The short version of batch purity fits in a sentence. The long version — which is the one that helps — is below.
Reviewed 2026-07-08. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. Its sequence, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, keeps the tuftsin core at the N-terminus and appends a Pro-Gly-Pro tail. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow synthesized the compound during the 1990s while searching for peptides with combined anxiolytic and immunomodulatory activity. The added tail was intended to resist enzymatic cleavage and prolong the molecule's presence in circulation.
The compound has a calculated molecular weight near 751.9 daltons and carries a net positive charge at physiological pH because of its arginine residue. It dissolves freely in water and in common aqueous buffers, and typically appears as a white or off-white lyophilized powder. The amide backbone makes the molecule susceptible to peptidases, which limits oral use and favors intranasal or parenteral routes. Nomenclature in the literature varies: the substance is also described by the sequence abbreviation TP-7 and by a Russian trade designation.
Regulatory status differs sharply by region. Selank holds a Russian marketing authorization, where it is supplied mainly as nasal drops, while authorities elsewhere have not approved it for medical use. Material sold internationally is therefore usually labeled as a research chemical rather than a medicine. Peer-reviewed publications come predominantly from Russian laboratories, and sample sizes are generally small. Whether the compound produces comparable effects under independent, well-controlled replication remains an open question that the broader literature has not settled.
Lyophilized selank is normally supplied as a dry powder and is considered stable for extended periods when kept cold and dry. Moisture uptake is the main practical threat, because absorbed water promotes both hydrolysis and aggregation in the solid state. Vials are usually warmed to room temperature before opening so that condensation does not form on the powder. Supplier documentation commonly specifies -20 °C for routine storage, with -80 °C used for material intended to be archived for years.
Once dissolved, the peptide is markedly less stable than the dry powder. Aqueous solutions are subject to backbone hydrolysis and to microbial growth when they are handled without sterile technique. Buffered solutions near neutral pH are common for short-term laboratory work, while acidic conditions are sometimes used to improve solubility. Analytical laboratories generally prepare working solutions fresh rather than storing them, and a residual water film left in a reopened vial can seed degradation even when the container appears dry.
Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography is the standard technique for estimating peptide purity. The result is a peak-area percentage, which describes how much of the detected material elutes as the main peak in one run. Mass spectrometry confirms the molecular mass and can reveal truncated, adducted, or otherwise modified species. Amino acid analysis or tandem mass spectrometry can address sequence fidelity when identity is in doubt. None of these measurements, taken alone, establishes that a sample is fit for any specific purpose.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical class | Synthetic heptapeptide | Analog of the tetrapeptide tuftsin |
| Sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Reported consistently across pharmacopoeial descriptions |
| Appearance | White to off-white lyophilized powder | Typical form of research-grade material |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Aqueous buffers; poor in nonpolar solvents |
| Typical storage temperature | -20 degrees Celsius | Lyophilized powder; protect from moisture |
Development took place at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where a series of short peptides were designed in the 1980s and 1990s. Selank was selected from variants of tuftsin that showed resistance to plasma peptidases. Russian regulatory approval covers it as an anxiolytic agent given intranasally. Outside that market the compound is normally handled as a research chemical rather than a medicine, and no widely recognised international pharmacopoeial monograph exists. The name Selank is a coined trade designation rather than a systematic chemical name.
Enzymatic stability motivates the extra three residues at the carboxyl end. Native tuftsin is cleaved quickly by circulating aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases, which limits its duration of action and its usefulness as a tool compound. Extending the chain with proline-rich segments is a common design tactic because proline constrains the backbone and slows proteolysis. The same Pro-Gly-Pro motif appears in other Russian-developed peptides of the era. Whether the full seven-residue chain is required for activity, or whether it acts mainly as a prodrug releasing tuftsin, remains unresolved.
Quantification in biological matrices relies on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with stable-isotope internal standards. Low plasma concentrations and adsorption to container surfaces both complicate measurement. Solid-phase extraction is often needed to reduce matrix interference before injection. Reported limits of quantification differ widely between laboratories, which makes direct comparison of pharmacokinetic results difficult and limits meta-analysis.
