Irritating agents

Irritant contact dermatitis is not the result of an immunologic process, but rather occurs from direct injury to the skin. An irritating agent comes into contact with the skin, damages the protective layers of the epidermis and can cause erythema, the formation of vesicles, and pruritus.25,29,30 Symptoms occur within minutes to hours of exposure and begin to heal soon after removal of the offending substance.27... 

Casualties will usually recover unassisted from exposure to irritating agents within 15 minutes after removal from the contaminated atmosphere. Most patients can be discharged safely. Rarely a patient with significant respiratory findings may merit admission. 

Ballantyne and Swanston developed a laboratory procedure to measure the threshold concentrations of CS that produced sensation in the human eye and tongue, to compare various irritant agents. Threshold concentrations of CS were also measured in the rabbit and guinea pig with blepharospasm as the criterion of ocular response. 

It is a noninflammable, non-irritant agent and chemically related to ether. Induction with this agent is smooth and rapid. The respiratory, hemodynamic and other changes caused by desflurane are similar to those of isoflurane. This agent is undergoing clinical trial. 

This is also a new compound and undergoing clinical trial. It is noninflammable, non-irritant agent. It produces more rapid induction and termination of anaesthesia than observed with other inhalational agents. The respiratory and circulatory effects of sevoflurane resemble those of isoflurane. 

Gray Ammunition containing toxic or irritant agents. Presence of Bestalles hos KATF/TFB, Stockholm 80, 1960... 

There are also chemicals that can generate corrosive or irritant agents, when reacting with other species such as water. They could be called pro-irritant or pro-corrosive agents. For instance, it is the case of titanium s salts (See Sect 3.4.3.1, Figs. 3.65), bore, silane, alkyl aluminium, isocyanates, or Lewis acid (Figs. 3.16 and 3.17). 

Photochemical air pollution in the troposphere results from a complex interplay between sunlight and primary air pollutants emitted in ambient air that leads to the formation of ozone and other oxidizing and cye-irritaling agents. On the other hand, pollutants injected into the stratosphere by such human activities as supersonic transports (SST s) and release ofchlorofiuoro-methancs in air by their use as aerosol propellants and refrigerants may eventually reduce the protective layer of ozone from harsh solar ultraviolet radiation. Although the full impact of injected air pollutants in the stratosphere is not apparent at present, various model calculations show conclusively that the continuous future release of chlorofluoromethanes and NO (NO and N02) would result in substantial reduction of ozone in the stratosphere. 

Ocular damaging and irritant agents can be identified and evaluated by the Draize rabbit test [114]. However, more recently this test has been criticized on the basis of ethical considerations and unreliable prognosis of human response. Alternative methods such as the evaluation of toxicity on ocular cell cultures have been recommended and are being indicated as promising prognostic tools [115-120]. Direct confocal microscopic analysis [121], hydration level of isolated corneas [122], and various other tests on isolated corneas or animal eyes have also been proposed for evaluation of ocular toxic effects. 

Irritant agents used in the treatment of constipation include cascara sagrada, castor oil, senna, rhubarb, phenolphthalein, and acetphenolisatin. Phenolphthalein is a constituent of many over-the-counter preparations, including Corrected , Ex-Lax , and Feen-A-Mint . Most of these agents, with the exception of castor oil, are slow in their onset of action (24 h). 

All irritant agents, regardless of their special physiological a< (ioii. have an inloicrabk limit, which meatus the maximum concentration that uu man can endure without physical inca >acilatton, for the... 

Tin intolerable limits for the majority of irritant agent. detennimsl by investigators in different countrie.s are in much closer agre< ment than loxieity detenniuations, most of the differences being well within experimental < n or. 

From what has been said above, it is evident that high toxicity, while an important factor, does not solely determine the utility of warfare gaintrinsic toxicity becomes extremely cff( etive when not countered by the protection of the gas mask, so that some sacrifice of toxicity value is clearly warranted if this ser es to circumvent or increase the burden of protection. Thus, forcing the enemy to mask frequently becomes an end in itself, which is attained positively and most efficiently by the irritant non lethal gases. 

The principal respiratory-irritant agents, in order of their chrono-l>ii icnl apjK nrance in the World War, were ... 

Habitual, usually secretive, abuse of laxatives is much more common in women than in men and there is overlap with the anorectic/bulimic sjmdrome. Abuse of irritant agents such as senna and cascara have been the commonest varieties (SED-10, 704), but many proprietary laxatives have been abused. Abuse can lead to a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea, hjq)okalemia, and fluid depletion. The features also include hjq)omagnesemia, hjq)ocalcemia, and hjq)oalbuminemia, with thirst, lassitude, weight loss, edema, and occasionally osteomalacic bone pain and clubbing. In one small series of cases of laxative abusers, pseudo-Bartter s syndrome was induced the com-phcations included confusion, convulsions, muscle weakness (with or without paralysis or rhabdomyolysis), and... 

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