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Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory disease with a varying degree of clinical presentations. Managing psoriasis has always been arduous due to its chronicity and its propensity to relapse. Prior to the development of targeted biologic therapies, there were few effective treatments for psoriasis. Ancient psoriasis therapies included pinetar, plant extracts, psychotherapy, arsenic, and ammoniated mercury. In the 19th century, chrysarobin was developed. Then, in the early half of the 20th century, anthralin and coal tar were in widespread use. In the latter half of the 20th century, treatments were limited to topical first-line therapies, systemic drugs, and phototherapy. However, as the treatment of psoriasis has undergone a revolutionary change with the development of novel biologic therapies, patients with moderate to severe psoriasis have been able to avail therapies with high efficacy and durability along with an acceptable safety profile. This article is a brief historical review of the management of psoriasis prior to the inception of biologics and with the development of novel biologic therapies.

The extensive extraction activity of mercury ores in Asturias (northwest Spain), also rich in As and Sb, has impacted the Nalón river estuary. The objective of this research was to assess the historical evolution of As-Hg-Sb accumulation in the salt marsh sediments of this area. For this purpose, sediment cores were collected from two different salt marshes (eastern and western river banks) in the estuarine environment to evaluate the degree of anthropogenic enrichment and the geochronology of As-Hg-Sb accumulation. Core subsampling was performed by cutting 2-cm-thick slices of sediments. The subsamples were then analysed for several physical and chemical parameters. Sedimentation rate was assessed by measuring short-lived radionuclides (excess 210 Pb and 137 Cs). Pre-mining levels of As-Hg-Sb were observed at core depths below 50 cm. In the less extended salt marsh (eastern river bank), maximum As-Hg-Sb concentrations of 87.48, 3.66, and 5.75 μg·g -1 , respectively, were found at the core top as a consequence of long-term mining activity in the area. The vertical distribution of As-Hg-Sb was influenced by the single-point contamination sources, whereas grain-size variability and diagenetic remobilisation did not seem affected. Geochronological measurements showed that the depositional fluxes of As-Hg-Sb were influenced by anthropogenic input after 1900, when mining activity in the area was most intense. Hg mining ceased in 1969; however, the corresponding core profiles did not show a drastic decreasing trend in element fluxes, implying that the river drainage basin retains some "memory" of contamination which affects riverine sediments. A preliminary gross estimation of total As-Hg-Sb "trapped" in the Nalón river salt marsh sediments amounted to approximately 18.7, 1.0, and 0.7 t, respectively. These morphological structures suffer erosive processes, thus representing a potential source of these elements associated with sediments; consequently, management conservation and monitoring of salt marshes should be taken into consideration from this environmental point of view.

Iron mining activities in the Bruche valley (Vosges Mountains, France) date historically from the Roman period to the mid-nineteenth century. The geochemical and palynological study of a core from the peat bog of Le Champ du Feu allows highlighting impacts of these activities over the past millennium. Trace metal contamination is recorded for lead (Pb), arsenic, zinc, and antimony during the Middle Ages, the sixteenth century, and from cal. AD 1750-1900, with several sources distinguished by Pb isotope analyses. Forest exploitation is attested by the palynological analysis of the core, with exploitation of Fagus for smelting processes and cutting of Abies for agro-pastoralism. This approach highlights several patterns of contamination, corresponding to the mixing sources and the contamination intensity, which can be linked to the pollen assemblage zones. Hence, anthropogenic activities such as mining and farming led to long-term modification of the landscape composition in this mountainous area.

This article examines anti-treponematoses work as part of US occupation public health policy in Haiti, a unique event in the history of international health. Yaws was highly prevalent in Haiti, but occupation doctors initially ignored it because of its close association with syphilis and stigmas attached to sexually transmitted disease. This changed when C.S. Butler asserted that yaws was "innocent" and that the two diseases should therefore be considered as one. Treatment increased as an anti-treponematoses campaign was now believed to hold great benefits for the occupation's paternalist and strategic aims, even though it ultimately failed. This work reflected Haiti's status as a public health "laboratory" which affected Haitian medicine for years to come and significantly influenced future campaigns aimed at disease eradication.

