SulfonesPenicillanic Acid: A building block of penicillin, devoid of significant antibacterial activity. (From Merck Index, 11th ed)Dapsone: A sulfone active against a wide range of bacteria but mainly employed for its actions against MYCOBACTERIUM LEPRAE. Its mechanism of action is probably similar to that of the SULFONAMIDES which involves inhibition of folic acid synthesis in susceptible organisms. It is also used with PYRIMETHAMINE in the treatment of malaria. (From Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p157-8)Organic Chemistry Phenomena: The conformation, properties, reaction processes, and the properties of the reactions of carbon compounds.Sulfoxides: Organic compounds that have the general formula R-SO-R. They are obtained by oxidation of mercaptans (analogous to the ketones). (From Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 4th ed)Molecular Structure: The location of the atoms, groups or ions relative to one another in a molecule, as well as the number, type and location of covalent bonds.Sulfonamides: A group of compounds that contain the structure SO2NH2.Stereoisomerism: The phenomenon whereby compounds whose molecules have the same number and kind of atoms and the same atomic arrangement, but differ in their spatial relationships. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)beta-Lactamases: Enzymes found in many bacteria which catalyze the hydrolysis of the amide bond in the beta-lactam ring. Well known antibiotics destroyed by these enzymes are penicillins and cephalosporins.Structure-Activity Relationship: The relationship between the chemical structure of a compound and its biological or pharmacological activity. Compounds are often classed together because they have structural characteristics in common including shape, size, stereochemical arrangement, and distribution of functional groups.Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers: Compounds that contain two halogenated benzene rings linked via an OXYGEN atom. Many polybrominated diphenyl ethers are used as FLAME RETARDANTS.United States Government Agencies: Agencies of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT of the United States.Nisin: A 34-amino acid polypeptide antibiotic produced by Streptococcus lactis. It has been used as a food preservative in canned fruits and vegetables, and cheese.Judgment: The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation.Reference Standards: A basis of value established for the measure of quantity, weight, extent or quality, e.g. weight standards, standard solutions, methods, techniques, and procedures used in diagnosis and therapy.National Institutes of Health (U.S.): An operating division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It is concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to health and medical research. Until 1995, it was an agency of the United States PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.Polybrominated Biphenyls: Biphenyl compounds which are extensively brominated. Many of these compounds are toxic environmental pollutants.Manufactured Materials: Substances and materials manufactured for use in various technologies and industries and for domestic use.Facility Regulation and Control: Formal voluntary or governmental procedures and standards required of hospitals and health or other facilities to improve operating efficiency, and for the protection of the consumer.United States Food and Drug Administration: An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc.Cosmetics: Substances intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body's structure or functions. Included in this definition are skin creams, lotions, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, eye and facial makeup preparations, permanent waves, hair colors, toothpastes, and deodorants, as well as any material intended for use as a component of a cosmetic product. (U.S. Food & Drug Administration Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Office of Cosmetics Fact Sheet (web page) Feb 1995)Investigational New Drug Application: An application that must be submitted to a regulatory agency (the FDA in the United States) before a drug can be studied in humans. This application includes results of previous experiments; how, where, and by whom the new studies will be conducted; the chemical structure of the compound; how it is thought to work in the body; any toxic effects found in animal studies; and how the compound is manufactured. (From the "New Medicines in Development" Series produced by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and published irregularly.)Drug Industry: That segment of commercial enterprise devoted to the design, development, and manufacture of chemical products for use in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, disability, or other dysfunction, or to improve function.Quality Control: A system for verifying and maintaining a desired level of quality in a product or process by careful planning, use of proper equipment, continued inspection, and corrective action as required. