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Mercury in Dentistry
Published in Dag K. Brune, Christer Edling, Occupational Hazards in the Health Professions, 2020
The lung is the critical organ after acute accidental exposure to high concentrations of mercury vapor. The vapor causes erosive bronchitis and bronchiolitis with interstitial pneumonitis. The central nervous system (CNS) is the critical organ after extended exposure to toxic levels of mercury vapor. At low levels, increasing doses may develop an unspecific, asthenic vegetative syndrome (so-called micromercurialism) with weakness, fatigue, anorexia, loss of weight, and disturbance of GI functions.38 At higher exposure levels, tremor appears, starting as a fine trembling of peripheral parts like the fingers, eyelids, and lips. It may progress into generalized tremor with violent spasms of the extremities. These symptoms are accompanied by severe behavioral and personality changes, increased excitability, loss of memory, and insomnia, which may develop into depression. Delirium and hallucination may occur. After severe intoxication, persistent disturbances of the nervous system are common.39 Repeated occupational exposure to mercury concentrations in the air exceeding 100 μg/m3 may produce mercurialism.38 Micromercurialism has been reported to appear at concentrations between 10 and 100 μg/m3.31
Toxic Metal Removal Using Microbial Nanotechnology
Published in Mahendra Rai, Patrycja Golińska, Microbial Nanotechnology, 2020
Severe toxicity associated with Hg is reported (Aschner and Carvalho 2019) that may affect various organs and create long-term contraindications (Kishore et al. 2019). Hg is easily and rapidly absorbed in vapour form through mucus membranes, lungs and gut and gets deposited in many tissues. Distribution and deposition in target tissues mostly depends on the form in which it is absorbed. If inhaled, Hg vapour primarily targets the brain, while mercurous and mercuric salts mainly damage the gut lining and kidney. Hg alters tertiary and quaternary structure of proteins by binding with sulfhydryl and selenohydryl groups. It is known to impair peripheral nerve function, renal function, immune function, and endocrine and muscle function, and induce several types of dermatitis. It is associated to erosive bronchitis and bronchiolitis resulting in respiratory failure apart from CNS symptoms such as tremor or erethism. Chronic exposure to Hg causes neurological dysfunction, weakness, fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some of the severe consequences related to Hg exposure include severe behavior and personality changes, emotional excitability, loss of memory, insomnia, depression, fatigue, delirium, hallucination, gingivitis and copious salivation. Other immunological impacts associated with Hg toxicity include hypersensitivity, asthma, dermatitis, autoimmunity, suppression of natural killer cells, and disruption of lymphocyte subpopulations. It may also lead to thyroid dysfunction, inhibition of spermatogenesis, muscular atrophy and capillary damage (Bernhoft 2012).
Neuroimaging techniques for brain analysis
Published in Munsif Ali Jatoi, Nidal Kamel, Brain Source Localization Using EEG Signal Analysis, 2017
For clinical purposes, EEG can be used for the detection and analysis of many brain disorders, including both psychiatric and cognitive disorders. The most important of all is epilepsy, as 1% of the world population is suffering from this disorder. The other disorders include dementia, schizophrenia, depression, stress analysis, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit disorder, delirium, and so on. EEG analysis is also used to analyze drug addiction and its corresponding effects on the individual's brain rhythms. Memory retention and recalling analysis is also an application of EEG for short-term memory analysis among patients with lose memory records. The other most common disorders that are analyzed using patients’ EEG data are amnestic disorder (or amnesia), substance-related disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, somatoform disorder, dissociative disorder, sexual disorder, gender identity disorder, eating disorders, sleep disorders, dyslexia, impulse-controlled disorder, and personality disorder [28].
Care Pathways for the Dying Patients: Physician Perspective
Published in Journal of Housing For the Elderly, 2018
Benyamin Schwarz, Jacquelyn J. Benson
Dr. Martin: I believe that the home is where dying patients are most comfortable. It's a place that they created for themselves. They created the environment that they live in so it matches their desires, it's where they're comfortable. Medically, we see this in patients who become delirious in the hospital and we get them back to their home environment, and their delirium resolves. I think medically it is the most appropriate place to be at the end of their lives. We have resources at our disposal now where we can provide patient-controlled anesthesia in their home. There are very few cases where I feel that I need to bring a patient in to the hospital to get their symptoms controlled because we've been unable to control their symptoms with hospice at home. For the vast majority of people, home is the most appropriate environment if they have the human resource support to be there at the end of life.
A Principlist Justification of Physical Restraint in the Emergency Department
Published in The New Bioethics, 2021
We can take a second real world example to examine how this applies to PR. Delirium can lead to patients losing their agency (or capacity) but is often reversible. Imagine an example where staff employ bed rails to stop an older patient who is delirious from leaving the ED, their intention is to treat the patient’s delirium with an antipsychotic. Once again, staff have prioritized beneficence (the return to sound mind of the patient) over the patient’s autonomy (respecting her desire to leave).