and explore applications from large-scale construction to microscopic structures for biomedical devices or robotics.""All of these ideas apply from the nanoscale
#Study creates cell immunity to parasite that infects 50 million There are two common approaches to protecting humans from infectious disease:
Targeting pathogens and parasites with medicines like antibiotics, or dealing with the conditions that allow transmission.
Adjusting the landscape of the human body to remove the mechanism that allows pathogens to cause disease.
"says Dan Theodorescu, MD, Phd, director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center.""Bill Petri and I had been social friends for years--Christmas parties, that kind of thing.
MD, Phd, chief of the Division of Infectious diseases & International Health at the University of Virginia led to the idea of applying an innovative cancer science technique to the study of infectious disease.
if the loss of any single gene would confer immunity to the parasite E. histolytica,
which infects 50 million people and causes 40,000-110,000 deaths via severe diarrhea worldwide.""Chelsea is a fearless experimenter.
She took a library of cells that Dan had developed in his work with bladder cancer
"We do this all the time in cancer research, "Theodorescu says.""Commonly, we're looking for genes that,
"In this case the analogue of chemotherapy was the infectious, dangerous pathogen.""This amoeba is a cluster bomb--a voracious killer.
or had silenced genes somehow offered immunity to these cells? To find out, Marie discarded the killed cells
and at that point there's no plan B. This could be the plan B--targeting the human genes that enable the parasite to cause disease."
what she calls"mini guts"to test therapeutics that may be useful in human patients. And technological advances make this study's general technique more efficient,
"This is a major finding with translational implications for this infection that causes so many deaths worldwide, but also proof that this cancer-science approach can be used to explore genetic mechanisms of resistance in the field of infectious disease,
"Theodorescu says. The field of infectious disease has been focused on the infection, targeting pathogens and their transmission.
This study shows that in addition to characteristics of the parasite, mortality due to disease can be prevented by manipulating characteristics of the host t
#Super-stretchable metallic conductors for flexible electronics Washington state University researchers have discovered how to stretch metal films used in flexible electronics to twice their size without breaking.
The discovery could lead to dramatic improvements and addresses one of the biggest challenges in flexible electronics, an industry still in its infancy with applications such as bendable batteries, robotic skins, wearable monitoring devices and sensors,
#Pancreatic cancer subtypes discovered in largest gene expression analysis of the disease to date Dense surrounding tissue can block drugs from reaching pancreatic cancer tumors,
but it can also help prevent the cancer from spreading. Now a new study by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and collaborators helps explain the conflicting role of the surrounding tissue known as stroma.
In the study, the researchers revealed that based on molecular characteristics, there are two subtypes of pancreatic cancer stroma.
researchers reveal findings of both new subtypes of stroma and two subtypes of pancreatic cancer tumors.
The findings could help doctors tailor treatments to individual patients. And the researchers say that could be particularly important for a disease that has only a 7 percent five-year survival rate."
"Right now, we still treat pancreatic cancers as one entity, while for some other cancers, we personalize treatment based on an individual patient's tumor genetics
or other characteristics,"said the study's senior author Jen Jen Yeh, MD, a UNC Lineberger member and an associate professor and the vice chair for research in the UNC School of medicine Department of Surgery."
"We believe these results will set the groundwork for future clinical trials, allow treatments to be assigned based on the subtypes,
and guide the development of new therapies.""The study reveals the most rigorously validated classification system for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma to date.
Previous studies, such as a 2011 study led by Eric A. Collisson, MD, an assistant professor at the UCSF School of medicine, have identified subtypes of pancreatic cancer.
"The issue is that pancreatic cancer is a particularly difficult cancer to analyze because of its confounding stroma,
either promote or be a barrier to tumor spread, "Yeh said.""We are seeing two distinct types of stroma in patients."
"Their analysis also revealed two subtypes of pancreatic cancer tumors. One subtype, called"basal-like is linked to worse outcomes for patients.
Forty-four percent of patients with the basal-like subtype lived one year after surgery,
"Basal-like tumors also trended toward a better response to adjuvant therapy.""If we know that your tumor is aggressive,
then it may be important to treat your whole body first with neoadjuvant therapy, which is given therapy prior to surgery,
as opposed to just trying to remove the tumor with surgery at the outset, "said Yeh, who,
in addition to her role in the Department of Surgery, also has an appointment in the UNC School of medicine Pharmacology Department."
