Determination of uranium isotopes in human bone ash

Depleted and Natural Uranium: Chemistry and Toxicological Effects

“…α-Particle counting, delayed neutron emission, mass spectrometry, fission track, and instrumental neutron activation analysis have been also used (Abu-Qare & Abou-Donia, 2001;Papastefanou, 2002;Uyttenhove et al, 2002;Hodge et al, 2001;Gladney & Rook, 1975). Traditionally, flourimetry was the most common of these techniques (with a detection limit of 1 ng); however, because of its 0.05 ng detection limit, a more recent detection method, neutron activation analysis, is also used Although both of these techniques serve to directly quantitate the 238 U mass, they don't provide any information on the 234 U: 238 U and 235 U: 238 U activity ratios in the sample (Fisenne et al, 1980). This is a particular problem in trying to determine the amount of DU present in a biological system.…”

Depleted Uranium

“…A number of studies have demonstrated increased uranium levels in the soil in these sites several years after the conflict (Sansone et al, 2001a,b;Danesi et al, 2003a,b;Durante and Pugliese, 2003;Bem and Bou-Rabee, 2004;Di Lella et al, 2004, 2005Jia et al, 2005Jia et al, , 2006Oliver et al, 2007Oliver et al, , 2008aZunic et al, 2008;Giovanetti et al, 2010). Furthermore, bone ash data indicate significant baseline uranium differences across countries (Fisenne et al, 1980(Fisenne et al, , 1983(Fisenne et al, , 1988Fisenne and Welford, 1986), and there is no clear indication as yet that these different levels of uranium have led to any adverse health consequences (ATSDR, 1999;Harley, 1999). Furthermore, bone ash data indicate significant baseline uranium differences across countries (Fisenne et al, 1980(Fisenne et al, , 1983(Fisenne et al, , 1988Fisenne and Welford, 1986), and there is no clear indication as yet that these different levels of uranium have led to any adverse health consequences (ATSDR, 1999;Harley, 1999).…”

Determination of picogram quantities of uranium in biological tissues by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry with ion counting detection

“…These techniques typically require nanogram amounts of U and have precisions of several percent. A high yield analytical method has been reported for the determination of U in large quantities of bone ash by a spectrometry (8). The mass spectrometric procedure described here has femtogram sensitivity, using thermal ionization with pulse counting detection.…”