Peptide bonds are vulnerable to protease attack, and Selank is no exception. Measured half-life in serum is short, on the order of minutes in several reports, which explains why intranasal administration is the common route described in the literature. Absorption across the nasal mucosa partially bypasses first-pass hepatic metabolism. Quantitative data on human bioavailability remain limited and are difficult to compare across studies.
Lyophilised material kept dry at minus 20 degrees Celsius or colder is the most stable form, and suppliers commonly state a shelf life of two years or more under those conditions. Once dissolved, degradation accelerates through hydrolysis and deamidation, particularly at alkaline pH or elevated temperature. Working solutions are usually divided into single-use aliquots to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. The choice of reconstitution solvent affects both stability and the ionic strength of the final preparation.
=== Upper blepharoplasty === Upper blepharoplasty typically involves an incision placed within the natural crease of the upper eyelid. Through this incision, excess skin, muscle, and, when appropriate, orbital fat may be removed or repositioned. The incision is designed to heal within the natural eyelid fold, minimizing visible scarring. This procedure may be performed for cosmetic improvement or to restore visual function in patients with significant upper eyelid skin redundancy.
=== Recreational use === Zolpidem has potential for medical misuse when the drug is continued long term without or against medical advice, or for recreational use when the drug is taken to achieve a "high". The transition from medical use of zolpidem to high-dose addiction or drug dependence can occur with use, but some believe it may be more likely when used without a clinical recommendation to continue using it, when physiological drug tolerance leads to higher doses than the usual 5 mg or 10 mg, when consumed through insufflation or injection, or when taken for purposes other than as a sleep aid. Recreational use is more prevalent in those having been dependent on other drugs in the past, but tolerance and drug dependence can still sometimes occur in those without a history of drug dependence. Chronic users of high doses are more likely to develop physical dependence on the drug, which may cause severe withdrawal symptoms, including seizures if abrupt withdrawal from zolpidem occurs. Other drugs, including benzodiazepines and zopiclone, are also found in high numbers of suspected drugged drivers. Many drivers have blood levels far exceeding the therapeutic dose range, suggesting a high degree of excessive-use potential for benzodiazepines, zolpidem, and zopiclone. U.S. Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy says that he was using zolpidem (Ambien) and promethazine (Phenergan) when he was caught driving erratically at 3 a.m. "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," Kennedy said.
=== Signalling of fetal maturation and parturition === As pregnancy advances to term, the fetal membranes undergo weakening. The amnion is vital in the synthesis of prostaglandins which reach the myometrium and create and initiate parturition. The chorion expresses chemicals that balance synthesis and metabolism of these prostaglandins to ensure that the myometrium is not activated pre-term. Prostaglandin E2 is thought to be synthesized by cells in the amnion and is essential in dilation of the cervix at the initiation of parturition. Glucocorticoids have been implicated in fetal maturation, regulation of immune response and many other pregnancy associated changes. As well as its function in parturition, Prostaglandin E2 is vital for fetal lung maturation. Additionally, there is an abundance of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 expressed in the foetal membranes. This enzyme converts biologically inactive cortisone into active cortisol, another chemical vital for fetal maturation and labour initiation.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Wnt signalling === One of the first discovered examples of a highly dynamic intracellular liquid biomolecular condensate with a clear physiological function were the supramolecular complexes (Wnt signalosomes) formed by components of the Wnt signaling pathway. The Dishevelled (Dsh or Dvl) protein undergoes clustering in the cytoplasm via its DIX domain, which mediates protein clustering (polymerisation) and phase separation, and is important for signal transduction. The Dsh protein functions both in planar polarity and Wnt signalling, where it recruits another supramolecular complex (the Axin complex) to Wnt receptors at the plasma membrane. The formation of these Dishevelled and Axin containing droplets is conserved across metazoans, including in Drosophila, Xenopus, and human cells.
