Pulmonary toxicity of instilled silver nanoparticles: influence of size, coating and rat strain.

Particle size and surface chemistry are potential determinants of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) respiratory toxicity that may also depend on the lung inflammatory state. We compared the effects of intratracheally-administered AgNPs (20 nm and 110 nm; polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and citrate-capped; 0.1 mg/Kg) in Brown-Norway (BN) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.

Pharmacists making house calls: innovative role or overkill?

Background: The Medication Management Program was established at the Fraser Health Authority in 2005, in response to evidence suggesting that having pharmacists provide care to patients in their homes after discharge from hospital could reduce subsequent utilization of health service resources.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of the Medication Management Program in its first 2 years of operation.

Methods: For patients who had received a home visit by a pharmacist, the utilization of health services (admissions to hospital, physician office visits, and dispensed medications) in the year before the home visit was compared with utilization during the year after the intervention.

A note concerning acetate activation of peroxidative activity of catalases using 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid as a substrate.

Beef liver catalases showed peroxidative activity using 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid as the electron donor and hydrogen peroxide as the acceptor at a pH of 5. This activity was not observed at pH 7. The reaction depended on acetate concentration, although succinate and propionate could partly replace the acetate as a catalyst.