#Cholera Bacteria Spear Their Prey to Grab Genes The bacteria that cause cholera grab genes from other organisms in a particularly predatory way, new research finds.
But researchers at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, found that cholera (formally called Vibrio cholerae) have a unique way of doing so.
Cholera is usually found in water and it feeds on chitin, the stuff that makes up crustaceans'shells.
and the cholera bacterium absorbs the freed genetic material. The 9 Deadliest Viruses On earth Making these spikes in itself isn't that unusual,
This is, however, the first time anyone has observed cholera bacteria or any bacteria using this system to gather up new genes.
Cholera makes people sick when it is ingested. The bacteria gets to the small intestine and then multiplies, producing proteins that are toxic to humans and cause watery diarrhea.
That in turn can cause severe dehydration and an imbalance of electrolytes. Without treatment cholera can be deadly.
Humans can build immunity to some strains of cholera. But sometimes, new strains appear, and the transfer of genes from other species of bacteria (including other kinds of cholera) might be one reason these new strains arrive."
"That's what we think what we see is part of what makes the most virulent strains so virulent,
"said Melanie Blokesch, a co-author of the research and an assistant professor of microbiology at the institute.
Not every kind of cell can contribute DNA to cholera, as there has to be some similarity between the cholera cell and its victim,
Blokesch said. Even so, some genes might alter the outer membrane of the bacteria, for example, making it less visible to the human immune system or tougher for people's stomach acid to kill.
This kind of gene transfer might well have been involved in a cholera epidemic that hit Southeast asia in the early 1990s
Blokesch added that the spearing mechanism might be one more reason the cholera bacterium is so virulent in the human gut.
Cholera might be spearing neighboring cells, killing them and exacerbating the problems it causes. Cholera won't pick up human DNA,
however, because it is too different.)The study appears today (Jan 1) in the journal Science S
so that Sorto can use it outside the lab. Andersen is working with two other patients in the United states who also have prostheses that include neural implants.
#1 Pinprick Test Could Detect Hundreds of Viruses Doctors often don't have a complete picture of their patients'health histories they only know about past illnesses that a patient remembers
whether they've been exposed to certain diseases. But now, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston say they have created a tool that could reveal many of the viruses that have infected a person in the past.
Called Virscan, the test looks for hundreds of viruses at once, and does so at a fraction of the cost of traditional tests,
The Virscan test uses these engineered viruses to look for antibodies to each of these viruses in a sample of a person's blood.
Antibodies are immune system molecules that zero in on the proteins of a virus's coat and stick to it,
They found that the study participants had antibodies to an average of 10 virus species. In two people,
they found antibodies to 84 virus species. To see how well the scan could work as a test,
the group ran the scan on people known to be infected with hepatitis C and HIV.
more often than not, showed antibodies to the same or similar viruses."We thought it would be a lot more individual than that,"
"Maybe antibodies have more similarity than we've been thinking.""Kula said this finding showcased one of the big advantages of this method of testing for a person's viral infection history:
The Virscan allows researchers to see similarities and differences in large populations. This could be helpful in studying conditions for example,
chronic fatigue syndrome that researchers suspect may be caused by a virus but haven't proven for sure to have a viral origin.
if individual viruses are correlated to other diseases, or try to figure out why only a fraction of patients"are helped by certain cancer treatments,
Kula said. Because the new test is relatively cheap Kula noted the chemicals necessary are a few dollars per person,
or perhaps even less it could also help doctors and patients by detecting their exposure to a virus they weren't aware of.
Hepatitis C, Kula said, is detected often not for months or years, because few people think to ask about it.
The study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and appears today (June 4) in the journal Science n
#Shaping Implantable Medical devices to Avoid Immune system Tiny medical implants that can ferry drugs, cells, or other therapies safely to sites of disease are already seeing the light of day.
Designing implantable devices that are ignored by the immune system can be a challenge, so we usually rely on materials that are naturally biocompatible.
The team was developing implantable capsules that can hold pancreatic islet cells as a potential therapy for Type 1 diabetes.
What investigators discovered is that spherical capsules 1. 5 millimeter in diameter were functional months after implantation in diabetic mice,
#Injectable Hydrogel Material Serves as Scaffold to Heal Wounds At UCLA researchers have designed an injectable hydrogel scaffold that promotes wound healing by serving as a 3d platform within which new tissue can grow.
as well as the overall chemical composition, allowing the material to be tailored to specific wounds. This is achieved using microfluidic methods methods that the researchers developed to produce the scaffolds.
