#Simple detection of magnetic skyrmions Stable whirls in magnetic materials were predicted over 25 years ago, but the experimental realization was achieved only recently.
has opened the perspective to use them as bits in novel data storage devices. Up to now individual magnetic whirls were detected either by electron microscopy
or by the resistance change in a tunnel contact with a magnetic probe. Employing a scanning tunneling microscope researchers of the University of Hamburg were now able to demonstrate that the resistance changes also
when a nonmagnetic metal is used in such a measurement'In our experiment we can move a metallic tip over a surface with atomic-scale precision,
and in this way we can measure the resistance at different positions in a skyrmion'says Christian Hanneken, a Phd student in the group of Prof.
Roland Wiesendanger. This enables the proof for the locally varying resistance within the magnetic whirl.'
In collaboration with theoretical physicists from the University of Kiel the researchers were able to identify the origin of the resistance change in the magnetic whirl:
Stefan Heinze from the University of Kiel. When the electrons are travelling through a magnetic whirl,
'We were able to understand this effect by performing extensive numerical computer simulations of the electronic properties
'as the Phd student Fabian Otte explains. In future applications this newly discovered effect could be exploited to read out skyrmionic bits in a simple fashion.
The possibility to use arbitrary metallic electrodes significantly simplifies the fabrication and operation of such novel storage devices s
#Physicists shrink particle accelerator An interdisciplinary team of researchers has built the first prototype of a miniature particle accelerator that uses terahertz radiation instead of radio frequency structures.
The authors see numerous applications for terahertz accelerators, in materials science, medicine and particle physics, as well as in building X-ray lasers.
CFEL is a cooperation between DESY, the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Society.
In the electromagnetic spectrum, terahertz radiation lies between infrared radiation and microwaves. Particle accelerators usually rely on electromagnetic radiation from the radio frequency range;
DESY's particle accelerator PETRA III, for example, uses a frequency of around 500 megahertz. The wavelength of the terahertz radiation used in this experiment is around one thousand times shorter."
who is also a professor at the University of Hamburg and at MIT, as well as being a member of the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), one of Germany's Clusters of Excellence.
The physicists fired fast electrons into the miniature accelerator module using a type of electron gun provided by the group of CFEL Professor Dwayne Miller, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics
This first prototype of a terahertz accelerator was able to increase the energy of the particles by seven kiloelectronvolts (kev."
Plasma accelerator technology, which is also at an experimental stage right now, promises to produce even higher accelerations,
and as a means of building compact X-ray lasers and electron sources for use in materials research,
as well as medical applications using X-rays and electron radiation.""The rapid advances we are seeing in terahertz generation with optical methods will enable the future development of terahertz accelerators for these applications,
So-called free-electron lasers (FELS) generate flashes of laser light by sending high-speed electrons from a particle accelerator down an undulating path,
Also, certain medical imaging techniques could benefit from the enhanced characteristics of the novel X-ray source s
#Possible new treatment for bladder cancer using a mycobacterium Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers have found a mycobacterium that is more effective in treating superficial bladder cancer
and does not cause infections, unlike those used up to now. Mycobacteria are the only bacteria used in cancer treatment.
The administration of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (BCG), is the current treatment for superficial bladder cancer.
It is inserted directly into the bladder through a catheter. BCG prevents new tumours from appearing,
but despite its efficacy it has many adverse side effects, the most serious being BCG infections that need to be treated with antituberculous drugs.
A study on the characteristics of a wide group of mycobacteria begun seven years ago by the Mycobacteria Research Group
led by Dr Esther Julián, of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, has discovered that one of these,
Preclinical studies using mouse models of bladder cancer have demonstrated the efficacy of the mycobacterium M. brumae in the treatment of this disease.
presenting no risk of causing infections, which means it would have fewer adverse side effects on patients than BCG.
which is given significant that in the last few years BCG production problems have led to supply issues for certain bladder cancer patients."
"Our results suggest that Micobacterium brumae is an ideal candidate to replace the current BCG treatment for superficial bladder cancer,
The study, published in the journal European Urology Focus, was conducted in collaboration with Dr Rosa M. Rabanal of the Murine and Comparative Pathology Unit, Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, UAB,
and with the group Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies led by Dr Eduard Torrents, of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) I
#New test predicts teens'future risk of heart disease Risk for cardiovascular disease, currently running rampant in the United states,
can now be predicted for adolescents thanks to a new diagnostic test developed by a University of Virginia Children's Hospital pediatrician and his collaborators.
