Tech

A report from The University of Western Ontario, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, warns the use of codeine to treat pain following a tonsillectomy could prove fatal for some children. Dr. Gideon Koren, who holds the Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology at Western, zeroed in on the danger after investigating the death of a two year old boy following a relatively easy operation to remove his tonsils.

Using a new robot-assisted endoscopic technique, a team of surgeons at Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea, has successfully treated 200 consecutive patients with thyroid cancer. The minimally invasive operation, which has several technical and cosmetic benefits that the traditional open operation does not offer, is described in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Scientists have discovered how to ease one of the frustrations for the millions who use smart phones, portable media players, and other devices with touch-screens. They have reduced the devices' tendency to smudge and glare from sunlight. In a report at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they describe a performance test of smudge and reflection-resistant coatings and its use to determine how to improve that performance.

Oregon State University researchers are exploring the concept of "rich interaction" – computers that do, in fact, want to communicate with, learn from, and get to know humans.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2009 — Burning candles made from paraffin wax –– the most common kind used to infuse rooms with romantic ambiance, warmth, light, and fragrance –– is an unrecognized source of exposure to indoor air pollution, including the known human carcinogens, scientists reported here today. Levels can build up in closed rooms, and be reduced by ventilation, they indicated in a study presented at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, August 19, 2009 -- Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are developing technology to scale up a novel method for achieving very high recoveries in desalination by reverse osmosis to be used in a Jordanian desalinization plant.

Using thin films of silk as templates, researchers have incorporated inorganic nanoparticles that join with the silk to form strong and flexible composite structures that have unusual optical and mechanical properties. This bio-enabled, surface-mediated formation approach mimics the growth and assembly processes of natural materials, taking advantage of the ability of biomolecules to chemically reduce metal ions to produce nanoparticles without harsh processing conditions.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago's Brain Tumor Center have developed a way to target brain cancer cells using inorganic titanium dioxide nanoparticles bonded to soft biological material.

Thousands of people die from malignant brain tumors every year, and the tumors are resistant to conventional therapies. This nano-bio technology may eventually provide an alternative form of therapy that targets only cancer cells and does not affect normal living tissue.

"The idea is that the lasers will fuse hydrogen particles together, producing neutrons," says Shaughnessy, one of many scientists who plan to analyze materials produced by the reaction. "We'll collect and measure the materials produced from the ignition and hopefully be able to determine how many neutrons were made. More neutrons mean that more fusion has occurred."

Patients with cirrhosis are at risk for developing portal hypertension that can lead to the formation, dilation, and rupture of esophageal varices. The annual incidence of esophageal varices is approximately 5% and one third of those will bleed.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2009 — A scientific trend to view the world's biggest cities as analogous to living, breathing organisms is fostering a deep new understanding of how poor air quality in megacities can harm residents, people living far downwind, and also play a major role in global climate change. That's the conclusion of a report on the "urban metabolism" model of megacities presented here today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles.

The process improves on the conventional method for brewing butanol in a bacterial fermentation tank.

Normally, bacteria could only produce a certain amount of butanol -- perhaps 15 grams of the chemical for every liter of water in the tank -- before the tank would become too toxic for the bacteria to survive, explained Shang-Tian Yang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2009 — Good news for people fearful of needles and squeamish of shots: Scientists at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society report the design of a painless patch that may someday render hypodermic needles — as well as annual flu shots — a thing of the past. Lined with tiny "microneedles," these patches could make treatment of diabetes and a wide range of other diseases safer, more effective and less painful. Used as tiny hypodermic needles, they could improve treatment of macular degeneration and other diseases of the eye.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a presentation today (Aug. 19) to the American Chemical Society meeting, Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, described an experimental approach to wound healing that could take advantage of silver's anti-bacterial properties, while sidestepping the damage silver can cause to cells needed for healing.

Silver is widely used to prevent bacterial contamination in wound dressings, says Agarwal, "but these dressings deliver a very large load of silver, and that can kill a lot of cells in the wound."

Computed tomography (CT) scans are responsible for more than two thirds of the total radiation dose associated with medical imaging exams. However, a newly adapted low-dose technique called adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) may enable radiologists to reduce patient radiation resulting from CT up to 65 percent, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).