[Particle induced X-ray emission for trace element analysis of hairs from patients with cancer].

In this paper, trace element analysis of the hairs from the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and osteoma was made using particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) technique in order to obtain some information on the correlation between trace element and these two tumors. The hair samples of 34 NPC patients were each collected before and three months after radiotherapy (60Co) (group 1). The hair specimens from 34 osteoma patients were collected preoperatively and postoperatively. For comparison, 65 hair samples were collected from 40 normal subjects (group 2) and 25 NPC patients, who had received radiotherapy (60Co) five years before without any recrudescence (group 3). The trace element analysis of all specimens was made by PIXE. The results show that there is a significant difference between groups 1 and 2 (P less than 0.01) but no difference is found between groups 2 and 3 for Mn, Cu, Zn, As etc. content in the hairs. Cu and Zn content in the hairs of the osteoma patients is much lower than that of the normal subjects (P less than 0.01) while for K, Ti and Mn content, the former is higher than the latter. The above experimental results are discussed in detail.

Congenital primary cutaneous osteoma: biochemical and histological studies.

Biopsies of a cutaneous osteoma and of normal-looking skin from a 1-year-old girl were studied for histological appearance and collagen biochemistry. The mineralized tissue contained a matrix similar to bone: Only type I collagen, with a hydroxylysine content (0.48%) higher than in the skin (0.35%) and dihydroxylysinonorleucine as the major reducible crosslink. As expected, the normal skin adjacent to the lesions contained type I and type III collagen and as major crosslinks hydroxylysinonorleucine and histidinohydroxymerodesmosine. Histological studies showed the presence of woven bone with very little trabeculation. Numerous active osteoblasts were laying down a rapidly calcified non-lamellar matrix. Osteocytes and multinucleated osteoclasts were also noted. The study demonstrates the osseous nature of the lesion and suggests that an abnormal cell differentiation is associated with this form of osteoma.