#The telltale blood of schizophrenics It can take a long time for schizophrenia sufferers to receive the treatment they need partly
because diagnosis is not necessarily straightforward. Many of the symptoms could just as easily be caused by other disorders.
A revolutionary blood test developed by EU-funded researchers helps doctors to make the right call.
The EU-funded Schizdx project has developed the world first blood test for schizophrenia. This breakthrough dramatically reduces the time needed to confirm suspected cases
or split personalities involved in schizophrenia. It is a disorder where the various mental functions gradually break down,
Hallucinations and delusions are a hallmark of this condition, but they are just two of a multitude of potentially disabling symptoms.
doctors first need to know it there. Given that the symptoms could be caused by a variety of problems,
diagnosis isn easy. Other psychotic disorders, notably bipolar disorder and depression, can have similar manifestations. There could also be physical causes.
The fact that sufferers tend to hide their condition further complicates matters, says Professor Sabine Bahn of the University of Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research, a partner in the project.
People developing symptoms of schizophrenia don usually attribute their altered sense of reality to an illness.
However, many realise that others might question their mental health if they were fully aware of the situation.
The disorder can therefore go undiagnosed for years. And once it is detected it can take many months to find a suitable drug regime.
Not just in the mind Faster diagnosis accelerates the recovery process, but that isn the only advantage.
The blood test could also help to detect the disease in the early stages, improving the chances of successful management.
and managed early do better in the long run. he fact that mental disorders have a physical component has been known for a long time,
People who have a mental disorder have a much higher rate of diabetes for example. They also have changes in their immune system.
The Schizdx team conducted extensive research into the traces that schizophrenia and similar psychotic disorders leave in the body.
The aim was twofold: the partners wanted to advance the understanding of these diseases in general,
so as to generate leads for the development of new drugs, and they also wanted to develop innovative diagnostic tools.
The blood test the first of its kind for the diagnosis of a mental health condition has been commercialised
Multiple possibilities Other potential developments include upgrading the test to include bipolar disorder and depression. The aim would be to create a test that can cover the three disorders in one go not ustto establish
or doesn have schizophrenia, but to determine which, if any, of the three disorders the person does have.
a new generation of surgical implants A new manufacturing process for surgical implants will reduce the recovery time associated with traditional implants.
Dental and medical implants can be essential to recovering the normal functioning damaged teeth and bones.
However, traditional implants often fit imperfectly or use materials that are not fully compatible with the body,
which can cause post-surgery complications. In addition, patients often have long waiting times for implants
prolonging discomfort before treatment. Inspired by rapid manufacturing processes used for industrial prototypes, researchers at the EU-funded project Custom-IMD looked at how to overcome these problems.
strong implant within 48 hours of receiving an order. This system uses 3d images of the body to calculate the exact shape and size of the implant the patient needs.
It then builds the new part by laser sintering a process in which lasers are guided by an image to add layers of powdered material on top of each other where needed until the exact shape required is achieved.
Efficiency by design The new technology reduces waiting times and post-surgery complications, saving on care costs and helping patients resume their normal lives more quickly.
The faster surgery and shorter hospitalisation times also reduce the impact on patientslives. Manufacturing costs are reduced, too.
Dr Hurtos says that the main impact on implant production costs is the process automation and use of materials.
Overall, the more efficient process could save up to 20%of the cost of using traditional implants in Europe.
The only new costs for hospitals are for the materials. Access to the software for the process is simple
Dr Hurtos says. ou just need internet access to an online platform where algorithms anonymise the medical images for confidentiality,
cranial implants and fully ceramic dental implants are now commercially available. Dr Hurtos says this is also the first step towards new types of spinal implant
and customised alternatives to titanium implants for broken bones, although new applications need to pass strict medical device regulations for implant suppliers.
The collaboration between 22 very diverse specialist institutions from six different countries brought a unique solution to cost,
design and manufacturing problems in prosthetics manufacture. Links from the project are going strong in new work on tailoring cell responses for the body to repair its own tissues.
It causes lung diseases like the malignant form of cancer called mesothelioma. Yet asbestos is still with us.
while the International labour organization (ILO) estimates that 100,000 workers worldwide die each year from all asbestos-related diseases.
#The artificial hand that'feels'like a real one As far as medical research has come towards treating illness and injury,
doctors and technicians have yet to develop an artificial hand that can give amputees the sensation of having a natural hand.
