OBJECTIVES Many kinds of heavy metals are used in industry; thus, it is important for us to clarify their toxicity. For example, lead, which is a component of solder, is notorious for its neurotoxicity, and substitute materials have been sought for many years. Therefore, we examined the genotoxicity of lead and also those of metallic bismuth, indium, silver and antimony which are possible subst...

I describe a new method for the separation and counting of bound and free activity in radioimmunoassays. Particles containing a radiation-absorbing (attenuating) material are added to the assay. They shield the radiation from either the antibody-bound or the free radioligand. This obviates such manipulations conventionally involved in the separation and counting steps of radioimmunoassays as ce...

A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of colloidal bismuth (De-Nol) was performed on 20 patients with active duodenal ulceration employing endoscopic selection and follow up after a treatment period of 28 days. By these means it was shown that healing of ulcers was significant in those patients treated with the active compound. In addition a greater number (9/10) of patients treated with col...

A number of seemingly neurotic symptoms, similar to those reported in bismuth intoxication, occurred in a patient taking a proprietary dyspeptic preparation, tri-potassium dicitrate bismuthate (De-Nol), over 2 years. The symptoms remitted over 10-12 months after stopping the drug - a similar period to that described in bismuth intoxication and the patient has remained symptom-free for 7 years. ...

The activity of clarithromycin-14-hydroxyclarithromycin (2:1 ratio) and bismuth subsalicylate or amoxicillin against Helicobacter pylori was determined by the checkerboard technique in vitro. Clarithromycin-14-hydroxyclarithromycin and amoxicillin resulted in additive effects in 7 of 22 isolates, compared to 14 of 22 isolates when bismuth subsalicylate was substituted for amoxicillin. Synergy w...

When high quality bismuth or graphite crystals are placed in a magnetic field directed along the c axis (trigonal axis for bismuth) and the temperature is lowered, the resistance increases as it does in an insulator but then saturates. We show that the combination of unusual features specific to semimetals, i.e., low carrier density, small effective mass, high purity, and an equal number of ele...

Forty-five patients taking bismuth subnitrate orally for therapeutic reasons were admitted to hospital with a myoclonic encephalopathy of acute onset. The clinical features were similar, mostly with mental confusion, disorder of walking and standing, dysarthria, and myoclonic jerks. In 31 cases the EEG showed a characteristic pattern, not previously recognised, which assisted differential diagn...