Copper toxicity toxicity. Some of the effects of aging may be associated with excess copper. One manifestation of copper toxicity, cirrhosis of the liver in children (Indian childhood cirrhosis), has been linked to boiling milk in copper cookware. The Merck Manual states recent studies suggest that a genetic defect is associated with this particular cirrhosis. An inherited condition called Wilson's disease causes the body to retain copper, since it is not excreted by the liver into the bile. This disease, if untreated, can lead to brain and liver damage, and bis-choline tetrathiomolybdate is under investigation as a therapy against Wilson's disease. Elevated
Alcohol-related brain damage these damaging effects. A nutritional deficiency in thiamine can worsen alcohol-related brain damage. There is a genetic component to thiamine deficiency that causes intestinal malabsorption. More frequently however, thiamine deficiency is caused by excessive alcohol consumption. This leads to Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s Syndrome which frequently occur simultaneously, known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Lesions, or brain abnormalities, are typically located in the diencephalon which result in anterograde and retrograde amnesia, or memory loss. Neuroimaging is used to study the effect that alcohol has on the brain. The two main imaging methods are hemo-dynamic and electromagnetic. These techniques have allowed for the