Picture of robot and human arm Mopic-Fotolia The Smarthand project succeeded in developing a system that essentially tricks the brain into thinking that a real hand is attached to a person arm. hat for decades has been one of medicine greatest challenges
says Sebelius. Even beyond the physical disability that amputees suffer, many must also deal with depression, a distorted self-image,
#The gold standard for cancer treatment Humanity battle against cancer is an unceasing one, and in recent years, new technologies have improved steadily the odds of beating the disease.
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the five-year survival rate for breast cancer in most member countries is now over 80%.
But doctors have discovered that they are not effective against all cancers; tumours tend to become resistant during lengthy treatment,
and their toxicity can cause kidney failure and other systemic damage. Professor Dolores Fregona and her research team at the University of Padua in Italy designed and tested gold compounds with the aim of elivering the metal as a cytotoxic smart bombkilling off cancer cells while minimising the impact on other organs.
The team focused on two types of cancer: breast and prostate. Experiments on female mice bearing highly metastatic human breast cancer cells,
and Aud8, revealed a 53%reduction in cancer growth compared to the control treatment, within a month.
and slowed their proliferation, without any discernible toxic impact on lungs, spleen, liver or kidney.
The team needs to secure enough backing to complete preclinical studies and launch the first phase of clinical trials.
in order to undertake the experimental phase among terminally ill cancer patients. Project details Project acronym PERMIDAS Participants:
Brain injuries suffered in a car crash during a business trip in Dubai have left the 47-year-old unable to work.
The severity of his injuries only became apparent sometime after the accident. He would get regular blackouts.
So it is about learning news ways of living with new rules Is there a way for traumatic brain injury victims like Jouni get a second chance at a normal life?
Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIS, are difficult to treat. As every trauma is different, and because our brains control virtually all bodily functions it is often a challenge for neurologists to offer a clear diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
To that end a European research project has developed a huge interactive database of TBI-related physiology patterns to help doctors help their patients, with comprehensive and valuable information.
Olli Tenovuo, Neurologist, Turku University Hospital explains the content: ll (the patient) clinical background. What kind of diseases has had the patient before?
Are there any earlier injuries, and what kind of injuries? What kind of drugs have been used for treatments?
Also what does the medical imaging tell us or what does the blood biomarkers (blood samples) tell us The database allows neurologists to compare their patientscases with similar ones.
The project biomedical engineers combined algorithms and statistical models to enable analysts to accurately predict the outcome of planned treatments for individual patients. here is quite often missing data.
It is not always possible to take pictures, or to take blood samples in certain circumstances,
says Mark van Gils, the VTT/TBICARE project coordinator. o what we are doing is to develop robust,
reliable metasets that are understandable for cliniciansjouni is engaged now fully in a customised rehabilitation programme,
that has included even making a speech at a seminar on traumatic brain injuries. After some difficult months, he says he now looking to the future:
Customised biomedical parts are another MUPROD application. For example, the end-of-line production defect rate for the tiny catheters (flexible tubes) used for treating patients with cardiovascular disease is as high as 80%.
%But with MUPROD help, this rate could be cut to just 5%during the extrusion process, reducing both production time and cost by 70%.
#Massive study closes in on cancers risk markers Cancer research has taken a huge leap forward with scientists now able to identify more than 80 genetic markers found to increase the risk of breast ovarian and prostate cancer.
which has played a significant part in making this global effort a tremendous success. The main findings of the project COGS('Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study')have been published in a special issue on genetic risk factors
for cancer in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Genetics. The research was led by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in the UK,
with support from more than 160 research groups worldwide. This international network brought together five global studies on 100 000 patients with breast, ovarian or prostate cancer.
Another 100 000 healthy volunteers comprised a control group. Scientists took DNA from all 200 000 subjects
and compared those with cancer, and those without, to assess each individual's inherited risk.
Overall, the study found that common genetic variation links all these cancers. This can be described as a genetic'spelling mistake'
Each alteration was seen to raise the risk of ovarian, breast or prostate cancer by a small amount,
although a small minority of men with several markers saw their risk of prostate cancer increase more than fourfold.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide, contributing to 14%of all new cancer cases.
It is predicted that the number of cases will almost double to a figure of 1. 7 million by 2030.
In addition, the test also identified those with a smaller than average risk of developing the cancers.
and take us a step closer to having an effective prostate cancer screening programme.''With this new information, researchers now have a clearer picture of the total number of genetic changes that can explain the risk of getting these cancers.