=== 1988 === 11 February Running to Time, about the new InterCity 225; the National Express Coaches Rapide service; the project team of the Intercity 225, with project director Mike Rollin, and Mike Newman of GEC; the 225 train had to be delivered on 14 February 1988, with an operational life of thirty years; the InterCity 125 was not intended to have been primarily developed - in a board meeting, the commercial directors were not technologically knowledgeable of trains, and asked about alternatives, to be told by an engineering director that a 125 mph diesel train could be developed in two years, so the HST began at that meeting; the British Rail APT-E prototype, powered by the Leyland 2S/350 gas turbine; in 1974 BR commissioned the APT-P, which had ten years of development, due to the active tilting suspension; the 225 train was possibly to enter service on the UK's only large electrified line, the West Coast Main Line, but the much-straighter and faster East Coast Main Line was being electrified, so BR decided to implement the 225 train on the ECML instead; Crewe railway station, which opened in 1837, and where trains were first built nearby in 1843; Steve Corfield, of Crewe Works; the unsprung mass of a train, and Cardan shafts; Roger Ford of Modern Railways; John Prideaux, director of InterCity; David Carter of DCA in Warwick, who designed the livery; the Modernisation Plan was published in December 1954, which had advocated the electrification of the ECML, and the phasing-out of steam travel; the late-1980s ECML electrification had cost BR £350m - it was not government-funded, with 2,800 miles of copper wire, and 33,000 support masts, overseen by Don Heath; all of the improvements in the UK were on old lines of track, but France and Germany had built entire new electrified lines - the TGV was planned from the mid-1960s; G. Freeman Allen of Jane's World Railways; the 225 train underframe being built at Crewe Works; GEC Traction at Preston, Lancashire, Al Reed, the separately excited (Armature Controlled DC Motor) brushed DC electric motor, and Gerald West; the right-angle gearboxes were built by David Brown Ltd and Voith of Heidenheim an der Brenz in southern Germany; Eric Black of Metro-Cammell in Washwood Heath; the ST41 bogies were made by SIG Combibloc Group of Neuhausen am Rheinfall in Switzerland. Narrated by Robin Ellis, produced by Patrick Uden, directed by Paul Fabricius, made by Uden Associates. 12 February Playing with Fire 17 July The Air Fix!, about aviation safety; a television adaptation of a black comedy theatre production by 35-year-old James Castle, dressed as an airline pilot, largely featuring Turkish Airlines Flight 981, the Ermenonville air disaster, in France on 3 March 1974, to this day the worst airliner crash, without any survivors, with 177 British people killed, when a cargo door ruptured, and the subsequent enquiry led to a cover up by the airline and aviation authority; the DC10 had known design failings in its fuselage, and its cargo door design was known to be faulty by the aircraft manufacturer; the American Airlines Flight 96 crash had happened on 12 June 1972, involving a design failure of the cargo door, but the FAA nonetheless gave the DC-10 a certificate of airworthiness; the DC10 had been rushed into service; James Castle accused the aircraft industry of callous negligence; James Castle had been a British Airways aircraft maintenance technician from 1969 to 1977 at Heathrow Airport; he listed the numbers of children that lost one or both parents in the crash, and the numbers of women who were widowed; the theatre production had been going since December 1986, directed by Caroline Noh Narrated by James Castle, produced by Ben Gooder, made by Uden Associates 24 July Nic's Boat, about Nic Bailey, a 37-year-old architect with Foster and Partners; he designed a 40-ft trimaran, called MTC, for the Carlsberg Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race on 5 June 1988; he had helped to design the 1978 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich and the Renault Centre in Swindon; boat builder Spud Rowsell in Exmouth, with Phil Morrison; the hull cost £46,000, and the rigging cost £46,000; the mast and rigging were fitted at Topsham, Devon; Robin Knox-Johnston; French yacht designer Bruno Fehrenbach; he sailed the Atlantic between the Rhumb Line Route and the Great Circle Route; some yachts made the journey to Newport, Rhode Island in ten days; the yacht mast was constructed by Proctor South West. Produced by Michael Wills, directed by Bob Bee, made by Juniper Productions 31 July The Living Dead 7 August Zen and the Art of TV Manufacture, a Panasonic TV factory in South Wales; in 1933 the