According to Intel announcement, Ticea eveloped a low-cost, easy-to-use testing device to diagnose HIV infections in low-resource communities. er invention is described as a disposable microfluidic cartridge which costs less than $5
for his research on curbing the spread of disease in aircraft cabins, and second runner-up Karan Jerath, who efined and tested a novel device that could allow an undersea oil well to rapidly
when it comes in contact with certain sexually-transmitted infections. Named. T. EYE the condom indicates
when it finds infections, such as chlamydia and syphilis. It will turn the corresponding color for whatever strain of bacteria it finds.
Pretty gross, but useful. It might be an awkward moment, but it could save a life.
and classify tumors. It pairs with a smartphone via bluetooth. The scanning results appear on the phone screen.
if any abnormalities are detected. Because women with dense breasts are at a higher risk of breast cancer,
and Australian chemists have figured out how to unboil egg whites an innovation that could dramatically reduce costs for cancer treatments, food production and other segments of the $160 billion global biotechnology industry,
Shear stress within thin, microfluidic films is applied to those tiny pieces, forcing them back into untangled,
For example, pharmaceutical companies currently create cancer antibodies in expensive hamster ovary cells that do not often misfold proteins.
and make cancer treatments more affordable. Industrial cheese makers farmers and others who use recombinant proteins could also achieve more bang for their buck.
including autism and schizophrenia. With these new findings, e now have an opportunity to investigate how gene mutations that cause
a Howard hughes medical institute investigator. e anticipate that this knowledge will suggest entirely novel approaches to treating these diseases.
Confronted with a rare and particularly difficult case of congenital heart failure, Richard Kim, MD, from the Children Hospital of Los angeles (CHLA) took a step forward
Kim patient Esther Perez was born with a ventricular septal defect (a physical hole in the wall which divides the left and right ventricles of the heart muscle) a fairly common heart condition.
The sensor reported in a proof-of-concept study in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry has the potential to eliminate finger-pricking for many people with diabetes.
Joseph Wang and colleagues in San diego note that diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Many of these patients are instructed to monitor closely their blood glucose levels to manage the disease.
The researchers conclude that the device could potentially be used for diabetes management and for other conditions such as kidney disease e
#Microfluidic device allows researchers to predict behavior of patientsblood cells Patients with sickle cell disease often suffer from painful attacks known as vaso-occlusive crises during
and Vannevar bush Professor of Engineering Emeritus have developed a tiny microfluidic device that can analyze the behavior of blood from sickle cell disease patients.
It could also help researchers test the efficacy of new drugs for sickle cell disease which occurs in about 300000 newborns per year more than 75 percent of them in Africa.
People with sickle cell disease an inherited genetic disorder have a variant form of hemoglobin that causes their red blood cells to take on a characteristic sickle shape when in low-oxygen conditions.
Disease severity varies among patients depending on how much abnormal hemoglobin is present in their cells. Sickle cells can squeeze through most blood vessels
and may lead to improved treatments for those with sickle cell disease. Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT (with footage from Ming Dao) Using this device to measure blood samples from 25 sickle cell disease patients the researchers were able to determine how deoxygenation affects red blood cellssickling rates;
their rate of getting stuck in capillaries; and how quickly they regain their usual shape
if the device can be used to reliably predict individual patientsrisk of a vaso-occlusive crisis. his technique represents a major advance to further our understanding and treatment of vaso-occlusion due to sickle cell disease.
and treating other diseases where the deformability of blood cells is affectedsays Guruswami Ravichandran a professor of aeronautics
and they also plan to pursue it as a tool to test potential new drugs for sickle cell disease.
To demonstrate the device usefulness for evaluating new drugs the researchers analyzed a drug called Aes-103 now in phase II clinical trials to treat sickle cell disease
which has cracked a code that governs infections by a major group of viruses including the common cold and polio.
and therefore prevent disease. Professor Peter Stockley Professor of Biological Chemistry in the Faculty of Biological sciences at Leeds, who led the study,
However, they are still among the most potent and damaging of infectious pathogens. Rhinovirus (which causes the common cold) accounts for more infections every year than all other infectious agents put together (about 1 billion cases),
while emergent infections such as chikungunya and tick-borne encephalitis are from the same ancient family.
Other single-stranded RNA VIRUSES include the hepatitis C virus HIV and the winter vomiting bug norovirus.
