#New manufacturing approach slices lithium-ion battery cost in half An advanced manufacturing approach for lithium-ion batteries, developed by researchers at MIT and at a spinoff company called 24m,
promises to significantly slash the cost of the most widely used type of rechargeable batteries while also improving their performance
While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress, the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent,
safety and reliability of the device that restores vision in those blinded by a rare, degenerative eye disease.
and quality of life for people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa. They are being published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Retinitis pigmentosa is an incurable disease that affects about 1 in 4 000 Americans and causes slow vision loss that eventually leads to blindness.
The Argus II system was designed to help provide patients who have lost their sight due to the disease with some useful vision.
Through the device, patients with retinitis pigmentosa are able to see patterns of light that the brain learns to interpret as an image.
The system uses a miniature video camera stored in the patient's glasses to send visual information to a small computerized video processing unit which can be stored in a pocket.
This computer turns the image to electronic signals that are sent wirelessly to an electronic device implanted on the retina
-or surgery-related serious adverse events. After three years, there were no device failures. Throughout the three years, 11 subjects experienced serious adverse events, most
"This study shows that the Argus II system is a viable treatment option for people profoundly blind due to retinitis pigmentosa--one that can make a meaningful difference in their lives
M d.,lead author of the study and director of the clinical retina research unit At wills Eye Hospital."
including treatment for other diseases and eye injuries
#UVA fertilization discovery may lead to male contraceptive Groundbreaking new reproductive research has identified key molecular events that could be playing a critical role as sperm
or chemical environment to provide unique functionality in a wide range of applications from energy to medicine.
In rare instances, the internal chemical response of a cell can cause unregulated cell growth, leading to cancer.
or proteins that could be targeted by drugs, eventually leading to new medicines to fight cancer r
#First hospital light fixture to kill bacteria safely, continuously becomes commercially available in North america Indigo-Clean#is a light fixture manufactured through an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland,
Indigo-Clean#was unveiled just before the annual meeting of theassociation for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) in Nashville."
"It bolsters current disinfection efforts by infection preventionists and environmental services professionals in the fight against HAIS."
it is lethal to pathogens but is safe for use in the presence of patients and staff."
"Breaking the chain of infection, from an infected patient, to the environment, to new patient, is vitally important,
a large teaching hospital operated by NHS (National Health service) Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The technology and its effectiveness have been the subject of more than 20 peer-reviewed academic publications and 30 conference presentations since 2008.
and developing HINS-light technology for the purpose of reducing the environmental transmission of pathogens
We chose Kenall because of its extensive experience in providing lighting for the most challenging healthcare environments where infection prevention is a key consideration."
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports around 1 in 25 hospital patients in the US have at least one infection contracted in the health care setting.
and 99,000 deaths in acute care hospitals in the U s. and add $35-45 billion in excess health care costs each year.
HAIS can also result in significant financial penalties for hospitals under the Affordable Care Act.
those providers scoring poorly in the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) program receive lower Medicare reimbursements.
This technology has led to the identification for the first time of pathological mutations in the RNASEH1 gene in six subjects from three unrelated families.
These alterations cause impaired energy production in the cells and therefore, lead to the disease. The clinical manifestations of affected individuals are chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO), a slowly progressive paralysis of the extraocular muscles,
and exercise intolerance in early adulthood, followed by cerebellar and brain stem atrophy and a general weakness of the muscles affecting locomotion,
The identification of a new mitochondrial disease gene not only provides valuable basic information about the biological function
but also widens out knowledge on the mechanisms leading to disease and provide the basis for developing new and more effective therapies s
#Iron: A biological element? Arrayclark Johnson, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
#Gel that can make drugs last longer A drug-delivering hydrogel has been developed to treat chronic diseases such as hepatitis C a liver disease that kills around 500,000 people worldwide every year.
Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of A*STAR have developed a drug-delivering hydrogel to treat chronic diseases such as hepatitis C a liver disease that kills around 500,000 people worldwide every year."
and well-being of patients suffering from chronic diseases such as hepatitis C,"said IBN Executive director Professor Jackie Y. Ying.
The standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C infections includes a weekly injection of a protein drug called PEGYLATED interferon.
