Drug and chemical toxicology
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Comparative Study
Currently used cholinesterase reactivators against nerve agent intoxication: comparison of their effectivity in vitro.
In vitro comparison of reactivation efficacy of five currently used oximes - pralidoxime, obidoxime, trimedoxime, methoxime, and HI-6 (at two concentrations: 10-5 and 10-3 M) - against acetylcholinesterase (AChE; E. C. 3.1.1.7) inhibited by six different nerve agents (VX, Russian VX, sarin, cyclosarin, tabun, soman) and organophosphorus insecticide chlorpyrifos was the aim of this study. ⋯ Moreover, oxime HI-6 (the most effective one) was not able to reactivate tabun- and soman-inhibited AChE. Due to this fact, it could be designated as a partially broad-spectrum reactivator.
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Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) are severe respiratory diseases that have a very poor prognosis and have numerous causes. Despite a great deal of research and investigation since the initial description of ARDS 30 years ago many questions about the pathogenesis, treatment and outcome of the disease remain unanswered. Although there is evidence to suggest that outcome of ALI and ARDS is improving, the reasons why are unknown and there is not yet a well developed treatment for these diseases. ⋯ ALI/ARDS has been the topic of a vast amount of research, numerous symposia, working groups and their published proceedings, book chapters, and books. Less information is available regarding experimental models of smoke induced lung damage, however the literature on the subject is extensive. Consequently this article is intended to provide the reader with a primer or cursory "overview" of ALI and ARDS from a toxicological perspective and should not be considered comprehensive.
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Comparative Study
New approaches to toxicity: a seven-gas predictive model and toxicant suppressants.
Two new research approaches in combustion toxicology are: 1. the prediction of smoke toxicity from mathematical equations, which are empirically derived from, experiments on the toxicological interactions of complex fire gas mixtures and 2. the use of toxicant suppressants in materials or products to prevent the formation of toxic combustion products. The predictive approach consists of burning materials using a bench-scale method that simulates realistic fire conditions, measuring the concentrations of the primary fire gases--CO, CO2, low O2, HCN, HCl, HBr, and NO2--and predicting the toxicity of the smoke using either the 6- or 7-gas N-Gas Model. These models are based on the results of toxicological studies of these primary gases as individual gases and as complex mixtures. ⋯ Copper and cupric oxide (CuO) also reduced the HCN generation but were not as efficient as Cu2O. Although melamine-treated FPU foams are being promoted as more fire safe than standard foams, a melamine-treated foam generated 10 times more HCN than a foam without melamine. The addition of Cu2O to this melamine foam also reduced the HCN generation by 90%.