Detecting infection with a microchip

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The pH-sensing chip sits in the middle of this Pitt Innovator lapel pin. Star places a lapel pin on a table in his Eberly Hall office. Affixed to it is a microchip that he and his team have developed that may save joint implants before they’re ruined by infection. Even with his guidance, you have to squint to see the thing.     Alexander Star, an associate professor of chemistry in the University of Pittsburgh’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, believes that this chip, which is engineered to detect pH levels in the body, will be able to alert doctors to encroaching bacterial infection, which causes acidosis, a drop in pH levels in nearby tissue. The chip, festooned with tiny carbon nanotubes (engineered segments of carbon that are efficient electrical conductors) and treated with a proprietary polymer, reads pH levels and transmits the information to a radio frequency identification reader held by a doctor. The wirelessly powered chip can be attached to implants and can stay in the body long term. One in 100 Americans have an artificial joint, Star says, “and bacterial infections are a common complication of the implant.” Infection can damage the body surrounding the implant,

The post Detecting infection with a microchip has been published on Technology Org.

Similar news or articles:

1. Breath analysis reliably indicates presence, level of infection

 
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Earth not threatened by supernovas

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Earth not threatened by supernovas
Which is a relief :)
 #outerspace #astronomy  

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NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory originally shared:

Question of the Day:
Are there any nearby stars that could explode and threaten our existence?

Answer:
Probably not. For a supernova to do real damage on Earth, it probably has to occur at a distance of less than about fifty light years. All such nearby stars are of sufficiently low mass (less than about ten times the mass of the Sun) that they will very likely lose enough of their mass in their red giant phase and turn into white dwarf stars without an explosion. Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, has a mass of about ten times the Sun, and will probably explode as a supernova in several million years, but it is 260 light years away. Celestial fireworks can also be expected from Antares in Scorpius at a distance of 390 light years and Betelgeuse in Orion, 500 light years away.

 
original post: https://plus.google.com/116000959328274308893/posts/58Ygt7FzEMw
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NASA completes LADEE mission with planned impact on moon's surface

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Ground controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., have confirmed that NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft impacted the surface of the moon, as planned, between 9:30 and 10:22 p.m. PDT Thursday, April 17.

via Science Daily

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Vintage Astronomy Celestial Stars in the Night Sky Print

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Vintage Astronomy Celestial Stars in the Night Sky Print

tagged with: retro, vintage, americana, nostalgia, nostalgic, celestial map, star chart, planisphere, astronomy, zodiac constellations

Vintage illustration astronomy and celestial star chart map by the Dutch cartographer family Frederik de Wit. Frederik de Wit can refer to any of three members (Father, son or grandson) of a family of Dutch engravers, cartographers and publishers. The senior de Wit opened a printing office in Amsterdam under the name "De Witte Pascaert".

Planisphæri cœleste, 1680, is a celestial planisphere featuring the constellations of the northern and southern hemispheres (with the signs of the zodiac), the earth, sun and phases of the moon.

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Attack of the invasive species

Science Focus

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America is facing an animal invasion on multiple fronts. These invaders aren't looking to start a war — only to make a home. But however benign their intentions might be, invasive species unfortunately pose threats to native species and upset the balance of native ecosystems. Some are relatively new arrivals; others have been fortifying their position for more than a century. All are especially adept at out-eating and out-reproducing their native neighbors. To help you guard the home front, we lined up 12 of the most pernicious invasive animals in the U.S.:

(Click and zoom to enlarge)...

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original post: http://theweek.com/article/index/259964/attack-of-the-invasive-species
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World 'needs Plan B' on climate - UN

Science Focus

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The world needs a Plan B on climate change because politicians are failing to reduce carbon emissions, according to a UN report. 
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original post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26922661#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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How some bugs are like bad Elvis impersonators

Science Focus

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If you're an Elvis impersonator, your impression better be pretty spot-on if you want to avoid getting heckled by the audience. But if you're any one of a number of animals that mimic other species to survive, a poor impression can mean death. Thankfully, a new study suggests that nature can be pretty forgiving of an imperfect imitation.

Some animals defend themselves from predators through what biologists call Batesian mimicry: they take on the appearance of another prey species that's poisonous, dangerous in some other way, or just plain unpalatable. Predators avoid the model species for good...

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original post: http://theweek.com/article/index/260088/how-some-bugs-are-like-bad-elvis-impersonators
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Zany Dancers and Blue spot Alien - Happy Birthday! Gift Wrap

Get your out-of-this-world gift wrap here! Perfect for Christmas gifts for anyone who is fascinated by what the universe holds in store for us!

Zany Dancers and Blue spot Alien - Happy Birthday! Gift Wrap

tagged with: dancing motifs, dance motifs, dancers logo, happy birthday, pbslawt, blue-spotted, pink alien, trunk, antennae, outer space visitors

Just Fun series Fun birthday wrapping paper featuring bright, zany, exuberant dancers in a variety of colourful poses to brighten the mood :) With a blue-spotted alien with droopy antennae, you can change the text from Happy Birthday to what you want - even the person's name.
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Stellar Nurseries RCW120 Rectangle Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Stellar Nurseries RCW120 Rectangle Sticker

tagged with: envelope sealers, nebulae, gstlnrsr, rcw120, breathtaking astronomy images, star nurseries, ionised gas clouds, star forming regions, european southern observatory, clusters of stars, galaxies, starfields, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

A fantastic set of stickers, with a monogram for you to change, featuring a colour composite image of RCW120.

