#Skin exposure may contribute to early risk for food allergies Many children may become allergic to peanuts before they first eat them
Early in the process of developing an allergy skin exposure to food allergens contributes to sensitization which means the skin is reactive to an antigen such as peanuts especially by repeated exposure.
The question of how peanut allergies start is an important one given the extremity of some reactions the prevalence (1 to 2 percent of the population)
and because such allergies tend to be lifelong. Past studies have shown that children may first become allergic
when exposed to peanut proteins through breast milk or in house dust but this current study adds skin exposure to the list of culprits that make a child allergic by the first time they taste a peanut.
The results also make elements of the human immune system in the skin targets for future treatments or preventive efforts.
The peanut protein responsible for most allergic reactions in humans is seen as foreign or dangerous by the immune system of the skin said Cecilia Berin Phd Associate professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of medicine at Mount sinai.
Blocking those immune pathways activated in the skin prevented the development of peanut allergy in the mice
and our next step will be to confirm this in humans. In a collaboration among the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute Immunology Institute and Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount sinai Hospital researchers exposed mice
to peanut protein extract on the skin and observed that repeated topical exposure to peanut allergens led to sensitization and a severe whole-body allergic reaction upon a second exposure.
The data found that peanuts are allergenic due to inherent components the lead to a more robust immune response.
These findings suggest that skin exposure to food allergens contributes to sensitization to foods in early life.
This research helps us to understand why peanut out of the many foods in our diet is such a common cause of food allergy said Berin..
If we identify how the immune system recognizes peanut as a danger we may eventually learn how to block that pathway
and prevent the food allergy altogether. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by The Mount sinai Hospital/Mount sinai School of medicine.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Community justice court associated with lower rearrest rates The opening of a community court in a high-crime area of San francisco was associated with a lower chance that offenders would be arrested for another crime within a year, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
like substance use disorders, mental health issues and unemployment. At community courts, the criminal case management process itself involves providing access to treatment and social services.
#Women who eat fried food regularly before conceiving at increased risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy Women who eat fried food regularly before conceiving are increased at risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy,
Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a complication that can arise during pregnancy, and is characterised by abnormally high blood glucose during the pregnancy (especially in the final 3 months).
It can lead to increased birthweight of the child, as well jaundice and other complications. When left untreated, it can cause complications or stillbirth.
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that women who eat fried food regularly before conceiving are increased at risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a complication that can arise during pregnancy and is characterised by abnormally high blood glucose during the pregnancy (especially in the final 3 months.
It can lead to increased birthweight of the child, as well jaundice and other complications. When left untreated, it can cause complications or stillbirth.
Women who have GDM are more likely to later develop full blown type 2 diabetes.
However, there are few prospective epidemiological studies examining the association of fried food consumption with other health outcomes,
Thus in this new study, the authors examined the association between prepregnancy fried food consumption, both at home and away from home
The authors included 21,079 singleton pregnancies from 15,027 women in the Nurses'Health Study II (NHS II) cohort.
NHS II is an ongoing prospective cohort study of 116,671 female nurses in the USA aged 25-44 years at the start of study in 1989.
The participants received a questionnaire every two years regarding disease outcomes and lifestyle behaviours, such as smoking status and medication use.
For fried food consumption, participants were asked"how often do you eat fried food away from home (e g.
The researchers analysed fried food consumption at home and away from home separately, as well as total fried food consumption.
In addition, they asked the participants what kind of frying fat/oils they usually used at home, with the possible responses as follows:
"The potential detrimental effects of fried food consumption on GDM risk may result from the modification of foods and frying medium and generation of harmful by-products during the frying process.
and diabetes, partly because they promote oxidative stress and inflammation. Moreover, intervention studies with a diet low in AGES have shown significantly improved insulin sensitivity, reduced oxidant stress, and alleviated inflammation."
"When analysed separately, the authors found that there was a statistically significant association of GDM with fried food consumption away from home,
but not with fried food consumption at home. The authors say:""Deterioration of oils during frying is more profound
when the oils are reused, a practice more common away from home than at home. This may partly explain why we observed a stronger association of GDM risk with fried foods consumed away from home than fried foods consumed at home."
"We observed that frequent fried food consumption was significantly and positively associated with the risk of incident GDM in a prospective cohort study.
Our study indicates potential benefits of limiting fried food consumption in the prevention of GDM in women of reproductive age.
