In this manuscript, we describe medical applications of each first-row transition metal including nutritional, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic applications. The 10 first-row transition metals in particular are found to have many applications since there five essential elements among them. We summarize the aqueous chemistry of each element to illustrate that these fundamental properties are linked to medical applications and will dictate some of nature’s solutions to the needs of cells. The five essential trace elements—iron, copper, zinc, manganese, and cobalt—represent four redox active elements and one redox inactive element. Since electron transfer is a critical process that must happen for life, it is therefore not surprising that four of the essential trace elements are involved in such processes, whereas the one non-redox active element is found to have important roles as a secondary messenger.. Perhaps surprising is the fact that scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, and nickel have many applications, covering the entire range of benefits including controlling pathogen growth, pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications, including benefits such as nutritional additives and hardware production of key medical devices. Some patterns emerge in the summary of biological function and medical roles that can be attributed to small differences in the first-row transition metals.
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Trace Element Geochemistry in North Pacific Red Clay Sediment Porewaters and Implications for Water‐Column Studies
Geochemical analyses of trace elements in the ocean water column have suggested that pelagic clay‐rich sediments are a major source of various elements to bottom‐waters. However, corresponding high‐quality measurements of trace element concentrations in porewaters of pelagic clay‐rich sediments are scarce, making it difficult to evaluate the contributions from benthic processes to global oceanic cycles of trace elements. To bridge this gap, we analyzed porewater and bulk sediment concentrations of vanadium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, copper, arsenic, molybdenum, barium and uranium, as well as concentrations of the major oxidants nitrate, manganese, iron, and sulfate in the top 30 cm of cores collected along a transect from Hawaii to Alaska. The data show large increases in porewater concentrations of vanadium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, and arsenic within the top cm of the sediment, consistent with the release of these elements from remineralized organic matter. The sediments are a sink for sulfate, uranium, and molybdenum, even though conditions within the sampled top 30 cm remain aerobic. Porewater chromium concentrations generally increase with depth due to release from sediment particles. Extrapolated to the global aerial extent of pelagic clay sediment, the benthic fluxes in mol yr−1are Ba 3.9 ± 3.6 × 109, Mn 3.4 ± 3.5 × 108, Co 2.6 ± 1.3 × 107, Ni 9.6 ± 8.6 × 108, Cu 4.6 ± 2.4 × 109, Cr 1.7 ± 1.1 × 108, As 6.1 ± 7.0 × 108, V 6.0 ± 2.5 × 109. With the exception of vanadium, calculated fluxes across the sediment–water interface are consistent with the variability in bottom‐water concentrations and ocean residence time of the studied elements.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10476332
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 0886-6236
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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