#Biologists Discover New Mechanism of Cell division Cell division is fundamental to all life forms. Human body develops from a single cell that divides billions of times to generate all tissue types,
and it was unknown until now that chromosomes could play an active role in cell division. In animal cells, division involves mitosis,
the separation of chromosomes followed by splitting of the cell into two new daughter cells by cytokinesis. ivision is a complex and robust process that is generally performed flawlessly,
it can be a source for triggering cancer, for example, said study co-author Dr Gilles Hickson from the University of Montreal, Canada.
Working with fruit fly cells, Dr Hickson and co-authors discovered that chromosomes emit signals that influence the cortex of the cell to reinforce microtubule action.
One of the key signals involved that they identified acts via an enzyme complex a phosphatase known as Sds22-PP1
This is what makes fruit flies such a powerful system for helping us to understand human biology, Dr Hickson said. hen chromosomes are segregated,
they approach the membrane at the poles of the cell, and thanks to this enzyme actions, this contributes to the softening of the polar membrane,
and to certain diseases, Dr Hickson said. In fact, all cancers are characterized by unchecked cell division, and the underpinning processes are potential targets for therapeutic interventions that prevent cancer onset
and spread. ut before we get there, we must continue to expand our knowledge about the basic processes
and signals involved in normal cell division to understand how they can go awry, or how they can be exploited.
this could help the rational design of more specific therapies to inhibit the division of cancer cells,
and engineers, led by Dr Kyu-Jin Cho of Seoul National University in Korea, has created an insect-like robot that can jump on water surfaces.
the scientists found that the maximum force of the water striderslegs is always just below the maximum force that water surface tension can withstand.
They used a torque reversal catapult mechanism that generates a small initial torque and gradually increases but that never exceeds the surface tension force of water.
As well, the high-speed cameras reveal that the water strider sweeps its legs inward in order to maximize the time the legs can push against the surface of the water,
To reproduce this feat in a surface tension-dominant jumping robot, we elucidated the hydrodynamics involved
#Clinical Trial Demonstrates Noninvasive Expulsion Of Kidney stones At the 2015 American Urological Association annual meeting in New orleans,
Harper and colleagues in the Department of Urology and Applied Physics laboratory at the University of Washington have invented a new way to facilitate kidney stone passage
or kidney stone disease, than develop diabetes or heart disease. Kidney stones cause severe pain, obstruction of the urinary tract,
and loss of worker productivity. The use of ultrasound technology to move kidney stones is a major advance with broad clinical utility for people On earth."
"This clinical trial has been advanced with funding from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI.""During space flight, microgravity, dehydration,
and altered bone metabolism collectively increase the likelihood of an astronaut developing a kidney stone, "said Jeffrey P. Sutton, M d.,Ph d.,NSBRI's President, CEO and Institute Director.
Noninvasive approaches to move and ultimately expel kidney stones from the body provide medical capabilities needed by NASA and other international space agencies.
downstream complications such as infection and sepsis that could end space missions may be avoided d
#Telomerase Cancer cell Mutation Mystery Solved More than 500,000 people in the United states die each year of cancer-related causes
and a new study has identified the mechanism behind one of the most common mutations that help cancer cells replicate limitlessly.
Approximately 85 percent of cancer cells obtain their limitless replicative potential through the reactivation of a specific protein called telomerase (TERT.
Recent cancer research has shown that highly recurrent mutations in the promoter of the TERT gene are the most common genetic mutations in many cancers,
including adult glioblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. TERT stabilizes chromosomes by elongating the protective element at the end of each chromosome in a cell.
Scientists have discovered that cells harboring these mutations aberrantly increase TERT expression, effectively making them immortal.
Researchers have uncovered the mechanisms by which these common mutations result in elevated TERT expression by using computational and experimental analyses to determine that the mechanism of increased TERT expression in tumor tissue relies on a specific transcription factor-a protein that binds specific DNA sequences
and regulates how its target genes are expressed-that selectively binds the mutated sequences. The TERT mutations act as a new binding site for the transcription factor that controls TERT expression.
The newly identified transcription factor does not recognize the normal TERT promoter sequence, and thus, does not regulate TERT in healthy tissue.
The team's work further showed that the same transcription factor recognizes and binds the mutant TERT promoter in tumor cells from four different cancer types,
underscoring that this is a common mechanism of TERT reactivation. The identified transcription factor and its regulators have great potential for the development of new precision therapeutic interventions in cancers that harbor the TERT mutations.
