Everything below concerns ACTH analog. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Last reviewed on 2025-11-25. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
The compound is registered in Russia as a pharmaceutical product, most commonly formulated as a nasal solution, and has been used in that setting since the 1990s. Outside that jurisdiction it is generally handled as a research chemical rather than an approved medicine. Regulatory status therefore differs sharply between countries, and material sold internationally may not correspond to the Russian pharmaceutical formulation. Documentation with commercial samples is typically limited to a certificate of analysis covering purity and identity, not clinical status or local legal classification.
Semax is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro. It corresponds to the ACTH(4-7) fragment extended at the C-terminus by a Pro-Gly-Pro tripeptide, an addition intended to slow enzymatic breakdown. The molecular formula is C37H51N9O10S and the molecular mass is approximately 814 daltons. In the literature it is often described as an ACTH(4-10) analog, although that label reflects a naming convention as much as a precise structural relationship. The compound was developed in Russia and remains most closely associated with that research tradition.
Laboratory descriptions of the material are consistent across suppliers. It appears as a white to off-white lyophilized powder that dissolves readily in water and in polar organic solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide. Aqueous solutions are clear and colorless at low concentrations. Because the peptide contains methionine, oxidation at the sulfur atom is a recognized degradation pathway, and handling notes usually call for protected, desiccated storage. Reported purity for research-grade lots is generally above 95 percent as measured by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.
The parent fragment ACTH(4-10) carries the sequence Met-Glu-His-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly. Semax replaces the arginine and tryptophan positions with a proline-glycine-proline tail, giving Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro. That change removes residues associated with adrenal stimulation, so the peptide does not drive cortisol release the way full ACTH does. This distinction shapes how the compound is grouped in the literature, where it sits with neuropeptides and peptide neuromodulators rather than with corticosteroids.
Regulatory status varies sharply by country. Semax is registered for medical use in Russia, where it appears in formularies as a nasal solution, and it also holds registration in a small number of neighbouring states. It has no approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency, and it is not a scheduled controlled substance in most jurisdictions. Elsewhere it circulates mainly as laboratory material, so purity documentation comes from suppliers rather than from a national pharmacopoeia.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C37H51N9O10S | Contains one methionine sulfur atom |
| Molecular mass | Approximately 814 Da | Consistent with a seven-residue peptide |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typical lyophilized form |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Also soluble in dimethyl sulfoxide |
| Typical storage | -20 °C, desiccated | Limits methionine oxidation |
Later generations of the molecule include an N-acetylated form and an amidated form, both marketed online alongside the parent peptide. These variants differ in terminal chemistry and stability, and they are frequently discussed in the same breath even though they have not been compared in controlled trials. Supply outside formal healthcare systems comes largely from laboratories that synthesize peptides to order. Purity and identity of these materials vary widely, and no single body oversees the international trade.
Semax is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in the Soviet Union during the 1980s by researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow. It was designed as a truncated analog of adrenocorticotropic hormone, retaining only the fragment spanning residues four through ten. Investigators sought a peptide that would preserve the cognitive effects associated with ACTH while eliminating the hormonal stimulation of the adrenal cortex. The compound entered clinical use in Russia during the following decade.
== Other uses == Gallantry Cross, Gold of the Republic of Venda Geological Curators' Group, a UK charity promoting geology Global Church of God, a Sabbatarian church based in England Government College Gujranwala, in Pakistan The Grilled Cheese Grill, an American restaurant chain Guardian Capital Group, a Canadian financial services company Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, a village in Neath Port Talbot, Wales Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, a Hanoverian order of chivalry
=== Optional harm reduction scheme === Drug checks/tests (also known as pill testing) are provided at some events such as concerts and music festivals. Attendees can voluntarily hand over a sample of any drug or drugs in their possession to be tested to check what the drug is and its purity. The scheme is used as a harm reduction technique so people are more aware of what they are taking and the potential risks.
