Concentrations ranging from 8 to 100% of the preservative level of formalin (37% formaldehyde solution) were retained by desiccated biologics, with most products retaining about 50% regardless of the amount originally present.

In recent years, there has been a strong focus on beneficial foods with probiotic microorganisms and functional organic substances. In this context, there is an increasing interest in the commercial use of kefir, since it can be marketed as a natural beverage that has health promoting bacteria. There are numerous commercially available kefir based-products. Kefir may act as a matrix in the effe...

Natural products have been applied to human healthcare for thousands of years. Drug discovery in ancient times was largely by chance and based on clinical practices. As understanding of therapeutic benefits deepens and demands for natural products increase, previously serendipitous discoveries evolve into active searches for new medicines. Many drugs presently prescribed by physicians are eithe...

This review presents the biological activity-antibacterial, antifungal, anti-parasitic, antiviral, antitumor, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, and enzymatic activity-of halogenated marine natural products discovered in the past five years. Newly discovered examples that do not report biological activity are not included.

A method is described for the rapid and accurate determination of phenol in biological products by using automated methods.

Parasites from the family Anisakidae are widely distributed in marine fish populations worldwide and mainly nematodes of the three genera Anisakis, Pseudoterranova and Contracaecum have attracted attention due to their pathogenicity in humans. Their life cycles include invertebrates and fish as intermediate or transport hosts and mammals or birds as final hosts. Human consumption of raw or unde...

The manufacture of safe effective biological products in sufficient quantities to protect the entire population presents many problems in Latin America. The best way of ensuring such production would be to establish thorough control testing mechanisms. Ideally, no regulatory program should be considered complete without three tiers of controls: "in-process" production controls; "internal" contr...

Natural products research is increasingly turning to marine animals, plants, and microbes as source organisms. Several marine natural products are currently in preclinical and clinical evaluation, others show promising biological activities in in vitro and in vivo assays. Investigations of biological and chemical ecological phenomena in the marine world will contribute to a better understanding...

Concerning the relation of chemical structures and physiological activities, there are cases in which similar physiological actions are observed among compounds of similar structures, whilst, in contrast, some cases are known in which slight changes of the structure of compounds result in the remarkable alteration or complete loss of their physiological activities. A typical example of the latt...