It reveals how an expanding bubble of ionised gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps where new stars are then formed.

The 870-micron submillimetre-wavelength data were taken with the LABOCA camera on the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope. Here, the submillimetre emission is shown as the blue clouds surrounding the reddish glow of the ionised gas (shown with data from the SuperCosmos H-alpha survey). The image also contains data from the Second Generation Digitized Sky Survey (I-band shown in blue, R-band shown in red).

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Image code: gstlnrsr

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Ash and Lightning above an Icelandic Volcano

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Crab Nebula Wall Decal

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Crab Nebula Wall Decal

tagged with: crab nebula, supernova, remnant, pulsar, wind nebula, nebulae, space, astronomy, universe

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus.

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Spiral Nebula Case For The iPad Mini

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!

Spiral Nebula Case For The iPad Mini

tagged with: nasa, nebula, spiral nebula, star, galaxy, m51, ngc5195, universe, space image, space, stellar, space dust, constellation, hubble, astronomy, outer space, nebulae

This breathtaking photograph from NASA shows manipulated image data from the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The startling image shows the original spiral nebula, a large galaxy with a clearly defined spiral structure. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51's spiral arms and dust lanes swirl in front of its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years away. Close to the handle of the Big Dipper, they are inside the small constellation Canes Venatici. Image Credit:

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Vibrational spectroscopy of biofluids opens new paths to disease screening and diagnosis

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In today’s ageing population, resulting in a rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as neurodegeneration, the need for simple, non-invasive methods to diagnose or screen for important medical conditions becomes more and more relevant. Objective and cost-effective approaches capable of diagnosing early-stage disease in point-of-care clinical settings are necessary to facilitate the personalising of therapies to prevent or slow down pathology development. Vibrational spectroscopy, IR or Raman spectroscopy, could be the base for such kind of approach, as they provide several advantages: Sample preparation is minimal, no reagents are required, the techniques involved are relatively low-cost, data frameworks are available, a profile of spectral alterations can be determined, and the methods are suitable for automation. Yet, in the handling of some biofluids such as blood, there remain challenges to be overcome. In a review article, a team at Lancaster University led by Pierre Martin-Hirsch explores the evidence supporting the applicability of techniques based on vibrational spectroscopy to generate spectral biomarkers of disease in biofluids such as plasma or serum. Read more at: Phys.org

The post Vibrational spectroscopy of biofluids opens new paths to disease screening and diagnosis has been published on Technology Org.

No related news.

 
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It's started, we're on the knee of the exponential curve!

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It's started, we're on the knee of the exponential curve!
It won't be long now, I think anyone younger than thirty will see 3-d printed planet and asteroid bases as the norm in their lifetime.

 #outerspace

Handy! 3-D Printing Could Build Moon Bases And Improve Items Used In Space

 
original post: https://plus.google.com/116000959328274308893/posts/LvbTfAkdHuC
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Vintage Astronomy, Celestial Planisphere Map Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Vintage Astronomy, Celestial Planisphere Map Poster

tagged with: planisphere, constellations, retro, antique, americana, vintage, celestial map, star chart, mythology, nostalgic

Vintage illustration astronomy and celestial star chart map created in 1702 featuring the signs of the zodiac and other figures from Greek mythology. Planisphere Celeste featuring the constellations of the northern and southern night sky, planets (Mercury, Mars, Venus and Saturn), the phases of the moon and the sun. A mythological representation of our universe.

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Tadpole Nebula, Auriga Constellation Square Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space

Tadpole Nebula, Auriga Constellation Square Sticker

tagged with: envelope sealers, star forming activity, awesome astronomy images, tnitac, tadpole nebula, auriga constellation, interstellar gas clouds, new born stars, hot young stars, star nursery, dust clouds

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series An awesome outer space picture featuring the Tadpole Nebula, a star forming hub located about 12000 light years away in the Auriga constellation.
This nebula is brimming with new-born stars, many as young as only a million years of age. It's called the Tadpole nebula because the masses of hot, young stars are blasting out ultraviolet radiation that has etched the gas into two tadpole-shaped pillars, called Sim 129 and130, the yellow forms that seem to be swimming away from the three red stars close to the centre of the picture.

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image code: tnitac

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

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Name, Deep Space Hubble Astronomy Pictures Gift Wrap

Get your out-of-this-world gift wrap here! Perfect for Christmas gifts for anyone who is fascinated by what the universe holds in store for us!

Name, Deep Space Hubble Astronomy Pictures Gift Wrap

tagged with: hubble, outer space, astronomy, deep space, star galaxies, spiral galaxy, nebula, cosmic, interstellar dust, sky watching

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Gift wrap paper - with the name of the person whose gift it is. Using four astronomy images from deep space, this is the perfect wrapping paper for an out of this world gift!
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Vocations: The Planetarium Worker: Inspired by an Eclipse

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Rubina Isaac, who works at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, says a solar eclipse she saw as a girl in India inspired her interest in astronomy.















via New York Times

Helix Nebula iPad Mini Covers

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!

Helix Nebula iPad Mini Covers

tagged with: helix, nebula, eye, god, nasa, images, hubble, planetary, glowing, night, skies, space, starfield, astronomy, awesome, telescope

The image is of the Helix Nebula thanks to NASA's Hubble program.

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