Latest advances in medical research thread

[JimBowie1958]

Implant measures medication levels in bloodstream, in real time

Figuring out how much medication a patient should be taking can be a tricky business. Although things like age and weight are used as guidelines, factors such as the individual person's metabolism can have a marked effect on how effective the drugs are. With that in mind, scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have developed an implantable device that provides continuous real-time readings on how much medication is currently in a person's bloodstream.

Developed by researchers Tom Soh, Kevin Plaxco and Scott Ferguson, the microfluidic instrument is known as MEDIC (Microfluidic Electrochemical Detector for In vivo Concentrations).

It incorporates a central canal-like chamber, that's lined with gold electrodes. Extending out from those electrodes are DNA strands called aptamers. These can be tuned to recognize specific drug molecules.

When whole blood flows through the chamber, the aptamers detect the presence of the relatively small drug molecules amongst the larger and more numerous blood cells, and respond by wrapping around them. Upon doing so, each strand delivers electrons down into its electrode. This produces a small electrical current, which can be picked up and read by a computer.

Implant measures medication levels in bloodstream, in real time

The new DUI test?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Stem cells for human use can now be manufactured in Ireland

Yahoo News UK & Ireland - Latest World News & UK News Headlines

The first facility on the island of Ireland for the manufacture of stem cells is to open this morning at NUI Galway.

The Centre for Cell Manufacturing Ireland (CCMI) has received a license to operate from the Irish Medicines Board, and will now aid stem cell research at the university.

Research into new treatments for diseases using stem cells has been carried out at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) since 2004. The new facility allows human clinical trials to be carried out.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA

In two new studies, genetic researchers have shown that about 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in modern humans of non-African ancestry and identified exactly which areas of the human genome retain segments of Neanderthal DNA.

About 30,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa began encountering Neanderthals, a lineage that had diverged from modern humans hundreds of thousands of years before. Despite their differences, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals mingled, and over time, produced children with genes from both lineages.

Today, the biological remnants of that collision between two distinct populations remain alive in the genomes of Europeans and East Asians.

The first study, reported in the journal Nature, examines how Neanderthals influence the genetic composition of modern humans.

Study’s senior author Dr David Reich of Harvard Medical School said: “the goal was to understand the biological impact of the gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans.”

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA | Anthropology | Sci-News.com

 

[ScienceRocks]

Breakthrough Technology Enables Gene Silencing to Heal Wounds

Breakthrough Technology Enables Gene Silencing to Heal Wounds

Newswise — A team of researchers led by an NIBIB grantee at Vanderbilt University has created a biodegradable scaffold that enables sustained, local delivery of gene-silencing factors called siRNA to promote tissue regeneration. The team recently used the scaffold to successfully deliver siRNA to mice in order to locally silence a gene normally responsible for inhibiting blood vessel formation.

The technology could provide a new approach for the treatment of chronic wounds, which afflict over six million patients in the U.S. and cost an estimated $25 billion dollars per year to treat.[1] Because diabetic patients are at increased risk for developing chronic wounds, these numbers are expected to rise as diabetes rates climb.

Using gene silencing to heal wounds

Blood vessels deliver important factors to wounds, such as oxygen, micronutrients, and growth factors. Studies suggest that increasing angiogenesis –the formation of new blood vessels— may help to heal wounds.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA

In two new studies, genetic researchers have shown that about 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in modern humans of non-African ancestry and identified exactly which areas of the human genome retain segments of Neanderthal DNA.

About 30,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa began encountering Neanderthals, a lineage that had diverged from modern humans hundreds of thousands of years before. Despite their differences, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals mingled, and over time, produced children with genes from both lineages.

Today, the biological remnants of that collision between two distinct populations remain alive in the genomes of Europeans and East Asians.

The first study, reported in the journal Nature, examines how Neanderthals influence the genetic composition of modern humans.

Study’s senior author Dr David Reich of Harvard Medical School said: “the goal was to understand the biological impact of the gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans.”

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA | Anthropology | Sci-News.com

I am proud to be 3.7% Neanderthal.

Seriously.

