Inactivated tetanus as an immunological smokescreen: A major step towards harnessing tetanus-based therapeutics.

Background And Purpose: Tetanus neurotoxin has many potential therapeutic applications, due to its ability to increase localised muscle tone when injected directly into a muscle. It is a closely related molecule to botulinum neurotoxin (most commonly known as Botox), which has been widely used to release muscle tension for therapeutic and cosmetic applications. However, tetanus toxin has been relegated to the "maybe pile" for protein therapeutics - as most of the population is vaccinated, leading to highly effective antibody-mediated protection against the toxin.

A flow-through chamber for toxicity testing of 80-200 microm organisms.

A flow-through chamber was developed for toxicity testing of mobile species that require microscopic observation to assess viability and development; no sub-sampling was required in this method. Organisms were held in 1.5 mL volumes in 30 mm plastic petri plates adapted with two side sections containing 35 microm screening to provide drainage.

Copper toxicity to larval Mercenaria mercenaria (hard clam).

Preset larval Mercenaria mercenaria were exposed to nominal concentrations of 1 (control) to 495 microg Cu/L in artificial seawater and monitored for mortality, activity, development, and metamorphosis in sealed 30-mm plastic petri plates containing 1.5 ml of artificial seawater or toxicant solution. The plastic petri plates sorbed only about 2.