Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and copper are known to be extremely toxic to organisms. Mercury has been recognized as an environmental contaminant since the Minamata disaster in the late 1950s. Minamata disease which was caused by the consumption of marine fishes severely polluted with mercury from local industrial discharge due to this Minamata disaster (Takeuchi et al., 1978; Takeuchi...

Organic mercury compounds were first described in the 1800s, with fatal cases of methylmercury poisoning reported in 1865. Early reports described a distinct set of symptoms of methylmercury toxicity, including altered sensation in the face and extremities, tunnel vision, deafness , loss of coordination, and impaired speech. Nearly a century later, against a backdrop of widespread environmental...

Mercury naturally occurs in gas and oil deposits a wide range of concentrations covering six orders magnitude: up to 5 mg/m 3 natural 600 ppm (mg/kg) crude oil. hydrocarbons poses number technological environmental problems: contamination equipment products with this extremely toxic element, poisoning catalysts, initiates intensive corrosion equipment, thereby enhancing accident risk. Metal mer...

OBJECTIVE To describe demographic characteristics, patterns of use, reported symptoms, and laboratory results associated with mercury exposure among people who used a beauty cream containing mercury. DESIGN. Descriptive study of a case series. SETTING The Hong Kong community. PARTICIPANTS Users of a cream cosmetic who contacted the Department of Health following a public announcement. MAI...

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We describe a patient with elemental mercury aspiration and retention in the appendix after elemental mercury ingestion. Conservative management was proved to be successful for the removal of the mercury from the appendix while we do not suggest bronchoalveolar lavage in cases of small amount elemental mercury aspiration.

Human hair and blood samples from persons living in the town of Wanshan, a mercury mine area in Guizhou Province of China, were collected and the quantitative speciation and structural information of Hg and S in hair samples and of Hg in erythrocyte and serum samples were studied using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Least-squares fitting of the X-ray absorption near-edge spectra found that inor...

OBJECTIVES To establish whether a specific community in a gold mining area, with potentially associated small-scale gold mining activities, was exposed to mercury. METHODS The community was situated in Mpumalanga, where some potential sources of mercury emissions may have an impact. Adults >or=18 years were considered eligible. Biological monitoring, supported by questionnaires, was applied. ...

a burning sensation in the stomach, which soon became so severe that he rolled about in pain I was called in, and saw him half an hour after, when his lower jaw and lips were swollen, breathing difficult, swallowing painful and saliva running from his mouth. He was treated with albumin, &c., but in a few hours swallowing became impossible, and he was fed per rectum for three following days; he ...