Japanese quail given 20 parts per million of mercury as methylmercury in diets containing 17 percent (by weight) tuna survived longer than quail given this concentration of methylmercury in a corn-soya diet. Tuna has a relatively high content of selenium and tends to accumulate additional selenium when mercury is present. A content of selenium in the diet comparable to that supplied by tuna decreased methylmercury toxicity in rats. Selenium in tuna, far from being a hazard in itself, may lessen the danger to man of mercury in tuna.

Induction of metallothionein (a Zn-binding protein) was investigated in liver and kidneys of rats under the following stresses: cold environment, hot environment, heat burn, strenuous exercise, and CCl4 intoxication. As markers of metallothionein (MT) synthesis, [14C]cystine and 65Zn were injected parenterally into rats, and MT in liver and kidney supernatants was separated on Sephadex G-75 columns. Among stresses tested, the greatest stimulations of MT synthesis in liver were observed under cold (315%), strenuous exercise (302%), and CCl4 intoxication (543%), as evidenced by increased amount of [14C]cystine and 65Zn incorporation into the MT fraction. In contrast to liver, only small responses were observed in MT synthesis in kidneys. There was a general decline in plasma Zn levels in rats under the stresses employed. However, no great differences were observed in Zn levels in whole liver and kidneys. The present study suggests that various unrelated physiological stresses, which are accompanied with a change in Zn distribution, increase the synthesis of MT in liver of rats.

We conclude that isoallergens of Der p 2 may have different IgE immune responses. Quantification of Der p 2 with 2-site ELISA kits that adopted mAbs, might be affected by the prevalent form of the isoallergens in reservoir dust.

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Despite the many advantages of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a dental polymer, its antifungal and antibacterial effects remain limited. Here, phytoncide was incorporated into PMMA to inhibit fungal and biofilm accumulation without impairing the basic and biological properties of PMMA. A variable amount of phytoncide (0 wt % to 5 wt %) was incorporated into PMMA, and the basic material properties of microhardness, flexural strength and gloss were evaluated. In addition, cell viability was confirmed by MTT assay. This MTT assay measures cell viability via metabolic activity, and the color intensity of the formazan correlates viable cells. The fungal adhesion and viability on the PMMA surfaces were evaluated using Candida albicans (a pathogenic yeast). Finally, the thickness of saliva-derived biofilm was estimated. The flexural strength of PMMA decreased with increasing phytoncide contents, whereas there were no significant differences in the microhardness and gloss (p > 0.05) and the cell viability (p > 0.05) between the control and the phytoncide-incorporated PMMA samples. The amounts of adherent Candida albicans colony-forming unit (CFU) counts, and saliva-derived biofilm thickness were significantly lower in the phytoncide-incorporated PMMA compared to the control (p < 0.05). Hence, it was concluded that the incorporation of appropriate amounts of phytoncide in PMMA demonstrated antifungal effects while maintaining the properties, which could be a possible use in dentistry application such as denture base resin.