objective(s) considering fair response to inhaled corticosteroids and reports of severe air way hyper responsiveness in chemical warfare victims (cwv), a role for eosinophilic inflammation (i.e. asthma) was postulated. the objective of this study was to determine the presence of eosinophilic inflammation in cwv by evaluation of sputum cellularity and eosinophil cationic protein (ecp). materials...

CHEMICAL WARFARE HAS EXisted for millennia. As far back as 1000 BC, the Chinese used arsenical smoke as a weapon. In the last century, chemical agents have been used in warfare on numerous occasions, from World War I to the Iran-Iraq conflict. The world remains vulnerable to the deliberate use of chemical agents as weapons of mass destruction. Chemical attacks can be delivered with almost any t...

Please direct correspondence to Pierre Gareil at [email protected]. he different conflicts of the 20th century were marked by the use of chemical weapons. Therefore, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was signed in 1993 and came into force in 1997 to prohibit the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical warfare agents (1). But today, the use of chemical weapons by terro...

The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by Member States. Verification of compliance and investigations into allegations of use require accurate detection of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and their degradation products. Detection of CWAs such as organophosphorus nerve agents in the environme...

We report the use of carbon nanotubes as a sensor for chemical nerve agents. Thin-film transistors constructed from random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes were used to detect dimethyl methylphosphonate ~DMMP!, a simulant for the nerve agent sarin. These sensors are reversible and capable of detecting DMMP at sub-ppb concentration levels, and they are intrinsically selective against i...

Organophosphates have been widely used as insecticides and chemical warfare agents. The health risks associated with these agents have necessitated the need for better detoxification and bioremediation tools. Bacterial enzymes capable of hydrolyzing the lethal organophosphate nerve agents are of special interest. Phosphotriesterase (PTE) isolated from the soil bacteria Pseudomonas diminuta disp...

Among the blistering (vesicant) chemical warfare agents (CWA), sulfur mustard is the most important since it is known as the “King of chemical warfare agents”. The use of sulfur mustard has caused serious damages in several organs, especially the eyes, skin, respiratory, central and peripheral nervous systems after short and long term exposure, incapacitating and even killing people and troops....