MEDICINE:
Poly-NAG helps healing Many of the people who annually visit dentists for extractions—25 million extractions a year—may get a protective aftertreatment in the form of a gram of powdered calf cartilage in the socket to head off 2.5 million cases of a painful osteomyelitic bone infection called "dry socket." In later years, surgeons may use the powder to help close large incisions in many of 20 million operations performed yearly, thus cutting down on about 400,000 cases of wound disruption. Bandages, sutures, and sponges may be made from poly-NAG, spun like rayon. That's the picture that can be painted from data disclosed last week in New York City by Dr. John F. Prudden, associate professor of surgery at Columbia University. Studies indicate that AT-acetylglucosamine (NAG) polymers speed the healing of wounds. The powdered cartilage is made by Lescarden, Ltd., Goshen, N.Y., which expects to file a New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in about a year, covering dental uses. Also under development are injectable or ointment cartilage extracts and a wound-healing assist based on eggshells—they contain poly-NAG. Mucopolysaccharides, which contain hexosamines, are crucial in wound healing, says Dr. Prudden. Mere buildup of collagen protein at the wound does not give tensile strength, he points out, but needs
cross-linking with mucopolysaccharides. Cartilage is used as bone replacement in structural buildup in orthopedic surgery. Discovery of poly-NAG as active in wound healing came when the polymer was found in active fractions of saline cartilage extracts. Now that poly-NAG is pinpointed as the active component, Lescarden will screen many sources for the substance. Poly-NAG is a good part of the cell wall of Aspergillus niger, used in citric acid manufacture, and a good part of the exoskeletal material (chitin) of crayfish. In addition to serving as a surgical aid, cartilage extract treatment may give cosmetic improvement. Dr. Prudden thinks that subcutaneous injections function to build up dermis layers. He cites improvements in psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis patients lasting several months, which he ascribes to multiple subcutaneous extract injections. Wound closure with cartilage preparations helps make surgical procedures more cosmetically acceptable, he says. RESEARCH INSTITUTES:
Better design data Fifteen major chemical and engineering companies are charter members of a new joint research institute, Particulate Solid Research, Inc. PSRI is a nonprofit organization formed to satisfy the growing desire for better understanding of two-phase particle operations throughout the chemical,
Poly-NAG would make surgical procedures more acceptable
petroleum, and metallurgical industries. According to PSRI technical director Frederick A. Zenz the need for the institute stems from requirements for better design data for large operating units. Although many companies now perform engineering research in fluidization technology, none can consistently bring to bear the necessary expertise and facilities for short-term projects. University research is generally too slow for commercial purposes and is seldom aimed at the practical aspects of fluidized bed technology. PSRI is patterned after its predecessors in the fields of distillation (Distillation Research Institute) and heat transfer (Heat Transfer Research Institute). Each operating company member contributes $6000 per year for a three-year period. Nonoperating companies such as engineering contractors or equipment manufacturers contribute $4000 per year on the same basis. The members also provide one member each to the PSRI board of directors and to the technical advisory committee. Suggestions for projects to be carried out originate with and are reviewed by the technical advisory committee. In return the members have exclusive rights to the results obtained. Since its incorporation in July 1970, PSRI has been installing equipment and completing its staff in space rented from Manhattan College in New York City. Staffing is now complete with two full-time investigators, in addition to the technical director, and several clerical and technical assistants. Although PSRI rents space from Manhattan College, they have no formal association. Among the initial projects slated for completion is determination of fluid-bed grid characteristics in a vessel 25 feet high and 2 x 6 feet in cross section. A dozen other projects have been proposed dealing with such subjects as catalyst attrition, cyclone performance, pipeline conveying of solids, liquid injection into fluidized beds, dipleg design, bubble-size effects, and gas-solids contact. The chief emphasis in PSRI's activities will be placed on obtaining operating and design data for large beds. Small-scale laboratory units employing single bubbles have proved inadequate for commercial purposes. Dr. Zenz notes that some FEB. 22, 1971 C&EN
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Chemical world This week of the mistakes that have occasionally marked the history of fluidized solids technology are the result of failure to obtain data from a suitably large pilot unit. The charter members of PSRI are primarily chemical companies, such as Allied Chemical Corp. and Union Carbide, and engineering companies, such as C. F. Braun and Fluor Corp. Dr. Zenz expects a number of petroleum companies to join PSRI in the near future.
