Color of Fabric Matters When Protecting Skin from Ultraviolet Rays

Section: Science Desk

Color of Fabric Matters When Protecting Skin From Ultraviolet Rays

It takes more than sunscreen to keep the sun's ultraviolet rays from harming your skin. The type of clothing you wear can offer protection, too -- or not. Studies have shown that some lightweight fabrics do not provide enough UV protection.

But it is not just the type of fiber and the weave of the fabric that matters, but also the color. Ascencion Riva of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and colleagues have addressed the color issue, studying the effects of different dyes on the UV protection provided by lightweight woven cottons.

The researchers chose three fabrics, not dyed, with different initial levels of UV protection based on the weave and other factors. Then they dyed them in varying shades of blue, red and yellow and measured how much UV radiation was absorbed and transmitted.

They found that red and blue shades performed better than yellow, particularly in blocking UV-B rays, which are the most harmful. Protection increased as the shades were made darker and more intense. And if the initial protection level of the fabric was higher, the darker shades offered even greater improvement.

The researchers say the findings, reported in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, should help fabric and garment manufacturers optimize their products for UV protection.

Late Edition - Final

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By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Maumee gadget firm enters germ fight: Company readies ultraviolet-light sanitizers

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Jon Chavez

Jan. 6--A Maumee company that is best known for odd gadgets such as chirping clocks and battery-less flashlights is moving into the fight against the H1N1 virus.

Mark Feldstein & Associates Inc., which buys unusual products from overseas manufacturers and supplies them to domestic retailers, is about to market four products that use a form of ultraviolet light to kill viruses and bacteria, including the so-called swine flu virus.

One product, which recently passed laboratory tests, is a foot-long sanitizer wand that emits UV-C light to kill germs.

Three other items that haven't finished a testing phase are toothbrush sanitizers and a pocket-sized sanitizer device. All of the items are made by a manufacturer in China.

"We've had the products for a few months, but we've kind of taken it slow to make sure everything checked out," said Howard Feldstein, the company's marketing manager.

"We just did the one product so far, which was the wand, and it did show 98 percent reduction in the H1N1 virus," he said.

Although UV-C light is used by hospitals, dentist offices, water treatment, and food-processing plants to reduce bacteria and viruses, Mr. Feldstein said the wand needed to be tested by an independent laboratory, BioScience Laboratories Inc. of Bozeman, Mont., to verify its effectiveness.

Large retailers demand independent testing to assure product quality.

Bed Bath & Beyond and the QVC shopping network have shown interest in the products, Mr. Feldstein said. And the Maumee company has long-standing relationships with Kohl's, J.C. Penney Co., and Rite Aid, all of which have sold the company's products.

"I think their concern is the testing data. They want to make sure that the testing is legitimate, so there's a lot of documentation we have to provide," Mr. Feldstein said.

If retailers accept the test data, the UV-C light products could begin appearing in some popular retail chains within a month or two, he added.

The Maumee company does not sell any of its products itself, but markets them to retailers who then set a price for the merchandise.

Thus far, the UV-C wand is being sold by a small retailer in Port Clinton, Northstar Specialties, and at a gift shop in Malabar State Park in Lucas, Ohio.

Northstar has had the wand, which it sells for $35, since November, but it has sold very few, an employee said.

The Maumee firm's UV-C light sanitizers are to be on display this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a premier technology industry show.

Contact Jon Chavez at:

or 419-724-6128.

The Must Have Portable Sanitizer for Germaphobes

Section: Science Desk

Kestrel Vole

Raptors Found to Track Prey's Ultraviolet Trail

BECAUSE kestrels, as they hover above open land, can see in the ultraviolet light range, they are apparently able to spot the highways of voles and other small mammals and swoop on their prey, according to a Finnish study.

The birds can see the trails from far overhead because the voles, like other mammals such as mice, dogs and wolves, mark their trails and territory with urine or feces. The waste material is not only tagged with the odor of their species but also marks their highways because it absorbs ultraviolet light.

Many raptors, such as falcons and sparrow hawks, the American counterpart of the kestrel, are believed to have ultraviolet vision and, in treeless regions, this could be an aid to hunting.

In Scandinavia and other northern regions the populations of small mammals often oscillate in four-year cycles between overabundance and crashes. In a crash it becomes hard for raptors, such as kestrels and snowy owls, to find their prey. If, however, they can see a highway map of their prey's movements, they can rapidly scout large areas.