 

[ScienceRocks]

FDA approves PillCam video camera that you swallow

Colonoscopies can be an uncomfortable procedure for patients who may already be worried about what results will be found. When the results are inconclusive, a patient's options can be limited, causing further distress. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now approved a device for use after an incomplete procedure that is minimally invasive and can achieve similar imaging results to a colonoscopy. PillCam Colon is a pill-sized camera that is swallowed and passes through a patient's gastrointestinal tract.

FDA approves PillCam video camera that you swallow

This is great news

 

[JimBowie1958]

Yahoo!

Bionic hand allows amputee to feel again

LONDON (Reuters) - Dennis Aabo Sorensen lost his left hand when a firework rocket he was holding exploded during New Year's Eve celebrations 10 years ago, and he never expected to feel anything with the stump again.

But for a while last year he regained his sense of touch after being attached to a "feeling" bionic hand that allowed him to grasp and identify objects even when blindfolded.

The prototype device, which was wired to nerves in the 36-year-old Dane's left arm, blurs the boundary between body and machine and scientists hope it could one day revolutionize the lives of many amputees.

There is still work to be done in miniaturizing components and tidying away trailing cables that mean the robotic hand has so far only been used in the lab, but Sorensen said the European research team behind the project had got the basics right.

"It was a great experience. It's amazing to feel something you haven't been able to feel for so many years," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It was pretty close to having the same feeling as in my normal hand."

 

[ScienceRocks]

Credit card-sized device could analyze biopsy, help diagnose pancreatic cancer in minutes

(Phys.org) —Pancreatic cancer is a particularly devastating disease. At least 94 percent of patients will die within five years, and in 2013 it was ranked as one of the top 10 deadliest cancers.

Routine screenings for breast, colon and lung cancers have improved treatment and outcomes for patients with these diseases, largely because the cancer can be detected early. But because little is known about how pancreatic cancer behaves, patients often receive a diagnosis when it's already too late.

University of Washington scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype can perform the basic steps for processing a biopsy, relying on fluid transport instead of human hands to process the tissue. The team presented its initial results this month (February 2014) at the SPIE Photonics West conference and recently filed a patent for this first-generation device and future technology advancements.

Credit card-sized device could analyze biopsy, help diagnose pancreatic cancer in minutes

 

[ScienceRocks]

New bone-like material is lighter than water but as strong as steel

Materials shape human progress – think stone age or bronze age. The 21st century has been referred to as the molecular age, a time when scientists are beginning to manipulate materials at the atomic level to create new substances with astounding properties.

Taking a step in that direction, Jens Bauer at the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT) and his colleagues have developed a bone-like material that is less dense than water, but as strong as some forms of steel. "This is the first experimental proof that such materials can exist," Bauer said.

New bone-like material is lighter than water but as strong as steel

 

[Mr. H.]

Science marches on.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Nanoparticles treat muscular dystrophy in mice
Nanoparticles treat muscular dystrophy in mice -- ScienceDaily

Washington University in St. Louis


Summary:

Researchers have demonstrated a new approach to treating muscular dystrophy. Mice with a form of this muscle-weakening disease showed improved strength and heart function when treated with nanoparticles loaded with rapamycin, an immunosuppressive drug recently found to improve recycling of cellular waste.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Science inches closer to real BioShock-style plasmids

In 1953, molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick released what would be one of the most groundbreaking scientific discoveries of the modern age. The publication of their research paper Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid in the scientific journal Nature marked the end of a heated race to find the molecular structure of DNA, marking the dawn of molecular genetics. But neither man (nor their then-uncredited co-discoverers Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling) could have envisioned how their work would permeate into every facet of modern society, including pop culture.

Science inches closer to real BioShock-style plasmids | Ars Technica

 

[ScienceRocks]

A Little Acid Turns Mouse Blood Into Brain, Heart And Stem Cells

Back in 1958, a young biologist at Cornell University made a stunning discovery.

He took a single cell from a carrot and then mixed it with some coconut milk. Days went by and the cell started dividing. Little roots formed. Stems started growing. Eventually, a whole new carrot plant rose up from the single cell.

Imagine if you could perform a similar feat with animal cells, even human cells.

A Little Acid Turns Mouse Blood Into Brain, Heart And Stem Cells : Shots - Health News : NPR

 

[ScienceRocks]

Excess weight linked to brain changes that may relate to memory, emotions, and appetite

Summary:

Being overweight appears related to reduced levels of a molecule that reflects brain cell health in the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory, learning, and emotions, and likely also involved in appetite control, according to a new study.

