Collapse of helium’s chemical nobility predicted by Polish chemist
140 years since its discovery, and despite the best endeavours of many scientists, helium, the lightest of the 'noble' gases, still stubbornly refuses to enter into any chemical alliance.
Now a new glimmer of hope has emerged from poland as a chemist at the university of warsaw has calculated that two new compounds containing a helium-oxygen bond could be formed.
[Image by The Polish Journal of Chemistry
/ University of Warsaw]
Putting an end to turbulence
Whether in oil pipelines or city water mains - scientists from
the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization have
discovered that turbulent flow is not stable.
Caltech 4-D microscope revolutionizes the way we
look at the nano world
More than a century ago,
the development of the earliest motion picture technology made what
had been previously thought "magical" a reality: capturing and
recreating the movement and dynamism of the world around us. A
breakthrough technology based on new concepts has now accomplished a
similar feat, but on an atomic scale by allowing, for the first
time, the real-time, real-space visualization of fleeting changes in
the structure and shape of matter barely a billionth of a meter in
size.
[Credit: Nano Letters; images and diagram produced at Caltech.]
New chemical key that could unlock hundreds of new antibiotics
Chemistry researchers have found a novel signalling molecule that could be a key that will open up hundreds of new antibiotics unlocking them from the DNA of the Streptomyces family of bacteria.
Adhesive shellfish proteins bind regardless of how many binding elements they contain. This has potential for the development of new kinds of binding agents.
[Image: Creative Commons / Andreas Trepte, Marburg]
|
Chemistry & Nanotechnology
Liquid or solid?
Charged nanoparticles in lipid membrane decide.
Nanotube Construction Set
Molecular trees and sugar cuffs are components for nanotubes with tailored surfaces.
New method for tracing metal pollution back to its sources
A new way of pinpointing where zinc pollution in the atmosphere comes from could improve pollution monitoring and regulation, says research out in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
Microcapsules act as "roach motel" to kill
harmful bacteria
Researchers are reporting
development of antibacterial microcapsules that attract, capture,
and kill harmful bacteria.
Credit: Queensland Government
Researchers in New Mexico and Florida are reporting
development of microscopic particles that act as chemical booby traps
for bacteria. The traps attract and kill up to 95 percent of nearby
bacteria, including microbes responsible for worrisome hospital-based
infections. The scientists describe their discovery as micro-sized
"roach motels" for harmful bacteria. Their study went online November
24 in the premiere issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,a new
monthly journal. It is scheduled for the January 28 print edition.
In the report, David G. Whitten of the University
of New Mexico and Kirk S. Schanze of the University of Florida,
working together with a team of faculty and graduate student
collaborators, point out that bacterial contamination of medical
devices causes up to 1.4 million deaths per year. In addition,
bacteria are becoming more resistant to standard disinfection methods.
Scientists also are increasingly concerned about the possibility of
intentional release of harmful bacteria by terrorists. As a result,
researchers are attempting to develop new and improved methods of
disinfection.
The New Mexico and Florida groups describe an
advance toward this goal. It involves the development of
light-activated, hollow microcapsules composed of an organic
conducting polymer. The antibacterial microcapsules can attract,
capture, and kill bacteria. In controlled laboratory tests, the
researchers exposed the capsules to either Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one
of the deadliest and most common hospital-based pathogens, or Cobetia
marina, a type of bacterium that fouls the hulls of ships and other
marine equipment. After one hour of light exposure, the
light-activated capsules killed more than 95 percent of the exposed
bacteria, the researchers say. The microcapsules can be applied to a
variety of surfaces, including medical equipment, they add. - MTS
Key advance toward treatment for most common
adult form of muscular dystrophy
Scientists are reporting a
critical first step toward development of a long sought drug for
myotonic muscular dystrophy (MMD).
Credit: American Chemical Society
Scientists in New York are reporting a critical
first step toward development of a long-sought drug to treat myotonic
muscular dystrophy (MMD), the most common form of muscular dystrophy
in adults. MMD affects about 1 in 8,000 people. Their findings are
scheduled for publication in the November 8 issue of ACS' weekly
Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In the study, Benjamin Miller and colleagues point
out that MMD differs from typical hereditary diseases. They result
from mutated DNA in genes that encodes an erroneous message that RNA
picks up and passes along. As a result, cells produce faulty proteins.
