Instrumental analysis of trace elements in thumbnails of human subjects.

Human thumbnails were analyzed for trace elements by instrumental analysis using thermal neutron activation technique. The average concentration of metals studied in clinically symptom-free adult female and male subjects were: zinc, 184 vs. 153 ppm; chromium, 6.8 vs. 4.2; selenium, 0.9 vs. 0.6; gold, 2.6 vs. 0.4; mercury, 1.9 vs. 0.4; silver, 0.7 vs. 0.3; cobalt, 0.07 vs. 0.04. A summary of literature reported concentration of metals in human nail is also presented.

Effect of temperature on binding of warfarin by human serum albumin.

The in vitro binding of warfarin by human serum albumin was studied at various temperatures and at pH 7.4 by a frontal gel filtration technique. The results can be best described in terms of a two class-of-binding site model, in which the numbers of primary and secondary sites are constrained to the average values for all experiments (n1 = 1.38 and n2 = 3.73). Analysis of the temperature dependence of the binding yielded the following thermodynamic parameters: deltaH1 =-2.55 kcal/mole, deltaS1=16.1 eu, and deltaF1=-7.34 kcal/mole for the primary binding and deltaH2=-5.08 kcal/mole, deltaS2=-1.10 eu, and deltaF2=4.72 kcal/mole for the secondary binding. Calculations based on these results showed that, for the therapeutic concentration range, warfarin was over 99% bound to albumin present in physiological concentration. These findings are compared and contrasted to binding data in the literature for warfarin and salicylate.

Coordinated surgical and drug treatment of cancer.

Normal cells can proliferate to heal wounds while cancer cells die from chemotherapy with selected sulfhydryl (SH) inhibitors. Choice of the drugs is directed by sensitivity tests run immediately after surgery on each patient's own cancer. The SH-bearing nonhistone chromosomal proteins were predicted to play a major role in regulating genes. Much recent work now suggests that these proteins may play a key role in controlling gene expression.

Effects of selected sulfhydryl inhibitors on nonhistone chromosomal proteins of HeLa cells.

Effects of the SH inhibitor sodium iodoacetate, alone and with adjuncts menadiol diphosphate, sodium malonate, sodium fluoride and heparin, on incorporation of tryptophane-3 H into nonhistone chromosomal proteins of HeLa cells were examined. The drugs block incorporation of tryptophane-3 H into nonhistone chromosomal proteins far more than incorporation of leucine-3 H into total cellular proteins. Drug effects on thymidine phosphorylation and DNA synthesis in HeLa cells exceed corresponding effects on fibroblasts from normal healing wounds.