They call them long-haulers – people still suffering symptoms long after a bout of COVID. But what is the condition, exactly? Doctors expect the answer will change our understanding of immunity forever. Six months after physiotherapist Scott Willis became one of Australia’s first COVID-19 patients, something strange [...]
Microbubbles can assist with localized drug delivery in a patient's body by popping at a target site to create enhanced permeability of tumor blood vessels. By temporarily increasing the porosity of the blood vessels, the microbubbles can create a means for coinjected anti-cancer drugs to preferentially leak into the tumor for treatment. Naomi Matsuura, [...]
In patients with serious and long-term COVID-19, disturbed blood coagulation has often been observed. Now, researchers at Linköping University (LiU), Sweden, have discovered that the body's immune system can affect the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading to the production of a misfolded spike protein called amyloid. The discovery of [...]
Glucose is the sugar we absorb from the foods we eat. It is the fuel that powers every cell in our bodies. Could glucose also power tomorrow’s medical implants? Engineers at MIT and the Technical University of Munich think so. They have designed a new kind of glucose fuel cell that converts glucose directly [...]
Although skin aging has not been related to many health complications, it has aesthetic issues. Some of the common symptoms of skin aging are changes in the skin texture (rough, dry, and itchy), discoloration, reduction in skin elasticity, and enhanced susceptibility to bruises. Scientists have formulated various nano-based products to reverse, prevent or decelerate [...]
In an article published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers have highlighted the significance and potential risks associated with the release of nanoparticles from coal-fired power plants. Applying the single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass technique, the particle size and particle number concentration (PNC) of conventional metal-containing nanoparticles (Fe and Ti containing nanoparticles) were investigated. [...]
A paper recently published in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials demonstrated the feasibility of using a covalent organic framework (COF)-based nanofluidic hybrid membranes (NHMs) to attain enhanced interfacial ion transport for the generation of osmotic energy. Importance of Osmotic Energy Osmotic energy exists in the form of a salinity gradient between seawater and freshwater and [...]
The excess fluoroquinolones (FQs) discharged into the aquatic environment due to human activities must be removed cost-effectively. In an article published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the authors fabricated an environment-friendly dealkaline lignin-grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@DAL) for the removal of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Multiple interactions between Fe3O4@DAL and FQs facilitate their facile removal. The authors confirmed the [...]
Controlling strong electromagnetic fields on nanoparticles is the key to triggering targeted molecular reactions on their surfaces. Such control over strong fields is achieved via laser light. Although laser-induced formation and breaking of molecular bonds on nanoparticle surfaces have been observed in the past, nanoscopic optical control of surface reactions has not yet been [...]
A paper recently published in the journal Nature Communications demonstrated an effective method to realize on-chip nanophotonic topological rainbow devices using the concept of synthetic dimensions. Importance of Synthetic Dimensions for the Construction of Topological Nanophotonics Device Topological photonics witnessed significant advancements in the last few years. Due to topological protection, photonic devices have become more [...]
