"and refers to its ability to bore through a person's intestines and into the liver and other organs, causing ulcers, internal bleeding and chronic diarrhea.
Doctors have only one antibiotic that can treat people with E. histolytica infections, and they fear the parasite will soon develop resistance to it.
"said Dr. William Petri, an expert on parasitic infections and chief of the Division of Infectious diseases & International Health at the University of Virginia.
But a chance meeting between Petri and a bladder cancer expert, Dr. Dan Theodorescu, who is director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center,
or more effective in killing the cancer. The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites Petri merely substituted E. histolytica for a drug.
"This could be the plan B targeting the human genes that enable the parasite to cause disease,
and that this could have a broad impact on the field of infectious diseases. The finding was published today (Sept. 8) in the journal Scientific Reports.
or water contaminated with its cysts. The ameba passes into the environment via feces and can survive outside the human body for several weeks in this protective cyst form.
E. histolytica infection is endemic in regions with poor sanitation and improving sanitation has been the primary means to stop infections,
said Chelsea Marie, a postdoctoral fellow in Petri's lab and first author on the report.
The sole antibiotic that is effective in killing E. histolytica is metronidazole, which many patients find hard to tolerate, because of its side effects.
represents an entirely new approach in thwarting E. histolytica infection, Marie said. In the lab, Marie reversed the experiment
challenges lie ahead in developing medicine for use in humans, she said.""The challenge with developing drugs that target ion channels"such as potassium channels is that these channels are found all over the body,
and could be targeted specifically to prevent cell death during ameba infection, "she said.""This approach also could be informative for colon cancer chemotherapy,
"What's an ameba have to do with cancer, after all?""Theodorescu said. Tiny & Nasty: Images of Things That Make Us Sick
when blocked, would make cells resistant to the infection. He had the cells ready to go.
#Wirelessly Powered Brain Implant Could Treat Depression A wirelessly powered implant the size of a grain of rice can electrically stimulate the brains of mice as the rodents do
and treat mental health disorders such as depression, according to a new study. The human brain is the most powerful computer known, an extraordinary assembly of living electrical circuits.
Rather, the mouse bodies interact with surrounding magnetic fields, helping focus energy like a lens from the transmitter to the receiver in the implant.
The scientists could power the implant as the mice roamed across a 6. 3-inch-wide (16 centimeters) chamber lined with a magnetic lattice.
which is implicated in animal models of depression and anxiety.""This will open the door to a range of new experiments to better understand
and treat mental health disorders such as depression, "Poon said.""In addition, since there is no wire and no protruding structure coming out of the animals,
it will allow experiments with multiple animals in the same space to better understand social interaction in the treatment of chronic pain and mental disorders, for example."
a biochemist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a statement. To make sure that this supercoiled DNA actually shows up in the body,
"The flying vehicles could be used to deliver materials such as food, water and vaccines to people living in remote parts of the world,
or target the release of medicine locked in acoustically activated drug capsules, said study co-author Bruce Drinkwater,
But for the system to be useful for medical operations, the team would need to miniaturize it to manipulate objects on the micron scale.
Therapy using implanted organic bioelectronicsource: Linköping University i
#First 3d printed Drug Approved by FDA Youl rarely see medication news on the pages of Medgadget,
The specific FDA approval is for SPRITAM (levetiracetam) that used as a therapy for epileptics to help control partial onset seizures, myoclonic seizures,
#3d printed Brain regions Help Neurosurgeons Prepare for Difficult Procedures While neurosurgeons have been able to virtually navigate volumetric images of patientsbrain structures gathered from CT and MRI scans,
difficult procedures within complex anatomy still remains challenging. At Boston Children Hospital, physicians are now using 3d printed replicas of brain regions theyl be working on to practice with before actual surgery.
The researchers studying how the new capability may help in neurosurgery have focused on pediatric patients with cerebrovascular malformations requiring surgical or radiological intervention.
They used high resolution scans to recreate the patientsmalformed blood vessels and nearby anatomy using 3d printed resin.
They then used them to train on in preparation to the surgeries and also compared the models to the anatomy they were copied from,
#Use of Ultrasound to Promote Faster Healing of Wounds Sometimes discoveries in science are not about the development of new medical devices or drugs,
Researchers from University of Sheffield have used now ultrasound to reduce healing times of diabetic wounds by 30%.
%The study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, describes the use of ultrasonic waves to promote wound healing cells called fibroblasts to migrate into the wound through mechanical stimulation.
and delayed wound healing of diabetic and elderly patients. sing ultrasound wakes up the cells
this technique for accelerated wound healing is expected to be in broad clinical use in the next 3-4 years.
