Everyone knows that fiber is healthy and an important part of our daily diet. But what is fiber, and why is it healthy? Fiber is cellulose, the stringy stuff that plants are made of. Leaves, stems, roots, stalks, and tree ...
Mar 18, 2024
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The availability of rapid, accessible testing was integral to overcoming the worst surges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be necessary to keep up with emerging variants. However, these tests come with unfortunate costs.
Sep 4, 2023
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If germs invade a wound, they can trigger a long-lasting infection that may fail to heal or even spread throughout the body, leading to life-threatening blood poisoning (sepsis). The problem of antibiotic resistance is becoming ...
Aug 11, 2020
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As instances of antibiotic resistance increase in the medical field, scientists are reexamining natural materials for their potential use in medicine. Honey has been used for thousands of years—from the time of Pharaohs—for ...
Apr 14, 2020
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The sale of filtered cigarettes should be banned to reduce global plastic pollution from the trillions of "butts" that are thrown away each year, argue experts in The BMJ today.
Oct 23, 2019
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Scientists have developed and combined new paper and flexible polymer substrates with special sensing devices for rapid and accurate detection of pathogens such as HIV, as well as other biotargets. These novel technologies ...
May 8, 2015
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Don't take the cinnamon challenge. That's the advice from doctors in a new report about a dangerous prank depicted in popular YouTube videos which has led to hospitalizations and a surge in calls to U.S. poison centers.
Apr 22, 2013
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A cellulose powder has been used increasingly for many years against allergic rhinitis. Still, there has been a shortage of scientific evidence for its efficacy in seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever), particularly in children. ...
Jun 28, 2011
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Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units.
Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose (the cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 50 percent).
For industrial use, cellulose is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. It is mainly used to produce cardboard and paper; to a smaller extent it is converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Converting cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under investigation as an alternative fuel source.
Some animals, particularly ruminants and termites, can digest cellulose with the help of symbiotic micro-organisms that live in their guts. Cellulose is not digestible by humans and is often referred to as 'dietary fiber' or 'roughage', acting as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces.
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