The next step is to calculate the individual cancer risk, which will help to better understand how these cancers start
and grow so that new treatments can be developed. It is possible this could lead to a DNA screening test within five years.
COGS coordinator Professor Per Hall from the Karolinska Institutet says:''COGS is the largest genotyping project in the world targeting identification of genetic changes that influence the risk of common cancers.
The collaborative efforts have been tremendous and the key to its success.'Other financial contributors to the COGS project are the Märit and Hans Rausing Initiative against Breast cancer, the Swedish Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the Cancer Risk Prediction
Center (CRISP). Project details Project acronym: COGS Participants: Sweden (Coordinator), Germany, United kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, France, Finland, Belgium Project FP7 223175 Total costs:#
sometimes toxic and are not readily biodegradable, "says project coordinator Pietro Luigi Cavallotti. Although biodegradable synthetic oils have been developed,
can be particularly susceptible to cracks from thermal fatigue and stress corrosion. Most inspections are carried out with conventional ultrasonic testing that requires frequent changes of the probes in a high radiation environment,
#Developing new weapons in the fight against cancer Cancer causes some 13%of deaths worldwide.
Of these deaths some 90%are caused not by the original cancer but by its spread to other parts of the body.
These secondary cancers known as metastases are caused most often by'circulating tumour cells'(CTCS) which escape from the primary tumour and travel around the body in the bloodstream.
and provide clinicians with currently unavailable information about the risk of metastatic relapse and the best therapy.
the greatly improved quantity and quality of information that can be gathered about the cells opens up the possibility of more complex diagnosis and treatment of cancers.
With cancers often behaving differently in different patients, and displaying different characteristics, the technology developed by CAMINEMS should allow clinicians to move closer to the ideal of personalised medical diagnosis and treatment.
The more advanced a cancer is, the more difficult it is to treat. The new CAMINEMS technology could help detect sooner
if a cancer is developing resistance to a treatment, and thus save precious months or years in switching to a new,
able to closely follow the rapid evolution of targeted therapies. Having created the system and established its effectiveness,
Unfortunately, when it comes to disease, complex diseases are also the most common ones. Over-forested and degraded land is threatening the country's wealth of biodiversity.
Agricultural lands for olive orchards and other crops are being damaged. Unregulated quarrying has deteriorated coastal mountain ecosystems and soil quality.
#Sweetening the bitter pill of cancer treatment Despite a massive research effort, cancer is still a major killer in Europe.
the Cyclon project is developing biocompatible sugar-based drug-delivery systems that could lead to a breakthrough in the fight against various cancers.
control the release of therapeutic compounds and enhance the efficiency of the treatment. he decorating of nanoparticles very tiny particles with cyclodextrins allows us to play with the functionality,
she explains. hey can even incorporate molecules with a capability for photo-stimulated killing for combined chemo-and photo-therapy as well as imaging.
and are gaining valuable knowledge in many aspects of drug delivery for cancer treatment development,
#Nanotechnology to fight hospital superbugs Each year, twice as many people die in Europe from hospital acquired infections than from road accidents.
These infectious diseases have developed antibiotic resistance and spread despite the best efforts of staff, mainly through textiles like bed linen.
But, even in the journey from laundry to the hospital, there are all sorts of opportunities for new infections.
6. 6%of all patients catch a hospital acquired infection (HAI; France now reports 750,000 HAI cases a year,
and not spread the infections, says Nanobond project coordinator Patrice Vandendaele, from Belgium-based Devan Chemicals,
and island communities around the Mediterranean are affected by water-stress problems. According to the European environment agency (EEA), 16 to 44 million additional people will suffer water scarcity in Southern Europe by 2070.
and cancer detection A multidisciplinary EU-funded research team has tested successfully a pioneering HIV-detection technique that is ten times more sensitive than any identification method used to date.
has achieved also positive results in similar early detection tests for different types of cancer. The EU-funded MIMIC project is currently working towards a breakthrough in cancer diagnostics
which is based on an ultra-sensitive detection system that is able to pick up minute concentrations of disease-related molecules in body fluids.
The method it uses draws on the body's natural processes of biomineralisation the production of minerals.
A similar diagnostic approach to that being used in MIMIC's cancer research has already proven effective in detecting HIV/AIDS.
