Author Archives: ev1

Joshua MacFadyen – Biotechnology and Synthetic Fertilizers in Canada, 1891-1940 – Video

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Joshua MacFadyen - Biotechnology and Synthetic Fertilizers in Canada, 1891-1940
Originally published January 30, 2014 as part of the Foodscapes of Plenty and Want week at Activehistory.ca. See the accompanying post for further informatio...

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Joshua MacFadyen - Biotechnology and Synthetic Fertilizers in Canada, 1891-1940 - Video

Using Mathematical Models to Understand Nanoscale Roughness Published by Dove Medical Press

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(PRWEB) February 17, 2014

International Journal of Nanomedicine has published the original research Using mathematical models to understand the effect of nanoscale roughness on protein adsorption for improving medical devices.

As main author Dr Ercan says Protein adsorption is critical for the longevity of an implant. Among others, surface nanophase topography and wettability are important parameters that affect the type, amount and bioactivity of the adsorbed proteins, which, in turn controls select cellular adhesion onto biomaterial surfaces. In order to model the effect of surface nanophase topography and wettability on protein adsorption, highly ordered poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) surfaces with identical chemistry but altered nanoscale roughness and energy were synthesized.

Dr. Ercan continues Fibronectin and collagen IV adsorption was assessed and observed trends were line fitted to currently used mathematical models. The results from this study provided an important step in developing future mathematical models that can correlate surface properties (such as nanoscale roughness and surface energy) to initial protein adsorption events important to promote select cellular adhesion.

As Professor Webster, Editor-in-Chief, explains Researchers from Northeastern University recently developed a mathematical model that can help to understand biological interactions with nanomaterials. Such results can be used to improve implant performance for a variety of tissues and reduce the number of experiments (and consequently the use of animals) in the development of improved medical devices.

International Journal of Nanomedicine is an international, peer-reviewed journal focusing on the application of nanotechnology in diagnostics, therapeutics, and drug delivery systems throughout the biomedical field. Reflecting the growing activity in this emerging specialty, the aim of this journal is to highlight research and development leading to potential clinical applications in the prevention and treatment of disease.

Dove Medical Press Ltd is a privately held company specializing in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine.

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Using Mathematical Models to Understand Nanoscale Roughness Published by Dove Medical Press

Spanish pilgrims of Muslim charity

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Three women fulfill their obligations as Muslims, passing seven times around the Kaaba, the most sacred symbol of Islam, inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca. But their names are not Laila or Fatima or Aisha, just as their native tongue is not Arabic.

They are Mara Antonia, ngeles and Consuelo, three Spaniards who converted to Islam and traveled to the holy city with help from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, which each year pays for travel and lodging expenses (around 4,000 euros) for several people like this group of women.

In October, a group of 15 Muslim Spaniards from Madrid, Granada and Crdoba performed Hajj in Saudi Arabia on the invitation of a foundation from the UAE. "The trip was a gift from God," says ngeles Crespo, a 49-year-old former school teacher from Madrid.

"It was an adventure, an experience and an emotional feeling," adds Consuelo, 51, who is from Zamora.

These are very expensive trips that you cannot easily afford"

"It helped us learn a lot about the history of this religion and we were able to visit the holy places," says Mara Antonia Garca, 56, from Extremadura. All three women are back in Spain, wearing their veils, as they recount their journey near the women's oratory at Madrid's Central Mosque. But their journey really began with their own conversion to Islam.

Garca was a Christian who married a Palestinian man, with whom she had five children. "When they were born, I began wondering which of the two religions we had at home would bring more to my children," she says. "They started going to Islamic religion school, and I would go with them, and I slowly began to be interested. I realized that I felt really good about it, and I started going deeper into it." That was over 20 years ago.

Consuelo, who married an Arabic man over two decades ago, has a similar story to tell. "I used to be a Christian, but a lot of things didn't make sense, while Islam made complete sense to me," she says.

For Crespo, conversion from her initial agnosticism was more recent: "Three years ago I began a relationship with a Moroccan person, and at the same time I began reading books on Islam. I was suffering from depression at the time, but ever since I came into contact with this religion I have found great peace."

There are 1,732,000 Muslims in Spain, of which 1,163,000 are foreign nationals mainly from Morocco and Algeria, as well as other Arab countries. There are also 568,000 Spaniards who profess the faith of Islam, which includes foreigners who were nationalized Spanish, the children of mixed couples and native Spanish converts (21,000), according to the latest data from December 2013 provided by the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain.

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Spanish pilgrims of Muslim charity

M. Elizabeth Tidball, GWU professor and Cathedral Choral Society president, dies

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M. Elizabeth Tidball, a physiology professor at George Washington University whose surveys of graduates of womens-only colleges pointed to the advantages of such institutions and had an enduring influence on debates about academic and professional opportunities for women, died Feb. 3 at the Buckinghams Choice retirement community in Adamstown, Md. She was 84.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Margaret Shannon, the historian and archivist of the Cathedral Choral Society, the resident symphonic chorus of Washington National Cathedral. Dr. Tidball sang in the choruss alto section for nearly five decades and was the societys president from 1982 to 1984. She was the first woman to hold that post.

(Family photo) - M. Elizabeth Tidball, a physiology professor at George Washington University and a member of the Cathedral Choral Society, presents flowers to Paul Callaway, the groups founder and first musical director, after his final concert in 1984.

A look at those who have died this year.

Known to her acquaintances as Lee, Dr. Tidball joined George Washington University in 1960 and remained a researcher and professor in the physiology department until her retirement in 1994. She was widely known as an advocate for women in academia generally and the sciences in particular.

Her prominence stemmed in large part from a study she began in the late 1960s. Dr. Tidball examined 1,500 listings in the reference guide Whos Who of American Women and found that graduates of womens colleges were two to three times more likely than graduates of coeducational colleges to be included in the guide for their professional accomplishments.

The article appeared in the journal Educational Record in 1973. Critics have noted that the study did not control for socioeconomic background or the self-selecting nature of student body populations. But for years, the article continued to be cited in discussions of womens educational and career paths.

Its publication followed closely the enactment in 1972 of Title IX, the federal legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in education, and coincided with an intensifying debate about the role of womens colleges in American society. The number of such institutions fell, according to the New York Times, from 300 in 1960 to 70 in 2000.

Dr. Tidball a graduate of the womens-only Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. steadfastly championed their advantages. Among their merits, she argued, was the greater proportion of female faculty members and administrators who could be role models for female students.

In the 1970s and 80s, she conducted variations on her original study, including surveys of women who received doctoral degrees and who were admitted to medical schools. Those surveys, too, pointed to the merits of womens institutions, said Lisa Wolf-Wendel, a co-author with Dr. Tidball of the volume Taking Women Seriously: Lessons and Legacies for Educating the Majority.

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M. Elizabeth Tidball, GWU professor and Cathedral Choral Society president, dies