Igor Spetic had family open his medicine bottles. Cotton balls give him goose bumps. Now, blindfolded during an experiment,
But patterns of electric signals are sent by a computer into nerves in his arm and to his brain,
That's one of several types of sensation Spetic, of Madison, Ohio, can feel with the prosthetic system being developed by Case Western Reserve University and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical center.
"said Dustin Tyler, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve and director of the research."
""The work reactivates areas of the brain that produce the sense of touch, said Tyler, who is also associate director of the Advanced Platform Technology Center at the Cleveland VA
"How the system works and the results will be published online in the journal Science Translational Medicine Oct 8."
"They change things on the computer to change the sensation.""One time,"he said, "it felt like water running across the back of my hand."
not by electrodes inserted through the protective nerve membranes. Surgeons Michael W Keith, MD and J. Robert Anderson, MD, from Case Western Reserve School of medicine and Cleveland VA, implanted three electrode cuffs in Spetic
's forearm, enabling him to feel 19 distinct points; and two cuffs in Vonderhuevel's upper arm, enabling him to feel 16 distinct locations.
when a sensor was touched was a tingle. To provide more natural sensations, the research team has developed algorithms that convert the input from sensors taped to a patient's hand into varying patterns and intensities of electrical signals.
The sensors themselves aren't sophisticated enough to discern textures, they detect only pressure. The different signal patterns, passed through the cuffs,
are read as different stimuli by the brain. The scientists continue to fine-tune the patterns
#Mind-controlled prosthetic arms that work in daily life are now a reality For the first time robotic prostheses controlled via implanted neuromuscular interfaces have become a clinical reality.
A novel osseointegrated (bone-anchored) implant system gives patients new opportunities in their daily life and professional activities.
In January 2013 a Swedish arm amputee was the first person in the world to receive a prosthesis with a direct connection to bone, nerves and muscles.
An article about this achievement and its long-term stability will now be published in the Science Translational Medicine journal."
"Going beyond the lab to allow the patient to face real-world challenges is the main contribution of this work,
research scientist at Chalmers University of Technology and leading author of the publication.""We have used osseointegration to create a long-term stable fusion between man and machine,
Then the human's biological control system, that is nerves and muscles, is interfaced also to the machine's control system via neuromuscular electrodes.
between biology and mechatronics.""The direct skeletal attachment is created by what is known as osseointegration, a technology in limb prostheses pioneered by associate professor Rickard Brånemark and his colleagues at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
Rickard Brånemark led the surgical implantation and collaborated closely with Max Ortiz Catalan and Professor Bo Håkansson at Chalmers University of Technology on this project.
The patient's arm was amputated over ten years ago. Before the surgery, his prosthesis was controlled via electrodes placed over the skin.
Robotic prostheses can be advanced very, but such a control system makes them unreliable and limits their functionality,
and patients commonly reject them as a result. Now, the patient has been given a control system that is directly connected to his own.
and since the surgery he has experienced that he can cope with all the situations he faces; everything from clamping his trailer load and operating machinery,
The patient is also one of the first in the world to take part in an effort to achieve long-term sensation via the prosthesis.
Because the implant is a bidirectional interface, it can also be used to send signals in the opposite direction--from the prosthetic arm to the brain.
"Reliable communication between the prosthesis and the body has been the missing link for the clinical implementation of neural control and sensory feedback,
Intuitive sensory feedback and control are crucial for interacting with the environment, for example to reliably hold an object despite disturbances or uncertainty.
Today, no patient walks around with a prosthesis that provides such information, but we are working towards changing that in the very short term."
So far, this has only been possible in short experiments within controlled environments.""The new technology is based on the OPRA treatment (osseointegrated prosthesis for the rehabilitation of amputees),
where a titanium implant is inserted surgically into the bone and becomes fixated to it by a process known as osseointegration (Osseo=bone).
A percutaneous component (abutment) is attached then to the titanium implant to serve as a metallic bone extension,
where the prosthesis is fixated then. Electrodes are implanted in nerves and muscles as the interfaces to the biological control system.
