Abstract: The present invention relates to monosaccharide derivatives as anti-inflammatory agents. The compounds disorder herein can be useful for inhibition and prevention of inflammation and associated pathologies including inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, allograft rejection, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, acne, atherosclerosis, cancer, pruritis and allergic rhinitis. Pharmacological compositions containing compounds disclosed herein and the methods of treating bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, psoriasis, allograft rejection, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, acne, atherosclerosis, cancer, pruritis, allergic rhinitis and other inflammatory and/or autoimmune disorders, using the compounds are also provided.

Abstract: A method of controlling acarine pests comprises applying to the locus of the acarine pests, an isolated polypeptide toxin, wherein the polypeptide toxin has acaricidal activity. In one embodiment, the polypeptide toxin comprises three intrachain disulfide bonds and/or is a component of a venom of an Australian funnel web spider of the genus Atrax or Hadronyche. The polypeptide toxins may be applied to the acarine pests themselves, to the environment of the acarine pests, to the hosts of the acarine pests, or to an animal vector of the acarine pests, for example.

Abstract: The present invention provides a device for feeding pulverized coal to a furnace, such as a drop tube furnace. The feeding system consists of a feed hopper, a pneumatic vibrator positioned on the periphery of the feeder hopper, a needle valve arrangement in the said feed hopper, a depth gauge micrometer, a distribution chamber with primary and secondary airline at the bottom of the said feed hopper. Adjusting the pressure of compressed air allows setting of the frequency of vibration of the pneumatic vibrator. The needle valve arrangement in conjunction with the vibratory hopper controls the feed rate. The rate of coal flow is measured by the depth gauge micrometer. The distribution chamber with primary and secondary airline at the bottom of the said feed hopper allows uniform mixing of air with coal before being charged into the furnace reactor.