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Copyright of Revista de Medicina y Cine / Journal of Medicine & Movies is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Para esta resenha, o filme escolhido é O Fotógrafo de Minamata (2020). A obra cinematográfica de Andrew Levitas é sobre o fotógrafo William Eugene Smith, conhecido por suas fotos nas linhas de frente da Segunda Guerra. Chamado pelo editor-chefe da Life Magazine, sai da quase total reclusão em que vivia e vai para Minamata fotografar a vida dos moradores da cidade japonesa que foi envenenada pelo mercúrio e por dejetos industriais jogados nos rios e no mar pela Chisso Corporation. O Desastre Ambiental de Minamata, como ficou conhecida a tragédia, também foi registrado pelo documentarista Noriaki Tsuchimoto ao longo de 35 anos de sua vida. Considerando a atualidade do tema, a importância de Eugene Smith no fotojornalismo e os documentários de Noriaki Tsuchimoto, pensei no filme como um pretexto para falar de artistas que registraram e denunciaram ao mundo por meio de sua arte, imagens de uma tragédia tão ou mais devastadora que as guerras veiculadas diariamente pelos meios de comunicação.

To determine the long-term dynamics of mercury discharged from Chisso chemical plant between 1932 and 1968, the vertical variation in mercury concentrations in Yatsushiro Sea sediments was studied from 2013 to 2020 at 31 locations and compared to the mercury concentration distribution obtained in 1996. The results suggest that new sedimentation occurred after 1996, but the mercury concentrations at the surface ranged from 0.2 to 1.9 mg kg−1, which did not decrease significantly over a 20-year period. It was estimated that approximately 17 t of mercury remained in the southern Yatsushiro Sea sediment, which is equivalent to 10–20% of the total mercury discharged between 1932 and 1968. From results of WD-XRF and TOC measurement, it was suggested that mercury in sediment had been transported with suspended particles derived from sludges from the chemical plant and further suggests that the suspended particles derived from the sediment surface layer are still slowly diffusing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By offering new fantasies, perspectives and representations, artists have the power to make people aware of social issues and inspire them to action. This paper describes how artists can offer a vision of environmental resistance by employing fantasy and using tools of poetic expression for communities affected by environmental destruction. This paper employs a case study methodology to examine the Minamata disease victims’ movement in Japan through the lens of environmental justice. As part of this movement, writer Michiko Ishimure created a fantasy called Mouhitotsu-no-konoyo, based in a mythical world and featuring the moral relationships that the people of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, had embraced before modernisation. I will show the importance of this fantasy for the movement, analysing it from two perspectives: those of ningenteki-dori (the human principle) and the invisible fantasy about the mythical world. Ishimure’s fantasy offers a moral message to prevent further environmental harm.

Copyright of Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental is the property of Universitat Rovira I Virgili and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The need for a reconsideration of human-nature relationships has been widely recognized in the Anthropocene. It is difficult to rethink, however, because there is a crisis of imagination that is deeply entrenched within the fundamental premises of modernity. This article explores how 'critical animism' developed by Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli can address this paucity of imagination by providing alternative ways of knowing and being. 'Critical animism' emerged from the fusion of a critique of modernity with informal cultural heritage in Japan. It is a philosophy that perceives nature as a non-dualistic combination of the life-world and the spiritual-world, while also emphasizing the significance of place. Miyazaki's critical animism challenges anthropocentrism, secularism, Eurocentrism, as well as dualism. It may be the 'perfect story' that could disrupt the existing paradigm, offering a promise to rethink human-nonhuman relationships and envisaging a new paradigm for the social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Penelitian ini menggunakan analisis scientometrics untuk mengetahui perkembangan penelitian merkuri pada penambangan emas skala kecil (PESK) di Indonesia tahun 2009-2019. Bidang ilmu scientometrics belum populer di Indonesia. Padahal ilmu ini berguna untuk melakukan evaluasi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, evaluasi kinerja riset, dan mendukung efisiensi manajemen riset. Basis data yang dipilih dalam penelitian ini adalah portal Garba Rujukan Digital (GARUDA) milik Kementerian Riset, Teknologi, dan Pendidikan Tinggi (Kemristekdikti) saat itu. Abstrak dari 81 publikasi ilmiah tersortir dianalisis menggunakan content analysis berdasarkan kategori yang diturunkan dari Peraturan Presiden Nomor 21/2019 tentang Rencana Aksi Nasional Pengurangan dan Penghapusan Merkuri (RAN-PPM). Enam kategori terdiri dari: penyimpanan merkuri dan limbah merkuri, pemulihan dan rehabilitasi lahan bekas PESK, pemantauan merkuri, peta sumber merkuri dan peta dampak emisi merkuri, jalur distribusi merkuri dari hulu ke hilir, dan sosial ekonomi. Keenam kategori tersebut mendasari kuantifikasi publikasi, penulis, lembaga afiliasi, dan sitasi. Riset membuktikan bahwa publikasi PESK tertinggi dihasilkan tahun 2015 (14 artikel), publikasi terbanyak adalah pemantauan merkuri (32 artikel), naskah terbanyak dihasilkan oleh peneliti Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) dan Universitas Sam Ratulangi (UNSRAT) (masing-masing 3 artikel), lembaga afiliasi paling produktif adalah UNSRAT (11 artikel), serta sitasi terbanyak pada tahun 2012 (42 sitasi). Publikasi tentang pemantauan merkuri di PESK diambil sebagai contoh evaluasi perkembangan riset. Data Sungai Talawaan dianalisis untuk media sedimen dan air. Hasilnya ditemukan hubungan yang kuat antara konsentrasi merkuri di media air sesuai pertambahan tahun, sementara di media sedimen tidak signifikan. Temuan yang menjadi rekomendasi adalah kebutuhan riset untuk kegiatan yang minim publikasi, yakni penyimpanan merkuri dan limbah merkuri serta riset tentang alur suplai hingga penggunaan merkuri di PESK. Hasil studi ini menjadi masukan pemerintah tentang pencapaian Indonesia dalam penghapusan merkuri di bidang prioritas PESK serta bahan evaluasi pelaksanaan Konvensi Minamata (Undang-undang Nomor 11/2017) dan pelaksanaan RAN-PPM (Peraturan Presiden Nomor 21/2019).

