loss of a loved one, and the majority had nightmares. Almost all were slow to understand instructions and displayed “robotic” behaviour, unable to play or show emotion.



Hundreds of civilians fled Mosul last month, as the fight against Isis reached a tipping point. More than 860,000 people have escaped to the liberated eastern part of Mosul since the war to recapture the city from Isis militants began last October, but an estimated 100,000 remain in the old city, where fighters have been using them as human shields.

The children at Hamman al-Alil camp, aged between 10 and 15, shared stories of the horrors they had witnessed: family members killed in front of them, seeing dead bodies, and blood in the streets. Others spoke of seeing relatives shot by snipers orhobbyist who was intoxicated by palytoxin inhalation while he was trying to eradicate a Palythoa colony from his tank using boiling water.

During this research, two new palytoxins were identified.

It has also been demonstrated that active carbon for aquarium use is able to adsorb 99.7 % of palytoxins present in the tank water.

Palythoa cf. toxica

The Palytoxin PLTX

Palytoxin (PLTX) is one of the most powerful natural toxins and it has been isolated from the Palythoa toxica species (phylum Cnidaria: class Anhtozoa: subclass Hexacorallia: order Zoantharia) from the Hawaii islands. At later times palytoxins and its analogous have also been found in other Palythoa and Zoanthus species, in some dinoflagellates on the genre Ostreopsis, in the cyanobacteria Trichodesmium and in other marine invertebrates and vertebrates such as crustaceans and fishes.

Palytoxin has