Category: Gold

  • Saprolite

    Saprolite

    Saprolite is a chemically weathered rock. Saprolites form in the lower zones of soil profiles and represent deep weathering of the bedrock surface. In most outcrops, its color comes from ferric compounds. Deeply weathered profiles are widespread on the continental landmasses between latitudes 35°N and 35°S. Conditions for the formation of deeply weathered regolith include a topographically moderate relief flat enough to prevent erosion and to allow leaching of the products of chemical weathering. A second…

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  • Silicene is a two-dimensional allotrope of silicon, with a hexagonal honeycomb structure similar to that of graphene

    Contrary to graphene, silicene is not flat, but has a periodically buckled topology; the coupling between layers in silicene is much stronger than in multilayered graphene; and the oxidized form of silicene, 2D silica, has a very different chemical structure from graphene oxide. History Although theorists had speculated about the existence and possible properties of free-standing silicene, researchers…

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  • Leavell, B S. “Thomas Jefferson and smallpox vaccination.” Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association vol. 88 (1977): 119-27 and a few notes

    Little Turtle, mentioned in the main article, suffered gout and rheumatism before he died in 1812 Wikipedia says Little Turtle, who also met Washington and Adams, made two trips to Washington, D.C., in 1801–02 and 1809–09 to meet with President Jefferson. Little Turtle died on July 14, 1812, and had suffered from gout and rheumatism for some time. He was honored…

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  • Reactive arthritis aka Reiter’s syndrome

    Reportedly triggered by everything from food poisoning to bug bites to STDs to hormones (estrogen, relaxin) Mnemonic: Can't See, Can't Pee, Can't Climb a Tree

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  • Chrysiasis

    Chrysiasis

    Chrysiasis is a dermatological condition induced by the parenteral administration of gold salts, usually for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.  Such treatment has been superseded as the best practice for treating the disease because of “numerous side effects and monitoring requirements, their limited efficacy, and very slow onset of action”. Similar to silver, a gold preparation used parenterally for a long period may rarely…

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  • Cathepsin G

    Cathepsin G plays an important role in eliminating intracellular pathogens and breaking down tissues at inflammatory sites, as well as in anti-inflammatory response

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  • Acid phosphatase (systematic name phosphate-monoester phosphohydrolase (acid optimum)) is an enzyme that frees attached phosphoryl groups from other molecules during digestion

    Acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2, systematic name phosphate-monoester phosphohydrolase (acid optimum)) is an enzyme that frees attached phosphoryl groups from other molecules during digestion. It can be further classified as a phosphomonoesterase. It is stored in lysosomes and functions when these fuse with endosomes, which are acidified while they function; therefore, it has an acid pH optimum. This enzyme is present in many animal and plant…

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  • Sodium aurothiomalate aka gold sodium thiomalate

    Sodium aurothiomalate (INN, known in the United States as gold sodium thiomalate) is a gold compound that is used for its immunosuppressive anti-rheumatic effects. Along with an orally-administered gold salt, auranofin, it is one of only two gold compounds currently employed in modern medicine. Medical uses It is primarily given once or twice weekly by intramuscular injection for moderate-severe rheumatoid arthritis. It has also proven to…

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  • Thrombin

    Thrombin (fibrinogenase, thrombase, thrombofort, topical, thrombin-C, tropostasin, activated blood-coagulation factor II, blood-coagulation factor IIa, factor IIa, E thrombin, beta-thrombin, gamma-thrombin) is a serine protease, an enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the F2 gene. During the clotting process, prothrombin (coagulation factor II) is proteolytically cleaved by the prothrombinase enzyme complex to form thrombin. Thrombin in turn acts as a serine protease that converts soluble fibrinogen into insoluble strands of fibrin, as well as catalyzing many other coagulation-related reactions. History After the description…

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  • Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1)

    Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1)

    Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) or Prostaglandin E synthase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PTGES gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a glutathione-dependent prostaglandin E synthase. The expression of this gene has been shown to be induced by proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 1 beta (IL1B). Its expression can also be induced by tumor suppressor protein TP53, and may be involved in…

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  • Elastase

    In molecular biology, elastase is an enzyme from the class of proteases (peptidases) that break down proteins. In particular, it is a serine protease. Forms and classification Eight human genes exist for elastase: Family Gene symbol Protein name EC number Approved Previous Approved Previous chymotrypsin-like CELA1 ELA1 chymotrypsin-like elastase family, member 1 elastase 1, pancreatic EC 3.4.21.36 CELA2A ELA2A chymotrypsin-like elastase family, member 2A elastase 2A, pancreatic EC 3.4.21.71 CELA2B…

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  • β-Glucuronidases

    For α-glucuronidase, see alpha-glucuronidase. β-Glucuronidase β-Glucuronidase asymmetric unit showing active site residues Glu451, Tyr504, and Glu540, along with the potentially supporting Asn450 residue Identifiers Symbol GUSB NCBI gene 2990 HGNC 4696 OMIM 611499 RefSeq NM_000181 UniProt P08236 Other data EC number 3.2.1.31 Locus Chr. 7 q11.21 β-Glucuronidases are members of the glycosidase family of enzymes that catalyze breakdown of complex carbohydrates. Human β-glucuronidase is…

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  • Albumen prints and egg whites…all the rage back in the day…and a few other things

    Albumen prints and egg whites…all the rage back in the day…and a few other things

    The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was published in January 1847 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. It used the albumen found in egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper and became the dominant form of photographic positives from 1855 to the start…

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  • Thunderstones (and Touchstones) in Asian Tradition

    Thunderstones (and Touchstones) in Asian Tradition

    In Burma they are used as a cure and preventative for appendicitis. In Japan they cure boils and ulcers. In Malaysia and Sumatra they are used to sharpen the kris, are considered very lucky objects, and have been credited with being touchstones for gold. A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as slate or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a…

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  • Osteopontin (OPN)

    Osteopontin (OPN), also known as bone /sialoprotein I (BSP-1 or BNSP), early T-lymphocyte activation (ETA-1), secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1), 2ar and Rickettsia resistance (Ric), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SPP1 gene (secreted phosphoprotein 1). The murine ortholog is Spp1. Osteopontin is a SIBLING (glycoprotein) that was first identified in 1986 in osteoblasts. The family of non-collagenous proteins known as SIBLING proteins, standing for small integrin-binding ligand, N-linked glycoprotein, are components of the extracellular matrix of bone and dentin. Evidence shows that these proteins play key…

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  • Did WHO Study Conclude That Natural Blondes Are Likely To Be Extinct Within 200 Years? – Snopes

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gone-blonde/ Evidently these things or things very like them have been published (here and elsewhere) since at least the time of the Civil War. This quote is said to be from an article dated 1890: The girl with the golden tresses is doomed, and within six hundred years blondes will be extinct. The fate of…

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