American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Aug. 13, 2008

"Bad hair days " may become a less frequent occurrence, researchers say. Magnified image (inset) shows crossed hair fibers, which make combing difficult. Click here for more information.

ARTICLE #1

Heads-up study of hair dynamics may lead to better hair-care products

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Sunday, Aug. 17, 9:15 a.m., Eastern Time

From frizzy perms to over-bleached waves, "bad hair days" could soon become a less frequent occurrence. Chemists report the first detailed microscopic analysis of what happens to individual hair fibers when they interact with each other, an advance in knowledge key to the development of improved shampoos, conditioners, and other products for repairing damaged hair, the researchers say.

Embracing that adage, "Personal care begins with hair," consumers now spend almost $60 billion annually on hair care products, one of the personal care industry's largest market segments. Despite the increasing availability of new hair care products within the past century, many products are inadequate for tackling today's rigorous hair treatments, the researchers say.

"For the first time, we present an experimental setup that allows measuring the subtle forces, both physical and chemical, that arise when single hairs slide past each other or are pressed against each other," says study co-author Eva Max. "The findings will help provide clearer strategies for optimizing hair care products." — MTS

ARTICLE #1 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Sunday, Aug. 17, 9:15 a.m., Eastern Time

For full-text of press release:
http://oasys.acs.org/output/process_last_run/acs/236nm/-acs-236nm-newsservice-webprogram-cgi.html

CONTACT:
Eva Max
University of Bayreuth
Bayreuth, Germany
Phone: 49 921 55 43 84
Fax Number: 49 921 55 20 59
Email:

ARTICLE #2

Chemists move closer toward developing safer, fully-synthetic form of heparin

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Sunday, Aug. 17, 1:30 p.m., Eastern Time

Chemists are reporting a major advance toward developing a safer, fully-synthetic version of heparin, the widely used blood thinner now produced from pig intestines. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration last spring linked contaminated batches of the animal-based product, imported from China, to more than 80 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions among patients exposed to the drug for kidney dialysis and other conditions.