The growing use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products raises concerns about potential health effects. This study investigated the persistence and clearance of 2 different size AgNPs (20 and 110 nm) delivered to rats by single nose-only aerosol exposures (6 h) of 7.2 and 5.4 mg/m(3), respectively. Rat lung tissue was assessed for silver accumulations using inductively-coupled plas...

Anisotropic nanoparticles (i.e., silver nanocubes) were functionalized with target-specific antibodies and Raman active tags to serve as nanoprobes for the rapid detection of bacteria in a test-in-a-tube platform. A self-referencing scheme was developed and implemented in which surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) signatures of the targets were observed superimposed with the SERS signals...

We report on our experiments for the CLEF 2013 Entity Recognition Challenge. Our approach is based on a combination of machine translation and NE tagging techniques. The Silver Standard Corpus (SSC) is used to obtain a corresponding annotated corpus in the target language. The plain text of the SSC is translated and a mapping is created between entities in the original and phrases in the transl...

In this study, we report on a novel approach for the label-free and species-specific detection of the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum from real samples using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). In this context, we consider the entire analysis chain including sample preparation, DNA isolation, amplification and hybridization on SERS substrate-immobilized adenine-free capture probes. Th...

Hen egg white lysozyme acted as the sole reducing agent and catalyzed the formation of silver nanoparticles in the presence of light. Stable silver colloids formed after mixing lysozyme and silver acetate in methanol and the resulting nanoparticles were concentrated and transferred to aqueous solution without any significant changes in physical properties. Activity and antimicrobial assays demo...

Silver toxicity is a problem that microorganisms face in medical and environmental settings. Through exposure to silver compounds, some bacteria have adapted to growth in high concentrations of silver ions. Such adapted microbes may be dangerous as pathogens but, alternatively, could be potentially useful in nanomaterial-manufacturing applications. While naturally adapted isolates typically uti...

BACKGROUND Brucellosis is an infectious disease that is caused by Brucella spp. As Brucella spp. are intramacrophage pathogens, the treatment of this infection is very difficult. On the other hand, due to the side effects of the brucellosis treatment regime, it is necessary to find new antimicrobial agents against it. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effec...

The objective of this study was to determine the in vitro percutaneous penetration of silver and characterize the silver species released from textiles in different layers of full thickness human skin. For this purpose, two different wound dressings and a garment soaked in artificial sweat were placed in the donor compartments of Franz cells for 24 hours. The concentration of silver in the dono...

The widespread use of silver compounds and silvercontaining procedures in industry, medicine, jewellery, cloud seeding and in disinfection of drinking water has resulted in an increasing silver content in environmental samples. Silver impregnated filters are used in water disinfection, while silver concentrations up to 200 μg L are permitted for antimicrobial activities for human health. Silver...

Silver is used widely in wound dressings and medical devices as a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Metallic silver and most inorganic silver compounds ionise in moisture, body fluids, and secretions to release biologically active Ag(+). The ion is absorbed into the systemic circulation from the diet and drinking water, by inhalation and through intraparenteral administration. Percutaneous absorption ...