For those who are in the medical science area fighting diseases and intoxications on a daily basis, this book intends to bring some of the latest results written to a medical context. For students of chemistry and medical sciences, this book will help shed some light on, for instance, the role of metal ions in the environment of life and how sinister the consequences are of contaminations in the environment, mainly water and soils. Results in the scientific literature in Medical Sciences are seldom read by medical doctors. However, many results in Bioinorganic Chemistry and Biochemistry are straight linked to free radicals production and to some diseases, such as degenerative ones (Alzheimer, Parkinson, Wilson, etc.). Metal ions are now shown in the chemistry literature to play a vital role in these diseases. Therefore, external chemical effects, as well as biochemical (internal) effects have to be considered.
This third volume focuses on the newest information on metal ion contaminations and the influence of some of them in neurological diseases, a subject still not completely understood in the scientific literature so far. The book presents an extensive review on the aluminium forms of intoxication in humans and the role of this metal ion in human pathobiology by presenting live cases experienced in hospitals and discussing similar data; a review on the recent findings of the role of aluminium, zinc and copper in neurological disorders based on the chemical and bioinorganic aspects of these metal ions; a review on the genotoxic effects of the metal ions aluminium, iron and manganese either in vivo and in vitro results; information concerning arsenic and its structural effects on the human erythrocyte and some complementary model studies, and provides a study on coffee cultures in contaminated soils and its influence on human health.