Collaboration between researchers at National Yang Ming University and National Chiao Tung University has led to the development of photothermally responsive, anti-oxidative nanoparticles made from silk and dopamine, National Yang Ming University said yesterday.
The researchers’ development would meet precision medicine needs, it added.
The project marks the first time a photothermally responsive film with medical properties that can be triggered and controlled by exposure to infrared light has been developed in Taiwan, it said.
Photo courtesy of National Yang Ming University
The Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station helped obtain silkworm cocoons, from which the researchers extracted fibroin that was then concentrated with dopamine in nanoparticles, project leader Chung Tze-wen (鍾次文) said.
Medicine-enriched nanoparticles can be better absorbed and metabolized than other particles with medical properties, Chung said.
A challenge was to create nanoparticles that are biocompatibile and release drug effects over time, he added.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that can cover other materials, while silk is a protein fiber that is biocompatibile with dopamine and the human body, Chung said.
The film, made by combining fibroin with heparin, has been lab-tested on mice, he said.
The film reduced the risk of a thrombus forming in wounds on mice, and it is expected that it would also expedite the healing process in humans, he said.
Silk has been used by surgeons to patch a patient’s cardiac muscles, he said, adding that introducing the fiber to other medical applications shows its adaptability.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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