Thursday, December 3, 1998
Community Briefs
BRIEFS:
Lab develops tools for sealed entry process
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National
Laboratory have developed a trio of sampling tools capable of
extracting liquid, gas or powder samples from sealed containers and
permanently sealing the point of entry – all within a matter of
seconds, and without exposing people to the contents inside.
Although the researchers developed the tools for
nonproliferation and counterterrorism purposes, personnel also can
use the tools to quickly and safely verify contents at storage and
industrial sites; perform quality-control checks on chemicals
before they are used; and check the unknown contents of abandoned
or poorly marked containers.
"The really nice thing about these sampling tools is their ease
of use under less than ideal conditions," said Roger Johnston of
Los Alamos’ Advanced Chemical Diagnostics and Instrumentation
Group. "The tools are very low-tech, and they’re incredibly light
and can be taken virtually anywhere where sampling needs to be
done."
The tools may one day completely replace expensive, cumbersome
sampling devices currently used, many of which require opening the
container or its bung (access port) and using a tube or scoop to
transfer the sample to a storage bottle.
The new tools can obtain samples anywhere along a container’s
wall at thicknesses up to one-half inch and internal container
pressures up to eight atmospheres. All one needs to use the new
sampling tools are a standard, off-the-shelf electric drill and
about two minutes of training.
Johnston and fellow researchers Anthony Garcia, Ron Martinez and
Eric Baca, also from the same group, began working on the sampling
tools about three years ago on behalf of the U.S. military, which
was seeking an easier way to sample containers for possible
chemical, nuclear or biological materials with minimal risk to
personnel. The first prototype took more than a year to develop.
Since then, an additional two models have been developed.
Study shows new drug relieves pain
In a clinical trial of a new type of drug to relieve severe,
chronic pain caused by nerve damage, the anti-convulsant medicine
gabapentin has provided significant relief from the aching,
burning, tearing pain that some shingles patients suffer for years
after other symptoms subside.
Shingles, caused by the virus Herpes zoster, results from the
reactivation of the chickenpox virus and attacks more than a
million people in the United States each year. While the shingles
rash and pain eventually subside in most people, about 10 to 15
percent experience continued severe pain known as postherpetic
neuralgia, or PHN, which can last years, and often the rest of an
older patient’s life.
The shingles clinical trial was reported in the Dec. 2 issue of
the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by
University of California San Francisco neurologist Michael
Rowbotham, M.D., and colleagues at the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago, Oregon Health Sciences University, and Parke-Davis
Pharmaceutical Research, which funded the study.
Soon after gabapentin came into use in 1995 to treat epilepsy,
physicians noted its pain-relieving powers. The shingles study
reported is one of two multi-center studies to test the drug’s
ability to control severe pain associated with nerve damage. An
editorial on the promising findings, written by Mayo Clinic
neurologist Phillip Low, also appears in the Dec. 2 issue of
JAMA.
Tricyclic antidepressants are the principal drug used to treat
PHN pain, but they don’t work for more than half of those who try
them, and many cannot tolerate their side effects, which include
decreased blood pressure, constipation and forgetfulness, Rowbotham
said.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.
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