A treatment that would inhibit TERT in a targeted cancer-cell-specific manner would bypass the toxicities associated with current treatments that inadvertently also target TERT in normal healthy cells s
#Robot Tongue Identifies The Correct Beer Every Time machines mimicking a human's sense of taste are going on a beer-tasting binge.
and buttons and computers,"said María Luz Rodríguez-Méndez, a professor of inorganic chemistry at University of Valladolid in Spain."
A variety of screen-printed sensors"taste"electrochemical compounds in the beer to predict the brews'color index and alcoholic strength 76 percent and 86 percent of the time.
and nose development meant to improve quality control in the food industry. One potential application of electronic tongues is to help the industry produce their signature drinks more efficiently,
a professor of chemistry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Anheuser-busch, for example, probably wants to make sure that every bottle of Bud Light tastes the same before it hits grocery and liquor store coolers.
This means that one expert must always test the beer before it leaves the factory.""But your experts don't work at 3 a m
. and they don't work on Sunday, "said del Valle. Electronic sensors could share a supporting role by continuing to check the beer
while the brewmasters are sleeping.""Humans are said still better Méndez, co-author of the study published last month in the Journal of Food engineering."
"At least for now, they are far from being replaced.""Which is why the researchers designed the device to function like the human taste system,
said Méndez. When we eat, sensors nestled in the taste buds react to molecules in the food
and send the appropriate signals to the brain: sweet, savory, bitter and so on. The electrochemical patterns of those signals register in the brain as flavors.
All receptors respond every time we take a bite we don't have specific sensors for different tastes."
and sensors so your brain learns that this taste is from a banana, this taste is explained from coffee
The screen-printed electrodes, made by the company Dropsens, have an array of sensors that send signals to software the"brain"that analyzes the response patterns.
The device is portable about the size of two cigarette packs, said Méndez. There are four electrodes,
each made from a different material. These detect polyphenols, antioxidants produced by the grains and ingredients that ferment into beer, such as barley and hops.
Phenols give beer its bitter taste, determine its golden color and conduct electricity. The electronic tongue distinguishes between lagers by detecting the different concentrations of polyphenols.
A beer is classified as a lager based on the type of yeast and a low fermentation temperature.
There are a variety of lager styles depending on certain characteristics, such as color and alcohol content.
The researchers taught the software to recognize the signal patterns for each of the four lager styles.
the computer can then compare new beer samples against the established, learned signal patterns. They tested each of the 25 beer samples seven times.
Many existing tongues using an array of sensors only get one data point for each sensor,
"But we have curves for each sensor.""The nonspecific electrodes are responsible for their wealth of data.
The phenols and electrodes send electrochemical signals to the computer as they interact. The researchers immerse the electrodes in beer
and track the electrochemical signals as they turn up the voltage, said Méndez. Each sensor makes distinct electrical patterns
because each is made from a different material. After analyzing the data with two pattern-recognition models,
the electronic tongue was able to place the commercial beer sample into the correct lager category with 100 percent accuracy.
It also predicted the beer's color with 76 percent accuracy and its alcohol content with 84 percent accuracy."
"Their sensors generate one vector of, say, 100 numbers, "said del Valle. He published a paper last year describing his lab's electronic tongue that used an array of specific electrodes,
which correctly identified between lager styles 82 percent of the time.""We use a larger number of sensors related to ions
but got poorer information. These researchers use less sensors, but is richer in information they generate,
"said del Valle. He was involved not in the study. The next steps for Méndez and her team will be modifying the commercial screen-printed electrodes with nanoparticles to make the sensors respond more clearly,
she said.""These systems are complicated and though they are improving little by little they are still very far from human senses,
#Could There Be An Asthma Cure Within Five Years? A recent study has revealed a breakthrough in asthma research might be on the horizon.
Following extensive research carried out across a number of institutions, it has been discovered that protein molecules-known as calcium-sensing receptors-have a vital role in asthma.
Although they have not previously been used to treat asthma, there is already medication available (calcilytics) that could be used to block these proteins.
In asthmatics, the immune system essentially misidentifies harmless substances, such as pollen for example, as a threat. The airways then restrict in an attempt to keep the armfulsubstances from entering the lungs leading to the body facing constricted airways and
Using mouse models and human airway tissue taken from both asthmatic and non-asthmatic people,
Based on the study, the researchers concluded that this is one of the main reasons for the excessive inflammatory responses that occur in people with asthma.