company founder Kōnosuke Matsushita established seven guiding commercial principles; the Fidelity TV factory in west London was given one year - 1988 - to turn its fortunes around or be closed; the factory's closure was announced to the workforce on 25 January 1988, with the site closing at the end of July 1988; Amstrad bought the Fidelity name in May 1988. Narrated by Alan Howard, directed by Patrick Uden, produced by Michael Proudfoot, made by Uden Associates 14 August How Good Is Soviet Science?, about the political inhibition of Soviet technology in the 1980s; in many ways the Soviet Union in 1987 was a backward and underdeveloped nation, with food queues; the Soviet system didn't respond to changes in demand - everything was planned years in advance; physicist Alexander Prokhorov, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1964; Russians were proud of mathematicians Pafnuty Chebyshev and Nikolai Lobachevsky; large government centrally planned projects were compatible with the communist system, notably its space programme; by the 1970s, the Russians realised that they were some distance behind other countries, such as in disciplines of computing and genetics; science teaching was emphasised at Soviet schools, and English was well taught as well; after secondary schools, half went into science; theoretical science was where Soviet teaching excelled, such as at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics; Yuri Ovchinnikov wanted to improve Soviet science; in the early 1950s, the Soviet Union tried to ignore the findings of genetics, through the work of Trofim Lysenko, who claimed that genetics was anti-communist, known as Lysenkoism leading to many scientists being imprisoned and executed; in the 1960s, a set of large biological research centres were built at Pushchino; one of the most well-built research institutes was the Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, for biotechnology; Stalin did not like computer science, and it was largely banned until 1958; the Soviets were always years behind in computer science; the first recognisable transistor Soviet computer was the BESM-6 in the 1960s; later computers were the ES EVM series, copied from the IBM System/360; the Akademgorodok (Academic City) in Novosibirsk; the Institute of Automation and Electrometry researched optical memory on holographic slides to and much work on lasers; collaboration between Soviet research and Soviet industry was long-winded, maybe almost impossible - the centrally planned Soviet industry could not sufficiently adapt for short-term changes, as it had to be monotonously planned years in advance, for mass production; Soviet government research was perhaps excellent nonetheless; not many Soviet scientists could travel to international conferences; dissemination of current worldwide science was limited throughout the Soviet Union, due to widespread government restrictions; Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067. Narrated by US technology historian Loren Graham, produced by Chris Durlacher, directed by Martin Smith, made by Uden Associates, NDR and WGBH. Shown on Nova on 17 November 1987 and 22 March 1988 21 August Toys for the Boys, about the Williams racing team; Graham Hill and Jim Clark in 1967; Tomorrow's World in 1967, narrated by Derek Cooper; journalist Peter Windsor of Williams; aerodynamicist Frank Dernie, head of research at Williams; Keith Botsford, motor racing editor of the Sunday Times; the German racing manager Alfred Neubauer, in the late 1930s; there were 18 F1 teams, with 7 being British; Mobil Oil paid Williams £2.5m for advertising on the cars of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese; the Williams FW11; racing driver Howden Ganley; part of a BBC Horizon documentary broadcast on 9 March 1981, featuring the Williams FW07, and likewise narrated by Martin Jarvis and produced by Patrick Uden; engineering director Sir Patrick Head; Bach Mass in B minor; Mike Hawthorn, was killed on a public road, the A3 Guildford bypass, in his Jaguar Mark 1 on 22 January 1959; Canadian Gilles Villeneuve was thrown from his Ferrari, when qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix; Swedish Ronnie Peterson, died after an accident on the start line at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix; Italian Elio de Angelis was killed in May 1986 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in south-east France; British Piers Courage burned to death at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix; Jim Clark hit a tree on 7 April 1968 at the 1968 Deutschland Trophäe in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg; German Jochen Rindt was killed