Impure pills

Methamphetamine can also come in the form of colored pills or tablets (Figure 2.2), which many users consider safer than raw powder because they are less likely to be laced with contaminants. However, pill and tablet forms of methamphetamine often do contain impurities. These forms often produce less of a rush (the immediate pleasurable feeling produced by a drug) compared to when the drug is injected or smoked. This is because the pills must be absorbed through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract prior to entering the bloodstream and subsequently the brain. 

Despite being in pill form, Ecstasy tablets often contain impurities that can be toxic and cause serious adverse reactions. Such impurities may include other amphetamine derivatives,... 

That s quite a claim for the little pill that was concocted in 1897 by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working for the Bayer company in Germany. While Hoffmann did synthesize the first commercial sample of acetylsalicylic acid, as aspirin is known generically, he wasn t the first to produce the substance in the laboratory. That honor goes to Karl Friedrich Gerhardt, who, in 1853 at Montpellier University in France, concocted an impure version with an eye towards improving on the effects of salicylic acid, a commonly used painkiller. At the time salicylic acid was extracted from the leaves of the meadowsweet plant and used for the treatment of fevers and pain, particularly of the arthritic variety. But it had to be taken in... 

The variance explained in the raw data reconstruction is 96.6%. The distribution maps match qualitatively the expected trend of relative abundance of major compounds according to the nominal content in the different pills, and they show the heterogeneity in the compound distribution of both excipient and active compound along the surface of the different pills. In each pill, the contribution of each compound in each pixel is straightforwardly obtained from the distribution maps of the pure compounds. The degree of overlap among compounds and, therefore, the chemical complexity of the sample, is locally known. The resolution results confirm the need to include a third compound to describe the composition of the pills, which appears with a very distinct spectral shape. The modeling and location of this impurity is successfully achieved, even for the pills where this compound is present in a very low proportion. 

Although these pills were supposed to be formed by two constituents, a FSIW-EFA analysis detected the presence of a third compound (impurity) in some cases [65]. According to the theoretical composition of the piU and to the local rank analysis, information on the presence/absence of constituents in the different images could be introduced in the multi-image resolution process. From the pure spectra resolved and the distribution maps in Figure 2.17, the positive influence of the pill with the largest amount of impurity was noticeable when this compound was modeled in pills where it was present in very few pixels only. 

Most fibres made from regenerated cellulose such as viscose, lyocell, and Celsol are characterised by stiffness as well as a fuzzy and uneven surface that makes fabrics susceptible to pilling, even over a short period of use. In order to modify the surface properties of cellulosic fibres and fabrics and to improve their quality biotechnological approaches based on specialised enzymes are widely used. Finishing processes, employing cellulases and xylanases, can replace a number of mechanical and chemical operations, which have been applied until now to improve comfort and quality of fibres and textiles. The principle of enzyme action in the finishing process is controlled hydrolysis of cellulose, in which impurities and fuzz are removed from the surface of fibres, without decreasing their mechanical tenacity or the elasticity of the fabric. 

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