Accelerated wound healing by injectable microporous gel scaffolds assembled from annealed building blockssource:
#Light Used to Control Larynx Muscle (VIDEO) In a world first, researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany made a skeletal muscle of a mouse contract in response to light.
The hope is that this new application of optogenetics to voluntary muscles will help in medical research
particularly for new therapies to combat motor neuron disease. Here we show direct optogenetic stimulation of skeletal muscle from transgenic mice expressing the light-sensitive channel Channelrhodopsin-2 (Chr2.
Furthermore, systemic injection of adeno-associated virus into wild-type mice provides sufficient Chr2 expression for optogenetic opening of the vocal cords.
#Rice Microendoscope Hopes to Make Esophageal Biopsies Thing of Past (VIDEO) At Rice university engineers have been working on making certain biopsies unnecessary by imaging suspected tissues without excising them.
offering a view of the cellular morphology that can show signs of the presence of cancer.
and China of patients suspected of having malignant squamous cell tumors, the device was used alongside a regular endoscope.
Results of biopsies ordered after a traditional endoscopic imaging were compared with the results from the microendoscope.
These showed that the technology is capable of sparing patients unnecessary biopsies and can be used alongside traditional Lugol chromoendoscopy for diagnosing esophageal squamous cell neoplasia.
Three expert and four novice endoscopists performed white light endoscopy followed by LCE and HRME. All optical images were compared to gold standard of histopathology.
Using a per biopsy analysis, sensitivity of LCE vs. LCE+HRME was 96%vs. 91%(p=0. 0832), specificity 48%vs. 88%(p<0. 001), PPV 22%vs 45%(p
With use of HRME, 136 biopsies (60%;%95%CI: 53-66%)could have been spared, and 55 patients (48%;
38-57%)spared any biopsy y
#Robotic Arm System Senses Quadriplegic Man Intentions for Movement Control Brain-computer interfaces have been used in the past to control prosthetic devices.
In a study on one paralyzed patient, two implants, each having 96 electrodes, each of which sample one neuron,
somewhat unusual shape that was developed to offer greater comfort to those wearing the implant. It smaller than any other comparable device and unlike other primary cell systems, it comes with a wireless remote that can be used by the patient to adjust therapy options.
The device is programmed via the Illumina 3d software that takes into account the spatial positioning of the leads
said Dr. Simon Thomson, a consultant in Pain Management and Neuromodulation at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals, UK. he simplicity of the programming software saves valuable time in the operating theatre,
and maintain comfortable therapy for my patients. Unlike any other primary cell system, the Precision Novi intuitive Illumina 3d neural targeting software incorporates three-dimensional lead location,
and waveforms with or without paresthesia, including burst and higher rate frequencies. Here a Boston Sci video about the Precision Novi r
where glucose charts and insulin injections are tracked automatically. The readings can be shared with loved ones and caretakers,
Since there no need to swap tools, the procedure can move along faster without the potential risk of unnecessary injury to the esophagus.
allows the surgeon to see its location from the outside. This provides the ability to align the dissection line accurately along the light path
in a statement said Chris Barry, senior vice president and president of the Surgical Innovations business, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group at Medtronic. orking very closely with Dr. Trivedi, we were able to develop the Gastrisail system as a unique solution that promotes consistency of the sleeve,
but also procedural efficiency. roduct page: Gastrisailource: Medtronic o
#Scientists Grow, Link Up Brain cells for First time in a Lab While most differentiated cells can be made to live on their own,
Study in journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience: A new technique for modeling neuronal connectivity using human pluripotent stem cellsource:
Collagen has been considered a good candidate for such work due to its low toxicity and biocompatibility, but it been hard to shape it into formations that are structurally strong enough for many applications.
Because of its high flexibility, the stent has shown to be positioned easily across different lesions while and maintaining its strength over considerable time periods.
or equal 2. 4). 88.6%freedom from target lesion revascularization, as measured at one-year using Kaplan-Meier analysis s
#Researchers Unveil Surface Sampling Probe for Intraoperative Biopsies The Oak ridge National Laboratory, known best for nuclear weapons research,
has developed a surface sampling probe that may replace professional pathologists in identifying cancerous tissue during surgeries.