at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix after winning the championship in the same year, which was awarded posthumously; Bach Mass in B minor; Frank Williams had a crash on 8 March 1986 in the south of France, with Peter Windsor, in a Ford Sierra, making him quadraplegic; the Williams wind tunnel; Alan Jones waving the British flag at the 1980 Grand Prix; the 1988 season Williams car had a Judd V8 engine; the closing fanfare of Les préludes by Liszt; the documentary ends with German military march Prussia's Glory. Narrated by Martin Jarvis, produced by Patrick Uden, made by Uden Associates 28 August Cold Spring, Morning Sun, about atomic physicist Joan Hinton and her husband Erwin Engst. Joan's mother was teacher Carmelita Hinton. Joan worked on the top secret Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1944 which produced the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Hagasaki in the summer of 1945. After the war, Joan, her brother Bill, and her husband Erwin (Sid) Engst travelled to China to join Mao Ze Dong and the cultural revolution. Over the next five decades, Joan and Sid became pioneers in Chinese agricultural science and technology. Narrated by Liza Goddard, written, produced and directed by Chris Haws, Made by InCA. 18 September Taking the Tunnel, who would be travelling through the Channel Tunnel; the tunnel would open in May 1993; Colin Kirkland, technical director of Eurotunnel; Roger Vickerman of the University of Kent; historian Corelli Barnett, and how France and Germany spent money after the war improving rail infrastructure; journalist Kathy Watson; a working model was built of the two Channel rail terminals; 90% of the tunnel went through chalk; the French end was built much more water-tight than the English end, due to the worse geology; the tunnel was around one mile long at the English end, to meet the French side in 1990; the Single Market would stop duty free sales on the Channel ferries; the former Night Ferry across the Channel, which operated until 30 October 1980; TGV Est would connect Bordeaux, and TGV Nord would connect to Germany, the Netherlands, with a spur to the new tunnel; Richard D. North; tolls on the autoroutes discouraged local traffic, which slowed down British motorways; Daniel Ghouzi of Transmanche; Martin Simmons of Kent County Council; A292 junction of M20; Corelli Barnett believed that the British civil service was best at fudging, whereas the French civil service had been trained differently at the French grandes ecoles; a VTG ship from Dover to Dieppe carried trains; freight journeys over 250 miles were most cost effective by rail, but did lack logistical flexibility at either end; Michael Barclay of Tiphook Rail; a distribution centre in Paddock Wood in Kent, built by the Spanish Transfesa; UIC gauge was the main European gauge for freight; Artura Boix of Transfesa; Richard Hope of Railway Gazette; British trains had a 25 tonne axle weight, more than the European 22 tonnes; early plans for the new Eurostar trains, which would be dual voltage for travelling in England and France; rail writer Geoffrey Freeman Allen; the French trains would leave from the Gard du Nord; customs checks would be at the British end in London, but not in France; British Rail planned a high speed line across Kent to open in 1998 from King's Cross, but it would not open until September 2003, and to London in November 2007; Roger Ford of Modern Railways. Narrated by Geoffrey Palmer, produced by Patrick Uden, directed by Paul Fabricius, made by Uden Associates 25 September Road Test about road transport in the UK; there were two million vehicles in the UK in 1930; a test drive would be conducted from The Point, Milton Keynes at 8.30am to Maidstone, by different routes - Mike McDonald of the University of Southampton and Margaret Bell of the University of Nottingham in a Volvo 850 would go across London, and Peter Bonsall and Howard Kirby of the University of Leeds in a Volkswagen Passat B3, would follow the M25 to the north of London, George Hazel of Napier College and John Wootten in a Ford Granada would follow the M25 south of London, and Martin J. H. Mogridge would take the train on the new Thameslink from Bedford railway station via Blackfriars Railway Bridge; the test would be directed from the Road Traffic Research Centre at Middlesex Polytechnic, with Chris Wright, Peter Hills from Newcastle University, and psychologist Ivan Brown from the Applied Psychology Unit (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit) in Cambridge; variable-message signs (VMS) on the M6; before joining the M25, the vehicles had an average speed of 50 mph; the early plans in the 1940s for the M25, which the M25 to the south