"In addition, the basal-like subtype is very similar to basal breast and bladder cancers, which respond to therapies differently than other tumor subtypes,
so we are interested very in seeing whether or not this is true for pancreatic cancer as well.""Overall, the findings suggest that treatment decisions should be based on both a patient's stroma and tumor subtype.
Yeh said the researchers will be launching clinical trials to investigate how patients with the different subtypes respond to treatment."
"For pancreatic cancer in particular, it's a race against the clock, every therapy counts, so you want your first therapy to work,
"she said.""With this cancer, you don't have a lot of time to try different therapies. If a patient is given a therapy that is unsuccessful, that is time in
which the patient's disease has progressed. So the goal is to start patients on the right therapy from the get-go
#New molecule found to prevent preterm birth Premature births are linked intimately with inflammation of the uterine tissue, a biological response
which induces contractions and preterm labor. In their search for a mean to prevent this phenomenon
and complications related to deliveries occurring before 37 weeks of gestation, researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine and University of Montreal discovered an agent that shows efficacy in inhibiting inflammation
and preventing or delaying uterine contractions and premature delivery in murine models--without adversely affecting the fetus or the mother.
This discovery is a giant step towards preventing prematurity, which is the world's leading cause of infant death and the origin of potentially severe,
which led them to run preclinical trials in which they tested therapeutic agents known to target that messenger
--although they were used traditionally never such an application. However, their effect was found to be negligible on inflammation and contractility of the uterine cells,
Its physiological role is critical in protecting the vulnerable fetus against infections, and ensuring that cells will survive inflammation
scientists have developed another therapeutic agent, which proved much more effective, in addition to being safer than the existing molecules designed for the same target."
Phosphonates are an abundant and diverse class of natural signaling molecules that have already proved useful to medicine and agriculture
and one as an herbicide--and another one is now in clinical trials to treat malaria,
which the team named argolaphos, was found to be most potent against three types of bacteria that cause illness:
or inspiration for, nearly two-thirds of all human medicines, yet research in this area has dwindled in recent years due to, among other reasons, high costs and increasing rates of rediscovery,
#New drug-like compounds may improve odds of men battling prostate cancer, researchers find Researchers at Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, have discovered three new drug-like compounds that could ultimately offer better odds of survival to prostate cancer patients.
and developed into medicines that target a protein in the human body that is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancers,
So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
"The problem when a person has cancer is that the treatment itself is composed of cellular toxins--the chemotherapeutics that prevent the cells from dividing.
Usually upon the first chemo treatment the cancer responds well, and initially goes away. Ideally it doesn't come back,
"Sometimes, however, the cancer returns,"she said.""The reason often is that some of the cancer cells"learn,"after the first rounds of chemotherapy,
"As a result, P-gp causes resistance of the diseased cells to a majority of drugs currently available for the treatment of cancer,
as well as drugs used for treatment of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS. Using computer-generated model speeds up the drug discovery process The new drug-like compounds discovered by Vogel
We still have to develop them before they can go in the clinic, "Vogel said.""But what we know now is that they're not toxic--they have low toxicity to noncancerous cells,
so that's a pretty good predictor that they may be good candidates for drug development. But we need to do much more work."
so it can eventually be delivered to patients as a therapeutic drug. In the case reported here,
commonly used to treat prostate cancer patients. Also, each was tested on a companion cell line already multi-drug resistant,
they were able to push back the sensitivity of the resistant cancer line to the level of the non-resistant one."
just as if the cancer was seeing the chemotherapy for the first time, "Vogel said. About 14 percent of men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Survival is diagnosed highest if early before it has spread, the institute reports s
#New drug-like compounds may improve odds of men battling prostate cancer, researchers find Researchers at Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, have discovered three new drug-like compounds that could ultimately offer better odds of survival to prostate cancer patients.