During two centuries, advances in medicine and medical research have helped to understand the pathophysiology of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This hematologic malignancy is a unique model of oncogenesis where a single molecular hit, causing cell proliferation and survival, was identified. The chromosomal abnormality first highlighted by P. Nowell and D. Hungerford in 1960, and characterized as the reciprocal translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11), the Philadelphia chromosome, discovered in leukemic cells, by J. Rowley in 1973. At the end of the 20th century, the contribution of molecular biology techniques was crucial by the discovery of the BCR-ABL1 hybrid oncogene derived from the t(9;22), responsible for the translation of an aberrant protein tyrosine kinase. This BCR-ABL1 kinase deregulates signaling pathways that control normal cell cycle and survival in primitive hematopoietic cells and is thus responsible for malignant cell accumulation observed in CML. It was then only necessary to develop a targeted treatment adapted to this molecular hit. Recently, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, by their specific inhibitory activity of BCR-ABL, have revolutionized the treatment of CML, allowing rates of haematological, cytogenetic and molecular responses never seen to date, and has significantly improved the overall survival and the quality of life of patients.

We report the first comprehensive and reliable time series for As, Mo, Sb, and Tl in the snowpack from Dome Fuji in the central East Antarctic Plateau. Our results show significant enrichment of these elements due to either anthropogenic activities or large volcanic eruptions during the past 50 years. With respect to the values reported from 1960 to 1964, we observed the maximum increases in crustal enrichment factors (EFs) for As (a factor of ~15), Mo (~4), Sb (~4), and Tl (~2) during the period between the 1970s and 1990s, reflecting the global dispersion of anthropogenic pollutants of these elements, even to the most remote areas on Earth. Such enrichments are likely related to emissions of trace elements from nonferrous metal smelting and fossil fuel combustion processes in South America, especially in Chile. A drastic decrease in the As concentration and its EF values was observed after the year 2000 in response to the introduction of environmental regulations in the 1990s to reduce As emissions from the copper industry, primarily in Chile. The observed decrease suggests that governmental regulations for pollution control are effective in reducing air pollution at both the regional and global level.

Arsenic trioxide has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 5000 years, but lost its appeal due to its toxicity. It was rediscovered in western medicine and enjoyed a renaissance from 1830 to 1930, as the first effective chemotherapy against syphilis, parasites and leukaemia. These years were also a time of political turmoil in China. The Nanking treaty (29 August 1842) turned Hong Kong into a colony, while the Xinhai Revolution (10 October 1911) gave birth to a republic of China. Arsenic returned to China and Hong Kong with the establishment of the first medical schools from 1887 to 1920. Until 1950, oral arsenic trioxide was the standard anti-leukaemic treatment in Queen Mary Hospital. The advent of alkylating chemotherapeutic agents replaced arsenic trioxide in Hong Kong and around the world. In the 1970s, however, the specific activity of arsenic trioxide against acute promyelocytic leukaemia was re-discovered during the Cultural Revolution in Harbin, China. In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China. In the same year, arsenic trioxide returned to the world stage. Intravenous arsenic trioxide became the worldwide standard therapy for relapsed acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Oral administration of arsenic trioxide was revived in Hong Kong in 2000. This resulted in the first locally produced, registered, patented prescription drug in Hong Kong. Pending imminent manufacture, this product is poised to revolutionise acute promyelocytic leukaemia care and may hold the key to saving the lives of acute promyelocytic leukaemia patients worldwide. The remarkable journey of arsenic in the setting of medical history of China and Hong Kong is reviewed.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Arsenicals have been known as poisons and paradoxically as therapeutic agents. In the early 1970s, Chinese physicians from Harbin revived the medicinal use of arsenicals as anticancer agents. Notable success was observed in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with arsenic trioxide (ATO). The FDA approved ATO injection in the year 2000 for the treatment of APL. In contrast, the clinical use of the other arsenical, realgar (As₄S₄), is currently much less established, though it has also long been used in medical history. According to ancient medical records and recent findings in clinical trials, realgar was found as effective as ATO, but with relatively good oral safety profiles even on chronic administration. These give realgar an advantage over ATO in maintenance treatment. Though there is increasing understanding on the mechanisms of action and metabolic profiles of ATO, similar aspects of realgar are unclear to date., Materials and Methods: We outline the use of realgar in traditional medicines, especially in traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) from ancient times to present. The clinical and experimental observations on realgar as a therapeutic agent are described with an emphasis on those findings that may imply the rationale and future directions of realgar as a potential anticancer drug candidate., Results: There is an increasing understanding in the mechanisms of action of realgar as an antileukemic agent. However, there is still sparse information on its metabolism and toxicity profiles., Conclusions: Realgar is poorly soluble in water. Recently, several types of realgar nanoparticles (NPs) have been developed. Some of these realgar NPs also possess the unique optical properties of quantum dots. The activities and bioavailability of realgar NPs are much influenced by their sizes, making realgar an interesting biomedical and pharmaceutical research candidate., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Arsenicals have been used since ancient Greek and Roman civilizations and in the Far East as part of traditional Chinese medicine. In Western countries, they became a therapeutic mainstay for various ailments and malignancies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Fowler's potassium bicarbonate-based solution of arsenic trioxide (As2O3)solution was the main treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia until the 1930s. After a decline in the use of arsenic during the mid-20th century, arsenic trioxide was reintroduced as an anticancer agent after reports emerged from China of the success of an arsenic trioxide-containing herbal mixture for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Arsenic trioxide was first purified and used in controlled studies in China in the 1970s.Subsequently, randomised clinical trials performed in the United States led to FDA approval of arsenic trioxide in the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