This breakthrough was the result of three stages of research. In 2012, researchers at the University of Leeds published the first observations at a single-molecule level of how the core of a single-stranded RNA VIRUS packs itself into its outer shell remarkable process
Quite naturally, stress can have a negative effect on the libido but it has been linked to delayed pregnancy success in couples highly motivated to conceive,
But what may be the molecular reasons behind lasting effects of stress on fertility? A joint team of researchers at University of California and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research have set out to answer this very question their findings were published last week on elife.
which activated under stress, could be to blame for lasting negative effects on infertility in healthy females.
the researchers were able to preserve all aspects of reproductive health in post-stress mice, thus suggesting a single molecular target that could help alleviate a range of stress-induced fertility problems. t is possible that manipulation of RFRP3 signaling in humans may relieve stress-related reproductive dysfunction,
including decreased sex drive, impaired fertility, and increased miscarriages the researchers said. Currently, as many as 630%of couples under 30 years of age are unable to conceive within 3 months of trying and 15%remain disappointed within 1 year.
which experience significant reproductive disadvantage linked to stress. Written by Egle Marija Ramanauskaite
#Robots Learn by Watching Videos Imagine having a personal robot prepare your breakfast every morning.
Successfully fighting off an infection depends on the interactions between these cells. A new device developed by MIT engineers offers a much more detailed picture of that cellular communication.
and collects data on each as they interact with each other the researchers have learned already more about how T cells major players in the immune response become activated during infection.
and study diseases in functioning human muscle outside of the human body. The study was led by Nenad Bursac associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke university
Bursac#s group is also trying to grow contracting human muscles using induced pluripotent stem cells instead of biopsied cells. here are a some diseases like Duchenne Muscular dystrophy for example that make taking muscle biopsies difficultsaid Bursac. f
The research was supported by NIH Grants R01ar055226 and R01ar065873 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin disease and UH2TR000505 from the NIH Common Fund for the Microphysiological Systems Initiative.
and are embedded by the plastic matrix. e use carbon fibers in those areas where the part undergoes intense mechanical stress;
either or both of these processes could be faulty in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
#Smart devices track hand-washing in hospitals to help reduce the spread of infection In fact,
which affected one in 25 U s. hospital patients in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A 2014 study in the Journal of Infection and Public health concluded that compliance with WHO hand-washing rules jumped 25 percent in one month when staff used Medsense in a 16-bed hospital unit at Salmaniya
In 2011, researchers at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong kong published a paper in the journal Biomed Infectious disease that found Medsense was 88 percent accurate in monitoring staff compliance with THE WHO guidelines.
#Lawrence Livermore technology could help detect diseases in commercial swine industry Agricultural officials who seek to detect diseases affecting the commercial swine industry may gain a new ally a biological detection system developed by Lawrence Livermore
A study by LLNL and Kansas State university scientists found that the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA) could help identify diseases in the commercial swine industry.
Many of the diseases affecting the commercial swine industry involve complex syndromes caused by multiple pathogens
New infectious diseases in animal food production systems can create enormous impacts that can affect domestic consumption and exports
as well as public health in the case of diseases that can move from animals to humans, the paper authors wrote.
Two examples of new diseases introduced into the swine industry include theinfluenza A virus subtype H1n1 and Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.
Two other foreign diseases, African swine fever and classical swine fever, remain constant threats to the U s. industry. he best assurance for the timely identification of known and unknown threats is to employ techniques
Currently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays represent one technology widely used for pathogen detection but typically only a handful of microorganisms can be identified in a single test.
Another method of detecting pathogens, DNA sequencing, greatly expands the number of microorganisms that can be identified,
and requires significant expertise. he LLMDA can identify co-infections from a single sample, said LLNL biologist Crystal Jaing,
The array also can identify co-infections faster and cheaper than DNA sequencing. In their paper, the authors noted that as the LLMDA technology cost decreases and throughput increases
it becomes feasible to look at microarrays as everyday tools for use in the diagnostic laboratory. he beauty of the LLMDA is that it lets you identify unknown diseases that the researcher isn looking for,
and polymicrobial. hese multiple bacteria and viruses end up in a disease syndrome. Wee looking at a complex situation
and we need the tools that can give us a comprehensive look at the disease factors involved.
oral fluid and tonsils from pigs that have co-infections of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and Porcine circovirus-2 (PCV-2). The LLMDA easily identified PRRSV and PCV-2,
Clostridium and Staphylococcus. he use of the microarray technology could help the U s. detect the emergence of foreign animal diseases at their outset to prevent major disease outbreaks,
#Discovery of a treatment to block the progression of multiple sclerosis A drug that could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis may soon be developed thanks to a discovery by a team at the CHUM Research Centre and the University of Montreal.
and they have shown that blocking this molecule could delay the onset of the disease and significantly slow its progression.
These encouraging results from in vitro tests in humans and in vivo tests in mice were published in the Annals of Neurology. e believe we have identified the first therapy that will impact the quality of life of people with multiple sclerosis by significantly reducing the disability and the disease progression
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that is characterized by paralysis, numbness, loss of vision, and gait and balance deficits that lead to chronic disability.
There is no effective cure. The disease particularly affects young adults in northern countries. In Canada, nearly 75,000 people have MS. The brain is protected normally from attacks by the blood-brain barrier.
The blood-brain barrier prevents immune cells lymphocytes from entering the central nervous system. In people with MS there is often leakage.
In 2008, Dr. Prat team identified a cell adhesion molecule, called MCAM (Melanoma Cell adhesion molecule), which plays a crucial role in dysregulation of the immune system observed in multiple sclerosis. ur studies have shown that MCAM is necessary for the migration of CD4 and CD8 across the blood-brain barrier.
If we block the interaction of MCAM with the protein to which it normally binds
we decrease the disease activity, he said. Independently, the biotechnology company Prothena Corporation plc also discovered complementary data regarding MCAM,
The results are extremely positive. e observed a decrease of approximately 50%of the disease in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE),
. What is especially significant is that we can stop the disease from the first symptoms
Later, the diseases progresses and the disability worsens, leading to the use of a cane or wheelchair.
Currently, none of the drugs available on the market affect the disease progression. Prothena has developed a potentially disease-modifying antibody, called PRX003,
which is designed, to inhibit MCAM function and thus prevent migration of destructive lymphocytes into tissue.
Prothena expects to initiate clinical trials of PRX003 in healthy volunteers by the end of June,
and anticipates a study in patients with psoriasis in 2016. Beyond psoriasis, anti-MCAM antibodies may be useful for treating a variety of diseases
including progressive forms of multiple sclerosis. Source: University of Montrea e
#Hydrogen-Powered Hycopter Drone can fly for 4 Hours on a Single Charge This month,
the Singapore-based company Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS) presented the world first hydrogen-powered, multi-rotor UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle) that uses its own structural elements to store fuel. e realized that the structures of these drones were hollow inside,
San diego School of medicine and Moores Cancer Center and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute created a model that allows them to track cellular behavior during the earliest stages of human development in real-time.
said co-senior author of the study David Cheresh, Phd, Distinguished Professor of Pathology, vice-chair for research and development and associate director for translational research at UC San diego. nd if wee ever going to use stem cells to develop new organ systems,
this new insight on the autonomic nervous system also has implications for rare inherited conditions such as neurofibromatosis,
tuberous sclerosis and Hirschsprung disease. hese observations may help to explain certain human disease syndromes in which abnormalities of the nervous system appear to be associated, for previously unclear reasons,
with vascular abnormalities, said co-senior author Evan Snyder, MD, Phd, professor and director of the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative medicine at Sanford-Burnham. urthermore, we demonstrate here that modeling human development
and disease in the lab must take into account multiple cell types in order to reflect the actual human condition.
in collaboration with scientists from the Institut Gustave Roussy and CEA, have succeeded in restoring normal activity in cells isolated from patients with the premature aging disease Cockayne syndrome.
This enzyme is overexpressed in Cockayne syndrome patient cells, and leads to mitochondrial defects, which in turn play a crucial role in the appearance of symptoms leading to aging in affected children.
Rare genetic diseases cause accelerated premature aging. To date, there is no treatment for these pathologies. Understanding the causes of premature aging diseases may also help elucidating the process of normal aging.
One such disease, Cockayne syndrome (CS), has an incidence of about 2. 5 per million births and,
in its most severe form, is associated with a life span of less than seven years. Children with Cockayne syndrome show marked signs of premature aging
such as loss of weight, hair, hearing and sight, as well as facial deformation and neurodegeneration. Cockayne syndrome is caused by mutations in
either of two genes involved in the repair of DNA damage induced by ultraviolet (UV) rays.
CS patients are hypersensitive to sunlight and burn easily. For decades it was believed that the premature aging process associated with this disease was caused essentially by DNA repair deficiency.
