ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY UPDATE - CLINICAL AND BIOLOGICAL-MATERIALS, FOOD AND BEVERAGES

This Update spans all the abstracts listed in the 1995 issues of JAAS (95/1-95/4243). Developments in sample preparation/ enrichment continu ed apace. Many of these involved FI and were usually coupled directly to the analytical instrument for on-line measurements. In our recent U pdates, accelerator MS for investigations of Al physiology has been fe atured; this year we saw the application of the technique to Ca and ot her elements. The ever-present interest in lead exposure among childre n has prompted construction of simple, semi-portable instruments with electrothermal atomizers, dedicated to measurement of Pb in blood. The se emerged at Pittcon 1995 and were also shown at later conferences. I nvestigations of trace element nutrition and metabolism using stable i sotopes and mass spectrometric methods have been reported in the past, but this year saw the publication of a comprehensive review of this i mportant topic. A number of papers from the Fifth Nordic Symposium on Trace Elements in Human Health and Disease were published in Tile Anal yst, including two which described endemic arsenic toxicity in West Be ngal. As the source of exposure was naturally contaminated drinking wa ter, this tragic situation must have been ongoing for many years, and it is surprising that information has only recently been forthcoming.