MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'crystallography'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:38:56 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050679&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fedible-cat-litter-for-drug-delivery.html – Having published a bog about bulldogs and cats, seems quite apt that I was also writing recently about kitty litter the main component of which is the absorbant mineral sepiolite. Sepiolite has been known since Roman times when it was used to filter and purify wine, today it's commonly found in cat litter trays. It absorbs huge amounts of liquid as it is so porous although a detailed understanding was missing. Now, an X-ray study could help explain why and perhaps lead to more technological applications, such as the development of food binders and drug-delivery agents. Related Posts:Composting Chitosan Cat-litter CompositeSpectroscopic science newsCurious X-shooter AntibioticsTuberculosis Waste Disposal Defeats Immune SystemCanned heavy metal and moreEdible cat litter for dru... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050679 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:41:16 +0100 5050679 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952952&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscience-across-the-spectrum.html Penrose, Escher, back – M.C. Escher‘s famously paradoxical illustration of 1960 depicting a stairway atop an “impossible” building, and made famous recently in a dreamscape of the Hollywood movie “Inception“, that seems to ascend or descend interminably is a good example of how projecting our 3D world into two dimensions in artwork can be exploited to manipulate our perceptions. The stairway was originally conceived by father and son team Lionel and Roger Penrose in 1959. Now, Japanese chemists have reconstructed the illusion using a single molecule. Yet another source of antioxidants, in the trees – Researchers in France explain how several species of poplar tree have been used in traditional medicine for their anti-inflammatory properties. They h... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952952 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:16:06 +0100 4952952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893542&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Flatest-spectroscopy-and-crystallography.html Electric microbes – X-ray diffraction has been used to reveal the structure of proteins attached to the surface of the microbe Shewanella oneidensis, a species found in deep-sea anaerobic habitats. These proteins can transfer electrons making this micro-organism potentially rather interesting as an electricity-generating system. The research could allow researchers to tether bacteria directly to electrodes creating efficient microbial fuel cells or bio-batteries powered by human or animal waste. Such an advance could also hasten the development of system based on microbial agents that can clean up oil spills or provide a new approach to remediating radioactive waste. Uranium and Raman – Scientists at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Tamil Nadu have carried out th... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893542 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:32:50 +0100 4893542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600570&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fsix-science-selections-3.html How Radiation Threatens Health – Why and how does exposure to radiation make you ill? What levels of exposure are dangerous and what levels are lethal? Fukushima is a triumph for nuke power – Quake + tsunami = 1 minor radiation dose so far, says El Reg. Tragic as recent events in Japan have been. We should be building more nuclear reactors not fewer. Global warming caused by burning more and more fossil fuel in coming decades will have a far more detrimental effect on many more people than minor nuclear leaks. Dog walking ‘is good exercise’ – Owning a dog but not walking it is bad for the dog’s owner as well as the dog. NHS Choices unravels the spin on recent headlines proclaiming dog ownership good for health. Top banana – Atomic absorption spectr... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600570 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 10:00:06 +0100 4600570 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4026912&cid=t_154688_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.rawvoice.com%2Fpmn_twiv%2Fwww.twiv.tv%2FTWiV101.mp3 Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Dickson Despommier, and Hamish Young On episode #101 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Rich, Dickson, and Hamish review the three-dimensional structure of adenovirus, and the role of adenovirus type 36 in obesity. Download TWiV #101 (55 MB .mp3, 76 minutes) Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio. Links for this episode: Three-dimensional structure of adenovirus solved by x-ray crystallography and Cryo-EM Movies of adenovirus Commentary on adenovirus structure Adenovirus picture book Adenovirus type 36 and obesity in children and adolescents Press release on adenovirus 36 and obesity How much TWiV do you want? Take t... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4026912 Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:22:07 +0100 4026912 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022947&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fscience-news-with-a-spectral-twist-2.html My latest science updates on SpectroscopyNOW.com: Soft solar cell – US researchers have demonstrated that water-gel-based solar devices can act like "artificial leaves" heralding the possibility of soft matter solar energy conversion devices. X-Ray resistance – An X-ray structure determined by US researchers reveals details of the only remaining class of multidrug resistance transporters that remained to be described. The work has implications for antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, as well as for developing hardy strains of agricultural crops. Ionic liquids are a gas – A gas-phase Raman spectroscopic study of the "green" solvents known as room temperature ionic liquids has been used to offer a clearer understanding of the nature of their underl... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022947 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:35:02 +0100 4022947 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3570009&cid=t_154688_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FYourBonesGotALittleMachine%2F%7E3%2FO4btHltj2IM%2F Recently I’ve noticed the emergence of several Stack Overflow-style sites for science-related questions and answers. For those unfamiliar with Stack Overflow – it’s a question and answer ‘forum’ for computer programmers that keeps the signal-to-noise ratio very high through a carefully refined reputation system. Late last year the creators of Stack Overflow launched a hosted service called Stack Exchange, which allows anyone to start their own “Stack Overflow” based around any topic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicebartlett/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 The service is was a little pricey ($129+/month), and I suspect this is one reason why a few open source clones inspired by Stack Overflow also exist. Since then, Stack Exchange sites (or clones) have prolifer... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3570009 Wed, 12 May 2010 05:33:48 +0100 3570009 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3556283&cid=t_154688_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FYourBonesGotALittleMachine%2F%7E3%2FO4btHltj2IM%2F Recently I’ve noticed the emergence of several Stack Overflow-style sites for science-related questions and answers. For those unfamiliar with Stack Overflow – it’s a question and answer ‘forum’ for computer programmers that keeps the signal-to-noise ratio very high through a carefully refined reputation system. Late last year the creators of Stack Overflow launched a hosted service called Stack Exchange, which allows anyone to start their own “Stack Overflow” based around any topic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicebartlett/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 The service is was a little pricey ($129+/month), and I suspect this is one reason why a few open source clones inspired by Stack Overflow also exist. Since then, Stack Exchange sites (or clones) have prolifer... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3556283 Wed, 12 May 2010 05:33:48 +0100 3556283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2602024&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fstinging-heavy-metal-resistance.html Head-banging science news with a spectroscopic bent from my latest posts on the SpectroscopyNOW ezines, live June 15. A medical tale in the sting – The venom of the eusocial bee contains three novel antimicrobial compounds known as lasioglossins, which have been structurally characterised by NMR spectroscopy. The compounds offer a new avenue for developing new antibiotics that might defeat drug-resistant bacteria. Marine surfactant soaks up heavy metal – Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and other techniques have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of a natural surfactant molecule in removing heavy metals from solutions for potential bioremediation applications. Topical resistance – Crystallography by UK scientists may have uncovered the mechanism by which quino... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2602024 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:00:44 +0100 2602024 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249722&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fwireless-probing-shiny-bugs-remote-scanning.html Probing the brain wirelessly - IR-absorbing lead selenide particles form the basis of a method for the study of neuronal activation in samples of brain tissues without the need for hard-wired electrodes. The technique instead utilises light-triggered nanostructured semiconductor photoelectrodes to probe activity. Propagation improves MRI, allows remote scanning - Swiss researchers have succeeded in exciting and imaging nuclear magnetic resonance in the human body in a way that could represent a paradigm shift for imaging. Plug and play molecular logic - A “plug and play” approach to building molecular logic units has been developed by chemists in the UK and Thailand. The team used various spectroscopic techniques, including fluorescence and NMR to monitor their logical construc... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249722 Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:00:49 +0100 2249722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2195709&cid=t_154688_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fstormwater-artwork.html Earlier this year Laura Haddad of Haddad|Drugan emailed me with an unusual request regarding crystal structures. But, before I tell you about that, here’s a little background. Laura is working on an artistic installation called “Undercurrents”, that will be the basis of the public art component of a stormwater treatment facility on Seattle’s Elliott Bay. The first phase has been in place since 2003 and includes a plaza and integrated sculpture, designed by Haddad. The concept reveals invisible site functions based around, in Laura’s words, “A poetically etched stainless steel swale in the paving channels surface drainage into Elliott Bay, mimicking the actions of the underground outfall pipes.” The second phase of this project is now under construc... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2195709 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:00:12 +0100 2195709 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2089910&cid=t_154688_132_f&fid=35006&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnsaunders.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F01%2F09%2Fwords-fail-me%2F As I’m a biologist, rather than an inorganic chemist or a mineralogist, I don’t have much (well, any) need to look at crystal structures of simple inorganic compounds. Just as well… …our story begins at Twitter, where David Bradley asks: Anyone know where to find crystal structures of sodium hypochlorite and sodium bisulfate (cif files or similar) ? #science #crystal Never thought about it, you say, but surely it can’t be very difficult. So you head to Google and try searches such as “inorganic crystal structure database”. Where you unearth two main players: the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) and the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). Both are private, requiring registration, login and in one case, installation of an X-client. Comi... What You're Doing Is Rather Desperate blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2089910 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:28:54 +0100 2089910 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=996486&cid=t_154688_132_f&fid=35006&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnsaunders.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F11%2F01%2Fa-small-achievement%2F Moving to a new group and a new project is always difficult. However, one of the better aspects of being a bioinformatician is that you can often contribute to other projects - which can be a bonus when your own are not progressing so well. I’m happy to announce: Thakur, A.S., Robin, G., Guncar, G., Saunders, N.F.W., Newman, J., Martin, J.L. and Kobe, B. (2007). Improved Success of Protein Crystallization Sparse Matrix Screening with Heterogeneous Nucleating Agents. PLoS ONE 2:e1091. Open Access My contribution was very minor; some writing and a little statistical evaluation (although the method that I had in mind didn’t make it to the final version). The take-home message is: if your protein won’t crystallise, try throwing some dried seaweed into the mix! It’s no... What You're Doing Is Rather Desperate blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=996486 Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:59:54 +0100 996486