The test accounts for many risk factors for the deadly disease and has the potential to be adapted by physicians nationwide to assess teenagers'future risk
Risk Factors for Cardiovascular disease Approximately 610,000 people die from heart disease every year in the United states--that's one of every four deaths.
Cardiovascular disease has predominantly modifiable risk factors meaning that the disease is entirely preventable. These modifiable risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, unhealthy diets and smoking.
The only risk factor unable to be changed is genetic predisposition. The Role of Metabolic syndrome The new diagnostic test has been developed by a team that included Mark Deboer, MD, of the University of Virginia Children's Hospital's Department of Pediatrics,
and Matthew Gurka, Phd, of West virginia University's School of Public health. The test relies on an evaluation of metabolic syndrome,
a conglomeration of conditions including increased blood pressure, high levels of blood sugar, excessive body fat around the abdomen and waist,
and abnormal cholesterol levels that together increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. It takes into account variables specific both to race and gender."
"The way that we normally diagnose metabolic syndrome appears to have some racial discrepancies where African-american individuals are diagnosed not with metabolic syndrome at a very high rate
and yet they are at very high risk for developing type 2 diabetes and CVD cardiovascular disease,
so Dr. Gurka and I formulated a metabolic syndrome severity score that is specific to sex and ethnicity,
"Deboer said. In creating the test, Deboer and Gurka examined metabolic severity scores from children in the 1970s that assessed body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and fasting glucose.
The children were followed up as recently as 2014 at an average age of 49.6 years."
"The current study was targeted at using that metabolic syndrome severity score on data from individuals who were children in the'70s to see
if it correlated with their risk on developing CVD and type 2 diabetes later in life,
and we found that there was a high correlation between the metabolic severity score for those children and for their later development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes,
"Deboer explained. The Use of the Test The test is innovative in that it is able to assess changes in metabolic syndrome severity in a person over time
and creates a specific number predicting risk. Previous diagnostic tests have been merely positive or negative
stating that a person either has or does not have metabolic syndrome, but the new test is able to create a scale,
delineating the precise degree to which a youth is at risk.""We are hopeful that this score can be used to assess the baseline risk for adolescents regarding metabolic syndrome
and their risk for future disease and use it as a motivator for individuals to try to change their risk
so that they may have a healthier diet, engage in more physical activity or get medication to reduce their metabolic syndrome severity and their future risk for disease,
"Deboer said d
#From trees to power: Engineers build better energy storage device Mcmaster Engineering researchers Emily Cranston and Igor Zhitomirsky are turning trees into energy storage devices capable of powering everything from a smart watch to a hybrid car.
The scientists are using cellulose, an organic compound found in plants, bacteria, algae and trees, to build more efficient and longer-lasting energy storage devices or supercapacitors.
This development paves the way toward the production of lightweight, flexible, and high-power electronics, such as wearable devices, portable power supplies and hybrid and electric vehicles."
"Ultimately the goal of this research is to find ways to power current and future technology with efficiency
of particular interest are based nanocellulose materials. The work by Cranston, an assistant chemical engineering professor, and Zhitomirsky, a materials science and engineering professor, demonstrates an improved three-dimensional energy storage device constructed by trapping functional nanoparticles within the walls of a nanocellulose foam.
The foam is made in a simplified and fast one-step process. The type of nanocellulose used is called cellulose nanocrystals
and looks like uncooked long-grain rice but with nanometer-dimensions. In these new devices, the'rice grains'have been glued together at random points forming a mesh-like structure with lots of open space
hence the extremely lightweight nature of the material. This can be used to produce more sustainable capacitor devices with higher power density
and faster charging abilities compared to rechargeable batteries. Lightweight and high-power density capacitors are of particular interest for the development of hybrid and electric vehicles.
The fast-charging devices allow for significant energy saving, because they can accumulate energy during braking and release it during acceleration."
"I believe that the best results can be obtained when researchers combine their expertise, "Zhitomirsky says."
