Different forms of metals and metalloids have varying degrees of toxicity in biological systems. Because of this, there has been an increase in the research focused on the speciation of metals at trace levels. Plasma mass spectrometric detection of hydride species has been established as a viable technique for the determination of these species at trace levels. One problem with the determinatio...

Inhaled epoprostenol (prostacyclin) may be used in the treatment of severe pulmonary hypertension, improving oxygenation and reducing pulmonary artery pressures. We have observed symptomatic benefits of epoprostenol in patients with congenital heart disease that extend beyond acute haemodynamic effects of the drug, which has a short biological half-life. The aim of this study was to examine the...

Background. Dyspnea is one of the main complaints in a group of COPD patients due to exposure to sulfur mustard (SM) and is refractory to conventional therapies. We designed this study to evaluate effectiveness of nebulized morphine in such patients. Materials and Methods. In a double-blind clinical trial study, 40 patients with documented history of exposure to SM were allocated to two groups:...

AIM Intranasal aerosol administration of drugs is widely used by ENT specialists. Although clinical evidence is still lacking, intranasal nebulization appears to be an interesting therapeutic option for local drug delivery, targeting anatomic sites beyond the nasal valve. The sonic nebulizer NL11SN associates a 100Hertz (Hz) sound to the aerosolization to improve deposition in the nasal/paranas...

There is a mandatory need for effortless drug administration to young children since the prevalence among them of recurrent wheezing is a 15-20%. It is becoming increasingly evident that many of these children respond dramatically well to beta2-agonists and topical steroids; accordingly this sub-group of children should be treated as asthmatics. The dose of topical steroids is critical as opp...

PURPOSE The impact of 100 Hz (Hertz) acoustic frequency airflow on sinus drug deposition of aerosols was investigated using a human plastinated nasal cast. The influence of drug concentration and endonasal anatomical features on the sinus deposition enhanced by the 100 Hz acoustic airflow was also examined. METHODS Plastinated models were anatomically, geometrically and aerodynamically valida...

Helium microwave-induced plasma (He-MIP) for trace element analysis is generated by a 2.45 GHz microwave power ( ~ 1 kW) with the Okamoto cavity of the surface wave mode at atmospheric pressure, and an iron excitation temperature and an electron density of the plasma are measured. With 0.8 kW input microwave power, an excitation temperature of 8000 K and the electron density of 2 x 10/cm are ob...

The incidence of Legionnaires' disease (LD) in European countries and the USA has been constantly increasing since 1998. Infection of humans occurs through aerosol inhalation. To bridge the existing gap between the concentration of Legionella in a water network and the deposition of bacteria within the thoracic region (assessment of the number of viable Legionella), we validated a model mimicki...

A liposome encapsulation was optimized for the entrapment and aerosol delivery of an alpha-helical cationic peptide, CM3, which had shown good antimicrobial and antiendotoxin activity in vitro. The encapsulation procedure and the phospholipids used were selected to maximize both the encapsulation and nebulization efficiencies, without compromising liposomal integrity during nebulization. The be...

The objective of this study was to investigate the anxiolytic effects of the essential oil (EO) of Citrus aurantium L. in patients experiencing crack withdrawal. This was developed with internal users in therapeutic communities in Paraíba, Brazil. The test population consisted of 51 volunteers, subdivided into three groups. To elicit anxiety, the Simulated Public Speaking (SPS) method was used....