Abstract Background Data from countries that have implemented a complete phase out of dental amalgam following the Minamata agreement suggest increased costs and time related to the placement of alternatives with consumers absorbing the additional costs. This aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a complete phase out of dental amalgam on oral health inequalities in particular for countries dependent on state run oral health services. Methods A mixed methods component design quantitative and qualitative study in the United Kingdom. The quantitative study involved acquisition and analysis of datasets from NHS Scotland to compare trends in placement of dental amalgam and a survey of GDPs in Yorkshire, UK. The qualitative study involved analysis of the free text of the survey and a supplementary secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with GDPs (private and NHS), dental school teaching leads and NHS dental commissioners to understand the impact of amalgam phase down on oral health inequalities. Results Time-trends for amalgam placement showed that there was a significant (p

Extant studies address water, food, and health security issues considerably separately and within narrow disciplinary confines. This study investigates the links among these three issues from an ecological viewpoint with a multidisciplinary approach in a modified Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework developed by the United Nations. The modified framework includes water, food, and health security considerations as the three constituents of human well-being from an ecological (more specifically, ecosystem services) viewpoint. This study examines the links through published data associated with the Minamata incident, which was a historic and horrific methylmercury-induced water, food, and health poisoning crisis in Japan. The results show that when heavy metal pollution changes one component (marine water) of the provisioning ecosystem services, this change subsequently affects another component (seafood) of the services. This then defines the linkages among water, food, and health security as the three constituents of human well-being within the modified framework. The links can have immediate and far-reaching economic, social, legal, ethical, and justice implications within and across generations. This study provides important evidence for emerging economies that ignore the water–food–health security nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecotoxicology is a discipline resulting from pollution events that harmed human and environmental health by the mid-twentieth century. Environmental considerations were simply inexistent at this time, and inevitably deleterious effects and environmental disasters followed. These historical events, like Clear Lake disaster in California, will be recalled, as well as new concepts developed, and scientists involved in these findings. A special tribute is given to Professor Jean-Michel Jouany who conceptualized newly acquired knowledge into an emerging discipline, which he named "ecotoxicology" in the 1960s, and understood to be "toxicology in an ecological perspective." However, René Truhaut is considered as the "father of ecotoxicology" by posterity, while his young mentor Jouany was shadowed by the latter. It is timely to "open the book" as concerns these two exceptional personalities and their working relationships, first to set the record straight and second to give credit where credit is due. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El presente estudio bibliográfico se desarrolló con el fin de analizar la gestión y manejo de lámparas que contienen mercurio e identificar los riesgos a la salud y ambiente. El mercurio es una sustancia natural y tóxica que una vez liberado al ambiente puede permanecer y circular en el aire, agua y suelo. Asimismo, ocasiona una amplia gama de efectos sistemáticos en los humanos (riñones, estómago, pulmones y sistema nervioso). En el Perú, las lámparas son consideradas como Residuos de Aparatos Eléctricos y Electrónicos (RAEE) al finalizar su vida útil. El problema ambiental que presentan es su contenido en mercurio, no esencial para ningún proceso metabólico y bioacumulable en los seres vivos. Tomando en cuenta el riesgo que representa, se han asumido compromisos por diversos países del mundo, incluyendo Perú, mediante la firma del Convenio de Minamata, los cuales han venido implementando instrumentos de gestión y planificación nacional que permitan llevar a cabo medidas para el correcto manejo de los residuos con mercurio. Como parte de este compromiso asumido, Perú viene elaborando el Plan Nacional de Aplicación del Convenio de Minamata sobre el mercurio, que tiene como propósito concretar acciones a fin de proteger la salud humana y el ambiente de emisiones y liberaciones antropógenas de mercurio y sus compuestos. Se concluye que las lámparas, al finalizar su vida útil, constituyen un peligro debido a su contenido de mercurio, por lo que se requiere un manejo adecuado para reducir los riesgos a la salud humana y ambiente.

