Vinegar test Vinegar test Vinegar test is a cervical cancer testing method that uses acetic acid, a major component of vinegar. It has been found to be useful as an effective and inexpensive screening test. It has the potential, say researchers from the University of Zimbabwe and Johns Hopkins University, to improve the chances of preventing cancer in developing world. The technique, termed VIA (Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid)/Cryo, was endorsed by the World Health Organization in 2010. Vinegar is brushed on a woman’s cervix and precancerous spots turn white. These can be instantly frozen off with a metallic probe cooled with
Levulinic acid Levulinic acid Levulinic acid, or 4-oxopentanoic acid, is an organic compound with the formula CHC(O)CHCHCOH. It is classified as a keto acid. This white crystalline solid is soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It is derived from degradation of cellulose and is a potential precursor to biofuels, such as ethyl levulinate. In 1840 the Dutch professor Gerardus Johannes Mulder mentioned levulinic acid for the first time. He synthesized it by heating fructose with hydrochloric acid. The former term “levulose” for fructose gave levulinic acid its name. Although levulinic acid has been well known since the 1870s, it has never