Currently, samples are taken to the pathology lab to confirm that all of the cancer has been removed. This takes considerable time,
and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from normal human pituitary gland and pituitary adenoma tissue sections, using a fully automated droplet-based liquid-microjunction surface-sampling-HPLCSI-MSS system for spatially resolved sampling, HPLC separation,
and non-secreting pituitary adenomas correlated with histopathological evaluation a
#Brainport V100 Turns Your Tongue Into an Eye If you can see with your eyes,
With Brainport Vision Technology One Day The Blind May See The World With The Tongue New Device Delivers Sound Through Tongue to Let Deaf People Hear (VIDEO) roduct page:
#Optical Probe to Help Remove Only Cancerous Tissues in Brain Surgeries Neurosurgeons removing a tumor have to be obsessive about resecting just enough
so that the cancer doesn come back while the patient is not left neurologically disabled. Tumors usually look the same as the healthy tissue just around them,
which means the repeated biopsies and MRI scans can make such surgeries last for many hours.
Now researchers at Johns hopkins university are reporting on a new optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe that may provide surgeons real-time identification of cancerous tissues.
Previously the fact that tumors tend to be denser was the basis for many designed devices,
but the Hopkins team focused on brain cancer cellslack of myelin sheaths as the marker that influences how light passes through them.
Having identified how brain cancer cells uniquely scatter light, the researchers wrote a computer program that spots the relevant parameters within OCT scan data.
The results come back as a 3d color map of the tissue under the probe, red colored areas pointing to cancerous regions
Here an example of the probe being used on brain tissue removed in actual surgeries: Study in Science Translational Medicine:
Detection of human brain cancer infiltration ex vivo and in vivo using quantitative optical coherence tomographyource: Johns Hopkins Medicine
#Electromagnetic field Activated Drug Loadded Nanowires Drug releasing implants can be of great benefit for conditions requiring long term treatment in a targeted area of the body.
There are existing devices on the market, but they tend to be bulky and involve electronics, mechanical valves,
and other components that create their own drawbacks. Researchers at Purdue University have come up with a new way of releasing drugs into the body in a controlled manner using tiny injectable nanowire implants.
The devices are made of polypyrrole, an organic electrically conductive polylmer. A small carpet made of these wires was grown over a gold base
The team tested the technology on mice with compression injuries, demonstrating that the drug reduced inflammation in the areas where the EM field was applied.
and deposited onto a spinal cord lesion in glial fibrillary acidic protein-luc transgenic mice (GFAP-luc mice). Overexpression of GFAP is an indicator of astrogliosis/neuroinflammation in CNS injury.
The corticosteroid DEX, a powerful ameliorator of inflammation, was released from the polymer by external application of an electromagnetic field for 2 h/day for a week.
#Artificial Neurons That Work Like Real Ones to Treat Neurological Conditions, Paralysis Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have created reportedly an artificial neuron that apparently works just like our own living neurons
The big deal for clinical applications is that this technology may allow for chemical stimulation of neurological conditions triggered by naturally occurring biochemicals.
and delivering therapy consistently at all times. The current device is still quite bulky and is incomparable in size to natural neurons,
The company microchips have gone already through a successful clinical trial on patients with osteoporosis, delivering teriparatide directly without having to go through regular injections.
Flashbacks: Wireless Implantable Microchips Deliver Drugs When Needed Continuous Microchips Glucose Monitoring Shows Promiseompany homepage:
This method is used to study the spatiotemporal mechanical response of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells to the inhibition of Syk protein tyrosine kinase giving insight into the signaling pathways by which Syk negatively regulates motility of highly invasive cancer cells.
#New Technology for Blood-Free Glucose Sensing The University of Leeds may have solved one of the biggest holy grails in medicine,
Currently, finger pricking is the daily grind of diabetics worldwide, which also involves careful pipetting of the blood samples into the glucometer.
In a small scale clinical study at the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, the technology has shown considerable promise to be able to match currently used glucometers.
while the ipod touch is for the patient to control the level of therapy throughout the day.
#Tiny Remote Controlled Implant Releases Drugs Into Brain The blood-brain barrier is a picky bouncer, preventing most therapeutic compounds from crossing its barricades.
