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Aug. 14, 2013 — Researchers have provided the first comprehensive compendium of mutational processes that drive tumour development. Together, these mutational processes explain most mutations found in 30 of the most common cancer types. This new understanding of cancer development could help to treat and prevent a wide-range of cancers.
More drugs show promise in fighting hepatitis C(HealthDay)—An experimental drug duo may cure some cases of the liver disease hepatitis C, without the severe side effects of standard therapy, a new clinical trial suggests.
The study, of 362 people with chronic hepatitis C, found that the new drugs—combined with one older drug—cleared the virus from up to 69 percent of patients. And that was without having to use interferon, a difficult-to-take injection drug that is part of the current therapy.
Experts said the findings, published in the Aug. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, are another step forward in vastly improving hepatitis C treatment.
WASHINGTON: Researchers have highlighted, for the first time, the natural regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart.
According to the new study these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged by a heart attack that leads to heart failure.
The study shows that if the stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair after damage. If the cardiac stem cells are replaced the heart repairs itself, leading to complete cellular, anatomical and functional heart recovery, with the heart returning to normal and pumping at a regular rate.
Also, if the cardiac stem cells are removed and re-injected, they naturally 'home' to and repair the damaged heart, a discovery that could lead to less-invasive treatments and even early prevention of heart failure in the future.
Biologists at Princeton University have used 3-D printing technology to create a bionic ear capable of detecting frequencies one million times higher than the normal range of hearing. To build the bionic organ, the printer was guided by a computer model of an ear into which the biologists had added an internal antenna coil connected to an external electrode. The printer used three principle "inks" to construct the ear: "a mix of bovine cartilage-forming cells suspended in a thick goo of hydrogel; a suspension of silver nanoparticles to form the coil and external cochlea-shaped electrodes; and silicone to encase the electronics."
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Chronic back pain affects nearly 1 in 3 in the U.S. Unfortunately, treatment options are limited and often surgery is done as a last resort. But an experimental new treatment doesn't involve going under the knife.
Bobby Sydnor and his band have something to sing about. Sydnor may have found the answer to his debilitating pain from a motorcycle accident 40 years ago that nearly crushed his spine, leaving him with three degenerative discs.
"It's just excruciating; it is. I remember sometimes crawling to the bathroom," said Sydnor.
But thanks to a cutting edge therapy, Sydnor is finally getting some relief without surgery.
"It really has the potential to change the disease state instead of just treating the symptoms," said Dr. Tory L. McJunkin, principal investigator at Arizona Pain Specialists.
Full human trial results will not be available until later this year, but in early data, 71 percent of patients who received a low dose of stem cells showed a significant reduction in low back pain and improvement in function, compared with 20 percent of patients in the control group.
Now, two years into the study, Sydnor says he's definitely feeling a difference and can't wait for what's next.
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Police will use the latest innovations to examine drug addicts and identify them at borders and in public places. The police signed an agreement with an international company to supply the test kit which can give results in less than 5 minutes. The police, who announced the move yesterday, said it will be the first law enforcement institution to use this up-to-date testing facility in the Gulf and the Middle East.
“The new urine test kit, which can analyse and examine twelve types of drugs, can reveal if the person is a drug addict or not in three to five minutes and eliminate the spread of narcotics- related crimes,” said Brigadier General Dr Saif Bu Dhudaira Al Ameri, director general of security and ports affairs.
COIMBATORE: A new therapy for inoperable liver cancers was today successfully performed on a 48-year- old male patient at the super-speciality Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital here.
Development of 'Rhenium 188 Lipiodol' therapy has been a big step forward in meeting the demands for making available at a low cost and effective radio-conjugate for therapy of inoperable liver cancers, KMCH Chairman Nalla G Palanisamy told reporters here.
HAVANA: Cuba is testing a vaccine against dengue fever on animals. The test is considered one of the most advanced projects of its kind, a Cuban scientist said.
The vaccine is composed of a protein that works by inducing cells to generate neutralising antibodies, Alienys Izquierdo Oliva, a member of the National Dengue Vaccine Project, told Xinhua.
"If we have neutralising antibodies, then we will have protection," said Izquierdo.
Learning a martial art, how to fly a plane or how to speak a new language without even being awake is set to become a reality, say researchers.
Scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, believe that in the future learning a new skill might involve nothing more than sitting in front of a computer screen and waiting for it to upload.
They have been studying how a functional magnetic resonance machine (FMRI) can induce knowledge in someone through their visual cortex by sending signals that change their brain activity pattern.
Immunologic imbalances underlie many human diseases. Protection from autoimmune disorders, resistance to infections and the control of cancers require the proper functioning of the immune system. Fortunately, our immune system is not alone in this struggle. The human body represents a scaffold upon which multitudes of commensal species build residence, creating a diverse ecosystem with members of five of the six kingdoms of life. Mechanisms which mediate the interdependent and complex interactions within this super-organism, as well as their influences on human health, are almost entirely unknown. Our laboratory focuses on examining the processes which govern the development of the mammalian immune system, with the goals of understanding how symbiotic bacteria actively contribute to the critical balance between health and disease.