This HIV breakthrough is a triumph for the diagnostic approach MIMIC first developed for cancer detection,
By adding antibodies to this process, these sensors could then clearly identify the disease'biomarkers'the telltale signs of diseased cells.
Once the crystals are formed, their development and recognition actions can be detected by electrodes. The presence of the crystals on the electrodes is detected as the signal of the bioassay which,
the stronger the signal and the better the ability to'sense'it the greater the chances of detecting disease.
while MIMIC's work does not improve cancer treatment per se, it can improve its diagnosis
."Since it can detect cancer-related molecules at ultra-low concentrations, it might be possible to detect the tumour at a very early stage before it spreads
and becomes a bigger threat, "he notes. The scientist reveals that the process has shown already potential in detecting cancer reoccurrence in prostate cancer patients."
"Patients who have undergone total prostatectomy may benefit from ultra-sensitive systems that can detect the prostate-specific cancer biomarkers at much lower concentrations
and provide early warning that the tumour is reappearing, "he says. The project's research has attracted already interest from industry."
and would enable much earlier diagnosis of the disease. Writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Dr de la Rica and Professor Stevens also state that affordable methods for detecting disease biomarkers at ultra-low concentrations can potentially improve the standard of living in countries lacking costly
medical resources. Current strategies for ultra-sensitive detection often require sophisticated instruments that may not be available in laboratories with fewer resources
they noted.""We circumvent this problem by introducing a signal-generation mechanism for biosensing that enables the detection of a few molecules of analyte with the naked eye."
and ground-breaking nature of their work in both cancer and HIV could provide a valuable boost to the competitiveness of the EU in the fields of health care and nanotechnology e
After supporting the development of informatics at Avantium he moved to Novartis in Switzerland to expand the company's expertise and now works with the Institute of Cancer Research in London.
We believe that the PEF will become the new world standard for polyester bottles. with the possibilities it opens up for future work in vaccine discovery was recognised with the naming of Professor Lomonossoff as Innovator of the Year 2012 by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council
#Award-winning innovation revolutionises vaccine production A European union (EU)- funded research project has opened up a radical new era in the world of vaccine discovery and production.
Focused on veterinary vaccines, the project's work has made possible a dramatically faster and more effective route to the creation of vaccines to combat some of the most devastating diseases affecting farm livestock.
The same accelerated route can be used to uncover a vast new range of urgently-needed vaccines for humans as well.
Named PLAPROVA (Plant Production of Vaccines), the project was the successful result of an unprecedented co-funding initiative between the EU and Russia
with Russia matching the#2 million of funding provided by the EU under its 7th Framework Programme.
the PLAPROVA consortium focused on the use of plants proteins to produce vaccines against diseases such as avian flu, bluetongue, foot and mouth disease,
and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. Plants have been used to produce pharmaceuticals in the past, but the crucial element at the heart of the three-year PLAPROVA project was a technique for doing this much more quickly than previously possible an advance
which has revolutionary implications for future vaccine production. It also helped win a major innovation award for the lead researcher.
This triggers the production of proteins which are of potential pharmaceutical interest as the basis for new vaccines.
thus opening up much wider possibilities for genuinely novel vaccines. Previously, the timescale required before results were known for just a single protein meant researchers naturally played safe and tended to produce'biosimilars'
i e. vaccines which replicated already existing ones. It was a situation which discouraged the search for new products.
when dealing with seasonal outbreaks when a vaccine needs to be created urgently, usually in a matter of months from the time the strain of disease is first indentified.
The success of PLAPROVA has generated already significant commercial interest. Discussions are in progress with vaccine manufacturers in South africa about production of a bluetongue vaccine.
And a Canadian firm, Medicago Inc, has applied successfully the technique to the discovery and production of pandemic flu vaccines for humans, on
which it has completed recently a Phase II clinical trial. The revolutionary impact of the new PLAPROVA technique
with the possibilities it opens up for future work in vaccine discovery, was recognised with the naming of Professor Lomonossoff as Innovator of the Year 2012 by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council (BBSRC), U s
which cells ommunicate Human immune systems often recognise pathogens by the sugar structures on their surface.
This is now being tested for its ability to protect plants from disease -and it is possible it will also be able to influence wound healing in human tissue.
