Elemental antimony occurs in the solid bulk in a metallic as well as an amorphous modification.[1] Over a wide temperature range the gas phase of elemental antimony comprises almost exclusively of tetrameric molecules;[2] however, a solid-state modification of antimony consisting of Sb4 molecules, comparable to white phosphorus and yellow arsenic, is not known to date. This is explained by the ...

In a previous paper of this series (1) we have shown that while the dilution curve for cod liver oil with antimony trichloride is not a linear function, a comparison can be made between the colorimetric assay of vitamin A in certain fish oils, with a chloroform solution of antimony trichloride, and the biological assay upon the same oils, when certain precautions are taken. In a second paper (2...

BACKGROUND Antimony resistance complicates the treatment of infections caused by the parasite Leishmania. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using next generation sequencing, we sequenced the genome of four independent Leishmania guyanensis antimony-resistant (SbR) mutants and found different chromosomal alterations including aneuploidy, intrachromosomal gene amplification and gene deletion. A se...

Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases caused by protozoa of Leishmania genus. The currently available treatments for this disease are expensive, present high toxicity and are associated to difficulties of healing and parasite resistance. Therefore, the development of strategies for leishmaniasis treatment is indispensable and includes reposition of existing drugs, as well as drug combination the...

BACKGROUND Current therapies for cutaneous leishmaniasis are limited by poor efficacy, long-term course of treatment, and the development of resistance. We evaluated if pentavalent antimony (an anti-parasitic drug) combined with imiquimod (an immunomodulator) was more effective than pentavalent antimony alone in patients who had not previously been treated. METHODS A randomized double-blind c...

An aqueous solution-based doping strategy was developed for controlled doping impurity atoms into a ZnO nanowire (NW) lattice. Through this approach, antimony-doped ZnO NWs were successfully synthesized in an aqueous solution containing zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine with antimony acetate as the dopant source. By introducing glycolate ions into the solution, a soluble antimony precurso...

Data on the mechanism of antimony genotoxicity is scarce. Arsenic and antimony are proposed to share some toxicological features. Thus comparative and combined experiments with As(III) and Sb(III) were performed to gain a deeper knowledge of the mechanism of antimony genotoxicity. Trivalent arsenic proved to be five times more cytotoxic and one order of magnitude more potent in induction of mic...

Recent in vitro studies have suggested a potential role for antimony as a confounder in human health studies related to arsenic in drinking water. We measured tube-well water concentrations of antimony and arsenic in the Pabna region of Bangladesh, where arsenic concentrations are known to be elevated and the concentrations of antimony have not yet been thoroughly documented. Two hundred forty-...

BACKGROUND Increased rates for failure in leishmaniasis antimony treatment have been recently recognized worldwide. Although several risk factors have been identified there is no clinical score to predict antimony therapy failure of cutaneous leishmaniasis. METHODS A case control study was conducted in Peru from 2001 to 2004. 171 patients were treated with pentavalent antimony and followed up...

Early experiments have determined that the gallium and antimony diffusivities in gallium antimonide are similar, whereas recent more precise studies demonstrate that gallium diffuses up to three orders of magnitude faster than antimony. In the present study using electronic structure calculations we predict the concentrations and migration enthalpy barriers of important defects in gallium antim...