The drug-like compounds can be modified and developed into medicines that target a protein in the human body that is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancers,
said biochemist Pia D. Vogel, lead author on the scientific paper reporting the discovery. So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
or P-gp for short, said Vogel, a biochemistry professor at SMU. One potential drug, Tariquidar, is currently in clinical trials,
"The problem when a person has cancer is that the treatment itself is composed of cellular toxins--the chemotherapeutics that prevent the cells from dividing.
Usually upon the first chemo treatment the cancer responds well, and initially goes away. Ideally it doesn't come back,
"Sometimes, however, the cancer returns,"she said.""The reason often is that some of the cancer cells"learn,"after the first rounds of chemotherapy,
"As a result, P-gp causes resistance of the diseased cells to a majority of drugs currently available for the treatment of cancer,
as well as drugs used for treatment of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS. Using computer-generated model speeds up the drug discovery process The new drug-like compounds discovered by Vogel
We still have to develop them before they can go in the clinic, "Vogel said.""But what we know now is that they're not toxic--they have low toxicity to noncancerous cells,
so that's a pretty good predictor that they may be good candidates for drug development. But we need to do much more work."
so it can eventually be delivered to patients as a therapeutic drug. In the case reported here,
commonly used to treat prostate cancer patients. Also, each was tested on a companion cell line already multi-drug resistant,
they were able to push back the sensitivity of the resistant cancer line to the level of the non-resistant one."
just as if the cancer was seeing the chemotherapy for the first time, "Vogel said. About 14 percent of men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Survival is diagnosed highest if early before it has spread, the institute reports s
#Nano-dunes with the ion beam Many semiconductor devices in modern technology--from integrated circuits to solar cells and LEDS--are based on nanostructures.
In 2013, invasive MRSA infections were estimated responsible for an 9, 937 deaths in the U s. Although current infection rates are declining, the majority of these deaths, about 8,
150, were associated with inpatient stays in health care facilities, according to the Active Bacterial Core surveillance report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The discovery, published in Medicinal Chemistry Communications, shows that the potential new antibiotics are unlike contemporary antibiotics
because they contain iridium, a silvery-white transition metal. New transition metal complexes do not easily breakdown,
which is important for delivery of antibiotics to where they are needed to fight infections in the body.
Even though these compounds contain iridium, further testing by the researchers shows that they are nontoxic to animals and animal cells.
A version of the antibiotic was tested for toxicity in mice with no ill effects.""We are still at the beginning of developing
stating that it"represents a serious threat to public health and the economy.""In March, a National Action Plan outlined critical next steps for key federal agencies and departments.
According to estimates cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistance is a problem that adds around $20 billion annually to health care costs in the U s."The biggest question scientists have to ask to tackle antibiotic resistance is,
how can we stay on top of the bacteria? Fortunately, these new organometallic antibiotics are coming at a time
In both the U s. and Europe, the spread of MRSA is a major threat to people in hospitals and other health care facilities.
the infection can be life-threatening and cause pneumonia and infections in the bloodstream and in surgical wounds, according to the CDC.
Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium commonly found on the skin and nose which is how it spreads into hospitals and other medical facilities."
"Before you go into the hospital for surgery, many hospitals will do a nasal swab, and if you have staph,
they will treat you before surgery because it could be transferred into your body and cause serious infection,
"Falkinham said d
#First realization of an electric circuit with a magnetic insulator using spin waves Researchers at the University of Groningen, Utrecht University,
the Université de Bretagne Occidentale and the FOM Foundation have found that it is possible to make an electric circuit with a magnetic insulator.
This was deemed first impossible. The circuit is realized using spin waves: wavelike perturbations in the magnetic properties of a material.
The detection process is exactly opposite to the spin wave injection: a spin wave collides at the interface between YIG and platinum,
#Lung'filtering'technique can reduce transplant rejection University of Manchester researchers have used a new technique to recondition poorly functioning lungs
and remove donor white blood cells in an attempt to increase the number of lungs available for transplant,
Lung transplantation is often the only option for patients with end stage lung disease, but is limited by a shortage of donor organs.
When waiting list patients are lucky enough to receive a transplant, they need lifelong immunosuppression to prevent their own immune system from destroying the transplanted organ,
This can repair an organ that would normally be turned down for transplant. Given that 80%of donor lungs are used currently not
Dr James Fildes, from the University's Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research and the Transplant Centre at the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, led the study.
