#Thyroid carcinoma: Biomarker reveals cancer cause The expression of the protein CLIP2*provides information on
whether a papillary thyroid carcinoma was induced by radiation or had a sporadic origin. With this discovery, scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München have identified a new biomarker for the diagnosis of the cancer cause.
Their findings have been published in the journal Oncogene. CLIP2 serves as a radiation marker: After exposure to radiation from radioiodine, both the genetic activity and the protein expression are increased,
as the scientists'studies were able to substantiate. CLIP2 appears to be particularly significant in the development of tumours in the thyroid gland after radiation exposure.
The team around Martin Selmansberger, Dr. Julia Heß, Dr. Kristian Unger and Prof. Dr. Horst Zitzelsberger from the Radiation Cytogenetics Research Unit at the Helmholtz Zentrum München discovered a connection between high CLIP2 levels and the radiation history of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma."
"In our study, we were able to verify radiation-associated CLIP2 expression at the protein level in three different cohorts of patients with thyroid carcinoma,"reports first author Selmansberger.
The research paper was prepared at the Helmholtz Zentrum München in cooperation with the Institute of Radiation Protection and the Analytical Pathology Research Unit.
Radiation marker CLIP2 allows distinction of cancer cause and risk assessment"CLIP2 serves as a radiation marker
and allows us to distinguish between radiation-induced and sporadic thyroid carcinomas, "adds study leader Heß.
In their investigations, the scientists developed a standardized method to determine the CLIP2 biomarker status."This biomarker allows us both to draw conclusions about the mechanisms involved in the development of such tumours
and to evaluate the risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to high level radiation, for instance, following a radiation accident,"reports Heß.
The Helmholtz Zentrum München focuses its work in health research on major widespread diseases. In addition to diabetes and lung diseases, this also includes cancer.
The objective of the Helmholtz Zentrum München is the rapid further development of the results of basic research
in order to provide benefits for society.**CAP-GLY domain containing linker protein 2. The exact function of CLIP2 in the carcinogenesis of thyroid carcinoma is unknown.
Reconstruction of the CLIP2 gene regulatory network suggests, however, that CLIP2 is involved in fundamental carcinogenic processes
and that it consequently contributes to tumour development v
#Non-coding half of human genome unlocked with novel sequencing technique An obscure swatch of human DNA once thought to be nothing more than biological trash may actually offer a treasure trove of insight into complex genetic-related diseases such as cancer
and diabetes thanks to a novel sequencing technique developed by biologists at Texas A&m University.
The game-changing discovery was part of a study led by Texas A&m biology doctoral candidate John C. Aldrich
and Dr. Keith A. Maggert an associate professor in the Department of biology to measure variation in heterochromatin.
This mysterious tightly packed section of the vast non-coding section of the human genome widely dismissed by geneticists as junk previously was thought by scientists to have no discernable function at all.
In the course of his otherwise routine analysis of DNA in fruit flies Aldrich was able to monitor dynamics of the heterochromatic sequence by modifying a technique called quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) a process used to amplify specific DNA sequences from a relatively small amount
of starting material. He then added a fluorescent dye allowing him to monitor the fruit-fly DNA changes
and that mutations which could affect other parts of the genome are capable of occurring.
We know that there is hidden variation there like disease proclivities or things that are evolutionarily important
This work opens up the other non-coding half of the genome. Maggert explains that chromosomes are located in the nuclei of all human cells
and the DNA material in these chromosomes is made up of coding and non-coding regions.
The coding regions known as genes contain the information necessary for a cell to make proteins
but it costs tens of thousands of dollars Aldrich said. This enables us to answer a very specific question right here in the lab. The uncharted genome sequences have been a point of contention in scientific circles for more than a decade according to Maggert a Texas A&m faculty member since 2004.
It had long been believed that the human genome--the blueprint for humanity individually and as a whole--would be packed with complex genes with the potential to answer some of the most pressing questions in medical biology.
When human DNA was sequenced finally with the completion of the Human genome Project in 2003 he says that perception changed.
Based on those initial reports researchers determined that only two percent of the genome (about 21000 genes) represented coding DNA.
Since then numerous other studies have emerged debating the functionality or lack thereof of non-coding so-called junk DNA.