"Emily is an amazing research partner. I have been impressed deeply by her enthusiasm, remarkable ability to organize team work
and generate new ideas
#Groundbreaking computer program diagnoses cancer in two days In by far the majority of cancer cases, the doctor can quickly identify the source of the disease, for example cancer of the liver, lungs, etc.
However, in about one in 20 cases, the doctor can confirm that the patient has cancer
--but cannot find the source. These patients then face the prospect of a long wait with numerous diagnostic tests
and attempts to locate the origin of the cancer before starting any treatment. Now, researchers at DTU Systems Biology have combined genetics with computer science
and created a new diagnostic technology based on advanced self learning computer algorithms which--on the basis of a biopsy from a metastasis--can with 85 per cent certainty identify the source of the disease
and thus target treatment and, ultimately, improve the prognosis for the patient. Each year, about 35,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Denmark,
and many of them face the prospect of a long wait until the cancer has been diagnosed and its source located.
However, even after very extensive tests, there will still be 2-3 per cent of patients where it has not been possible to find the origin of the cancer.
In such cases, the patient will be treated with a cocktail of chemotherapy instead of a more appropriately targeted treatment
which could be more effective and gentler on the patient. Fast and accurate results The newly developed method,
which researchers are calling Tumortracer, are based on analyses of DNA mutations in cancer tissue samples from patients with metastasized cancer,
i e. cancer which has spread. The pattern of mutations is analysed in a computer program which has been trained to find possible primary tumour localizations.
The method has been tested on many thousands of samples where the primary tumour was identified already, and it has proven extremely precise.
The next step will be to test the method on patients with unknown primary tumours. In recent years
researchers have discovered several ways of using genome sequencing of tumours to predict whether an individual cancer patient will benefit from a specific type of medicine.
This is a very effective method, and it is becoming increasingly common to conduct such sequencing for cancer patients.
Associate professor Aron Eklund from DTU Systems Biology explains:""We are pleased very that we can now use the same sequencing data together with our new algorithms to provide a much faster diagnosis for cancer cases that are difficult to diagnose,
and to provide a useful diagnosis in cases which are currently impossible to diagnose. At the moment, it takes researchers two days to obtain a biopsy result,
but we expect this time to be reduced as it becomes possible to do the sequencing increasingly faster.
And it will be straightforward to integrate the method with the methods already being used by doctors."
"Researchers expect that, in the long term, the method can also be used to identify the source of free cancer cells from a blood sample,
and thus also as an effective and easy way of monitoring people who are at risk of developing cancer.
Tumor tracer A diagnostic method for determining the primary site of the cancer. The method combines genetics and computer science,
and can analyse a biopsy from a metastasis, and on this basis provide a number of possible scenarios for where the cancer may have developed
and indicate the probability of it being correct. At the moment analysing a biopsy takes two days s
#Medical diagnosis: Will brain palpation soon be possible? If there is one technique used by the physician to explore the human body during every medical examination
in order to make a diagnosis or prescribe further tests, it is palpation. By its nature, however, the brain cannot be palpated without using a highly invasive procedure (craniotomy,
or opening the skull), which is limited to rare cases. By drawing on seismology, Inserm researchers led by Stéfan Catheline (Inserm Unit 1032,
"Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound")have developed just a noninvasive brain imaging method using MRI that provides the same information as physical palpation.
Ultimately, it could be used in the early diagnosis of brain tumours or Alzheimer's disease. This work is published in PNAS.
Many diseases involve structural changes in tissues which are reflected in a change in their mechanical properties, such as elasticity.
Using the sensitivity of their hands, and their detailed knowledge of the body, physicians, through an examination known as palpation, can assess the size and stiffness of a tumour, the presence of inflamed lymph nodes,
or the size and position of the fetus in a pregnant woman, to mention a few examples.
This palpation has been supplemented or replaced by modern techniques that give the physician an indication of the elasticity of a biological tissue.
They are based on the generation and detection of waves that propagate through the body at varying speeds depending on the stiffness of the organs (the stiffer the tissue,
something that greatly complicates the work of neurosurgeons. On the other hand, the brain is the seat of natural vibrations created by the blood pulsating in the arteries and the circulating cerebrospinal fluid.
There remained a significant unprecedented challenge: how to capture this complex field of natural shear waves,
and represent it on a computer screen. In this article, Inserm researchers, using MRI, have succeeded in detecting natural shear waves in the brain using computational techniques borrowed from seismologists and known as"noise correlation."
