#Nanoparticles used to prevent inflammatory acne through slow-released nitric oxide GW researcher and dermatologist, Adam Friedman, M d,
and prevent acne through nanotechnology. This research, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, identified that the nanoparticles were effective at killing Proprionobacterium acnes,
the gram positive bacteria associated with acne, and even more importantly, they inhibited the damaging inflammation that result in the large,
painful lesions associated with inflammatory acne.""Our understanding of acne has changed dramatically in the last 15-20 years,
"said Friedman, associate professor of dermatology at the GW School of medicine and Health Sciences and co-author of the study."
"Inflammation is really the driving force behind all types of acne. In this paper, we provide an effective a way to kill the bacterium that serves as a stimulus for Acne without using an antibiotic,
and demonstrate the means by which nitric oxide inhibits newly recognized pathways central to the formation of a pimple,
present in the skin even before you can see the acne.""While the body makes nitric oxide for many purposes, its impact,
such as anti-inflammatory effects, are lived short. Because nitric oxide interacts with its environment so quickly and is active for only a few seconds,
it was crucial to find a way to release nitric oxide over time to be used effectively.
Friedman and his research team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and University of California Los angeles explored the mechanisms by
which the nanoparticles could be a new way to tackle Acne, one of the most common dermatologic diseases affecting between 40-50 million people each year.
Acne develops due to an inappropriate immune system response to various factors, including bacteria on the skin such as P. acnes.
The focus of this study was on a new pathway that was highlighted recently by the team at UCLA,
involving what is known as an inflammasome, responsible for the activation of the inflammatory process in Acne."
"Many current medications focus only on one or two part of this process,"said Friedman.""By killing the bacterium and blocking multiple components of the inflammasome,
this approach may lead to better treatment options for acne sufferers, and possibly treatments for other inflammatory skin conditions
"Those tornadoes result in approximately 80 deaths and 1, 500 injuries each year. Our goal was to develop new technology that would help protect individuals against the impact of debris during natural disasters,
#HIV uses immune system's own tools to suppress it The study's goal was to determine how HIV manages to compromise antiviral responses in the initial period of infection,
also called the acute infection stage, during which the virus establishes itself in the body.
The acute infection is considered a critical period in determining the complexity, extent and progression of the disease.
It is also during this stage that HIV establishes latent infection in long-lasting cellular reservoirs.
represent the primary barrier to a cure.""An important component in this process is a group of proteins collectively called type 1 Interferons,
which are the immune system's first line of defence against viral infections and are known to have a beneficial role in the early stages of HIV infection,
"says Dr. Cohen, Director of the Human Retrovirology research unit at the IRCM.""The problem is that HIV has developed mechanisms to suppress the Interferon response and, until now,
"Most of the Interferon is produced by a very small population of immune cells called pdcs (plasmacytoid dendritic cells), responsible for providing immediate defence against infections.
when they recognize the presence of a pathogen, they secrete Interferon. The Interferon then triggers a large array of defence mechanisms in nearby cells, creating an antiviral state that prevents the dissemination and, ultimately,
and leads to persistent infection, "adds Dr. Bego.""We found that HIV, through Vpu, takes advantage of the role played by BST2 by maintaining its ability to activate ILT7 and limit the production of Interferon,
""The hope for a definitive cure and an effective vaccine has been frustrated by HIV's endless propensity to subvert the host's defences
despite antiretroviral therapy,"describes Dr. Cohen, who also leads Cancure, a team of leading Canadian researchers working towards an HIV cure."
"Our findings can provide tools to enhance antiviral responses during the early stages of infection.
By blocking Vpu's action, we could prevent early viral expansion and dissemination, while also allowing pdcs to trigger effective antiviral responses.
We believe that such interventions during primary infection have the potential to limit the establishment and complexity of viral reservoirs,
or wiped out during early periods of infection, will bring us closer to ending HIV/AIDS,
this new study will advance research for an HIV cure
#Metal foams capable of shielding X-rays, gamma rays, neutron radiation Research shows lightweight composite metal foams are effective at blocking X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation,
The finding means metal foams hold promise for use in nuclear safety, space exploration and medical technology applications."
Better, cheaper and more effective drugs to combat cancer, arthritis and many other disorders. This is the result of a ground-breaking new technique developed by a group of researchers from the Faculty of health and Medical sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
The method can improve a large number of so-called glycoprotein-based pharmaceuticals used to treat a variety of diseases.
