ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: May 30, 2006

• A New Link Between Ozone and Cardiovascular Disease
• A Dozen Cloves of Garlic a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
• Reducing bias in Metabonomic Research
• Fresh-cut Fruit Retains High Levals of Vitamin C and Other Antioxidants
• Magic Touch Malaria Nets

Chemists are reporting evidence that toxic compounds produced in the human body by ozone can trigger the formation of the artery blockages that cause heart attacks and strokes.

The investigators, who are with the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., previously made the completely unexpected discovery that ozone may be produced in the body. Ozone is a high-energy form of oxygen most familiar as an air pollutant. That research showed that ozone can cause pathological changes in cholesterol and other molecules in the body. The changes produce toxic compounds called “atheronals” that are present in atherosclerotic plaques removed from patients with blood vessel disease.

In their new research, scheduled for publication in the June 13 issue of Biochemistry, Paul Wentworth, Jr., and colleagues report that atheronals do have the potential to cause plaques. Atheronals accelerate or stimulate a number of processes regarded as critical for formation of atherosclerotic plaques, they found.

The Biochemistry report raises the possibility that atheronals may originate in part from ozone inhaled into the lung from polluted air. “As such, the atheronals may be a heretofore unrecognized chemical player in the known linkage between environmental pollution and cardiovascular disease,” the report states.

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The Human Genome Project has spawned several new genres of “omics” research, including the well-known proteomics (protein expression) and genomics (gene expression). Another discipline — metabonomics — gets less attention, but has exciting uses in profiling metabolic differences among individuals. Profiling research has led to an explosion in reports on biomarkers to screen for cancer and other diseases.

Concern has arisen, however, that unintentional experimental bias may affect the outcome of such experiments. Hector C. Keun and colleagues now are providing researchers with an inventory of the common sources of bias in metabolic profiling research that uses a key technology, NMR spectroscopy.

Keun details those sources in the May 1 issue of Analytical Chemistry, where he states: “These observations have implications for profiling study design, and those attempting clinical metabolic profiling, for regulatory agencies involved in the licensing of clinical tests and the generation of international reporting standards for metabonomics.”

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A Japanese chemical company has quietly transformed old-fashioned mosquito netting into a high-tech weapon against malaria. About 20 million of Sumitomo Chemical’s next-generation Olyset long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) will be distributed in malaria-ravaged countries in 2006, and 30 million in 2007. Malaria kills almost one million children annually in Africa alone, and the World Health Organization says LLINs could prevent 20 percent of those deaths.

In an article scheduled for the May 29 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, Jean-Francois Tremblay explains that conventional mosquito netting needs a fresh dose of insecticide every few months — a difficult proposition for poverty-stricken people. Olyset polyethylene nets release their permethrin insecticide for up to seven years. A polyester malaria net produced by the Swiss Vestergaard-Frandsen group lasts two to three years under field conditions.

The C&EN article describes how Sumitomo has boosted production of Olyset nets as a social responsibility initiative with joint-venture partners in Africa and other countries. While saving thousands of lives, the license-free partnerships also are creating hundreds of badly needed jobs in developing countries.

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• Green Chemistry
  Green chemistry is a far-ranging effort to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical enterprise. It focuses on developing and using technologies that are cleaner, smarter, less costly and more sustainable than approaches traditionally used in chemistry and chemical engineering. Authorities on green chemistry are gathering in Washington, D.C., June 26-30 for a conference that promises to be a bonanza of news and background for science and environmental journalists. It is the 10^th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference.
• Sponsors include the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the National Science Foundation, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the ACS Green Chemistry Initiative, the Mascaro
• Sustainability Initiative and the Pharmaceutical Roundtable. For information and media registration, contact Charmayne Marsh at 202-872-4445 or newsroom@acs.org.

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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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