=== Health programs === Noom has been criticized for promoting elements of diet culture in its advertising campaigns. The app has also faced criticism for setting calorie goals that some users and experts have deemed inappropriately low, and for employing coaches who may lack formal qualifications as registered dietitians. Coaching has been described as relying heavily on canned responses. Upon sign-up, users are prompted to complete a questionnaire consisting of over 50 questions, which is used to generate a personalized program. In 2021, the UK-based organization Privacy International alleged that Noom, along with other diet platforms, used such lengthy surveys to attract users but did not always tailor the resulting programs to the collected data. The organization claimed that many users received the same or highly similar programs regardless of their answers. It also raised concerns about the handling of potentially sensitive health data, alleging a lack of transparency regarding the sharing of such data with third parties, including Facebook, potentially in violation of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In a follow-up investigation in 2023, Privacy International reported that Noom had made "significant positive changes" to its data handling practices. However, the organization noted that data was still being shared with Facebook and concluded that "there is still room for improvement."
Studies in the hematopoietic system disclosed that during endothelial to hematopoietic stem cell transition, ADGRG1 is a transcriptional target of the heptad complex of hematopoietic transcription factors, and is required for hematopoietic cluster formation. Recently, two studies showed that ADGRG1, is a cell autonomous regulator of oligodendrocyte development through Gα12/13 proteins and Rho activation. Della Chiesa et al. demonstrate that ADGRG1 is expressed on CD56dull natural killer (NK) cells. Lin and Hamann's group show all human cytotoxic lymphocytes, including CD56dull NK cells and CD27–CD45RA+ effector-type CD8+ T cells, express ADGRG1.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
As in the adult, SEP findings in combination with the clinical assessment and EEG findings can contribute to the determination of prognosis in comatose children. In high risk newborns, tracking SEP findings over time can be helpful for outcome prognostication. Several neurodegenerative disorders have abnormal findings in spinal and cortical SEP components. Moreover, compressive lesions on the spine (e.g. Arnold-Chiari malformation or mucopolysaccharidosis) are associated with abnormal SEPs, which may precede abnormalities on MRI.
== Bibliography == Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. doi:10.1016/C2009-0-30414-6. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8. Penneman, R. A. and Keenan T. K. The radiochemistry of americium and curium, University of California, Los Alamos, California, 1960 Wiberg, Nils (2007). Lehrbuch Der Anorganischen Chemie. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017770-1.
AI can be used to create sexually explicit images and videos featuring unconsenting individuals, most often celebrities. 404 Media reported the existence of a Telegram bot for generating AI videos that has a monthly audience of over 100,000 users. In 2025, the Chinese technology company Alibaba released a video generation model called Wan 2.1, which was subsequently modified to remove guardrails, allowing generation of suggestive content.
==== Transformers ==== The self-attention mechanism enables the model to determine the relative importance of each token in a sequence when predicting the next token, thereby improving contextual understanding. Unlike recurrent neural networks, transformers process tokens in parallel, which improves training efficiency and scalability. Transformers became the foundation for the generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) series developed by OpenAI, replacing traditional recurrent and convolutional models.
The outermost layer of the gastrointestinal tract consists of several layers of connective tissue. Intraperitoneal parts of the GI tract are covered with serosa. These include most of the stomach, first part of the duodenum, all of the small intestine, caecum and appendix, transverse colon, sigmoid colon and rectum. In these sections of the gut, there is a clear boundary between the gut and the surrounding tissue. These parts of the tract have a mesentery. Retroperitoneal parts are covered with adventitia. They blend into the surrounding tissue and are fixed in position. For example, the retroperitoneal section of the duodenum usually passes through the transpyloric plane. These include the esophagus, pylorus of the stomach, distal duodenum, ascending colon, descending colon and anal canal. In addition, the oral cavity has adventitia.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Biosynthesis of cysteine === Mammals biosynthesize the amino acid cysteine via homocysteine. Cystathionine β-synthase catalyses the condensation of homocysteine and serine to give cystathionine. This reaction uses Pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6) as a cofactor. Cystathionine γ-lyase then converts this double amino acid to cysteine, ammonia, and α-ketobutyrate. Bacteria and plants rely on a different pathway to produce cysteine, relying on O-acetylserine.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs released its statement after much media attention, the statement said, "The Government of India's stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is that the Convention does not authorize other States to carry out in the Exclusive Economic Zone and on the continental shelf, military exercises or maneuvers, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state", it further added, "The USS John Paul Jones was continuously monitored transiting from the Persian Gulf towards the Malacca Straits. We have conveyed our concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the Government of USA through diplomatic channels." Former Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, Admiral Arun Prakash, commented on the event by tweeting "There is irony here. While India ratified [the] UN Law of the Seas in 1995, the US has failed to do it so far. For the 7th Fleet to carry out FoN missions in Indian EEZ in violation of our domestic law is bad enough. But publicizing it? USN please switch on IFF!". He further tweeted, "FoN ops by USN ships (ineffective as they may be) in South China Sea, are meant to convey a message to China that the putative EEZ around the artificial SCS islands is an 'excessive maritime claim.' But what is the 7th Fleet message for India?"