The kestrel is a small falcon noted for hovering upwind while turning its head, hunting for prey. As the Finnish researchers pointed out recently in the journal Nature, crashes in vole populations can affect very large areas, sending kestrels on searching expeditions of many hundreds of miles. With ultraviolet vision, however, they can spot surviving colonies of their prey.

This is particularly true in the spring, before grass has begun to hide the runways. The authors wrote, "We have provided the first experimental evidence, to our knowledge, of a wild raptor using vole trail marks to select hunting patches and potential nest sites." Other small mammals, such as mice, are known to produce urine that fluoresces in blue light.

The Finns tested captured wild kestrels at the Konnevesi Research Station 150 miles north of Helsinki and in level farmland at the nearby Alajoki study area. The land was plowed each autumn, leaving the voles no place to live except in ditches. With most of the landscape devoid of voles it was suitable for the creation of artificial vole trails, and it was found that the kestrels favored the trails that were illuminated by ultraviolet light.

Late Edition - Final

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By WALTER SULLIVAN

Night missions, infrared photos find damage in UT roofs

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Megan Boehnke

March 03--A helicopter hovering over University of Tennessee buildings with military reconnaissance gear captured infrared images this week that could save millions of dollars.

In a flight mission to detect hidden roof damage caused by storms last spring, a hired helicopter crew spent four days -- and some nights -- over the last week flying over more than 100 roofs across campus.

For $166,000, UT will get high-resolution, birds-eye photos of roofs speckled with yellow and red blotches.

"We suspect that this tool will show additional roofs that, while they aren't leaking yet, have a lot of water and need be replaced," said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for facilities, who expects to find more than $20 million in damages.

"Certainly, people use various techniques to analyze roofs and determine where water is in roofs, but those techniques are more like an X-ray, and this is more like an MRI," Irvin said. "It has the ability to penetrate through a roof how much water there is, where the water is, and with some analysis, where the water came from."

Problems related to the storms will be covered by insurance. The rest will be prioritized for $12.5 million in maintenance funds allocated to replace and repair roofs this year.

UT paid ICC Thermal Mapping & Surveying, a Florida-based company, to survey its flat-roofed buildings, which account for about half of the university's 200 or so buildings.

The company combines medical technology and military technology to offer its thermal mapping, said ICC President Valerie Patterson.

Photographers hover in the chopper over roofs to take regular daytime images and then return in the evenings to capture infrared nighttime photographs. When the roof returns to ambient temperature at night, the water trapped beneath it remains warm, allowing cameras to read the temperature differences to find the hidden moisture, Patterson said.

Irvin, who came to UT in October from University of Houston, said he recommended the company after ICC found extensive hurricane damage to roofs in Texas.

Following Hurricane Ike in 2008, one of the most costly hurricanes to make landfall in U.S. history, exterior surveys showed only $4 million in damage to roofs. Unconvinced, Irvin and other administrators in Houston turned to thermal mapping. The survey turned up more than $26 million in water infiltration that was trapped under roofs that had not yet sprung a leak, Irvin said.

"When I came here, I knew a lot of roofs were damaged, and it seemed natural to look to the same technology," he said. "We wanted to see if there are things insurance should be paying for so we didn't have to use our budget (down the road), or our students' money, to pay for these things that insurance should rightfully be covering."

Irvin said he hopes to continue using the technology annually in order to look for damage to existing roofs or new roofs that may be under warranty.

Infrared, the blood-curdling secret of the vampire bat

THEIR reputation for accurately targeting the jugular has earned them legendary status in horror stories.

Now vampire bats' ability to go straight to the best spots for blood has been explained by science - they use infrared sensors.

Researchers found the nocturnal creatures, which need to feast on blood almost every day, are guided by a heat-detecting molecule called TRPV1 covering nerve-endings on their noses.

This leads them to areas where blood is flowing close to the skin.

TRPV1 is present in many animals and in humans, allowing them to sense extreme heat.

But bats have evolved a much more sensitive form, which they can use to detect temperatures from just 30c (86f). This allows them to home in on blood vessels from up to 20cm away.

Dr David Julius, of the University of California and the study's author, said: 'Vampire bats feed on blood, and it's useful for them to have an infrared detector to be able to find the circulation.' Elena Gracheva, co-author of a study of Venezuelan bats published yesterday in the journal Nature, said: 'Without this adaptation the bats probably wouldn't survive as a species.' Dr Julius added that because nerve fibres are associated with pain sensation, drug companies were looking at TRPV1 from bats in painkiller development.