These electrodes record signals which are transmitted via the osseointegrated implant to the prostheses, where the signals are decoded finally
and translated into motions. Direct skeletal attachment by osseointegration means: Increased range of motion since there are no physical limitations by the socket--the patient can move the remaining joints freely Elimination of sores
and easy attachment/detachment Increased sensory feedback due to the direct transmission of forces and vibrations to the bone (osseoperception) The prosthesis can be worn all day,
every day No socket adjustments required (there is no socket) Implanting electrodes in nerves and muscles means that:
Due to the intimate connection, the patients can control the prosthesis with less effort and more precisely,
The close proximity between source and electrode also prevents activity from other muscles from interfering (cross-talk),
and still maintain control of the prosthesis. More motor signals can be obtained from muscles and nerves,
so that more movements can be controlled intuitively in the prosthesis. After the first fitting of the controller, little or no recalibration is required
because there is no need to reposition the electrodes on every occasion the prosthesis is worn (as opposed to superficial electrodes).
Since the electrodes are implanted rather than placed over the skin, control is affected not by environmental conditions (cold and heat) that change the skin state,
or power lines) as the electrodes are shielded by the body itself. Electrodes in the nerves can be used to send signals to the brain as sensations coming from the prostheses e
#Minimally invasive procedures offer hope for elderly patients with heart-valve problems Annie Henderson 69 suffers from multiple chronic ailments including kidney failure and mitral valve insufficiency.
The later turned her life into a battle for breath eliminating almost all activities and even making sleep a struggle.
Thanks to a leading-edge procedure performed at UT Southwestern Medical center Mrs. Henderson is now breathing
causing blood to flow backward into the left atrium and lungs. The Mitraclip is, literally,
Both procedures are performed by snaking catheters, typically from a blood vessel in the groin, up to the diseased valve.
Assistant professor of Internal medicine and Medical Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, with Dr. Michael Luna, Assistant professor of Internal medicine, performed the first Mitraclip procedures.
doing calisthenics in his room after his TAVR procedure. Werner Dyer, who is had now 92
"We have an aging population. As people age, they become very high-risk for open-heart surgeries, "said Dr. Steven Marso, Medical Director of Interventional Cardiology and Professor of Internal medicine."
"People who wouldn't have had an option for treatment now have an option for treatment,
"I didn't wake up until the nurse woke me this morning, "Mrs. Henderson said, happily y
#Smartphone understands hand gestures Professor Otmar Hilliges and his staff at ETH Zurich have developed a new app enabling users to operate their smartphone with gestures.
This development expands the range of potential interactions with such devices. It does seem slightly odd at first:
or imitate a pair of pliers or the firing of a pistol. These gestures are intended not however for communicating with deaf people;
they are for controlling your smartphone. By mimicking the firing of a pistol for example a user can switch to another browser tab change the map's view from satellite to standard
or shoot down enemy planes in a game. Spreading out your fingers magnifies a section of a map or scrolls the page of a book forwards.
All this gesturing wizardry is made possible by a new type of algorithm developed by Jie Song a Master's student in the working group headed by by Otmar Hilliges Professor of Computer science.
The researchers presented the app to an audience of industry professionals at the UIST symposium in Honolulu Hawaii.
Intelligent programming uses computer memorythe program uses the smartphone's built-in camera to register its environment.
and warns the user when the hand is either too close or too far away. Many movement-recognition programs need plenty of processor
and memory power explains Hilliges adding that their new algorithm uses a far smaller portion of computer memory
and is thus ideal for smartphones. He believes the application is the first of its kind that can run on a smartphone.
The app's minimal processing footprint means it could also run on smart watches or in augmented reality glasses.
More controlthe program currently recognises six different gestures and executes their corresponding commands. Although the researchers have tested 16 outlines this is not the app's theoretical limit.
He is convinced that this new way of operating smartphones greatly increases the range of interactivity.
so that users can operate their smartphone effortlessly. But will smartphone users want to adapt to this new style of interaction?
Otmar Hilliges is confident they will. Gesture control will not replace touchscreen control but supplement it.
People got used to operating computer games with their movements. Touchscreens Hilliges reminds us also required a very long adjustment period before making a big impact in consumers'lives.