By comparing cells from CS patients and from patients with another, related syndrome causing only UV hypersensitivity,
the team led by Miria Ricchetti (Institut pasteur) with Laurent Chatre (CNRS, at the Institut pasteur), in collaboration with Alain Sarasin (CNRS, at the Institut Gustave Roussy) and Denis Biard (CEA), discovered that the defects in CS cells are actually due to excessive production of a protease (HTRA3),
and induced by oxidative cell stress. In CS cells, HTRA3 degrades a key component of the machinery responsible for DNA replication in mitochondria (the cellular owerhouses, thereby affecting mitochondrial activity.
The development of therapeutic strategies targeting premature aging diseases could therefore open new research possibilities in terms of preventive therapies for the pathologies associated with normal aging a
#Blood to feeling: Mcmaster scientists turn blood into neural cells Adult sensory neurons made from human patients blood samplescientists at Mcmaster University have discovered how to make adult sensory neurons from human patients simply by having them roll up their sleeve and providing
was led by Mick Bhatia, director of the Mcmaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Human Stem Cell biology
adding that it allows researchers to start asking questions about understanding disease and improving treatments such as:
Can the neuropathy that diabetic patients experience be mimicked in a dish? It also paves the way for the discovery of new pain drugs that don just numb the perception of pain.
or experiencing neuropathy, the prized pain drug for me would target the peripheral nervous system neurons, but do nothing to the central nervous system,
or neuropathy to run tests on neurons created from blood samples of patients taken in past clinical trials where responses
in that one might be able to look at a patient with Type 2 Diabetes and predict whether they will experience neuropathy by running tests in the lab using their own neural cells derived from their blood sample. his bench to bedside research is very exciting
and will have a major impact on the management of neurological diseases, particularly neuropathic pain, said Akbar Panju, medical director of the Michael G. Degroote Institute for Pain Research and Care,
or paralysis to control the movement of a robotic limb one that can be connected either to
High spinal cord injuries can cause quadriplegia in some patients because movement signals cannot get from the brain to the arms and legs.
since his injury that he could move a limb and reach out to someone. It was a thrilling moment for all of us,
and biomedical engineering at USC, who led the surgical implant procedure and the USC/Rancho Los Amigos team in the collaboration. n taking care of patients with neurological injuries and diseasesnd knowing the significant
These people accumulate numerous self-inflicted injuries often leading to reduced lifespan. Using detailed genome mapping,
From these clinical features of the disease, the team predicted that there would be a block to the production of pain-sensing neurons during the development of the embryo they confirmed this using a combination of studies in mouse and frog models,
particularly given recent successes with drugs targeting chromatin regulators in human disease, adds Dr Ya-Chun Chen from the University of Cambridge,
as well as disease/drought resistance that also include the bread-quality gene, he said. sing the speed-breeding technology developed by QAAFI Dr Lee Hickey,
portable and economic biosensing device that allows for immediate diagnostic testing of arthritis, cystic fibrosis, acute pancreatitis and other clinical diseases.
clinically relevant biomarkers found in high concentration in many human diseases. he samples were placed on the tablet
and lead author and graduate student J. Sherry Wang applied their new molecular tools to 44 DNA samples with known cancer-related single-nucleotide variants.
The ability to accurately find mutations that are biomarkers for disease will help clinicians determine treatment paths for patients,
It may also help identify rare mutations and subtypes of infectious diseases as well as drug-resistant strains.
but mutations can leave the body vulnerable to disease, or even be the root cause.
The ability to accurately find rare single-nucleotide mutations is becoming increasingly important as scientists drill down into genomes to find biomarkers for early cancer detection. ee trying to solve the needle-in-a-haystack problem,
The needle youe looking for might be a cancer-mutation DNA or bacterial-pathogen DNA,
when there not as much cancer DNA floating around, he said
#Nearly Indestructible Virus Yields Tool to Battle Diseases By unlocking the secrets of a bizarre virus that survives in nearly boiling acid,
scientists at the University of Virginia School of medicine have found a blueprint for battling human disease using DNA clad in near-indestructible armor.
