KABIGTING, Joseph John Patrick D.

O
O3A - B.S. Medical Technology

Journal 1: Essential Trace Elements and Their Vital Roles in Human Body

Summary:

Trace elements are chemical elements present in natural material in minute amounts. It is a dietary
mineral essential for proper growth, development and physiology of an organism. In the human body,
trace elements are important in enzyme reactions in order to attract and facilitate the conversion of
substrate molecules to specific end products. Essential trace elements play an important role as a
cofactor for certain enzymes involved in metabolism and cell growth, most of them involved in the
metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and energy. They are also necessary for growth,
development, muscle and nerve function, normal cellular functioning, and synthesis of some hormones
and connective tissue.The importance of trace elements in biological processing may provide crucial clue
for grasping the etiology of illnesses such as cancer. The ability of trace elements to work as substantial
affector in a variety of the processes vital for life, such as the regulation of homeostasis and preventing
free radical damage, can give a solution to the definite relationship between content of trace elements
and many common diseases. In the past decade, studies have focused thoroughly on determining the
levels of trace elements in cancers patients, as a trial to understand the nature of relationships between
cancer and trace elements. Thus, the expected role of trace elements will allow us to understand the
etiopathogenesis of cancer and produce a rapid diagnostic facility and also create effective treatment
modalities.

Journal Source:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318921984_Essential_Trace_Elements_and_Their_Vital_Roles
_in_Human_Body

Journal 2: Trace metal metabolism in plants

Summary:

Various trace metals are essential micronutrients, but also potent toxins. Due to natural and
anthropogenic factors, diverse trace metal concentrations occur in various habitats, ranging from deficient
to toxic levels. Many elements of the transition metals are essential for the growth and development of
plants because they serve various functions in metabolism. This resulted in intensive research since the
18th century on the diverse mechanisms of metal uptake, translocation, sequestration, speciation,
physiological use, effects of deficiency and toxicity, as well as strategies to deal with the latter problems.
The aim of this review is to give an overview of this vast field, and to cross-link the knowledge between
the many more specialized sections of this area. As the coverage of all details would easily fill a series of
books, the reader is referred to selected more specialized reviews whenever appropriate. Further, the
current review focuses only on trace metals that are generally accepted to be essential for all plants,
namely copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn). For the
only toxic metals, cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), that are much studied because of environmental pollution,
we recently published reviews elsewhere.

Journal Source:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29447378/