He is therefore certain that this application --or at least parts of it--will find its way onto the market.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by ETH Zurich. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
Seen in real time, for the first time Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed technologies that allow investigators, for the first time,
The new technology platform opens new possibilities for devising an approach to prevent HIV infection,
says Dr. Scott Blanchard, an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell, and one of three co-lead authors on the Science study.
who is also associate director of Weill Cornell's chemical biology program.""What we have shown in the Science study is that we now have the means to obtain real-time images of processes happening on the surface of intact HIV particles,
and antibodies that can shut it down, "he says.""We desperately need solutions to prevent HIV infection,
which, to date, has infected or killed more than 70 million people worldwide, "Dr. Blanchard says. If this technology proves useful in HIV management,
it could potentially be used to decode infection processes for other viruses, he says. Using Light to Watch HIV Dance In the Science study,
Dr. Blanchard worked with Dr. Walther Mothes, a HIV specialist at the Yale university School of medicine, and with Dr. James Munro, who was Dr. Blanchard's first graduate student
and who is now an assistant professor at Tufts University School of medicine. Drs. Mothes and Munro are the two other co-lead investigators.
Dr. Blanchard adapted an imaging technique that uses fluorescence to measure distance on molecular scale--single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smfret) imaging--to study viral particles.
His group developed fluorescent molecules (fluorophores) --which he dubs"beacons "--and the team inserted them into the virus's outer covering, known as the envelope.
The team used the technology to study motions of proteins on the surface of the HIV virus (called envelope proteins) that are key to the virus's ability to infect human immune cells carrying CD4 receptor proteins.
CD4 receptor proteins help HIV bind to a cell. The envelope consists of three gp120
"that open up like a flower in the presence of CD4, exposing the gp41 subunit that is essential for subsequent aspects of the mechanism that causes infection."
"There are 10-20 such envelope trimers on the surface of each HIV particle, and they mutate rapidly,
and why it is challenging for researchers to develop vaccines targeting the HIV envelope proteins,
which contained beacons that did not alter the biology of the particles. Then they watched.
"Many scientists believe that the particles remain in one conformation until they come across a CD4-positive cell.
when no CD4 was present--they change shape all the time.""The researchers were then able to watch how the viruses responded
when synthetic CD4 was introduced. They also saw that antibodies known to exhibit some effectiveness acted to prevent gp120 from opening,
and that these effects correlated with a decrease in the virus'ability to infect cells.
when they introduced a small molecule now under development to prevent HIV infection.""The practical outcome from this technology is that we can begin to understand how the biological system moves.
So far we have detected three different conformations of the envelope trimer. We are working now to improve the technology to achieve the imaging precision we need to make broadly effective therapies,
"Blanchard says. Technologies Work Hand in hand The Nature study, led by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases,
used X-ray crystallography to capture a three-dimensional structure of one of the conformations revealed in the Science paper.
The protein constructs used in this investigation were developed originally by a team of researchers headed by Dr. John Moore
professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell.""The antibodies used in the crystallography study are ones that we observed to stop the dance of the HIV envelope proteins,
pushing the trimer assembly into a quiescent, ground state, "Dr. Blanchard says.""This concrete, atomic resolution picture of
what the pre-fusion machinery looks like and where these antibodies bind provides an important step forward to understanding HIV's biology,
"he says. Dr. Blanchard believes both techniques--smfret and X-ray crystallography--can work hand in hand to help scientists describe the functions of molecules from the perspective motion,
including the other two distinct conformations identified in the smfret study.""The approach is really a breakthrough for science
real-time information to be obtained about molecular processes in complex biological systems
#Slime-producing molecules help spread disease from cats to endangered sea otters The spread of diseases from land animals to sea otters
and other marine mammals is aided and abetted by gelatinous sticky polymers produced by seaweed reports a research team headed by a UC Davis veterinary infectious-disease expert.
These large complex molecules form slimy biofilms and bind waterborne organic matter into larger particles in which disease-causing microorganisms can become embedded
and introduced to the marine food chain the researchers discovered. Using the parasite Toxoplasma gondii as a model they showed how these sticky polymers increase the chance that disease-causing organisms would be picked up by marine snails
which graze on kelp and are among the common foods of some endangered sea otters. Findings from the new study will be published Oct 8 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Discovering the role that these invisible polymers play in disease transmission in the ocean is a tremendous step forward in helping us better understand
and mitigate the impacts of coastal water pollution on the health of wildlife and humans said lead author Karen Shapiro a research scientist in the School of veterinary medicine.
Contamination of coastal waters with disease-causing microorganisms is known to pose a threat to the health of both humans
and animals but the mechanisms by which diseases are transmitted in marine ecosystems has remained until now a mystery.
and can persist in the environment for months to years infecting marine mammals including the endangered southern sea otter in California.
when they consume contaminated water or undercooked shellfish. Puzzled by the high rate of T. gondii infection in sea otters and other marine mammals the researchers set out to track the route of transmission.
