seven Posted August 21, 2005 Author Posted August 21, 2005 * Developed new comprehensve model to predict transdermal transport through nanopores based on corneocyte shape * Used model to predict nanopore porosity or tortuosity in stratum corneum intracellular spaces * Determined that critical parameters of the model are the structural parameters of coreneocytes, diffusion path length, and the asymmetry between coreocytels and stratum corneum * Discovered that ultrasound induces localized transport regions (LTRs) containing nanopores * Molecular permeability is 80 times higher in LTRs compared to non-LTRs, which has profound implications for intervention agent delivery and non-invasive analyte detection systems * Determined electrical resistivity in LTRs (5000 fold less) compared to non-LTRs * Determined that trans-cellular transdermal transport pathways exist in LTR nanopores DNA it pulled sidewise inside the pore by a weak electrical field. . The concentration of surface adatoms C(r,t), is governed by the two dimensional diffusion equation shown below, where r and t are surface position and time, D is the adatom surface diffusion coefficient, and F is the incident ion beam flux. Nanopore Haplotyping Why are new methods for SNP detection and haplotyping desirable? Genotyping and a better understanding of human genetic variation will profoundly affect our understanding of disease, accelerate the rate at which new drugs are brought to market (pharmacogenetics) and improve patient care using existing pharmaceuticals (diagnostics and "personalized medicine"). While genotyping using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, together with attempts to relate these markers to an observed phenotype or clinical response, have become the method of choice for performing disease association studies, several studies suggest that individual SNPs may have poor predictive power, either as pharmacogenic loci or as tools in human health research and care. On the other hand, haplotypes can correlate a specific phenotype with a specific gene in a small population sample even when individual SNPs cannot . Such results suggest that the phasing of multiple SNPs along a single chromosome -- the haplotype -- would better predict physiological response. The concentration of surface adatoms C(r,t), is governed by the two dimensional diffusion equation shown below, where r and t are surface position and time, D is the adatom surface diffusion coefficient, and F is the incident ion beam flux. Fractal Carbon Nanopore Network Activated carbon, porous materials not unlike the charcoal used for barbecuing, performs important industrial functions such as filtering air, removing toxic vapors, and purifying our food and beverages (e.g., sugar, molasses, vodka). For that reason, a far-flung collaboration of scientists (the Universities of Missouri and New Mexico, the CNRS lab in France, the Universidad de Alicante in Spain, the Air Force Research Lab, and Los Alamos) set out to learn more about the internal structure of the material. To their surprise they discovered a fractal network of uniform channels, what is perhaps the first documented pore fractal. Take simple olive pits, "char" them (burn them into charcoal), and then treat them in steam at 750 C. How ironic that in this case water, normally used to put out fire, here sustains combustion by providing oxygen to burn with surface carbon. What happens is not the removal of layer after layer or the carving of holes of various sizes but instead the local etching and collapse of pore walls to form channels of uniform size, about 2 nm wide. This oxidation process will then abruptly branch in a new direction. When it's all over the solid is riddled with a maze governed by a fractal geometry. Scattering x rays from the material establishes a "fractal dimension" of nearly 3, meaning that surface of the internal pore network practically fills all the inside space. The fractal nature of solid shapes has been measured many times, but this might be the first time a fractal mapping has been performed for the empty space inside a void, namely the nanopore network. The surface area of this great inland realm works out to about 1000 square meters (or one football field) per gram. The researchers expect that methane and other fuels could be stored in this kind of structure (the molecules are readily taken up into the branching alleyways by the weak attraction of induced electric dipole "van der Waals" forces), and at pressures much less than the 200 atm needed to store methane in steel cylinders. Gas separation can also be accomplished because the narrow channels are negotiated more easily by some molecular species than others. Electricity storage might be accomplished by building capacitors enhanced by intermediate layers of activated carbon networks filled with an ionic conducting fluid. Have a look and listen to the future being implemented now: squirty01.mov Quote
Eric2575 Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 Well, Idid get a laugh out of it What! You were serious??? Ahem,...yeah, ...I came to similar conclusions, ahem, ...yup, you're on the right track...hmmm...nanopores......... Quote
seven Posted August 21, 2005 Author Posted August 21, 2005 Certainly, nanotechnology offers many colorful possibilities for creative mass murder. For example, for some reason one of the most frequent flights of fancy is the programmable genocide germ that replicates freely and kills people who have certain DNA patterns. Such a weapon is possible, but it is dangerous to its creators, probably easy to defend against, and is of no use in attacking and overcoming a nanotechnic foe who doesn't depend on people to run his war machine anyway. It is easy to kill. What is hard is to kill with impunity when your enemy is well armed and numerous. War is a contest to suppress your enemy's capabilities before he can suppress yours. This doesn't leave much room for fancy swordplay or gothic revenge scenarios in serious combat. An actual nanotechnic war, if one ever occurs, is likely to be inhumanly fast and enormously destructive. Clever tactics and nifty gadgets are irrelevant if your enemy can simply blow you up. A coming war will be very short - just a few nano-seconds - not much to animate, but have a look and listening to it: squirty02.mov Quote
seven Posted August 21, 2005 Author Posted August 21, 2005 Nanotechnology challenges society with fundamental ethical issues, according to Pat Mooney, "What is life and who is human? ...bio-nanotechnology raises questions around biodiversity and what constitutes living material that have to be addressed right now". The issue goes beyond nanotechnology to the convergence of a range of technologies. ETC writes "the US government refers to convergence as the integration of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science (NBIC) and envisions that the mastery of the nano-scale domain will ultimately amount to the mastery of all of nature. At the molecular level, in the NBIC worldview, there exists a "material unity" so that all matter--life and non-life--is indistinguishable and can be seamlessly integrated. The goal of NBIC is to 'improve human performance,' both physically and cognitively (e.g., on the battlefield, on the wheat field, on the job)" [/b]Nanotechnology is unusual in its scope; its interdisciplinary nature spans the physical, biological and engineering sciences and leaves no major research area untouched.[/b] Two years ago, the ETC Group, an Ottawa-based think tank that monitors technological developments, called for a moratorium on nanotechnology research. Their justification: research and commercialisation of nanotechnology is happening below the radar screen of regulatory agencies, limiting society's ability to assess risks and regulate dangerous uses. Let us try to stop it! Having a moratorium! Sitting down - meditating on it... Informing us... Voting on it! Or we can all learn it - sitting in our kitchens cooking some NanoSoup - building our own universes with our own Nano-LEGO-bits-and-pieces... Just a problem there is only one universe! Our universe... Perhaps it is not our universe... We have to share it... Or let us conquer the universe... Conquer ourselves?!., Quote
seven Posted August 21, 2005 Author Posted August 21, 2005 Well, Idid get a laugh out of it What! You were serious??? Ahem,...yeah, ...I came to similar conclusions, ahem, ...yup, you're on the right track...hmmm...nanopores......... Yes, stop them - before they stop you! Let us have a moratorium(thinking and feeling pause) on this new nano-technology! Quote
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