Chromium is a metallic element (atomic number: 24, atomic mass: 51.99), it is a mineral essential in the action of insulin and is present in very small quantities in many enzymes. Chromium is also present in many foods such as brewers' yeast, seeds, peanuts, wheat germ and skimmed milk. Chromium Cr-51 is an isotope of chromium that is observationally stable. When intravenously administered, it is used as a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical agent to determine the red blood cell volume or mass, study the red blood cell survival time and evaluate blood loss. Chromium 51 is also used for labeling platelets, and for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Nearly 60 years ago, chromium, as the trivalent ion, was proposed to be an essential element, but the results of new studies indicate that chromium currently can only be considered pharmacologically active and not an essential element. Chromium is a mineral that humans need in very small quantities. Good sources include broccoli, liver, and brewers' yeast. Taking chromium by mouth is effective for preventing chromium deficiency. It is also taken by mouth for depression, Turner's syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), lowering "bad" cholesterol, raising "good" cholesterol in people taking heart medications called beta blockers, obesity, metabolic syndrome, heart attack, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, binge eating disorder, and a disease called reactive hypoglycemia. Chromium has been marketed as an agent to reduce body mass and develop muscle; however, such marketing claims are no longer allowed in the United States because they are not supported by experiments. Trivalent chromium has also been proposed as a therapeutic agent to increase insulin sensitivity and affect lipid metabolism. Although effective in certain rodent models, beneficial effects in humans have not been unequivocally established.

Florfenicol (Nuflor) is a fluorinated synthetic analog of thiamphenicol. Florfenicol is indicated for the treatment of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) associated with Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, and Haemophilus somnus, for treatment of bovine interdigital phlegmon (foot rot, acute interdigital necrobacillosis, infectious pododermatitis) associated with Fusobacterium necrophorum and Bacteroides melaninogenicus. Florfenicol is a broad-spectrum, primarily bacteriostatic, antibiotic with a range of activity similar to that of chloramphenicol, including many gram-negative and gram-positive organisms; however, florfenicol does not carry the risk of inducing human aplastic anemia that is associated with chloramphenicol. It also has activity against some chloramphenicol resistant strains of bacteria, possibly because it is less affected by the major enzyme produced in plasmid-mediated bacterial resistance against chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol. Although the activity of florfenicol against obligate anaerobes is not addressed in the literature, it is likely to be quite effective. Antibiotic principle of Florfenicol is similar to that of chloramphenicol and Thiamphenicol. Florfenicol inhibits protein synthesis by binding to 70S ribosomal 50S subunits of susceptible bacteria, leading to the inhibition of peptidyl transferase and thereby preventing the transfer of amino acids to extending peptide chains and subsequent protein formation. The bacterial receptor that is the site of action for florfenicol is also considered to be the same as that for chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol. Florfenicol has a fluorine atom instead of the hydroxyl group located at C-3 in the structure of chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol. This prevents the acetylation of bacterial acetyltransferase in this site as to allow florfenicol to be less susceptible to deactivation by bacteria with plasmid-transmissible resistance that involves acetylation of the C-3 hydroxyl group in chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol, and prevents their interaction with bacterial ribosomes.