ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: May 22, 2006

• High Manganese Levels in the Food Chain May Increase Mad Cow Disease Risk
• “Green” Roofs Reduce Energy Costs
• Toward a Synthetic Surface Mimicking the Namib Beetle
• False-Positive Toxicity Tests for Carbon Nanotubes
• Exclusionary Payments: They’re Back and They’re Costing Patients Money

All mammals produce a normal version of prion protein, which in altered form becomes the dreaded infectious agent responsible for mad cow disease and related conditions in humans and other animals. But why? Until now, prion protein's function in the body has been a mystery.

Gerd Multhaup and colleagues at the Free University of Berlin now are reporting conclusive evidence that prion protein helps regulate levels of copper and manganese inside body cells. Their study is scheduled for publication in the June 13 issue of Biochemistry.

Multhaup's group used laboratory experiments to show that normal prion protein plays a role in metabolism of copper and manganese, helping to maintain optimal levels of those two metals. They propose that prion protein may be part of a system that protects cells heavily exposed to copper, manganese or both metals. An increase in manganese levels, they report, favors formation of the altered prion protein that causes fatal neurological diseases.

The findings, they state, hint that high levels of manganese in the food chain may increase the risk of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and other prion afflictions. The researchers note that clusters of these diseases have been reported in areas of Colorado, Iceland and Slovakia with high levels of manganese in the soil.

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If people were as:

• Strong as an ant they could lift 20 times their own body weight

• Fleet of foot as a flea, they could jump the length of a football field

• Good at harvesting water from the air as Namib beetles, they could drink in the driest deserts

Michael F. Rubner, Robert Cohen and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are reporting a technological leap in biomimetic research toward the Namib beetle's feat. Biomimetic research strives to imitate the wonders of Mother Nature. Rubner's group has developed a synthetic surface that mimics the water-harvesting abilities of the Namib beetle.

The backs on these desert insects have hydrophilic (water-attracting) bumps alternating with hydrophobic (water-repelling) valleys. The bumps collect water droplets from morning fogs and the valleys funnel water toward the beetle's mouth, almost like beads of rain on a freshly waxed car.

Rubner and Cohen’s groups have developed a surface structure that mimics the hydrophilic/hydrophobic patterning of the beetle. “Potential applications of such surfaces include water harvesting surfaces for military personnel deployed in deserts, controlled drug release coatings, open-air microchannel devices and lab-on-chip devices,” they state in a report scheduled for the June 14 issue of Nano Letters.

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An arcane pharmaceutical industry practice termed the “exclusionary payment” has quietly re-emerged, forcing consumers to keep paying high prices for brand name drugs that could be marketed as less-expensive generics. In the late 1990s, courts ruled that exclusionary payments constituted illegal restraints of trade. Now however, courts are allowing them again, with three payments made in 2005 and seven so far in 2006.

An article by Bette Hileman in the May 22 issue of Chemical & Engineering News describes the resurgence and impact of exclusionary payments. In a typical scenario, a generic drug company seeks U. S. Food and Drug Administration permission to market a generic version of a brand name drug. The brand name manufacturer then files a patent infringement suit. If the brand name manufacturer fears loosing the suit, it pays the generic drug company to delay marketing its product for several years.

C&EN, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, discusses exclusionary payments that have blocked consumer access to generic versions of several popular brand name drugs.

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• Chemical Biology
  Chemical biology is one of the hottest fields of science, a discipline where the life sciences and the physical sciences interact. The American Chemical Society’s newest journal delivers original research articles and reviews in this exciting field. ACS Chemical Biology also features several regular columns for readers, including “Spotlights” of current research in chemical biology, a “Profile” of experts, “In Focus” discussions of topics of interest to scientists and “Points of View” pieces written by scientific experts. The ACS Chemical Biology website, offers journal content and other valuable resources for journalists covering this exciting field. Don’t miss the podcast in which Executive Editor Evelyn Jabri and Managing Editor Sarah Tegen discuss the journal, its website features and the field of chemical biology.

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September 10-14 is one of the year’s biggest and most influential scientific conferences – the 232^nd ACS national meeting in beautiful San Francisco.

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