Does titanium in ionic form display a tissue-specific distribution?

Most studies have focused on the biodistribution of titanium(IV) oxide as nanoparticles or crystals in organism. But several reports suggested that titanium is released from implant in ionic form. Therefore, gaining insight into toxicokinetics of Ti ions will give valuable information, which may be useful when assessing the health risks of long-term exposure to titanium alloy implants in patients. A micro synchrotron radiation-induced X-ray fluorescence (µ-SRXRF) was utilized to investigate the titanium distribution in the liver, spleen and kidneys of rats following single intravenous or 30-days oral administration of metal (6 mg Ti/b.w.) in ionic form. Titanium was mainly retained in kidneys after both intravenous and oral dosing, and also its compartmentalization in this organ was observed. Titanium in the liver was non-uniformly distributed—metal accumulated in single aggregates, and some of them were also enriched in calcium. Correlation analysis showed that metal did not displace essential elements, and in liver titanium strongly correlated with calcium. Two-dimensional maps of Ti distribution show that the location of the element is characteristic for the route of administration and time of exposure. We demonstrated that µ-SRXRF can provide information on the distribution of titanium in internal structures of whole organs, which helps in enhancing our understanding of the mechanism of ionic titanium accumulation in the body. This is significant due to the popularity of titanium implants and the potential release of metal ions from them to the organism

Investigation of biochemical composition of adrenal gland tumors by means of FTIR

The application of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy for the analysis of biomolecular composition of adrenal gland tumors is described. Samples were taken intraoperatively from three types of adrenal lesions: adrenal adenoma (ACA), adrenal cortical hyperplasia (ACH), both derived from adrenal cortical cells, and pheochromocytoma (Ph) derived from chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla. The specimens were cryo-sectioned and freeze-dried. Since the investigated lesions originated from different cell types, it was predictable that they might differ in biomolecular composition. The experimental results were used to determine which absorption bands differentiate the analyzed samples the most. The main difference was observed in the lipid functional groups. The experimental results indicated that the level of lipids was higher in both the adenoma and the hyperplasia samples compared to pheochromocytomas. In contrast, the level of proteins was higher in the pheochromocytomas. Furthermore, differences within the range of nucleic acids and carbohydrates were observed in the studied adrenal gland tumor types

Evaluation of biochemical biomarkers in brain tumors with different grade of malignancy

Molecular oncology is in need of the application of structural methods which are capable of monitoring biochemical processes and interactions within the neoplastic tissues. A sort of “elemental fingerprinting” of brain tumors could provide a very useful tool assisting the process of diagnosing of tumors in difficult or disputable cases. The purpose of our studies was investigated if concentrations of minor- and trace elements in the malignant tissues can be used for differentiation and/or classification (diagnosis) of brain tumors. The X-ray fluorescence micro spectroscopy (XRF) and total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (TXRF) were applied for chemical elemental analysis of brain tumors. The results of analysis were evaluated with the use advanced statistical methods. The samples designed to elemental analysis were taken intraoperatively from brain tumors of different types and with different degrees of malignancy. It was found that S, Cl, Cu, Fe, K, Br, and Zn are the most significant elements in the general discrimination of tumor type. Studies including the imaging of the areas containing calcifications in brain tumors showed that the high level of Ca was accompanied by the increased level of Cl, K, P, S and Zn. Increased levels of iron, zinc, bromine, and rubidium in the wall of the blood vessel were observed, as well as slight penetration of these elements into the tissue surrounding the vessel. The results obtained showed that the elemental composition of a relatively small fragment of homogeneous tissue represents satisfactorily the biochemical ‘‘signature’’ of cancer

Performance Indicators and Standards for Polish Research Libraries

Performance Indicators and Standards for Polish Research Libraries Abstract: The article discusses proposed standards for Polish research libraries evaluation. At the beginning, the authors present the situation of research libraries in Poland. They write about the effects of the social-political transformation in the 90s, present selected statistical data, and describe the progress in computerisation. The following part of the article relates to the currently applied in Poland standards of library evaluation. Discussed are e.g. the presently applied tools for data collection and analysis. The last part includes proposed methods for the preparation of standards and assessments for Polish research libraries

Depth Profiling of Element Concentrations in Stratified Materials by Confocal Microbeam X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry with Polychromatic Excitation

The confocal microbeam X-ray fluorescence technique is a well-established analytical tool that is widely used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of stratified materials. There are several different reconstruction methods dedicated to this type of samples. However, these methods are applicable with monochromatic excitation only. The full description of matrix effects and geometrical effects for polychromatic X-ray photons in confocal geometry is a demanding task. In the present paper, this problem was overcome by the use of effective energy approximation. The reduction of the whole energy dimension into one effective value eliminates the necessity of integration over the primary beam energy range for a number of basic parameters. This simplification is attainable without loss of the accuracy of analysis. The proposed approach was validated by applying it to the reconstruction of element concentration depth profiles of stratified standard samples measured with tabletop confocal microbeam X-ray fluorescence setup and by comparing the obtained results of two independent algorithms