Chapman A L, Fegley B, Cho C T
Eur J Respir Dis. 1985 Mar;66(3):218-23.
Nail clippings from 60 individuals were examined. There were 34 "old" (greater than 16 years) controls, 16 "young" controls and 10 CF patients. In regard to elements found, Si and Al were considered as exogenous contamination. Other elements examined were variable in both control and CF. Examination of the Cl levels among the 3 groups showed a highly significant difference between the mean Cl integral values of the young controls (619 integral) and the CF patients (2956 integral). The results of the older control population ranged from 0-905 integral with a mean of 269 integral. We found no age or sex difference in the amount of Cl or any other element from either the CF or control population. Results show that the x-ray energy dispersive system (EDS) is very useful in studying the Cl in nails. We found that examination of nails frozen in liquid nitrogen followed by fracturing without prior washing was the preferred method. Although the results of this study clearly show statistically the value of EDS analysis of Cl in the diagnosis of CF, we must await further study of a larger group of patients to determine its usefulness in evaluating individual patients, particularly newborns.
对60个人的指甲剪进行了检查。有34名“年长”（大于16岁）对照者、16名“年轻”对照者和10名囊性纤维化（CF）患者。关于所发现的元素，硅和铝被视为外源性污染物。在对照者和CF患者中，所检测的其他元素都存在差异。对三组人群的氯含量进行检测发现，年轻对照者（619积分）和CF患者（2956积分）的平均氯积分值之间存在高度显著差异。年长对照人群的结果在0至905积分之间，平均值为269积分。我们发现，无论是CF患者还是对照人群，氯或任何其他元素的含量在年龄或性别上均无差异。结果表明，X射线能量色散系统（EDS）在研究指甲中的氯含量方面非常有用。我们发现，先将指甲在液氮中冷冻，然后在不预先清洗的情况下进行破碎，这种检查方法是首选。尽管本研究结果清楚地从统计学上显示了EDS分析氯含量在CF诊断中的价值，但我们必须等待对更多患者进行进一步研究，以确定其在评估个体患者，尤其是新生儿方面的实用性。