This paper looks at arsenic, and in particular the trioxide, from the days of the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, through the 17th-20th centuries to its adoption by today's haematologists. It looks at its commercial and medical uses, past and present, its notoriety as a poison, it's reputation as a 'tonic' and therapeutic agent, many of the famous people associated with it including Thomas Fowler, William Withering and Robert Christison, and the promise an 18th century panacea now offers 21st century patients under the care of today's haematologists and tomorrow's oncologists.

Arsenic has been used for millenia. Although it has been known for many years that arsenic is soon fatal when ingested at high doses, the effects of low dosages became apparent in the 1980s. The full societal implications are only now becoming clear. It is now known to pose the highest calculated risk of any substance regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); high concentrations have been found in drinking water in many countries. In Bangladesh, in particular, the number of people suffering from over exposure vastly exceeds the number affected by the catastrophic accident at Chernobyl. This article shows the development of the human understanding about chronic arsenic poisoning with Bangladesh as a particular example.

The history of the use of arsenic in dentistry has been relegated to dental history. Once hailed as a panacea for the relief of pain and the answer to root canal therapy, it soon fell out of use mainly because of its misuse by unskilled and unscrupulous dentists in search of a quick fix to a complex problem. Such is the story of arsenic.

ICP-MS analysis recorded historical change (c. 1846 to 2002) in the arsenic concentration of bark included within the trunks (tree bark pockets) of two Japanese oak trees (Quercus crispula), collected at an elevated location approximately 10 km from the Ashio copper mine and smelter, Japan. The arsenic concentration of the bark pockets was 0.016 +/- 0.003 microg cm(-2) c. 1846 (n = 5) and rose 50-fold from c. 1875 to c. 1925, from approximately 0.01 to 0.5 microg cm(-2). The rise coincided with increased copper production in Ashio from local sulfide ores, from 46 tons per year in 1877 to 16,500 tons per year in 1929. Following a decline in arsenic concentration and copper production, in particular during the Second World War, a second peak was observed c. 1970, corresponding to high levels of production from both local (6,000 tons per year) and imported (30,000 tons per year) ores, smelted from 1954. Compared to the local ores, the contribution of arsenic from imported ores appeared relatively low. Arsenic concentrations declined from c. 1970 to the present following the closure of the mine in 1974 and smelter in 1989, recording 0.058 +/- 0.040 microg cm(-2) arsenic (n = 5) in surface bark collected in 2002. The coincident trends in arsenic concentration and copper production indicated that the bark pockets provided an effective record of historical change in atmospheric arsenic deposition.

The story of Job has been an inspiration for centuries to those familiar with the story. It has also been a source of curiosity as to what affliction he suffered. A critical reappraisal of the clinical manifestations of his illness support the contention that he was a victim of poisoning. There is historical evidence to support that the poison was available in his time and already in use for poisoning. Finally, there is even documentation in the story of Job as to the identity of his poisoner.

In 1590 Markgrave Jakob III. of Baden died, 28 years old, after a sudden disease which had lasted nine days. A necropsy was performed by two professors of the Freiburg University faculty of medicine. A written report amazingly accurate for the time, exists. It points at poisoning by arsenic powder. This is the first existing written protocol of a forensic autopsy, performed by professors of the faculty of medicine of Freiburg in 1590, 26 years after Vesalius' death.

Arsenic is widely distributed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms and our environment where sources can be natural or anthropogenic. Agricultural uses of arsenic have declined recently, but it still has well-defined roles in industry. Small amounts of arsenic are metabolized in a variety of ways and are largely rapidly methylated and excreted by man and animals. Poisoning can occur and may follow an acute or chronic course. Toxic manifestations in man occur at the cellular level and may appear in many organ systems. Specific effects can often be demonstrated in the skin and in the vascular and nervous systems. Other toxic effects appear to include carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and teratogenesis.