#Medical diagnosis: Will brain palpation soon be possible? If there is one technique used by the physician to explore the human body during every medical examination
in order to make a diagnosis or prescribe further tests, it is palpation. By its nature, however, the brain cannot be palpated without using a highly invasive procedure (craniotomy,
"Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound")have developed just a noninvasive brain imaging method using MRI that provides the same information as physical palpation.
Ultimately, it could be used in the early diagnosis of brain tumours or Alzheimer's disease. This work is published in PNAS.
Many diseases involve structural changes in tissues which are reflected in a change in their mechanical properties, such as elasticity.
something that greatly complicates the work of neurosurgeons. On the other hand, the brain is the seat of natural vibrations created by the blood pulsating in the arteries and the circulating cerebrospinal fluid.
"Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and hydrocephalus involve changes in the stiffness of the brain tissues. This new technique allows their detection,
and could be used to avoid brain biopsies.""This method for palpating the brain could have other areas of application,
such as for analysing the development of neurodegenerative processes, the impact of a lesion from a trauma or tumour, response to treatment, etc e
'Complex array of mutations found in rare, aggressive leukemia Sezary syndrome (SS), an aggressive leukemia of mature T cells, is complicated more at a molecular level than ever suspected, according to investigators from the Perelman School of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
With a poor prognosis and limited options for targeted therapies, fighting SS needs new treatment approaches.
The team's results uncover a previously unknown, complex genomic landscape of this cancer, which can be used to design new personalized drug regimens for SS patients based on their unique genetic makeup.
Sezary syndrome is a rare condition: Its incidence is estimated to be about 0. 3-2 cases per 100,000 in the United states each year,
and those patients have a five-year survival rate of less than 30 percent. Penn Medicine has the one of the largest referral clinics for treatment of SS patients in the country.
The team integrated three, complementary gene sequencing approaches to look for mutations in tumor cells from SS patients:
whole-genome sequencing in six subjects, sequencing of all protein-coding regions (exomes) in 66 subjects,
drugs that are approved currently for treatment of other hematologic cancers such as polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis."
These results highlight the genetic vulnerabilities that we can use in designing precision medicine therapies."
"The Penn team, in collaboration with Alain Rook, MD, director of the Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma Program and a professor of Dermatology, aims to develop a molecular taxonomy for mutations in SS patients.
From this, they will also be able to identify distinct subsets of the disease to stratify patients for precision therapy based on their unique mutations and the inhibitors available for those mutations s
#Scientists pave way for diamonds to trace early cancers Physicists from the University of Sydney have devised a way to use diamonds to identify cancerous tumours before they become life threatening.
synthetic version of the precious gem can light up early-stage cancers in nontoxic, noninvasive Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Targeting cancers with tailored chemicals is not new but scientists struggle to detect where these chemicals go since,
short of a biopsy, there are few ways to see if a treatment has been taken up by a cancer.
Led by Professor David Reilly from the School of Physics researchers from the University investigated how nanoscale diamonds could help identify cancers in their earliest stages."
"We knew nano diamonds were of interest for delivering drugs during chemotherapy because they are largely nontoxic and non-reactive,
"By attaching hyperpolarised diamonds to molecules targeting cancers the technique can allow tracking of the molecules'movement in the body,
and target cancers long before they become life-threatening, "says Professor Reilly. The next stage of the team's work involves working with medical researchers to test the new technology on animals.
Also on the horizon is research using scorpion venom to target brain tumours with MRI scanning g
#3d image of cancer protein aids quest for new treatments Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have created the first three-dimensional image of a key protein known to be involved in the development of blood and other cancers.
The discovery showed the protein, called Trib1, plays a vital role in controlling how and when other proteins are degraded,
The finding could be used to develop new drugs to treat cancers such as leukaemia, caused by malfunctioning of the Trib1 protein.
causing a type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Institute researchers Dr James Murphy and Dr Isabelle Lucet, in collaboration with Dr Peter Mace from the University of Otago, New zealand, characterised the human Tribbles protein Trib1.
and can lead to diseases such as cancer.""Using the Australian Synchrotron, Dr Mace, Dr Murphy and colleagues were able to obtain detailed three-dimensional images of Trib1."
which will provide critical clues for developing drugs that target Trib1 to treat cancers.""Lead investigator Dr Mace said Trib1 acted as a scaffold to bring many proteins together,
our research could help us design novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of AML, "Dr Mace said."
which causes a loss of proteins that would normally inhibit cancer. Understanding the structure of Trib1 provides critical clues about how we could block Tribbles for the treatment of AML."
Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical center designed a new delivery system for these drugs that,
Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. While current HIV treatments involve pills that are taken daily, the new regimens'long-lasting effects suggest that HIV treatment could be administered perhaps once or twice per year.
thereby prolonging its therapeutic effect.""The chemical marriage between URMC-099 and antiretroviral drug nanoformulations could increase drug longevity,
"We are excited about pursing this research for the treatment and eradication of HIV infections.""The two therapies were tested together in laboratory experiments using human immune cells
and in mice that were engineered to have a human immune system. Gendelman and Gelbard believe that the nanoformulation technology helps keep the protease inhibitor in white blood cells longer
Gelbard, director of UR's Center for Neural development and Disease, developed URMC-099 to treat HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders or HAND,
as any patient prescribed URMC-099 would also be taking antiretroviral therapy. The goal was to determine
"Our ultimate hope is that we're able to create a therapy that could be given much less frequently than the daily therapy that is required today,
reduce side effects and help people manage the disease, because they won't have to think about taking medication every day
the result is a potentially fatal arrhythmia. Now, a team of researchers from Oxford and Stony Brook universities has found a way to precisely control these waves--using light.
'When there is scar tissue in the heart or fibrosis, this can cause part of the wave to slow down.
This ideal therapy has remained in the realm of science fiction until now.''The team stresses that there are significant hurdles before this could offer new treatments--a key issue is being able to alter the heart to be light-sensitised
However, as gene therapy moves into the clinic and with miniaturization of optical devices, use of this all-optical technology may become possible.
The findings, published in JAMA Neurology, identify structural damage between the thalamus and primary motor cortex as the obstacle between covert awareness and intentional movement.
will pave the way for the development of restorative therapies for thousands of patients. Dr Davinia Fernández-Espejo
""However, before we take the crucial step of developing targeted therapies to help these patients,
Dr Fernández-Espejo added,"The ultimate aim is to use this information in targeted therapies that can drastically improve the quality of life of patients.
"Though it may be a number of years before an effective therapy is developed, the team believe that a significant milestone has been reached with the discovery e
especially mutations, has become critically important for the detection of diseases and design of therapies to treat them.
But finding a specific biomarker in a massive amount of genetic code is hard. Zhang and his team at Rice's Bioscience Research Collaborative have become specialists in finding such needles in haystacks.
"In one of many successful tests, the lab designed molecules to detect mutation sequences in historic biopsy samples preserved in wax from cancer patients.
One of the researchers'goals is to design noninvasive cancer diagnostics that detect DNA biomarkers in blood samples for early screening and early recurrence detection.
and apply it to cancer detection n
#New approach toward a broad spectrum malaria vaccine Malaria affects millions of people worldwide. Plasmodium falciparum enolase participates in parasite invasion of host red blood cells and mosquito midgut epithelium.
Anti-enolase antibodies interfere with the invasion, inhibiting parasite growth and transmission. A pentapeptide insert of parasite enolase, conserved in all Plasmodia species,
shows considerable protection against malaria when displayed on Archaeal gas vesicle nanoparticles. A vaccine based on this motif could confer protection against all malaria parasites.
In a recent breakthrough to combat malaria, a collaboration of Indian and American scientists have identified a malarial parasite protein that can be used to develop antibodies
when displayed on novel nanoparticles. This approach has the potential to prevent the parasite from multiplying in the human host
The finding points towards developing a powerful malaria vaccine in the hope of eradicating this debilitating and often fatal disease.
Malaria takes a heavy toll on human lives. About half a million people die every year and several hundred million suffer from this disease across the globe.
To add to the disease burden, the malaria parasite is increasingly becoming resistant to commonly used antimalarial drugs.
Development of an antimalarial vaccine is an integral part of an effort to counter the socioeconomic burden of malaria.
Researchers in the malaria labs at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR Mumbai, India, have identified now a five amino acid segment of a Plasmodium parasite protein that is normally involved in producing energy from glucose.
Work from Prof. Gotam Jarori's lab has shown earlier that this protein, enolase, is a protective antigen
Taking this a step further, in a recently published paper in the Malaria Journal, they have shown that a small part of this protein,
and this conjugated system was used to vaccinate mice. Interestingly, a subsequent challenge with a lethal strain of mouse malaria parasite in these vaccinated animals showed considerable protection against malaria.