Treatment of diabetic and aged mice recruits fibroblasts to the wound bed and reduces healing times by 30,
we discover that the migration defects of fibroblasts from human venous leg ulcer patients can be reversed by ultrasound,
The technology may have significant implication for patients with COPD, cystic fibrosis, and other conditions affecting the lungs by offering the ability for gene therapy to be delivered directly into pulmonary tissue through inhalation.
#Virtual Incision Robot Hopes to Lower Cost of Robotic Surgery (VIDEO) Thanks to Massdevice, we learned of a new company that developed a small surgical robot for performing laparoscopic procedures that may
and offer robotic capability to clinics that don have millions of dollars in discretionary funds.
It intended for surgeries that are performed often in an open fashion that can benefit from robotic laparoscopy, such as colon resections.
#Lab-on-a-Disc Device Detects Urinary tract infections in About an Hour UTIS are a common occurrence in hospitalized patients with catheters,
and can lead to sepsis. Currently, a diagnostic test can take hours to provide results.
This may allow clinicians to quickly screen patients for sepsis and begin antibiotic treatment a full day earlier than is now typically possible c
from learning how the brain works to treating previously unmanageable neurological conditions. So far, the triggering of neurons has been compared pretty dumb to how existing biofeedback devices and many electronic systems work.
and may set the stage for advanced neurological rehabilitation techniques. The so-called ptoclamptechnique involves continuous monitoring of the electrical activity of the neuronal cells excited via optogenetics
#Implantable Electrical Stimulation Therapy for Treating Scoliosis Some scientists believe that in many people scoliosis develops because of the unequal pressure that muscles on the sides of the spinal column tend to exert.
A team of European researchers has developed a special implant designed to actively stimulate muscles near the spinal column to train the weak side to catch up with the strong one.
The implant has a set of electrodes leading to muscles on the weak side of the spine,
though there are no clinical trials that have confirmed this therapy or how to use it properly.
the technology may be a new way of treating scoliosis at an earl stage in a large percentage of the population with the condition n
#New Blood test Predicts Breast cancer Relapse Months In advance (VIDEO) Researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research in London have developed a new blood test,
or a so-called liquid biopsy, that can detect breast cancer relapse months in advance compared to traditional scans.
The technology, published in journal Science Translational Medicine, measures the level of circulating tumor DNA (ctdna),
the DNA that has been shed by circulating tumor cells, in plasma isolated from blood. By measuring the level of genetic mutations in the ctdna,
the test can predict the nature of metastatic disease and can inform doctors about the potential treatments that could be targeted to address the genetic mutations.
It will take at least a few years for this diagnostic technology to reach the market. However, the researchers plan to perform a much larger clinical study next year,
Malaria Diagnosis to Smartphones Researchers at Texas A&m University have developed a novel point-of-care device for field-based diagnosis of malaria using a smartphone.
which is indicative of malarial infection. Despite advances in diagnostic approaches and treatment, malaria remains one of the leading sources of disease and death in developing nations.
The old standardof detection, evaluation of Giemsa-stained blood smears via bright-field microscopy often requires skilled technicians
and successfully did a small cancer gene study using this technique. The group was able to add a few modified cells with the Rasg12v cancer gene in a printed organoid array
and observed how the few mutated cells were able to induce a response from its surrounding tissue.
Zev Gartner, Phd, the paper senior author, stated that he hopes to use this technology to study how changes in the structure of mammary glands can cause the destruction of tissue structure that is associated with tumors that metastasize.
or spinal cord injury. Electrical signals, acquired through either invasive or noninvasive neural interfaces, are decoded to subsequently control external devices.
#White blood cell Mediated Therapy for Neurons in Patients with Parkinson Disease Scientists at the University of North carolina at Chapel hill have begun researching the delivery of neurotropic factors to the brain as a potential therapeutic for Parkinson disease.
However, one potential therapy is the development of smarter immune cells that deliver neurotropic factors to neurons damaged by the disease.
In the study, GDNF alleviated neuroinflammation and reversed neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease model mice. One suggested mechanism of activity is that these cells,
Delivering the protective proteins through immune cells is a breakthrough in GDFP therapy. This new macrophage mediated protein delivery system could potentially provide a therapy for patients who are afflicted by this debilitating disease e
#New Self-Positioning Transcatheter Mitral valve Developed by National University of Singapore Transcatheter heart valve replacements have become life savers for many frail patients who are unsuitable for open heart surgery.