Photographers and filmmakers have made important contributions to the international mental health community through documentation and social commentary, leveraging the power of visual imagery. To illustrate, this article uses the example of W. Eugene Smith who photographed the catastrophic effects of methylmercury poisoning from industrial pollution in the region around Minamata Bay, Japan. Although many art forms have been comfortably integrated into mainstream psychiatry and neuropsychiatry, photography has been underappreciated and underutilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To ascertain dental educators' attitudes towards the teaching of dental amalgam at dental schools in Australia and identify preferred curricular approaches in a potentially "amalgamless" profession. Methods: A mixed methods analysis was employed based on an open‐ended response survey followed by a closed‐ended questionnaire. Identification of key issues from the survey helped frame the questionnaire. Participants included those with expertise in operative and restorative dentistry, with direct involvement in curriculum development or delivery, at Australian dental schools. Results: Participants numbered fifteen and represented seven of the nine dental schools in Australia. Key themes identified and explored included the following: (in)consistency of approach to teaching restorative dentistry; a perceived disconnect between undergraduate study and the "real world"; a need for a focus on teaching of alternatives to dental amalgam (80 per cent (strongly) agreeing); the contradictory nature of the evidence base and literature that is not readily understood; the need for more post‐graduate education relating to adhesive restorative materials (86 per cent (strongly) agreeing); the need for dental amalgam to continue to be available; formal understandings (guidelines) as to the use of dental amalgam; dental schools in Australia being heard on these issues; and the relevance of this issue (100 per cent (strongly) agreeing the issue is topical and important). Conclusion: There is a broad consensus of dental educators at Australian dental schools as how best to approach the teaching of amalgam if a phase‐down is to occur and the issues any such approach may face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data from countries that have implemented a complete phase out of dental amalgam following the Minamata agreement suggest increased costs and time related to the placement of alternatives with consumers absorbing the additional costs. This aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a complete phase out of dental amalgam on oral health inequalities in particular for countries dependent on state run oral health services.Methods: A mixed methods component design quantitative and qualitative study in the United Kingdom. The quantitative study involved acquisition and analysis of datasets from NHS Scotland to compare trends in placement of dental amalgam and a survey of GDPs in Yorkshire, UK. The qualitative study involved analysis of the free text of the survey and a supplementary secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with GDPs (private and NHS), dental school teaching leads and NHS dental commissioners to understand the impact of amalgam phase down on oral health inequalities.Results: Time-trends for amalgam placement showed that there was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in amalgam use compared with composites and glass ionomers. However dental amalgam still represented a large proportion (42%) of the restorations (circa 1.8 million) placed in the 2016-2017 financial year. Survey respondents suggest that direct impacts of a phase down were related to increased costs and time to place alternative restorations and reduced quality of care. This in turn would lead to increased tooth extractions, reduced access to care and privatisation of dental services with the greatest impact on deprived populations.Conclusion: Amalgam is still a widely placed material in state run oral health services. The complete phase down of dental amalgam poses a threat to such services and threatens to widen oral health inequalities. Our data suggest that a complete phase out is not currently feasible unless appropriate measures are in place to ensure cheaper, long-lasting and easy to use alternatives are available and can be readily adopted by primary care oral health providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insidious and deadly nature of mercury's organometallic compounds is informed by two large scale poisonings due to industrial mercury pollution that occurred decades ago in Minamata and Niigata, Japan. The present study examined chemical speciation for both mercury and selenium in a historic umbilical cord sample from a child born to a mother who lived near the Agano River in Niigata. The mother had experienced mercury exposure leading to more than 50 ppm mercury measured in her hair and was symptomatic 9 years prior to the birth. We sought to determine the mercury and selenium speciation in the child's cord using Hg Lα1 and Se Kα1 high-energy resolution fluorescence detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the chemical speciation of mercury was found to be predominantly organometallic and coordinated to a thiolate. The selenium was found to be primarily in an organic form and at levels higher than those of mercury, with no evidence of mercury-selenium chemical species. Our results are consistent with mercury exposure at Niigata being due to exposure to organometallic mercury species., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Graham George reports financial support was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Ingrid Pickering reports financial support was provided by Canada Research Chairs. Ingrid Pickering reports financial support was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Graham George reports financial support was provided by Canada Research Chairs. Graham George reports financial support was provided by New Frontiers in Research Fund. Ingrid Pickering reports financial support was provided by Canada Foundation For Innovation. Gary Myers reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The article offers information related to the minamata disease, which is a neurological disorder caused by the ingestion of methyl mercury.