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By Tamara Cohen

Edition: 1, Section: NEWS--NATIONAL, pg. 03

Infrared bed monitors cut

number of patient falls

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Janine RANKIN

MidCentral Health is making progress on reducing the number of falls suffered by patients at Palmerston North Hospital with the help of infrared monitors on the beds.

In the six months to the end of September the number of reported falls fell by 40 to 283, and director of nursing Sue Woods credits the Invisabeam technology for at least part of the improvement.

No patients who have been in beds monitored by the Invisabeams have had a fall, even though they were assessed as being at high risk.

The latest report on sentinel and serious events in hospitals shows seven patients broke a hip, arm or wrist in falls at Palmerston North Hospital.

In the past six months, 85 falls caused injury, and three patients were seriously injured.

Invisabeams were trialled in the last quarter of 2009.

The early warning devices constantly monitor the edge of the patient's bed or chair, and trigger an alarm if the beam is broken.

They are used with patients assessed as being at high risk of falls - people who need help to stand and move about, but who are likely to try to get up on their own.

Ms Woods said they had been used for a total of 235 shifts.

Staff asked for the system to be used with 35 patients, but in four cases the equipment was not available as it was already being used elsewhere.

In 30 cases, the Invisabeam meant a staff member, who would otherwise have been needed to provide constant bedside observation, was freed up for other duties.

As well as protecting every patient it was used with from falls, the Invisabeam saved $47,000 in staff costs.

State's infrared eye in the sky

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Craig Crosby

Apr. 29--AUGUSTA -- Maine's law enforcement agencies have a new tool in the box the next time they are asked to find a missing person.

The aerial thermal imaging camera unveiled Wednesday will allow searchers to see in the dark, in the fog and even through a forest.

"It's just one more tool in the chest, but it's a good tool," said Maj. Gregory Sanborn of the Maine Warden Service. "It's a power wrench."

The airplane-mounted Forward Looking Infrared -- or FLIR -- camera produces video images in darkness as well as daylight. The technology, the first of its kind owned and operated by the state of Maine, detects natural body heat to create a picture on a laptop computer inside the aircraft.

The technology is already in use in state and large city police departments.

"If a child is missing in the woods, or a person in the water, this system can locate them much more quickly than conventional technology," Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Roland "Danny" Martin said.

The technology has ample law enforcement applications as well, Sanborn said. He mentioned a lengthy investigation that last year led to charges of night hunting against 13 people in Aroostook County.

"With this system, we'll be that much more effective," he said.

Steve Ingram, pilot for the Maine Marine Patrol, said the camera will help his department find clammers digging in closed areas at night, or fishermen working at night in restricted areas.

Col. Patrick Fleming, chief of the Maine State Police, said the camera would have made for a much safer and more effective search last year in Newport after Perley Goodrich Jr., allegedly shot his father and went on the run.

"Being able to use this at night is going to be a huge benefit," Fleming said. "I think it could prevent a tragedy from happening in the future."

The camera is attached to a 1968 Cessna R172E the warden service's three pilots spent nearly three years refurbishing. The Air Force surplus plane was given to the state in 2007, said Chief Pilot Charlie Later, who overhauled the plane with pilots Daryl Gordon and Dan Dufault.

The plane got a number of upgrades -- most notably a new engine, and a paint job.

"This was a spare-time project," Later said.

The restoration took an estimated 500 hours, much of which the pilots donated.

"Your commitment to this project is commendable," Martin told the pilots. "I want to thank you for your service. It was above and beyond the call of duty."

Later believes the effort will prove worthwhile. Night searches are currently limited to night vision goggles, which require a light source near the person being sought.

"This actually senses heat," Later said. "You don't need a light source."

The FLIR camera was attached as a turret to the fuselage of the plane, which will split time between bases in central, western and northern Maine.

Later said the plane, which can stay in the air for four hours, can be anywhere in the state within two hours.

The camera, which cost $284,000, was purchased by the state's 16 county emergency management agencies.

The $24,000 new plane engine was purchased with a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund. Radio equipment was purchased with a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The three-year project brought all the state entities together, said Ginnie Ricker, deputy director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

"It's going to be very big for the state of Maine," she said.