While many benefit from implantation of the prosthetic valves, the anatomy of many patients doesn lend well to the procedure
#Mobileodt Brings Cervical cancer Diagnostics to Developing Countries Early detection significantly improves the survival rates for cervical cancer patients.
Cervical cancer used to be one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the US,
but mortality rates have declined significantly in the last 40 years due in part to better compliance with regular cervical cancer screening.
and has leveraged this into a new cervical cancer screening product. Their cervical cancer screening system allows any smartphone to be turned into a colposcope,
making this part of the screening process readily available for most clinics. The hardware is equipped with a light source
and magnifying lens that gives a phone camera lens excellent visualization of any abnormalities in the cervical tissue.
Once visualized, the nurse can make a diagnosis or capture photos of the patient cervix and transmit them securely to a physician for further analysis. Mobileodt smartphone application supports annotation of these images and transmission of final recommendations by the remote physicians s
#Nicotine-eating bacteria joins stop-smoking fight Why do people smoke? There's no denying that smoking is horrible for you,
The initial study did not show that any toxic by-products were created in the blood. The hope is continued that with study,
But when their population booms, they can quickly become a plague, consuming coral reefs--their favorite food--with a frenzied fervor.
as well as a unique pneumatic injection arm, it is an efficient executioner. The only thing missing is an audio track proclaiming"Hasta la vista
These electrical signals the same as those a doctor looks at when running an electroencephalogram (EEG) test were sent to a computer,
who had been paralyzed for five years after a spinal cord injury, was able to walk about 12 feet (3. 66 meters).
"Even after years of paralysis, the brain can still generate robust brain waves that can be harnessed to enable basic walking,
"study co-author Dr. An Do, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement."
"We showed that you can restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury."
The researchers say the new study provides proof of concept that a person with complete paralysis of both legs can use a brain-controlled system to stimulate leg muscles
or improve walking in individuals with paraplegia due to spinal cord injury, "the researchers said. Before the man could use the system to walk,
Dr. Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, an associate professor of neurological surgery and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved with the study,
In the future, it may be possible to implant the entire system inside a patient's body using implants to the brain,
but applying these chemicals to the surface of wounds has its limits. To best stem blood loss, those chemicals need to be able to find their way deep into a wound.
There may now be a solution, however, and it comes in the unlikely form of fizz, reports Wired.
propelling them deep into a wound as they pop. The new concoction is composed of powdered marble, tranexamic acid
Water from the blood is the catalysis that sets it fizzing. f you can get the particles in the general area of the wound,
a biomedical engineer at the University of British columbia. t similar to when a grenade goes off
all the way to the damaged internal blood vessels feeding the wound. By clotting so deep into the lesion, the clot was shown to be more stable.
Right now the fizzing agent is a bit messy. While chemicals do get deeper into the wound,
they pop off in every other direction too. Eventually researchers hope to make the delivery process more efficient,
Paramedics equipped with these fizzy bandages could prolong the lives of patients during transit to the hospital, for instance
For example, people with arthritis may be able to get pain relieving drugs during walks in doses that are proportional to how many steps are taken.
and a member of MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is the paper senior author.
The finding demonstrates that the stress of crystal deformation can impart a newfound degree of control over magnetic and electrical behavior in spintronic devices and sensors.
however, apply stress in all directions equally. he biggest challenge we faced was accurately controlling uniaxial stress at temperatures as low as 3 kelvin,
The team constructed a unique cell that clamps a multiferroic barium cobalt germanium oxide (Ba2coge2o7) crystal between a pair of zirconium oxide pistons (Fig. 1). They then investigated how the sample electric polarization changed under uniaxial stress.
In contrast, by deforming the Ba2coge2o7 crystal with varying levels of uniaxial stress, the researchers could tune the polarization output in unprecedented ways, from fully on to fully off,
because they show we can control the spin-driven ferroelectricity in this compound by applying uniaxial stress at the low megapascal level,
particularly for crystals with high levels of symmetry. any multiferroic materials have the potential to show stress-induced effects,
#Nanotechnology developed to help treat heart attack and stroke Australian researchers funded by the National Heart Foundation are a step closer to a safer
and more effective way to treat heart attack and stroke via nanotechnology. The research jointly lead by Professor Christoph Hagemeyer, Head of the Vascular Biotechnology Laboratory at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and Professor Frank Caruso,
an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at the University of Melbourne, was published today in the leading journal Advanced Materials.