The technique has recently been described in one of the world's most distinguished scientific journals
the protein must be provided with a special sugar structure for enhanced therapeutic effect and duration.
Longer-lasting and improved therapeutic effect and not least, faster and cheaper production.""We have seen previously examples of optimised sugar structures making pharmaceuticals up to a hundred times more effective.
One example is antibodies for cancer patients, which--by the way--is a very expensive form of therapy,
"says Zhang Yang g
#Simulations lead to design of near-frictionless material While reviewing the simulation results of a promising new lubricant material,
#'Cancer Driver Gene'reduces metastasis in prostate cancer A gene that is responsible for cancer growth plays a totally unexpected role in prostate cancer.
and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institiute for Cancer Research (LBI-CR) discovered a missing link for an essential role of Stat3
and IL-6 signalling in prostate cancer progression. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is an important cytokine that controls the cell survival and tumor growth.
Hyperactive IL-6 may support cancer growth particularly as it controls STAT3, which was shown to have an oncogenic role in most tumours.
Many therapies are designed therefore to suppress IL-6 or STAT3. But the situation is different in prostate cancer.
Lukas Kenner's research group has shown that, contrary to expectations; active STAT3 suppresses cell growth in prostate tumours.
It activates the gene p14arf, which blocks cell division and thus inhibits tumour growth.""Using knockout mice,
which are preclinical model organisms, we can link IL-6/Stat3 signalling to ARF, an important gene for cell cycle control and decisions to grow or to arrest.
These findings have consequences for prostate cancer metastasis, "explained Jan Pencik, a Phd fellow in the lab, headed by Lukas Kenner.
For this reason, STAT3 and p14arf are suited ideally to act as biomarkers for the prognosis of this disease.
As only about 10%of patients with prostate cancer die from the disease, this can help to prevent unnecessary therapeutic interventions with severe side effects such as incontinence and impotence.
A noninvasive nuclear medical test based on these findings might soon be able to replace the painful removal of tissue samples to be examined.
Receptor blockers can enhance prostate cancer The reversed role of interleukin 6 as an inhibitor of prostate cancer has an additional significance.
Blockade of interleukin 6 is used to treat other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. According to Kenner, this means that therapies that block the IL-6 pathway may enhance the growth of prostate cancer.
Thus, the drug that is used to treat inflammatory disease may exacerbate malignancies.""Applying IL-6/Stat3 blockers to clinical practice might be dangerous for patients with cancerous lesions,
further studies are mandatory to assess the possibility of increased cancer risk right now, "says coauthor of this study, Helmut Dolznig, also from the Medical University of Vienna.
The study was financed mainly by the LBI-CR and the FWF. These results have just been published in the distinguished scientific journal Nature Communications s
#Device keeps donor livers healthy outside the body until transplant The technique and device are part of a Phase 1 clinical trial at Toronto General Hospital (TGH),
University Health Network assessing the safety of the device, with subsequent phases examining its efficacy.
who was able to walk around the unit two days after his transplant. Mills says he was happy to volunteer to become the first patient to receive a liver that was improved by the new technology."
We will know how healthy that organ is before the transplant operation, "says Dr. Markus Selzner, a transplant surgeon in the Multi-Organ transplant Program at TGH,
co-investigator of the clinical trial and the transplant surgeon who performed the donor operation.
Dr. Selzner is also a clinician-scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute who modified the Steen preservation solution used in the device at TGH
The new preservation solution decreases inflammation and protects the liver from injury. The liver is the second organ in the body
The medical device encloses the liver in a sterile environment, circulating oxygenated blood and nutrients into the liver at body temperature, allowing it to improve
"says Dr. David Grant, Surgical Director of the Multi-Organ transplant Program, co-investigator of the clinical trial who also transplanted the donor liver,
which had been placed on the medical device, into the recipient.""This new technology can help us answer critical questions such as,
and predict organ function before the transplant occurs?'"'"Dr. Grant also praised the strong support and efforts of Trillium Gift of Life,
which coordinates organ and tissue donation across Ontario, in helping to ensure that the transplant team could begin their clinical trials with this new technique.
The technique of warm organ perfusion outside the body was pioneered by the Toronto Lung Transplant Program at TGH in 2008 by Drs.
Since 2012, there has been unprecedented an 28%increase in lung transplants at TGH as a result of this system.