To get around this challenge and to be able to treat a variety of neurological conditions,
researchers from Washington Universityin St louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a wireless implant that can be controlled remotely to release drugs right into the brain.
The device, about the width of human hair, is soft and flexible, and contains four tiny drug chambers.
Yet, in laboratory studies, the combination of the two factors can help identify which compounds are promising neurological drug candidates.
#Wize Mirror to Monitor Health, Prevent Cardio-Metabolic Diseases Seasoned primary care physicians often have an uncanny ability to notice symptoms by simply looking at their patients.
and help spot signs of cardio-metabolic diseases. There is a 3d scanning camera that notices changes to the structure of the skin,
The devices were placed close to the spinal cord near the lower back of the patients who underwent weekly sessions for about four months to see how they respond to the therapy.
even though the men have complete paralysis, there are still neural connections that remain that are able to take on new functions requested by the body.
which in the past has demonstrated considerable benefits for mice with spinal cord injuries. Toward the end of the study, amazingly the patients were able to move their legs on their own without the neurostimulators doing anything at all.
not only because cheap transcutaneous neurostimulators may be used in treating paralysis due to damaged spinal cords, but more importantly because there clear evidence that such patients may one day recover their natural walking ability thanks to these devices.
A 2014 Gallup poll found that 41 percent of Americans find medical testing on animals to be morally wrong,
non-biodegradable and potentially toxic materials-are discarded at an alarming rate in consumers'pursuit of the next best electronic gadget.
However, gallium arsenide can be environmentally toxic, particularly in the massive quantities of discarded wireless electronics.
says the new process greatly reduces the use of such expensive and potentially toxic material."
#Nanotechnology helps protect patients from bone infection Leading scientists at the University of Sheffield have discovered nanotechnology could hold the key to preventing deep bone infections,
showed applying small quantities of antibiotic to the surface of medical devices, from small dental implants to hip replacements, could protect patients from serious infection.
Scientists used revolutionary nanotechnology to work on small polymer layers inside implants which measure between 1 and 100 nanometers (nm) a human hair is approximately 100,
000 nm wide. Lead researcher Paul Hatton, Professor of Biomaterials Sciences at the University of Sheffield, said:
icroorganisms can attach themselves to implants or replacements during surgery and once they grab onto a nonliving surface they are notoriously difficult to treat
which causes a lot of problems and discomfort for the patient. y making the actual surface of the hip replacement or dental implant inhospitable to these harmful microorganisms,
the risk of deep bone infection is reduced substantially. ur research shows that applying small quantities of antibiotic to a surface between the polymer layers
which make up each device could prevent not only the initial infection but secondary infection it is like getting between the layers of an onion skin. one infection affects thousands of patients every year and results in a substantial cost to the NHS.
Treating the surface of medical devices would have a greater impact on patients considered at high risk of infection such as trauma victims from road traffic collisions or combat operations,
and those who have had previous bone infections. Professor Hatton added: eep bone infections associated with medical devices are increasing in number,
especially among the elderly. s well as improving the quality of life, this new application for nanotechnology could save health providers such as the NHS millions of pounds every year. ource:
http://www. sheffield. ac. uk/news/..e
#World smallest spirals could guard against identity theft Take gold spirals about the size of a dime...
because the materials can assemble in water instead of more toxic organic solutions that are used widely today. nce you make the materials,
because the materials can assemble in water instead of more toxic organic solutions that are used widely today. nce you make the materials,
#A stretchy mesh heater for sore muscles If you suffer from chronic muscle pain a doctor will likely recommend for you to apply heat to the injury.
along with an international team, have come up with an ingenious way of creating therapeutic heat in a light, flexible design.
while deformed and under stress on knee and wrist joints. It is lightweight, breathable and generates heat over the entire surface area of the material.
"The researchers used the nanoparticles to attack E coli, a bacterium that causes food poisoning; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common disease-causing bacterium;
Ralstonia, a genus of bacteria containing numerous soil-borne pathogen species; and Staphylococcus epidermis, a bacterium that can cause harmful biofilms on plastics-like catheters-in the human body.
The nanoparticles were effective against all the bacteria. The method allows researchers the flexibility to change the nanoparticle recipe in order to target specific microbes.
"The researchers used the nanoparticles to attack E coli, a bacterium that causes food poisoning; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common disease-causing bacterium;
Ralstonia, a genus of bacteria containing numerous soil-borne pathogen species; and Staphylococcus epidermis, a bacterium that can cause harmful biofilms on plastics-like catheters-in the human body.