The frequent injections increases patient discomfort, is time-consuming, and can cause depression and fatigue.
The study by the IBN researchers showed that a onetime administration of the hydrogel containing the PEGYLATED interferon medication was as effective as eight injections of the medication alone
"Our hydrogels can significantly extend the half-life of hepatitis C drugs by up to 10 times longer than current treatment.
This work improves the therapeutic efficiency of the drugs, while reducing the need for frequent injections,
"said Dr Kurisawa. The study was published recently in the leading journal, Biomaterials, and conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Molecular and Cell biology of A*STAR.
Up to 150 million people globally suffer from chronic hepatitis C infections according to the World health organization.""I believe that our method can pave the way for more effective and safe treatment of hepatitis C. We are also testing the microstructured gel for the treatment of other chronic diseases besides hepatitis C,"added Dr Kurisawa.
Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR.
and responds specifically to remove non-self pathogens invading our body. T cells play a central role in the immune response to non-self pathogens.
The T-cell repertoire is shaped by"education"that occurs in the thymus. A huge number of immature T cells, each of which can recognize a single antigen,
which keeps potentially useful cells able to detect non-self pathogens alive, and negative selection,
and may provide clues to the development of therapies for infectious diseases, cancers and immune diseases.,"
#Discovery could lead to personalized colon cancer treatment approach A UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center discovery of just how a certain tumor suppressor molecule works to prevent tumor growth could lead to a personalized treatment
In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers reported that the tumor-suppressing protein AIM2,
or Absent in Melanoma 2, helps prevent colon cancer by restricting a signaling molecule called Akt.
With this finding, the researchers believe theye found a possible drug target for colon cancer patients who lack the tumor suppressor AIM2. everal studies
and clinical evidence suggest AIM2 functions as a tumor suppressor, but until now, wee had very little direct evidence to explains how this occurs,
said Justin E. Wilson, Phd, the study first author and a postdoctoral fellow at UNC Lineberger,
the UNC School of medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Genetics. e found that AIM2 inhibits tumorigenesis in multiple animal models of colorectal cancer by restricting the pro-survival signaling molecule, Akt,
which is commonly hyperactive in many human cancers. The study builds on previous findings suggesting that AIM2 limits cancer cell growth in colon cancer cell lines,
but we have identified a possible personalized therapeutic strategy to help them, said Jenny Ting, William R. Kenan Jr.
Distinguished Professor in the UNC School of medicine Department of Genetics and a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member.
And in mouse models lacking AIM2, the researchers found that they had smaller tumors and precancerous colon polyps when blocked Akt.
Wilson said the researchers believe their findings mean that drugs used to inhibit Akt could be used as a personalized therapy for people who don have AIM2. ur research paves the way for future clinical trials that screen for AIM2 expression in colon cancer
and possibly other cancers to identify patients who may potentially benefit from personalized anti-Akt therapy,
This could be useful for medical servers, government data communications, financial markets and military communication channels, as well as quantum cloud communications and distributed quantum computing."
#Stretchy mesh heater for sore muscles If you suffer from chronic muscle pain a doctor will likely recommend for you to apply heat to the injury.
along with an international team, have come up with an ingenious way of creating therapeutic heat in a light, flexible design.
while deformed and under stress on knee and wrist joints. It is lightweight, breathable and generates heat over the entire surface area of the material.
In addition, PLA is biocompatible and thus suitable for medical use, for instance in absorbable suture threads.
and the most common end-stage disease is when an atherosclerotic plaque ruptures. If this occurs in one of your large coronary arteries,
This is what causes most heart attacks. The clot can also dislodge and cause a stroke if it lodges in a blood vessel in the brain.
"Until now, doctors have believed that smooth muscle cells--the cells that help blood vessels contract and dilate--were the good guys in the body's battle against atherosclerotic plaque.
"Eighty-two percent of the smooth muscle cells within advanced atherosclerotic lesions cannot be identified using the typical methodology
since the lesion cells down-regulate smooth muscle cell markers. As such, we have underestimated grossly how many smooth muscle cells are in the lesion."