Now thanks to Aldrich's and Maggert's investigation of heterochromatin the groundwork has been laid to study the rest of the genome.
Once all of it is understood scientists may finally find the root causes and possibly treatments for many genetic ailments.
There is so much talk about understanding the connection between genetics and disease and finding personalized therapies Maggert said.
However this topic is incomplete unless biologists can look at the entire genome. We still can't--yet
--but at least now we're a step closer. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Texas A&m University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#New device for heart failure safely improves heart function, quality of life, study shows A new implantable device to control heart failure is showing promising results in the first trial to determine safety and effectiveness in patients according to lead researcher Dr. William Abraham of The Ohio State university Wexner
Medical center. Results of the study are published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology Heart failure.
Heart failure is one of the fastest growing forms of heart disease and it's one of the most common reasons people are hospitalized said Abraham director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Ohio State's Wexner Medical center.
The optimal drug therapies we have today often aren't enough to manage this disease for some patients
so we are always looking for new types of therapies. Abraham and other cardiovascular researchers at seven U s. centers examined an extra-aortic counterpulsation system called C-Pulse made by Sunshine Heart Inc. It's a cuff that wraps around the aorta
and syncs with the patient's heartbeat rapidly inflating and deflating a small balloon to help squeeze blood through the aorta to circulate throughout the body.
It's powered through a wire that exits the abdomen and connects to an external driver worn by the patient.
The driver can be plugged in or battery-powered. In the pilot study 20 patients with New york Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or ambulatory functional class IV heart failure were implanted with the device.
Patients were evaluated at six months and one year. At both times 16 of the patients showed significant improvements in NYHA functional class.
At the one year mark three of the patients had mild or no symptoms of heart failure.
They went from class III or IV down to a functional class I effectively reversing their heart failure Abraham said.
Additionally patients were able to walk an average 100 feet farther during standardized measures and average quality of life scores improved nearly 30 points.
Drug and device therapies that are currently available for heart failure improve that same quality of life score by only five or 10 points.
So this is truly a significant improvement Abraham said. The most common adverse effect during the trial was infection of the exit site experienced by 8 out of 20 participants.
Researchers noted that stricter guidelines for exit site management wound care and antibiotic therapy could reduce that risk in future studies.
There were no hospitalizations among the participants for stroke thrombosis sepsis or bleeding which often occurs in patients using left ventricular assist devices (LVADS).
The researchers said this is due to the device remaining outside the bloodstream. Another important difference is the C-Pulse device can be turned temporarily off
and disconnected allowing patients some conveniences that an LVAD doesn't permit. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Ohio State university Wexner Medical center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#New technique allows scientists to find rare stem cells within bone marrow Deep within the bone marrow resides a type of cells known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCS.
These immature cells can differentiate into cells that produce bone cartilage fat or muscle--a trait that scientists have tried to exploit for tissue repair.
In a new study that should make it easier to develop such stem-cell-based therapies a team of researchers from MIT
and why stem-cell treatments now in clinical trials are not as effective as they could be says Krystyn Van Vliet an MIT associate professor of materials science and engineering
and biological engineering and a senior author of the paper which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.
and calling stem cells are producing a beneficial therapeutic outcome but many of the cells that you're putting in are not Van Vliet says.
Our approach provides a way to purify or highly enrich for the stem cells in that population.
You can now find the needles in the haystack and use them for human therapy.
Lead authors of the paper are W c. Lee a former graduate student at the National University of Singapore and SMART and Hui Shi a former SMART postdoc.
Other authors are Jongyoon Han an MIT professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering SMART researchers Zhiyong Poon L. M. Nyan and Tanwi Kaushik and National University of Singapore
faculty members G. V. Shivashankar J. K. Y. Chan and C. T. Lim. Physical markersmscs make up only a small percentage of cells in the bone marrow.
To test this hypothesis the researchers used a device Han had developed previously to capture circulating tumor cells based on their size.
but you also can't use fewer than these three Van Vliet says. We now have a triplet of characteristics that identifies populations of cells that are going to be multipotent
what is known already about stem cells Van Vliet says. Compared with cells that have committed already to their final fate immature cells have genetic material that moves around inside the nucleus producing more fluctuations of the nuclear cell membrane.
