Elements in the body

Biologically important elements and highly toxic elements. For the major elements in the body, their percent abundance in the body is given below the symbols. 

Animals, including humans, create their body tissues from the food they consume all the substances that constitute their bodies are derived from food. Food is, therefore, essential for their survival, and food and the search for adequate supplies of food have determined, and still determine, the life-patterns of ancient as well as of modem people. The study of past human feeding habits and their diets is, therefore, central to the understanding of ancient societies. A large number of studies have shown that there is strong correlation between the type food consumed and the relative amounts of the stable isotopes of some elements in the body or in its dead remains. This seems to confirm an axiom generally recognized in science, that "You are what you eat."... 

Use this association to replace the symmetry elements in the body of Table 2 by the associated numbers to give ... 

The human body is composed of 60 to 70 percent water, and water contains twice as many hydrogen atoms as oxygen atoms. If two-thirds of every water molecule is hydrogen and if water makes up 60 percent of the body, it seems logical to conclude that hydrogen makes up 40 percent of the body. Yet hydrogen is only the third most abundant element in the body by mass. What gives ... 

Looney WB. 1955. Late effects (twenty-five to forty years) of the early medical and industrial use of radioactive material Their relation to the more accurate establishment of maximum permissible amounts of radioactive elements in the body. Part I. J Bone Joint Surg [Am] 37-A 1169-1187. 

Zinc sulfate (ZnS04) was reportedly used by the Dutch physician Sylvius de le Boe (1614-1672) as an emetic (induces vomiting). Thereafter, zinc sulfate was widely used whenever it was necessary to empty a patient s stomach. The rapid onset of zinc sulfate made it more desirable than other treatments. Today, zinc sulfate is sometimes used in small quantities to treat a deficiency of zinc, a required trace element in the body.1... 

In the body, calcium, in the form of the ion Ca2+, is the most abundant metal ion and fifth (after H, O, C, and N) most abundant element in the body, on both an atom and weight basis. Over 90% of body... 

While physiological mechanisms usually regulate the amounts of essential elements in the body, for many other elements there are no such control mechanisms, and the amounts in the body reflect the occurrence in food or water. The amounts... 

Magnesltun is the fourth most abundant element in the body and after potassium the most abundant intracellular cation. It is a co-factor or participant in ntunerous biological and physiological processes, encompassing such diverse functions as hydrolysis and... 

There are about 25 mineral elements in the body usually appearing in the form of simple salts. Those which appear in large amounts are called macro minerals while those that are in small or trace amounts are micro minerals. Some that are essential are calcium, phosphorous, cobalt, copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, sodium, chromium, and tin. Aluminum, lead, and mercury are not as essential. 

The discovery of a variety of zinc (Zn) related clinical disorders has directly demonstrated the importance of zinc in human nutrition. It is second to iron as the- most abundant trace element in the body. 

Magnesium is almost equally present inside and outside the cells of our bodies. Actually, every element in the body, excepting perhaps the cobalt in vitamin B12, has multiple tasks and relationships to work out, and magnesium is no exception. I... 

Keep in mind that iron is a key element in the body s energy-producing system. If you lack energy, tire easily, or would like more energy, you should find out if your serum ferritin level is low. That s the best lab test for iron deficiency. Meanwhile, don t take any iron supplements over 20 milligrams. (You can find tablets or capsules with up to 300 milligrams of iron. That s a very dangerous dose.)... 

The average amounts of some essential and non-essential elements in the human body are shown in Table 2.1. This shows that the weights of some of the essential elements in the body vary by six or more orders of magnitude. Oxygen, at 45 kg, is by far the most abundant element with the majority being present as one simple inorganic compound water. Some of the elements listed in Table 2.1, and marked with an asterisk, have no known beneficial function and are present in the body simply because they are present in rocks and soils and find their way into water and foodstuffs and from thence into the human body many of these elements are present in only minute quantities. 

Calcium is the third most abundant metal (after Fe and Al) in the earth s crust and the fifth most abundant element in the body (after H, O, C, and N). Of all metal ions calcium, Ca, is undoubtedly most often referred to in the biochemical literature. The Ca ion plays a vital role in many processes in living systems including muscle contraction exocytosis cell fusion, adhesion, growth and motility blood cotting microtubule formation nerve excitability membrane transport of molecules intracellular communication hormonal responses biomineralization of bone and teeth photosynthesis immune reactions and enzymatic activation and control. A number of reviews and monographs are available " . 

The mean cadmium content of unwashed hair was 1.423 0.508 and 1.559 1.135 pgg-1 for non-smokers and smokers, respectively270-272. About 60 papers273 - 324 which stress that the scalp hair is a valuable tissue recording the level and changes of many trace elements in the body have been reviewed269. 

Tin as a Foreign Element in the Body. The toxicity of tin compounds is related to the chemical form. The LD50 of stannous chloride in dogs (intravenous) is 20-50 mg/ kg. The toxicology of colloidal tin oxide was thoroughly investigated (Fisher 1957). Data indicated that four doses as high as 350 mg/kg of tin produced no toxicity. Because of the low doses of tin applied in Tc pharmaceuticals, no toxic effects are expected. 

Chemistry is also apparently very important in determining a person s behavior. Various studies have shown that many personality disorders can be linked directly to imbalances of trace elements in the body. For example, studies on the inmates at Stateville Prison in Illinois have linked low cobalt levels with violent behavior. Lithium salts have been shown to be very effective in controlling the effects of manic depressive disease, and you ve... 

We hope that the trends observed in our present study will be a challenging stimulus for further research work. The concentration of elements in the body and the brain depend on our environment, which is constantly being altered by man through various activities. We propose to look after the environment so as to take care of ourselves. 

Radiochemical methods of analysis are used in a wide range of analytical applications. Not only can these methods be used to obtain information regarding the nature and quantities of substances present in materials of interest, but radioactive elements can also be employed as tracers to study various physicochemical processes. Radioactive substances can be used to follow the movement of elements or of specific compounds in soils and plants, the absorption of elements in the body, and the selfdiffusion of lead atoms in metallic lead, among other applications. Although these tracer applications are of great practical value, the present chapter will be concerned only with applying radioactivity to determining the presence and quantity of elements and compounds in various materials—that is, the use of radioactivity in chemical analysis. 

How does an MRI scan work What element in the body does an MRI scan detect How Important Is it for health professionals to consider unlikely explanations for seemingly straightforward symptoms ... 

The natural abundances of elements in the human body, expressed as pwcent by mass, are oxygen (O), 65 percent carbon (C), 18 percent hydrogen (H), 10 percent nitrogen (N), 3 pacait calcium (Ca), 1.6 percent phosphorus (P), 1.2 pwcent aU other elements, 1.2 percent. Calculate the mass in grams of each element in the body of a 62-kg person. 

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