This discovery has led the researchers to believe that new treatment options for asthma could be found some time in the near future.
or combination of treatments, that will help people to deal with asthma once and for all. When approached by our research team,
the medical experts of a UK healthcare provider expressed a sincere appreciation of the work carried out by researchers,
when talking about an asthma cure. hilst this study offers hope to over 5%of asthma sufferers who do not respond to any of the treatments currently available,
we would advise people to await the results of human trials before making claims of a potential cure.
Director of research and Policy at Asthma UK, was optimistic about the future potential this study has:
to tackle the underlying causes of asthma symptoms. 5%of people with asthma don respond to current treatments so research breakthroughs could be life changing for hundreds of thousands of people.
whether the use of calcilytics is a viable treatment method for asthma. There are a number of areas that large-scale clinical trials could help clear up.
Also, whilst the asthma sufferers who took part in this study had increased an number of receptors,
and whether the same is true for all people with asthma. However, the study does raise some hope of new asthma treatments in the future,
something that should give hope to millions of asthma sufferers worldwide. The study was published by researchers from Cardiff University, The Open university, the University of Manchester, the University of California
the San francisco School of medicine and King College, London. It was funded by Asthma UK, the Cardiff Partnership Fund, Marie Curie Initial Training Network, the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council and the US National institutes of health t
#Microscopic Sonic Screwdriver Invented A team of engineers have created tiny acoustic vortices and used them to grip
and spin microscopic particles suspended in water. The research by academics from the University of Bristol's Department of Mechanical engineering and Northwestern Polytechnical University in China, is published in Physical Review Letters.
The researchers have shown that acoustic vortices act like tornados of sound, causing microparticles to rotate
and drawing them to the vortex core. Like a tornado, what happens to the particles depends strongly on their size.
Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics in the Department of Mechanical engineering and one of the authors of the study
said:""We have shown now that these vortices can rotate microparticles, which opens up potential applications such as the creation of microscopic centrifuges for biological cell sorting or small-scale, low-power water purification."
"If the large-scale acoustic vortex devices were thought of as sonic screwdrivers, we have invented the watchmakers sonic screwdriver."
"The research team used a number of tiny ultrasonic loudspeakers arranged in a circle to create the swirling sound waves.
They found that when a mixture of small microparticles (less than 1 micron) and water were introduced they rotated slowly about the vortex core.
However, larger microparticles (household flour) were drawn into the core and were seen to spin at high speeds
or become stuck in a series of circular rings due to acoustic radiation forces. Dr Zhenyu Hong, of the Department of Applied Physics at Northwestern Polytechnical University in China, added:"
"Previously researchers have shown that much larger objects, centimetres in scale, could be rotated with acoustic vortices, proving that they carry rotational momentum."'
First Model Of Regeneration Discovered By Nonhuman Intelligence An artificial intelligence system has for the first time reverse-engineered the regeneration mechanism of planaria, small worms that can regrow body parts.
In order to bioengineer complex organs, scientists need to understand the mechanisms by which those shapes are produced normally by the living organism.
shape and orientation, said the paper's senior author, Michael Levin, Ph d.,Vannevar bush professor of biology and director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental biology.
An artificial intelligence system has reverse-engineered the regeneration mechanism of planaria. Credit: Daniel Lobo/Michael Levin-Tufts University"Most regenerative models today derived from genetic experiments are arrow diagrams,
showing which gene regulates which other gene. That's fine, but it doesn't tell you what the ultimate shape will be.
in order to know what triggers could be applied to such a system to cause regeneration of particular components,
However, no such tools yet exist for mining the fast-growing mountain of published experimental data in regeneration
and developmental biology, said the paper's first author, Daniel Lobo, Ph d, . postdoctoral fellow in the Levin lab. To address this challenge,
Lobo and Levin developed an algorithm that would use evolutionary computation to produce regulatory networks able to"evolve"to accurately predict the results of published laboratory experiments that the researchers entered into a database."
so that the head-tail patterning outcomes of simulated experiments would match the published data, "Lobo said.
The algorithm compared the resulting shape from the simulation with real published data in the database.
gradually the new networks could explain more experiments in the database comprising most of the known planarian experimental literature regarding head vs. tail regeneration.
