'ACS in the News' publishes daily articles from newspapers, blogs and magazines about the American Chemical Society and its 38 peer-reviewed journals. Click on the links below to view the published article. Full-text articles can also be found in the attached document at the bottom of the page.
Huffington Post (New York, N.Y.: 26.6 million monthly unique users)
January 29, 2010
In 1854, the essayist Henry David Thoreau published an ode to a morning fire: "Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird... Lark without song, and messenger of dawn." Scientists, of course, saw the hazing blue of wood smoke - or any smoke derived from burning plant material - as something less poetic. In particular, the smoke from dried leaves of the tobacco plant attracted serious attention from chemists by the end of the 19th century. Since then researchers have identified an astonishing 4,000-plus chemical compounds in tobacco smoke. Only a small proportion of these are hazardous, although we've learned from experience, that's more than enough. But what makes that number so interesting is that it tells us - shouts at us, really - that plant smoke is incredibly, amazingly complicated. I mean, why would nature turn a burning leaf into such an explosion of chemical notes and signals? As it turns out, a paper published this week in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products offers some real insight into that question. The study by scientists in South Africa and Europe, builds on earlier work showing that some elements in the smoke from forest fires contains materials that literally encourage seeds to propagate, to begin regrowing the forest. In fact, researchers have discovered that by creating "smoke water" - bubbling wood smoke into water - that the result will stimulate many seeds to begin sprouting.
Times of India (New Delhi, India: daily circulation 3.15 million)
“Indian scientists to interact with international experts”
January 29, 2010
The Udai Pratap College in association with the Laser and Spectroscopy Society of India, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) will be organising a three-day international workshop on spectroscopic signatures of molecular complexes and ions in our atmosphere and beyond at the KN Uduppa auditorium, BHU from February 2-4. Talking to reporters on Friday, convener Dr Vipin Bahadur Singh said the the workshop will emphasise on the importance of the rapidly expanding area of knowledge and provide an opportunity to younger Indian scientists to interact with leading international experts. About 25 distinguished experts from India and abroad would take part in the workshop. There would be plenary talks, oral presentation and poster presentation. Among the foreign experts, Dr Leforestier from France, Dr Fusakazu Matsushima from Japan and Dr Joseph Francisco from the U.S.
Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.: daily circulation 279,032)
“Can We Achieve a Sustainable Future? The Role of Green Chemistry”
February 1, 2010
Sustainability at its core means survivability, and green chemistry hopes to ensure that we’ll be happy, healthy, and here in the future. Dr. Robert Peoples, director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, leads a lively dialog about green chemistry’s role in weaning us off petroleum and tackling the challenges of global sustainability.
Discovery News (Silver Spring, Md.: 3.2 million monthly unique users)
“Forget Gingko: Try Blueberries for Improved Memory”
January 29, 2010
There may be a simple way to ease the memory lapses and brain slips that typically accompany old age: Eat more blueberries. In a small study, older adults who drank a couple cups of blueberry juice a day improved their scores on a learning and memory task by 20 percent. Studies in animals have linked blueberries with brain function, but this is one of the first such studies in people. The results, while still preliminary, suggest that blueberries might just live up to their reputation as "superfoods." For the next 12 weeks, participants drank three glasses of blueberry juice a day, for a total of between two and two and a half cups. The exact amount they drank depended on body weight. During the last week of the study, participants took the memory tests again. Out of a possible score of 20 on the paired-words task, the average score was about 9 before the juice drinking began. Three blueberry-filled months later, average scores rose to about 13, the researchers reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. That's a 20 percent improvement.
United Press International (Washington D.C.: 2 million monthly unique users)
“Ginkgo: Risk of seizures in epileptics”
January 30, 2010
An herbal remedy may raise the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy, German researchers warn. Eckhard Leistner and Christel Drewke of Institut fur Pharmazeutische Biologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat, say the remedy -- pills or teas from the leaves or raw or roasted seeds of Ginkgo biloba used to treat an array of maladies including Alzheimer's disease and blood vessel blockages -- contains potentially toxic ginkgotoxin that may affect a chemical signaling pathway in ways that trigger epileptic seizures. The researchers reviewed 10 studies and they say there is evidence Ginkgo can interact with anti-seizure medications and reduce their effectiveness. The review is published in the Journal of Natural Products.
Charlotte News & Observer (Charlotte, N.C.: daily circulation 187,633)
February 1, 2010
The platypus found in Australia is among the few mammals that produce venom. Now researchers in Japan know a little more about what makes it so painful. Using high-performance liquid chromatography and other techniques, the team Masaki Kita of the University of Tsukuba, Daisuke Uemura of the Nagoya University and colleagues analyzed venom samples and identified about a dozen peptides, small chains of amino acids that are building blocks of proteins. Their findings are in The Journal of the American Chemical Society. In earlier laboratory studies, the researchers found that crude venom caused cultured nerve cells to take up calcium ions slowly and continuously. This gave a hint as to how the venom acts, because calcium flux into nerve cells is linked to the sensation of pain. One of the peptides identified, called heptapeptide-1, was shown to increase calcium ion flux by itself.
New Scientist (London, England: weekly circulation 170,000)
“Nanoprinter could have cells lining up to be tested”
January 31, 2010
Borrowing a trick from the office photocopier may make it possible for a nanoscale printer to precisely manipulate biological cells for use in artificial tissue… This process produces an imbalance in the quantities of positive and negative ions in the printed ink, but the team realised that by switching the polarity of the voltage, they could solve that problem and also print intricate patterns of positive or negative charge onto the substrate (Nano Letters).
Science Daily (Rockville, N.J.: 3.6 million monthly unique users)
“Hospital Scanner Could Curb Nuclear Waste Threat”
February 1, 2010
Medical equipment used for diagnosis of patients with heart disease and cancer could be a key weapon in stopping nuclear waste seeping into the environment, according to new research. A team of scientists from the Universities of Manchester and Leeds have joined forces with experts in nuclear medicine at Manchester Royal Infirmary, using medical gamma-ray cameras to track radioactive isotopes in soil samples from a US civil nuclear site. The research was published in a special edition of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Medical News Today (U.K.: 928,500 monthly unique users)
“New Computational Tool For Cancer Treatment”
February 1, 2010
Many human tumors express indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which mediates an immune-escape in several cancer types. Researchers in the Molecular Modeling group at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and Dr. Benoît J. Van den Eynde's group at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR) Brussels Branch developed an approach for creating new IDO inhibitors by computer-assisted structure-based drug design. The study was presented in the January 2010 online issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
… From the Blogs
Herbal Remedies
“Dates Lower The Risks Of Heart Attack And Protect Arteries”
January 27, 2010
According to the findings of a research leaded by Prof. Michael Aviram of the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and the Rambam Medical Center (Israel), eating 100 g of Medjool dates a day is linked to numerous wonderful health benefits which we frequently neglect. The results of this interesting study were published the last autumn in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Health News
“Herbal remedy’s epilepsy warning”
February 1, 2010
People with epilepsy should be warned that using a popular herbal remedy may increase the risk of seizures, researchers say. German scientists, writing in the Journal of Natural Products, said they had found 10 written reports of seizures linked to ginkgo biloba. They said they were convinced the herb could have a "detrimental effect."
I have been a chemist and member 0f the ACS for 40+ years+. and am truly frustrated with
this new edition of ACS. How do I How do I get C&E news
Michael Ritchie