OBJECTIVE Laboratory studies suggest that exposure to methylmercury at a level similar to those found in fish may induce pancreatic islet β-cell dysfunction. Few, if any, human studies have examined the association between mercury exposure and diabetes incidence. We examined whether toenail mercury levels are associated with incidence of diabetes in a large prospective cohort. RESEACH DESIGN AN...

OBJECTIVE To analyze studies on oral treatment of toenail onychomycosis so as to aid clinicians and patients in making informed decisions. DATA SOURCES Studies dealing with treatment of toenail onychomycosis were identified by means of 2 MEDLINE search strategies. One was a title search using the word "toenail"; the other search used the combined Medical Subject Headings "onychomycosis" and "...

Surface soil and groundwater in Australia have been found to contain high concentrations of arsenic. The relative importance of long-term human exposure to these sources has not been established. Several studies have investigated long-term exposure to environmental arsenic concentrations using hair and toenails as the measure of exposure. Few have compared the difference in these measures of en...

Currently used biomarkers of tobacco smoke exposure have several disadvantages, including that they reflect short-term exposure and can therefore be affected by day-to-day variations. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of toenail nicotine levels as a biomarker of exposure to tobacco smoke for use in epidemiological studies. Toenails were collected in 1982 from 62,641 women partici...

BACKGROUND The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial found no effect of selenium supplementation on prostate cancer (PCa) risk but a 17% increased risk from vitamin E supplementation. This case-cohort study investigates effects of selenium and vitamin E supplementation conditional upon baseline selenium status. METHODS There were 1739 total and 489 high-grade (Gleason 7-10) PCa cases...

The DNA identification of decomposed human remains for coronial investigations at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine routinely requires the retrieval and processing of a bone sample obtained from the deceased. Bone is a difficult sample type to work with as it requires surgical removal from the deceased, refrigerated storage, and additional processing steps prior to DNA analysis in co...

BACKGROUND Selenium is an essential element which can be toxic if ingested in excessive quantities. The main human exposure is food. In addition, intake may be boosted by consumption drinking water containing unusual high selenium concentration. OBJECTIVE We measured the individual selenium level of people exposed to selenium concentration in drinking water greater than the maximum recommende...

BACKGROUND Onychomycosis is a therapeutic challenge because of the toxicities of systemic medications. This has led to the investigation of light-based technologies for safe and effective alternative treatment modalities. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of 4 treatments with a 1,320-nm neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser in improving th...

OBJECTIVE Compelling biological pathways suggest that selenium (Se) may lower onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but very few studies have evaluated this relationship, with mixed results. We examined the association between toenail Se and incidence of T2DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed prospective analyses in two separate U.S. cohorts, including 3,630 women and 3,535 men, w...