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Characterizing the environmental, health, and safety implications of nanotechnology

A new analysis of the Federal government’s efforts to study the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) implications of nanotechnology concludes that sound management will play as important a role as good science when it comes to addressing these concerns.

18 Dec 2006

In vivo tumor targeting and radionuclide imaging with self-assembled nanoparticles

In an attempt to determine what factors make one nanoparticle better than another at targeting tumors, a team of investigators in Korea have conducted a systematic tumor-targeting study of a variety of self-assembling nanoparticles.

18 Dec 2006

Better magnetic nanoparticles

Using a polymer coating designed to resemble the outer surface of a cell membrane, a team of investigators led by Steve Armes, Ph.D., of the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, has created a highly stable, biocompatible magnetic nanoparticle expected to improve the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

18 Dec 2006

New X-ray microscope shows nanomaterials in 3D

Using a new x-ray microscope that can look at nanomaterials in three dimensions, an international research team has produced the first detailed atomic structure of a core-shell nanoparticle.

18 Dec 2006

Aptamer-capped nanocrystal quantum dots

Quantum dots, used increasingly as bright fluorescent markers in basic research and diagnostic assays, must be coated, or capped, with one of a wide variety of organic molecules in order to stabilize these nanocrystals and prevent them from aggregating when added to water.

18 Dec 2006

Nanostructured calcium phosphates (NanoCaPs) for non-viral gene delivery

Though gene therapies hold great promise for treating cancer, it has proven difficult to deliver therapeutic genes efficiently into cancer cells.

18 Dec 2006

Mammalian pharmacokinetics of carbon nanotubes using intrinsic near-infrared fluorescence

In the first experiments of their kind, researchers have determined that carbon nanotubes injected directly into the bloodstream of research lab animals cause no immediate adverse health effects and circulate for more than one hour before they are removed by the liver.

18 Dec 2006

Dual-mode nanoparticle probes for high-performance magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging of neuroblastoma

Nanoscale, inorganic fluorescent imaging agents such as quantum dots have become an important tool for researchers studying key biomolecules involved in cancer.

18 Dec 2006

FeCo/graphitic-shell nanocrystals as advanced magnetic-resonance-imaging and near-infrared agents

Alloys of iron and cobalt generate powerful magnetic signals that could be useful in nanoparticles designed to detect tumors using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

18 Dec 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds in South Korea

Authorities in South Korea say they have found another case of a highly pathogenic bird flu in North Cholla province south of Seoul.

12 Dec 2006

Breast cancer screening for under 50's of little benefit

It seems that it remains debatable whether screening women under 50 years old for breast cancer significantly reduces deaths from the disease.

12 Dec 2006

Contaminated U.S. spinach causes food scare in Canada

In the latest food scare to hit North America Canadians are being warned against eating an American brand of fresh spinach.

12 Dec 2006

80 reasons to eat at home

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. says there have now been 80 confirmed cases of E. coli infections across five states.

12 Dec 2006

Epidurals affect how successful breastfeeding will be

According to researchers in Australia having an epidural to relieve labour pains may affect how successful breastfeeding will be.

12 Dec 2006

More Americans have their blood pressure under control

According to a new study far more Americans now have their blood pressure under control which is good news especially with regard to the risks of heart attack, stroke and other diseases.

12 Dec 2006

Scans show hysteria is caused by a brain dysfunction

Hysteria is an unexplained neurological disorder in which a patient complains of symptoms, ranging from numbness in a limb, to paralysis, memory loss and seizures, that cannot be traced to any known medical problem and doctors fail to find anything medically wrong with them.

12 Dec 2006

The job makes many nurses sick

Tales of over-worked and stressed nurses abound in just about every developed country but now a new Canadian study has taken what until now has been hearsay to a factual, statistical level.

12 Dec 2006

Don't pig out on "low fat" snacks

According to researchers at Cornell University, in the U.S., eating so-called 'low fat,' versions of snack foods only serves to encourage people to over-indulge.

12 Dec 2006

FDA investigates norovirus linked to frozen oysters

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently working with five states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate an outbreak of norovirus which has been associated with raw, frozen oysters on the half shell from South Korea.

12 Dec 2006

New vaccines against HPV could save hundreds of thousands of lives if delivered effectively

The introduction of new vaccines against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes cervical cancer, could have a major impact on the health of women in the developing world. More than 250 000 women died from cervical cancer in 2005 - the vast majority in developing countries.

12 Dec 2006