subject to confirmation by controlled experiments with high-risk populations, increasing the human lithium intakes by supplementation, or the lithiation of drinking water is suggested as a possible means of crime, suicide, and drug-dependency reduction at the individual and community level. 相似文献
Two nuclear techniques, Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis (EDXRF) and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), were used to analyze aerosol samples collected in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Na, Cl, Mn, V, Al, Sm, Mo, W, La, As, Br, Sb, K, Ba, Se, Th, Cr, Rb, Ca, Fe, Ce, and Sc were determined by INAA, and Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Hg, and Pb were determined by EDXRF. A preliminary identification of the main source of the atmospheric aerosol was performed based on enrichment factor and correlation coefficient calculations.
A method is described for the determination of mercury in human blood serum and packed blood cells employing neutron activation
analysis. Great attention was devoted to the collection and manipulation of the samples. The accuracy and precision of the
method were tested by analyzing biological reference materials and by comparing the concentrations measured in a number of
serum samples to those obtained by another, independent technique (cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry) in the same
samples. The article reports the levels measured in blood serum and packed blood cells samples from 15 adult volunteers, as
well as the figures determined in a “second-generation” biological reference material (freeze-dried human serum), prepared
and conditioned at the University of Ghent. 相似文献
The hemolysis of red blood cells (RBC) induced by Cu(II) is modified by ceruloplasmin (Cp) and albumin. The time course of hemolysis for rabbit RBC by Cu(II) consisted of two parts, an induction period followed by a catastrophic lysis period. The induction period decreased and the lysis rate increased with increasing Cu(II) concentration. Cp or albumin, modified Cu(II) induced hemolysis, by increasing the duration of the induction period and decreasing the overall rate of hemolysis of RBC. The catastrophic lysis period coincided with a sharp increase in the formation of metHb within the cell and in a rapid uptake of Cu(II). The presence of Cp led to an increase in the induction period prior to the rapid increase in metHb formation and in Cu(II) uptake. Porcine Cp was prepared with either two or three nonprosthetic copper binding sites (sites where Cu(II) is easily removed by passing over Chelex-100). Cp with three nonprosthetic binding sites gave more protection than Cp with two. Likewise, albumin can be prepared with three and five nonprosthetic copper binding sites. The albumin with five sites gave more protection than the albumin with three sites. 相似文献
The use of nuclear analytical techniques for environmental studies in South America is selectively reviewed since the time of earlier works of Lattes with cosmic rays until the recent applications of the PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) technique to study air pollution problems in large cities, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The studies on natural radioactivity and fallout from nuclear weapons in South America are briefly examined.
Multivariate statistical analysis has been applied to time series measurements of aerosol elemental composition from PIXE
analysis of filter samples, and principal components have been resolved that represent distinct particle types in an external
mixture in the atmosphere. In this study, it is argued that a combination of chemical and statistical analyses of the data
may be more powerful in determining chemical species in atmospheric aerosols than studies that employ mainly direct chemical
analysis of chemical species in unresolved mixtures of aerosol particle samples. Sulfur is generally associated with mineral
dust elements. It is reasoned that the association may represent sulfuric acid coatings on particles that can lead to mineral
dissolution and solubilization of significant amounts of aluminum, iron, and other metals.
Upon wet or dry deposition to the surface, the fluxes of these metals in biologically-available form may be sufficient to
affect primary productivity in the world ocean and cause ecological damage in lakes. As a consequence, the fluxes of biogenic
trace gases to the atmosphere may be changed, possibly leading to changes in the tropospheric concentration of ozone. The
inputs to lakes of soluble aluminum, which is toxic to fish, may be partly by deposition directly from the atmosphere, thus
not limited to leaching of soils by acid deposition. Human inhalation of soluble aluminum and other solulilized mineral metals
may account, in part, for the observed geographic pattern of deaths attributed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
that show high rates in cities of the Western US and the southeast region, but low in most of the midwest and northeast. 相似文献
Two new facilities for in vivo activation analysis of patients have been designed, developed, and constructed at Toronto General
Hospital. One of these is for the determination of body calcium for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and other diseases associated
with bone loss. The other is for the measurement of total body nitrogen for the determination of protein status.
These facilities replace old university facilities and take into account the comfort and management of patients. In addition,
in the case of the calcium facility, the precision of the measurements has been improved because of larger detector volume
and increased neutron source strength. Both the facilities are now in routine hospital clinical use. 相似文献
A microcomputer-controlled irradiation and measurement system and a microprocessor-controlled sample changer have been installed
at the SLOWPOKE-2 Facility at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). These systems can provide the gamut of instrumental
neutron activation analysis (INAA) techniques for the analyst. Custom software has been created for system control, data acquisition,
and off-line spectral analysis using programs that incorporate Gaussian peak-fitting methods of analysis. The design and use
of the equipment is discussed, and the performance is illustrated with results obtained from the analysis of marine sediment
and biological reference materials. 相似文献
To study effects of simultaneous administration of tin (Sn) and selenium (Se) on concentrations of several essential elements, mice were injected with either SnCl2 (ip) or Na2SeO3 (sc), alone or both compounds at a daily dose of 5 mumol/kg each for 12 consecutive days. Mice were sacrificed at 20 h after the last injection and concentrations of Sn, Se, Na, Ca, Zn, P, Fe, K, and Mg in the liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas, testis, seminal vesicle, lung, femoral muscle, and femoral bone were determined. In the control mice, Sn and Se concentrations were the highest in bone (0.69 micrograms Sn and 6.93 micrograms Se/g dry wt). Administered Sn was found to accumulate in all organs except the testis. Among the essential elements determined, Na was the most affected in terms of concentration in the organs and Mg was the least affected element in these organs. Among the organs tested, each elemental concentration in the pancreas was most affected. Simultaneous injections of Sn and Se appeared to keep the correlation coefficients between elements similar to those found in the control mice. 相似文献