Chinese scientists develop nanomaterial to remove antibiotics in water

22:09, April 23, 2020

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  Experts warn of health risks brought by resistance to antibiotics

  Antibiotics have been detected in the urine of pregnant women and children in Chinas Yangtze River Delta, recent researches revealed, sparking widespread concerns over the abuse of antibiotics, with some experts calling for antibiotics to be included in the national security monitoring system.Antibiotics can come from being prescribed, from self-medication or from water or food that has been polluted with antibiotics. (Photo: IC)Twenty-one kinds of human, veterinary or human and veterinary antibiotics were detected in urine samples of children. At least one type of antibiotic was found in the urine of about 79.6 percent of school-age children. Some of the antibiotics have been clinically banned, which could lead to children suffering from obesity and precocious puberty, according to a survey conducted among thousands of children aged 8-11 years and 516 pregnant women by the School of Public Health of Fudan University in Shanghai.At least 16 antibiotics were detected in the urine of pregnant women in the provinces and regions of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, with a detection rate of about 41 percent, Liaowang Weekly unveiled the study on Sunday.The average concentration of antibiotics in the Yangtze River is 156 nanograms per liter, which is higher than some developed countries in Europe and America. The discharge of antibiotics in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River ranks among the top three in the country, with an annual emission intensity of approximately 60.0 kilograms per square kilometer, the report said.Answering questions on how the human body could contain such large amounts of antibiotics, Chen Qiuwen, the director of the Yangtze River Conservation and Green Development Research Institute, told the Global Times that it is because human beings drink contaminated water or consume contaminated aquatic products. Antibiotics cannot be completely metabolized after entering the human body, but can follow the blood circulation and ...

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  Israeli scientists develop rapid home COVID-19 test

  (Photo: Xinhua)JERUSALEM, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli scientists have developed a rapid and simple coronavirus detection method that requires only saliva sample, reagents, and a thermal cup, the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) in northern Israel said Thursday.This simple home test, developed by researchers from the Technion, produces results in less than an hour and does not require lab analysis.According to the team, further development can make this method as mass testing kit in workplaces, households, nursing homes, airports and more.The new tests reliability was measured using 200 biological samples from confirmed coronavirus patients and patients suspected of infection with the virus.In the new method, the saliva sample is immersed in a test tube containing the reactive material and then in the thermal cup with hot water. If the color of the reaction changes, that indicates the presence of the coronavirus.The researchers found that, when tested on standard swabs, in medium and high concentrations of the virus, the test identifies 99 percent of the cases."The new test is expected to primarily increase the scale of testing in the community and will enable the population to be surveyed faster and on a much wider scale," the researchers concluded.