In archaic usage, the vapours (or vapors) is a mental, psychical, or physical state,[1] such as hysteria, mania, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, lightheadedness, fainting, flush, withdrawal syndrome, mood swings, or PMS in which a sufferer loses mental focus. Ascribed primarily to women and thought to be caused by internal emanations (vapours) from the womb, it was related to the concept of female hysteria. The word "vapours" was subsequently used to describe a depressed or hysterical nervous condition.[2]
vapours
Before the Victorian era, a variety of conditions which affected women were referred to as "a case of the vapours". A Treatise of Vapours or Hysterick Fits,[4] by John Purcell, published in 1707, describes the various conditions described as "vapours", with treatments.
While the inhalation of Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil (EO) is commonly approved for the treatment of mild respiratory infections, there is still a lack of data regarding the antimicrobial activity and chemical composition of its vapours. The antibacterial activity of the three T. vulgaris EOs against respiratory pathogens, including Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes, was assessed in both liquid and vapour phases using the broth microdilution volatilisation (BMV) method. With the aim of optimising a protocol for the characterisation of EO vapours, their chemical profiles were determined using two headspace sampling techniques coupled with GC/MS: solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and syringe headspace sampling technique (HS-GTS). All EO sample vapours exhibited antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 512 to 1024 μg/mL. According to the sampling technique used, results showed a different distribution of volatile compounds. Notably, thymol was found in lower amounts in the headspace-peak percentage areas below 5.27% (HS-SPME) and 0.60% (HS-GTS)-than in EOs (max. 48.65%), suggesting that its antimicrobial effect is higher in vapour. Furthermore, both headspace sampling techniques were proved to be complementary for the analysis of EO vapours, whereas HS-SPME yielded more accurate qualitative results and HS-GTS proved a better technique for quantitative analysis.
The present study was conducted to provide toxicological data on e-cigarette vapours of different e-cigarette brands and liquids from systems viewed as leaders in the e-cigarette market and to compare e-cigarette vapour toxicity to the toxicity of conventional strong high-nicotine cigarette smoke. Using an adapted version of a previously constructed cigarette smoke constituent sampling device, we collected the hydrophilic fraction of e-cigarette vapour and exposed human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to the mixture of compounds present in the vapour of 4 different single-use e-cigarettes, 6 different liquid vapours produced by the same refillable e-cigarette, and one e-cigarette with an exchangeable liquid cartridge. After incubation of cells with various concentrations and for various periods of time we analysed cell death induction, proliferation rates, the occurrence of intra-cellular reactive oxygen species, cell morphology, and we also measured e-cigarette heating coil temperatures. Overall, conventional cigarette smoke extract showed the most severe impact on endothelial cells. However, some e-cigarette vapour extracts showed high cytotoxicity, inhibition of cell proliferation, and alterations in cell morphology, which were comparable to conventional high-nicotine cigarettes. The vapours generated from different liquids using the same e-cigarette show substantial differences, pointing to the liquids as an important source for toxicity. E-cigarette vapour-mediated induction of oxidative stress was significant in one out of the 11 analysed vapours. There is a high variability in the acute cytotoxicity of e-cigarette vapours depending on the liquid and on the e-cigarettes used. Some products showed toxic effects close to a conventional high-nicotine cigarette. Liquid nicotine, menthol content, and the formation of acute intracellular reactive oxygen species do not seem to be the central elements in e-cigarette vapour toxicity.
In order to reveal potential cytotoxic effects of e-cigarette vapours from various liquids, we generated e-cigarette vapour extracts and exposed HUVECs to these vapours for 48 hours. These analyses showed that 5 (B/1, Cre2, Cre4, Cre5, Cre6) out of 11 e-cigarettes or e-liquids tested showed a statistically significant increase in cell death (see Fig 1A), two of them already at a lower concentration of 8% (Cre4 and Cre6). Another major finding of these analyses was that 3 (Cre2, Cre 5, Cre6) out of 6 liquids which were vaporized using the same system showed dramatic cytotoxic effects, and reached toxicity close to conventional strength high-nicotine cigarettes. Of interest is also that 2 (Cre5 and Cre6) of these 3 highly toxic liquids did not contain nicotine, but were flavoured with berry or herbal constituents. In this study also data for 24 hours were obtained. As these 24 hour data were similar to the results after 48 hours of incubation they are not shown. For detailed results of statistical analyses also see Table A in S1 File.
