Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
nanotechnology. Often, these initiatives are taken in international coopera-
tion, to be able to achieve a critical mass of researchers and share equipment
and infrastructure. Overviews of these initiatives can be found in the annual
reports of the ICPC-NanoNet project,
www.icpc-nanonet.org
.
Table 1.1 gives
an indication of nanotechnology activity by numbers of publications in BRICS
and other emerging economies and developing countries.
1.3 State of the Art of Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology for Human Health
The diverse chapters in this topic contribute to an overview of the emergence
of an ebullient research field offering a variety of benefits as well as risks to
human health in the broad sense. What can we learn from these chapters
about the current state of the art of nanotechnology for human health?
1.3.1 Section I: Nanoengineering Overview
In Chapter 2, Asmus Meyer-Plath and Florian Schweinberger discuss the
state of the art in nanomaterials characterization and metrology. They cover
properties of different types of nanoparticles and agglomerates, relations
between nanoparticle characteristics and toxicity, strategies for nanoparticle
characterization, and techniques for nanomaterial characterization. They
make some proposals for further studies.
TABLE 1.1
Nanotechnology Publications Published in 2009 in Emerging Economies
and Developing Countries by World Region
World Region
Nanotechnology Publications in 2009
East Asia
22,437
West Asia
6810
EECA
4089
Latin America
3528
Mediterranean Partner Countries to the EU
2046
Africa
497
Former West Balkan countries
454
Caribbean
67
Pacific
2
Source:
Tobin, Lesley; Dingwal, Keith.
Third Annual Report on Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology in Africa
. ICPC NanoNet 2011, Glasgow,
www.icpc-nanonet.org
.
