Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks.

The emergence of a pandemic affecting the respiratory system can result in a significant demand for face masks. This includes the use of cloth masks by large sections of the public, as can be seen during the current global spread of COVID-19. However, there is limited knowledge available on the performance of various commonly available fabrics used in cloth masks.

Water and health: a forgotten connection?

There are frequent and doom-laden messages concerning impending water shortages but the consequential negative effects on the availability of waters for healing and the factors underlying the decline in the use of water therapies in some parts of the world are ignored. This article reviews the evidence for the medicinal uses of water, past and present, showing how ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic and Hebrew societies all used water for medicinal purposes, sometimes in conjunction with herbal medicine. Water treatments consisted of hydrotherapy (techniques of therapeutic bathing and use of water), balneotherapy (therapeutic bathing in medicinal and thermal springs) and thalassotherapy (the therapeutic use of ocean bathing and marine products) and these treatments continue to be used to the present day although their use in the Anglo-Saxon world is diminised.

The Essene's sister sect in Egypt: another medical site?

The Essenes were, allegedly, the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls and were settled by the Dead Sea. An ancient source locates their sister sect, The 'Therapeutae', as being by the shores of Lake Mareotis in Egypt. No scholar has previously sought to locate where exactly on Lake Mareotis they were settled.

Medicine 2000 years ago: the case of Qumran and other biblical sites.

Since the eighteenth century, the dominance of orthodox or allopathic medicine in the West led to the branding of other forms of medicine as alternative. However, research shows a narrowing in the gap in popularity of the two methods and it is possible to envision a time when alternative medicine and mainstream medicine will work in tandem. As the West completes a year of millennium celebrations and looks back to the events that shaped the founding of the first millennium two thousand years ago, it is appropriate to increase our understanding of the form medicine took at that time.

Luminous vibriosis in rock lobster Jasus verreauxi (Decapoda: Palinuridae) phyllosoma larvae associated with infection by Vibrio harveyi.

Studies were conducted to determine the cause of outbreaks of luminous vibriosis in phyllosoma larvae of the packhorse rock lobster Jasus verreauxi reared in an experimental culture facility. On 2 separate occasions mortalities of up to 75% over a period of 4 wk were observed in 4th to 5th and 8th to 10th instar phyllosomas at water temperatures of 20 and 23 degrees C, respectively. Affected larvae became opaque, exhibited small red spots throughout the body and pereiopods, and were faintly luminous when viewed in the dark.

Kinetic enzymatic method for determining serum creatinine.

Creatinine amidohydrolase is used to measure serum creatinine in a totally enzymatic procedure. Creatine, produced by hydrolysis, is acted upon by creatine kinase, and then by pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase, to result in a change in absorbance at 340 nm. The amount of creatinine present is related to the rate of change in A340 and is determined from a standard curve.