500 patients waiting for a transplant in Ontario. More than 200 of these wait for a liver,
chair of the Canadian Pediatric & Perinatal AIDS Research Group (CPARG) which runs the CPHSP.
"Women who receive combination antiretroviral therapy (cart) during pregnancy do not pass HIV on to their baby.
preventing the disease in infants as well as opportunities to improve care. They determined which populations are at greatest risk
and how public health officials are working with those groups. Since the 1990s about half of women with HIV delivering babies in Canada were born foreign.
Aboriginal women and women who use injection drugs were also at greater risk of having HIV in pregnancy
"The database has allowed us to assess the national burden of HIV infection through vertical transmission throughout the HIV/AIDS epidemic
"said Joel Singer, professor in the School of Population and Public health at UBC, who is presenting at IAS 2015."
"The researchers say this recent success stems largely from public health initiatives to ensure women in these high-risk populations are tested
and infants is to engage hard-to-reach populations in health care and allow them to access prenatal care,
#Long-sought discovery fills in missing details of cell'switchboard'A biomedical breakthrough, published in the journal Nature, reveals never-before-seen details of the human body's cellular switchboard that regulates sensory and hormonal responses.
and effective drugs with fewer side effects to treat conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and even some types of cancer.
"This work has tremendous therapeutic implications, "Benovic said.""The study is a critical first step and provides key insight into the structural interactions in these protein complexes."
#Discovery about brain protein causes rethink on development of Alzheimer's disease Researchers at the University of Melbourne have discovered that a protein involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease also has properties that could be helpful for human health.
The discovery helps researchers better understand the complicated brain chemistry behind the development of Alzheimer's disease, a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of Australians.
Researchers have been interested intensely in the role of beta-amyloid in the development of Alzheimer's disease. This is because clumps of the protein are formed in brains of people with the illness.
In the late 1990s, high levels of copper were discovered within these clumps. Copper is essential to health,
Many scientists began to suspect that this copper might be contributing to the disease. They found that beta-amyloid can bind to copper indiscriminately
"So far, therapies aimed at lowering the production of beta amyloid have shown only a modest ability to slow cognitive decline
and the number of people affected by the Alzheimer's disease continues to grow. Dr Drew and the team from Poland are now working to develop a method for identifying the copper-bound form of the short beta amyloid in the body.
and how this may change in aging and disease.""If a beneficial role in copper balance can be established,
"As the amount of beta amyloid in the brain increases during Alzheimer's disease, the shorter form can also clump together
PCR is used in the early diagnosis of hereditary and infectious diseases, and for analysis of ancient DNA samples of mummies and mammoths.
so it can be used in biomedical applications. For their experiments, the researchers used thin films of gold that were 120 nanometers thick,
#New cancer marker identified; possible therapeutic target for breast cancer A new way to detect --and perhaps treat--one of the deadliest types of breast cancer has been found.
Led by researchers at Boston University School of medicine (BUSM), the study appears online in Breast cancer Research. Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer
"which means it is not responsive to the common medical therapeutics. BLBC is more likely to metastasize
Researchers from BUSM and the University of Cyprus compared the markers on the surface of the cancer cells to gene expression profile of breast tumors deposited by researchers in international public databases
they found that the tumor growth was significantly slower in models. Furthermore, models that received the altered cancer cells had very small or no metastasis to the lungs,
which suggested that IL13RA2 was involved in cancer growth and spread.""This discovery offers a glimmer of hope for patients stricken with BLBC.
Personalized cancer therapies could be developed by targeting breast cancer cells that express copious levels of IL13RA2,
"explained corresponding author Sam Thiagalingam, Phd, associate professor of genetics & genomics, medicine and pathology & laboratory medicine at BUSM.
Other deadly cancers, including brain, pancreatic, ovarian, and colonic cancers also can have high levels of IL13RA2
which suggests its importance.""Studies directed at this biomarker will be of high significance to improve the quality of life of all cancer patients harboring this alteration,"added Thiagalingam.
While this is hopeful news for some patients, more research is needed to further understand not only IL13RA2, but other molecules in breast cancers that may guide diagnosis, prognosis,
and ultimately drug development and therapy y
#Paper Test Quickly Detects Ebola, Dengue, And Yellow fever Researchers in the US have developed a silver nanoparticle-based paper test to simultaneously detect dengue, yellow fever and Ebola.
This could provide a cheap and reliable diagnosis for all three diseases, that as quick as a home pregnancy test.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa underscores an urgent need for rapid diagnostics; quick identification and patient isolation can benefit the sick and the healthy.
