Study objective: Atropine is the preferred antidote for immediate management of toxicity associated with nerve agents or other cholinergic syndromes. A large-scale exposure to a nerve agent or organophosphate insecticide might result in many victims presenting for care within a short period of time. This situation would require the prompt availability of a large amount of atropine to provide treatment. Antidote stocks at many hospitals are inadequate to meet this demand. Atropine that is commercially available comes supplied at concentrations of either 0.4 mg/mL or 1 mg/mL, thereby requiring intravenous administration because of the volume necessary to administer the commonly recommended initial dose of 2 to 6 mg. Moderately ill victims may not require an intravenous line for other care, and in the setting of overwhelmed resources, intramuscular administration is faster and easier to perform.Methods: To facilitate the delivery of larger atropine doses, we developed a method of fortifying existing injectable atropine with bulk pharmaceutical-grade atropine powder to a concentration of 2 mg/mL, thereby increasing the amount available and facilitating its intramuscular administration. An independent analysis of the resulting formulation was undertaken to assess its potency, absence of pyrogens, and stability.Results: The amount of atropine initially present varied by less than 5%, within the range allowed by the US Pharmacopeia for the original product. The product was pyrogen free and maintained its potency at refrigeration temperature for at least 8 weeks after preparation and at room temperature for 4 weeks. Once all materials were available, the compounding of this preparation required about 1 hour to complete.Conclusion: Existing atropine stocks can be readily augmented by fortification with powdered atropine accurately and inexpensively. Common pharmaceutical guidelines recommend refrigeration for compounded products such as this if not completely used within 28 days.

Vermicomposts, which are produced by the fragmentation of organic wastes by earthworms, have a fine particulate structure and contain nutrients in forms that are readily available for plant uptake. In greenhouse trials, the growth of marigold and tomato seedlings, in a commercial horticultural potting medium (Metro-Mix 360), was enhanced significantly upon substitution of Metro-Mix 360 with 10% or 20% vermicomposted pig solids or vermicomposted food wastes, when all required nutrients were supplied. Same enhancement in marigold and tomato seedlings' growth occurred also upon substitution of Metro-Mix 360 with composted biosolids, but not with leaf compost. The shoot dry weights of raspberry plants, grown in a mineral soil mixed with vermicomposted pig wastes weighed more than those grown in unfertilized control soil, and were as great as those in soil receiving a complete fertilizer treatment. By comparison, raspberry shoot growth in soils amended with yard, leaf or bark composts, was poorer than that in the unfertilized control soil. Amending the soil with 4% chicken manure compost killed most of the raspberry plants. However, plant mortality was reduced and growth restored when the chicken manure compost was mixed with vermicomposted pig solids, but not with bark or yard composts. Plant growth in soils containing a mixture of chicken manure compost with 20% vermicomposted pig wastes was similar to that of plants grown in the unfertilized control. Our results showed that vermicomposts have the potential for improving plant growth when added to greenhouse container media or soil. However, there seem to be distinct differences between specific vermicomposts and composts in terms of their nutrient contents, the nature of their microbial communities, and their effects on plant growth.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTNitration Studies. XVII. Conversion of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives to NitroalkanesG Bachman and Theodore BiermannCite this: J. Org. Chem. 1970, 35, 12, 4229–4231Publication Date (Print):December 1, 1970Publication History Published online13 August 2002Published inissue 1 December 1970https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jo00837a618https://doi.org/10.1021/jo00837a618research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views303Altmetric-Citations16LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose Get e-Alerts