Most drugs used today are purely organic compounds. Especially after the enormous success of the cisplatin (Fig 1) in tumor treatment, interest in metal complexes has grown (Allardyce & Dyson, 2006). Synthetic organometallic compounds are generally considered to be toxic or non-compatible with biological systems. Despite this perception, the medicinal properties of organometallic compounds, in ...

feeding by herbivorous insects. Some of these noxious compounds are both unpalatable and toxic, while others are merely unpalatable or toxic (Bernays and Chapman, 1987; Chapman and Sword, 1994; Glendinning, 1996; Harley and Thorsteinson, 1967). Because many plants concentrate noxious compounds in their most nutritious tissues (McKey, 1979), herbivores would benefit from an ability to adapt to f...

Small, organic, toxic compounds are not well eliminated by water-treatment systems and eventually become concentrated in the human body. In this study, liposomes are employed to house aptamers with their own binding buffer. When small, organic, toxic compounds in water pass through a liposome barrier, only the target molecules are captured by the DNA aptamers inside the liposomes. The capture e...

Many thousand organic compounds are in common use and new ones introduced daily. With many of these materials, little is known about their toxic hazard. For years scientists have been investigating the relation of structure and properties to biological activity. Among the factors relating to toxicity are bioaccumulation and persistence in the organism. In this study, the relation of partition c...

This is a review article concernning the development of a gas chromatographic analytical method for the analysis of 70 air toxic compounds. Not only the operating conditions, but also the column system is optimized. Optimization of the GC analytical methods for air toxic compounds is based on a unified method with a system comparising two columns. An optimization strategy with stepwise temperat...

An investigation of the potential environmental and health impacts in the immediate aftermath of one of the largest coal ash spills in U.S. history at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston coal-burning power plant has revealed three major findings. First the surface release of coal ash with high levels of toxic elements (As = 75 mg/kg; Hg = 150 microg/kg) and radioactivity (226Ra + 228R...

The gene responsible for the methylglyoxal resistance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cloned, and its phenotypic characteristics were investigated. S. cerevisiae cells with the gene could accumulate large amounts of glutathione in the medium and should remarkably high resistance to various toxic compounds such as methylglyoxal, tetramethylthiuram disulfide, iodoacetamide, and heavy-metal ions. ...

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a sight-threating infection of the cornea that mostly affects contact lens wearers. Until now, AK treatment remains very difficult due to the existence of a highly resistant cyst stage in the life cycle of Acanthamoeba which is extremely resistant to most of the available anti-amoebic compounds. Moreover, current treatment of AK is usually based in the combination...

Osteosarcoma is a dominant type of bone cancer, associated with osteophytes (bone cells). Afflicts all age groups; generally manifesting in long bones human physiology(also other parts; including fine joints). Chemotherapy, surgery and radiation are the current therapeutics – uncertain results; often high degree failure; swift relapse; rebound aggression above debilitating post treatment out co...

As described in chapter 1, there is a high demand for safe drinking water in present day's society, which has to comply with ever increasing quality standards. Several discoveries in the past two decades have led to an increasing public awareness of the risks of water pollution to both the human population and the environment. These include the discovery of the presence of endocrine disruptors,...