New Medical Use for Olive Oil Suggested Monsters and Critics Feb. 7
SEVILLE, Spain (UPI) -- Spanish medical researchers say they have discovered a new potential benefit of olive oil for people suffering from peptic ulcer disease. The scientists say extra virgin olive oil -- already providing an array of health benefits -- might help prevent and treat Helicobacter pylori infections, which cause millions of cases of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease each year. Manuel Brenes and colleagues at Valme University Hospital in Seville cite past studies showing green tea, cranberry juice and certain other natural foods inhibit the growth of H. pylori, which infects the stomach lining. None of the numerous studies on olive oil, however, has tested its effects on H. pylori…. The research is scheduled for the Feb. 21 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Oil’s Lasting Presence The New York Times Feb. 6, Science pg. D3 by Henry Fountain
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which poured 11 million gallons of crude oil into the waters of southern Alaska, was one of the worst environmental catastrophes ever. Billions of dollars were spent cleaning up Prince William Sound and other parts of the Gulf of Alaska. Yet in some ways the spill has never gone away. Some of the oil that coated the shoreline in the first weeks after the disaster percolated a foot or so down into sediments and remains there. A new study by Jeffrey W. Short of the National Marine Fisheries Service and colleagues shows just how that subsurface oil has persisted…. The findings are being published by the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
A Wheat-Based Wool? The New York Times Feb. 6, Science pg. D3 by Henry Fountain
Wheat gluten, the protein that gives bagels their characteristic chewiness, may someday have a new role: as the basis for inexpensive, environmentally friendly textiles. Narendra Reddy and Yiqi Yang of the University of Nebraska have come up with a way to make useful fibers from 100 percent wheat gluten. The protein forms chains that give the fiber tensile strength and other properties that are similar to wool and better than some other protein-based fibers….
The process is described in the journal Biomacromolecules.
USM team's finding may save lives Hattiesburg American (Mississippi) Feb. 5
Scientific, business and news organizations from New York to Beijing are praising a promising recent discovery at the University of Southern Mississippi's polymer science school. The finding; a way to arm medical instruments against pernicious bacteria could translate into that elusive blend of far-reaching public health impact and cold, hard cash. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says about 90,000 Americans die every year from infections contracted when they're being treated in hospitals for unrelated conditions. Tools used in surgeries, medical implants and other devices can carry nasty bacteria that enter the body unbeknownst to doctors and overwhelm a patient's immune system. If you ask Southern Miss polymers chair and professor Marek Urban, the coating is the key…. In all, more than 20 articles about the Southern Miss team's eureka moment have appeared worldwide since Urban's Jan. 11 entry in the American Chemical Society journal Biomacromolecules.
Fake drugs caught inside the pack
A new technique can trace counterfeit drugs while they are still in their packs, UK government scientists say. BBC Jan 31
A study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry said the new laser technique could examine the contents of blister packs and bottles. A company will develop applications of the technique. A spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said: "This is something we will watch with interest". Raman spectroscopy - a technique which analyses changes in laser light bouncing off molecules to indicate their chemical composition - is already used to identify the chemical composition of samples and can be used with battery-operated hand-held instruments. However, it does not always work through some forms of packaging, and has not been feasible with non-transparent plastic bottles until now. But in the Analytical Chemistry paper, Doctors Charlotte Eliasson and Pavel Matousek from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, run by the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) said the new technique - called Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) can investigate the contents of blister packs and plastic bottles without opening them.
Scientists develop 'DNA nanotags' UPI Jan. 29
PITTSBURGH -- U.S. scientists say they have combined fluorescent dye molecules with DNA nanostructure templates to make nanosized fluorescent labels called nanotags.The Carnegie Mellon University researchers say such nanoscale labels hold considerable promise for studying fundamental chemical and biochemical reactions in single molecules or cells, improving the sensitivity for fluorescence-based imaging and medical diagnostics."Our DNA nanotags offer unprecedented densities of fluorescent dyes and, thus, the potential for extremely bright fluorescent labels," said graduate student Andrea Benvin, who developed the nanotags with Assistant Professor Bruce Armitage. "…. In addition, Armitage said DNA nanotags offer the opportunity to perform multicolor experiments. And, because the multiple colors can be seen simultaneously, only one experiment using one laser and one fluorescence-imaging machine is required.The research appears online in The Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The saying ‘no two snowflakes are alike’ may be false iTWire Jan. 21
Snowflakes and ice crystals are being scientifically studied because they may play an important role in the overall climate of the Earth, especially with regard to global changes. Researchers say that the smallest snow crystals—simple ones that fall to the ground before fully developed—could be identical, possibly refuting the adage that ‘no two snowflakes are alike’.
The complex and numerous forms for snowflakes result from various steps in their development. Generally, a snowflake starts out as a microscopic dust grain floating about in a cloud. Water vapor within the cloud begins to condense around the dust grain. Eventually, the droplet freezes into a six-sided (hexagonal) ice crystal. The hexagonal shape is determined by the angle that two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bond together to form a water molecule… The research paper was published by Dr. Jon Nelson in the American Chemical Society journal Crystal Growth & Design, which explains snowflakes in more detail.
Study: Chinese herbs may produce new drugs United Press International Jan. 17
LONDON—A British computer screening of herbs commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine suggests some may be useful in treating modern diseases. David Barlow and colleagues at King's College London found a wide variety of the compounds have the potential for use in treating HIV-AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's, arthritis and other diseases. The researchers say computer simulation is becoming increasingly effective in identifying promising compounds that could be candidates for drug development…The research is to be detailed in the March 26 issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.
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