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Summary:Flame atotnic absoφtion spectrophotometric methods were developed for, arsenic, selenium, copper, zinc and iron in hair samples. Data from blackfoot disease patients at five clinical stages were compared with those from healthy controls. The copper and zinc concentrations showed only slight differences in all clinical stages, which indicated the less relation to blackfoot disease.The decrease of selenium and iron in all stages was attributed to the antagonistic effect of arsenic; arsenic increased in the first and second stages, but decreased in the later stages. The decrease of selenium and iron during the Progression of the disease is thought to be due to persistence of the antagonistic effect of arsenic in the initial stages, so that very low concentrations of selenium are found in the advanced stages, despite the later decrease of arsenic. There was also a progressive decrease of iron with advance of the disease, and the later stages also showed a decrease in haemoglobin.It was shown that arsenic is a major cause of blackfoot disease, and that it antagonises selenium and iron, which decreased in the advanced clinical stages of the disease.

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Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometric methods were developed for the determination of zinc, copper, arsenic, iron and selenium in blood samples. Data from blackfoot disease patients in five clinical stages were compared with those from healthy controls. Copper concentrations were the same for all clinical stages. Arsenic increased in the initial three stages but decreased thereafter, although arsenic was previously considered to be the major causative agent of the disease. The decrease of arsenic in the later stages was attributed to the antagonistic effect of selenium, and the decrease of iron during the progress of the disease is thought to be due to the antagonistic effect of arsenic in the initial stages and the loose of haemoglobin in the later stages.