Synergistic effect

Nitric oxide is a metastable radical, reacts with oxygen to produce toxic nitrogen oxides (N2O3, ONOO−) which damage DNA. Occupational exposure to nitric oxide leads to increased frequency of chromosomal aberrations in humans. In the present study the DNA damage among the jewellery workers occupationally exposed to nitric oxide was analyzed using buccal cell comet assay. The result of this study shows increased levels of DNA damage among jewellery workers. The habit of cigarette smoking among the jewellery workers has a synergistic effect on inducing DNA damage.

The effects of pyrantel and the febantel metabolite fenbendazole - pyrantel and febantel are both constituents of Drontal® Plus and Welpan® - against Toxocara canis in-vitro were investigated by studying changes in worm motility and tissue damage. Pyrantel (P) (range : 12.2, 25 or 50 μg/ml) and fenbendazole (F) (range : 50, 100 or 200 μg/ml) were added to the worms at different concentrations corresponding to plasma levels in different target animals obtained after oral dosing of the single drugs. Regarding motility changes there were no significant differences observable between pyrantel or fenbendazole given as single drugs and the pyrantel/fenbendazole combination. By contrast, when changes in tissue damages were studied there were significant differences detectable. Thus, hypodermis, muscles, gut, genital organs and nervous system got damaged severely at the concentrations of drug combinations P/F of 25/100 μg/ml. Similar effects could only be seen with the individual compounds at their highest level of concentration, e.g. 50 μg/ml of pyrantel or 200 μg/ml of fenbendazole. In comparative analyses of irreversible tissue damages the synergistic effects observed were regarded as being so important that the conclusion must be drawn that these effects are also be present in-vivo in Drontal® Plus and Welpan® treated dogs resulting in a complete worm destruction.

This work aims to evaluate the feasibility of using imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) in the design of multiphase bioreactors for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The IL affinity for three model VOCs (dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide and toluene) was evaluated by ...

Adult volunteers (N = 234) responded to a “decontaminated” hassles scale plus measures of trait anxiety, perceived stress, psychiatric symptomatology, and minor physical ailments. All but the anxiety scale were time-referenced to the past month. Major findings were as follows: (1) Hassles and trait anxiety contributed positively to perceived stress, both individually and interactively, accounting altogether for 55% of the variance; highly anxious subjects showed lower increments in perceived stress with increasing hassles-exposure than did low anxious subjects. (2) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on psychiatric symptomatology which, along with the nonsignificant marginal main effects, accounted for 64% of the variance. (3) Hassles and trait anxiety had a positive synergistic effect on minor physical ailments in men; however, highly anxious women, who showed very high levels of illness under even low hassles-exposure, responded less to incremental stress than did low-anxious women. The significant Sex x Hassles x Trait-Anxiety interaction effect and all the implicated lower-order effects jointly accounted for 22% of the variance in minor ailments.

A total of 113 maize inbreds adapted to tropical conditions were evaluated for their tissue culture response. Additionally, four media combinations of 15 or 30 µm dicamba with or without 88 µm AgNO3 were used to study the effect of dicamba and AgNO3 on type II callus production and plant regeneration from 42 of the inbred lines. Inbreds 48, 389 and 1345 of the populations BR 105, BR 112, and Catete, respectively, showed a high capacity for type II callus production and plant regeneration. The production of type II calli increased significantly when the concentration of dicamba was changed from 15 to 30 µm and when AgNO3 was added to the medium. A synergistic effect between 88 µm AgNO3 and 30 µm dicamba (CM-30Ag medium) was observed, leading to additional production of type II callus. Medium CM-30Ag allowed the best tissue culture performance and plant regeneration capacity.

Transalkylation of 1,3,5-triethylbenzene (TEB) with ethylbenzene (EB) has been studied over ZSM-5 zeolite using a riser simulator reactor with respect to optimizing DEB yield. The reaction temperature was varied from 350 to 500 °C with contact time ranging from 3 to 15 s to report on the effect of reaction conditions on TEB conversion, DEB selectivity and isomerization of TEB. The transalkylation of TEB with EB was compared with the reactions of pure 1,3,5-TEB and EB (disproportionation, isomerization and cracking). A synergistic effect was observed on the conversion of 1,3,5-TEB and DEB yield. The 1,3,5-TEB conversion increased from 40% to 50% with simultaneous increase in the DEB selectivity from 17% to 36% in transalkylation reaction (EB + 1,3,5-TEB) as compared with the reaction of pure 1,3,5-TEB. It was found that pure 1,3,5-TEB underwent cracking reaction to produce DEB and EB. The isomerization of 1,3,5-TEB was more active at low temperature while cracking was more active at high temperature. The temperature of 350 °C was observed as the optimum for production of maximum amount of DEB. Kinetic parameters for the disappearance of 1,3,5-TEB during its transformation reaction via cracking and isomerization pathways were calculated using the catalyst activity decay function based on time-on-stream (TOS). The apparent activation energies decrease in order Esecondary cracking > Eprimary racking > Eisomerization for ZSM-5 catalysts.

This work was focused on the possibility of accelerating the biodegradation process of low density polyethylene (LDPE). Comparative studies, between the properties of untreated LDPE pieces and those exposed to UV irradiation and nitric acid plus microbial culture treatment, were performed. The LDPE pieces were irradiated by UV light (254 nm wavelength) for 250 h and incubated with nitric acid (99.0%) at 80°C for 6 days. These pretreated LDPE pieces were used as sole carbon source in mineral salt medium and inoculated with the Fusarium sp. AF4, isolated from soil. The efficiency of the LDPE degradation depended on the growth phase in pure cultivation of the fungus. The changes in the structural properties of LDPE film because of UV-nitric acid and microbial treatment were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It was observed that in case of UV and nitric acid treated LDPE, peaks appeared at 1710 cm−1 and 831, which were then reduced to 1708 cm−1 and 830 after microbial treatment, indicating breakdown of polymer chain. In this study, it was observed that a synergistic effect of UV-nitric acid and microbial treatment induced oxidation reaction that enhanced and accelerated the biodegradability rate of LDPE pieces. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007

Palm stearin (POs) and palm kernel olein (PKOo) blends were modified by enzymatic interesterification (IE) to achieve the physical properties of margarine fats. POs and PKOo are both products of the palm oil industry that presently have limited use. Rhizomucor miehei lipase (Lipozyme IM 60) was used to catalyze the interesterification of oil blends at 60°C. The progress of interesterification was monitored by following changes in triacylglyceride composition. At 60°C interesterification can be completed in 5 h. Degrees of hydrolysis obtained through IE for all blends were decreased from 2.9 to 2.0 by use of dry molecular sieves. The solid fat contents of POs/PKOo 30:70 and 70:30 interesterified blends were 9.6 and 18.1 at 20°C, and 0 and 4.1 at 35°C, respectively. The slip melting point (SMP) of POs/PKOo 30:70 was 40.0°C before interesterification and 29.9°C after IE. For POs/PKOs 70:30, SMP was 47.7 before and 37.5°C after IE. These thermal characteristics of interesterified POs/PKOo blend ratios from 30:70 to 70:30 were comparable to those of commercial margarines. Results showed that IE was effective in producing solid fats with less than 0.5% trans.