Hospital-based screening to detect patients with cadmium nephropathy in cadmium-polluted areas in Japan

BACKGROUND@#In health examinations for local inhabitants in cadmium-polluted areas, only healthy people are investigated, suggesting that patients with severe cadmium nephropathy or itai-itai disease may be overlooked. Therefore, we performed hospital-based screening to detect patients with cadmium nephropathy in two core medical institutes in cadmium-polluted areas in Akita prefecture, Japan.@*METHODS@#Subjects for this screening were selected from patients aged 60 years or older with elevated serum creatinine levels and no definite renal diseases. We enrolled 35 subjects from a hospital in Odate city and 22 from a clinic in Kosaka town. Urinary ß-microglobulin and blood and urinary cadmium levels were measured.@*RESULTS@#The criteria for renal tubular dysfunction and the over-accumulation of cadmium were set as a urinary ß-microglobulin level higher than 10,000 μg/g cr. and a blood cadmium level higher than 6 μg/L or urinary cadmium level higher than 10 μg/g cr., respectively. Subjects who fulfilled both criteria were diagnosed with cadmium nephropathy. Six out of 57 patients (10.5% of all subjects) had cadmium nephropathy.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This hospital-based screening is a very effective strategy for detecting patients with cadmium nephropathy in cadmium-polluted areas, playing a complementary role in health examinations for local inhabitants.@*REGISTRATION NUMBER@#No. 6, date of registration: 6 June, 2010 (Akita Rosai Hospital), and No. 1117, date of registration: 26 December, 2013 (Akita University).

Seasonal Variation of Trace Element Loss to Sweat during Exercise in Males

Objective: To clarify the seasonal differences of the trace element excretion in sweat, the trace element concentrations in sweat and their loss during exercise were compared between summer and winter.Methods: Sweat samples were collected from ten healthy adult males. Bicycle ergometer exercise was conducted by each subject at a heart rate of 140 beats/min for 1 hour, in summer and in winter. Sweat was collected by the arm bag method.Results: Concentrations of major (Na, K, Ca, and Mg) and trace elements (Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, and Cr) in sweat tended to be lower in summer than in winter, and significantly lower concentrations of Mg (p<0.01), Na, Cu, and Mn (p<0.05) were found in summer. The sweat volume in summer (0.90 L) was 1.7-fold larger than that in winter (0.52 L) (p<0.01). The amount of loss of each element to sweat calculated from the concentrations in sweat and sweat volume showed no significant difference between summer and winter.Conclusions: It is suggested that there was no significant difference in the amount of loss of trace elements in sweat due to exercise between summer and winter.

Seasonal variation of trace element loss to sweat during exercise in males

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To clarify the seasonal differences of the trace element excretion in sweat, the trace element concentration in sweat and their loss during exercise were compared between summer and winter.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sweat samples were collected from ten healthy adult males. Bicycle ergometer exercise was conducted by each subject at a heart rate of 140 beats/min for 1 hour, in summer and in winter. Sweat was collected by the arm bag method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Concentrations of major (Na, K, Ca, and Mg) and trace elements (Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, and Cr) in sweat tended to be lower in summer than in winter, and significantly lower concentrations of Mg (p<0.01), Na, Cu, and Mn (p<0.05) were found in summer. The sweat volume in summer (0.90 L) was 1.7-fold larger than that in winter (0.52 L) (p<0.01). The amount of loss of each element to sweat calculated from the concentrations in sweat and sweat volume showed no significant difference between summer and winter.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>It is suggested that there was no significant difference in the amount of loss of trace elements in sweat due to exercise between summer and winter.</p>

Urinary Porphyrins in Patients with Endemic Chronic Arsenic Poisoning Caused by Burning Coal in China

Objective: To evaluate the effect of arsenic (As) on the porphyrin biosynthetic pathway, urine samples from patients with endemic chronic arsenic poisoning were examined.Subjects and Methods: The subjects were 16 patients, who had been exposed to As from burning coal for 8 to 25 years, and-16 controls living in the same region in Guizhou Province in southwest China. Concentrations of urinary As, porphyrins and ALA were determined by induced coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a reversed-phase column and fluorescence detector, and colorimetric spectrophotometry, respectively.Results: Concentrations of As in patients and controls, 184.40 ± 200.04 and 86.82 ± 64.20 μ g/g creatinine (mean ± SD) respectively, were significantly different (p<0.05). The concentrations of various kinds of urinary porphyrins, including isomers I and III of coproporphyrin and pentacarboxylporphyrin, were determined. Positive correlations were observed between As and porphyrins (e.g. total porphyrins, hexacarboxylporphyrin and coproporphyrin III) or between As and ALA in male and female patients. However, porphyrin and ALA concentrations were not significantly different between the patients and the controls. Urinary porphyrin concentrations in females were higher than those in males.Conclusion: Exposure to As from burning coal may influence porphyrin biosynthesis.