Median, minimum and maximum value of means Ag, Co, Cr, Fe, Hg, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, and Zn contents in thyroid benign (TBN) and malignant (TMN) nodules according to data from the literature in comparison with our results (mg/kg, dry mass basis)..

Table 3: Median, minimum and maximum value of means Ag, Co, Cr, Fe, Hg, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, and Zn contents in thyroid benign (TBN) and malignant (TMN) nodules according to data from the literature in comparison with our results (mg/kg, dry mass basis).

Tissue	Element	Published data [Reference]			This work
Tissue	Element	Median of means (n)^*	Minimum of means M or M ± SD, (n)^**	Maximum of means M or M ± SD, (n)^**	M ± SD
Goiter	Ag	0.16 (4)	0.098 ± 0.042 (19) [56]	1.20 ± 2.28 (51) [57]	0.23 ± 0.22
	Co	0.86 (13)	0.110 ± 0.003 (64) [58]	62.8 ± 22.4 (11) [59]	0.062 ± 0.033
	Cr	4.0 (6)	0.72 (51) [56]	146 ± 14 (4) [60]	0.97 ± 0.84
	Fe	207 (9)	54.6 ± 36.1 (5) [61]	4848 ± 3056 (11) [59]	332 ± 332
	Hg	79.2 (1)	79.2 ± 8.0 (4) [60]	79.2 ± 8.0 (4) [60]	0.924 ± 0.649
	I	812 (55)	77 ± 14 (66) [62]	2800 (4) [63]	992 ± 901
	Rb	7.5 (2)	7,0 (10) [64]	864 ± 148 (11) [59]	9.55 ± 4.37
	Sb	-	-	-	0.137 ± 0.116
	Sc	-	-	-	0.014 ± 0.022
	Se	1.97 (9)	0.248 (41) [65]	174 ± 116 (11) [59]	2.75 ± 2.13
	Zn	104 (30)	22.4 (130) [65]	1236 ± 560 (2) [66]	118 ± 50
Cancer	Ag	-	-	-	0.19 ± 0.21
	Co	71.6 (3)	2.48 ± 0.85 (18) [67]	94.4 ± 69.6 (3) [59]	0.055 ± 0.031
	Cr	2.74 (2)	1.04 ± 0.52 (4) [66]	119 ± 12 (4) [60]	0.84 ± 0.86
	Fe	316 (8)	69 ± 51 (3) [61]	5588 ± 556 (4) [60]	248 ± 173
	Hg	30.8 (1)	30.8 ± 3.2 (4) [60]	30.8 ± 3.2 (4) [60]	0.824 ± 0.844
	I	78.8 (12)	< 23 ± 10 (8) [68]	800 (1) [69]	71.8 ± 62.0
	Rb	14.7 (2)	11,5 (10) [64]	17.8 ± 9.7 (5) [64]	12.8 ± 4.9
	Sb	-	-	-	0.124 ± 0.081
	Sc	-	-	-	0.008 ± 0.013
	Se	2.16 (7)	1.00 ± 0.24 (3) [66]	241 ± 296 (3) [59]	2.04 ± 1.02
	Zn	112 (13)	48 ± 8 (5) [70]	494 ± 37 (2) [66]	95.1 ± 78.9

M - Arithmetic mean, SD - Standard deviation, (n)* - Number of all references, (n)** - Number of samples