The nanoparticles were effective against all the bacteria. The method allows researchers the flexibility to change the nanoparticle recipe in order to target specific microbes.
"said Michael R. Bruchas, Ph d.,associate professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Washington University School of medicine and a senior author of the study.
The Bruchas lab studies circuits that control a variety of disorders including stress, depression, addiction, and pain.
Both options require surgery that can damage parts of the brain and introduce experimental conditions that hinder animals'natural movements.
to construct a remote controlled, optofluidic implant. The device is made out of soft materials that are a tenth the diameter of a human hair
"We used powerful nanomanufacturing strategies to fabricate an implant that lets us penetrate deep inside the brain with minimal damage,
"Ultra-miniaturized devices like this have tremendous potential for science and medicine.""With a thickness of 80 micrometers and a width of 500 micrometers, the optofluidic implant is thinner than the metal tubes,
When the scientists compared the implant with a typical cannula they found that the implant damaged
In some experiments, they showed that they could precisely map circuits by using the implant to inject viruses that label cells with genetic dyes.
when they made mice that have light-sensitive VTA neurons stay on one side of a cage by commanding the implant to shine laser pulses on the cells.
"The researchers fabricated the implant using semiconductor computer chip manufacturing techniques. It has room for up to four drugs
"We tried to engineer the implant to meet some of neurosciences greatest unmet needs.""In the study, the scientists provide detailed instructions for manufacturing the implant."
"A tool is only good if it's used, "said Dr. Bruchas.""We believe an open,
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
TUNDERSTANDING defects in materials aids in performance predictions March 18th, 2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th,
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors March 18th, 2015graphene'gateway'discovery opens possibilities for improved energy technologies March 18th, 2015clean energy future:
2015the Universitat Politcnica de Valncia is coordinating a European project to develop a device for the quick and early diagnosis of cancer March 7th,
#'Smart bandage'detects bed sores before they are visible to doctors Abstract: Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, are developing a new type of bandage that does far more than stanch the bleeding from a paper cut or scraped knee.
Thanks to advances in flexible electronics, the researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at UC San francisco, have created a new"smart bandage"that uses electrical currents to detect early tissue damage from pressure ulcers,
or bedsores, before they can be seen by human eyes -and while recovery is still possible.
"We can imagine this being carried by a nurse for spot-checking target areas on a patient,
in the journal Nature Communications, could provide a major boost to efforts to stem a health problem that affects an estimated 2. 5 million U s. residents at an annual cost of $11 billion.
Pressure ulcers, or bedsores, are injuries that can result after prolonged pressure cuts off adequate blood supply to the skin.
Areas that cover bony parts of the body such as the heels, hips and tailbone, are common sites for bedsores.
"said Dr. Michael Harrison, a professor of surgery at UCSF and a co-investigator of the study."
"This bandage could provide an easy early warning-system system that would allow intervention before the injury is permanent.
"Bedsores are associated with deadly septic infections, and recent research has shown that odds of a hospital patient dying are 2. 8 times higher
when they have pressure ulcers. The growing prevalence of diabetes and obesity has increased the risk factors for bedsores."
"The genius of this device is that it's looking at the electrical properties of the tissue to assess damage.
To mimic a pressure wound, the researchers gently squeezed the bare skin of rats between two magnets.
The smart bandage was used to collect data once a day for at least three days to track the progress of the wounds.
reversible tissue damage while three hours of pressure produced more serious, permanent injury. Promising future"One of the things that makes this work novel is that we took a comprehensive approach to understanding how the technique could be used to observe developing wounds in complex tissue,
"said Swisher.""In the past, people have used impedance spectroscopy for cell cultures or relatively simple measurements in tissue.
and extract useful information from wounds developing in the body. That's a big leap."
and as we learn more and more about the responses the body has to disease and injury,
UCSF professor of surgery, is now heading up a clinical trial of this bandage. The project is funded through the Flexible Resorbable Organic and Nanomaterial Therapeutic Systems (FRONTS) program of the National Science Foundation.##
###For more information, please click herecontacts: Sarah Yangwriteemail('berkeley. edu','scyang';'510-643-7741copyright#University of California, Berkeleyissuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
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