Protective Coating Transforms Silk Into A Weapon Against Anthrax And Other Microbes

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Also Included In: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism
Article Date: 25 May 2012 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Protective Coating Transforms Silk Into A Weapon Against Anthrax And Other Microbes

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria - even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax - in minutes.

This new "killer silk" has many potential uses, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax.

Based on an article by Rajesh R. Naik, Ph.D., and colleagues in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from http://www.acs.org/globalchallenges.

Naik points out in the podcast that in adverse conditions, bacteria of the Bacillus species, which includes anthrax, become dormant spores, enclosing themselves in a tough coating. These spores can survive heat, radiation, antibiotics and harsh environmental conditions, and some have sprung back to life after 250 million years. Certain chemicals - most popular among which are oxidizing agents, including some chlorine compounds - can destroy bacterial spores, and they have been applied to fabrics like cotton, polyester, nylon and Kevlar. These treated fabrics are effective against many bacteria, but less so against spores. The researchers tried a similar coating on silk to see if it could perform better against these hardy microbes.

They developed a chlorinated form of silk, which involves soaking silk in a solution that includes a substance similar to household bleach and letting it dry. Silk treated for just an hour killed essentially all of the E. coli bacteria tested on it within 10 minutes and did similarly well against spores of a close anthrax relative used as a stand-in. "Given the potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity of the chlorinated silk fabrics prepared in this study, silk-Cl materials may find use in a variety of applications," the authors say. Other applications, they add, include purifying water in humanitarian relief efforts and in filters or to mitigate the effects of toxic substances.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Non-Invasive Thermal Imaging Joins The Fight Against Obesity

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 20 Jul 2012 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Non-Invasive Thermal Imaging Joins The Fight Against Obesity

Scientists at The University of Nottingham believe they've found a way of fighting obesity - with a pioneering technique which uses thermal imaging. This heat-seeking technology is being used to trace our reserves of brown fat - the body's 'good fat' - which plays a key role in how quickly our body can burn calories as energy.

This special tissue known as Brown Adipose Tissue, or brown fat, produces 300 times more heat than any other tissue in the body. Potentially the more brown fat we have the less likely we are to lay down excess energy or food as white fat.

Michael Symonds, Professor of Developmental Physiology in the School of Clinical Sciences, led a team of scientists and doctors at The University of Nottingham who have pioneered the thermal imaging process so we can assess how much brown fat we've got and how much heat it is producing. Their research has just been published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The University of Nottingham's Early Life Nutrition Research Unit is at the forefront of ground-breaking international research into managing brown adipose tissue using nutrition, exercise, and environmental and therapeutic interventions.

Thermogenic index for food labels

Professor Symonds said: "Potentially the more brown fat you have or the more active your brown fat is you produce more heat and as a result you might be less likely to lay down excess energy or food as white fat.

"This completely non-invasive technique could play a crucial role in our fight against obesity. Potentially we could add a thermogenic index to food labels to show whether that product would increase or decrease heat production within brown fat. In other words whether it would speed up or slow down the amount of calories we burn."

The obesity threat

Obesity is one of the biggest challenges we face in Europe and America as our children grow older. It affects 155 million children worldwide. In the UK the number of overweight children doubled in the 1990s.

Dr Helen Budge, Clinical Associate Professor and Reader in Neonatology, said: "Babies have a larger amount of brown fat which they use up to keep warm soon after birth making our study's finding that this healthy fat can also generate heat in childhood and adolescence very exciting."

Professor Symonds and his team say their ground-breaking research could lead to a better understanding of how brown fat balances the energy from the food we eat with the energy our bodies actually use up.

Professor Symonds, together with Dr Budge and their team from the University's School of Clinical Sciences has shown that the neck region in healthy children produces heat. With the help of local school children they found that this region, which is known to contain brown adipose tissue, rapidly switches on to produce heat. This capacity is much greater in young children compared with adolescents and adults. The researchers are now using their findings to explore interventions designed to promote energy use as heat and, thus, prevent excess weight gain in both children and adults.

New non-invasive technology

Professor Symonds said: "Using our imaging technique we can locate brown fat and assess its capacity to produce heat. It avoids harmful techniques which use radiation and enables detailed studies with larger groups of people. This may provide new insights into the role of brown fat in how we balance energy from the food we eat, with the energy our bodies use up.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our obesity / weight loss / fitness section for the latest news on this subject. This research goes to the heart of the University’s biggest ever fund raising appeal, Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, which is supporting lifelong health for children. Additional funding will allow more innovative approaches to be researched, developed and introduced across the globe. Find out more about our research and how you can support us at http://tiny.cc/UoNImpact
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Parents Should Be Involved In Decision For Adolescents To Get The HPV Vaccination That Protects Against Genital Warts, Cervical Cancer

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 20 Jul 2012 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Parents Should Be Involved In Decision For Adolescents To Get The HPV Vaccination That Protects Against Genital Warts, Cervical Cancer

Most U.S. adults support laws that allow teens to get medical care for sexually transmitted infections without parental consent. But when asked about the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), most adults want parents to have the final say on whether their teen or pre-teen gets the shots.

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked a national sample of adults about allowing adolescents age 12 to 17 years old to receive the HPV vaccinations without parental consent.

Only 45 percent of those polled would support state laws allowing the HPV vaccination without parental consent.

"But in contrast, 57 percent say they support teens being able to get medical care for prevention of sexually transmitted infections and 55 percent for treatment, all without parental consent," says Sarah Clark, M.P.H., Associate Director of the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit at the University of Michigan and Associate Director of the National Poll on Children's Health.

In the short term, the HPV vaccine protects against genital warts, one of the most common types of sexually transmitted infection. In the long term, the vaccine prevents development of cervical cancer in females and some head and neck cancers in men.

Routine HPV vaccination is recommended for males and females at 11-12 years of age. The vaccine is most effective if administered before the onset of sexual activity.

"That presents a challenge. Parents aren't thinking their 11 or 12 year-old child is ready for sexual activity at that age," Clark says. "Many parents ask to delay the vaccine until their child is a little older. But older teens go to the doctor much less than younger adolescents, and often they go without a parent."

Public health officials have considered pushing laws that would drop the need for parental consent, in order to boost HPV vaccination rates.

"But in this poll, most agreed they are reluctant to support dropping parental consent, even though 74 percent agreed that getting vaccines is a good way to protect adolescents from disease," Clark says.

Those who did not support dropping parental consent were asked about their reasons. The most common reason, cited by 86 percent, was that HPV should be a parent's decision; 43 percent cited the risk of side effects of the vaccine. About 40 percent said they have moral or ethical concerns about the vaccine.

The support for state laws that would allow HPV vaccination without parental consent was not different between parents and non-parents.

"These poll results show the majority of adults view HPV vaccination as distinct from sexually transmitted infection prevention and are reluctant to support taking away parental consent," Clark says.

"Policymakers and public health officials interested in changing parental consent rules should consider this data and provide education to ensure adults understand the importance of HPV vaccination as a form of prevention against sexually transmitted infections."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our cervical cancer / hpv vaccine section for the latest news on this subject. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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University of Michigan Health System. "Parents Should Be Involved In Decision For Adolescents To Get The HPV Vaccination That Protects Against Genital Warts, Cervical Cancer." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 20 Jul. 2012. Web.
20 Jul. 2012. APA
University of Michigan Health System. (2012, July 20). "Parents Should Be Involved In Decision For Adolescents To Get The HPV Vaccination That Protects Against Genital Warts, Cervical Cancer." Medical News Today. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/248022.php.

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