"Suddenly, the role of smooth muscle cells is much more complex, much less black-and-white. Are they good or bad?
which cell is which within the lesion."("The research also shows other subsets of smooth muscle cells were transitioning to cells resembling stem cells and myofibroblasts.
in order to see where those cells were later in disease.""Further, Shankman identified a key gene, Klf4,
and exhibited features indicating they were more stable--the ideal therapeutic goal for treating the disease in people.
Of major interest, loss of Klf4 in smooth muscle cells did not reduce the number of these cells in lesions
but resulted in them undergoing transitions in their functional properties that appear to be beneficial in disease pathogenesis. That is,
Shankman's findings raise many critical questions about previous studies built on techniques that failed to assess the composition of the lesions accurately.
Moreover, her studies are the first to indicate that therapies targeted at controlling the properties of smooth muscle cells within lesions may be highly effective in treating a disease that is the leading cause of death worldwide.
#Researchers develop world's most sensitive test to detect infectious disease, superbugs Researchers at Mcmaster University have developed a new way to detect the smallest traces of metabolites, proteins or fragments of DNA.
In essence, the new method can pick up any compound that might signal the presence of infectious disease,
researchers developed a molecular device made of DNA that can be switched'on'by a specific molecule of their choice--such as a certain type of disease indicator
"This invention will allow us to detect anything we might be interested in, bacterial contamination or perhaps a protein molecule that is a cancer marker.
simple answers that appear on test paper indicating the presence of infection or contamination in people, food or the environment t
#Two biomarkers linked to severe heart disease found Arrayarrayinterestingly, Nichols and his colleagues did not set out to pinpoint the two key biomarkers.
They wanted to create an insulin resistant animal model that mimicked human heart disease. They chose pigs,
But only about half of the pigs developed the most severe form of the disease.
Sure enough, all the pigs with severe heart disease had elevated levels of fructosamine and oxidized LDL.""Also, this correlation was more common in females,
"Clemmons found a study from Finland published in 2005 showing that elevated glycated protein levels were associated strongly with advanced heart disease and increased mortality in women but not in men."
"A next step could be to study the affected heart tissue to find abnormal biochemical reactions in the cellular pathways involved in glycated proteins and severe coronary disease.
Clemmons added,"We could also study what's different about these female pigs that make them much more susceptible to severe heart disease,
a discovery that could pave the way to new treatments for the disease. The researchers at the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Toxicology Unit based at the University of Leicester
and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine identified a key protein, called a protein kinase,
that if targeted stops the disease. The study is published in Nature Communications. Malaria is caused by a parasite that lives inside an infected mosquito
and is transferred into the human through a bite. Once inside the body parasites use a complex process to enter red blood cells
and survive within them. By identifying one of the key proteins needed for the parasite to survive in the red blood cells,
The discovery could be the first step in developing a new drug to treat malaria. The scientists--funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC)
Co-lead author of the study Professor Andrew Tobin from the MRC Toxicology Unit which is located at the University of Leicester,
"This is a real breakthrough in our understanding of how malaria survives in the blood stream
and if it can be targeted by drugs we could see something that stops malaria in its tracks without causing toxic side-effects."
& Tropical Medicine, said:""It is a great advantage in drug discovery research if you know the identity of the molecular target of a particular drug and the consequences of blocking its function.
and also helps to avoid drug resistance which is a major problem in the control of malaria worldwide."
"According to the World health organization malaria currently infects more than 200 million people world wide and accounts for more than 500,000 deaths per year.
Most deaths occur among children living in Africa where a child dies every minute of malaria and the disease accounts for approximately 20%of all childhood deaths.
Professor Patrick Maxwell, chair of the MRC's Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, said:""Tackling malaria is a global challenge,
with the parasite continually working to find ways to survive our drug treatments. By combining a number of techniques to piece together how the malaria parasite survives,
and exploit the disease's weak spots but with limited side-effects for patients
#Cancer drug 49 times more potent than Cisplatin Based on a compound of the rare precious metal osmium and developed by researchers at the University of Warwick's Department of chemistry and the Warwick Cancer Research Unit,
FY26 is able to shut down a cancer cell by exploiting weaknesses inherent in their energy generation. The researchers argue that the drug could be cheaper to produce,
Similar results were obtained by the National Cancer Institute USA in tests conducted on 60 cell lines.