(Medical Xpress)—The human body is full of tiny microorganisms—hundreds to thousands of species of bacteria collectively called the microbiome, which are believed to contribute to a healthy existence. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract—and the colon in particular—is home to the largest concentration and highest diversity of bacterial species. But how do these organisms persist and thrive in a system that is constantly in flux due to foods and fluids moving through it? A team led by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) biologist Sarkis Mazmanian believes it has found the answer, at least in one common group of bacteria: a set of genes that promotes stable microbial colonization of the gut.
University of Iowa researchers have discovered what causes the lethal effects of staphylococcal infective endocarditis - a serious bacterial infection of heart valves that kills approximately 20,000 Americans each year.
According to the UI study, the culprits are superantigens—toxins produced in large quantities by Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria - which disrupt the immune system, turning it from friend to foe.
Computer can read letters directly from the brainBy analysing MRI images of the brain with an elegant mathematical model, it is possible to reconstruct thoughts more accurately than ever before. In this way, researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen have succeeded in determining which letter a test subject was looking at. The journal Neuroimage has accepted the article, which will be published soon.
"Molecular network diverter" can tweak the control systems that regulate the inner workings of cells, leading to future medical interventions to switch off diseased states or turn on healthy processes
August 20, 2013
A Stanford University bioengineer has helped develop a technology dubbed a “molecular network diverter” that can tweak the control systems that regulate the inner workings of cells, pointing the way toward future medical interventions that could switch off diseased states or turn on healthy processes.
A molecular ?switch? to reprogram control pathways in cells | KurzweilAI
This molecular diverter uses the concerted action of three biological sub-systems to redirect signaling pathways — complex networks of molecular interactions that orchestrate the cellular machinery.
Controlling signaling pathways that cancer, other diseases
The experiments described by Christina Smolke, PhD, associate professor of bioengineering, and associates were performed on yeast cells. But the principles and practices embodied in the molecular network diverter apply to signaling pathways that control the development, reproduction and death of all cells. When these signaling pathways go awry in humans, for instance, such malfunctions can cause many types of cancer as well as other diseases.
“We’re doing this in yeast, but there’s a lot of conservation, or similarity, of these pathways in higher organisms,” Smolke said. “The next step, now that we’ve shown this in simpler systems, is to take this technology into human cell cultures.”
The team’s initial goal was to control the mating behavior of yeast, an activity that, in nature, is influenced by the presence or absence of pheromones, which are naturally occurring odorless substances that can trigger responses from the opposite sex.
MELBOURNE: In a near-miraculous incident, doctors in Australia have saved the life of a 41-year-old woman who was clinically dead for 42 minutes after suffering a major heart attack. Vanessa Tanasio was rushed to hospital last week after the heart attack, but was declared clinically dead soon after arrival.
Doctors at Melbourne's Monash-Heart hospital managed to unblock vital arteries and return her heart to a normal rhythm, using a high-tech machine that kept blood flowing to Tanasio's brain, AAP news agency reported. Hospital authorities described her survival as "astonishing".
New drug mimics the beneficial effects of exerciseA drug known as SR9009, which is currently under development at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), increases the level of metabolic activity in skeletal muscles of mice. Treated mice become lean, develop larger muscles and can run much longer distances simply by taking SR9009, which mimics the effects of aerobic exercise. If similar effects can be obtained in people, the reversal of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and perhaps Type-II diabetes might be the very welcome result.
The drug was developed by Professor Thomas Burris of TSRI, who found that it was able to reduce obesity in populations of mice. It binds to and activates a protein called Rev-ErbAα, which influences fat and sugar burning in the liver, production of fat cells, and the body's inflammatory response.
I wouldn't be surprised if 55% of all science is done by that race...One of the greatest shames in the history of humanity will be when such is wiped out and replaced with the ones that can't feed themselves.
Fighting aging has excellent coverage of antiaging research. They have pointed out a few recent overviews of the state and prospects of life extension using metabolic modification using drugs. Fighting aging and Aubrey de Grey (SENS) doubt that metabolic modification will yield significant life extension results. However there could be some life extension and health improvements and others like David Sinclair are more optimistic.
Higher blood-sugar levels, even those well short of diabetes, seem to raise the risk of developing dementia, a major new study finds. Researchers say it suggests a novel way to try to prevent Alzheimer's disease -- by keeping glucose at a healthy level.
Alzheimer's is by far the most common form of dementia and it's long been known that diabetes makes it more likely. The new study tracked blood sugar over time in all sorts of people -- with and without diabetes -- to see how it affects risk for the mind-robbing disease.
3ders.org - China's 3D bio printer 'Re-human' to create scaffolds for cardiac repair | 3D Printer News & 3D Printing NewsLast week, researchers at Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology in China unveiled their Regenovo 3D bio-printer. Unlike other 3D printers, which work with plastic or metal powder, Regenovo prints living tissue.
The Hangzhou team isn't the only company in China developing 3D bioprinter. Unique Technology in Qingdao, Shandong province recently unveiled their 3D bio printer "Re-human".