Says Prof. Dassarma, Phd, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the school,"GVNPS offer a designer platform for vaccines
and this work is a significant step forward towards a new malaria vaccine.""This study is a significant advance in the field,
since most other vaccine candidate molecules tested so far confer protection against only a single species of parasite, due to the species and strain specific nature of these molecules."
"The small segment of five amino acids that forms a protective epitope is present in all human malaria causing species of Plasmodium and hence,
antibodies directed against it are likely to protect against all species of the parasite, "says Sneha Dutta,
Efforts are focused now at developing this into an effective vaccine against malaria a
#Turning up the heat: Holey metamaterials enhance thermal energy harvesting It's estimated that the U s. fails to use more than half of the energy it generates--mostly
An abnormally high or low white blood count, for instance, might indicate a bone marrow pathology or AIDS.
The rupturing of white blood cells might be the sign of an underlying microbial or viral infection.
Strangely shaped cells often indicate cancer. While this old, simple technique may seem a quaint throwback in the age of high-technology health care tools like genetic sequencing
flow cytometry and fluorescent tagging, the high cost and infrastructure requirements of these techniques largely limit them to laboratory settings--something point-of-care diagnostics aims to fix.
Her research involves translating molecular imaging research to point-of-care diagnostics--describes the fluorescence microscope system this week in a paper published in Biomedical Optics Express, from The Optical Society.
#Gene could hold key to treating Parkinson's disease Researchers at King's college London have identified a new gene linked to nerve function,
which could provide a treatment target for'switching off'the gene in people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's disease affects approximately 7-10 million people worldwide and is characterized by progressive loss of motor function, psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairment.
Current treatments for Parkinson's only treat symptoms of the disease rather than its underlying causes,
so these new findings in fruit flies could lead to novel preventative treatments if replicated in humans.
play an important role in a number of diseases that affect the nervous system, including Parkinson's.
nerve function in flies with Parkinson's disease was restored. By deactivating the HIFALPHA gene the early failure of nerve cells caused by mitochondrial damage was prevented.
An identical effect was observed in flies with Leigh syndrome, a rare neurological disorder caused by a severe mitochondrial defect,
Dr Joseph Bateman from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (Ioppn) at King's college London, said:'
'Like their human counterparts flies with Parkinson's disease progressively lose motor function, which includes a negative impact on their ability to climb.
Their findings, published in Neurosurgery, lend hope to patients around the world with neurological conditions that are difficult to treat due to a barrier mechanism that prevents approximately 98 percent of drugs from reaching the brain and central nervous system."
"We are developing a platform that may eventually be used to deliver a variety of drugs to the brain,
"Although we are currently looking at neurodegenerative disease, there is potential for the technology to be expanded to psychiatric diseases, chronic pain,
seizure disorders and many other conditions affecting the brain and nervous system down the road.""Using nasal mucosal grafting,
a therapeutic protein in testing for treating Parkinson's disease, to the brains of mice. They showed through behavioral
and histological data capture that their delivery method was equivalent to direct injection of GDNF--the current gold standard for delivering this drug in Parkinson's disease despite its traumatic nature and high complication rates--in diffusing drugs to the brain.
because the therapy has been shown to delay and even reverse disease progression of Parkinson's disease in preclinical models.
"Brain diseases are notoriously difficult to treat due to the natural protections the body builds against intrusion,
and we look forward to the next stage of research to further test its utility in people with Parkinson's disease."
"Nasal mucosal grafting is a technique regularly used in the ENT field to reconstruct the barrier around the brain after surgery to the skull base.
ENT surgeons commonly use endoscopic approaches to remove brain tumors through the nose by making a window through the blood-brain barrier to access the brain.
with the nasal lining protecting the brain from infection just as the blood brain barrier has done. Dr. Bleier saw an opportunity to apply these techniques to the widespread clinical dilemma of delivering drugs across the barrier to the brain and central nervous system.
surgeons may create a"screen door"to allow for drug delivery to the brain and central nervous system. The technique has the potential to benefit a large population of patients with neurodegenerative disorders,
where there remains a specific unmet need for blood-brain penetrating therapeutic delivery strategies.""We see this expanding beyond Parkinson's disease,
as there are multiple diseases of the brain that do not have good therapeutic options, "Dr. Bleier said."
