Characterization of human fingernail elements using PIXE technique S.O. Olabanji a,b, * , O.A. Ajose c , N.O. Makinde c , M.C. Buoso a , D. Ceccato a , M.DePoli a , G. Moschini a,d a Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL), I-35020 Legnaro (Padova), Italy b Centre for Energy Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria c Department of Chemical Pathology, College of Health Sciences, O.A.U, Ile-Ife, Nigeria d Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita ´ di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35100 Padova, Italy Received 11 November 2004; received in revised form 16 June 2005 Available online 10 August 2005 Abstract PIXE technique was employed in the determination of the major, minor and trace elemental concentrations in fin- ger-nails of 62 healthy young adults (30 females and 32 males), aged between 20 and 37 years. The elemental concen- trations in the nails of the analyzed population provide good reference data set for further health studies. The PIXE measurementswerecarriedoutusing1.8MeVcollimatedprotonbeamfromthe2.5MVAN-2000VandeGraaffaccel- eratoratINFN,LNL,Legnaro(Padova),Italy.Theresultsshowthepresenceoftwentyelements.Theirmetabolicroles inhumansarepresentedanddiscussed.Thecomparisonofourresultswiththoseofotherauthorsarealsopresented. Ó 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 42.62.Be; 42.40.My; 41.75.Ak; 32.30.Rj; 82.80.Ej; 83.85.Àc Keywords: PIXE; Human fingernails; Healthy students; Trace elements 1. Introduction The elemental concentrations in human nails may provide a way for assessing the nutritional status in human beings [1]. The different elements observed in human nails have different metabolic roles and hence, the determination of elemental compositions of nails of the young adults could be an index for assessing their nutritional status. Besides, a baseline set of data generated from the healthy subjects could be good reference data for diseased subjects leading to proper diagnosis and effective therapy. 0168-583X/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2005.06.206 * Corresponding author. On leave from Centre for Energy ResearchandDevelopment.Tel.:+390498068409/+234803 532 1791/+234 803 718 5959. E-mail address: skayode2002@yahoo.co.uk (S.O.Olabanji). Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 240 (2005) 895–907 www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb