Strontium

MONDAY, July 8, 2024 -- Researchers report they have discovered lead and arsenic in a wide variety of tampon products sold in the United States and Europe. Testing revealed lead in all 30 tampons from 14 brands obtained from major online retailers and stores in the U.S., the U.K. and Greece, according to a study published July 3 in the journal Environmental International . "Our findings point towards the need for regulations requiring the testing of metals in tampons by manufacturers," the researchers wrote. Their analysis looked for concentrations of arsenic, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, nickel, lead, selenium, strontium, vanadium and zinc. All 16 metals were detected in one product. More research would be needed to ascertain whether the metals leach out of tampons. Leaching would be a concern since the skin of the vagina is more permeable than other parts of the body, noted researchers led by Jenni Shearston , a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. Any substance entering the bloodstream from the vagina also would not be filtered by the liver, researchers added. The findings did not name the brands tested, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates tampons in this country, did not respond to a request for comment, CBS News reported. Organic tampons had less lead and more arsenic than non-organic ones. The study added that those sold in the United States had higher concentrations of lead than those marketed in the Europe. Tampons are made with cotton, rayon or a combination. Researchers said the metals could have came from the soil through the plants used to make the products. The presence of metals could also be linked to chemicals used in the tampons as antimicrobials or to control odor. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

A joint research team has successfully induced polarization and polarity in metallic substances. In the realm of material science, the phenomena of polarization and polarity have conventionally been associated with insulators. However, envision a scenario where these characteristics could be induced in metals, potentially mitigating power losses attributed to semiconductors and extending the lifespan of batteries integrated into electronic devices. Existing technologies have posed limitations to date despite the intensive research in academia to achieve polarization and polarity in metals. Recent breakthrough by the collaborative efforts of Professor Daesu Lee from the Department of Physics at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Professor Tae Won Noh and Dr. Wei Peng from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Seoul National University (SNU), and Professor Se Young Park from the Department of Physics at Soongsil University (SSU), have led to the discovery of a method to induce and control polarization and polarity states within metals. This groundbreaking research was published in the online edition of the international physics journal Nature Physics on January 17, 2024. Free electrons within metals, given their name, exhibit unrestricted movement, making it difficult to align them in specific directions to induce polarization or polarity states. Additionally, the symmetric structure of metal crystals at both ends has historically posed challenges in inducing these electrical effects. However, the research team employed flexoelectric fields to implement polarization and polarity states within metals. This type of field arises when the surface of an object undergoes non-uniform deformation, allowing for the manipulation of charge movement and electrical characteristics by subtly altering the lattice structure of metals. The team applied external pressure to the widely used strontium ruthenate (SrRuO3) in the field of electronic components and semiconductors, generating a flexoelectric field. This metal oxide, characterized by heteroepitaxy, where crystals of strontium and ruthenium oxide with different shapes grow in the same direction, possesses a centrosymmetric structure. The flexoelectric field altered the electronic interactions and lattice structure within strontium ruthenate, leading to a successful induction of polarization within the metal, causing a transformation in its electrical and mechanical properties and breaking the previously central symmetric structure. By employing flexoelectric polarizing and control of a ferromagnetic metal, the research team has successfully unraveled the mystery surrounding the implementation of polarization and polarity within metallic substances. The study's lead researcher, Professor Daesu Lee from POSTECH, stressed, "We are the first researchers to verify the universal implementation of polarity states within metallic substances. I am hopeful that the findings from this study will prove beneficial in crafting highly efficient devices within the semiconductor and electrical fields." This work was supported by the Mid-Career Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea and by the Research Center Program of the Institute for Basic Science in Korea.