"It is a platform that opens doors for new discovery and could enable drug development for an underserved population
#Internal fingerprint sensor peers inside fingertips for more surefire ID In the 1971 film Diamonds are Forever,
The researchers report their results in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, from The Optical Society (OSA."
Cardiac experts find novel approach to treat heart failure A teenage girl faced with sudden rapid heart deterioration,
a man in the prime years of his life suffering from debilitating heart failure and a former NFL athlete crippled by end-stage heart failure were treated all successfully with a surgical approach pioneered by cardiac experts at University of California, San diego School of medicine.
The work, recently published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, demonstrated significant benefits of implanting a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in the right atrium to provide better blood flow through the lungs,
giving complete biventricular circulatory support and fully replacing the heart's function. An LVAD is a small mechanical pump traditionally placed inside the left ventricle--one of four chambers of the heart,
and death for a person waiting for a transplant or suffering from advanced heart failure.""An LVAD relieves symptoms,
or short of breath in patients with advanced heart disease,"said Victor Pretorius, MBCHB, lead author of the report and surgical director of cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support at UC San diego Health."
"The caveat is that the LVAD still depends on the right side of the patient's heart to function optimally,
Two of three patients in the study received successful heart transplants after receiving right-sided circulatory support
and hope,"said Eric Adler, MD, co-auther of the report and director of cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support at UC San diego Health.
""This opens up huge possibilities for the future including the development of technology you can control with your mind as well as enabling the development of methods for helping those with paralysis to have direct brain control to the affected areas
#New computational strategy finds brain tumor-shrinking molecules Patients with glioblastoma, a type of malignant brain tumor,
usually survive fewer than 15 months following diagnosis . Since there are no effective treatments for the deadly disease, University of California,
San diego researchers developed a new computational strategy to search for molecules that could be developed into glioblastoma drugs.
In mouse models of human glioblastoma, one molecule they found shrank the average tumor size by half.
whose binding is essential for the tumor's survival and growth. This study is the first to demonstrate successful inhibition of this type of protein,
Phd, research scientist at UC San diego Moores Cancer Center, as well as the San diego Supercomputer Center and Department of Neurosciences at UC San diego."
and created a new strategy for drug design--one that we expect many other researchers will immediately begin implementing in the development of drugs that target similar proteins, for the treatment of a variety of diseases."
leading to quick-growing tumors. In order to work, transcription factors must buddy up, with two binding to each other and to DNA at same time.
They then tested the molecules for their ability to kill glioblastoma tumors in the Moores Cancer Center lab of the study's senior author
The most effective of these candidate drug molecules, called SKOG102, shrank human glioblastoma tumors grown in mouse models by an average of 50 percent."
"While the initial preclinical findings are cautioned promising, "Kesari, "it will be several years before a potential glioblastoma therapy can be tested in humans.
SKOG102 must first undergo detailed pharmacodynamic, biophysical and mechanistic studies in order to better understand its efficacy and possible toxicity."
#World first lab-in-a-briefcase Academics at Loughborough University hope to boost early detection rates of cancer in developing countries with their portable lab-in-a-briefcase that can operate even at high temperatures.
Believed to be the first kit of its kind dedicated to the portable measurement of cancer biomarkers,
The number of people dying from cancer in developing countries is on the increase, partly due to steadily ageing populations
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for over 8 million deaths per year,
and 70%of the world's cancer deaths occur in Africa, Asia and Central and South america.
The number of new cancer cases is expected to rise by 70%over the next two decades 1. With the help of his Research Associate Ana Isabel Barbosa,
A new affordable and disposable microfluidic test strip--comprising of tiny tubes about the size of a human hair--is used specifically for the quick measurement of different types of cancer biomarkers in a whole blood sample.
has already been used successfully by Dr Reis in a separate study that detected prostate cancer with the help of a smartphone camera.
and this is what makes it a truly life-changing concept for the screening and monitoring of different types of cancer."
boosting levels of cancer detection in developing countries where ordinarily people would not have such easy access to early diagnostics.
I envisage that our lab-in-a-briefcase could also be developed further in the future to allow for rapid testing of infectious diseases and allergens."