Noting that T. gondii infections were 10 times more common among sea otters that fed heavily on kelp-grazing marine snails than among otters that fed on abalone
and other ocean food sources they investigated why the sea snails might be particularly effective carriers of the parasite.
In laboratory tests the researchers discovered that the gelatinous polymers excreted by seaweed act in two ways to provide an environment conducive to transmission of infectious diseases.
First the polymers act like glue binding together waterborne organic material into larger particles in
Secondly the polymers help to form sticky biofilms which can trap the T. gondii egg cells and coat kelp on which marine snails graze.
when the snails are eaten by otters completing the intricate chain of disease transmission from land-based cats to the endangered coastal sea otters Other researchers on the study were Colin Krusor Patricia A. Conrad John L. Largier
and Ecology of Infectious disease program provided funding for the study y
#Colorectal cancer: New clues for early detection Researchers at the University of Luxembourg have identified potential new ways to test for the first signs of one of the most deadly types of cancer:
colorectal cancer. They have found new biomarkers: molecules whose increased presence or absence in tissue suggests the development of tumorous cells.
These indicators could help detect colorectal cancer at an early stage predict its severity or even offer new treatments.
Colorectal cancer is still one of the most frequent and deadliest cancers worldwide. But diagnosed in time it can be cured in 9 out of 10 cases said Professor Serge Haan from the Life science Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg.
Thus it is highly important to identify more sensitive and specific markers to improve early diagnosis as well as therapeutic strategies.
The research team around Prof. Serge Haan and Dr. Elisabeth Letellier studied over 800 detailed results of tissue-analysis of both patients with various stages of colorectal cancer and healthy individuals.
They completed this study with original analysis of patient material from the Ontario Tumor Bank in Canada and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.
The Luxembourg-based team were the first to see a significant reduction in certain proteins (specifically SOCS2 and SOCS6) in pre-cancerous and cancerous colorectal cells.
They concluded that especially SOCS2 could be a very sensitive early diagnostic biomarker. Further analysis also revealed that this protein could even give an early prediction of the cancer's severity.
SOCS stands for Suppressor Of Cytokine Signalling regulatory proteins which are essential for normal cell growth.
There is increasing evidence that the loss of SOCS proteins plays a role in many cancers as this induce uncontrolled cell growth and tumour development.
This study additionally strengthens the case for those proteins having tumour repressive potential. These findings have been published in The british Journal of Cancer.
The research team included several Luxembourg biomedical research institutions: The National Health Laboratory the Santé Public Research Centre and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.
This study was financed by the Luxembourg Cancer Foundation. Further work is needed now to expand on these findings before they can be used clinically l
#Worlds first novel method for label-free identification of stem cells will lead to more consistent, efficacious stem cell therapies,
experts say A team of scientists and engineers at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have invented a new technique to identify populations of rare stem cells from bone marrow based on their different combinations of biophysical characteristics such as cell
size, cell stiffness and nucleus deformation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCS), a type of cell that resides in the bone marrow,
can differentiate into cells that produce bone, cartilage, fat or muscles--a trait that clinicians exploit for tissue repair.
With better identification of MSCS doctors can be certain that the concentration of highly enriched MSC mixture is stated as,
making it easier for them to develop stem-cell-based treatment that would be more consistent
and produce better results. Currently, there is no good way to separate MSCS from bone marrow cells that have begun already to differentiate into other cell types,
Krystyn Van Vliet, Lead Investigator, SMART Biosystems and Micromechanics (Biosym) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG. The research entitled'Multivariate biophysical markers predictive of mesenchymal stromal cell multipotency'will be published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.
Other authors include SMART co-Investigators--Associate professor Jerry Chan from KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and G. Shivashankar from NUS;
"Associate professor Jerry Chan, who is also Director, KK Research Centre and Senior Consultant, Department of Reproductive Medicine at KKH, said,
"This important discovery will allow us to identify and select the best population of stem cells that we can use for treating different diseases such as brittle-bone disease
or in repairing large bone defects. We anticipate that this technique will enhance our knowledge of the cells being used in our upcoming clinical trial to repair large bone defects."
and found that these cells could repair both muscle and bone injuries, while marrow-derived cells identified as osteogenic stromal cells were able to repair bone but not muscle.
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