Spiking bamboo fibres with copper nanoparticles, researchers from Mumbai’s Institute of Chemical Technology have created a new textile that is capable of withstanding contamination by germs. Textiles made from natural fibres are a fertile breeding ground for microbes, many of which are disease-causing. Besides producing an unpleasant odour and stains, their presence in fabric leads to loss of tensile strength, reducing the material’s life. Natural fabrics used in hospitals as bed sheets or clothing can not only harbour deadly, drug-resistant bacteria, but also transmit it from one patient to another.

The team led by M.D. Teli of the department of fibres and textile processing tehnology at ICT say in a paper in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules that the fabric impregnated with copper nanoparticles retained its anti-bacterial quality for at least 50 washes. The team had earlier developed a similar bacteria-resistant textile using silver nanoparticles and demonstrated its effectiveness as wound-dressing material.

DNA damage

Eating rice grown in arsenic-contaminated groundwater may increase genetic damage. Researchers from the Calcutta-based Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and Manchester University who studied cells extracted from urine samples of 400 volunteers from West Bengal’s Midnapore, Murshidabad, and Nadia districts found elevated levels of genetic damage in these people. The study appeared in the journal Scientific Reports last week. The scientists found the number of micronuclei — a small nucleus that forms from chromosomal damage and is incorporated into daughter nuclei during cell division — to be higher in the cells of people who consumed high-arsenic rice. An increase in micronuclei leads to damaged DNA.