Abstract: We construct a rice paddy biogeochemical cycle model to investigate processes governing rice mercury sources and to understand factors influencing spatiotemporal variability in Chinese rice mercury concentrations. The rice paddy model takes atmospheric mercury deposition, simulated from a global atmospheric chemistry transport model (GEOS‐Chem), and soil and irrigable surface water mercury concentrations obtained from literature and calculates rice inorganic (IHg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations. We use ranges of GEOS‐Chem‐simulated future atmospheric mercury deposition—no policy and strict policy to regulate mercury emissions from Chinese coal‐fired power plants under the Minamata Convention on Mercury—to simulate future rice IHg and MeHg concentrations. Sensitivity analyses suggest that rice IHg and MeHg concentrations are more sensitive to the process of soil desorption than infiltration of recently introduced mercury (atmospheric and irrigation source). The rate of internal methylation via microbial activity has the largest modeled influence on rice MeHg concentration. We find that soil mercury, rather than atmospheric deposition, explains observed spatial variability in rice IHg and MeHg concentrations and captures locations of rice mercury hot spots (>20 ng/g; China National Standard Limit). Under our future scenarios, the Chinese median rice IHg and MeHg concentration increases by 13% and decrease by 18% under no policy and strict policy, respectively. Regions with the largest percentage decline in rice IHg and MeHg concentrations under strict policy are in central China, which have high rice mercury concentrations, rice production, and consumption. Our study suggests that addressing Chinese rice mercury contamination requires attention to contaminated soil and regulation of anthropogenic mercury emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A phase-down of amalgam in Australia is possible given the Australian Government intends to ratify the Minamata Convention. There is little research as to the influence of a dentist's knowledge on decision-making, which may be of use when determining the impact of any change.Methods: An online survey relating to aspects of and attitudes to use of direct restorative materials was distributed to all dentists who were members of the Australian Dental Association or Members or Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.Results: There were 408 respondents. Fifty-eight per cent agreed that there was consistency in undergraduate teaching. Fifty-two per cent stated that there was a difference between undergraduate teaching and the 'real world'. Postgraduate education was ranked the most important influence on decision-making. Ninety-six per cent stated that knowledge of the evidence base is important and 89% believed that they practised evidence-based dentistry.Conclusions: Dental schools need to maintain teachers' and students' understanding of the evolving technology of direct restorative materials. There is a perceived disconnect between undergraduate teaching and the 'real' world. The evidence base is viewed as confusing, contradictory and not readily understandable. The creation of clinical guidelines would be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), Japanese inhabitants of Chosen enjoyed composing Haiku, collectively referred to as ‘Chosen Haiku’. From the 1920s to 1930s, the literary world of Chosen Haiku started to question the essence of Chosen Haiku. The key theme debated in contemporary literary circles was ‘local color’. Specifically what this local color was became a popular keyword in literature and arts. Especially, in the world of arts, the word is well known to describe the art-work of Chosen artists such as Insung Lee in the late 1920s. However, in the world of Haiku, the term started to be used when Matsu no Mi was published by the Haiku writers such as Tokoshi Kusume in the 1920s. This local color now refers to Chosen Haiku. This article will identify what ‘the local color’ meant to Chosen Haiku and discuss how the quest for an identity of Chosen Haiku was related to the identity of Japanese residents in Chosen.

