Evaluation of serum selenium levels in Turkish women with gestational diabetes mellitus, glucose intolerants, and normal controls.

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between serum selenium levels in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and glucose intolerants and compare them with those of glucose-tolerant pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was prospectively performed in a total of 178 pregnant women undergoing a 50-g oral glucose tolerance test between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation who were grouped according to their status of glucose tolerance as with gestational diabetes (group A, abnormal 1- and 3-h glucose tolerance test; n = 30), glucose intolerant (group B, abnormal 1-h but normal 3-h glucose tolerance test; n = 47), or normal controls (group C, normal 1-h glucose test; n = 101). Serum selenium levels were measured with a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer using a matrix modifier. Median maternal age and gestational age at the time of diagnosis in group A (gestational age = 24.8 [24-27]), group B (gestational age = 24.7 [24-27]), and group C (gestational age = 25 [24-28]) did not differ. Patients with gestational diabetes mellitus and those with glucose intolerants had lower selenium level than that of the normal pregnant women (P < 0.001). There was a significant inverse correlation between selenium and blood glucose level, and also selenium supplementation might prove beneficial on patients with GDM and prevent or retard them from secondary complications of diabetes.

Evaluation of a tungsten coil atomization-laser-induced fluorescence detection approach for trace elemental analysis.

The analytical utility of a tungsten (W)-coil atomization-laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) approach has been evaluated for trace level measurements of elemental chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), antimony (Sb), lead (Pb), tin (Sn), copper (Cu), thallium (Tl), indium (In), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn) and mercury (Hg). Measurements of As, Cr, In, Se, Sb, Pb, Tl, and Sn were performed by laser-induced fluorescence using a single dye laser operating near 460 nm whose output was converted by frequency doubling and stimulated Raman scattering to wavelengths ranging from 196 to 286 nm for atomic excitation. Absolute limits of detection (LODs) of 1, 0.3, 0.3, 0.2, 1, 6, 1, 0.2 and 0.8 pg and concentration LODs of 100, 30, 30, 20, 100, 600, 100, 20, and 80 pg/mL were achieved for As, Se, Sb, Sn, In, Cu, Cr, Pb and Tl, respectively. Determinations of Hg, Pb, Zn and Cd were performed using two-color excitation approaches and resulted in absolute LODs of 2, 30, 5 and 0.6 pg, respectively, and concentration LODs of 200, 3000, 500 and 60 pg/mL, respectively. The sensitivities achieved by the W-coil LIF approaches compare well with those reported by W-coil atomic absorption spectrometry, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, and graphite furnace electrothermal atomization-LIF approaches. The accuracy of the approach was verified through the analysis of a multielement reference solution containing Sb, Pb and Tl which each had certified performance acceptance limits of 19.6-20.4 microg/mL. The determined concentrations were 20.05+/-2.60, 20.70+/-2.27 and 20.60+/-2.46 microg/mL, for Sb, Pb and Tl, respectively. The results demonstrate that W-coil LIF provides good analytical performance for trace analyses due to its high sensitivity, linearity, and capability to measure multiple elements using a single tunable laser and suggest that the development of portable W-coil LIF instrumentation using compact, solid-state lasers is feasible.