title: Breast milk concentration of rubidium in lactating mothers by instrumental neutron activation analysis method.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Relatively little is known about the trace elements content of human milk from different countries. This has not been fully investigated especially among Iranian women. This study aimed to assess the concentration of Rubidium (Rb) as a poisonous trace element in transitional breast milk of lactating mothers living in Mashhad.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty nursing mothers in early lactation 3 days to 15 days postpartum, free from any medical disorder and/or medication were randomly selected. We have applied Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) to assess the long-lived isotope trace element Rb in transitional milk of these economically moderate 18-39 year old Iranian women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average concentration level of Rb was 32.176 ppm dry weight (min 8.660, max 107.210 ppm). No significant correlation was observed between Rb concentration and maternal weight and age (P=0.06, P=0.05 respectively) and newborns' weight, age and sex (P=0.07, P=0.2, P=0.2 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the Rubidium concentration found in this study is among the highest reported in the literature, it could not be compared to other studies because of differences in analytical performance, state of lactation, and unavailable reference ranges, so this finding needs further investigations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Seyedeh-Fatemeh
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Khatami
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Szeged Medical Faculty, Szeged Medical University, Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Pouya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parvaresh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Payame Noor University, Mashhad.
authors.forename: Parviz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parvaresh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Payame Noor University, Mashhad.
authors.forename: Sara Sadat
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Madani Kouchak
authors.affiliation: Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Jamshid
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khorsandi
keywords: Human milk; Newborn; Rubidium; Toxic Trace Elements