), for rearing time of 49 days. The treatment with Fe and Mn did not have any effect on the survival data and individual body weight in the levels tested. The highest concentration of Fe and Mn was found in the liver and brain of carp juveniles, while the lowest concentration of these elements occurred in the muscular tissue and gills. The treatment where Fe and Mn were applied in the highest concentrations resulted in a statistically higher level of these elements in the brain, grills and muscle tissues. The treatment where only Mn was present in the highest concentration caused increased level of Mn only in the liver. We found metal accumulation in almost every organ; however, the applied concentrations and exposure time did not affect the survival and average body weight of carp juveniles.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) are systemic autoimmune diseases with complex symptoms and pathogenesis that are still not completely understood. Several studies showed that the trace element homeostasis and also the levels of antioxidant plasma proteins are changed in autoimmune disorders; however, these results are controversial. In this study, the potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe) concentrations of the serum and proteins-immunoglobulin G (IgG), transferrin (Trf), albumin (Alb), and ceruloplasmin (Cp)-separated from serum samples by affinity chromatography were determined in patients with SLE and SS. Ca and K levels were found to be decreased in the case of both disorders compared to the control group, and the competitive antagonism of Cu and Zn was also observed: elevated Cu concentration together with a lower Zn concentration was measured in the sera of patients with autoimmune diseases. After fractionation, the trace element concentration of protein containing fractions altered to that of the control group. In case of the autoimmune disorders, the highest Cu concentration was determined in the Alb-containing protein fractions while the Zn level decreased in the Alb and increased in the Cp as well as in the IgG- and Trf-containing fractions compared to the healthy samples. Changes have also been found in the level and distribution of K and Ca.

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Human blood is a complex sample matrix when elemental analysis is considered. In this study, the effects of Na, a natural component of serum samples, was investigated in the quantitative determination of Ca, K, Mg, Cu, Zn, and Fe by microwave plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The robustness of the microwave plasma was tested by evaluating MgII 280.271 nm/MgI 285.213 nm by varying two adjustable operating parameters, the read time, and the nebulizer pressure. The read time has no influence on the robustness while the MgII/MgI ratio decreased when the nebulizer pressure was increased during the analysis. The threshold concentrations of the interfering Na were determined at the analytical lines used for the measurement of other elements. The matrix effect of the commercially available microwave plasma was studied by a series of model experiments with human blood. The increasing concentration of Na in the matrix within the normal ranges reported for blood serum increased the intensities of the measured atomic lines. According to a factorial design-where two applied factors were the concentration of Na matrix and the measured elements as well as their levels were considered as factorial points-it was found that the Na concentration in a serum sample after acid digestion and 10 times dilution affected the intensity values of the measured elements. For Ca, Cu, and Fe, a statistically significant effect was observed, while for Zn, Mg, and K, an interaction effect was also found. However, after calculating the percentage errors caused by the shift, the relative difference was observed to be quite small (< 10%).

ABSTRACT. In this study, the method development is described for the multi elemental determination of organic rich soil reference material (BCR 700) by the new microwave plasma atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES). Two sample preparation methods were compared (open vessel digestion on a hot plate and closed vessel microwave assisted digestion) for the BCR sample and EDTA extraction was carried out. The recoveries were tested by MP-AES and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) method to investigate whether the more cost-effective nitrogen supplied microwave plasma is appropriate for the elemental determination of digested organic rich soil samples. The BCR 700 sample was not certified for digestion methods yet similar sample pretreatment is present in the literature with which a good agreement was found. Our results also correlated with the values provided in the certification of the BCR 700 material for EDTA extraction. It was found that the microwave plasma is an effective and lowcost alternative of ICP-OES for soil analysis and with the convenient atmospheric digestion even the organic rich soil samples can be prepared prior to the elemental determination. However, the microwave assisted digestion is faster and easier to conduct. The limit of detection values of the measured elements by MP-AES are sufficiently low for the micro element determination of soils (Cd 70 µg kg -1 , Cr 5 µg kg -1 , Cu 25 µg kg -1 , Mn 12.5 µg kg -1 , Ni 45 µg kg -1 , Pb 220 µg kg -1 , Zn 155 µg kg -1 ).