Stem cells also have a less rigid cytoskeletal structure than those of highly differentiated cells at least
and bone injuries while cells identified as osteogenic stromal cells were able to repair bone but not muscle.
and purification of bone marrow-derived stem cells for tissue repair in human patients suffering from a range of tissue-degenerative diseases The team is now working on high-speed methods for separating MSCS.
Creating more pure populations of such cells should lead to more effective stem-cell treatments for tissue injuries Van Vliet says.
Van Vliet and Poon also hope to begin a clinical trial of the osteogenic cells isolated in this study
which could prove useful for treating bone injuries. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Massachusetts institute of technology.
#How rabies hijacks neurons to attack brain Rabies causes acute inflammation of the brain, producing psychosis and violent aggression.
is always deadly for those unable to obtain vaccines in time. Some 55,000 people die from rabies every year.
For the first time, Tel aviv University scientists have discovered the exact mechanism this killer virus uses to efficiently enter the central nervous system,
where it erupts in a toxic explosion of symptoms. The study, published in PLOS Pathogens,
was conducted by Dr. Eran Perlson and Shani Gluska of TAU's Sackler Faculty of medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience,
in collaboration with the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Germany.""Rabies not only hijacks the nervous system's machinery, it also manipulates that machinery to move faster,
"said Dr. Perlson.""We have shown that rabies enters a neuron in the peripheral nervous system by binding to a nerve growth factor receptor, responsible for the health of neurons, called p75.
The difference is that its transport is very fast, even faster than that of its endogenous ligand, the small molecules that travel regularly along the neuron and keep the neuron healthy."
and when disrupted it can lead to neurodegenerative diseases, "said Dr. Perlson.""Understanding how an organism such as rabies manipulates this machinery may help us in the future to either restore the process
or even to manipulate it to our own therapeutic needs.""Hijacking the hijacker"A tempting premise is to use this same machinery to introduce drugs or genes into the nervous system,"Dr. Perlson added.
By shedding light on how the virus hijacks the transport system in nerve cells to reach its target organ with maximal speed and efficiency,
the researchers hope their findings will allow scientists to control the neuronal transport machinery to treat rabies and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Disruptions of the neuron train system also contribute to neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS.
According to Dr. Perlson,"An improved understanding of how the neuron train works could lead to new treatments for these disorders as well
#An innovative way to increase flower, seed and fruit production A scientist from UPM has developed a method to enhance crop yield by the contact of roots aerial parts or even the substratum of the plant fungus'Colletotrichum tofieldiae'.
'A new method developed at the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP UPM-INIA) has shown that by the contact of a plant with a strain of the Colletotrichum tofieldiae microorganism previously isolated this plant can increase the number size
and to lower environmental impact since this fertilizing system represents an alternative to the mineral fertilizers used so far.
Within the agriculture sector the Colletotrichum fungi are well known because they have a large amount of crop pathogen.
However this species has other subspecies that does not harm their host plants and they actually have many benefits.
This method can help increase crop yields its application is similar to use a fertilizer but having better results
and without the contamination issues than can produce the mineral fertilizers. Thus its application in agriculture horticulture forestry plants ornamental plants or any other plant with commercial interest would represent a significant environmental and economic saving.
This method was patented (P201331839-A method to increase the production of flower seed and fruit of plants:
pageac=patente. jsp&idpatente=812) and there is an exclusive commercial patent license agreement with Plant Response Biotech S l. a spin-off company from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid created in 2008 that focuses its work on the development
How memories form People who wish to know how memory works are forced to take a glimpse into the brain.
which facilitates the reconstruction of the brain's anatomic data as a 3d model on the computer.
This has been shown in two new studies carried out by Lund University in Sweden. Both research studies are about the same discovery made for two different viruses namely that viruses can convert their DNA to liquid form at the moment of infection.
Thanks to this conversion the virus can more easily transfer its DNA into the cells of its victim
Our results explain the mechanism behind herpes infection by showing how the DNA of the virus enters the cell said Alex Evilevitch a researcher in biochemistry and biophysics at Lund University and Carnegie mellon University.
