Osmium is a shiny, silver metal that resists corrosion. It is the densest of all the elements and is twice as dense as lead. Osmium has only a few uses. It is used to produce very hard alloys for fountain pen tips, instrument pivots, needles and electrical contacts. It is also used in the chemical industry as a catalyst. Osmium has no known biological role. The metal is not toxic, but its oxide is volatile and very toxic, causing lung, skin and eye damage. Osmium compounds are attracting increasing attention as potential anticancer drugs. Osmium complexes are considered interesting alternatives to ruthenium-based anticancer agents because of their relative inertness and sufficient stability under physiological conditions.

Beryllium is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Be and atomic number 4. A toxic bivalent element, beryllium is a steel grey, strong, light-weight yet brittle, alkaline earth metal. Beryllium is an ubiquitous element in the environment, and it has many commercial applications. Beryllium is used in alloys with copper or nickel to make gyroscopes, springs, electrical contacts, spot-welding electrodes and non-sparking tools. Mixing beryllium with these metals increases their electrical and thermal conductivity. Other beryllium alloys are used as structural materials for high-speed aircraft, missiles, spacecraft and communication satellites. Beryllium is relatively transparent to X-rays so ultra-thin beryllium foil is finding use in X-ray lithography. Beryllium is also used in nuclear reactors as a reflector or moderator of neutrons. Beryllium and its compounds are toxic and carcinogenic. If beryllium dust or fumes are inhaled, it can lead to an incurable inflammation of the lungs called berylliosis. Because it is strong, stable, can handle elevated levels of heat resistance and is highly transparent to x-rays, beryllium, in thin foil form, has long been critical to the operation of medical and scientific x-ray equipment. Beryllium foil provides the window through which tissue-penetrating x-rays are focused, while maintaining the vacuum inside the x-ray tube generator. Beryllium foil remains indispensible for high-resolution medical radiography, including CT scanning and mammography. Beryllium in newer generation mammography equipment enables a lower radiation dose scan with significantly finer tumor resolution, enabling breast cancer detection at its early, most treatable stages. Beryllium is also used in components of the analytical equipment used to analyze blood for HIV and other diseases, offering the precision and reliability that doctors and patients demand.

A soft metal that ignites in the air and reacts violently with water. Rubidium is little used outside research. It has been used as a component of photocells, to remove traces of oxygen from vacuum tubes and to make special types of glass. It is easily ionised so was considered for use in ion engines, but was found to be less effective than caesium. It has also been proposed for use as a working fluid for vapour turbines and in thermoelectric generators. Rubidium has no known biological role and is non-toxic. It is slightly radioactive and so has been used to locate brain tumours, as it collects in tumours but not in normal tissue. Rubidium is a component of marketed topical cream QBx (formerly Known As PHI-5, K041059). PHI-5 is a formulation containing zinc and rubidium ions, which is developed for treatment of chronic wounds. Commercially, PHI-5 is available as an impregnated wound dressing material (Dermax).

DOTAREM (Gadoterate Meglumine ) is a gadolinium-based contrast agent indicated for intravenous use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in brain (intracranial), spine and associatedtissues in adult and pediatric patients (2 years of age and older) to detect and visualize areas with disruption of the blood brain barrier (BBB) and/or abnormal vascularity. Gadoterate Meglumine is a gadolinium chelate paramagnetic contrast agent. When placed in a magnetic field, gadoterate meglumine produces a large magnetic moment and so a large local magnetic field, which can enhance the relaxation rate of nearby protons; as a result, the signal intensity of tissue images observed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be enhanced. Because this agent is preferentially taken up by normal functioning hepatocytes, normal hepatic tissue is enhanced with MRI while tumor tissue is unenhanced. In addition, because gadobenate dimeglumine is excreted in the bile, it may be used to visualize the biliary system using MRI.

Molybdenum-99 (99Mo, half-life = 66 h) is a parent radionuclide of a diagnostic nuclear isotope. It decays in technetium-99 m (half-life = 6 h), which is used in over 30 million procedures per year around the world. Between 95 and 98 percent of Mo-99 is currently being produced using highly enriched uranium (HEU) targets. Other medical isotopes such as iodine-131 (I-131) and xenon-133 (Xe-133) are by-products of the Mo-99 production process and will be sufficiently available if Mo-99 is available.

Lithium is an alkali metal widely used in industry. Lithium salts are indicated in the treatment of manic episodes of Bipolar Disorder. The use of lithium in psychiatry goes back to the mid-19th century. Early work, however, was soon forgotten, and John Cade is credited with reintroducing lithium to psychiatry for mania in 1949. Mogens Schou undertook a randomly controlled trial for mania in 1954, and in the course of that study became curious about lithium as a prophylactic for depressive illness. In 1970, the United States became the 50th country to admit lithium to the marketplace. The specific mechanisms by which lithium exerts its mood-stabilizing effects are not well understood. Lithium appears to preserve or increase the volume of brain structures involved in emotional regulation such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala, possibly reflecting its neuroprotective effects. At a neuronal level, lithium reduces excitatory (dopamine and glutamate) but increases inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission; however, these broad effects are underpinned by complex neurotransmitter systems that strive to achieve homeostasis by way of compensatory changes. For example, at an intracellular and molecular level, lithium targets second-messenger systems that further modulate neurotransmission. For instance, the effects of lithium on the adenyl cyclase and phospho-inositide pathways, as well as protein kinase C, may serve to dampen excessive excitatory neurotransmission. In addition to these many putative mechanisms, it has also been proposed that the neuroprotective effects of lithium are key to its therapeutic actions. In this regard, lithium has been shown to reduce the oxidative stress that occurs with multiple episodes of mania and depression. Further, it increases protective proteins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor and B-cell lymphoma 2, and reduces apoptotic processes through inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3 and autophagy.

Bacitracin is a polypeptide antibiotic produced by Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis. Bacitracin in combination with neomycin and polymyxin B is indicated for the treatment of many bacterial diseases. The antibacterial properties of bacitracin are mediated by its binding to C55-isoprenyl pyrophosphate, resulting in inhibition of cell wall biosynthesis.