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Category: chemistry – Page 90

Conventionally, corneal abrasion patients wear a clear, oxygen-permeable bandage contact lens for seven to 10 days but this treatment does not ensure the drug remains in the eye for sustained treatment, according to a statement by the University of Waterloo.

This new lens material was developed with the ambition to address the limitations of current methods for treating corneal abrasions. The contact lens material is derived from gelatin methacrylate, a collagen by-product. Collagen is a protein naturally found in the eye and is involved in the wound-healing process but it’s too soft and weak to perform as an appropriate contact lens material.

Dr. Evelyn Yim, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo, found a way to transform gelatin methacrylate into a biomaterial ten times stronger than collagen, the statement revealed.

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Generative models for chemical structures are often trained to create output in the common SMILES notation. Michael Skinnider shows that training models with the goal of avoiding the generation of incorrect SMILES strings is detrimental to learning other chemical properties and that allowing models to generate incorrect molecules, which can be easily removed post hoc, leads to better performing models.

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Key synapse acts as a “smart teacher,” sending messages against the usual flow of information in the brain.

Information flows in a well-defined direction in the brain: Chemical and electrical signals are passed from one neuron to the other across the synapse, from the pre-synaptic to the post-synaptic neuron. Now, Peter Jonas and his group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) show that information also travels in the opposite direction at a key synapse in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for learning and memory.

At the so-called mossy fiber synapse, the post-synaptic CA3 neuron influences how the pre-synaptic neuron, the so-called mossy fiber neuron, fires. “We have shown, for the first time, that a retrograde information flow is physiologically relevant for pre-synaptic plasticity,” says Yuji Okamoto, a postdoc in the group of Peter Jonas at IST Austria and co-first author of the paper published in Nature Communications.

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Scientists have long pondered the beginnings of life on Earth. One theory is that RNA, which is ubiquitous across all domains of life, played a central role in early life. Similar to DNA, RNA possesses the ability to store genetic information. However, to initiate life’s processes, early RNA must have also possessed the capability to self-replicate and catalyze biochemical reactions independently, without the assistance of specialized enzymes.

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Some molecules respond to external light pulses by changing their structure and holding certain states that can be switched from one to another. These are commonly referred to as photoswitches and usually have two possible states. Recently, however, scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) have developed a molecule that takes the possibilities of photoswitches a step further.

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What do margaritas, vinegar, and ant stings have in common? They contain chemical ingredients that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified surrounding two young protostars known as IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385. Although planets are not yet forming around those stars, these and other molecules detected there by Webb represent key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds.

An international team of astronomers used Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to identify a variety of icy compounds made up of complex organic molecules like ethanol (alcohol) and likely acetic acid (an ingredient in vinegar). This work builds on previous Webb detections of diverse ices in a cold, dark molecular cloud.

What is the origin of complex organic molecules (COMs)?

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“We hope our work will contribute to informed decisions regarding regulatory measures or behavioral interventions to minimize chemical exposure and protect human health,” Tesar said in a statement.

1.8 million. That’s how many people globally have multiple sclerosis, according to the World Health Organization. The agency also found around one in 100 children worldwide have been diagnosed with autism.

“Rigorous safety tests are in place for human health that are evaluated by [the] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval and compliance with all regulatory guidelines,” Brian Sansoni, senior vice president for Communications, Outreach and Membership for the American Cleaning Institute, told Forbes. The ACI represents top cleaning product manufacturers like the Clorox Company and Procter & Gamble. “ACI member company manufacturers make product safety a top priority.” Quats have been known to be effective at killing bacteria, germs, viruses and mold. “The use of cleaning products, disinfectants and their chemistries contribute to public health in homes, schools, healthcare settings and communities every single day,” the ACI said.

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