Chemical Evaluation and Performance Characterization of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) under Melt Conditions.

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a nitrate ester explosive commonly used in commercial detonators. Although its degradation properties have been studied extensively, very little information has been collected on its thermal stability in the molten state due to the fact that its melting point is only ∼20 °C below its onset of decomposition. Furthermore, studies that have been performed on PETN thermal degradation often do not fully characterize or quantify the decomposition products.

Jia-Ji Electro-Acupuncture Improves Locomotor Function With Spinal Cord Injury by Regulation of Autophagy Flux and Inhibition of Necroptosis.

Jia-Ji electro-acupuncture (EA) has been widely applied in clinic to exhibit curative effects on spinal cord injury (SCI). However, its underlying mechanisms leading to improvement of motor function after SCI remain unclear. Allen's method was made by NYU Impactor M-III equipment to create the SCI rats model.

Examining the chemical and structural properties that influence the sensitivity of energetic nitrate esters.

The sensitivity of explosives is controlled by factors that span from intrinsic chemical reactivity and chemical intramolecular effects to mesoscale structure and defects, and has been a topic of extensive study for over 50 years. Due to these complex competing chemical and physical elements, a unifying relationship between molecular framework, crystal structure, and sensitivity has yet to be developed. In order to move towards this goal, ideally experimental studies should be performed on systems with small, systematic structural modifications, with modeling utilized to interpret experimental results.

Quetiapine mitigates the ethanol-induced oxidative stress in brain tissue, but not in the liver, of the rat.

Quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic, has been employed to treat alcoholic patients with comorbid psychopathology. It was shown to scavenge hydroxyl radicals and to protect cultured cells from noxious effects of oxidative stress, a pathophysiological mechanism involved in the toxicity of alcohol. This study compared the redox status of the liver and the brain regions of prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum of rats treated with or without ethanol and quetiapine.

Acupuncture at Houxi (SI 3) acupoint for acute neck pain caused by stiff neck: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: The use of acupuncture has been suggested for the treatment of acute neck pain caused by stiff neck in China. However, current evidence is insufficient to draw any conclusions about its efficacy. Therefore this pilot study was designed to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of acupuncture at the Houxi (SI3) acupoint for treatment of acute neck pain.

Recombinant renewable polyclonal antibodies.

Only a small fraction of the antibodies in a traditional polyclonal antibody mixture recognize the target of interest, frequently resulting in undesirable polyreactivity. Here, we show that high-quality recombinant polyclonals, in which hundreds of different antibodies are all directed toward a target of interest, can be easily generated in vitro by combining phage and yeast display. We show that, unlike traditional polyclonals, which are limited resources, recombinant polyclonal antibodies can be amplified over one hundred million-fold without losing representation or functionality.

Sub-inhibitory fosmidomycin exposures elicits oxidative stress in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2.

Fosmidomycin is a time-dependent nanomolar inhibitor of methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) synthase, which is the enzyme that catalyzes the first committed step in the MEP pathway to isoprenoids. Importantly, fosmidomycin is one of only a few MEP pathway-specific inhibitors that exhibits antimicrobial activity. Most inhibitors identified to date only exhibit activity against isolated pathway enzymes.