"Because the lung is a potential entry route for infection into the body, its immune response is developed highly.
"All of this makes lung transplant recipients particularly susceptible to rejection, so they require continuous immunosuppression,
which then increases the risk of infection and cancer. These immune processes are therefore very important and contribute to the outlook where only five out of ten patients will survive for at least five years."
and transplanted them either using the normal transplant method or after three hours of EVLP,
whereas in the normal transplant method, all the lungs showed signs of severe rejection. EVLP is becoming an established technique,
"EVLP opens up new possibilities in one of the most problematic areas of surgery.""Patricia Moore, 63, from Oswestry was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2011 and received a transplant in 2014.
She said:""The side-effects of immunosuppression are potentially unpleasant and the thought of the associated bronchoscopy terrifies me.
the work showcases the new technology and its practical importance in clinical science by showing how it has given new insights into Alzheimer's disease plaques."
and collected data that may resolve several current issues regarding the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. While Superman's x-ray vision is only the stuff of comics, our method,
model of Alzheimer's disease developed at the RIKEN BSI by Takaomi Saido team. After showing how Scales treatment can preserve tissue
the researchers put the technique to practical use by visualizing in 3d the mysterious"diffuse"plaques seen in the postmortem brains of Alzheimer's disease patients that are typically undetectable using 2d imaging.
but not in later stages of the disease after the plaques have accumulated.""Clearing tissue with Scales followed by 3d microscopy has clear advantages over 2d stereology or immunohistochemistry,"states Miyawaki."
not only for visualizing plaques in Alzheimer's disease, but also for examining normal neural circuits and pinpointing structural changes that characterize other brain diseases
#Biodiesel made easier, cleaner with waste-recycling catalyst Researchers at Cardiff University have devised a way of increasing the yield of biodiesel by using the waste left over from its production process.
#New leukemia gene stops blood cells'growing up'Scientists have identified a gene--FOXC1--that, if switched on, causes more aggressive cancer in a fifth of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients,
according to a Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Cancer cell, today. The FOXC1 gene is switched normally on during embryonic development
and is needed to turn cells into specialised tissues, like the eyes, kidney, brain and bone.
But this new research found that in certain patients with AML--a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells
This triggers the cancer to be more aggressive, as young cells are able to replicate more than mature cells--causing cancer cells to grow faster
Of these, around 20 per cent would have had the FOXC1 gene wrongly switched on in their cancer.
Dr Tim Somervaille, lead author from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at The University of Manchester,
which makes the cancer grow more rapidly.""There are certain situations where this gene is necessary,
it causes more aggressive forms of leukemia.""Nell Barrie, senior science communication manager at Cancer Research UK, said:"
"It's essential that we continue to research basic biology to further understand how cells become cancerous.
The better we understand the nuts and bolts of each cancer, the sooner we can find new ways to stop it
#Microbiologists describe new insights into human neurodegenerative disease Microbiology researchers at the University of Georgia studying a soil bacterium have identified a potential mechanism for neurodegenerative diseases.
A role for the protein HSD10 had been suspected in patients with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, but no direct connection had previously been established.
This new breakthrough suggests that HSD10 reduces oxidative stress, promotes cell repair and prevents cellular death.
and protects the energy-making machinery from oxidative stress. HSD10 is a versatile protein with many known functions
but its role in oxidative stress has remained a mystery. The authors showed that HSD10 preferentially degrades highly toxic cardiolipin peroxides
free radical produced during oxidative stress that would normally initiate apoptosis, or cell death. HSD10 activity is inhibited strongly
when bound to the amyloid beta peptide so prevalent in Alzheimer's disease.""Normally, apoptosis is beneficial for regulating multicellular systems,
"said the study's lead author Tye Boynton, a postdoctoral research associate in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences."
"But with rampant oxidative stress leading to uncontrolled cellular death, you end up with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
HSD10 potentially prevents this by removing these damaged lipids before they have a chance to act."
"When cardiolipin becomes damaged by oxidative stress, the newly formed cardiolipin peroxides induce apoptosis instead of energy production.