The drug-loaded nanocapsule is coated with an antibody that specifically targets activated platelets, the cells that form blood clots,
Professor Frank Caruso from the Melbourne School of engineering said the targeted drug with its novel delivery method can potentially offer a safer alternative with fewer side effects for people suffering a heart attack
or stroke. p to 55,000 Australians experience a heart attack or suffer a stroke every year. bout half of the people who need a clot-busting drug can use the current treatments
because the risk of serious bleeding is too high, he said i
#Aluminium could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries One big problem faced by electrodes in rechargeable batteries,
This expansion and contraction of aluminum particles generates great mechanical stress, which can cause electrical contacts to disconnect.
but hopefully it will lead to medical applications. This gives us new opportunities to look at cell structures
and whether there any degradation of those structures in diseases. any diseases are caused either by an invading pathogen or degradation of a cell internal structure.
Their porous properties have led to proposed application in carbon capture, hydrogen storage and toxic gas separations,
including medical diagnostics, industry, and the military. The research, published in the highly respected scientific journal, Nature Communications on September 1st, describes how the composition of gases in different environments can be detected by measuring small colour changes of the innovative bio-inspired sensor.
One of the most critical biological and medical tools available today, it lies at the core of genome analysis. Reading the exact make-up of genes,
sequencing technology will definitely shift from research to clinics, says Aleksandra Radenovic. or that, we need rapid and affordable DNA sequencing
and cancer drugs Longing to find a cure for cancer, HIV and other yet incurable diseases,
each requiring preclinical and clinical testing with live subjects. How many chemical agents more to try? Moving at such rate, will we find the cure during our lifetime?
This approach will eventually provide more effective preclinical selection of drug candidates for the subsequent long-term and expensive clinical trial.
and vaccines against many dangerous diseases including HIV, hepatitis and cancer. The research, led by Yury Stebunov,
a scientist at the MIPT, was published in the ACS Applied materials & Interfaces. The paper is titled"Highly sensitive and selective sensor chips with graphene oxide linking layer".
Owing to the above-mentioned merits, SPR biosensing is an outstanding platform to boost technological progress in the areas of medicine and biotechnology.
Widespread introduction of this method into preclinical trials will completely change the pharmaceutical industry. With SPR sensors we just need to estimate the interaction between the drug and targets on the sensing surface,
and low-cost fabrication compared to sensor chips that are already commercially available. ur invention will help in drug development against viral and cancer diseases.
However, the developed chip should go through a clinical trial for medical applications
#Crucial hurdle overcome in quantum computing: quantum logic gate in silicon built for the first time A team of Australian engineers has built a quantum logic gate in silicon for the first time,
and development of new medicines by greatly accelerating the computer-aided design of pharmaceutical compounds (and minimising lengthy trial and error testing);
#Detecting HIV diagnostic antibodies with DNA nanomachines A nanoscale machine composed of synthetic DNA can be used for the rapid,
sensitive and low-cost diagnosis of many diseases, including HIVNEW research may revolutionize the slow, cumbersome and expensive process of detecting the antibodies that can help with the diagnosis of infectious and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and HIV.
An international team of researchers have designed and synthetized a nanometer scale DNA"machine "whose customized modifications enable it to recognize a specific target antibody.
Their new approach, which they described this month in Angewandte Chemie, promises to support the development of rapid,
low-cost antibody detection at the point-of-care, eliminating the treatment initiation delays and increasing healthcare costs associated with current techniques.
The binding of the antibody to the DNA machine causes a structural change (or switch),
and is rapid-acting within five minutes-enabling the targeted antibodies to be detected easily, even in complex clinical samples such as blood serum."
so that it can detect a huge range of antibodies, this makes our platform adaptable for many different diseases"."
""Our modular platform provides significant advantages over existing methods for the detection of antibodies,"added Prof.
Vallée-Bélisle of the University of Montreal, the other senior co-author of the paper.""It is rapid,
The light-generating DNA antibody detecting nanomachine is illustrated here in action, bound to an antibody o
Such sensors could also be used to monitor the effectiveness of stem cell therapies, Jasanoff says. s stem cell therapies are developed,
it going to be necessary to have noninvasive tools that enable you to measure them, he says.
