Improved skin decontamination efficacy for the nerve agent VX.

Early initiated decontamination is demonstrated to be crucial to avoid systemic effects of highly toxic and low volatile agents exposed on the skin. Skin decontamination can be performed by simple procedures, such as washing with soap and water, or by using advanced decontamination products containing absorption and agent degradation properties. Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion (RSDL) has demonstrated high efficacy to remove nerve agents from the skin. However, contrary to the current operational recommendations, experimental studies have shown that prolonged skin contact time of RSDL is important for efficient decontamination of VX. In the present study, several RSDL-protocols were evaluated for the efficacy to remove neat VX from human skin in vitro. The decontamination efficacies of the RSDL-procedures were compared with the efficacy of the simple procedure of washing off the skin with soapy water. The RSDL-protocols containing repeated swabbing with the sponge and a 10 min skin contact time of RSDL-lotion demonstrated the greatest decontamination efficacy of all procedures evaluated. Repeating the protocol 2 h after the initial decontamination step resulted in a transient increased skin penetration of remaining intact agent on skin and was followed by rapidly declined agent penetration rate. Decontamination performed with soapy water significantly increased agent amounts penetrating skin, most likely caused by skin hydration and agent dilution. In conclusion, a slightly extended procedure for RSDL-decontamination showed improved efficacy and is therefore recommended for removal of nerve agents from the skin. In addition, it is of highest importance that skin decontamination of nerve agents should consist of procedures using low water content.

Dose-response study of thimerosal-induced murine systemic autoimmunity.

The organic compound ethylmercurithiosalicylate (thimerosal), which is primarily present in the tissues as ethylmercury, has caused illness and several deaths due to erroneous handling when used as a disinfectant or as a preservative in medical preparations. Lately, possible health effects of thimerosal in childhood vaccines have been much discussed. Thimerosal is a well-known sensitizing agent, although usually of no clinical relevance. In rare cases, thimerosal has caused systemic immune reactions including acrodynia. We have studied if thimerosal might induce the systemic autoimmune condition observed in genetically susceptible mice after exposure to inorganic mercury. A.SW mice were exposed to 1.25-40 mg thimerosal/l drinking water for 70 days. Antinucleolar antibodies, targeting the 34-kDa protein fibrillarin, developed in a dose-related pattern and first appeared after 10 days in the two highest dose groups. The lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) for antifibrillarin antibodies was 2.5 mg thimerosal/l, corresponding to an absorbed dose of 147 microg Hg/kg bw and a concentration of 21 and 1.9 microg Hg/g in the kidney and lymph nodes, respectively. The same LOAEL was found for tissue immune-complex deposits. The total serum concentration of IgE, IgG1, and IgG2a showed a significant dose-related increase in thimerosal-treated mice, with a LOAEL of 5 mg thimerosal/l for IgG1 and IgE, and 20 mg thimerosal/l for IgG2a. The polyclonal B-cell activation showed a significant dose-response relationship with a LOAEL of 10 mg thimerosal/l. Therefore, thimerosal induces in genetically susceptible mice a systemic autoimmune syndrome very similar to that seen after treatment with inorganic mercury, although a higher absorbed dose of Hg is needed using thimerosal. The autoimmune syndrome induced by thimerosal is different from the weaker and more restricted autoimmune reaction observed after treatment with an equipotent dose of methylmercury.

Simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of methamphetamines in human urine as derivatives of 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl) benzoyl chloride, a new fluorescence derivatization reagent.

A simple, rapid and highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of methamphetamine and its metabolites in human urine was developed. Without tedious pretreatment procedures, aliquots of methamphetamine spiked or abusers' urine samples were simply acidified, dried under a stream of N2 gas, and then derivatized with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl) benzoyl chloride in acetonitrile in the presence of traces of triethylamine. Five derivatives were isocratically separated within 33 min by an ODS column, and the effluent was monitored at 440 nm (lambda(ex), 330 nm). Using 1-phenylethylamine as an internal standard calibration curves were confirmed to be linear up to at least 2x10(-5) M in urine with correlation coefficients of 0.998-1.000, while the detection limits at S/N=3 were 0.6-5.2 fmol per 5-microl injection. The relative standard deviations (n=5) of inter- and intra-day variations were less than 8.9%. The correlation between the concentrations of methamphetamine and amphetamine in urine determined by the proposed method and another currently accepted one was satisfactory. The method was successfully applied to urine samples collected from methamphetamine addicts.