This can lead to a wide-range of side-effects from renal failure to neurotoxicity, ototoxicity, nausea and vomiting.""
""Existing platinum-based cancer treatments often become less effective after the first course, as cancer cells learn how they are being attacked,
"The research could also lead to substantial improvements in cancer survival rates, suggests co-researcher Dr Isolda Romero-Canelon:"
"Current statistics indicate that one in every two people will develop some kind of cancer during their life time, with approximately one woman dying of ovarian cancer every two hours in the UK according to Cancer Research UK
and two deaths every hour from bowel cancer.""It is clear that a new generation of drugs is necessary to save more lives
"Arrayfollowing the successful test results the researchers have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Pathfinder grant to begin preclinical development of organo-osmium compounds s
In its absence, mice reproduce Seckel syndrome. The scientists rescued the microcephaly during mouse embryonic development by removing a protein that caused the loss of stem cells.
This defect in brain growth is present in several neurodevelopmental diseases, including Seckel syndrome.""There are diagnostic tests for some of these kinds of pathologies that can be performed during pregnancy,
but other than early detection, the expectant parents are limited to two choices, either to abort or to continue with the pregnancy,
being fully aware of the outcome, "explains the North american scientist Travis Stracker.""Our research paves the way to explore therapeutic approaches for microcephaly involving the inhibition of the protein p53,
"says the head of the Genomic Instability and Cancer Lab at IRB Barcelona. The scientists describe that this protein triggers the death of brain stem cells.
This occurs because cells without CEP63 have delayed cell division, leading them to enter programmed cell death through p53."
The discovery could eventually benefit millions of patients with chronic pain from trauma, diabetes, shingles, multiple sclerosis or other conditions that cause nerve damage."
"said co-author Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center."
"We can now specifically search for agents to control ER stress and its downstream pathways,
"This search is already underway in a number of laboratories working on cancer and other diseases."
"Working with Professor Fawaz Haj of the UC Davis nutrition department, Bettaieb found that key molecular signatures associated with diabetes
and diabetic pain were linked to ER stress. Neuropathic pain is a common consequence of both Type 1
and Type 2 diabetes, affecting up to 70 percent of patients. Inceoglu, working in Hammock's laboratory,
The team was able to show that blocking soluble epoxide hydrolase blocks ER stress and associated neuropathic pain.
With this knowledge, researchers can now test ER-stress blocking drugs in the clinic, and carry out fundamental research on how different types of pain grouped under the name"neuropathic"differ from each other
what causes neuropathic pain said John Imig, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin,
#Activated T cell therapy for advanced melanoma developed Published in the July/August issue of Journal of Immunotherapy,
these new findings demonstrate that T cells derived from lymph nodes of patients with melanoma can be expanded in number
Led by Julian Kim, MD, Chief Medical officer at UH Seidman Cancer Center, the research team has developed a novel technique to generate large numbers of activated T cells
which can be transferred back into the same patient to stimulate the immune system to attack the cancer."
"This study is unique in that the source of T cells for therapy is derived from the lymph node,
which is the natural site of the immune response against pathogens as well as cancer, "says Dr. Kim who is also Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of medicine and the Charles Hubay Chair at UH Case Medical center."
"These encouraging results provide the rationale to start testing the transfer of activated T cells in a human clinical trial."
which have been exposed to growing melanoma in the patient's body. Rather than trying to activate the T cells while in the body,
This novel approach to cancer treatment, termed adoptive immunotherapy, is offered only at a few institutions worldwide.
These promising findings have led to the recent launch of a new Phase I human clinical trial at UH Seidman Cancer Center in patients with advanced melanoma.
The research leading to the clinical trial was funded by the National institutes of health and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The new Phase I clinical trial is being supported by University Hospitals as well as a significant philanthropic effort including the Immunogene Therapy Fund, Paula and Ronald Raymond Fund and the Kathryn and Paula Miller Family Fund."
and is an area of great potential for the treatment of patients with cancer, "said Dr. Kim."
