ArticlePhilosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences2015
The elements of life and medicines.
Article in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Salivary elemental signature of dental caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of ionomics studies.Odontology · 2024Pooled it
- Macro and trace elements signature of periodontitis in saliva: A systematic review with quality assessment of ionomics studies.Journal of periodontal research · 2022Pooled it
- Bioaccessibility of metals in food supplements: protocols and facts.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Anthraquinone-based turn-on fluorescence probe for selective and sensitive detection of CuFrontiers in chemistry · 2026Article
- Biological properties of copper: Antibacterial, osteogenesis of biomaterials.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- Metallomic characterization of induced periapical lesions-In vivo study.International endodontic journal · 2025Article
- The Potential of Hair Matrix for Biomarker Analysis in Schizophrenia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Essential Trace Elements in the Shells of Commercial Mollusk Species from the Black Sea and Their Biotechnological Potential.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Periodic Table of Immunomodulatory Elements and Derived Two-Dimensional Biomaterials.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Manganese(II) Complexes with Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Structure and Biological Activity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- A multifunctional composite scaffold responds to microenvironment and guides osteogenesis for the repair of infected bone defects.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2024Article
- A modular and synthetic biosynthesis platform for de novo production of diverse halogenated tryptophan-derived molecules.Nature communications · 2024Article
- To Eat or Not to Eat?-Food Safety Aspects of Essential Metals in Seafood.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- An Overview of In Vitro Assays ofDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Serum Iodine and Bromine in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients-An Observational Study in a Cohort of Portuguese Patients.Toxics · 2023Article
- The impact of the 2019/2020 Australian landscape fires on infant feeding and contaminants in breast milk in women with asthma.International breastfeeding journal · 2023Article
- NLRP3 inflammasome activation in response to metals.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- The elements of life: A biocentric tour of the periodic table.Advances in microbial physiology · 2023Article
- Chemistry must respond to the crisis of transgression of planetary boundaries.Chemical science · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Which elements are essential for human life? Here we make an element-by-element journey through the periodic table and attempt to assess whether elements are essential or not, and if they are, whether there is a relevant code for them in the human genome. There are many difficulties such as the human biochemistry of several so-called essential elements is not well understood, and it is not clear how we should classify elements that are involved in the destruction of invading microorganisms, or elements which are essential for microorganisms with which we live in symbiosis. In general, genes do not code for the elements themselves, but for specific chemical species, i.e. for the element, its oxidation state, type and number of coordinated ligands, and the coordination geometry. Today, the biological periodic table is in a position somewhat similar to Mendeleev's chemical periodic table of 1869: there are gaps and we need to do more research to fill them. The periodic table also offers potential for novel therapeutic and diagnostic agents, based on not only essential elements, but also non-essential elements, and on radionuclides. Although the potential for inorganic chemistry in medicine was realized more than 2000 years ago, this area of research is still in its infancy. Future advances in the design of inorganic drugs require more knowledge of their mechanism of action, including target sites and metabolism. Temporal speciation of elements in their biological environments at the atomic level is a major challenge, for which new methods are urgently needed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.