The colloidal dimer particles are templated from sacrificial α-Fe2O3 (hematite) core particles prepared via aging of a condensed Fe(OH)3 gel as described in [1]. In a typical synthesis, 50 mL of FeCl3 (2.0 M) is mixed with 45 mL of NaOH (6.0 M) and 5 mL of the shapemodifier, Na2SO4 (0.6 M), before being placed in an oven set at 100°C for 8 days. To make the nonmagnetic particles investigated in...

Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer in humans. The continuous increase in the prevalence of cigarette smoking worldwide demands a practical means to circumvent this serious health problem. Our research has focused on the development of new chemopreventive agents against lung carcinogenicity of the tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4(methylnitrosamino)-l-(3-pyridyl)-l-butanone. Severa...

The soil microbiome is a vast and relatively unexplored reservoir of genomic diversity and metabolic innovation that is intimately associated with nutrient and energy flow within terrestrial ecosystems. Cultivation-independent environmental genomic, also known as metagenomic, approaches promise unprecedented access to this genetic information with respect to pathway reconstruction and functiona...

The growing interest in the use of natural herbal products and dietary supplements to treat and prevent diseases raises the question of medicinal drug safety. Allyl isothiocyanate, a hydrolysis product of a glucosinolate, sinigrin, has multiple beneficial properties, and based on this fact, allyl isothiocyanate-containing dietary supplements have been developed. To date, no studies of the effec...

INTRODUCTION Alcohols, including ethanol and isopropyl alcohol, are used in clinical practice for disinfection and infection prevention. Recent studies, however, demonstrate that alcohols may enhance biofilm production in Staphylococci. METHODS We quantified biofilm formation in the presence of ethanol and isopropyl alcohol in six different, well-characterized strains of Staphylococcus epider...

Isopropyl has replaced ethyl alcohol in many such pharmaceutical preparations and cosmetics as mouth washes, dental solutions, and hair tonics. Although the physiology and toxicity of this material are fairly well known, a thorough knowledge of the metabolism involves a method for the separate determination of isopropyl alcohol and acetone, the chief product of its oxidation in the body. Many o...

Antioxidants have been shown to be effective in murine models of sepsis. Protocatechuic acid has antioxidant activity. In the present study, the protective effects of protocatechuic acid and its derivatives were investigated in a mouse model of septic shock induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D-galactosamine (GalN). Pretreatment of animals with protocatechuic acid effectively suppressed LPS/Gal...

Racemic [(±)-4-isopropyl-1-methyl-7-oxa-cis-bicyclo[4.3.0]non-4-en-8-one] and optically active δ,ε-unsaturated lactones [(-)-(1R,6R)-4-isopropyl-1-methyl-7-oxabicyclo[4.3.0]non-4-en-8-one and (+)-(1S,6S)-4-isopropyl-1-methyl-7-oxabicyclo[4.3.0] non-4-en-8-one)] with the p-menthane system were obtained and their odoriferous properties were evaluated. Biotransformations of the racemic lactone wit...

Despite a number of studies on the efficacies of antiseptics for the prevention of blood culture contamination, it still remains unclear which antiseptic should be used. Although the combination of povidone-iodine and isopropyl alcohol has been traditionally used in many institutions, the application of povidone-iodine needs extra time, and there is little evidence that this combination could h...