Pharmacist Blog about what I encounter and find useful/interesting

Anti-dandruff  Dandruff What is dandruff? Also called "roos" in dutch, are dead skin cells of the scalp, which are formed by a pathological process, caused by an acceleration of keratinization (also known as hyperkeratosis). These dead cells will stick to eachother, together with tallow these compounds of cells will form to the dandruff as we know it. In some cases, due to the tallow, these 'flakes' can look yellowy, vivacious. Most common cause is just a dry skin type, and by a yeast, living on the human skin, named Pityrosporum ovale (now known as  Malassezia globosa ). The exact mechanism how the yeast produces more dandruff is not fully known, but probably it's caused by a metabolisation of triglycerides into oleic acid. Fact is, reduce the yeast in population and dandruff will reduce significantly. N.B.: it has been proven that the colonization of the yeast is almost the double of normal population on people with more dandruff than other people. ...

Silverfingers  A week ago, we were working in the laboratory with bromhexine hydrochloride. Identification test on chlorides was performed according to the European Pharmacopoeia. This test includes the use of silver nitrate (AgNO3). Silver nitrate will form a white precipitation with chlorides if chlorides are present in the molecule (here: under the form of hydrochloride, HCl). AgNO3 + Cl- ---> AgCl  ↓  As a side note: the test is then proceeded washing the precipitation with water, and then adding ammonia. Ammonia will dissolve AgCl. Luckily for us, the test was positive. But, after the laboratory was finished, the next day I noticed grey / black small stains on my fingers. In the theory lessons, we've always seen that silver ions oxidize very easily forming a black/grey precipitation, metallic silver. Thus working with silver ions should be done in absence of light, which could catalyze the oxidation reaction. Ag+ --> Ag ↓ What happened was ...