Background: This study aimed to observe the association between trace element concentrations in lung tissue from lung adenocarcinoma cancer (LADC) patients and mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and KRAS genes.Methods: LADC patients who had undergone lung resection were included in this study. Furthermore, twenty patients without lung cancer were included in this study as the control group. Samples were separately collected from both tumor and peritumor tissues. The mutational status was assessed for EGFR mutations, ALK rearrangements and KRAS mutations. Based on these analyses, patients were grouped into three groups: EGFR mutation, KRAS mutation and wild-type groups. The concentrations of various trace elements in the lung tissues were measured by a particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) system, and the results were analyzed for statistical significance.Results: A total of 110 LADC patients were included in this study. The median age was 70 years, and 60% of the participants were female. Moreover, 18% and 20% of patients were EGFR-and KRASpositive, respectively. Thirty-two trace elements were measured, and 18 trace elements were detectable. The concentrations of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Br were significantly higher in the KRAS mutation and wild-type groups than in the control group regardless of whether the samples were from tumor or peritumor tissues.For these 6 trace elements, the concentrations were significantly higher in smokers than in non-smokers.Considering the effect of smoking, differences in the trace element concentrations between each mutational group remained. Conclusions:Trace elements in the lung may play a role in development of LADC in both smokers and never-smokers. However, prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to support this hypothesis.

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We present 2 cases of battered child syndrome with retinal hemorrhage. Case 1 is a 6-year-old boy who was blinded in both eyes following abuse by his mother’s common-law husband. Retinal hemorrhages and optic atrophy were found in both eyes. Case 2 is a 6-month-old boy who developed dyspnea following episodes of abuse by his mother’s common-law husband. Retinal hemorrhages were visible in both fundi. We believe that retinal hemorrhage is the most frequent clinical finding in abused children and its presence should alert the ophthalmologist to suspect battered child syndrome.

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Since the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, we have seen a rapid increase of requests for soil analysis by PIXE. In the Nishina Memorial Cyclotron Center (NMCC), a powdered internal standard method with palladium on carbon powder has been adopted for soil sample preparation. However, the method can be heavily laborious when many samples need to be handled in a limited time. Here, we report an alternative to the method which takes a standard in the liquid form with a few drops of acetone to be homogenized with soil sample in an agate mortar. The applicability of the moist method was examined using some standard reference materials by comparing the analyzed results with those from the conventional method and with the certified values. The results were generally satisfactory, although further examination is needed to improve the accuracy and reliability of the new method.