Basically, they do penetrate somehow-compromised skin but do not penetrate intact skin. Good news, I suppose. Otherwise I’d be glowing by now
Dr. Nancy Monteiro-Riviere, professor of investigative dermatology and toxicology at NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, tested the ability of the quantum dots to penetrate rat skin at 8 and 24 hour intervals. The experiment evaluated rat skin in various stages of distress - including healthy skin, skin that had been stripped using adhesive tape and skin that had been abraded by a rough surface. The researchers also assessed whether flexing the skin affected the quantum dots’ ability to penetrate into the dermal layer. Monteiro-Riviere co-authored the study with doctoral student Leshuai Zhang.
While the study indicates that acute - or short-term - dermal exposure to quantum dots does not pose a risk of penetration (unless there is an abrasion), Monteiro-Riviere notes “there is still uncertainty on long-term exposure.” Monteiro-Riviere explains that the nanoparticles may be able to penetrate skin if there is prolonged, repeated exposure, but so far no studies have been conducted to date to examine that possibility. Quantum dots are fluorescent nanoparticles that may be used to improve biomedical imaging, drug delivery and diagnostic testing.
This finding is of importance to risk assessment for nanoscale materials because it indicates that skin barrier alterations - such as wounds, scrapes, or dermatitis conditions - could affect nanoparticle penetration and that skin is a potential route of exposure and should not be overlooked.
This thing seamlessly imports my big 40-page Word 2007 document in seconds! Formatting is all there. WOW
Adobe has yet to announce pricing for the Acrobat.com collaboration service, which will be sold on a subscription basis.
… the company hopes to woo subscribers by combining the Web-style collaboration capabilities of a Google Docs with the fine-grained document layout and presentation capabilities of Microsoft Word
Got this in my email the other day. I think this is useful-enough into for me to post it here:
5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do
For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and wallet. Good information to have with you.)
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.
Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:
FIRST Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find Yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to Establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.
SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot From your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mo bile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other ‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
THIRD Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.
FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And Finally… FIFTH Free Directory Service for Cells
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.
Go to that website, read some more news about this toy, or do whatever is it you do to research a new gadget.
As for me, I am going to start reading up on this. I am sick of my Motorola Q and have been thinking about changing it to something else for months now (even though I’ve had it for less than a year).
We’ll see how things go, but so far this is the best alternative to iPhone that I have seen.
Windows mobile is somewhat important to me at the moment (ability to push to/from Exchange is a good thing) so X1 sounds like a great buy.
This is an amazing idea! The Wine Bra from FireBox [and what a company name!] is something out of this world.
First, this thing makes your girl look bigger, which can be a plus.
Second, and more important, you can sneak booze into clubs, etc. You can even come to work in a mini, this thing, and a t-top. Get drunk and enjoy all the boys hollering at’cha!
Whoever was the designer of this thing… DUDE, WE ALL LOVE YOU!
[Yes, it has had to be a man to think-up something this crazy, don't you agree?]
Look at that! There is medicine, plasma engineering and physics, biotechnology, radiation research, etc etc etc. These guys are doing everything! Quite cool, if you ask me.
Personally, I’ve never really “looked up to the stars”… But perhaps I should. There are some quite fascinating phenomena that take place when you remove gravity from the equation. I’ve done a little bit of work on Coulomb crystals where the lattice sites were simply too tiny to feel the gravity. Too bad I have been looking elsewhere for cookies and am generally neglecting that initial effort. In space, however, even cows are weightless…
Anyway, read it and enjoy! Here are a few lines:
Plasma crystal research
The very first scientific experiment that was carried out on the ISS commenced in March 2001. This was a series of experiments that is still continuing today to research plasma crystals by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching (Co-ordinator: G. Morfill). This involves micro-particles arranged so that they are floating in a plasma at room temperature. The lattice-shaped arrangement can be used as an experimental model system for the atomic structure of a solid. Thus scientists can examine in detail the melting of a solid using individual particle movements in terms of time and space. Under certain conditions they are also able to analyse flowing liquids and gases at elemental micro particle level.
The PEAK™ technology offers an alternative to standard RF surgical techniques for tissue cutting and coagulation. Our technology operates in a regime of short-pulsed plasma-mediated electrical discharges. This technology limits heat diffusion and associated thermal damage to sub-cellular dimensions. In contrast, most commercially available RF-based surgical products use continuous voltage waveforms to cut tissue, which leads to significant heat diffusion into adjacent tissues and results in undesirable collateral damage.
So, apparently this small technology I’ve been including in the intro section of many of my papers just got another hefty boost from investors.
According to this and this articles they just got another $21 mil.
Very nifty toy this is, and definitely something to watch out for quite soon at a hospital. They seem to be shying away from “plasma” a little though as far as I know the technology is actually mainly based on plasma. I think I need to go read about this in further detail. In the mean time, here’s another quote:
The technology, however, originated at Stanford, where PEAK, it turns out, stands for “pulsed electron-avalanche knife.” The technique, developed by a team led by Daniel Palanker, involves using a high voltage electric field to create a plasma, a kind of electrically charged gas, which can be shaped and controlled to make clean cuts in tissue.
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