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)Vinyl CompoundsCysteine Proteinase Inhibitors: Exogenous and endogenous compounds which inhibit CYSTEINE ENDOPEPTIDASES.Indicators and Reagents: Substances used for the detection, identification, analysis, etc. of chemical, biological, or pathologic processes or conditions. Indicators are substances that change in physical appearance, e.g., color, at or approaching the endpoint of a chemical titration, e.g., on the passage between acidity and alkalinity. Reagents are substances used for the detection or determination of another substance by chemical or microscopical means, especially analysis. Types of reagents are precipitants, solvents, oxidizers, reducers, fluxes, and colorimetric reagents. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed, p301, p499)Patents as Topic: Exclusive legal rights or privileges applied to inventions, plants, etc.Vinyl Chloride: A gas that has been used as an aerosol propellant and is the starting material for polyvinyl resins. Toxicity studies have shown various adverse effects, particularly the occurrence of liver neoplasms.Cysteine Endopeptidases: ENDOPEPTIDASES which have a cysteine involved in the catalytic process. This group of enzymes is inactivated by CYSTEINE PROTEINASE INHIBITORS such as CYSTATINS and SULFHYDRYL REAGENTS.Encyclopedias as Topic: Works containing information articles on subjects in every field of knowledge, usually arranged in alphabetical order, or a similar work limited to a special field or subject. (From The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983)Alkenes: Unsaturated hydrocarbons of the type Cn-H2n, indicated by the suffix -ene. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed, p408)Sulfides: Chemical groups containing the covalent sulfur bonds -S-. The sulfur atom can be bound to inorganic or organic moieties.Sulfur: An element that is a member of the chalcogen family. It has an atomic symbol S, atomic number 16, and atomic weight [32.059; 32.076]. It is found in the amino acids cysteine and methionine.MedlinePlus: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE service for health professionals and consumers. It links extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other reviewed sources of information on specific diseases and conditions.Prostaglandins A, Synthetic: Analogs or derivatives of prostaglandin A that do not occur naturally in the body. They do not include the product of the chemical synthesis of hormonal PGA.Flame Retardants: Materials applied to fabrics, bedding, furniture, plastics, etc. to retard their burning; many may leach out and cause allergies or other harm.Hydrocarbons, BrominatedSolvents: Liquids that dissolve other substances (solutes), generally solids, without any change in chemical composition, as, water containing sugar. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Foramen Ovale, Patent: A condition in which the FORAMEN OVALE in the ATRIAL SEPTUM fails to close shortly after birth. This results in abnormal communications between the two upper chambers of the heart. An isolated patent ovale foramen without other structural heart defects is usually of no hemodynamic significance.Membrane Lipids: Lipids, predominantly phospholipids, cholesterol and small amounts of glycolipids found in membranes including cellular and intracellular membranes. These lipids may be arranged in bilayers in the membranes with integral proteins between the layers and peripheral proteins attached to the outside. Membrane lipids are required for active transport, several enzymatic activities and membrane formation.Marketing: Activity involved in transfer of goods from producer to consumer or in the exchange of services.Research Report: Detailed account or statement or formal record of data resulting from empirical inquiry.Polymers: Compounds formed by the joining of smaller, usually repeating, units linked by covalent bonds. These compounds often form large macromolecules (e.g., BIOPOLYMERS; PLASTICS).Industry: Any enterprise centered on the processing, assembly, production, or marketing of a line of products, services, commodities, or merchandise, in a particular field often named after its principal product. Examples include the automobile, fishing, music, publishing, insurance, and textile industries.Foundations: Organizations established by endowments with provision for future maintenance.Dietetics: The application of nutritional principles to regulation of the diet and feeding persons or groups of persons.Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas that can be formed by the body and is necessary for the respiration cycle of plants and animals.Oxygen: An element with atomic symbol O, atomic number 8, and atomic weight [15.99903; 15.99977]. It is the most abundant element on earth and essential for respiration.Carbon: A nonmetallic element with atomic symbol C, atomic number 6, and atomic weight [12.0096; 12.0116]. It may occur as several different allotropes including DIAMOND; CHARCOAL; and GRAPHITE; and as SOOT from incompletely burned fuel.Gases: The vapor state of matter; nonelastic fluids in which the molecules are in free movement and their mean positions far apart. Gases tend to expand indefinitely, to diffuse and mix readily with other gases, to have definite relations of volume, temperature, and pressure, and to condense or liquefy at low temperatures or under sufficient pressure. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Membranes: Thin layers of tissue which cover parts of the body, separate adjacent cavities, or connect adjacent structures.Cell Membrane: The lipid- and protein-containing, selectively permeable membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.