In a previous study we could show that conventional cigarette smoke extracts disrupt the vascular endothelial barrier function by breaking up cell-cell contacts and by inducting a collapse of the microtubule system, both leading to a detachment like phenotype [16]. In order to analyse the impact of e-cigarette vapour extracts on endothelial shape, cells were treated with vapour extracts of Cre2, Cre5, and Cre6. As can be seen in Fig 3, similar to conventional cigarette smoke extracts, also e-cigarette vapours cause significant morphological alterations in endothelial cells and disrupt the functional endothelial monolayer, represented by the controls (0%). Whereas high concentrations of vapour extracts are toxic to endothelial cells (see Fig 1), which leads to death induced detachment of cells, non- or slightly toxic concentrations (8%) also cause morphological changes which will certainly contribute to disease-induction by e-cigarette vapours.
Second, this study did not test for potentially mutagenic effects of e-cigarette vapours and did not test for possible microbiological contamination of liquids and vapours. Further, this study cannot provide data on long term adverse health effects of e-cigarette vapour, and its acute toxicity tests are limited to power of the assays and cell type used.
Abstract. Chemistry in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is controlled by complex processes of surface fluxes, flow, turbulent transport, and chemical reactions. We present a new model SOSA (model to simulate the concentration of organic vapours and sulphuric acid) and attempt to reconstruct the emissions, transport and chemistry in the ABL in and above a vegetation canopy using tower measurements from the SMEAR II at Hyytiälä, Finland and available soundings data from neighbouring meteorological stations. Using the sounding data for upper boundary condition and nudging the model to tower measurements in the surface layer we were able to get a reasonable description of turbulence and other quantities through the ABL. As a first application of the model, we present vertical profiles of organic compounds and discuss their relation to newly formed particles.
Abstract:Transmission of pathogens present in the indoor air can occur through aerosols. This study evaluated the efficacy of an evaporated mix of essential oils to reduce the numbers of culturable aerosolized coronavirus, bacterium and fungus. The essential oil-containing gel was allowed to vaporize inside a glass chamber for 10 or 20 min. Aerosols of a surrogate of SARS-CoV-2, murine hepatitis coronavirus MHV-1, Escherichia coli or Aspergillus flavus spores were produced using a collision nebuliser and passed through the essential oil vapours, then collected on a six-stage Andersen sampler. The six-stages of the impact sampler capture aerosols in sizes ranging from 7 to 0.65 µm. The number of culturable microbes present in the aerosols collected in the different stages were enumerated and compared to the number of culturable microbes in control microbial aerosols that were not exposed to the evaporated essential oils. After 10 and 20 min evaporation, the essential oils reduced the numbers of culturable aerosolized coronavirus by 48% (log10 reduction = 0.3; p = 0.002 vs. control) and 53% (log10 reduction = 0.3; p = 0.001 vs. control), respectively. The essential oils vaporised for 10 min, reduced the number of viable E. coli by 51% (log10 reduction = 0.3; p = 0.032 vs. control). The Aspergillus flavus spores were mostly observed in the larger aerosols (7.00 µm to 2.10 µm) and the essential oils vaporised for 10 min reduced the number of viable spores by 72% (log10 reduction = 0.6; p = 0.008 vs. control). The vapours produced by a gel containing naturally occurring essential oils were able to significantly reduce the viable numbers of aerosolized coronavirus, bacteria and fungal spores. The antimicrobial gel containing the essential oils may be able to reduce aerosol transmission of microbes when used in domestic and workplace settings.Keywords: aerosol; SARS-CoV-2 surrogate; essential oils; antimicrobial
There is clearly a need to develop a reliable, effective, and rapid IMA method for neoplastic tissue characterization with accuracy competitive with standard histological assessment that can guide resection in vivo and that improves quality in breast surgical oncology. The REIMS system or intelligent knife (iKnife), capable of providing intuitive feedback on real-time tissue characterisation at the point of dissection, offers a potential solution. Here, we test the hypothesis that malignant breast tissues exhibit different metabolic profiles compared to normal breast tissues, and that these changes can be exploited using REIMS. Finally, we demonstrate proof of concept that the iKnife method is capable of intra-operative analysis of electrosurgical vapours. 2ff7e9595c
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