References Documenting Symptoms to Mercury Exposure.
“References documenting symptoms to mercury exposure”
Efficacy of N, N ‘bis-(2-mercaptoethyl) isophthalamide on mercury intoxication: a randomized controlled trial
Background: Chronic mercury intoxication is a severe health issue and occurs especially in gold mining communities. Common chelators used for improving mercury elimination are not everywhere available and challenged by poor cell wall penetration. This study is part of a feasibility trial and the aim was to gather first information about the efficacy of the newly developed chelator N,N’bis-(2-mercaptoethyl) isophthalamide (NBMI) on chronic mercury intoxication.
Methods: In this three-armed, placebo-controlled randomized trial, 36 miners with mercury urine levels exceeding 15 μg/l were administered 100 mg NBMI, 300 mg NBMI or placebo for 14 days. Levels of mercury in urine [μg/l and μg/g creatinine] and plasma l were analyzed. Therapeutic effect was assessed using the medical intoxication score (MIS) and its single health outcomes (e.g. excessive salivation, sleeping problems), fatigue scores, a neuromotoric test battery (CATSYS) and a neurological outcome (Finger to nose test).
Results: Physical fatigue was significantly decreased in the 300 mg NBMI group compared to the control. Mercury concentration in urine following 300 mg NBMI treatment was significantly lowered compared to control, however, this effect was less distinct with adjustment for creatinine.
Conclusion: NBMI showed an effect on physical fatigue and there were indications to positive effects on other symptoms as well. More comprehensive studies are mandatory to verify the effects of NBMI as a novel tool for treating mercury intoxications.
Age-related accumulation of toxic metals in the human locus ceruleus.
Damage to the locus ceruleus has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of neurological conditions. Locus ceruleus neurons accumulate toxic metals such as mercury selectively, however, the presence of toxic metals in locus ceruleus neurons of people of different ages, and with a variety of disorders, is not known. To demonstrate at what age toxic metals are first detectable in the locus ceruleus, and to evaluate whether their presence is more common in certain clinicopathological conditions, we looked for these metals in 228 locus ceruleus samples. Samples were taken at coronial autopsies from individuals with a wide range of ages, pre-existing conditions and causes of death. Paraffin sections of pons containing the locus ceruleus were stained with silver nitrate autometallography, which indicates inorganic mercury, silver and bismuth within cells (termed autometallography-detected toxic metals, or AMG™). No locus ceruleus AMG neurons were seen in 38 individuals aged under 20 years. 47% of the 190 adults (ie, aged 20 years and over) had AMG locus ceruleus neurons. The proportion of adults with locus ceruleus AMG neurons increased during aging, except for a decreased proportion in the 90-plus years age group. No differences were found in the proportions of locus ceruleus AMG neurons between groups with different neurological, psychiatric, or other clinicopathological conditions, or among various causes of death. Elemental analysis with laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry was used to cross-validate the metals detected by AMG, by looking for silver, gold, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, iron, mercury, nickel, and lead in the locus ceruleus of ten individuals. This confirmed the presence of mercury in locus ceruleus samples containing AMG neurons, and showed cadmium, silver, lead, iron, and nickel in the locus ceruleus of some individuals. In conclusion, toxic metals stained by AMG (most likely inorganic mercury) appear in locus ceruleus neurons in early adult life. About half of adults in this study had locus ceruleus neurons containing inorganic mercury, and elemental analysis found a range of other toxic metals in the locus ceruleus. Locus ceruleus inorganic mercury increased during aging, except for a decrease in advanced age, but was not found more often in any single clinicopathological condition or cause of death.
Synergism in aluminum and mercury neurotoxicity.
Aluminum and mercury are common neurotoxic contaminants in our environment – from the air we breathe to the water that we drink to the foods that we eat. It is remarkable that to date neither of these two well-established environmental neurotoxins (i.e. those having a general toxicity towards brain cells) and genotoxins (those agents which exhibit directed toxicity toward the genetic apparatus) have been critically studied, nor have their neurotoxicities been evaluated in human neurobiology or in cells of the human central nervous system (CNS). In this paper we report the effects of added aluminum [sulfate; Al₂(SO₄)₃] and/or mercury [sulfate; HgSO4] to human neuronal-glial (HNG) cells in primary co-culture using the evolution of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-kB (p50/p65) complex as a critical indicator for the onset of inflammatory neurodegeneration and pathogenic inflammatory signaling. As indexed by significant induction of the NF-kB (p50/p65) complex the results indicate: (i) a notable increase in pro-inflammatory signaling imparted by each of these two environmental neurotoxins toward HNG cells in the ambient 20-200 nM range; and (ii) a significant synergism in the neurotoxicity when aluminum (sulfate) and mercury (sulfate) were added together. This is the first report on the neurotoxic effects of aluminum sulfate and/or mercury sulfate on the initiation of inflammatory signaling in human brain cells in primary culture. The effects aluminum+mercury together on other neurologically important signaling molecules or the effects of other combinations of common environmental metallic neurotoxins to human neurobiology currently remain not well understood but certainly warrant additional investigation and further study in laboratory animals, in human primary tissue cultures of CNS cells, and in other neurobiologically realistic experimental test systems.
