The effect of calcium upon the uptake of oleic acid solubilized with 10 mM taurocholate was investigated using an in vitro model of isolated enterocytes. The addition of Ca2+ to the incubation medium (Hanks' medium) led to a decrease in oleic-acid uptake. This uptake inhibition was dependent on both the amount of Ca2+ and the fatty-acid concentration, since the inhibitory effect was significant...

On January 19, 2013, over 140 member states that attended at Minamata Convention in Geneva agreed to the Global Mercury Agreement. The new treaty puts in control and ultimately banned production, export and import of a range of mercury-containing products by 2020. These include batteries, switches, fluorescent lamps, soaps, cosmetics, and nonelectronic medical devices such as thermometers and b...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a final rule to ban triclosan and 18 other antimicrobial chemicals from soaps. We applaud this rule specifically because of the associated risks that triclosan poses to the spread of antibiotic resistance throughout the environment. This persistent chemical constantly stresses bacteria to adapt, and behavior that promotes antibiotic resis...

Background Exotic tropical fruits and plants are highly consumed in Brazil and due to globalization these products are being exported worldwide. We have recently described the first manioc allergen Man e 5 that cross-reacts with Hev b 5 from latex. There are more than 70 products made up manioc starch such as drugs, soaps and fabrics and manioc allergic patients present from mild to severe reac...

Handwashing with soap and water, while an acceptable way to cleans hands of oils, fats, soil, and microorganisms, is not very effective at eliminating possible harmful bacteria that can be found on hands. In this study 6 volunteers were asked to not use any personal hygiene product containing any antibacterial agents for 1 week. After the week, each volunteer was then inoculated with E. coli an...

The capacity of certain fatty acids at pH 7.5 to inactivate the virus of epidemic influenza has been demonstrated. Most effective of these are oleic, linolic, and linolenic acids. Studies were made of such variables as pH, rate of inactivation, and ratios of reactant concentrations, using oleic acid as a prototype of the effective acids. Attempts to recover active virus from inactive mixtures b...