Tech

LINCOLN, NE—Just like the rest of us, golf courses show their age—especially on putting greens, which experience more foot traffic than anywhere else on golf courses. Putting greens, which comprise only about 1.6% of the total area on most courses, require more intensive management than any other part of the course. To keep putting greens in top form, turfgrass experts study ways to provide proper nutrients to the root zone, a critical area for maintaining healthy turf.

Results from the first swine-flu vaccine trials taking place in Leicester reveal a strong immune response after just one dose.

The pilot study, run by the University of Leicester and Leicester Hospitals, was trialled with 100 healthy volunteers, aged between 18 and 50.

Dr Iain Stephenson, who led the trial at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: "The clinical trial of Novartis MF59-adjuvanted cell-based A (H1N1) vaccine indicates that the "swine flu" vaccine elicits a strong immune response and is well-tolerated.

When the first cases of H1N1 Influenza (swine flu) were reported in Mexico in April, UQ researchers got to work developing a test to diagnose the virus.

In less than two weeks, Dr David Whiley and a team of five scientists were able to provide Pathology Queensland with two detection methods, one of which was used to diagnose Australia's first swine flu case.

The tests have since been implemented by the Townsville Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital, and were also used to detect the first case of swine flu in the Northern Territory.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Sept. 2, 2009 — Analyses of clinical trial results published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) shows a potential new investigational therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer.

The study, conducted at TGen Clinical Research Service (TCRS) at Scottsdale Healthcare and two other sites appears to demonstrate tumor shrinkage and limited side effects. TCRS is a strategic alliance between the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Scottsdale Healthcare.

In their experiment the scientists tested a completely new principle of cooling. For this, they used the property that atoms can be stimulated by light. In this process an electron changes from its orbit around the atom's nucleus to an orbit that is further away. However, this is only successful if the incoming light has the appropriate colour. Red light has less energy than blue light. Therefore the 'push' which a red laser gives the electron may not be sufficient for lifting it to a higher orbit.

New York University chemists have created three-dimensional DNA structures, bridging the molecular world to the world where we live. The work, reported in the journal Nature, also has a range of potential industrial and pharmaceutical applications, such as the creation of nanoelectronic components and the organization of drug receptor targets to enable illumination of their 3D structures.

Chemists and biologists have successfully demonstrated that specially synthesized boron compounds are readily accepted in biologically active enzymes, a move that, they say, is a proof of concept that could lead to new drug design strategies.

Research published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that narrow-band imaging bronchoscopy increases the specificity of bronchoscopic early lung cancer detection and can serve as an alternative detection device.

Researchers are developing computer models to comb through thousands of injury reports in large administrative medical datasets or insurance claims data to automatically classify them based on specific words or phrases.

"One goal is to identify the most important causes of injuries so that efforts could be directed toward reducing the burden of injuries in society," said Mark Lehto, an associate professor in Purdue University's School of Industrial Engineering.

An international team of researchers has designed a new graphite-based, magnetic nano-material that acts as a semiconductor and could help material scientists create the next generation of electronic devices like microchips.

The team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University; Peking University in Beijing, China; the Chinese Academy of Science in Shanghai, China; and Tohoku University in Sedai, Japan; used theoretical computer modeling to design the new material they called graphone, which is derived from an existing material known as graphene.

Researchers in California are reporting development of a so-called "NanoPen" that could provide a quick, convenient way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles — from wires to circuits — for making futuristic electronic devices, medical diagnostic tests, and other much-anticipated nanotech applications. A report on the device, which helps solve a long-standing challenge in nanotechnology, appeared in ACS' Nano Letters.

Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers. The study appears in the current issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

A researcher from the University of Bath has found a new approach to an old geometric problem of modelling the most efficient way of packing shapes to form a foam.

The discovery is not only making waves in the mathematical world, but could also lead to medical advances in creating hip replacements and replacement bone tissue for bone cancer patients.

The 'Kelvin problem', posed by Lord Kelvin in 1887, was to find the most efficient way of splitting space into cells of equal volume with the least area of surface between them.

More computers discarded by consumers in the United States are getting a second life in developing countries than previously believed, according to a new study –– the most comprehensive ever done on the topic –– reported in ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology. The findings may ease growing concerns about environmental pollution with toxic metals that can result from dismantling and recycling computer components in developing countries.

The rocking frames are steel braced-frames, the columns of which are free to rock up and down within steel "shoes" secured at their base. To control the rocking and return the frame to vertical when the shaking stops, steel tendons run down the center of the frame from top to bottom. These tendons are made of high-strength steel cable strands twisted together and designed to remain elastic during shaking. When shaking is over, they rebound to their normal length, pulling the building back into proper alignment.