C-reactive protein might be a plausible mediator of the association
Researchers found that pregnant women with periodontitis had 65 percent higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels compared to periodontally healthy women. This study appears in the May issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP).
CRP levels are a marker of systemic inflammation and are associated with periodontal disease, a chronic bacterial infection found in the gums of the mouth. CRP has also been asso
One of the largest and most anticipated U.S. science construction projects of the past several decades has passed its most significant performance test. The Department of Energy’s Spallation Neutron Source, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has generated its first neutrons.
Research conducted at the SNS will lay the groundwork for the next generation of materials research. Scientists believe that the greatly improved ability to understand the structure of materials
Supports earlier controversial finding, may help explain superconducting mechanism
An international collaboration including two physicists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has published additional evidence to support the existence of “stripes” in high-temperature (Tc) superconductors. The report in the April 27, 2006, issue of Nature strengthens earlier claims that such stripes — a particular spatial arrangement of electrical charges — mig
An international team led by UCL (University College London) scientists at the London Centre for Nanotechnology has unravelled the properties of a novel ceramic material that could help pave the way for new designs of electronic devices and applications.
Working with researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, the University of Tokyo and Lucent Technologies, USA, they reveal in a Letter to Nature that the complex material, which is an oxide of manganese, f
Bacterial adhesive is 2-3 times stronger than common commercial glues
The glue one species of water-loving bacteria uses to grip its surroundings may be the strongest natural adhesive known to science. If engineers can find a way to mass-produce the material, it could have uses in medicine, marine technology and a range of other applications.
Researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington and Brown University in Providence, R.I., studied how much force they needed to
Research studies, based at the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrate that biodegradable nano-particles containing two potent cancer-fighting drugs are effective in killing human breast tumors. The unique properties of the hollow shell nano-particles, known as polymersomes, allow them to deliver two distinct drugs, paclitaxel, the leading cancer drug known by brand names such as Taxol, and doxorubicin directly to tumors implanted in mice. Their findings, presented online in the journal Molecul
Patient who received IV bisphosphonates associated with treatment for breast carcinoma develops osteonecrosis following periodontal surgical therapy
The patient of a periodontist in private practice in New Orleans developed osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a condition that can cause severe, often irreversible and debilitating damage to the jaw, following periodontal surgical therapy. Two years prior to surgery, the patient had started receiving IV bisphosphonate therapy, or bone-sp
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have demonstrated a way to release thin membranes of semiconductors from a substrate and transfer them to new surfaces-an advance that could unite the properties of silicon and many other materials, including diamond, metal and even plastic.
Led by materials science and engineering graduate student Michelle Roberts, the team reports in the April 9 issue of Nature Materials that the freed membranes, just tens of nanometers thick, retain
Using transparent zebrafish embryos, researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have shown that a microscopic nanoparticle can help fend off damage to normal tissue from radiation. The nanoparticle, a soccer ball-shaped, hollow, carbon-based structure known as a fullerene, acts like an “oxygen sink,” binding to dangerous oxygen radicals produced by radiation.
The scientists, led by Adam P. Dicker, M.D., Ph.D., and Ulrich Rodeck, M.D., see fullerenes as a potentially “new
Textural properties as a function of the starting mineral particle size
Development of new clean technologies in accordance with increasingly demanding environmental legislation requires new catalysts, adsorbents and/or catalyst supports. Clays have been identified as a promising materials resource for this application.
More specifically, Pillared Inter-Layered Clays (PILCs) have been identified as suitable for these purposes. However, their widespread use has been delayed by d
Results essential to optimize materials for diverse applications
Steadily increasing the length of a purified conducting polymer vastly improves its ability to conduct electricity, report researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, whose work appeared March 22 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Their study of regioregular polythiophenes (RRPs) establishes benchmark properties for these materials that suggest how to optimize their use for a new generation of diverse mat
A Duke University engineer is “herding” tiny lenses with magnetic ferrofluids, precisely aligning them so that they focus bursts of light to excavate patterns of cavities on surfaces.
Such photolithographically produced “nanocavities” -– each only billionths of a meter across – might serve as repositories for molecules engineered as chemical detectors, said Benjamin Yellen, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke’s Pratt School of Engin
Mesoporous nanospheres focus of Ames Laboratory research
Delivering a dose of chemotherapy drugs to specific cancer cells without the risk of side affects to healthy cells may one day be possible thanks to a nanoscale drug delivery system being explored by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory.
Using tiny silica particles call mesoporous nanospheres to carry drugs inside living cells, Ames Laboratory chemist Victor Lin is studying different metho
To live we need to breathe. Prior to being born we carry this activity out through the placenta and subsequently by means of our lungs. In normal development, the lungs of the foetus are filled with amniotic liquid and, on being born, the first cry activates this respiration surface. But the main problem that premature babies have is that their lungs are not well formed. Moreover, they often lack surfactant, a compound formed by proteins and lipids that avoids the lungs folding in on themselves
Chemists and materials scientists often study “nanotubes” — capsule-shaped molecules only a few billionths of a meter (nanometers) in width. In nanotube form, many materials take on useful, unique properties, such as physical strength and excellent conductivity. Carbon nanotubes are the most widely investigated variety. Now, in pioneering research, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have created and investigated the properties of nanotubes made of
As science enters the world of the very small, researchers will be searching for new ways to study nanoparticles and their properties. For the past several years, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have been experimenting with new methods for preparing nanoparticles on metal supports, with the aim of creating model catalyst systems to better study the special reactivity of nano-sized catalyst particles.
Brookhaven’s Jan Hrbek will review
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