However, dengue, yellow fever and Ebola all initially manifest as a fever and headache, so are mixed easily up.
Now, this huge problem has a tiny solution an 8×3cm lateral flow test. Lee Gehrke and his team at the Massachusetts institute of technology and Harvard Medical school adapted the traditional single marker lateral flow test to diagnose several diseases at once.
It costs $2, takes 10 minutes, and there is no need for a power supply, trained specialist or expensive equipment.
The test is made from strips of paper containing antibodies attached to triangular silver nanoparticles of varying size according to the disease they recognize
and bind to. Silver nanoparticles appear as different colours according to their size, so when a patient serum sample migrates through the device,
distinctive colored lines appear on the paper to indicate positive results for Ebola, dengue or yellow fever.
This pattern of lines can be analysed by eye but the team are also working on a mobile phone application to aid diagnosis. n app could be very useful for diseases that are mosquito-spread,
says Gehrke. t adds a date and geographical stamp to the test results so the spread of disease can be followed in real-time.
Warren Chan, an expert in nanomaterials-based diagnostics at the University of Toronto in Canada
hey have solved the immense problem of detecting multiple disease targets at the same time. The next step will be to clinically validate the technology.
One South Boston restaurant added the hashtag##cabin fever#to its Twitter messages. The area's deepest snowfall on Sunday was the 20 inches (50 cm) recorded in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
It will only be available in the Ebola Treatment Units, not the hospitals,"Sakoba Keita,
The epidemic has killed nearly 9, 000 people over the last year, mainly in the three worst-affected West african nations.
#Britain Votes to Allow World's First"3-Parent"IVF Babies By Kate Kellandlondon (Reuters)- Britain on Tuesday became the first country to allow a"three-parent"IVF technique which doctors
say will prevent some inherited incurable diseases but which critics see as a step towards creating designer babies.
It is designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases, incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,
The vote paves the way for a medical world first for Britain, but one that is fiercely disputed by some religious groups and other critics.
brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA is separate from DNA found in the cell nucleus and does not affect human characteristics such as hair or eye color, appearance or personality traits."
the choice to become a mother without fear of passing on a lifetime under the shadow of mitochondrial disease to their child,"Robert Meadowcroft,
chief executive of the Muscular dystrophy Campaign, said following the Vote in an open letter to lawmakers, 11 international campaign groups, including the U s. United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation,
described the condition as"unimaginably cruel.""""It strips our children of the skills they have learned,
referring to Cameron's son Ivan who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy and died aged six in 2009.
Critics say the technique will lead to the creation of genetically modified"designer babies"however,
a 68-year-Old south Korean man developed a cough and fever. He visited four health facilities seeking treatment
and inadvertently triggered the biggest outbreak of Middle east Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outside that region, and what is verging on national panic at home.
More than half of South korea's infections have been traced to a hospital in Pyeongtaek city, 65 km (40 miles) southwest of Seoul, where the man shared a room with another patient."
and it appears that more infections took place as he went out of the room for checks,
an infectious disease specialist advising the government. Others became infected at three of the four health facilities the man visited,
Officials have not identified the hospitals where MERS patients are being treated, but the Pyeongtaek facility has been shut
A nurse there said there was a lack of knowledge about the virus when the man was hospitalized.
His visit to us was just unavoidable exposure to other people in the hospital,"the nurse,
When the man was admitted at another hospital, where he was diagnosed finally, he at first only told staff he had visited Bahrain,
"We reported him to the disease control center but because he went to Bahrain, which was all we knew at that time,
"said an official at the hospital where he was diagnosed on May 20, who also declined to be identified."
He is in hospital in China. As of Wednesday, the index patient was on a respirator in a government-designated hospital.
most of the MERS infections in South korea came from the health facilities the index patient visited. x
#Injectable Brain Implant Spies on Individual Neurons A simple injection is now all it takes to wire up a brain.
The implant has the potential to unravel the workings of the mammalian brain in unprecedented detail. think it great,
the soft mesh might even be used in humans to treat conditions such as Parkinson disease, says Charles Lieber, a chemist at Harvard university on Cambridge, Massachusetts,
but the use of brain implants is limited currently by several disadvantages. So far, even the best technologies have been composed of relatively rigid electronics that act like sandpaper on delicate neurons.
would like to see more evidence of the implant long-term compatibility with the body, he says.
it could potentially treat brain damage caused by a stroke, as well as Parkinson disease. Lieber team is funded not by the US govern ment US$4. 5-billion Brain research through advancing innovative neurotechnologies (BRAIN INITIATIVE,
launched in 2013, but the work points to the power of that effort multidisciplinary approach,
Then within 24 hours or so of an infection or injury, they start to take these structures apart."
