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,
Before and after One of the most surprising discoveries in the field of immunology is the finding that cells build structuresalled inflammasomeso launch the process of inflammation.
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.
However research published last month reported a previously unknown line of communication between our brains
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.
and hence were curious about the role of meningeal immunity on brain function. By mounting whole mouse meninges and using neuroimaging the team noticed that T-cells were present in vessels separate from arteries and veins
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.
Perhaps antigens from the infectious culprit find their way to the cervical lymph nodes via the meningeal lymphatic vessels,
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
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.
so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the invasive procedures at the doctors,
Fove could be used as a medical HMD where surgeons use it for detailed camera work
and can also interact with the system without requiring a nurse to do everything. There also interactive cinema, productivity for finance and security, virtual market research, dangerous situation simulation,
#Breast cancer victims die due to lack of radiologists in India. This startup offers an answer In 2012,145,
is too inefficient to solve the problem because of the country lack of radiologists. To combat that, Mumbai-based UE Lifesciences has invented a low-cost and portable breast screening device for early-stage detection of breast cancer.
The fund will also bring in mentors from Manipal Hospitals, Narayana Health, and Pfizer. he devices could become the new standard of care for breast screening in India and other low-resource markets around the world.
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 commercialized innovative medical devices like Notouch Breastscan and Infrascan. He co-founded UE Lifesciences in 2009 to develop innovative yet cost
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.
#Canadian Space Robotics Technology to Help Sick Children Not much rivals the dexterity of a good surgeon hands.
fatigue or even tremors after a long day at the hospital can make things challenging,
That is why Toronto Sickkids Centre for Image-Guided Innovation & Therapeutic Intervention (CIGITI) turned to the Canadian space technology behind Canadarm,
The third prototype of Kidsarm, the first image-guided robotic surgical arm in the world specifically designed for pediatric surgery,
is currently being tested at Sickkids Hospital, and researchers are hoping that the technology might soon lend a helping hand to surgeons around the country.
While more testing is needed, the robot is also promising for fetal, cardiac, neurological and urological surgeries.
Using a pair of hand controllers in conjunction with high-precision, real-time imaging technology, surgeons can pinpoint the area of concern to make it easier to reconnect delicate vessels,
for example. Kidsarm is equipped also with miniaturized dexterous tools that can cut, coagulate, apply suction, or use a laser.
It is capable of working 10 times faster and with more accuracy than a surgeon hands when performing intricate procedures.
so that surgeons can compensate for the tissue motion that sometimes makes these surgeries difficult. A stereo camera generates a 3d point cloud,
This allows the surgeon to automate the suturing of small vessels and other microsurgical tasks.
Thanks to this technology, Kidsarm is capable of performing intricate procedures such as the suturing of blood vessels and tissues 10 times faster and with more accuracy than a surgeon hands.
One day, this technology may help by making medical procedures on children less invasive and less painful, allowing them to return home fasterso that kids can be kids i
and patterns are features of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism and schizophrenia. With these new findings, e now have an opportunity to investigate how gene mutations that cause
or increase the risk for these disorders disrupt the mechanisms of visual recognition memory, says Bear,
a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. e anticipate that this knowledge will suggest entirely novel approaches to treating these diseases.
#3d printed Heart Model Makes Surgery Safer and Less Dangerous Three-dimensional printing technology has just found yet another use, this time it heart surgery.
When planning for an invasive procedure, surgeons are limited often to two-dimensional MRI and CT (computerized tomography) images,
which can lead them to form a widely inaccurate view of their patient physiology. Although three-dimensional images are also now available,
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
and ordered a fully-3d model of his patient heart. s useful as scans are for visualizing structural defects,
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.
and complex surgery, currently performed at only a handful of pediatric hospitals in the US.