and west of London, now largely follows; when the M25 needed to be built, in the 1960s, many environmental objections had arisen for it to be built; Russ Kane in Capital Radio's Flying Eye; David Marsh at the AA Roadwatch studio in north London; the ramp meter, installed on the M6 by John Wootten; all of London's traffic lights were controlled from a computer centre in Westminster, with software (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) developed by Dennis Robertson; the Volvo 850 enters London along the Edgware Road and Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner; the prototype Autoguide system invented by Ian Catling; automatic vehicle identification (AVI) and piezoelectric strips developed at the University of Nottingham Department of Civil Engineering, and tested by Peter Davies on the Nottingham ring road, next to the QMC; the Volkswagen Passat arrives first at the Great Danes Hotel, making the 107 miles in two hours seventeen minutes, an average speed of 47 mph; the route south of London - 119 miles, also has a 47 mph average speed; the 96-mile rail journey had an average speed of 35 mph; the programme content would be copied by Top Gear fifteen years later. Narrated by Martin Jarvis, produced by David Sharp, directed by Mike Tomlinson, made by Orlando Productions 9 October Look, No Hands! about technology outpacing human knowledge; Hubert Dreyfus of University of California, Berkeley; Martin Corbett, industrial psychologist at the University of Warwick; work by Mike Cooley, and systems design; mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor and his meticulous improvements to industrial methods, in his book The Principles of Scientific Management; John Harris, manager of the Rolls-Royce helicopter engine plant at Leavesden, Hertfordshire; perhaps automation in engineering manufacturing processes could perhaps add or enhance, rather than totally replace, which required and produced less directly competent workers. Produced by Debra Hauer, directed by Christopher Rawlence, made by Hauer Rawlence Productions 16 October Spytech, John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists and how the Space Shuttle was built mostly for low Earth orbit reconnaissance satellites; but the Titan 34D was also available for many spy satellite launches; Christopher Andrew of the University of Cambridge; Harry Rositzke of the CIA, and the disastrous Operation Red Sox, from 1949 to 1953; William Colby, Director from 1973 to 1976 of the CIA, and how spying methods that worked in Germany during World War II were simply hopeless in a possibly more bizarre culture of communist eastern Europe in the early 1950s, so Ferret missions by B-29 aircraft over the border were attempted instead, but many were shot down; the Americans decided to go for high-altitude reconnaissance; on 1 May 1960, an aircraft photographing a missile construction factory, pilot was sentenced to 10 years, but released after two years in exchange for Rudolf Abel; H. Keith Melton and notorious improvised technology of the KGB; the Russian defector Stanislav Levchenko; the burst transmission method; camera lenses for spy satellites made by Itek; the Space Shuttle was built to maintain and repair the Key Hole set of spy satellites, such as KH-11 KENNEN, launched by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 1976, and introduced digital photography, and EOSAT and its Landsat program; Jeffrey T. Richelson, a writer on national security; Major-General George Keegan of the Twenty-Fifth Air Force described how the Soviet Union got to know when spy satellites would be overhead, and would hide anything sensitive; listening satellites sent their data to the NSA at Fort Meade in Maryland, such as data from Magnum, launched by the secret STS-51-C mission in January 1985; Paul Bracken and all-source intelligence fusion; Soviet intelligence in the US was quite widespread, with up to 800 spies operating out of Soviet trade missions, and operated much more widespread than the US had attempted; the new KH-12 satellite, that launched in November 1992, could see through clouds. Narrated by Mike Short, produced by Claudia Milne, made by Twenty Twenty 23 October Bamboo, the importance of bamboo to the Chinese economy; Prof Hsiung Wenyue of the Bamboo Research Centre of Nanjing Forestry University; bamboo structures do not collapse in high winds; over a thousand species of bamboo; bamboo dies out for ten years, then grows again; only 15% of China can be cultivated; bamboo can grow four feet in 24 hours, it is the fastest growing plant; bamboo has a tensile strength twice as much as timber; hospitals in China worked with herbal remedies; bamboo traders had quotas set by