BACKGROUND Onychocryptosis (ingrown toenail) and onychomycosis are common pathologies of the toenail and affecting many people. Since levels of trace elements have been shown to vary in certain diseases, in the presented work, chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) levels of toenail and serum samples of healthy individuals and patients with onychocryptosis and onychomycosis were compared. METHODS Serum and toenail samples of 88 voluntary subjects (healthy n = 24; onychomycosis n = 24; onychocryptosis n = 40) aged between 19-80 years were collected. Levels of trace elements in the samples were analyzed by using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES Thermo iCAP - 6000). The differences in medians between the groups for elements were evaluated with Kruskal -Wallis H test with post hoc for pairwise comparisons in SPSS 18. RESULTS Mg (p < 0.001) and Mn (p = 0.002) levels were significantly increased whereas Zn (p = 0.011) level was decreased in toenails of patients with onychomycosis compared to healthy subjects. Although Mg and Mn levels were higher in female subjects with onychomycosis (p = 0.001; p = 0.019), Mn was only increased in male subjects (p = 0.015). Mg was the only trace element found to be independent of sex, age, and smoking status in patients with onychomycosis. However, no significant difference has been found in serum trace element levels neither between any groups nor toenail trace element levels of patients with onychocryptosis and healthy subjects. CONCLUSION As a response of the human body to pathogens like fungi in toenails, Mg, Mn and Zn levels vary. Especially the role of Mg ions in onychomycosis needs to be investigated more specifically.

中文翻译：

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甲癣（长足指甲）和甲癣患者的血清和脚趾甲样品中的微量元素水平。

背景技术甲癣（长足的趾甲）和甲癣是趾甲的常见病理，并影响许多人。由于在某些疾病中微量元素的含量已显示出变化，因此在本研究中，铬（Cr），铜（Cu），铁（Fe），镁（Mg），锰（Mn），硒（Se）和比较了健康个体和甲癣和甲癣患者的趾甲和血清样品中的锌（Zn）水平。方法收集了88例年龄在19-80岁之间的志愿者（健康n = 24；灰指甲n = 24；灰指甲n = 40）的血清和脚趾甲样本。使用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱仪（ICP-OES Thermo iCAP-6000）分析样品中的痕量元素。通过Kruskal -Wallis H检验和post hoc对SPSS 18中的成对比较，评估了各组元素之间的中位数差异。结果Mg（p <0.001）和Mn（p = 0.002）含量显着增加，而Zn（p =与健康受试者相比，灰指甲病患者的脚趾甲水平降低了0.011）。尽管女性甲癣患者的Mg和Mn水平较高（p = 0.001; p = 0.019），但锰仅在男性患者中升高（p = 0.015）。镁是灰指甲病患者中唯一与性别，年龄和吸烟状况无关的微量元素。但是，在甲隐密码病患者和健康受试者的任何组之间，以及在趾甲中的痕量微量元素水平方面，均未发现显着差异。结论由于人体对脚趾甲中真菌等病原体的反应，Mg，Mn和Zn的含量不同。特别是镁离子在甲癣中的作用需要更具体地研究。