This unexpected insight could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, gout and a host of other ailments,
June 30 (Reuters)- The World health organization on Tuesday declared Cuba the first country in the world to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to child.
In 2013, only two children in Cuba were born with HIV and five with syphilis, the statement said."
The PAHO and WHO credited Cuba with offering women early access to prenatal care, HIV and syphilis testing,
The two organizations began an effort to end congenital transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba and other countries in The americas in 2010.
a neurobiological Oz crewing our bodies and minds from behind the scenes with unique biology and unique pathologies.
When exposed to foreign bacteria, viruses, tumors, and transplant tissue, the body stirs up a torrent of immune activity:
white blood cells devour invading pathogens and burst compromised cells; antibodies tag outsiders for destruction. Except, that is, in the brain.
Thought to be too vulnerable to host an onslaught of angry defensive cells, the brain was assumed to be protected from this immune cascade.
meaning it can tolerate the introduction of outside pathogens and tissues. The central nervous system was seen as existing separately from the peripheral immune system,
In most parts of the body, antigens molecules on pathogens or foreign tissue that alert our immune system to potential threats are presented to white blood cells in our the lymph nodes causing an immune response.
namely how the immune system contributes to neurological and psychiatric disease. t early to speculate, says Kipnis,
ut I think that alteration in these vessels may affect disease progression in those neurological disorders with a prominent immune component, such as multiple sclerosis, autism and Alzheimer disease."
"For example MS, at least in some cases, is thought to result from autoimmune activity in response to an infection in the central nervous system and cerebrospinal fluid.
and that somehow improving their patency might help rid the brain of the pathologic protein.
Other recent work by Kipnis and colleagues found that an injury to the central nervous system results in a strong activation of T-cells in the deep cervical lymph nodes.
A similar scenario may be at work in other neurological conditions; that too much or too little drainage from the central nervous system to the immune system might contribute to brain disease.
If so, Kipnis feels targeting the vessels with drugs, genetic manipulation and surgery are therapeutic approaches worth pursuing.
Dr. Josep Dalmau, a neurology professor at the University of Pennsylvania not involved with the new study, agrees that the new findings could help to explain the initiation, maintenance,
and perhaps worsening of autoimmune disorders that affect the brain; and also that in light of the new findings the textbooks might need some revising t has become increasingly clear that the central nervous system is immune different rather than immune privileged,
Abnormal immune activity was reported in schizophrenia in the 1930s, and numerous mental and neurologic illnesses are known
or thought to have an immune component. However that Kipnisgroup identified a tangible, anatomical structure facilitating this relationship suggests that the brain
#This Injectable Brain Implant Can Record and Stimulate Individual Neurons For those who need them most,
brain implants have made inspiring strides in recent years. One implant eases the involuntary tremors associated with Parkinson disease.
Another allows completely paralyzed patients to manipulate robotic arms. This is amazing stuffut it only a rough draft of the future.
Most implants are still sizable relative to the brain, many are rigid, and all require invasive surgery.
A new approach aims to change all that by swapping out flat implants with an injectable electronic mesh.
In a recent paper, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology a team of Harvard researchers describe the creation of a flexible nanowire mesh with nanoscale electrodes
The team has tested 16-component implants on mice. They recorded and stimulated individual neurons, and found no indication of an immune responsehat is did,
The potential power of less-invasive, more targeted brain implants and interfaces is significant. On the one hand, just as brain imaging technology has deepened our understanding of how the brain works,
implants measuring neurons in vivo can make that picture even more detailed and complete. Such research may provide valuable insights into the causes of brain disease and how the brain processes informationpening the door for reverse engineering certain processes in computers,
to make them more efficient and, when practical, to allow them to think creatively and make sense of the world more like us.
better brain implants may prove powerful therapeutic toolshether easing the symptoms of Parkinson or restoring a degree of freedom to those suffering paralysis. And more.)
And of course, the less invasive, the better. As the risk profile decreases, the technology will make sense for more patients.
Naam calls this the DOS era for brain implants. But as devices shrink, become less invasive
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