Human body elements

HPLC. See High performance liquid chromatography HSQC 144 Huber, Robert 84 Human body, elements in 31 Human genome 12, 201 Human glucose transporters 416 figure 416... 

TABLE 23-6 Approximate Natural Frequencies of Human Body Elements... 

For purposes of information one can compare these levels with those of plants (0.1 to 0.4%), mollusks (0.4%) and the human body (0.14%), but the highest levels are observed in marine algae (13% in Macrocytis pyrifera), and in the tissues of certain bacteria which can even contain elemental sulfur (25% in Beggiatoa Albea tissues). 

A gaseous element, oxygen forms 21 % of the atmosphere by volume and is obtained by liquefaction and fractional distillation. The atmosphere of Mars contains about 0.15% oxygen. The element and its compounds make up 49.2%, by weight, of the earth s crust. About two thirds of the human body and nine tenths of water is oxygen. 

Aristotle recognised the importance of water by including it among the four elements along with fire, earth and air. In its many different functions, water is essential to the earth as we know it. Life critically depends on the presence of water. It is the medium of cells and is essential for the structure of proteins, cell membranes and DNA ". It has been estimated that more than 99 % of the molecules in the human body are actually water molecules". ... 

Oxygen is the most abundant element on earth The earths crust is rich in carbonate and sili cate rocks the oceans are almost entirely water and oxygen constitutes almost one fifth of the air we breathe Carbon ranks only fourteenth among the elements in natural abundance but trails only hydro gen and oxygen in its abundance in the human body It IS the chemical properties of carbon that make it uniquely suitable as the raw material forthe building blocks of life Let s find out more about those chemi cal properties... 

Calcium. Calcium, the most abundant mineral element in mammals, comprises 1.5- -2.0 wt % of the adult human body, over 99 wt % of which... 

Phosphorus. Eighty-five percent of the phosphoms, the second most abundant element in the human body, is located in bones and teeth (24,35). Whereas there is constant exchange of calcium and phosphoms between bones and blood, there is very Httle turnover in teeth (25). The Ca P ratio in bones is constant at about 2 1. Every tissue and cell contains phosphoms, generally as a salt or ester of mono-, di-, or tribasic phosphoric acid, as phosphoHpids, or as phosphorylated sugars (24). Phosphoms is involved in a large number and wide variety of metaboHc functions. Examples are carbohydrate metaboHsm (36,37), adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from fatty acid metaboHsm (38), and oxidative phosphorylation (36,39). Common food sources rich in phosphoms are Hsted in Table 5 (see also Phosphorus compounds). 

Chlorine. Chlorine, the material used to make PVC, is the 20th most common element on earth, found virtually everywhere, in rocks, oceans, plants, animals, and human bodies. It is also essential to human life. Eree chlorine is produced geothermally within the earth, and occasionally finds its way to the earth s surface in its elemental state. More usually, however, it reacts with water vapor to form hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid reacts quickly with other elements and compounds, forming stable compounds (usually chloride) such as sodium chloride (common salt), magnesium chloride, and potassium chloride, all found in large quantities in seawater. 

To meet the cleanliness need, all elements of the process are controlled to minimize sources of contamination. Air normally contains a large volume of contaminants in the form of dirt, dust, and poUen. The human body sheds a large volume of particulate contaminants such as skin, phlegm, hair, etc. 

Very careful analysis of trace elements can have a major effect on human life. A notable example can be seen in the career of Clair Patterson (1922-1995) (memoir by Flagel 1996), who made it his life s work to assess the origins and concentrations of lead in the atmosphere and in human bodies minute quantities had to be measured and contaminant lead from unexpected sources had to be identified in his analyses, leading to techniques of clean analysis . A direct consequence of Patterson s scrupulous work was a worldwide policy shift banning lead in gasoline and manufactured products. 

Trace elements found in the human body serving essential biological functions include Mn,... 

The natural world is one of eomplex mixtures petroleum may eontain 10 -10 eomponents, while it has been estimated that there are at least 150 000 different proteins in the human body. The separation methods necessary to cope with complexity of this kind are based on chromatography and electrophoresis, and it could be said that separation has been the science of the 20th century (1, 2). Indeed, separation science spans the century almost exactly. In the early 1900s, organic and natural product chemistry was dominated by synthesis and by structure determination by degradation, chemical reactions and elemental analysis distillation, liquid extraction, and especially crystallization were the separation methods available to organic chemists. 

Christ s victory over death was decisive. On their own, his disciples could never conquer death, the consequence of their own sinful flesh. Since flesh was the cause of death, then natural carnality had to be denied, as in Paul s unequivocal insistence on asceticism (I Corinthians 7 29, 31). Why, in that case, should flesh be allowed into heaven at all The element of continuity between the two human bodies, the natural one and its resurrected version, was an insoluble mystery for Paul. In an attempt to address this problem, he devised an analogy with the dying seed for the process of the death and resurrection of the body, rising not as carnal flesh, but as a spiritual body (I Corinthians 15 21-54). In his view, at the resurrection, the body will not be the same one that had died, for the risen body will be a new creation, just as the grown plant is not the same entity as the sown seed. 

The skin is the largest organ of the human body. One of its most important functions is to assist the immune system by serving as a barrier that protects underlying structures from trauma, infection, and exposure to harmful environmental elements. The skin also holds in place essential organs and fluids necessary for life. Any significant injury to this outer protective layer may potentially compromise an individual s overall health. 

The most numerous of the cellular elements in the blood are the erythrocytes (red blood cells). On average, there are 5 million red blood cells per microliter (pi) of blood, or a total of about 25 to 30 trillion red blood cells in the adult human body. The percentage of the blood made up of red blood cells is referred to as hematocrit. An average hematocrit is about 45% (42% females, 47% males). As such, the viscosity of the blood is determined primarily by these elements. 

The elements occur in widely varying quantities on earth. The 10 most abundant elements make up 98% of the mass of the crust of the earth. Many elements occur only in traces, and a few are synthetic. Fortunately for humanity, the elements are not distributed uniformly throughout the earth. The distinct properties of the different elements cause them to be concentrated more or less, making them more available as raw materials. For example, sodium and chlorine form salt, which is concentrated in beds by being dissolved in bodies of water which later dry up. Other natural processes are responsible for the distribution of the elements which now exist on earth. It is interesting to note that the different conditions on the moon—for example, the lack of water and air on the surface—might well cause a different sort of distribution of the elements on the earth s satellite. 

The human body is approximately eighteen percent carbon by weight. That means 18 pounds of a hundred-pound person are carbon. If you weigh 100 pounds, the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that you contain total 93 pounds. Only seven of the total 100 pounds are made up of other elements. 

Nitrogen and phosphorus are the last on our list of the main elements making up the human body. Hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon compose 93 pounds of a 100-pound person. Calcium adds another two pounds. Nitrogen is three percent of the human body, and phosphorus is one percent, so that means they total four of those 100 pounds, and these six elements total 99 pounds. Only one pound is left for all the other elements found in the body. 

An introduction to the human body and the elements that affect it, including the organic carbon compounds.)... 

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