Biomedical and therapeutic applications of biosurfactants

During the last years, several applications of biosurfactants with medical purposes have been reported. Biosurfactants are considered relevant molecules for applications in combating many diseases and as therapeutic agents due to their antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. Furthermore, their role as anti-adhesive agents against several pathogens illustrate their utility as suitable anti-adhesive coating agents for medical insertional materials leading to a reduction of a large number of hospital infections without the use of synthetic drugs and chemicals. Biomedical and therapeutic perspectives of biosurfactants applications are presented and discussed in this chapter

Clinical utility of landiolol for use in coronary CT angiography

Nobuo Tomizawa,1 Yayoi Hayakawa,1 Shinichi Inoh,1 Takeshi Nojo,1 Sunao Nakamura2 1Department of Radiology, 2Department of Cardiology, New Tokyo Hospital, Matsudo, Chiba, Japan Abstract: Although remarkable advancement in computed tomography (CT) has been achieved, heart rate control is important to maintain an optimal image quality in coronary CT angiography. Oral or intravenous β-blockers are used as premedication for this purpose. Landiolol was developed as a β-blocker with very high cardioselectivity (β1/β2 =255) and short half-life (4 minutes). In this review, we report the pharmacological features and usage of landiolol and also its effects on heart rate and image quality in coronary CT angiography. In addition, we discuss the safety of landiolol. Keywords: coronary computed tomography angiography, heart rate, image qualit