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land non-fat fractions.
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ant
The objective was to determine whether more
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uniform results could be obtained when radioisotopic content was ex3Ra iar
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oressed on a basis of non-fat solids rather than total solids as had been
1 done in the past.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Liver samples of coconut crab ‘Birgus latro) were collected from
Kabelle, Rongelap and Eniaetok Islands at Rongelap Atoll in March 1958.
The samples were oven dried at 98 + 2° C and partially oulverized.
The fat was extracted from the dried samples by a modification of the
Johnson method (6).
Petroleum ether was used as the extracting solvent.
The fat-free solids were wet ashed with concentrated HNO3 and H20O9.
The ash obtained from non-fat solids was dissolved in a known volume of
1 N. HNO3
and the strontium-90 levels of the samples were determined
by the method of Kawabata and Held (7).
The gross beta activity was
also measured from an aliquot of the solution.
The fat content was de-
termined ona dry weight basis by weighing and on a wet weight basis
by using the wet weight to dry weight ratios in Table 1.
were dry-ashed in a muffle furnace at 550° C overnight.
The fat samples
The ash obtained
from the fat fraction was dissolved in a small volume of 1 N. HNO3 and
‘
was transferred to a plate for determining the gross beta activity.
The
gross beta activity of the fat fraction was less than one percent of that in
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