Evilevitch hopes that the research findings will lead to a new type of medicine that targets the phase transition for virus DNA
which could then reduce the infection capability and limit the spread of the virus. A drug of this type affects the physical properties of the virus's DNA
which means that the drug can resist the virus's mutations said Alex Evilevitch. The second study that Evilevitch and his colleagues have published recently is about bacteriophages
in order to facilitate infection indicates that this could be a general mechanism found in many types of virus. In previous studies Alex Evilevitch
and his colleagues have succeeded in measuring the DNA pressure inside the virus that provides the driving force for infection.
This high pressure is generated by very tightly packed DNA inside the virus. The pressure serves as a trigger that enables the virus to eject its DNA into a cell in the host organism.
It was this discovery that led to the two present studies which were published recently in Nature Chemical Biology and PNAS.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Lund University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference n
#Lego-like modular components make building 3-D labs-on-a-chip a snap Thanks to new LEGO-like components developed by researchers at the USC Viterbi School of engineering it is now possible
to build a 3-D microfluidic system quickly and cheaply by simply snapping together small modules by hand.
and biotechnology to precisely manipulate small volumes of fluids for use in applications such as enzymatic or DNA analysis pathogen detection clinical diagnostic testing and synthetic chemistry.
Traditionally microfluidic devices are built in a cleanroom on a two-dimensional surface using the same technology developed to produce integrated circuits for the electronics industry.
and testing a new microfluidics system can take a lot of time and money. Building a single device can often require multiple iterations each
of which can take up to two weeks and several thousand dollars to manufacture. And the more complex the system the higher the number of iterations needed.
You test your device and it never works the first time said Krisna Bhargava materials science graduate student at the USC Viterbi School of engineering.
If you've grown up to be an engineer or scientist you've probably been influenced by LEGO at some point in your childhood.
and money Bhargava set out simplify the construction process. First he identified the primitive elements commonly used in microfluidic systems much like how circuitry is broken down in electrical engineering.
Basic microfluidic functions would be separated into standardized modular components not an entirely revolutionary concept. But then he abandoned the two-dimensional method of building microfluidic devices altogether.
The founders of the microfluidics field took the same approach as the semiconductor industry: to try to pack in as much integrated structure as possible into a single chip explained Bhargava.
In electronics this is important because a high density of transistors has many direct and indirect benefits for computation and signal processing.
In microfluidics our concerns are not with bits and symbolic representations but rather with the way fluidics are routed combined mixed and analyzed;
there's no need to stick with continuing to integrate more and more complex devices. Borrowing an approach from the electronics industry
which uses prototype boards to build circuits Bhargava conceived of three-dimensional modular components that encapsulated the common elements of microfluidic systems as well as a connector that could join the separate components together.
and materials science professor Noah Malmstadt and biomedical engineering graduate student Bryant Thompson designed computer models for eight modular fluidic and instrumentation components (MFICS pronounced em-fix) that would each perform a simple operation.
and a component that contains an integrated optical sensor for measuring the size of small droplets.
The team attributes much of the success in the fabrication stage to recent advancements in high-resolution 3-D printing.
Such work lies at the heart of the convergence of science and engineering at USC where researchers from both fields collaborate to create the tools that make scientific breakthroughs possible.
In the paper the researchers also described how off-the-shelf sensors or other integrated components can be incorporated easily into systems built from MFICS
You pull out everything you think is going to work you stick it together and you test it said Bhargava.
For the past 20 years microfluidics has been considered a boon for fields like biotechnology and engineering but has yet to be standardized
The technology often dubbed Lab-on-Chip has the potential to accelerate the pace of development
MFICS will vastly increase the productivity of a single grad student postdoc or lab tech by enabling them to build their own instruments right in the lab
and money said Malmstadt. I think of it as a technological approach to the STEM shortage--make each researcher more powerful by enabling them to do their own automation without having to be an expert in mircrofabrication
or having the capability to design complex integrated devices. The team envisions an open community where designs can be shared via an open-source database.
They have plans to develop more components and hope that other researchers will begin using MFICS for their own experiments as well as contribute to the development of new components
and systems that will speed help advancements in the microfluidic research community. People have done great things with microfluidics technology
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Southern California. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Nanoribbon film keeps glass ice-free Rice university scientists who created a deicing film for radar domes have refined now the technology to work as a transparent coating for glass.
