Successful integrative medicine case management of blepharospasm.

Objectives: The objective of this case study was to use integrative medicine to treat a debilitating and long-standing case of blepharospasm.

Subject: The patient suffered from blepharospasm, which conventional medicine had failed to alleviate despite numerous and varied attempts over the course of 3 years of treatment. Blepharospasm involves the uncontrolled or abnormal blinking or twitching of the eyelids, which impairs the ability to see.

Urinary arsenic concentrations and speciation in residents living in an area with naturally contaminated soils.

A cross sectional study was carried out to evaluate arsenic exposure of residents living in an area with a soil naturally rich in arsenic (As), through urinary measurements. During the summer of 2007, 322 people aged over 7 years and resident in the study area for at least 4 days prior to the investigation were recruited. The sum of urinary inorganic arsenic and metabolites (iAs+MMA+DMA) and speciation were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, respectively.