TRACE ELEMENTS IN MEDICINE (MOSCOW)
2016. 17(1): 45-50 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

BRIEF OVERVIEW ON THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LABORATORY OF ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS OF THE UZBEKISTAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

A.A. Kist, E.A. Danilova, N.S. Osinskaya

Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, Ulugbek settl., Tashkent 100214, Uzbekistan

DOI: 10.19112/2413-6174-2016-17-1-45-50 

ABSTRACT. Nuclear-physical analytical methods are of great importance for mineral exploration, ecology, medicine, forensics and other fields of science and technology. Among them activation analysis occupies a leading position as an extremely highly sensitive, informative and multi-element method, which does not require destruction of analytical samples. Ecological and medical investigations with the use of activation analysis are the major scientific direction of the Institute of Nuclear Physics at Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. During ecological studies there were developed the analytical techniques for water, aerosols, soil, food products and other objects characterizing the state of the environment, which have been used in research on the background level (the mountains of Tien Shan, Pamir-Alay; Zaamin and Chatkal preserves, Lake Sary-Chelek, Black sea, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Arctic and Antarctica), on the level of impact (cities, factories) and in areas of environmental disasters (Aral sea region, Chernobyl, etc.). The techniques for determining the forms of migration of chemical elements have provided a number of exclusively important results in terms of revealing adverse environmental conditions and assessing the ecological impact on human population. Now in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences there is an ongoing research in the field of production and use of phosphate fertilizers, as well as on the effect of food, cultivated using such fertilizers, on human organism. A large amount of research is devoted to studying the elemental composition of medicinal plants growing in the Central Asian region, to create a classification on the basis of macro- and trace element content. Researches in the field of medicine were conducted in cooperation with various medical institutions and scientific centers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Together with ophthalmologists by neutron activation analysis there determined the contents of chemical elements in the tear fluid of healthy subjects and patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome. A significant number of works is devoted to studying the elemental composition of human hair. New data are obtained on the relationship of elemental composition of human biological substances to the pathogenesis of many diseases. Of particular importance are the studies on hair elemental composition which allowed to propose methods for mass screening of health condition, stratification of risk and adverse environmental (geochemical and occupational) load on human organism. Together with immunologists there conducted a research using hair analysis, which indicates the participation of some macro- and trace elements in the formation of immune deficiency in HIV positive patients (all levels of immunological response: phagocytosis, apoptosis, etc. are closely depend on Ca, K, Mg, Zn, Br and other macro-and trace elements), confirming the importance of the body mineral and trace element balance in a HIV-infected person for normal functioning of his immune system and all physiological systems of the body. The relationship of hair elemental composition and the environment was studied by the example of the Tashkent region, Tashkent city and districts with developed industries. The obtained results and correlations can form the basis for new diagnostic approaches and methods for correction of human elemental status.

KEYWORDS: activation analysis, ecology, medicine, macro elements, trace elements.