Wild piscivorous fish, mammals, and birds may be at risk for elevated dietary methylmercury intake and toxicity. In controlled feeding studies, the consumption of diets that contained Hg (as methylmercury) at environmentally realistic concentrations resulted in a range of toxic effects in fish, birds, and mammals, including behavioral, neurochemical, hormonal, and reproductive changes. Limited field-based studies,
A 35-year-old female who had suffered from acute lead poisoning when she was 22 years old, presented 13 years later with loss of vision in the right eye and normal vision in the left eye. She had a pale disc, narrowed arterioles and mid-peripheral heavy pigmentation, right eye being more affected than the left eye.
Abstract
Background: There is uncertainty regarding the association of occupational exposures with lung cancer. We have studied the association between 52 high-risk job titles and lung cancer incidence in a large prospective study, with more than 200,000 participants followed for more than 6 years and 809 incident cases of lung cancer.
Cadmium is a ubiquitous trace metal in the environment and a constituent of tobacco smoke. It is sequestered in the placenta, where it accumulates with advancing gestation, potentially inhibiting the synthesis and/or release of hormones produced by the trophoblast. It is also possible that cadmium competes with essential metals for binding to metallothionein, thus interfering with the transport of these micronutrients to the developing fetus.
Objective — Mercury has been suggested to have negative effects on cardiovascular health. We investigated the effects of high mercury content in hair on the risk of acute coronary events and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in men from eastern Finland.
Methods and Results — The population-based prospective Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD) cohort of 1871 Finnish men aged 42 to 60 years and free of previous coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke at baseline was used.
Abstract
Environmental and occupational exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and lead results in severe health hazards including prenatal and developmental defects. The deleterious effects of heavy metal ions have hitherto been attributed to their interactions with specific, particularly susceptible native proteins. Here, we report an as yet undescribed mode of heavy metal toxicity.
Background Statin drugs (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) reduce the level of cholesterol by inhibiting the synthesis of mevalonate, an intermediary in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway. Use of statin drugs has been associated with a variety of skeletal muscle–related complaints. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a component of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, is also synthesized from mevalonate,
In 1997, Frank Pallone, a U.S. congressman from New Jersey, attached a simple, 133-word amendment to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reauthorization bill. This amendment gave the FDA 2 years to "compile a list of drugs and foods that contain intentionally introduced mercury compounds and [to] provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the mercury compounds in the list."1 The bill —
Background
Thyroid hormones are important regulators of brain development. During critical periods of development, even transient disorders in thyroid hormone availability may lead to profound neurologic impairment. Animal experiments have shown that certain environmental pollutants, including heavy metals and organochlorine compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, can interfere with thyroid hormone homeostasis.
