Nonstick And Laser-safe Gold Aids Laser Trapping Of Biomolecules.

Biophysicists long for an ideal material - something more structured and less sticky than a standard glass surface - to anchor and position individual biomolecules. Gold is an alluring possibility, with its simple chemistry and the ease with which it can be patterned. Unfortunately, gold also tends to be sticky and can be melted by lasers. Now, biophysicists at JILA have made gold more precious than ever - at least as a research tool - by creating nonstick gold surfaces and laser-safe gold nanoposts, a potential boon to laser trapping of biomolecules. JILA is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. JILA"s successful use of gold in optical-trapping experiments, reported in Nano Letters,* could lead to a 10-fold increase in numbers of single molecules studied in certain assays, from roughly five to 50 per day, according to group leader Tom Perkins of NIST.

UBC Researchers Develop New Method To Study Gambling Addictions.

UBC researchers have created the world"s first animal laboratory experiment to successfully model human gambling. The advance will help scientists develop and test new treatments for gambling addictions, a devastating condition that affects millions worldwide. In addition to showing that rats can "play the odds," the study finds that gambling decisions can be impaired or improved with drugs that affect brain dopamine and serotonin levels suggesting that these neurotransmitters may moderate gambling behaviour. "For most individuals, gambling is enjoyable and harmless, but for others, it is as destructive as being addicted to drugs," says Catharine Winstanley, an assistant professor in UBC"s Dept. of Psychology, whose study was published recently in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Local Food Environments Can Lead To Obesity.

Living in an area with more fast food outlets and convenience stores than supermarkets and grocers has been associated with obesity in a Canadian study. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have shown that your local food environment can affect your weight. John Spence from the University of Alberta, Canada, worked with a team of researchers to study associations between the "Retail Food Environment Index" (RFEI) and levels of obesity. He said, "The RFEI is based upon a ratio of the number of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to supermarkets and specialty food stores in a given radius around a person"s house. We"ve shown that it correlates very well with the odds that that person may be obese.

Vaccine Maker To Give 100 Million Swine Flu Shots To WHO.

Sanofi-aventis, a French global healthcare company that makes vaccines announced on Wednesday that it will be giving the World Health Organization (WHO) 100 million doses of vaccine for H1N1 swine flu so it can distribute them to the countries that most need them. Sanofi-aventis Chief Executive Officer Christopher A Viehbacher told the opening session of the Pacific Health Summit in Seattle, Washington that he wanted to back WHO Director General"s call for common action. "Exceptional times require exceptional responses. We need to act responsibly and we all have to play our part," said Viehbacher. "That is the reason why we intend to donate 100 million doses of influenza vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help developing countries face the influenza pandemic," he added.