the Chinese government; bamboo shoots were mostly exported to Japan; growing bamboo helped soil structure; the Chinese government encouraged the growing of bamboo, as an alternative to timber. Narrated by Jenny Agutter, produced by Michael Blakstad, directed by Patrick Fleming, made by Workhouse Productions, made in cooperation with China Central Television 30 October Heavy Metal, chemist Neil Ward of the University of Surrey, who found abnormal pregnancies; medical doctor Robin Russell-Jones of the Campaign for Lead Free Air; environmental chemist Brian Davies of the University of Bradford; footage from the 1971 BBC A Public Poison, with chemist Derek Bryce-Smith, and Patrick Lawther of St Bartholomew's Hospital; Gloria all'Egitto from Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, with the assembly line of the Rover 800; Robin Brundle; Eric Fountain of Vauxhall Motors; Ojos Criollos by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Narrated by Catherine Robins, produced by Michael Blakstad, made by Workhouse Productions 13 November Free Flight, about gliding, with Derek Piggott in a Rolladen-Schneider LS4 at Booker Gliding Centre in Buckinghamshire; in the UK there were about 350,000 flights and 2 deaths each year; a Schleicher ASW 24 in a wind tunnel with Loek Boermans at TU Delft Faculty of Aerospace Engineering in the Netherlands; the Schleicher ASH 25 with glider pilot John Jeffries at London Gliding Club west of Dunstable; at Wasserkuppe, a 3,000 ft mountain in the east of Hesse in the centre of Germany is where gliding mostly developed in the 1920s by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, due to German powered-aircraft manufacturing being legally restricted; nearby at Poppenhausen, Hesse is Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co, with designer Gerhard Waibel, where gliders had wings made from carbon fibre, and covered in kevlar for torsional stiffness; the first glider of a contemporary design was the Akaflieg Stuttgart fs24 in 1951. Narrated by Robert Gary 20 November Chaos, Tim Palmer of the ECMWF; mathematician Robert L. Devaney; German mathematician Heinz-Otto Peitgen and fractal geometry; strange attractors in dynamical systems, such as weather systems; David Rand of the University of Warwick, and period-doubling bifurcation, discovered in 1975 by mathematician Mitchell Feigenbaum discovered; fractal landscapes; British mathematician Michael Barnsley, and affine transformations, which are applied to digital image processing; the chaos game; Soviet physicist Lev Landau; physicist Harry Swinney of the University of Texas; economist James B. Ramsey; Ian Stewart of the University of Warwick, and the unpredictable rotation of Hyperion. Written, produced and directed by Chris Haws, the programme was made by Independent Communications Associates (InCA). In 1989, it won the SciTech Award for best scientific documentary. 27 November The Art of Deception, about camouflage, deception, decoys and stealth. The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit was first displayed on Tuesday 22 November 1988, just five days before the programme was aired. Featured interviewees include: Richard P. Hallion of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Peter Varnish of the Admiralty Research Establishment at Funtington in West Sussex; defence writer Antony Preston; Roy Behrens of the Art Academy of Cincinnati; Lt Col Chris Nash of Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Night Observation and Counter-surveillance (STANOC); Major William Marshak of the AAMRL - now the 711th Human Performance Wing; Captain Brian Perowne, commanding officer of HMS Brazen (F91); aviation writer Bill Sweetman, and Commander Patrick Walker, commanding officer of HMS Trafalgar (S107) a Royal Navy hunter-killer submarine; John Hall of the Admiralty Research Establishment (former Admiralty Experiment Works) at Haslar. Narrated by Nick Chilvers, Written, produced and directed by Chris Haws, made by InCA and WGBH Boston
=== Other === Some light hydrocarbons are used as aerosol sprays. Alkanes from hexadecane upwards form the most important components of fuel oil and lubricating oil. In the latter function, they work at the same time as anti-corrosive agents, as their hydrophobic nature means that water cannot reach the metal surface. Many solid alkanes find use as paraffin wax, for example, in candles. This should not be confused however with true wax, which consists primarily of esters. Alkanes with a chain length of approximately 35 or more carbon atoms are found in bitumen, used, for example, in road surfacing. However, the higher alkanes have little value and are usually split into lower alkanes by cracking.
