chemicals
SWood scientists hope that their vacuum-drying project will benefit wood pallet and container manufacturers and hardwood sawmill businesses across the nation. "The vacuum controlling system eliminates the need for a heating system, saves energy, and does not release ozone-depleting chemicals into the earth's atmosphere," says Zhangjjng Chen, one the researchers working on the project at the Center for Unit Load and Design in the wood science and forest products department of Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources.
A simple method of shuttling proteins into cells via microscopic polymer beads shows promise as a general way of carrying vaccines or bits of DNA for gene therapy, according to chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The polymer beads are imbedded with a protein - a vaccine antigen, for example - and made large enough to attract the attention of the immune system's scavenger cells, which engulf them and try to digest them with acid.
Is there life on Mars? It's possible, but it may not Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.
Research at the Salk Institute has identified a gene that may link certain pesticides and chemical weaponry to a number of neurological disorders, including the elusive Gulf War syndrome and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The finding is the first to demonstrate a clear genetic link between neurological disorders and exposure to organophosphate chemicals; the gene is one that scientists had not studied in previous efforts to find connections between these chemicals and disease. Organophosphates include household pesticides as well as deadly nerve gases like sarin.
Tiny motor proteins delivering vital nutrients along the length of nerves are a target for two common chemicals known for their neurotoxicity, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher. Acrylamides - used in water purification, paper manufacturing, mining and recently found in potato chips, French fries, baked cereals and other carbohydrates cooked at high temperatures - and hexanes -- an organic solvent used in glues, paints and shoe manufacturing - can shut down these motor proteins, says Dr. Dale W. Sickles, MCG neurotoxicologist.
Fruits and veggies grown organically show significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods, according to a new study of corn, strawberries and marionberries. The research suggests that pesticides and herbicides actually thwart the production of phenolics ? chemicals that act as a plant's natural defense and also happen to be good for our health. Fertilizers, however, seem to boost the levels of anti-cancer compounds.
Water flowing through Mortandad Canyon downstream of Los Alamos National Laboratory operations now will flow through a Permeable Reactive Barrier -- a huge column of pollution-capturing materials -- before proceeding farther downstream. Waters that encounter the PRB will be scrubbed of radionuclides such as strontium-90; americium-241; plutonium 238, 239 and 240; and uranium isotopes as well as chemicals such as perchlorate, nitrate and heavy metals. Mortandad Canyon is the location of the effluent stream from the Laboratory's Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. The RLWTF discharges about 60,000 gallons of treated effluent per week on average.
Women's exposure to environmental contaminants that mimic the activity of human sex hormones during prenatal development can affect the masculinity and femininity of their offspring, UB researchers have found. However, the results seem to point to a shared influence of the parents' own gender-related behavior and exposure to the contaminants, which can act as "endocrine disrupters," according to David E. Sandberg, Ph.D., UB associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics and lead author on the research.
If you are among the millions who receive flowers on Valentine's Day, you likely will put your nose to a rose, only to find you can't catch a whiff of your favorite floral aroma. And it isn't because your sense of smell has diminished. Plant breeding has led to bigger, longer-lasting blooms, but in the process many flowers have lost their scents - a trend University of Florida researchers hope to reverse. The researchers are investigating ways to put scent back in, either through genetic engineering or by developing chemical formulations that might be used through a spray application.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Effexor XR for the treatment of patients with social anxiety disorder, a condition which may affect up to 13 percent of Americans at some point in their lives. EFFEXOR XR, already approved for the treatment of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), is the first available serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), and is believed to increase the levels of two key brain chemicals thought to be deficient in individuals suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.
Fertility researchers have shown that nicotine and cotinine, a substance produced by nicotine's breakdown, cause sperm to change in ways that could reduce fertility potential. In results presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, lead researcher Lani Burkman, Ph.D., reported that in laboratory experiments these chemicals, singly and in combination, decreased the capacity of sperm to perform functions necessary to fertilize a human egg.
MIT engineers and colleagues from the University of California are reporting a unique design of a "smart surface" that can reversibly switch properties in response to an external stimulus. The work paves the way for systems that could, for example, release or absorb cells and chemicals from surfaces on demand. In the Jan. 17 issue of Science, the researchers describe an example of their new approach in which they engineered a surface that can change from water-attracting to water-repelling with the application of a weak electric field. Switch the electrical potential of that field from positive to negative and the surface reverts to its initial affinity for water.
A highly sensitive, inexpensive "lab-on-a-chip" that provides warning within seconds of even trace amounts of toxic chemicals in water was designed and demonstrated recently by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientists and collaborators. The prototype sensor system monitors the natural response of bacterial cells bound within the microscopic channels of a plastic microfluidics device -- a miniaturized chemical and biochemical analysis system. In the presence of certain chemicals, the cells eject large amounts of potassium, which is detected with an optical sensor that changes color. The prototype was demonstrated as part of an early warning system for industrial pollutants that interfere with sewage treatment, but it also has potential homeland security applications.
A combination of chemicals given to protect Gulf War soldiers against deadly diseases and nerve gas may have inadvertently damaged their testes and sperm production, according to animal experiments at Duke University Medical Center. The new study could explain why some veterans have experienced infertility, sexual dysfunction, and other genitourinary symptoms, said Mohamed Abou Donia, Ph.D., a Duke pharmacologist.
During a January flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, astronauts will test a new commercial fire-fighting system that puts out blazes with a fine water mist -- instead of using harmful chemicals or large quantities of water that damage property. "The fire-fighting industry is in search of a new tool that doesn't use dangerous chemicals or douse fires with huge quantities of water that cause extensive property damage," said Mark Nall, director of the Space Product Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "By flying this commercial experiment on the STS-107 Columbia mission, NASA is helping industry design a cost-effective, environmentally friendly system for putting out fires."