C&EX:
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Fred H. Zerkel
CANCER:
Controversial crusade The proposed crusade to find a cure for cancer could turn into a surprisingly controversial issue. Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., President Nixon's science adviser, has put the Administration on record in favor of keeping the proposed crusade in NIH. "We do not believe in an AEC or NASA for cancer/' he says, adding that "to isolate the cancer effort would prejudice the very outcome we seek." This puts the Administration at loggerheads with some influential scientists, Congressmen, and others who want the cancer effort out of NIH and into a separate, independent new cancer agency. A blue-ribbon National Panel of Consultants on the Conquest of Cancer recommended the separate agency approach to the Senate late last year. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) has introduced legislation to set it up. The American Cancer Society is for it. "It is the President's belief that having honed and sharpened our biomedical research mechanism, the National Institutes of Health, we should now use it . . ." Dr. David says. The problem of cancer straddles virtually all of the life sciences," he says, and any one or all of them will aid a final solution. Mr. Nixon proposed a national commitment to seek a cure for cancer in his State of the Union address, and said that he would ask for an extra $100 million in fiscal 1972 and in later years "for whatever additional funds can be effectively used." The President's proposal was largely prompted by the recommendations of 26-member National Panel of Consultants on the Conquest of Cancer, according to Administration sources. The same panel—formed by the Senate in April 1970—had earlier recommended to the Senate Committee 14
C&EN FEB. 22, 1971
Science adviser David
on Labor and Public Welfare an extensive program that would boost cancer research funding by up to $1 billion annually by 1976. Former Sen. Ralph Yarborough (D.-Tex.) introduced legislation to implement the panel's recommendations, but the 91st Congress expired without acting on it. Sen. Kennedy is in line to succeed Sen. Yarborough to the chairman's post on the Senate Subcommittee on Health, which will hold hearings on the proposals. At press time the committee had no firm idea when hearings might be held. Whatever the amount Congress eventually appropriates for cancer research, if the National Cancer Institute remains as the main federal agency supporting cancer research, then 80% of the money would go to investigators outside NCI; 20% would go to NIH institutes. DISINFECTION:
Quick process for water A new process that disinfects water quickly and without affecting its taste has been developed by two scientists at Kansas State University, Manhattan. Dr. Jack L. Lambert, a chemist, and Dr. Louis R. Fina, a microbiologist, have combined a triiodide disinfectant with ion exchange resin beads to form an insoluble combination that kills bacteria almost instantly, apparently by releasing free iodine on demand. The process is inexpensive, reliable, and safe, they say. "Because chlorine is so cheap, most people think of it as the best disinfectant," Dr. Lambert says, "but literature is accumulating to show that iodine and bromine kill bacteria more effectively."
The Kansas State scientists don't expect that their process will replace chlorine for uses such as treating municipal water supplies or public swimming pools. There, they note, the usual procedure is to over-chlorinate the water; the residual chlorine continues to protect the water for some time after treatment. With the Lambert-Fina process, the purified water is subject to immediate recontamination. "Our system will be most practical for water that is to be consumed immediately," Dr. Lambert says. He and Dr. Fina believe that the system would be especially useful in rural homes, to campers, to military service in the field, and, possibly, in hospitals. Because the disinfecting column is compact and easily recharged, it might be valuable on space flights, they add. There may also be industrial applications. Dr. Lambert notes that bacterial growth can be a problem when process water is recycled. The triiodide process could control the growth without the addition of possibly corrosive residual disinfectants. Flow rates have given no problems in laboratory experiments, and kill has been complete and almost instantaneous, even in water containing a million bacteria per millimeter. "Apparently nothing happens except that the bacteria are killed," Dr. Fina says. Bacteria tagged with radioactive tracers passed right through the column— but died along the way. The two scientists aren't even sure how the germicide works. Dr. Lambert thinks that a tiny amount of iodine is released as the bacteria pass through; however, he says, the amount is too small to detect with the conventional starch test. Dr. Lambert and Dr. Fina caution that no matter how well a thing works in the laboratory, it may not prove practical in actual use. However, patents have been applied for, and several commercial firms have expressed interest. Meanwhile, graduate students at Kansas State are testing the disinfectant column's effectiveness against various pathogenic watercontaminating bacteria. Five of the "most important" organisms, including Escherichia coli, have already been checked out. The students are also testing other combinations of resins and disinfecting materials.
