Narjala Rama Jyothi

By Narjala Rama Jyothi and Nainar Abdulkhader Mohamed Farook

Mercury was the name of the Roman messenger of god who can move really fast. It is also called as quicksilver due to its fast movement and silvery tinge. Liquid metal state mercury (Hg) has little to no solubility and is not poisonous. But the liquid mercury can vaporize, and gaseous mercury becomes poisonous due to its nature of being absorbed into the blood. Mercury in +2 state is more poisonous due to high solubility. Mercury is the only metal that exists in liquid state at normal temperature and pressure. Mercury poisoning occurs by exposure to mercury, i.e., acute and chronic exposures. Symptoms of mercury poisoning depend on the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. Mercury poisoning effects on the human body are not limited to reddishness of hands and feet; renal failures; cardiovascular, liver, brain, and hormonal issues; and intestinal ulceration. The present chapter describes the mercury sources, types of exposures, types of poisoning, treatments, and preventive measures of mercury poisoning.

Part of the book: Heavy Metal Toxicity in Public Health

By Narjala Rama Jyothi

Heavy metals are defined in many ways, based on various factors such as density and atomic weight. Some of the heavy metals are essential as nutrients for humans such as iron, cobalt and, zinc in small quantities but are toxic in higher quantities. But few metals, such as lead, cadmium and, mercury are poisonous even in small quantities. The toxicity of heavy metals is depending on concentration,period of exposure and route of exposure. Heavy metal exposure takes place on human beings through inhalation from the atmosphere, intake through drinking water and, ingestion through the skin by dermal contact. The present chapter describes the definition of heavy metals, sources of these heavy metals, toxicity and, their impact on various environmental segments, such as air, water and, soil.

Part of the book: Heavy Metals

By Narjala Rama Jyothi and Snehalatha Pulivarthi

Various organic chelating agents have many applications in treating the several diseases and they act as antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial and cytotoxic agents. Among the organic chelating agents thiosemicarbazones and their derivatives play a unique role in various fields of medicine. Thiosemicarbazones and their derivatives find a numerous applications and among them cytotoxic activity occupies a major portion due to the severity of the cancer treatment. In this present chapter we described and discussed the cytotoxic activity of thiosemicarbazones, their derivatives and various metal complexes of them. For this purpose, we reviewed the research articles published in various reputed international journals since 35 years. We summarized the results of those research findings and it is found that among the various metal ions, mostly the platinum and palladium complexes are effective cytotoxic agents than other metal complexes.

Part of the book: Schiff Base in Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry