Arsenic poisoning did not kill Napoleon in Saint Helena, as affirmed by a new meticulous examination performed at the laboratories of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Milano-Bicocca and Pavia, together with the University of Milano-Bicocca and the University of Pavia.

The physicists performing the study used a small nuclear reactor used exclusively for research purposes at the University of Pavia, applying techniques that were created for the project known as “Cuore” (“Heart”), which is being developed at the INFN’s national laboratories in Gran Sasso.

The research, published in the journal “Il Nuovo Saggiatore”, was performed on hair samples that had been taken during different periods of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life, from when he was a boy in Corsica, during

Wool skirts and silk ties may avoid those pricey trips to the dry-cleaner in the future and clean themselves, researchers in Australia and China suggest. They are reporting development of a nanoparticle coating that could lead to “self-cleaning” wool and silk fabrics.

Wool and silk, which are composed of natural proteins called keratins, are among the most prized and widely used fabrics in the clothing industry. However, they are difficult fabrics to keep clean and are easily damaged by conventional cleaning agents. A better way to fight stains in these and other protein-based fabrics is needed, scientists say.

In a recent laboratory study, wool treated with a new nanoparticle coating (bottom row) removed red wine stains more effectively than plain wool (top row) and wool coated with another stain-fighting chemical (middle row), scientists say. Credit: Courtesy of the American Chemical Society

Scientists are reporting new evidence that natural pigments responsible for the beautiful blue/purple/reddish color of certain fruits and vegetables may help prevent obesity. Their animal study, published in the Feb. 13 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports one odd qualification - eating the whole fruit containing these pigments seems to be less effective than eating an extract of the berry.

Ronald L. Prior and colleagues, who did the new study, note that past research has shown that the pigments — called anthocyanins — prevent obesity in laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet. Anthocyanins are found in grape skins, blueberries, blackberries, purple corn, and other foods. The mice also had other healthful changes in disease-related substances found in the blood.

Mmmmm, lose weight. Colorful pigments found in the skin of blueberries, strawberries and other fruits and vegetables may help prevent obesity, according to recent animal studies. Credit: Courtesy of USDA Agricultural Research Service

Even though Brodie is said to have first described diffuse symmetrical lipomatosis with predilection for the neck already in the 1846 (Clinical Lectures on Surgery, Delivered at St. George's Hospital Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard pub. Pp 201-201. Brodie, B.C.) still unknown is today the pathogenesis of Launois Bensaude' Lipomatosis.

Klopstock et Al. are found in muscle biopsy specimens ragged and red fibers, pathologic subsarcolemmal accumulations of mitochondria, suggesting a mitochondrial abnormality. Biochemical analysis of respiratory chains shows a decreased of cytochrome c oxidase activity.

Can a machine taste coffee? Scientists have been working on it for decades. Researchers in Switzerland published a study on their coffee-tasting machine is scheduled for the March 1 issue of Analytical Chemistry.

For the food industry, “electronic tasters” could prove useful as quality control devices to monitor food production and processing. Christian Lindinger and colleagues at Nestlé Research pointed out that coffee scientists have long been searching for instrumental approaches to complement and eventually replace human sensory profiling.

However, the multisensory experience from drinking a cup of coffee makes it a particular challenge for flavor scientists trying to replicate these sensations on a machine. More than 1,000 substances may contribute to the complex aroma of coffee.

Move over, compact discs, DVDs, and hard drives. Researchers in Japan report progress toward developing a new protein-based memory device that could provide an alternative to conventional magnetic and optical storage systems, which are quickly approaching their memory storage capacities. Their study is scheduled for the March 4 issue Langmuir.

Just as nature chose proteins as the memory storage medium of the brain, scientists have spent years exploring the possibility of similarly using proteins and other biological materials to build memory-based devices with the potential for processing information faster and providing greater storage capacity than existing materials. Although a few protein-based memory materials have shown promise in experimental studies, developing such materials for practical use remains a challenge.

A case is reported of a 28 year old man referring the appearance of swollen blisters due to insignificant trauma since birth. Later he noticed progressive changes of the skin as teleangectasies, atrophic spots, sensivity to sun, dystrohic fingermails and webbing between fingers.The patient was hospitalized several times for an appropriate diagnosis and asked for the permission to undergo an operation of plastic surgery in Paris to correct webbing of the hands.
The rare association of two congenital diseases, epidermolysis bullosa dystrophica and poikiloderma, leads to the diagnosis of a Kindler syndrome.

Incontinentia pigmenti is a rare genodermatosis also called Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome or Bloch-Siemens, that shows early at birth or in the neonatal period.In its classical form,the cutaneous symptomatology develops through three steps.

1st step, with evidence of injuries, of erythematic-vescicular-blistered kind and one wave after another, linearly positioned and involving upper body and limbs;haematic hypereosinophilia is also present.

2nd step, that pops up between the second and the sixty life-week with papulo-lichenoid injuries,hyperkeratosic and warty, looking as elongatad striae in the distal limbs section ( knee, foot-and hand back ).

3rd step, when at third-sixth month of life dark pigmented spots appear at the upper body level, positioned like a vortex, a whirl or spurts.

The first descriptions of the disease are found again in the Textbook of Dermatology, published in 1874, "On disease of the skin, including exanthemata" London - New Sydenham Society, Hebra F.-Kaposi M.

The term "Xeroderma Pigmentosum" was coined from the hungarian dermatologist Moritz Kaposi wanting in such a way to indicate a characterized disease picture from pigmented and dry skin.
Hereditary disease, trasmitted with recessive autosomical modality, the XP is characterized from extreme photosensivity that causes strict and premature damages to level of the cutis and of the eyes. Its incidence is of 1:250000 in Europe and USA, while in Japan the relationship is of 1:40000.

German physician Otto Werner (1879-1936) described the clinical picture of this syndrome in 1904, in four sisters, defining the skin thin, tight, scleroderma-like, that mimics premature aging, with bilateral cataracts associated.

Also known by the term "Progeria" - 'prematurely old' Greek derivation, due to the fact that usually presents wrinkling and aging of face. Progeria occurs in two forms: Progeria of childhood, described by Jonathan Hutchinson (1886) and Hastings Gilford (1897), diagnosed in the first or second year of life and Progeria adultorum commonly indicated as Werner Syndrome.