===== Uruguay ===== In December 2024, Lula visited Uruguay to attend a Mercosur summit that culminated in the signing of the EU–Mercosur Association Agreement. He also met with former Uruguayan former president José Mujica, whom he decorated with the Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil's highest award, and president-elect Yamandú Orsi.
=== Batten disease === Milasen is a novel individualized therapeutic agent that was designed and approved by the FDA for the treatment of Batten disease. This therapy serves as an example of personalized medicine. In 2019, a report was published detailing the development of milasen, an antisense oligonucleotide drug for Batten disease, under an expanded-access investigational clinical protocol authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Milasen "itself remains an investigational drug, and it is not suited for the treatment of other patients with Batten's disease" because it was customized for a single patient's specific mutation. However it is an example of individualized genomic medicine therapeutical intervention.
== Further reading == Mullbacher A, Waring P, Eichner RD (1985). "Identification of an Agent in Cultures of Aspergillus fumigatus Displaying Anti-phagocytic and Immunomodulating Activity in vitro". Microbiology. 131 (5): 1251–1258. doi:10.1099/00221287-131-5-1251. PMID 2410548. Shah DT, Larsen B (1991). "Clinical isolates of yeast produce a gliotoxin-like substance". Mycopathologia. 116 (3): 203–208. doi:10.1007/BF00436836. PMID 1724551. S2CID 12919491. Jones RW, Hancock JG (1988). "Mechanism of Gliotoxin Action and Factors Mediating Gliotoxin Sensitivity". Microbiology. 134 (7): 2067–2075. doi:10.1099/00221287-134-7-2067. Schweizer M, Richter C (1994). "Gliotoxin Stimulates Ca2+ Release from Intact Rat Liver Mitochondria". Biochemistry. 33 (45): 13401–13405. doi:10.1021/bi00249a028. PMID 7524661. Scharf DH, Brakhage AA, Mukherjee PK (2016). "Gliotoxin - bane or boon?". Environmental Microbiology. 18 (4): 1096–1109. Bibcode:2016EnvMi..18.1096S. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.13080. PMID 26443473. Puri A, Ahmad A, Panda BP (2009). "Development of an HPTLC-based diagnostic method for invasive aspergillosis". Biomedical Chromatography. 24 (8): 887–92. doi:10.1002/bmc.1382. PMID 20033890.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is registered as a pharmaceutical product in Russia, where it is typically supplied as a nasal solution. In most other countries it is not an approved drug and is traded as a research chemical instead. Approval status depends entirely on the jurisdiction involved.
Most published work uses intranasal administration, matching the route of the registered Russian formulation. Some animal experiments use intravenous or intraperitoneal injection. The route matters because the intact peptide is cleared rapidly from blood, so exposure differs between methods.
A purity value describes the share of the powder accounted for by the target peptide, usually by high-performance liquid chromatography. It does not confirm that the sequence is correct, which requires mass spectrometry or amino acid analysis. Purity and identity are separate checks.
Registered medical products are most often 0.1% nasal drops. Research suppliers ship lyophilized powder, usually in milligram quantities, which is dissolved before use. The active peptide is the same in both cases; presentation and excipients differ.