Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications

Curcumin, a yellow polyphenolic pigment from the Curcuma longa L. (turmeric) rhizome, has been used for centuries for culinary and food coloring purposes, and as an ingredient for various medicinal preparations, widely used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. In recent decades, their biological activities have been extensively studied. Thus, this review aims to offer an in-depth discussion of curcumin applications for food and biotechnological industries, and on health promotion and disease prevention, with particular emphasis on its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anticancer, hepatoprotective, and cardioprotective effects. Bioavailability, bioefficacy and safety features, side effects, and quality parameters of curcumin are also addressed. Finally, curcumin’s multidimensional applications, food attractiveness optimization, agro-industrial procedures to offset its instability and low bioavailability, health concerns, and upcoming strategies for clinical application are also covered

Advice on assistance and protection from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons : Part 2. On preventing and treating health effects from acute, prolonged, and repeated nerve agent exposure, and the identification of medical countermeasures able to reduce or eliminate the longer term health effects of nerve agents

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has provided advice in relation to the Chemical Weapons Convention on assistance and protection. We present the SAB’s response to a request from the OPCW Director-General in 2014 for information on the best practices for preventing and treating the health effects from acute, prolonged, and repeated organophosphorus nerve agent (NA) exposure. The report summarises pre- and post-exposure treatments, and developments in decontaminants and adsorbing materials, that at the time of the advice, were available for NAs. The updated information provided could assist medics and emergency responders unfamiliar with treatment and decontamination options related to exposure to NAs. The SAB recommended that developments in research on medical countermeasures and decontaminants for NAs should be monitored by the OPCW, and used in assistance and protection training courses and workshops organised through its capacity building programmes.Peer reviewe

Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on riot control agents in connection to the Chemical Weapons Convention

Compounds that cause powerful sensory irritation to humans were reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in response to requests in 2014 and 2017 by the OPCW Director-General to advise which riot control agents (RCAs) might be subject to declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention (the Convention). The chemical and toxicological properties of 60 chemicals identified from a survey by the OPCW of RCAs that had been researched or were available for purchase, and additional chemicals recognised by the SAB as having potential RCA applications, were considered. Only 17 of the 60 chemicals met the definition of a RCA under the Convention. These findings were provided to the States Parties of the Convention to inform the implementation of obligations pertaining to RCAs under this international chemical disarmament and non-proliferation treaty.Peer reviewe

advice from the scientific advisory board of the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons on isotopically labelled chemicals and stereoisomers in relation to the chemical weapons convention

AbstractThe Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an international disarmament treaty that prohibits the development, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. This treaty has 193 States Parties (nations for which the treaty is binding) and entered into force in 1997. The CWC contains schedules of chemicals that have been associated with chemical warfare programmes. These scheduled chemicals must be declared by the States that possess them and are subject to verification by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW, the implementing body of the CWC). Isotopically labelled and stereoisomeric variants of the scheduled chemicals have presented ambiguities for interpretation of the requirements of treaty implementation, and advice was sought from the OPCW's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in 2016. The SAB recommended that isotopically labelled compounds or stereoisomers related to the parent compound specified in a schedule should be interpreted as belonging to the same schedule. This advice should benefit scientists and diplomats from the CWC's State Parties to help ensure a consistent approach to their declarations of scheduled chemicals (which in turn supports both the correctness and completeness of declarations under the CWC). Herein, isotopically labelled and stereoisomeric variants of CWC-scheduled chemicals are reviewed, and the impact of the SAB advice in influencing a change to national licensing in one of the State Parties is discussed. This outcome, an update to national licensing governing compliance to an international treaty, serves as an example of the effectiveness of science diplomacy within an international disarmament treaty

Badania nasiąkania i właściwości zwilżających wodnych roztworów siarczanu dodecylo sodu na porowatych złożach materiałów hydrofilowych i hydrofobowych

The kinetic of imbibition of porous beds of different materials, with water solutions of sodium dodecylsulfate was investigated. The following materials were used: four kinds of active carbons: Norit R 08 EXTRARA, Norit ROROX 08, DTO and Merck; three kinds of mineral coals: hard coal, brown coal and peat; two kinds of graphite: natural Ceylon graphite, synthetic Acheson graphite and powdered sulfur. The kinetics of imbibition was tested using the capillary rise method, with the flow of liquid in the upward direction. The results are presented in the form of graphs showing changes of the saturation versus the time of imbuing the layer. Also, the influence of adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate from the solutions on the kinetics of wetting was investigated. The results showed that mineral coals, graphite and sulfur did not imbibed water easily, while active carbons and synthetic graphite were hydrophilic, though in different degrees, and had high imbibition coefficient. These findings were discussed in the aspect of their usefulness in the fire fighting technology.Przeprowadzono badania kinetyki nasycania porowatych warstw różnych materiałów za pomocą wodnych roztworów dodecylosiarczanu sodu. Badania wykonano dla następujących materiałów: czterech rodzajów węgli aktywnych: Norit R 08 EXTRARA, Norit ROROX 08, DTO i Merck; trzech rodzajów węgli kopalnych: węgla kamiennego, węgla brunatnego i torfu; dwóch rodzajów grafitów: naturalnego grafitu cejlońskiego, syntetycznego elektrografitu oraz sproszkowanej siarki. Kinetykę nasycania badano metodą wznoszenia kapilarnego, przy zastosowaniu przepływu cieczy od dołu do góry. Wyniki przedstawiono w formie zależności stopnia nasycenia warstw od czasu ich nasycania. Zbadano również wpływ adsorpcji dodecylosiarczanu sodu na kinetykę zwilżania warstw badanych materiałów. Uzyskane wyniki wykazały, że węgle kopalne, grafit naturalny i siarka trudno zwilżały się badanymi roztworami substancji powierzchniowo czynnych. Natomiast węgle aktywne i syntetyczny elektrografit były w różnym stopniu hydrofilowe i miały wysoki współczynnik nasycania. Wyniki badań zostały przedyskutowane pod kątem możliwości ich wykorzystania w technologii gaszenia podpowierzchniowych pożarów węglowych materiałów porowatych

SAW Sensor for Mercury Vapour Detection

Mercury is the element commonly applied in industry. Because of poisoning properties the monitoring of the mercury vapour concentration in the environment is very important. Mercury forms amalgams in connection with gold that causes a change in the electrical resistance and mass of the gold specimens. This effect was applied to measure mercury vapour concentration in the environment using surface acoustic wave technology. Two kinds of surface acoustic wave mercury sensors have been described in the paper. First one utilizes a thin film of gold deposited between aluminium interdigital transducers and reflectors of two-port surface acoustic wave resonator, and the second one golden interdigital transducers and reflectors without any sensitive film between them

Synthesis and characterization of gelatin fragments obtained by controlled degradation

Telechelic oligomers are attractive starting materials for the preparation of materials with tailorable properties. Here, peptide chains with defined molecular weight were obtained by controlled degradation of gelatin with hydroxylamine, which resulted in the cleavage of asparaginyl-glycine bonds and formation of new aspartyl hydroxamates and amino endgroups. The reaction of gelatin with hydroxylamine resulted in fragments with molecular weights of 15, 25, 37, and 50 kDa (determined by SDS-PAGE) independently of the reaction time and conditions. The fragment mixture showed typical single and triple helical organization in WAXS spectra, but rheological studies showed lower G′ and G″ values for gels from the fragment mixture than from gelatin, and lower gel-sol transitions temperatures. A more narrow distribution was found for the fragment mixture (M n = 25 kDa, PDI = 1.4) than for commercial gelatin. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim