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Materia medica
Published in Michael Stolberg, Gabrielle Falloppia, 1522/23–1562, 2023
In between and somewhat out of context, Falloppia once more offered his male students also a special piece of knowledge of potential personal interest. Having pointed out the emetic and laxative effects of chrysocolla, he added a brief remark on the special powers of borax officinalis: he told his students about a Tuscan physician who gave a scruple of powdered borax in a decoction of a warming substance such as matricaria or sabina (savin) to women who could not give birth. The medicine performed miracles, expelling the fetus within a short period of time, dead or alive. It must have been clear to everyone present that this kind of medicine could be very welcome, in case one of his students made an unmarried woman pregnant.49
Ultratrace Minerals
Published in Luke R. Bucci, Nutrition Applied to Injury Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, 2020
The most common boron compounds are boric acid and sodium borate (Na2B4O7̇10 H2O or borax). Boric acid and borates were widely used as food preservatives from the 1870s to the 1920s and greatly contributed to preventing even worse famines during World War I.1003 However, a study from the USDA in 1904 in which 500 mg B per day (as borax) was fed to humans reported disturbances in appetite and digestion.1003 This finding, coupled with known toxicity of borates when applied as an antibiotic to large areas of broken skin (from bums and open wounds), led to a worldwide ban on borates as a food preservative in the 1920s.1003 World War II saw a resurgence of boric acid used as a plentiful and inexpensive food preservative, as well as studies of effects of feeding large amounts of boron to animals, which exhibited toxicity. Once again, use of boron was banned in the 1950s.1003 Recently, boric acid powder has found widespread acceptance as a household insecticide.1004 In addition, the U.S. Department of the Interior has set an upper limit for boron in public water supplies at 1 μg/ml.1005
Touching and Being Touched
Published in Michael S. Margoles, Richard Weiner, Chronic PAIN, 2019
An alternative to intercourse is giving or getting a massage with warm oil or talcum powder. It is good to do this on a big towel, in order to avoid getting oil on bedclothes or carpeting. Another alternative is washing your partner’s feet. That’s right, feet. Put a basin of warm water on the floor in front of the chair your partner is sitting in; you can sit on the floor. Put your partner’s feet on a towel. Pick up one foot and hold it over the basin, and dribble warm water over it. Set it down, and work up a lather of soap on your hands. Wash your partner’s foot and spend time on each toe. Rinse the foot, and wrap it up in a towel. Do the other foot. Unwrap the first foot and wet it down again. Rub some 20 Mule Team Borax on the tough skin on the ball of the foot and on the heel in order to rub off some old used skin. Avoid rubbing Borax on the arch. Rinse off the Borax, and rub a little salt on the places where you rubbed the Borax. The salt gets into the tiny abrasions caused by the Borax and creates a pleasant tingling sensation. After the first foot has been Boraxed, rinsed, salted, rinsed, dried, and wrapped in a towel, it’s time to rub oil (baby oil or perhaps scented oil) into each foot. This foot-washing process should take a long time and gives plenty of opportunity to give or receive touch, depending upon whether you are the washer or the washee. It can be done in the most comfortable position a person with chronic pain is able to assume. The important thing is to give and get tender, caring touch, and the only way to find out if these alternatives are satisfying is to try them.
Assessment of consumer exposure to boron in cleaning products: a case study of Canada
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2021
Paul C. DeLeo, Sharon B. Stuard, Owen Kinsky, Christine Thiffault, Brittany Baisch
Boron-based ingredients, including boric acid, sodium perborate, and sodium borate (aka borax and sodium tetraborate decahydrate), are found in many consumer goods including household cleaning products such as all-purpose cleaners, laundry detergents, and stain removers (SDA 1998; HERA 2005; ATSDR 2010). Boric acid is added to liquid laundry detergents up to 2% concentration to stabilise the protease and other enzymes in the formulation (HERA 2005). Perborates have been used as non-chlorine bleaching agents in granular detergents (SDA 1998). In addition, sodium borate (sodium tetraborate decahydrate), which contains 11.3% boron, is recommended as a do-it-yourself cleaner around the home (Gibson and Turner 2015). Use of boron-containing ingredients in consumer products such as cleaning products has been the subject of regulatory concern because toxicity studies on boric acid and related compounds have demonstrated reproductive as well as developmental effects in animals at high doses (Ku et al. 1993; Murray 1995; EFSA ANS Panel 2013).
Boron’s neurophysiological effects and tumoricidal activity on glioblastoma cells with implications for clinical treatment
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 2019
Meric A. Altinoz, Gulacti Topcu, İlhan Elmaci
Accumulation and distribution of boron in dogs were studied by dosing fifteen dogs with boric acid (2 g/kg of body weight). After the animals were sacrificed, the average boric acid levels in the brain, liver, and fat were found as 1110, 910 and 260 ppm, respectively. The gray matter of the brain contained more boric acid than the white matter [8]. In an ischemia/reperfusion injury model of the spinal cord, borax treatment significantly alleviated edema, tissue damage and inflammation [6]. Borax-treated groups had lower activity of the xanthine oxidase and total oxidant levels and higher total antioxidant capacity in comparison to controls [6]. On the other hand, recent studies conducted by Russian researchers revealed higher blood boron levels in ischemic stroke patients and its correlation with inflammatory markers [24,25]. Nonetheless, further studies are necessary, whether boron is a criminal, innocent bystander or self defense molecule in stroke. Coban et al. demonstrated that malathion, an organophosphorus compound applied to rats lowered acetylcholinesterase and decreased antioxidant molecules including superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione in brain [26]. In the same model, boron administration blocked malathion-triggered oxidative injury, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduced the histopathological signs of brain damage [26].
Effects of boron-containing compounds on immune responses: review and patenting trends
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, 2019
Karla S. Romero-Aguilar, Ivonne M. Arciniega-Martínez, Eunice D. Farfán-García, Rafael Campos-Rodríguez, Aldo A. Reséndiz-Albor, Marvin A. Soriano-Ursúa
BCCs have been shown to act on inflammatory processes. Borax (3) has some effects on the inflammatory processes induced by herpesvirus inoculation [93]. In addition, boric acid (1) altered cytokine profiles in mice infected with Nematoda [94]; benzoxaboroles (4) (including some available for human use such as tavaborole and crisaborole) [95] and some boron-clusters exert double activity as antibiotic and anti-inflammatory modulators [96]. Boron-dipyrromethenes, also known as BODIPY (18) compounds, another BCC group originally designed as biomarkers, exhibit some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory activities [97]. Vaborbactam (19), a beta-lactamase inhibitor based on a pharmacophore of highly active cyclic boronic acid, is currently used as an antibiotic, and evaluation of this inhibitor and other BCCs has revealed some anti-inflammatory effects [87,98].