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Night vision is available to everyone

02.03.2019

Fans of the sci-fi genre will probably remember the 2000 film Pitch Black, starring Vin Diesel. So, the hero of Vin Diesel in this film had night vision, obtained artificially, by special processing of the cornea of his eyes. Such a scenario has become practically a reality thanks to the work of a team of scientists from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who created special eye drops with nanoparticles, the use of which allows experimental rodent animals to see in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum of light.

Almost all mammals, including humans, are capable of visual perception of light that is only in the visible range. In order to expand the range of light perceived by the eyes, scientists have made nanoparticles consisting of lectin proteins, which have become the active component of eye drops. With these drops, scientists treated the eyes of experimental animals and, as soon as the protein nanoparticles got inside the eye, they “glued” to the photoreceptor cells in the retina. After that, additional proteins turned into a kind of nanoantennas, capable of capturing light in the NIR range, the shortest wavelength of infrared light. By absorbing photons of infrared light, proteins emit photons of green light, which are already captured by normal photoreceptor cells in the eye.

Laboratory tests have fully confirmed that the experimental animals are able to clearly differentiate and respond to images created in the NIR range using a special lamp. At the same time, the introduction of protein nanoparticles did not affect the ability of the eyes to perceive ordinary visible light. Unfortunately, the artificial effect of night vision turned out to be inconsistent, it began to fade to complete disappearance after two weeks after treatment of the eyes with drops with nanoparticles. But most importantly, no adverse side effects have been observed with this treatment.

"The results of our research have greatly expanded the field of practical application of modern nanotechnology" - says Professor Gang Han (Gang Han) - "Such protein nanoantennas will allow scientists to explore many intriguing things, such as the processing of visual signals in the brain of a living being. This, in turn, , can be used to treat diseases and disorders such as color blindness."

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Superbread for weight loss 23.02.2023

Experts from the Institute of Biological Sciences, King's College London and the Norwich Food and Health Research Center (UK) used chickpea cell meal instead of wheat flour

Many dieters avoid bread due to its high carbohydrate content. However, nutritionists have managed to develop a unique bread recipe using chickpea cell flour. Such bread tastes better than wheat bread. It makes you feel full and helps you lose weight.

During the traditional grinding of chickpeas, lentils and legumes, their fibrous structure is destroyed. But a new method of grinding chickpeas helps preserve it. Thanks to this, products based on such flour receive additional nutritional properties.

The experts decided to find out how bread regulates the feeling of fullness, and also affects the level of insulin and blood sugar. To do this, they baked three types of buns: one made from wheat flour, and in the other two, wheat flour was replaced with chickpea flour by 30% and 60%, respectively. And offered 20 volunteers aged 18 to 45 years. The muffin was served after 12 hours of fasting for three days with strawberry jam and no sugar with a glass of water.

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The results show that if food manufacturers used chickpea flour, people would feel less hungry. This would help to avoid overeating and reduce the risk of obesity.

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