"This research suggests that HSD10 prevents neurodegeneration by destroying cardiolipin peroxides and provides a fresh perspective on the etiology of Alzheimer's disease that could inform novel drug strategies,
"Shimkets said d
#Filling a void in stem cell therapy Stem cell therapies are limited often by low survival of transplanted stem cells
and the lack of precise control over their differentiation into the terminal cell types needed to repair
and Wyss Institute Founding Director Donald Ingber, M d.,Ph d.,who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical school and Boston Children's Hospital and Professor of Bioengineering
Stem cell therapies bear tremendous hopes for the repair of many tissues and bone or even the replacement of entire organs.
and function correctly at the site of injury to be useful for clinical regenerative therapies.
To improve the therapeutic ability of transplanted stem cells, Mooney's team has drawn inspiration from naturally occurring stem cell"niches."
#Loss of cellular energy leads to neuronal dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease model A new study from the Gladstone Institutes shows for the first time that impairments in mitochondria--the brain's cellular power plants--can deplete cellular energy levels
and cause neuronal dysfunction in a model of neurodegenerative disease. A link between mitochondria, energy failure,
and neurodegeneration has long been hypothesized. However, no previous studies were able to comprehensively investigate the connection because sufficiently sensitive tests,
Using a model of Leigh's disease, a genetically inherited neurodegenerative disorder that affects mitochondria,
the researchers tested energy levels in neurons using the new assays. They found that the genetic mutation associated with Leigh's disease compromised ATP levels,
and this reduction of ATP was enough to cause significant cellular dysfunction.""It was assumed always that defects in mitochondria would result in a depletion of energy levels,
which would be toxic to neurons, "says first author Divya Pathak, Phd, a postdoctoral fellow in the Gladstone Institute of Neurological disease."
if this connection holds true in conditions like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.""Applying their new assay in healthy neurons,
in the model of Leigh's disease, the cells did not have enough ATP to complete this step.
if boutons lacking mitochondria will still be able to function properly in diseases that disrupt the distribution of mitochondria.
in order to comprehend changes in disease, "he explains.""It's worth taking the time to study these underlying biological processes
so that we can identify the best therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative disorders
#Whole genome-sequencing uncovers new genetic cause for osteoporosis Using extensive genetic data compiled by the UK10K project,
an international team of researchers led by Dr. Brent Richards of the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital has identified a genetic variant near the gene EN1 as having the strongest effect on bone mineral density (BMD)
and fracture identified to date. The findings are published in the forthcoming issue of the journal Nature."
"EN1 has never before been linked to osteoporosis in humans, so this opens up a brand new pathway to pursue in developing drugs to block the disease,"Dr. Richards,
an Associate professor of Medicine at Mcgill University, says by way of explaining the importance of the discovery."
"The effect of this uncommon genetic variant that we identified in this gene is twice as large as any previously identified genetic variants for BMD
and fracture,"adds Vince Forgetta, first author on this collaborative project from the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis Consortium,
and a Research Associate at the Lady Davis Institute. Osteoporosis is a common disease that will lead to fractures in between one-third and one-half of all women over the course of their lives.
Because osteoporosis becomes more severe with age, it is becoming more prevalent with the overall aging of the population.
There are currently few safe and effective treatments for osteoporosis and no curative therapies available. The UK10K project has measured genetic variations in 10,000 individuals in great detail,
allowing researchers to correlate rare genetic changes with human disease by comparing the DNA of healthy individuals with those who have health problems.
The use of such an extensive sample size allows for the observation of genetic variants that are not discernable among smaller groups.
This particular study also stands as proof of principle that uncommon genetic variants can have a significant impact on common diseases."
"The hypothesis is that the genetic sequencing being done by UK10K will expose previously unknown genetic factors underlying disease,
"said Dr. Celia Greenwood, a biostatistician who is Senior Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute and Associate professor at Mcgill University,
and cochaired the statistics group for a companion Nature article on the methodology behind UK10K."
and are more frequent among those with common diseases. This is precisely what has been revealed in the case of EN1
and osteoporosis."This study represents an initial realization of the hope that accompanied the development of genetic sequencing technology:
that sophisticated analysis of the genome would reveal those genes associated with disease. The promise for the contribution genetics can make to human health lies in the discovery of novel compounds that can counter the effect of deleterious genetic variants influencing these genes s
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