Two otherwise healthy middle-aged males presented with persistent abdominal and lower- back pain, progressive weakness, paraesthesias, fatigue and weight loss over 8-12 months. Extensive work-up failed to localize organ pathology. Both men, strongly aware of the nutritional benefits of fish had a diet dedicated of canned and fresh fish. Raised blood mercury levels confirmed clinical suspicion a...

During the first 50 years, from the start of the factory inspectorate in I833, the inspectors' reports contained only scattered reference to ill health. In the Chief Inspector's Report for I879 was a section headed 'Occupations injurious to health', although mercury was not among the topics discussed. Under the Factory and Workshop Act of I878, young persons were prohibited from employment in c...

The British physician James Parkinson reported in a publication in 1817 the clinical symptomatology in paralysis agitans or shaking palsy. The name of this disorder today is Parkinson's disease (PD). Parkinsonism is characterized by hypokinesia, rigidity, tremor, symptoms from the vegetative nervous system, and in some cases dementia. Tremor is the most characteristic, and often the first sympt...