Staphylococcus aureus is a type of bacteria commonly found on the skin that is relatively harmless unless it gets into the bloodstream, where it can cause blood poisoning and create abscesses in organs such as the heart and brain.

MRSA, or Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, can be particularly dangerous because it is resistant to treatment with most antibiotics. Read More

For someone with a severe, incurable lung disorder such as cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung transplant may be the only chance for survival. Unfortunately, it's often not a very good chance. Matching donor lungs are rare, and many would -be recipients die waiting for the transplants that could save their lives. 

Specialists in the emerging field of tissue engineering have been hard at work on this for years. But they've been frustrated by the problem of coaxing undifferentiated stem cells to develop into the specific cell types that populate different locations in the lung.  Read More

The Chemistry of Fireworks

Greetings!

Conference season is fully underway and we at AsisChem are getting right into the mix.  Coming up this month we will be at the American Chemical Society in San Fransisco from March 21st through March 25th.  If anybody is interested in learning about our progress since the last ACS meeting we would love to meet with you.  You can contact Mel Bellott to discuss details. 

We Dig Chemsitry

Doctors treat millions of children with Ritalin every year to improve their ability to focus on tasks, but scientists now report that Ritalin also directly enhances the speed of learning.
 
In animal research, the scientists showed for the first time that Ritalin boosts both of these cognitive abilities by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine deep inside the brain. Read More

How You Think About You Age May Affect How You Age

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The saying "You're only as old as you feel" really seems to resonate with older adults, according to research from Purdue University.

"How old you are matters, but beyond that it's your interpretation that has far-reaching implications for the process of aging," said Markus H. Schafer, a doctoral student in sociology and gerontology who led the study. "So, if you feel old beyond your own chronological years you are probably going to experience a lot of the downsides that we associate with aging.  Read More

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