This is now being evaluated commercially. nzymatically produced designer polysaccharides with defined properties will open up the all but-untapped potential of complex polysaccharides not only for applications in the food and medical sciences
#Promising future for tiny epilepsy defibrillator Antal Berényi combined a boyhood passion for electronics and years of medical training to build a device that,
and stop epileptic attacks just as a defibrillator corrects heart arrhythmia. Like its inventor, the prototype device,
which is being readied for trials in the US, has all the makings of a big future. fotolia. com Antal Berényi left Szeged University in Hungary for the United states with a plan.
and stop epileptic attacks without drugs and without major brain surgery. To the 50 million people worldwide who suffer from epileptic seizures a chronic neurobiological disorder this simple plan could transform their lives.
Working with the renowned scientist Dr György Buzsáki of CMBN Rutgers, State university of New jersey (US), he not only built the prototype device,
The next step is a number of preliminary safety experiments to test its therapeutic potential in humans.
"I think being trained a medical doctor helped me work out what was needed really in terms of the electronics,
when an epileptic seizure is coming and applies tiny, on-demand electric pulses which help the brain return to normal functioning.
would mean less invasive and more cost-effective procedures, lower risks of infection and improved overall outcomes,
especially for the 30%of epileptics who cannot be treated with drugs. The fact that the device can be implanted in a minimally invasive way is"crucial"
there is no need to open up the bone during surgery.""This can dramatically reduce complications (infections, intracerebral bleeding, etc.
because the brain tissue is exposed not directly to any manipulation, Dr Berényi suggests.""And shorter, less-complex surgeries usually lead to faster postoperative recovery in general,
"he adds. Patents have been filed for the TSPUMMNRPS device, and the project's work has gained wider attention following the November publication in Science magazine of the team's findings on'Closed-loop control of epilepsy by trans-cranial electrical stimulation'.
'And commercial interest?""Since the device is in a preclinical experimental stage, there is no industrial demand for it,
but once its effectiveness is proved on human patients and approved by the authorities, hopefully we'll find an industrial partner with vision to take it to the market,"notes the researcher.
Dr Berényi will combine his medical experience and skills gained in the US with his knowledge of electronics
there has never been need a greater for quick and accurate ways to detect explosives, toxic chemicals, illegal drugs and other potential hazards to public safety and health.
Orthodontics can help improve the appearance and position of people's teeth and jawbones, for better functioning teeth and more attractive smiles.
In recent years, dental correction orthodontics have used braces made from clear plastic polymer to good effect,
Orthodontic treatment is carried out using braces, which generally fall into two broad categories: removable braces (or retainers),
'And with the technology we are using, micro-extrusion and the micro-injection, we are capable of controlling these minuscule quantities of material with the utmost precision,
'According to the researchers, these new materials, nano-reinforced plastics, can have applications in fields other than orthodontics.
In particular, polysulfone is of interest in the biohealth field in the development of medical/surgical equipment:
#Expanding insight into Alzheimer's disease Chronic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, are all characterised by an inflammatory reaction within the brain.
however a European research fellow has identified a molecular system that contributes to the mechanisms regulating the progression of neurodegeneration.
This could potentially lead to new therapeutic treatments to effectively combat the condition. The fellow, Diego Gómez-Nicola, from the CNS Inflammation group at the University of Southampton in the United kingdom, examined how a specific cell protein receptor called CSF1R controls the spread and inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases.
As part of the European union (EU)- funded Marie Curie project called PRONEURODEG, Gómez-Nicola discovered that a laboratory drug targeting the identified protein could help effectively combat the disease.
The results based on research with mice, could open new avenues for the regulation of Alzheimer-like reactions in the brain related to the loss of memory and other mental abilities.
and how they increased in number during different neurodegenerative conditions. y targeting the CSF1R receptor with a selective inhibitor,
I was able to delay the symptoms of the disease and also prevent the loss of neurons,
which slowed the onset of the clinical and pathological course of prion disease, and extended the survival rate,
He found that some activity during the disease compensated for cell death at the hippocampus,
and memory. e showed that a self-repair mechanism is in place during widespread neurodegeneration, leading to new avenues for treatment, affirms Gómez-Nicola.
and also Professor of Experimental Neuropathology at the University of Southampton, says the research looked at an aspect that all neurodegenerative diseases have in common:
the activation of immune cells and their increase in number. The researchers know that infections elsewhere in the body communicate with the brain,
and that is why we feel ill. However, sometimes this response and the increase of immune cells become harmful,
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011