Although the study focused on rapid detection for prostate cancer, Dr Reis said the microfluidic test strip is versatile enough to measure several cancer biomarkers simultaneously from one whole blood sample. 1 World health organization World Cancer Report 201 1
#Detecting diabetes in a saliva sample with a smart phone With the participation of Mexican and international experts,
the device will present immediate results and will be used for diagnosis within low-income populations. A device that detects in saliva a biological indicator of a possible risk of TYPE II DIABETES is the development of a technological and scientific team of the Tec de Monterrey (Mexican University) in collaboration with the University of Houston.
What makes this development unique is that it is adaptable to the cell phone and gives results in a few seconds,
if the patient has diabetes.""It's as simple as pregnancy tests, where the specific marker shows in a few seconds,"explains project coordinator Dr. Marco Antonio Rite Palomares, director of the Biotechnology Center of the Tec de Monterrey FEMSA.
we also want to bring health care to the low-income population, helping to make and early detection before it can lead to more problems
Such sensors could also be used to monitor the effectiveness of stem cell therapies Jasanoff says."
"As stem cell therapies are developed, it's going to be necessary to have noninvasive tools that enable you to measure them,
and at least one relative, is believed also to play a role in cell division and cancer. Arrayin collaboration with Dutch colleagues, the authors now show how important VRAC is, particularly in cancer.
They investigated cell lines to determine the role played by VRAC and its subunits in the transport of cisplatin and carboplatin into the cell.
From the researchers'point of view, this goes some way into explaining why some people are resistant to some forms of cancer therapy.
Researchers led by Sven Rottenberg of the Cancer Research Centre in Amsterdam also identified LRRC8D as a relevant gene in a genome-wide screen for cellular cytostatic resistance.
They studied the genetic data of ovarian cancer patients, who had been treated with cisplatin or carboplatin, with regard to their survival time.
Arrayso, does the absence of the VRAC protein promote therapy resistances?""The data suggest that LRRC8A
By switching off LRRC8D, it will now be possible to specifically investigate physiological and pathological roles of taurine release by VRAC.
#Researchers develop 3-D printing method for creating patient-specific medical devices A team of researchers at Northeastern University has developed an innovative 3-D printing technology that uses magnetic fields to shape composite materials
The biomedical devices they are developing will be both stronger and lighter than current models and,
which means they cannot accommodate the needs of all premature babies.""With neonatal care, each baby is a different size,
such as customized miniature biomedical devices. Within a single patient-specific device, the corners, the curves,
"Another of our goals is to use calcium phosphate fibers and biocompatible plastics to design surgical implants."
#DNA in blood can track cancer development, response in real time Scientists have shown for the first time that tumour DNA shed into the bloodstream can be used to track cancers in real time as they evolve
and respond to treatment, according to a new Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Nature Communications.
Over three years, researchers at the University of Cambridge took surgical tumour samples (biopsies) and blood samples from a patient with breast cancer that had already spread to other parts of her body.
They carefully studied small fragments of DNA from dying tumour cells that are shed into the blood
comparing them with DNA from the biopsy that was taken at the same point in time. The results show that the DNA in the blood samples matched up with that from the biopsies,
reflecting the same pattern and timing of genetic changes appearing as the cancer developed and responded to treatment.
The results provide the first proof-of-principle that analysing tumour DNA in the blood can accurately monitor cancer within the body.
Study author Professor Carlos Caldas, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said:"
"This definitively shows that we can use blood-based DNA tests to track the progress of cancer in real time.
The findings could change the way we monitor patients, and may be especially important for people with cancers that are difficult to reach,
as taking a biopsy can sometimes be quite an invasive procedure.""The patient in the study had had breast cancer that already spread to a number of other organs.
The researchers--part of a collaborative team effort involving the Carlos Caldas and Nitzan Rozenfeld laboratories at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute--were even able to distinguish between the different secondary cancers
and examine how each of the tumours was responding to treatment. Professor Caldas added:""We were able to use the blood tests to map out the disease as it progressed.
We now need to see if this works in more patients and other cancer types,
but this is an exciting first step.""Dr Kat Arney, science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said:"
"Spotting tumour DNA in the bloodstream is a really promising area of research, and has the potential to give doctors valuable clues about a patient's disease without having to take repeated tumour samples."
"For now, surgical biopsies still play an important role in diagnosing and monitoring cancers. But this work gives us a window into the future,
where we'll use less invasive techniques to track the disease in real time
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