The organophosphorous nerve agent VX is classified by the Chemical Warfare Convention (CWC) as a Schedule 1 chemical; namely a substance that is highly toxic with no use that is of benefit to society. Even with this classification, the nefarious use of the Schedule 1 chemical VX has been observed, as demonstrated in 2017 in Malaysia. Therefore, undertaking chemical analysis on samples of VX to identify chemical attribution signatures (CAS) for chemical forensics is required. To further understand the chemical profile of VX, and to aid in the identification of potential CAS, three in house synthesised stocks of VX were investigated. The three VX stocks analysed were synthesised in 2014, 2017 and 2018 using the same method, allowing for a comparison of data between each of the stocks at different stages of storage. As opposed to a majority of literature reports, these agent stocks were not stabilised, nor were they subjected to forced degradation. Using NMR, high resolution (HR) LC-HRMS, GC-(EI)MS and GC-(CI)MS to gain a full insight into the CAS profile, a total of 44 compounds were identified. Of these compounds, 30 were readily identified through accurate mass measurement and NIST library matches. A further seven were identified through extensive LC-HRMS/MS studies, with seven remaining unresolved. Several compounds, identified in minor amounts, were able to be traced back to impurities in the precursor compounds used in the synthesis of VX, and hence may be useful as CAS for source attribution.
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and Malaya (1941-1945), Singapore was renamed Syonan (or Syonanto) and Malaya was called Malai (or Marai; Marei). On 27 April 2603 (1943) the Japanese Military Administration established. The Marai Ika Daigaku (Syonan Medical College) at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Hakuai Byoin), Syonan. The Medical College shifted to the General Hospital, Malacca in February 2604 (1944) where it functioned till the end of the Japanese Occupation in September 2605 (1945).
On the battlefields of Syria, many innocent civilians have been killed or injured by sarin poisoning. In Malaysia in February 2017, a North Korean man was assassinated with VX at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. In the face of such threats, a more effective antidote against organophosphonate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors is needed, one that can freely penetrate into the central nervous system (CNS) through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, which produced more than 6,000 victims, 2-pyridinealdoxime methiodide was the most commonly used antidote in hospitals, but it was unable to prevent CNS damage and no other oximes have been approved for use in Japan. Ultimately, 12 people died, and many victims had severe neurological injuries or sequelae. Although more than 25 years have passed since the incident, progress has been slow in the development of a new antidote that can penetrate the BBB, restore AChE activity in the CNS, and definitely prevent brain injury. From the perspectives of countering terrorism and protecting innocent people from nerve agent attacks, the search for nerve agent antidotes should be accelerated with the goals of improving both survival and quality of life. This review gives an overview of a series of our studies on the development of a new antidote since the Tokyo subway sarin attack and emphasizes that there is unfortunately still no promising antidote for saving the CNS in Japan.
Matched MeSH terms: Chemical Warfare Agents/metabolism; Chemical Warfare Agents/poisoning*
The unstable living situation in Iraq in the last 10 years after 2003 war affected the daily life of most Iraqis, and especially the children. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of an unstable living environment on children’s health. A community-based qualitative study was done to collect data from 20 mothers of children (age 7 to 8years old) through in-depth interview (IDI). Data was recorded using tape recorders and was later transcribed and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis techniques. The majority of mothers interviewed said the past nine years of unstable security in the capital had affected their daily life; some mothers also expressed concern about their child’s nutritional status, their eating habits during the school day, and the unhealthy food being sold at school canteens. As a conclusion, the unstable living situations in Baghdad city after the last war had affected the cognitive and nutritional development of children. More precautions should be taken by parents to ensure their children safety in the future.
Minamata disease is a well-known mercury contamination that happened in Japan in 1953. Due to demand during world war, second mercury disaster occurred in Niigata Prefecture in 1965. This is a review on the Niigata Minamata disease based on available documents and local expert opinions on the disaster. The aims of this paper are to record exposure history like the source of mercury in Agano River and specific fish that was associated with the disease. It is for an appraisal of the basic mercury exposure control, particularly to protect Japanese and world population during that time. There was indication that initial exposure limit for mercury was calculated incorrectly, and higher safe dose was applied. This epidemiological study is very useful and significant in comprehend the correct estimation of the human exposure to any hazardous substances.
Although 193 states have committed to the Chemical Weapons Convention and 98% of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed so far, nerve agent poisoning remains a lingering threat. The recent dissemination of sarin in Syria, the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia, and the assault on Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom underline the need for effective treatment. The current therapeutic options of a muscarinic receptor antagonist, an oxime, and an anticonvulsant have been unchanged for decades. Therefore, new therapeutic strategies, for example, bioscavengers and receptor-active substances, are promising concepts that have to be examined for their benefits and limitations. In order to facilitate rapid diagnosis in challenging clinical situations, point-of-care diagnostics and detection are of importance. Therapeutic guidance concerning the duration and success of the current oxime therapy via determination of the cholinesterase status can contribute to an optimal use of resources. In summary, the challenges of current and future therapies for nerve agent poisoning and key diagnostic devices will be discussed.
The Gibbs canonical ensemble of statistical mechanics is used to describe the probability distribution of the age classes of mothers of new-borns in an age-structured population. The Malthusian parameter emerges as a Lagrange multiplier corresponding to a generation time constraint, while a new perturbation parameter appears as the Lagrange multiplier corresponding to a maternity constraint. Classical Lotka stability reduces to the unperturbed case of the more general canonical ensemble model. The model is used in a case study of the female (peninsular) Malaysian population of 1970. The Malthusian parameter and perturbation are calculated easily by linear regression. Use of the model identifies an anomaly in the population due to the effects of World War II.
The medical-and-demographic processes as a starting point for the planning of means and resources for the short- and average-term future are forecasted in the paper on the basis of long-term peculiarities of the natural-science data and with respect for the social-and-economic crisis now underway in the country.
The objective of the study is to examine the impact of environmental indicators and air pollution on "health" and "wealth" for the low-income countries. The study used a number of promising variables including arable land, fossil fuel energy consumption, population density, and carbon dioxide emissions that simultaneously affect the health (i.e., health expenditures per capita) and wealth (i.e., GDP per capita) of the low-income countries. The general representation for low-income countries has shown by aggregate data that consist of 39 observations from the period of 1975-2013. The study decomposes the data set from different econometric tests for managing robust inferences. The study uses temporal forecasting for the health and wealth model by a vector error correction model (VECM) and an innovation accounting technique. The results show that environment and air pollution is the menace for low-income countries' health and wealth. Among environmental indicators, arable land has the largest variance to affect health and wealth for the next 10-year period, while air pollution exerts the least contribution to change health and wealth of low-income countries. These results indicate the prevalence of war situation, where environment and air pollution become visible like "gun" and "bullet" for low-income countries. There are required sound and effective macroeconomic policies to combat with the environmental evils that affect the health and wealth of the low-income countries.