"says Stéfan Catheline, Inserm Research director and main author of this work.""Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and hydrocephalus involve changes in the stiffness of the brain tissues.
This new technique allows their detection, and could be used to avoid brain biopsies.""This method for palpating the brain could have other areas of application,
such as for analysing the development of neurodegenerative processes, the impact of a lesion from a trauma or tumour, response to treatment, etc e
#'Chromosomal Chaos:''Complex array of mutations found in rare, aggressive leukemia Sezary syndrome (SS), an aggressive leukemia of mature T cells, is complicated more at a molecular level than ever suspected, according to investigators from the Perelman School of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
With a poor prognosis and limited options for targeted therapies, fighting SS needs new treatment approaches.
The team's results uncover a previously unknown, complex genomic landscape of this cancer, which can be used to design new personalized drug regimens for SS patients based on their unique genetic makeup.
Sezary syndrome is a rare condition: Its incidence is estimated to be about 0. 3-2 cases per 100,000 in the United states each year,
and those patients have a five-year survival rate of less than 30 percent. Penn Medicine has the one of the largest referral clinics for treatment of SS patients in the country.
The team integrated three, complementary gene sequencing approaches to look for mutations in tumor cells from SS patients:
whole-genome sequencing in six subjects, sequencing of all protein-coding regions (exomes) in 66 subjects,
and comparing variation in the number of copies of all genes across the genome in 80 subjects."
"We did not expect the degree of genetic complexity that we found in our study,"Elenitoba-Johnson added.
They identified previously unknown recurrent loss-of-function mutations that target genes regulating epigenetic pathways--ones that act on how tightly
or loosely chromosomes are wound and thus accessible for genes to be expressed. One of these targets is called ARID1A,
and they found that loss-of-function mutations and/or deletions in ARID1A occurred in over 40 percent of the SS genome studied.
They also identified"gain-of-function"mutations in PLCG1, and JAK1, JAK3, STAT3 and STAT5B.
In preliminary drug-mutation matching studies they found that JAK1-mutated SS cells were sensitive to JAK inhibitors,
drugs that are approved currently for treatment of other hematologic cancers such as polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis."
"With knowledge like this, we can design clinical trials using JAK inhibitors for SS patients based on their JAK mutations,
"said Elenitoba-Johnson.""But this is just the start. These results highlight the genetic vulnerabilities that we can use in designing precision medicine therapies."
"The Penn team, in collaboration with Alain Rook, MD, director of the Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma Program and a professor of Dermatology, aims to develop a molecular taxonomy for mutations in SS patients.
With the state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology used in this study, they will be able to pinpoint the exact mistake in each patient's SS-related genes.
From this, they will also be able to identify distinct subsets of the disease to stratify patients for precision therapy based on their unique mutations and the inhibitors available for those mutations s
#Scientists pave way for diamonds to trace early cancers Physicists from the University of Sydney have devised a way to use diamonds to identify cancerous tumours before they become life threatening.
Their findings, published in Nature Communications, reveal how a nanoscale, synthetic version of the precious gem can light up early-stage cancers in nontoxic, noninvasive Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Targeting cancers with tailored chemicals is not new but scientists struggle to detect where these chemicals go since,
short of a biopsy, there are few ways to see if a treatment has been taken up by a cancer.
Led by Professor David Reilly from the School of Physics researchers from the University investigated how nanoscale diamonds could help identify cancers in their earliest stages."
"We knew nano diamonds were of interest for delivering drugs during chemotherapy because they are largely nontoxic and non-reactive,
"says Professor Reilly.""We thought we could build on these nontoxic properties realising that diamonds have magnetic characteristics enabling them to act as beacons in MRIS.
We effectively turned a pharmaceutical problem into a physics problem.""Professor Reilly's team turned its attention to hyperpolarising nanodiamonds,
a process of aligning atoms inside a diamond so they create a signal detectable by an MRI SCANNER."
"By attaching hyperpolarised diamonds to molecules targeting cancers the technique can allow tracking of the molecules'movement in the body,
"says Ewa Rej, the paper's lead author.""This is a great example of how quantum physics research tackles real-world problems,
in this case opening the way for us to image and target cancers long before they become life-threatening,
"says Professor Reilly. The next stage of the team's work involves working with medical researchers to test the new technology on animals.