Edward H. Egelman with the massive Titan Krios microscope that buried in tons of concrete under Fontaine Research Parkhat interesting and unusual is being able to see how proteins
. But that protective mechanism becomes a major obstacle for doctors seeking to use genes to battle disease.
very horrific diseases that are hard to treat, like anthrax, Egeleman said. o we show in this paper that this virus actually functions in a similar way to some of the proteins present in bacterial spores. pores are formed also by C. difficile,
which now accounts for approximately 30,000 deaths per year in the U s. and has been classified by the Centers for Disease Control
It is the first time that a phase III trial of viral immunotherapy has shown definitively benefit for patients with cancer.
The trial was led in the UK by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London,
Importantly, responses to treatment were pronounced most in patients with less advanced cancers (stage IIIB, IIIC,
IVM1A) and those who had yet to receive any treatment underlining the potential benefits of T-VEC as a first-line treatment for metastatic melanoma
Patients with stage III and early stage IV melanoma treated with T-VEC a total of 163 people lived an average of 41 months.
T-VEC is one of a new wave of virus-based drugs to show benefits in cancer trials,
because their infection defences are compromised by genetic errors. UK trial leader Professor Kevin Harrington, Professor of Biological Cancer Therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research, London,
here is increasing excitement over the use of viral treatments like T-VEC for cancer,
or some of the other new immunotherapies. ur study showed that T-VEC can deliver a significant, durable benefit for people with melanoma.
It is encouraging that the treatment had such a clear benefit for patients with less advanced cancers ongoing studies are evaluating
if it can become a first-line treatment for more aggressive melanomas and advanced disease. rofessor Paul Workman,
Chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: e may normally think of viruses as the enemies of mankind,
and kill human cells that can make them such promising cancer treatments. In this case we are harnessing the ability of an engineered virus to kill cancer cells
#A novel source of multipotent stem cells for the treatment of autologous reproductive tract injury The utility of human fallopian tube mucosa as a novel source of multipotent stem cells for the treatment
and we also compared multipotent stem cells derived from fallopian tubes and fallopian tube mucosa according to their biological characteristics and therapeutic potential for treatment of autologous reproductive tract injury.
which make them a better source of stem cells for the treatment of autologous reproductive tract injury.
what causes immune cell migration to wounds Immune cells play an important role in the upkeep
and repair of our bodies, helping us to defend against infection and disease. Until now, how these cells detect a wounded
ingest and degrade debris, dying cells and invading pathogens. After dissecting the signaling occurring in immune cells responding to wound induced (H2o2),
hile inflammation is critical to prevent infection, too much of a response by immune cells can cause
or worsen a wide range of human diseases and conditions including autoimmunity, atherosclerosis, cancer and chronic inflammation. his research is
therefore critical for improving human health as it enables us to discover novel points of intervention to manipulate immune cell behaviour
#First successful study of virus attack on cancer It a new weapon in the arsenal of cancer fighting treatments:
University of Louisville researcher Jason Chesney, M d.,Ph d.,deputy director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center (JGBCC),
and a team of international scientists found that stage IIIB to IV melanoma patients treated with a modified cold sore (herpes virus had improved survival.
I virus to be non-pathogenic, cancer-killing and immune-stimulating. The modified herpes virus does not harm healthy cells,
but replicates when injected into lesions or tumors, and then stimulates the body immune system to fight the cancer. he results from this study are said amazing,
Chesney. atients given T-VEC at an early stage survived about 20 months longer than patients given a different type of treatment.
or metastatic, melanoma. Before entering the T-VEC trial, she had been through numerous procedures and major surgeries.
Dr. Chesney and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center saved my life. ells drove to Louisville every two weeks for about two
and a half years to receive injections in each of the more than 60 lesions on her leg.
The lesions eventually began to fade and finally disappeared. She has been in remission for almost three years. want everyone to know they should never give up hope.
The U s. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are considering findings from the trial to make the treatments available to more patients with advanced melanoma.
The article describes an immunotherapy for melanoma utilizing the checkpoint inhibitors, ipilimumab and nivolumab. In cell biology
The study found that injection of the two inhibitors shrunk tumors in the majority of patients with advanced melanoma.
and find that ipilimumab combined with nivolumab resulted in the highest anticancer efficacy ever observed after treatment with a cancer immunotherapy.
and other sites in hopes of accelerating cancer immunity and curing patients. e finally understand how to activate the human immune system to clear cancer cells,
having developed new classes of immunotherapies that dramatically improve the survival of cancer patients, Chesney said. believe T-VEC combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors will not only reduce cancer-related mortality in melanoma but in all cancer types,
and we are moving quickly to develop these methods. ource: Uof e
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