The methylmercury contamination of Minamata Bay during the WWII postwar period resulted in thousands of Japanese citizens suffering horrific neurological injury. Fear and miscommunication destroyed and changed family and social structure. In addition, the Minamata poisoning caused momentous changes in the civic discourse in Japan and was an instrumental event in the democratization of the country. This manuscript describes the effects that the environmental contamination and human poising had in the transition of Japan from a feudal society to a democratic one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mercury (Hg)-containing waste from various industrial facilities is commonly treated by incineration or stabilization/solidification and retained in a landfill at a managed site. However, when highly concentrated Hg waste is treated using these methods, Hg is released into the atmosphere and soil environment. To eliminate these risks, Hg recovery technology using thermal treatment has been developed and commercialized to recover Hg from Hg-containing waste for safe disposal. Therefore, we developed Hg recovery equipment to treat Hg-containing waste under a vacuum of 6.67 kPa (abs) at 400 °C and recover the Hg. In addition, the dust generated from the waste was separated by controlling the temperature of the dust filtration unit to 230 °C. Additionally, water and Hg vapors were condensed in a condensation unit. The Hg removal rate after waste treatment was 96.75%, and the Hg recovery rate as elemental Hg was 75.23%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esta sección contiene una pequeña recopilación de las noticias producidas en nuestro país que han sido consideradas de interés en el ámbito de la química. De 2013 hemos destacado la firma de la Convención de Minamata sobre el mercurio, el premio ANR a la profesora de Química de la PUCP Nadia Gamboa, el nuevo decreto de la SUNAT para el control de insumos químicos y el estado de la producción de la industria química, entre otros.

The human and ecological disasters of Minamata and Fukushima highlight Japan's need to plan for a sustainable future. Ogata Masato, a Minamata fisherman, through his philosophy of "life-world" suggests that this quest for a sustainable future requires a change in the epistemology of social science. His philosophy offers a postmodern version of Japan's heritage of animism, where humans are connected with all living beings, including the souls of the living and the dead, as well as animate and inanimate entities in nature. His philosophy thus presents an alternative framework for a new modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the idea of environmental restoration and the creation of sustainable cities of industry and culture by spotlighting how the city of Minamata, Japan, which was severely affected by environmental damage, is rejuvenating itself by means of a unique strategy based on a new way of thinking and the fostering of human resources. Taking its lead from the concept of environmental capacity building, this paper focuses on environmental restoration as (1) a mending process for the social environment and human relationships, (2) a strategy of actor participation, particularly citizen participation, in environmental restoration, and (3) a role for human resource development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mercury concentrations in the Laurentian Great Lakes waters are among the lowest reported in the literature, while game fish concentrations approach consumption advisory limits, particularly in Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan, indicating efficient methylmercury transfer from water to game fish. To determine if increased transfer efficiency is evident within the lower food web, we measured (2010-2018) mercury and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in water, and in size-sieved seston, dietary tracers (carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios), phytoplankton methylmercury bioaccumulation, and methylmercury biomagnification between increasing seston size fractions. We observed consistently low filter-passing methylmercury (<0.010 ng L -1 ) and comparatively variable DOC (1.1 to 3.4 mg L -1 ) concentrations. Methylmercury biomagnification factors between size-sieved seston were similar between lakes. Bioaccumulation factors in phytoplankton were among the highest in the literature (log 5.5 to 6.1), exceeding those in oceans, smaller lakes, and streams, and was influenced by DOC. Higher bioaccumulation rates increase the susceptibility of methylmercury accumulation into the food web. Because mercury is dominantly delivered to the Great Lakes through the atmosphere and the biota therein is highly susceptible to methylmercury uptake, we propose that the Laurentian Great Lakes are excellent sentinels to trace the success of efforts to decrease global mercury emissions (e.g., Minamata Treaty) in the future.

Large numbers of individuals suffered severe neurological effects from poisoning with methyl mercury from the consumption of fish contaminated by industrial discharge in Minamata in the 1950s and 1960s and from bread made from fungicide-treated wheat in the early 1970s in Iraq. In both episodes, infants exposed in utero showed developmental delays. Data from Iraq permitted the estimation of dose-response relationships and provided evidence of greater sensitivity of the foetal brain compared to adult. Studies in a number of communities regularly consuming fish have sought to determine whether and at what level of prenatal exposure neurodevelopment defects may be detected, but the findings do not present a consistent picture. Benchmark analysis using data from Iraq and the three largest studies (New Zealand, Faroes, and Seychelles) suggest an overlap in estimated dose corresponding to a 10% increase in prevalence of adverse effects above background level. However, the Seychelles study, examining children up to 9 years of age, has not found a consistent pattern of adverse developmental effects; a possible explanation may be the presence of micronutrients in the ocean fish diet that enhance brain development and/or counter the toxic effects of methyl mercury., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)