, 2015curcumin Nanodrug Breaks Cancers'Resistance to Treatment May 10th, 2015discoveries First theoretical proof: Measurement of a single nuclear spin in biological samples May 11th, 2015graphene holds key to unlocking creation of wearable electronic devices May 11th, 2015new Method to Produce Dual Zinc oxide Nanorings May 11th
, 2015curcumin Nanodrug Breaks Cancers'Resistance to Treatment May 10th, 2015announcements First theoretical proof: Measurement of a single nuclear spin in biological samples May 11th, 2015graphene holds key to unlocking creation of wearable electronic devices May 11th, 2015new Method to Produce Dual Zinc oxide Nanorings May 11th
, 2015curcumin Nanodrug Breaks Cancers'Resistance to Treatment May 10th, 2015interviews/Book reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers First theoretical proof:
, 2015curcumin Nanodrug Breaks Cancers'Resistance to Treatment May 10th, 2015artificial Intelligence Making robots more human April 29th, 2015lifeboat Foundation launches Interactive Friendly AI April 6th,
#Gold-diamond nanodevice for hyperlocalised cancer therapy: Gold nanorods can be used as remote controlled nanoheaters delivering the right amount of thermal treatment to cancer cells,
which can potentially be applied to thermal cancer therapy. Pei-Chang Tsai from the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, at the Academia Sinica, Taipei,
therefore act as switchable nanoheaters for therapies based on delivering intense and precise heat to cancerous cells,
#Artificial blood vessels become resistant to thrombosis Abstract: Scientists from ITMO University developed artificial blood vessels that are not susceptible to blood clot formation.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Surgery, associated with cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemia,
often require the implantation of vascular grafts-artificial blood vessels, aimed at restoring the blood flow in a problematic part of the circulatory system.
which results in compulsory and lifelong intake of anticoagulants among patients and sometimes may even require an additional surgical intervention.
they actively release medicine into the blood. The lifetime of such grafts is determined often by the amount of drug stored within the graft,
but to any kind of implants. You just need to take the right kind of drug. For example, after the implantation of an artificial ureter, urease crystals often start to grow inside
and doctors do not know how to deal with this problem. It is possible to apply a similar drug-containing coating that dissolves urease.
The same approach may be used for kidney or liver surgery, but these are plans for the future,
#Advance in photodynamic therapy offers new approach to ovarian cancer The findings were published just in the journal Nanomedicine:
Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, and after further research may offer a novel mechanism to address this aggressive and often fatal cancer that kills 14,000 women in the United states each year.
Ovarian cancer has a high mortality rate because it often has metastasized into the abdominal cavity before it's discovered.
Toxicity and cancer-cell resistance can also compromise the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy that's often used as a follow-up to surgery.
The new approach being developed by researchers from the OSU College of Pharmacy and the University of Nebraska takes existing approaches to photodynamic therapy
and makes them significantly more effective by adding compounds that make cancer cells vulnerable to reactive oxygen species,
and also reducing the natural defenses of those cells.""Surgery and chemotherapy are the traditional approaches to ovarian cancer,
but it's very difficult to identify all of the places where a tumor has spread,
and in some cases almost impossible to remove all of them, "said Oleh Taratula, an assistant professor in the Oregon State university/Oregon Health & Science University college of Pharmacy."
"Photodynamic therapy is a different approach that can be used as an adjunct to surgery right during the operation,
and genetic therapy, composed of"small, interfering RNA,"are attached to what researchers call"dendrimer-based nanoplatforms,
Compared to existing photodynamic therapies, this approach allows the near-infrared light to penetrate much deeper into abdominal tissues,
Using photodynamic therapy alone, some tumors in laboratory animals began to regrow after two weeks. But with the addition of the combinatorial genetic therapy to weaken the cancer cell defenses,
there was no evidence of cancer recurrence. During the procedures, mice receiving the gene therapy also continued to grow
and gain weight, indicating a lack of side effects.""Cancer cells are very smart, "Taratula said.""They overexpress certain proteins, including one called DJ1,
that help them survive attack by reactive oxygen species that otherwise might kill them. We believe a key to the success of this therapy is that it takes away those defensive mechanisms."
"The overexpression of DJ1, researchers said in their study, is associated with invasion, metastasis, resistance to cancer therapies,
and overall cancer cell survival. That excess of DJ1 is silenced by the genetic therapy composed of sirna.
The findings of this research, Taratula said, could also build upon some other recent advances in photodynamic therapy, in
which a different compound called naphthalocyanine could be administered prior to surgery, causing the cancer cells to"glow
"and fluoresce when exposed to near-infrared light. This provides a literal road map for surgeons to follow,
showing which tissue is cancerous and which is not. There's no reason that approach couldn't be combined with the newest advance
providing multiple mechanisms to improve surgical success and, with minimal side effects, help eradicate any remaining cancer cells that were removed not completely."
"Our study established a prospective therapeutic approach against ovarian cancer, "the researchers wrote in their conclusion."
"The tumors exposed to a single dose of a combinatorial therapy were eradicated completely from the mice
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