UK thalidomide survivors get new grant

The government announced today that a new pot of money has been put aside to help Thalidomide survivors in the UK. It is though that this will be used towards meeting their health needs into their old age, after previous grants have been used to adapt homes and fund the primary care of Thalidomide victims.

New £80 million grant for thalidomide survivors

As you may know already, the drug was dispensed as a morning sickness suppressant in the late 1950's and early 1960's before concerns were raised about an unusual spate of birth defects. Thalidomide has strong sedative properties and many women in the early weeks of pregnancy had taken it to ease their morning sickness, utterly unaware that its effect on the unborn child could be teratogenic (it interfered with embryonic development). The drug was withdrawn in 1961, but not before almost 10,000 babies were affected, often born with shortened, missing or mutated limbs, many of whom were too badly damaged to survive for long. Despite this, it took the makers of the drug over 50 years to make a formal apology.

Thalidomide maker issues apology

Research into Thalidomide and its uses continues today, and it has been proven to be effective in the treatment of certain cancers and leprosy, but the fact that it causes birth defects means that for women its use remains risky and controversial.

What happened to the Thalidomide babies?

Thalidomide has just one chiral atom and so exists as two enantiomers (see diagram above). Notice that two of the groups attached to the chiral centre are part of the same ring structure. They are classified as two different groups, since moving around from the chiral centre the order of atoms is different each way. Laboratory tests after the Thalidomide disaster showed that in some animals the 'S' enantiomer was teratogenic but the 'R' isomer was an effective sedative. It is now known that even when a stereo selective sample of Thalidomide (only one of the optical isomers) is created, enzymes in the body will convert it into a racemic mixture. The means that both enantiomers are formed in a roughly equal mix in the blood. At the time Thalidomide was dispensed as a racemic medication, but even if a drug of only the 'R' isomer had been created, the disaster would not have been averted. 

christmas warning

Now, I don't want to get technical or anything either, but alcohol isn't a solution kids. Ethanol, in its pure form, is a liquid compound. However, if we drank it like that we would most probably go blind and very quickly need another liver.

I guess the board is correct in some respects though, since the ethanol content in most alcoholic beverages varies from 4 or 5% for your typical beers, about 12% for wine, up to 40% for spirits like whiskey and brandy. And then there's absinthe, that mental people drink. The rest is made up of mainly water and assorted flavourings and other dissolved chemicals, thereby making alcoholic drinks the aforementioned 'solution'.

Thanks to Aidan Scarby for sending me the picture.

scottish firework accident

A display in Scotland went wrong on Bonfire Night after a stray rocket set off over £1000 pounds worth of remaining unused fireworks. Check out the video on the link below.

freak firework accident

Luckily no-one was seriously hurt in the ensuing mayhem, although there was a report of minor damage to a local haggis. Mel Gibson was unavailable for comment.

liquid nitrogen cocktails

 

Looks exciting, but one young girl nearly paid with her life at the weekend after drinking a cocktail containing liquid nitrogen whilst out celebrating her 18th birthday. The phenomenon is becoming increasingly popular in trendy bars but the incident that led to her stomach being removed in an emergency procedure has raised issues over the wisdom of such behaviour.

The girl was with friends at Oscar's wine bar in Lancaster city centre when she began to feel ill, becoming breathless and developing severe stomach pain. She was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with a perforated stomach and surgeons operated immediately to save her life. Lancashire police said: "Medical opinion is that this would have proved fatal had the operation not been carried out urgently." Doctors stated that they had no option but to remove her entire stomach.

An investigation is taking place into the circumstances of how she was given the drink. Once added to alcohol, liquid nitrogen makes the drink appear surrounded by a cloud of white or grey vapour as the liquid boils. In a statement, Oscar's wine bar said it was "tremendously concerned" about the girl and sent its best wishes to her family. Last month, the bar posted a photograph on its Facebook page of a cocktail which contained liquid nitrogen and champagne, and was being sold for £8.95.

Police said the bar had ceased selling all liquid nitrogen cocktails following the incident and had co-operated with all the agencies. The investigation is in its early stages and officers are still interviewing witnesses to establish the facts. Liquid nitrogen, which boils at −196 °C, has become common as a method for flash freezing food or drinks and creating a dramatic vapour cloud. It is stored and transported in vacuum flasks, but can cause severe internal damage if it is ingested.

bbc news report

the dark side of liquid nitrogen cocktails

fuels

Messing about with Year 10 for our C1 module, all about the atmosphere and fuels. A couple of good fuels here, firstly hydrogen. Very explosive, which in addition to it being a gas makes transport and storage of the fuel a challenge. However, the combustion of hydrogen results in no carbon emissions, with the only product of the reaction being water.

2 H₂  +  O₂   →  2 H₂O

Secondly methanol, a very flammable alcohol. Alcohols have the distinct advantage of being renewable fuels which can be produced from the fermentation of sugars or biomass. This means that although they will still produce carbon dioxide as they burn, they are a much more sustainable form of energy when compared to traditional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.

2 CH₃OH  +  3 O₂  →  2 CO₂  +  4 H₂O

Thanks to Josh for sending both videos in.

ping pong

You may have seen the video (elsewhere on this site) of me using liquid nitrogen to make a rather crude bomb from a plastic bottle and a bin full of water. In fact, I may have even demonstrated it live for you on the all weather pitch.

However, in the video below a Plymouth University Professor has had a fine idea and has taken it one step further.

I'm now saving up for 1500 ping pong balls.

the history of molecules

Here's a link to a new part of the RSC website that Mr Bach put me on to. It's a set of short podcasts that gives a brief history of some well known, and in many cases controversial compounds, eg. TNT, nitrous oxide, kevlar and many recreational drugs such as cocaine and LSD.

history of molecules 

Each week a leading scientist or author tells the story behind a different compound or molecule.

They can be played online or downloaded as podcasts. And they're pretty good.


The RSC have a similar set of podcasts for the elements in the periodic table as well.

history of elements 

13A class photo

Thanks to Holly for sending the photo in. One are two of the group were unsurprisingly absent for this which is a bit of a shame but not any real surprise (I'm talking to you Moosa and friends), but I guess you get what you deserve in the end. I also pleased to report that three of you pictured here also scored higher than Maria Imran on your CHEM5 paper, and she well needs to get out more as I've told her on numerous occasions. Congratulations.

Thanks for the good company and (mainly) hard work. It's been a pleasure. Best of luck for the future.

redox equilibria

If you need some answers for the predicting redox reactions worksheet you have used in class you can find them here.

predicting redox reactions worksheet

predicting redox reactions answers