Inhalant properties classes

The inhalational anesthetics can be divided into two classes based on their physical properties. N2O and cyclopropane are gases at room temperature and are supplied in gas tanks that are regulated by the anesthesia machine. The others are liquids that are volatile following the application of low heat, which is supplied by a vaporizer attached to the anesthesia machine. The halo-genated hydrocarbons are among the most potent volatile anesthetics. 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons represent a class of compounds of great environmental concern due to their suspected mutagenic and carcinogenic properties [42-47]. Unease over the potential adverse health effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is evident in the recent inclusion of P6 polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the Environmental Protection Agency s priority contaminates list. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contaminates pose several potential health risks due to the persistence of these compounds in the environment [48,49], their tendency to strongly bind to soil surfaces [50-52], and their presence in a wide variety of common media (air, dust, soil and food) [53]. Possible risks are associated with skin contact, inhalation or ingestion of contaminated dust, soil, or air, and ingestion of contaminated food. 

Whereas NSAIDs have both anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties and are used for a variety of aches and pains of muscles and joints, the steroidal anti-inflammatory agents are not analgesic. Members of this class are used by oral administration, by topical application to the skin and eye and by inhalation to the lung. Figure 4.18 shows the structures of several such drugs. Cortisone (Roussel, 1952) and hydrocortisone (Pfizer, 1954) were first obtained by isolation from adrenal glands and shown to have powerful anti-... 

In both its liquid and gaseous form, chlorine is neither flammable nor explosive. It currently is classified as a poison or toxic gas, class 2.3, which requires a subsidiary corrosive label. In Canada, it is classified as a corrosive gas, class 2.3. Its principal hazard arises from inhalation. The Chlorine Institute s Chlorine Manual describes chlorine s physiological effects, chemical characteristics, and physical properties. It also includes information on employee training for proper handling and protection when using chlorine [11]. Additional information on chlorine, including exposure limits, can be found in the monograph in Part II. 

Psychotropic compounds, such as caffeine and nicotine, can exist in air as a result of their release in tobacco smoke or when certain drugs or essences are inhaled as vapors. These psychotropic substances belong to various classes of organic compounds with different physico chemical properties and different routes of release into the environment, so they may exist in the gaseous or asparticulates and as native compounds or derivatives. For instance, nicotine is mostly gaseous when it is a free base, but combines with tobacco smoke particles when in acidic form (Liang and Pankow, 1996). Cocaine and heroin in the atmosphere presumably exist mainly as solid particulates (Dindal et al., 2000 Cecinato and Balducci, 2007). 

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