In one study in aged men with prostate cancer, testosterone levels were initially suppressed by 70%, but increased to 50% of baseline levels between 6 and 12 months, remaining stable thereafter up to 24 months of therapy. The combination of progestogens like CPA with an estrogen is synergistic in terms of antigonadotropic effect, and is able to fully suppress gonadal testosterone production even with very small doses of the estrogen. One study found that 100 to 300 mg/day CPA combined with an "extremely low" dosage of diethylstilbestrol (0.1 mg/day), a nonsteroidal estrogen, suppressed testosterone levels into the castrate range (to 30 ng/dL) in men with prostate cancer. Discontinuation of diethylstilbestrol at 5 months resulted in a rapid 6-fold increase in testosterone levels (to 135 ng/dL) and then further (to almost 200 ng/dL) by 12 months. Another study likewise found that the combination of 160 mg/day oral megestrol acetate, a progestin closely related to CPA, with 0.5 to 1.5 mg/day oral estradiol suppressed testosterone levels into the castrate range in men with prostate cancer. A study by Fung and colleagues (2017) found no difference in suppression of circulating testosterone levels (~95% suppression) in transgender women by the combination of either 25 mg/day oral CPA or 50 mg/day oral CPA with a moderate dosage of oral or transdermal estradiol (mean 3.3 mg/day oral, 3.4 g/day gel, or 95.6 μg/day patches).
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Cell culture === One of the key advantages of droplet-based microfluidics is the ability to use droplets as incubators for single cells. In addition, droplets can be applied for studies on embryogenesis of animals and plants. Devices capable of generating thousands of droplets per second open new ways to characterize cell populations, not only based on a specific marker measured at a specific time point but also based on cells' kinetic behavior such as protein secretion, enzyme activity or proliferation. Recently, a method was found to generate a stationary array of microscopic droplets for single-cell incubation that does not require the use of a surfactant.
=== Principle and measurement methods === In the U.S., standard methods have been established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and another by U.S. OSHA. Each method uses a single component solvent; butanol and hexane cannot be sampled, however, on the same sample matrix using the NIOSH or OSHA method. VOCs are quantified and identified by two broad techniques. The major technique is gas chromatography (GC). GC instruments allow the separation of gaseous components. When coupled to a flame ionization detector (FID) GCs can detect hydrocarbons at the parts per trillion levels. Using electron capture detectors, GCs are also effective for organohalide such as chlorocarbons. The second major technique associated with VOC analysis is mass spectrometry, which is usually coupled with GC, giving the hyphenated technique of GC-MS. Direct injection mass spectrometry techniques are frequently utilized for the rapid detection and accurate quantification of VOCs. PTR-MS is among the methods that have been used most extensively for the on-line analysis of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs. PTR-MS instruments based on time-of-flight mass spectrometry have been reported to reach detection limits of 20 pptv after 100 ms and 750 ppqv after 1 min. measurement (signal integration) time. The mass resolution of these devices is between 7000 and 10,500 m/Δm, thus it is possible to separate most common isobaric VOCs and quantify them independently.
=== 5 January === Ten people were killed in an SAF airstrike in Khartoum. The SAF and the JDF claimed to have deflected an RSF assault on El Fasher that came from the east and southeast of the city. The JDF also intercepted a weapons convoy for the RSF, arresting both Sudanese and Libyan nationals.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Selank is a synthetic seven-amino-acid peptide modeled on tuftsin, a fragment of the immunoglobulin G heavy chain. It was designed in Russia to combine anxiolytic and immunomodulatory properties in one molecule.
The first four residues of Selank reproduce the tuftsin sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg. A Pro-Gly-Pro extension at the C-terminus was added to slow enzymatic breakdown and extend residence time.
It holds marketing authorization in Russia, where nasal drop formulations are sold. No equivalent approval exists in the European Union, the United States, or most other countries.
Sealed, desiccated storage at -20 °C or colder is the standard recommendation for research-grade material. Vials should reach room temperature before they are opened, which limits condensation. Repeated temperature cycling is discouraged.