The new work by Rice chemist James Tour and his colleagues could keep glass surfaces from windshields to skyscrapers free of ice
and fog while retaining their transparency to radio frequencies (RF). The technology was introduced this month in the American Chemical Society journal Applied materials and Interfaces.
atom-thick strips of carbon created by splitting nanotubes, a process also invented by the Tour lab
and conduct both heat and electricity. This scanning electron microscope image shows the network of conductive nanoribbons in Rice university's high-density graphene nanoribbon film.
Credit: A o. Raji/Rice university Last year the Rice group created films of overlapping nanoribbons and polyurethane paint to melt ice on sensitive military radar domes,
which need to be kept clear of ice to keep them at peak performance. The material would replace a bulky and energy-hungry metal oxide framework.
The graphene-infused paint worked well, Tour said, but where it was thickest, it would break down
when exposed to high-powered radio signals.""At extremely high RF, the thicker portions were absorbing the signal,
"he said.""That caused degradation of the film. Those spots got so hot that they burned up."
The new films are between 50 and 200 nanometers thick--a human hair is about 50,000 nanometers thick
but can be used to coat glass and plastic as well as radar domes and antennas. This scanning electron microscope image shows a closeup of the nanoribbon network in Rice university's high-density graphene nanoribbon film.
In the previous process the nanoribbons were mixed with polyurethane, but testing showed the graphene nanoribbons themselves formed an active network when applied directly to a surface.
They were coated subsequently with a thin layer of polyurethane for protection. Samples were spread onto glass slides that were iced then.
When voltage was applied to either side of the slide, the ice melted within minutes even
when kept in a minus-20-Degree celsius environment, the researchers reported.""One can now think of using these films in automobile glass as an invisible deicer,
and even in skyscrapers,"Tour said.""Glass skyscrapers could be kept free of fog and ice, but also be transparent to radio frequencies.
It's really frustrating these days to find yourself in a building where your cellphone doesn't work.
This could help alleviate that problem.""Tour noted future generations of long-range Wi-fi may also benefit."
"It's going to be important, as Wi-fi becomes more ubiquitous, especially in cities. Signals can't get through anything that's metallic in nature,
but these layers are so thin they won't have any trouble penetrating.""He said nanoribbon films also open a path toward embedding electronic circuits in glass that are both optically and RF transparent.
Rice graduate student Abdul-Rahman Raji is lead author of the paper. Co-authors are Rice graduate student Errol Samuel and researcher Sydney Salters, a student at Second Baptist School, Houston;
Rice alumnus Yu Zhu, now an assistant professor at the University of Akron, Ohio; and Vladimir Volman, an engineer at Lockheed martin. Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of computer science.
He is a member of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.
The Lockheed martin Aerospace Co. through the LANCER IV Program, the Office of Naval Research's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative and the Air force Office of Scientific research supported the research h
#Artificial membranes on silicon Artificial membranes mimicking those found in living organisms have many potential applications ranging from detecting bacterial contaminants in food to toxic pollution in the environment to dangerous diseases in people.
Now a group of scientists in Chile has developed a way to create these delicate ultra-thin constructs through a dry process by evaporating two commercial off-the-shelf chemicals onto silicon surfaces.
Described in The Journal of Chemical Physics from AIP Publishing this is the first time anyone has made ever an artificial membrane without mixing liquid solvents together.
And because the new process creates membranes on silicon surfaces it is a significant step toward creating bio-silicon interfaces where biological sensor molecules can be printed onto cheap silicon chip holding integrated electronic circuits.
Our idea is to create a biosensor that can transmit electrical signals through the membrane said María José Retamal a Ph d. student at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and first author of the paper.
Membranes for Technology as for Lifethe importance of lipid membranes to life is hard to overstate.
and define walls between neighboring cells--a functional compartmentalization that serves many physiological processes protecting genetic material regulating
because they offer the possibility of containing membrane proteins--biological molecules that could be used for detecting toxins diseases and many other biosensing applications.
More work is needed to standardize the process by which proteins are to be inserted in the membranes to define the mechanism by which an electrical signal would be transmitted
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