Excess weight linked to brain changes that may relate to memory, emotions, and appetite -- ScienceDaily

 

[ScienceRocks]

NASA is working on Star Trek healing devices—'it's not sci-fi anymore'

NASA and Houston-based company GRoK Technologies will work on the development of new "breakthrough products," noninvasive medical technologies designed to "regenerate bone and muscle tissues." It really sounds like something out of Star Trek, but "it's not just sci-fi anymore."

NASA is working on Star Trek healing devices?'it's not sci-fi anymore'

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists identify gene linking brain structure to intelligence

Posted on 11/02/2014
King's College London - Scientists identify gene linking brain structure to intelligence

For the first time, scientists at King’s College London have identified a gene linking the thickness of the grey matter in the brain to intelligence. The study is published today in Molecular Psychiatry and may help scientists understand biological mechanisms behind some forms of intellectual impairment.

The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the human brain. It is known as ‘grey matter’ and plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language and consciousness. Previous studies have shown that the thickness of the cerebral cortex, or ‘cortical thickness’, closely correlates with intellectual ability, however no genes had yet been identified.

An international team of scientists, led by King’s, analysed DNA samples and MRI scans from 1,583 healthy 14 year old teenagers, part of the IMAGEN cohort. The teenagers also underwent a series of tests to determine their verbal and non-verbal intelligence.

King's College London - Scientists identify gene linking brain structure to intelligence

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists identify the switch that says it's time to sleep


Posted By News On February 19, 2014 - 5:30pm

The switch in the brain that sends us off to sleep has been identified by researchers at Oxford University's Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour in a study in fruit flies.

The switch works by regulating the activity of a handful of sleep-promoting nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. The neurons fire when we're tired and need sleep, and dampen down when we're fully rested.

'When you're tired, these neurons in the brain shout loud and they send you to sleep,' says Professor Gero Miesenböck of Oxford University, in whose laboratory the new research was performed.

Although the research was carried out in fruit flies, or Drosophila, the scientists say the sleep mechanism is likely to be relevant to humans.

Dr Jeffrey Donlea, one of the lead authors of the study, explains: 'There is a similar group of neurons in a region of the human brain. These neurons are also electrically active during sleep and, like the flies' cells, are the targets of general anaesthetics that put us to sleep. It's therefore likely that a molecular mechanism similar to the one we have discovered in flies also operates in humans.'

The researchers say that pinpointing the sleep switch might help us identify new targets for novel drugs – potentially to improve treatments for sleep disorders.

But there is much still to find out, and further research could give insight into the big unanswered question of why we need to sleep at all, they say.

'The big question now is to figure out what internal signal the sleep switch responds to,' says Dr Diogo Pimentel of Oxford University, the other lead author of the study. 'What do these sleep-promoting cells monitor while we are awake?

Scientists identify the switch that says it's time to sleep | Science Codex

 

[ScienceRocks]

DNA prostate test 'will predict deadliest cancer risk'

DNA testing can predict which men face the highest risk of deadly prostate cancer, scientists say.

The team at the Institute of Cancer Research, in London, say men could soon be offered genetic screening in a similar way to breast cancer in women.

BBC News - DNA prostate test 'will predict deadliest cancer risk'

 

[ScienceRocks]

Can stem cells heal broken hearts?

The biggest ever stem cell trial involving heart attack patients has got under way in London. The study, which will involve 3,000 patients in 11 European countries, should show whether the treatment can cut death rates and repair damaged tissue after a heart attack.

All the patients will have standard treatment to widen their narrowed arteries, which involves inserting a small tube called a stent. In addition, half the patients will have stem cells taken from their bone marrow and injected into their heart

BBC News - Can stem cells heal broken hearts?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Rutgers Scientists Identify Structure of Virus that Could Lead to Hepatitis C Vaccine

Rutgers Scientists Identify Structure of Virus that Could Lead to Hepatitis C Vaccine | Media Relations

Rutgers University scientists have determined the structure of a hepatitis C surface protein, a finding that could assist in the development of a vaccine to halt the spread of the the deadly disease that has infected 3.2 million Americans