Ž. Background: Chronic heart failure CHF seems to be associated with increased oxidative stress. However, the hypothesis that antioxidant nutrients may contribute to the clinical severity of the disease has never been investigated. Aims: To examine whether antioxidant nutrients influence the exercise capacity and left ventricular function in patients with CHF. Methods: Dietary intake and blood levels of major antioxidant nutrients were evaluated in 21 consecutive CHF patients and in healthy Ž . age-and sex-matched controls. Two indexes of the severity of CHF, peak exercise oxygen consumption peak VO and left 2 Ž . ventricular ejection fraction LVEF , were measured and their relations with antioxidants were analysed. Results: Whereas Ž . Ž . plasma alpha-tocopherol and retinol were in the normal range, vitamin C Ps 0.005 and beta-carotene Ps 0.01 were lower in CHF. However, there was no significant association between vitamins and either peak VO or LVEF. Dietary intake 2 Ž . Ž . Ž . P -0.05 and blood levels of selenium P-0.0005 were lower in CHF. Peak VO but not LVEF was strongly correlated 2 Ž . Ž . with blood selenium: r s 0.76 by univariate analysis polynomial regression and r s 0.87 P -0.0005 after adjustment for age, sex and LVEF. Conclusions: Antioxidant defences are altered in patients with CHF. Selenium may play a role in the clinical severity of the disease, rather than in the degree of left ventricular dysfunction. Further studies are warranted to confirm the data in a large sample size and to investigate the mechanisms by which selenium and other antioxidant nutrients are involved in CHF. ᮊ

This work corresponds to the first part of our studies on the interactions between chitosan particles dispersed in water and uranyl ions. The measurements were obtained by ICP, and we considered the role of various physical and physicochemical parameters related to chitosan. We showed that the crystallinity, the particle dimensions, and the swelling in water of chitosan are parameters which are connected together and govern the kinetic laws of metal diffusion and sorption. The molecular mobility of the polymer chains is then the essential parameter.

The aim of this investigation was to study the distribution of arsenic species in human organs following fatal acute intoxication by arsenic trioxide. The collected autopsy samples of most organs were ground and dried, and the total arsenic was measured by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). The arsenic species—inorganic arsenic, in the form of arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)], and its metabolites [monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA)]—were quantified by ETAAS after extraction with methanol/water (1:1, by volume) and separation by HPLC. The results indicate that after acute intoxication, the liver and kidneys show the highest concentrations of total arsenic and that the total concentration in blood is 7- to 350-fold less concentrated than in organs. In all organs, As(III) is the predominant species, and MMA is more concentrated than DMA. MMA and DMA are more prevalent in lipidic organs (49% of total arsenic) compared with other organs (25% of total arsenic). As(V) was found in small quantities in the liver, kidneys, and blood.