Our goal is to eventually combine these T cells with other immune therapies which will result in cures.
These types of clinical trials place the UH Seidman Cancer Center at the forefront of immune therapy of cancer."
"Additionally, the research team has been researching the possibility of using lymph nodes from patients with pancreatic cancer to develop T cell therapy.
Their goal is to expand the program and eventually study other tumor types including lung, colorectal and breast cancers s
#Omnidirectional free space wireless charging of multiple wireless devices Scientists have made great strides in wireless-power transfer development.
University of Valencia and IGENOMIX have discovered that chromosomal abnormalities in human embryos created for in vitro fertilization,
because chromosomal abnormalities may not be identified until day five or six.""Many couples are choosing to have children later in life,
and assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Physiology and Pharmacology, in the OHSU School of medicine.""A failed IVF attempt takes an emotional toll on a woman who is anticipating a pregnancy as well as a financial toll on families, with a single IVF treatment costing thousands and thousands of dollars per cycle.
and make the connections needed for our collaborators to identify the genes that cause diseases
from which fifteen times more ips cells were produced by adding netrin-1. From a therapeutic point of view,
#Bonelike 3-D silicon synthesized for potential use with medical devices"Using bone formation as a guide,
"One of the major hurdles in the area of bioelectronics or implants is that the interface between the electronic device
#Gene therapy restores hearing in deaf mice Using gene therapy, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical school have restored hearing in mice with a genetic form of deafness.
Their work, published online July 8 by the journal Science Translational Medicine, could pave the way for gene therapy in people with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations."
"Our gene therapy protocol is not yet ready for clinical trials--we need to tweak it a bit more
--but in the not-too-distant future we think it could be developed for therapeutic use in humans,
More than 70 different genes are known to cause deafness when mutated. Holt, with first author Charles Askew and colleagues at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland
because it is a common cause of genetic deafness, accounting for 4 to 8 percent of cases,
Children with two mutant copies of TMC1 have profound hearing loss from a very young age, usually by around 2 years.
--and is a good model for the dominant form of TMC1-related deafness. In this form, less common than the recessive form, a single copy of the mutation causes children to gradually go deaf beginning around the age of 10 to 15 years.
To deliver the healthy gene, the team inserted it into an engineered virus called adeno-associated virus 1,
In the recessive deafness model, gene therapy with TMC1 restored the ability of sensory hair cells to respond to sound--producing a measurable electrical current--and also restored activity in the auditory portion of the brainstem.
Most importantly, the deaf mice regained their ability to hear. To test hearing, the researchers placed the mice in a"startle box
In the dominant deafness model, gene therapy with a related gene, TMC2, was successful at the cellular and brain level,
and is already in use in human gene therapy trials for blindness, heart disease, muscular dystrophy and other conditions.
"Current therapies for profound hearing loss like that caused by the recessive form of TMC1 are hearing aids,
and cochlear implants,"says Margaret Kenna, MD, MPH, a specialist in genetic hearing loss at Boston Children's Hospital who is familiar with the work."
"Cochlear implants are great, but your own hearing is better in terms of range of frequencies, nuance for hearing voices, music and background noise,
and figuring out which direction a sound is coming from. Anything that could stabilize or improve native hearing at an early age is really exciting
"Holt believes that other forms of genetic deafness may also be amenable to the same gene therapy strategy.
Overall, severe to profound hearing loss in both ears affects 1 to 3 per 1, 000 live births.""I can envision patients with deafness having their genome sequenced and a tailored,
precision medicine treatment injected into their ears to restore hearing, "Holt says. Sound transducers: How TMC works Holt's team showed in 2013 that TMC1
and the related protein TMC2 are critical for hearing, ending a rigorous 30-year search by scientists.
a mutation in the TMC1 gene is sufficient to cause deafness. However, Holt's study also showed that gene therapy with TMC2 could compensate for loss of a functional TMC1 gene,
restoring hearing in the recessive deafness model and partial hearing in the dominant deafness model."
"This is a great example of how the basic science can lead to clinical therapies, "says Holt."
and can ultimately challenge, the burden of deafness in humans. The results are testament to the immense dedication of the research team
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