Also on the horizon is research using scorpion venom to target brain tumours with MRI scanning g
#3d image of cancer protein aids quest for new treatments Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have created the first three-dimensional image of a key protein known to be involved in the development of blood and other cancers.
The discovery showed the protein, called Trib1, plays a vital role in controlling how and when other proteins are degraded,
which is essential for managing protein levels in the cell. The finding could be used to develop new drugs to treat cancers such as leukaemia,
caused by malfunctioning of the Trib1 protein. Trib1 is part of the protein family Tribbles which play diverse roles in cell signalling and development.
Tribbles are named after the small, furry creatures from Star trek that reproduce uncontrollably. Excess Tribbles drive the abnormal production of immune cells,
causing a type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Institute researchers Dr James Murphy and Dr Isabelle Lucet, in collaboration with Dr Peter Mace from the University of Otago, New zealand, characterised the human Tribbles protein Trib1.
Dr Murphy said the research showed how Trib1 played an important role in controlling protein levels within the cell."
"The amount of protein in a cell depends on the balance between production and degradation, "Dr Murphy said."
"Defects in protein degradation, or in the controllers of protein degradation, disrupt this balance and can lead to diseases such as cancer."
"Using the Australian Synchrotron, Dr Mace, Dr Murphy and colleagues were able to obtain detailed three-dimensional images of Trib1."
which will provide critical clues for developing drugs that target Trib1 to treat cancers.""Lead investigator Dr Mace said Trib1 acted as a scaffold to bring many proteins together,
our research could help us design novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of AML, "Dr Mace said."
which causes a loss of proteins that would normally inhibit cancer. Understanding the structure of Trib1 provides critical clues about how we could block Tribbles for the treatment of AML."
#New graphene based inks for high-speed manufacturing of printed electronics A low-cost, high-speed method for printing graphene inks using a conventional roll-to-roll printing process,
including inexpensive printed electronics, intelligent packaging and disposable sensors. Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Cambridge-based technology company Novalia,
the method allows graphene and other electrically conducting materials to be added to conventional water-based inks
the first time that graphene has been used for printing on a large-scale commercial printing press at high speed.
Its flexibility, optical transparency and electrical conductivity make it suitable for a wide range of applications, including printed electronics.
Although numerous laboratory prototypes have been demonstrated around the world, widespread commercial use of graphene is yet to be realised."
"Being able to produce conductive inks that could effortlessly be used for printing at a commercial scale at a very high speed will open up all kinds of different applications for graphene and other similar materials.""
""This method will allow us to put electronic systems into entirely unexpected shapes, "said Chris Jones of Novalia."
"Hasan's method, developed at the University's Nanoscience Centre, works by suspending tiny particles of graphene in a'carrier'solvent mixture,
The same method works for materials other than graphene, including metallic, semiconducting and insulating nanoparticles. Currently, printed conductive patterns use a combination of poorly conducting carbon with other materials, most commonly silver
which is expensive. Silver-based inks cost £1000 or more per kilogram, whereas this new graphene ink formulation would be 25 times cheaper.
reducing energy costs for ink curing. Once dry, the'electric ink'is also waterproof and adheres to its substrate extremely well.
which is in line with commercial production rates for graphics printing, and far faster than earlier prototypes.
Through the use of this new ink, more versatile devices on paper or plastic can be made at a rate of 300 per minute, at a very low cost.
Hasan and Phd students Guohua Hu, Richard Howe and Zongyin Yang of the Hybrid Nanomaterials Engineering group at CGC
it could also initiate entirely new business opportunities for commercial graphics printers, who could diversify into the electronics sector."
"The UK, and the Cambridge area in particular, has always been strong in the printing sector,
but mostly for graphics printing and packaging,"said Hasan, a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and a University Lecturer in the Engineering Department."
"We hope to use this strong local expertise to expand our functional ink platform. In addition to cheaper printable electronics, this technology opens up potential application areas such as smart packaging and disposable sensors,
which to date have largely been inaccessible due to cost.""In the short to medium term, the researchers hope to use their method to make printed, disposable biosensors, energy harvesters and RFID tags.
The research was supported by grants from the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council's Impact Acceleration Account and a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship.
The technology is being commercialised by Cambridge Enterprise, the University's commercialisation arm r
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