The ability to eliminate waste and toxins from production processes early on, to create more efficient and flexible solar panels, and to remove contaminants from water, is becoming an exciting reality with nanotechnology. This "green nanotechnology" involves designing nanoproducts for the environment and with the environment in mind. Green nano is not just a niche among a few scientists or environmentalists. The investment community has recognized these green nano advances as big business and rewarded corporate innovators.
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The study reveals the likely mechanism by which the Arabidopsis plant flowers in response to changes in day length. Earlier research had shown that plants' leaves perceived seasonal changes in day length, which triggers a long-distance signal to travel through the plant's vascular system from the leaf to the shoot apex, where flowering is induced. However, the identity of the long-distance signal remained unclear.
Use of hydrogen as fuel for vehicles is currently stunted because it is difficult to store in a cost-effective and convenient way. Using metal is too expensive and leads to environmental issues.
Chemists at UC Riverside now offer a possible solution. A class of carbenes – molecules that have unusual, highly reactive carbon atoms – can mimic, to some extent, the behavior of metals, the chemists have found. Called cyclic alkyl amino carbenes or CAACs, these organic molecules, the researchers report, could be used to develop carbon-based systems for storing hydrogen.
Premenopausal women who were assigned to follow the Atkins diet for one year lost more weight when compared to women who were assigned to follow the Zone, Ornish and LEARN diets, according to a study in the March 7 issue of JAMA.
The first phase of a caloric restriction study in human subjects found evidence that calorie-restricted diets differing substantially in glycemic load can result in comparable long-term weight loss. In other words, calories matter more than carbohydrates.
A diet high in carbohydrates but low on the glycemic index, which measures the impact of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels, may help promote weight loss, decrease body fat and reduce cardiovascular disease risk, according to a report in the July 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Green tea may help protect against autoimmune disease, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
Researchers studied an animal model for type I diabetes and primary Sjogren's Syndrome, which damages the glands that produce tears and saliva.
They found significantly less salivary gland damage in a group treated with green tea extract, suggesting a reduction of the Sjogren's symptom commonly referred to as dry mouth. Dry mouth can also be caused by certain drugs, radiation and other diseases.
In the U.S. more than $20 billion was spent on dietary supplements in 2005. Over $7 billion was spent on plant-based herbal dietary supplements such as grape seed extract, St. John's wort, ginseng and biloba extract.
Researcher Dr. Susanne Mertens-Talcott of Texas A&M University is looking into how useful plant-based phytochemicals, including antioxidants and herbal supplements, can be in the promotion of health and prevention of chronic diseases.
This device, called HeartLander, can be inserted using minimally invasive keyhole surgery. Once in place, it will attach itself to the heart and begin inching its way across the outside of the organ, injecting drugs or attaching medical devices. In tests on live pigs, the HeartLander has fitted pacemaker leads and injected dye into the heart.
Despite the fact that they both infect the liver, the hepatitis A and hepatitis C viruses actually have very little in common. The two are far apart genetically, are transmitted differently, and produce very different diseases. Hepatitis A spreads through the consumption of fecal particles from an infected person (in pollution-contaminated food or water, for example), but hepatitis C is generally transmitted only by direct contact with infected blood.
Ethanol is widely touted as an eco-friendly, clean-burning fuel. But if every vehicle in the United States ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of pure gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase, according to a new study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson.
Temporal sequence represents the main principle underlying episodic memory. The storage of temporal sequence information is thought to involve hippocampus-dependent memory systems, preserving temporal structure possibly via chaining of sequence elements in heteroassociative networks.
According to a new review of studies, women who received an advance supply of birth control pills for emergency contraception had the same chance of becoming pregnant as women who did not have early access to the pills.
Contrary to the fears of critics, the study says, the presence of Plan B does not provoke riskier sexual behavior but advance access to emergency contraception is also no antidote for the national problem of unintended pregnancy.
The review draws conclusions from eight studies of more than 6,000 women in the United States, India and China.
Trials lasting 4 to 8 weeks indicate that including wholegrain oats in your diet may lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of death and ill health. One of the risk factors for CHD is elevated blood levels of total cholesterol and of low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Existing observational studies indicate that wholegrain cereals may reduce the risk of CHD, possibly by reducing cholesterol levels.
Women who have unprotected sexual intercourse or experience contraceptive failure can seek emergency contraception to reduce their chance of unintended pregnancy. Emergency contraception is a safe medication, and to be effective, must be taken within five days of unprotected intercourse. Several barriers can discourage use of emergency contraception, including an inability to obtain the medication fast enough. One proposed solution is to let women have a set of the tablets that they can keep for immediate use should it be needed.