First Regenerative Model Discovered by Artificial intelligence The researchers ultimately applied the algorithm to a combined experimental dataset of 16 key planarian regeneration experiments to determine
After 42 hours, the algorithm returned the discovered regulatory network, which correctly predicted all 16 experiments in the dataset.
and is the first regenerative model discovered by artificial intelligence, "said Levin. Lobo and Levin are trained both in computer science
and bring an unusual perspective to the field of developmental biology. Levin majored in computer science and biology at Tufts before earning his Ph d. in genetics.
Lobo earned a Ph d. in the field before joining the Levin lab. The paper represents a successful application of the growing field of"robot science
"-which Levin says can help human researchers by doing much more than crunch enormous datasets quickly."
"While the artificial intelligence in this project did have to do a whole lot of computations, the outcome is a theory of
what the worm is doing, and coming up with theories of what's going on in nature is pretty much the most creative, intuitive aspect of the scientist's job,
All this suggests to me that artificial intelligence can help with every aspect of science, not only data mining but also inference of meaning of the data."
"Citation: Lobo D, Levin M (2015) Inferring Regulatory Networks from Experimental Morphological Phenotypes: A Computational Method Reverse-Engineers Planarian Regeneration.
This work was supported with funding from the National Science Foundation grant EF-1124651, National institutes of health grant GM078484, USAMRMC grant W81xwh-10-2-0058,
Computation used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by NSF grant OCI-1053575,
and a cluster computer awarded by Silicon Mechanics c
#Targeted Treatment For Arthritis, Thanks To Stem Cell Discovery Researchers have identified individual stem cells that can regenerate tissue, cartilage and bone.
The stem cells are mixed within human bone marrow stromal cells (MSCS) but are similar in appearance and previously,
or joint tissue opening the way for improved treatment for arthritis. A team at the University of York isolated a rare subset of stem cells in bone marrow that
while having no capability for tissue repair appeared to have a prominent role in immune function.
said, hile stem cell therapy is an exciting new development for the treatment for osteoarthritis,
It will help in the search to develop more targeted therapies for arthritis patients. o-Lead author Dr. James Fox said,
orking with colleagues across the Arthritis Research UK Tissue Engineering Centre will help to bring our discovery closer to patient treatment. irector of research at the charity Arthritis Research UK Dr Stephen
and disability caused by osteoarthritis. We are fighting to find better treatments and one day, a cure.
takes us a step closer to our aim of developing an injectable, safe, stem cell therapy for people with osteoarthritis. pcoming in Stem Cell Reports
Way To Disrupt Brain tumor Stem Cells Some brain tumors are notoriously difficult to treat. Whether surgically removed, zapped by radiation
or infiltrated by chemotherapy drugs, they find a way to return. The ability of many brain tumors to regenerate can be traced to cancer stem cells that evade treatment and spur the growth of new tumor cells.
But some brain tumor stem cells may have an Achilles'heel, scientists have found. The cancer stem cells'remarkable abilities have to be maintained,
and researchers at Washington University School of medicine in St louis have identified a key player in that maintenance process.
When the process is disrupted they found, so is the spread of cancer.""This discovery may help us attack the root of some of the deadliest brain tumors,
"said senior author Albert H. Kim, MD, Phd, assistant professor of neurological surgery.""A successful brain cancer treatment will very likely require blocking the tumor stem cells'ability to survive
and replenish themselves. Kim studies glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer that each year strikes about 18,000 people in the United states. The average length of survival after diagnosis is 15 months,
and only 30 percent of patients survive more than two years. Scientists have realized in recent years that some cancer cells in glioblastomas
and other tumors are more resistant to treatment than others. Those same, more defiant cells also are much better at reestablishing cancer after treatment."
"These tumor stem cells are really the kingpins of cancers--the cells that direct and drive much of the harm done by tumors,
"said Kim, who treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of medicine.
Kim and his colleagues identified a protein, known as SOX2, that is active in brain tumor stem cells and in healthy stem cells in other parts of the body.
The researchers found that the tumor stem cells'ability to make SOX2 could be turned up or down via another protein, CDC20.
Increasing SOX2 by boosting levels of CDC20 also increased a tumor's ability to grow once transplanted into mice.
Eliminating CDC20 meanwhile, left tumor stem cells unable to make SOX2, reducing the tumor stem cells'ability to form tumors."
"The rate of growth in some tumors lacking CDC20 dropped by 95 percent compared with tumors with more typical levels of CDC20,
"Kim said. When the scientists analyzed human tumor samples, they found that a subset of patients with glioblastomas that had the highest CDC20 levels also had the shortest periods of survival after diagnosis. Kim's lab is exploring methods to block CDC20 in brain tumors,
including RNA interference, an approach in which the production of specific proteins is blocked. That general approach is in clinical trials as a therapy for other cancers, viral infections and other illnesses.
