News From The American Chemical Society: March 11, 2009

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Also Included In: Public Health;  Biology / Biochemistry;  HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 17 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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New super-bouyant material: Life preserver might float a horse

Here's a story that might float your boat: Researchers in China are reporting the development of miniature super-bouyant boats that float so well that an ordinary life preserver made from the same material might support a horse without sinking. The advance, they say, might be difficult to apply to full-size craft. However, it could lead to a new generation of aquatic robots for spy missions and other futuristic devices, the scientists add. Their study is reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a monthly journal.

In the new study, Qinmin Pan and Min Wang note that researchers have studied the chemistry of surfaces for years in an effort to design novel drag-reducing and fast-moving aquatic and air devices, such as boats and planes. Scientists have often turned to nature for inspiration. One source: The water strider, whose highly water-repellant (superhydrophobic) legs allow this insect to literally scoot across water surfaces at high speeds. But researchers still have not found a practical way to apply this phenomenon to technology.

Pan and Wang made several miniature boats about the size of a postage stamp. They used copper mesh treated with silver nitrate and other substances to make the boats' surfaces superhydrophobic. When compared to similar copper boats made without the novel surfaces, the water repellant boats floated more smoothly and also showed a surprisingly large loading capacity. The best performing mini-boat floated with up to two times its maximum projected loading-capacity, the scientists say. "Interestingly, the boat is able to keep floating even if its upper edges are below the water surface," the scientists note. - MTS

ARTICLE: "Miniature Boats with Striking Loading Capacity Fabricated from Superhydrophobic Copper Meshes" http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/am800116d

CONTACT:
Qinmin Pan, Ph.D.
Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin, People's Republic of China

First discovery of "animals-only" pigment bilirubin in plants

In a first-of-its-kind discovery that overturns conventional wisdom, scientists in Florida are reporting that certain plants including the exotic "White Bird of Paradise Tree" make bilirubin. Until now, scientists thought that pigment existed only in animals. The finding may change scientific understanding of how the ability to make bilirubin evolved, they say in a report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication.

In the new study, Cary Pirone and colleagues note that bilirubin is a brownish yellow substance resulting from the liver's breakdown of hemoglobin, the red pigment that carries oxygen in the blood. Parents know bilirubin as the stuff that discolors the skin of newborns with neonatal jaundice, sometimes requiring phototherapy, treatment with light. Bilirubin also gives a yellowish tinge to the skin of patients with jaundice resulting from liver disease. Until now, scientists never dreamed that plants, as well as animals, produce bilirubin.

The researchers used two powerful laboratory techniques, liquid chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance, to detect bilirubin in fruit of the white bird of paradise tree. The fruits contain unusual, orange-colored, furry seeds, and bilirubin turns out to be the coloring agent. They also found the pigment in two closely related plant species. The discovery may stir evolutionary research to understand why and how plants make what everyone regarded as an animals-only pigment, they suggest. - MTS

ARTICLE: "Animal Pigment Bilirubin Discovered in Plants" http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja809065g

CONTACT:
Cary Pirone, Ph.D.
Florida International University
Miami, Fla. 33199

Affordable medical tests for the developing world

A new generation of simple, affordable medical diagnostic tests is heading toward the developing world where they may protect impoverished people from AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases. That's the message from an article on these simple medical diagnostics scheduled for the March 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN senior editor Celia Henry Arnaud explains that scientists have designed the tests for the harsh realities that exist in much of the developing world. Those include lack of modern laboratory equipment, lack of refrigeration and unreliable sources of pure water. Many of the new tests require no instruments and can be read and interpreted by workers with minimal training. Some are multi-purpose, capable of diagnosing several infections simultaneously from a few drops of blood or urine, the article notes.

One new test, for example, can monitor levels of key immune system cells in patients infected with HIV, the cause of AIDS, and help determine when costly anti-viral therapy is needed. The tests may also be a boon for the developed world, making health care more affordable, the article suggests.

ARTICLE: "Making diagnostics affordable" http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/87/8711sci1.html

Notes:

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 154,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Source: Michael Woods
American Chemical Society