## 3 Results
### Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (EDX) and Brain Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)  
EDX from the current study and previous ones in our laboratory [12; 13; 14; 15; 49] have shown Fe, Ni, Co, Ti, V, Hg, Cu, Zn, Cd, Al, Mg, Ag, Ce, La, Pr, W, Ca, Cl, K, Si, S, Na, and/or Br UFPM/NPs in hypothalamic and thalamic nuclei, pineal gland, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, substantia nigra, tectum, periventricular gray, locus coeruleus, dorsal raphe, raphe magnus, mesencephalic reticular formation, red nucleus, oral ponte reticular nuclei, inferior olivary nucleus, frontal and temporal cortex, and cerebellum (Figure 4). Metals were associated with abrasion and deterioration of automobile catalysts, electronic waste, and rare-earth elements. Figure 3: Equi-angular projection diagrams of magnetic vector components of different brain regions in an 11-month-old and subjects of ages 3, 14, 16, 24 and 27 years. T1, T2, and T3 magnetic behavior is correlated with the displacement of magnetic particles. Figure 4: Light and electron microscopy and EDX of targeted sleep and arousal hubs. **(A)** Sixteen-year-old (CO43) toluidine blue 1 \(\upmu\)m section of the lateral hypothalamic nucleus (arrows). Insert shows a neuron immunostained with Orexin, brown cytoplasmic product. **(B)** Same subject, EM \(\times\) 5000, neuron with disrupted cytoplasm and a fragmented cytoplasmic membrane (arrow). **(C)** EM \(\times\) 50,000 numerous NPs inside fragmented mitochondria and loose in the cytoplasm (arrows) **(D)** Two NPs in the midst of the cytoplasm \(\times\) 83.300. **(E)** Orexinergic neuron with dilated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and fragmented mitochondria (m) with matrix NPs. The nucleus also contains NPs (m) \(\times\) 50,000. **(F)** Mitochondria with fragmented cristae and matrix NPs (arrows) \(\times\) 133,000. **(G)** Mitochondria with disrupted membranes (arrow heads), containing numerous NPs \(\times\) 133,000. **(H)** Pineal gland, 21-year-old male, 1 \(\upmu\)m toluidine blue shows pinelocyte cords surrounded by loose stroma \(\times\) 40. **(I)** Pineal with characteristic lamellae calcareous bodies (arrows) \(\times\) 40. **(J)** EM \(\text{pineal}\times\) 5000, the stroma is fragmented, and two nuclei are identified; the short arrow points to a piknotic unidentified nucleus, the long arrow to a pinealocyte nucleus. **(K)** Same section as J at higher power \(\times\) 15,000 to show the NPs (arrows)inside both nuclei. **(L)** Axon in subthalamic nucleus with one NP (arrow) \(\times\) 80,000 **(M-O)**: Single-domain NPs on the left, corresponding to the EDX on the right: Fe is present in the three NPs. \(\text{O}_{1}\) and \(\text{O}_{2}\) show FeNPs in thalamic and lateral hypothalamic nuclei. Magnetic Fe NPs were localized in neurons of the orexinergic lateral hypothalamic area (orexin immunoreactive, Figure 4A insert), thalamic, noradrenergic (locus coeruleus), dopaminergic nuclei (substantia nigra), cortical, subcortical-including, i.e., caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, amygdala, hippocampus, cuneiform, pedunculotegmental, oral pontite reticular, paramedian raphe and caudal linear raphe nuclei, periventricular gray (PAG), and cerebellum [12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 49]. UFPM and NPs were identified inside mitochondria, ER, lysosomes, Golgi apparatus and in relationship with heterochromatin and nuclei matrix and pores. In addition, we documented NPs in axons and within myelin sheets and in the pineal gland (pinealocytes, interstitial glial cells, and endothelium) (Figure 4H-K). All subjects in this study exhibited neuropathological hallmarks of AD, PD, and/or TDP-43 associated diseases. The neurovascular unit (NVU) pathology associated with the presence of UFPM/NPs is shown in Figure 5. A striking early TEM finding was the transfer of NPs from luminal red blood cells (RBC) to brain capillary endothelium (EC) with ongoing erythrophagocytosis along with endothelial fragments containing UFPM/NPs in the capillary lumen. Figure 5: Neurovascular unit pathology in MMC young residents. (**A**).