Citation: Mao DD, Gujar AD, Mahlokozera T, Chen I, Pan Y, Luo J, Brost T, Thompson EA, Turski A, Leuthardt EC, Dunn GP
, Chicoine MR, Rich KM, Dowling JL, Zipfel GJ, Dacey RG, Achilefu S, Tran DD, Yano H, Kim AH.
A CDC20-APC/SOX@signaling axis regulates human glioblastoma stem-like cells. Cell Reports, online June 11, 2015.
This research was supported by the National institutes of health (NIH), grants K08ns08110, K01ag033724 and P50ca094056; the American Cancer Society;
Voices Against Brain Cancer; the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation; the Concern Foundation; and the Duesenberg Research Fund d
#Metal-Organic Framework Compounds: Solar cell Made Of Highly Ordered Molecular Frameworks Researchers have developed a functioning organic solar cell consisting of a single component has been produced on the basis of metal-organic framework compounds (MOFS.
The material is highly elastic and might also be used for the flexible coating of clothes and deformable components.
Metal-organic frameworks, briefly called MOFS, consist of two basic elements, metal node points and organic molecules,
which are assembled to form microporous, crystalline materials. For about a decade, MOFS have been attracting considerable interest of researchers,
because their functionality can be adjusted by varying the components. e have opened the door to a new room,
says Professor Christof Wöll, Director of KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG). his new application of metal-organic framework compounds is the beginning only.
Computations made by the group of Professor Thomas Heine from Jacobs University Bremen, which is involved also in the project,
suggest that the excellent properties of the solar cell result from an additional mechanism the formation of indirect band gaps that plays an important role in photovoltaics.
Nature uses porphyrines as universal molecules e g. in hemoglobin and chlorophyll, where these organic dyes convert light into chemical energy.
The metal-organic solar cell was produced on the basis of this novel porphyrine-MOF. he clou is that we just need a single organic molecule in the solar cell
and take up electric charges. By means of a process developed at KIT, the crystalline frameworks grow in layers on a transparent,
and also allows for the coating of larger plastic carrier surfaces, Wöll says. Thanks to their mechanical properties
MOF thin films of a few hundred nanometers in thickness can be used for flexible solar cells or for the coating of clothing material or deformable components.
While the demand for technical systems converting sunlight into electricity is increasing, organic materials represent a highly interesting alternative to silicon that has to be processed at high costs before it can be used for the photoactive layer of a solar cell.
Citation: Jinxuan Liu, Wencai Zhou, Jianxi Liu, Ian Howard, Goran Kilibarda, Sabine Schlabach, Damien Coupry, Matthew Addicoat, Satoru Yoneda, Yusuke Tsutsui
Currently, diagnosis of Ebola requires a full vial of venous blood to be shipped to a laboratory with a high level of biosafety and staff expertise for testing by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
) This method poses substantial risks to the health care workers responsible for blood collection, transport, and testing,
and efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic in west Africa have been hampered by this slow and complex diagnostic test. aboratory results can sometimes take days to return.
explains Dr Nira Pollock, senior author and Associate Medical Director of the Infectious diseases Diagnostic Laboratory at the Boston Children Hospital. his new test,
and could help us in the fight against Ebola. In this study, the researchers compared the diagnostic accuracy of the new RDT against the benchmark RT-PCR test (altona Diagnostics) being used for clinical diagnosis in the field reference laboratory run by Public health England at Port
Loko in Sierra leone. 106 suspected Ebola patients admitted to two treatment centers in Sierra leone (run by the Ministry of Health
and by standard RT-PCR (performed on plasma in the laboratory). Both RDT (on whole blood) and RT-PCR (on plasma) were performed also on 284 samples in the laboratory.
The RDT detected all confirmed cases of Ebola that were positive by RT-PCR in both point-of-care (28/105 patients)
and infection control by reliably detecting patients well into their illness who are likely to be highly infectious.
enabling staff to focus on those most likely to have Ebola, and reducing the opportunity for infection of non-Ebola uspects
Although the RDT requires refrigeration, this is already available in many health centers in endemic areas,
particularly those that store vaccines and other medical products. Published in The Lancet. This study was funded by a gift from the Abundance Foundation (Stephen Kahn.
Corgenix provided the Reebov Antigen Rapid Test kits O
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