Those proteins disrupt cells' activity and cause symptoms of the
disease. Rather, MMD is caused by wayward or "toxic" strands of RNA.
The researchers describe discovery of a family of
drug-like molecules that target the errant strands of RNA, preventing
production of the defective protein. The discovery, they said,
provides scientists for the first time with substances that target the
root cause of MMD and represent molecules that could be developed into
drugs. They note that drugs more commonly target DNA or proteins, with
the RNA approach offering a different and potentially valuable route
to developing new medications for certain diseases. - JS
Toward healthier bread and other whole grain
foods
Bread, pasta, and other foods made from whole
grains - known to help protect against heart disease, cancer and
diabetes - may get even healthier in the future. Scientists in Europe
collaborating in the European Union HEALTHGRAIN project are reporting
the largest study to date comparing nutrient levels in the world's
different grain varieties, which could lead to the development of
healthier varieties of grain and grain-based foods, they say. Their
findings will be described in a group of papers scheduled for the
November 26 issue of the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
In the new study, Peter R. Shewry and colleagues
point out that whole grain foods, including wheat, rye and oats, have
been widely touted in recent years for having greater health benefits
than refined grains. Health-promoting ingredients in whole grains
include fiber, antioxidants, folate, and other plant chemicals. As
nutrient levels can vary from grain to grain, however, it is unclear
which grain varieties pack the most nutritional punch, the researchers
note.
To find out, the scientists grew 150 wheat
varieties used for bread-making and 50 other small-grain varieties
(including oats, rye, and barley) on a single farm in Hungary over a
one year period. The grains, grown from lines originating worldwide,
were then harvested, milled, and analyzed for a range of plant
chemicals and fiber components considered to have health benefits. The
researchers identified grain varieties with high levels of healthy
components that could be used to breed new, nutrient-rich varieties of
grain for healthier whole grain foods.
Gene "silencing" may improve success of islet
cell transplants for diabetes
Gene silencing shows promise for
improving the effectiveness of islet cell (shown) transplants for
diabetes.
Credit: Wikipedia
Scientists in Tennessee are reporting that a gene
therapy technique called "gene silencing" shows promise for improving
the effectiveness and expanded use of transplants of insulin-producing
cells to treat diabetes. The study is scheduled for the December 1
issue of ACS' Molecular Pharmaceutics, a bi-monthly journal.
In the new study, Ram Mahato, Guofeng Cheng, and
Lin Zhu point out that transplantation of the pancreas's insulin
producing cells, called islet cells, has great potential for treating
patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. However, the procedure
currently is ineffective for most people due to a tendency of the
body's immune system to reject transplanted cells. Studies by others
indicate that a specific enzyme, caspase-3, plays a key role in
carrying-out this destructive process.
To address this problem, the scientists genetically
modified islet cells in the laboratory to turn off, or "silence" the
gene responsible for producing caspase-3. When the modified cells were
transplanted into the kidneys of mice with insulin-dependent diabetes,
the blood glucose levels of the mice became normal for up to 32 days,
the scientists say. When the cells were removed, the blood glucose
levels of the mice returned to high levels similar to
pre-transplantation levels, confirming that the transplanted cells
were functional and effective, the researchers say. - MTS
Concerns on mercury emissions may foster new
$500 million per year industry
Proposed government regulations limiting emissions
of mercury from electricity-generating stations may foster development
of a new half-billion-dollar per year industry offering technology for
removing mercury from power plant smokestacks, according to an article
scheduled for the November 24 issue of Chemical & Engineering News,
ACS' weekly newsmagazine.
In the article, C&EN Senior Correspondent Marc
Reisch points out that mercury is a toxic metal that can cause nerve
damage and birth defects in humans. The nation's 1,100 coal-burning
power plants spew 48 tons of mercury into the air each year, posing an
invisible but serious public health hazard, the article notes.
To reduce that threat, federal regulators have
proposed new restrictions on mercury emissions from electric power
plants. When they do go into effect, suppliers of environmental
technologies designed to reduce mercury emissions expect a future
market of $500 million a year or more. One of the most promising
mercury removal technologies is activated carbon, which can reduce
mercury emissions by 90 percent or more, according to the article. But
new and improved technologies for mercury removal are under
development, including catalysts made of gold, platinum, or titanium
dioxide. The payoff could mean a sizable new source of sales and
income for some suppliers, the article notes.
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