The benzodiazepine class of compounds as a potential for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in over 70 countries in the tropics and neotropics. Several Leishmania species are the causative agent of this form of the disease and are transmitted to humans and animals by a bite of a phlebotomies sandfly. Antileishmanial drugs including antimonials, Amphotericin B, pentamidine, paromomycin, allupurinol and miltefosine have been the treatment of choice over recent years. However, toxicity, difficulty of administration and emergence of resistance have limited the number of chemotherapeutic options available hence underlying the urgency for the identification of new classes of compounds with antileishmanial activity. The benzodiazepine class of compounds whose core structure entails the fusion of a benzene and diazepine ring have been used over the past 50 years as psychoactive drugs in the treatment of anxiety, insomnia and as an anticonvulsants. The aim of this study was to explore the antileishmanial effects of this class of compounds on stationary phase promastigotes of old and new world Leishmania species (L. aethiopica, L. major, L. tropica and L. mexicana) using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol+2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium(MTS) assay for assessing parasite viability. An array of compounds with modifications brought about at the benzene and diazepine structures were tested over a range of concentrations over a 24-hour period for all species mentioned above. The three most active compounds (RRP223, RRP262 and RRP 199) displayed a different range of activity with inhibition of parasite growth at micromolar range in all 4 species. These findings implicate selective activity and demonstrate Leishmanicidal potential in the benzodiazepine class of compounds

An overview on oxyfuel coal combustion: state of the art research and technology development

Oxyfuel combustion is seen as one of the major options for CO₂ capture for future clean coal technologies. The paper provides an overview on research activities and technology development through a fundamental research underpinning the Australia/Japan Oxyfuel Feasibility Project. Studies on oxyfuel combustion on a pilot-scale furnace and a laboratory scale drop tube furnace are presented and compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions. The research has made several contributions to current knowledge, including; comprehensive assessment on oxyfuel combustion in a pilot-scale oxyfuel furnace, modifying the design criterion for an oxy retrofit by matching heat transfer, a new 4-grey gas model which accurately predicts emissivity of the gases in oxy-fired furnaces has been developed for furnace modelling, the first measurements of coal reactivity comparisons in air and oxyfuel at laboratory and pilot-scale; and predictions of observed delays in flame ignition in oxy-firing