In older patients with rheumatoid arthritis, misoprostol reduced serious NSAID-induced upper gastrointestinal complications by 40% compared with placebo.

The Gal␤1-3GalNAc␣ (TF antigen)-binding lectin (ABL) from the common edible mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) has a potent anti-proliferative effect without any apparent cytotoxicity. This unusual combination of properties prompted investigation of its mechanism of action. In contrast to soluble lectin, agarose-immobilized, and hence noninternalizable ABL had no effect on proliferation of HT29 colon cancer cells. Electron microscopy of HT29 cells incubated with fluorescein-and gold-conjugated ABL showed internalization of the lectin into endocytotic vesicles and multivesicular bodies. Confocal microscopy showed perinuclear accumulation of fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated lectin, which also inhibits HT29 cell proliferation, raising the possibility that the lectin might interfere with nuclear pore function. Transport of heat shock protein 70 into the nucleus in response to heat shock was blocked by preincubation of HT29 cells for 6 h with 40 g/ml ABL. In digitonin-permeabilized cells, nuclear uptake of bovine albumin conjugated to a nuclear localization sequence (NLS)-containing peptide was also inhibited by a 15-min preincubation with 40 -100 g/ml ABL. In contrast, serum-stimulated nuclear translocation of mitogen-activated protein kinase, which is NLS-independent, was not affected by pretreatment of cells with the lectin. These results suggest that the anti-proliferative effect of ABL is likely to be a consequence of the lectin trafficking to the nuclear periphery, where it blocks NLS-dependent protein uptake into the nucleus.

The use of zeolites as transformation layers to enhance the response and discriminating power of solid-state metal-oxide-semiconductor gas sensors is demonstrated. Thick film sensors were prepared by screen printing layers of tungsten trioxide or chromium titanium oxide with various zeolites as overlayers. The sensors’ gas response was tested against carbon monoxide and ethanol in varying concentrations. Experimental results show that it is possible to dramatically alter the response behavior of the devices; in the instance of ethanol gas with a zeolite Y-modified sensor, the response was increased by 2 orders of magnitude compared to the unmodified sensor. Computational modelling studies show that a combination of catalytic reaction and diffusion behavior are responsible for these changes. Such discriminatory behavior should prove useful in electronic noses and sensor arrays.

Measurements of the magnetically induced birefringence, linear dichroism, Faraday rotation, Faraday ellipticity and circular dichroism in a cobalt and a magnetite ferrofluid are reported. These results are interpreted in terms of the permittivity tensors of the materials concerned and the elements of these tensors are evaluated. In the case of the cobalt fluid the derived values of the elements of the permittivity tensor are compared with the values that have been derived from measurements on thin films of cobalt by other workers and the agreement is considered reasonable.

The magnetic birefringence of various samples of Fe3O4 ferrofluids with particle sizes in the range of approximately 8.5-18.5 nm has been measured in field strengths of 5*10-4 to 5*10-1 T. For all the samples it has been found that in low fields the birefringence varies as the square of the field strength, indicating a classical behaviour of the particles. The size of the particles and the width of the particle size distribution curve have been estimated from an analysis of the variation of the birefringence with the applied magnetic field; the results obtained are in good agreement with results obtained from electron microscope and magnetic susceptibility measurements.