Tech | Page 1776 | Science Codex

Improved air quality during Beijing Olympics could inform pollution-curbing policies

The air in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics was cleaner than the previous year's, due to aggressive efforts by the Chinese government to curtail traffic, increase emissions standards and halt construction in preparation for the games, according to a Cornell study.

Led by Max Zhang, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the study indicates that such measures as regulating traffic density and encouraging public transportation can have a significant impact on local air quality.

In vitro antibody production enables HIV infection detection in window period -- key to safer blood

Researchers in Israel and Kenya have shown that the contribution of variable degrees of immune suppression, either due to existing chronic infections such as parasitemias and/or nutrition, in different populations may influence and prolong the serological-diagnostic window period of HIV. However, the immunosuppression can be overcome, by in-vitro enhancement of antibody production (termed- Stimmunology).

Improving hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle power plants using unstable materials

DOVER, Del. – Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) can be an important part of the solution to America's energy crisis, says Dr. Andrew Goudy of Delaware State University. He is leading a research team striving to solve a key technical FCV puzzle.

The Chair of Delaware State's Chemistry Department explains that hydrogen FCVs are powered by electric motors that derive energy from on-board fuel cells. The fuel cells convert pure hydrogen and oxygen into electricity.

Pandemic could overwhelm critical care beds in England, especially children's units

Experts in intensive care and anaesthesia have predicted that the current swine flu pandemic could overwhelm critical care beds and ventilators in England, with hospitals on the South East Coast, and in the South West, East of England and East Midlands, being worst hit.

The research, fast-tracked for online publication by Anaesthesia, suggests that demand for critical care beds could outstrip supply by up to 130 per cent, with up to 20 per cent excess demand for ventilators in some regions.

High-tech vehicle design boosts emergency rescue capacity

The EUREKA E! 3722 4 SAVE project has resulted in a design for high tech polyvalent rescue vehicles able to take paramedics to a disaster area and immediately carry up to four patients away for treatment. The key element was the development of a completely new type of four-stretcher support that can be installed in different vehicles. The box kit uses high performance materials and can be adapted to a range of vehicles while offering weight reductions of up to 50% compared with previous products.

Technology improves salmon passage at hydropower dams

SPOKANE, Wash. - Acoustic tags and numerical river models are two technologies developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that are helping improve salmon passage at the Columbia Basin's hydroelectric dams.

The disease markers that will aid arthritis research

A combination of biochemical and MRI markers will allow improved measurement of osteoarthritis (OA) progression. The biomarkers, described in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research and Therapy, will be useful for the design and interpretation of trials of new disease modifying drugs.

Researchers say technology will soon be able to predict humanity's needs

Much as meteorologists predict the path and intensity of hurricanes, Indiana University's Alessandro Vespignani believes we will one day predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity, and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic.

Engineering researchers: Supercomputer fastest of its type in world

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A supercomputer named Novo-G described by its lead designer as likely the most powerful computer of its kind in the world became operational this week at the University of Florida.

Study finds rapid growth in health costs hurts economic performance of US industries

A first-of-its-kind RAND Corporation study has linked the rapid growth in health care costs in the United States with job losses and lower output among industries that commonly provide workers with health insurance.

Researchers examined the economic performance of 38 industries from 1987 through 2005 and compared changes in employment, gross economic output and the value added to the gross domestic product for industries where a large number of workers have employer-sponsored health insurance to those industries where few workers have job-based health insurance.

Silicon with afterburners: Process developed at Rice could be boon to electronics manufacturer

Scientists at Rice University and North Carolina State University have found a method of attaching molecules to semiconducting silicon that may help manufacturers reach beyond the current limits of Moore's Law as they make microprocessors both smaller and more powerful.

Their findings are published this month by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Dirt buggy allows blind drivers some time behind the wheel

MOC-etomidate: potentially safer general anesthetic for the critically ill

A team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians has developed a new general anesthetic that may be safer for critically ill patients. In the August issue of Anesthesiology, they describe preclinical studies of the drug called MOC-etomidate – a chemically altered version of an exiting anesthetic – which does not cause the sudden drop in blood pressure seen with most anesthetics or prolonged suppression of adrenal gland activity, a problem with the original version of the drug.

TB 'tracker' to speed drug and vaccine studies

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a novel way to monitor in real time the behavior of the TB bacterium in mouse lungs, noninvasively pinpointing the exact location of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The new monitoring system is expected to speed up what is currently a slow and cumbersome process to test the safety and efficacy of various TB drug regimens and vaccines in animals. A report on the system appears in the July 16 issue of the online journal Public Library of Science (PLoS One).

better healthy cell-delivery in Parkinson's patients may make difference

By miniaturizing a device that monitors the delivery of healthy cells, researchers at Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a powerful instrument for physicians to use in treating patients with Parkinson's syndrome, brain tumors, and other diseases.

While cell replacement therapies can be effective, the challenge is to deliver a sufficient quantity of healthy cells, said Boyd Evans III of the lab's Measurement Science and Systems Engineering Division.