Long term changes in health complaints after removal of amalgam restorations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Patients previously referred to a specialty unit for health complaints attributed to amalgam restorations were included in the study. The 20 participants who were allocated to the treatment group had all amalgam restorations removed and replaced with other dental restorative materials. Intensity of health complaints was calculated from questionnaire data and personality variables were measured by MMPI-2.
RESULTS:
At the follow-up five years after the amalgam removal was completed, intensity of general health complaints was significantly reduced (p=.001), but the symptom load was still high. The reduction was significantly correlated with concentration of mercury in urine at pre-treatment. There were no significant correlations with personality variables.
CONCLUSIONS:
Removal of amalgam restorations was followed by a long term reduction of general health complaints, which was associated with mercury concentration in urine before amalgam removal. Additional studies are needed to confirm the potential mechanisms for the observed reduction.
Concerns about environmental mercury toxicity: do we forget something else?
We have read the article by Eunhee Ha and co-authors (2016) entitled “Current progress on understanding the impact of mer-cury on human health” with great interest (http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.envres.2016.06.042). The authors addressed the significant concern of mercury (Hg) pollution and its impact on human health by conducting a critical review of the scientific literature on the topic reported since January of 2012. We are however surprised to find that one landmark paper is missing (Woods et al., 2012). The group, working at the Department of Environmental and Occu-pational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, has published several reports showing associations between Hg toxi-city and genetic polymorphism, as pointed out by Ha et al. (2016).
Neurologic Complications of Medical Disease [presentation].
Excess zinc ingestion is a well-recognized cause of copper deficiency. Zinc causes an upregulation of metallothionein production in the enterocytes. Metallothionein is an intracellular ligand and copper has a higher affinity for metallothionein than zinc. Copper displaces zinc from metallothionein, binds preferentially to the metallothionein, remains in the enterocytes, and is lost in the stools as the intestinal cells are sloughed off. […] Total hip arthroplasty may be complicated by corrosion and disassembly of the components. Metallosis is a very rare complication of arthroplasty. It refers to chronic infiltration of metallic wear debris into the periprosthetic bony and soft tissues.10 Reactive chronic inflammatory changes are seen. Wear debris can rarely cause systemic intoxication by prosthetic metallic materials, mostly by cobalt-chromium. […] Gadolinium is a lanthanide metal with paramagnetic properties that make it an excellent contrast agent to improve the utility of MRI. Two complications related to use of gadolinium-based contrast agents have been recognized (both in patients with underlying renal disease): nephrotoxicity and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis.15
Could night-guards be used as a simple method to detect leached-elements from dental restorations intra-orally? A study on amalgam restorations.
Methods: Ten upper custom-made night-guards were fabricated for patients suffering from bruxism, who had amalgam-restorations in their upper molars. The night-guards were delivered to the patients and they were instructed to wear the night-guards during when they were asleep. After six months, the night-guards were taken from the patients to be analyzed. A new unused night-guard was fabricated from the same material to be used as a control. In the used night-guards, two areas were studied: the fitting surfaces contacting the amalgam restorations and the fitting surfaces not contacting amalgam restorations. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA) were used to examine the structural and elemental changes in the night-guards.
Results: SEM of the unused night-guard revealed a homogenous structure, and the composition was carbon and oxygen, as shown using EDXA
(C=88.9wt% and O=11.1wt%). By contrast, the fitting surfaces of the
night-guards contacting amalgam restorations showed numerous lustrous particles. Elemental analysis of these areas showed the presence of mercury and sulfur, in addition to carbon and oxygen (Hg=21.2wt%, S=2.5wt%,
C=67.1wt% and O=9.2wt%). The night-guards’ fitting surfaces not contacting amalgam restorations showed slight cracking, and the composition was carbon and oxygen (C=88.3wt% and O=11.7 wt%).
Conclusions: Analyzing fitting surfaces of night-guards contacting dental restorations, such as amalgam, could aid in understanding the nature of leached-elements from these restorations intra-orally. However, further studies about its application upon dental-restorations other than amalgam are recommended.
Mercury vapors measurement during amalgam removal in dental clinic.
Conclusions: During amalgam removal, mercurial vapor increases in the dental office. So, as shown by several stud-ies, the dentists using amalgam and their staff members are exposed to chronic mercurial intoxication.
Thimerosal exposure and disturbance of emotions specific to childhood and adolescence: A case-control study in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database.
Background:This study evaluated Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and the risk of a diagnosis called disturbance of emotions specific to childhood and adolescence (ED). Thimerosal is an organic-mercury (Hg)-containing compound used in some vaccines.
Methods: A hypothesis-testing prospective, longitudinal case-control study evaluated Hg exposure from Thimerosal in hepatitis B vaccines administered at specific times within the first 6 months of life and its association with medically diagnosed ED (313.xx) (n = 517) in children born between 1991–2000 in comparison to controls (n = 27 491) in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database.
Results: Cases diagnosed with ED were significantly more likely than controls to have received increased Hg exposure within the first month of life (odds ratio (OR) = 1.3384), the first 2 months of life (OR = 1.3367) and the first 6 months of life (OR = 2.37). When the data were separated by gender, similar significant adverse effects were observed for males, but not females. On a per microgram Hg basis, cases diagnosed with ED were significantly more likely than controls to have received increased exposure within the first 6 months of life (OR = 1.025 per microgram Hg).
Conclusions: The results show a significant relationship between Hg exposure from Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and the subsequent risk of an ED diagnosis.