Studying the heart model allowed Kim to accurately plan the procedure thereby increasing safety and making follow-up surgery unnecessary. nstead of opening the chest
and making a decision about how to proceed, I could immediately begin fixing the problem,
me to plan the surgery in advance, which meant Esther spent less time in surgery and received less anesthesia,
making the procedure safer. Frank Ing, MD, Chief of Cardiology and co-director of the Heart Institute at CHLA, thinks that
since only a small number of 3d models have been used for heart surgery, the jury is still out
whether they actually improve surgical outcomes, but added that? our experience suggest that using models saves time in the OR,
which means increased safety and decreased costs. The use of 3d models is also likely to translate into a need for fewer surgeries
and allow children to spend less time recuperating in intensive care. Thanks to this innovative technique, Esther made a speedy recovery
and is expected to live a life free of medical complications. Otherwise she would have required multiple surgeries during the first years of her life.
In addition to surgical planning, 3d printing has also been used for other medical applications according to a recent article on Med Device Online
oncologists were able to use a 3d printed model that mimics the density of organs in a patient body,
which allowed to more accurately determine an appropriate dose of radiation. As 3d printing becomes cheaper,
medical professionals are hoping to include 3d printers into their regular toolset i
#New high-speed 3-D microscope gives deeper view of living things Opening new doors for biomedical and neuroscience research, Elizabeth Hillman,
associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering and of radiology at Columbia University Medical center (CUMC), has developed a new microscope that can image living things in 3d at very high speeds.
In doing so, she has overcome some of the major hurdles faced by existing technologies, delivering 10 to 100 times faster 3d imaging speeds than laser scanning confocal, two-photon,
and light-sheet microscopy. Hillman new approach uses a simple, single-objective imaging geometry that requires no sample mounting or translation,
2015. he ability to perform real-time 3d imaging at cellular resolution in behaving organisms is a new frontier for biomedical
The emergence of fluorescent proteins and transgenic techniques over the past 20 years has transformed biomedical research,
and Kimara Targoff (assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics), all of whom are starting to use the SCAPE system in their research. eciphering the functions of brain
lithography holography and biomedical imaging. Based on a chaotic cavity laser the technology combines the brightness of traditional lasers with the lower image corruption of light emitting diodes (LEDS.
and biomedical engineering and diagnostic radiology. his chaotic cavity laser is a great example of basic research ultimately leading to a potentially important invention for the social goodsaid co-author A. Douglas Stone the Carl A. Morse Professor
%while our laser has the speckle contrast of 3%.So our new laser has eliminated completely the issue of coherent artifact for full-field imaging. o-author Michael A. Choma assistant professor of diagnostic radiology pediatrics
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
Blood transfusions can sometimes prevent such attacks but there are currently no good ways to predict when a vaso-occlusive crisis which can last for several days is imminent. ou don know exactly
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.
and Gregory Kato of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. 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.
Patients now have an average life expectancy of 45 to 50 years in the United states up from only 14 years as recently as 1973.
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.
Hidde Ploegh an MIT professor of biology and member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is also a senior author of the paper.
and display pieces of viral or bacterial proteins (known as antigens) on their cell surfaces. When these B cells encounter T cells with receptors that recognize the antigen the T cells become activated provoking them to release cytokines inflammatory chemicals that control the immune response
or to seek out and destroy infected cells. Although all of the T cells in this study had identical T cell receptors the MIT team found that they did not all respond the same way after encountering B cells carrying identical antigens on their surfaces.
Using calcium imaging to measure T cell activation the researchers found that the initial activation level depends on how much of the antigen is presented.
At high levels most of the cells respond the same way. However at lower antigen levels the T cell responses vary greatly.
These differences also correlated to differences in T cell cytokine production. In future studies the researchers hope to further trace how T cells go through the decision-making process that determines their eventual fates.
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
and those that make taking muscle biopsies difficult. ursac and Madden started with a small sample of human cells that had progressed already beyond stem cells
To see if the muscle could be used as a proxy for medical tests Bursac and Madden studied its response to a variety of drugs including statins used to lower cholesterol
Clenbuterol does not harm muscle tissue in rodents at those doses showing the lab-grown muscle was giving a truly human response. ne of our goals is to use this method to provide personalized medicine to patientssaid Bursac. e can take a biopsy from each patient grow many
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
professor of biomedical engineering medicine and nursing at Duke university. 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.
Source: Duke university By Ken Kinger n
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