Super-antibodies against influenza identified. Newly discovered antibodies can neutralise all types of flu. Scientists may now be on the trail of a universal influenza vaccine. (Photo: Colourbox) An international research team has identified antibodies which not only act against a single type of flu, but are able to fight off most types. The discovery could pave the way for a new vaccine that once and for all enables our immune system to fight off all forms of influenza before we get ill. This would be a substantial upgrade of existing vaccines, which only act against a few types of flu and which only remain effective for a few years. "The antibodies attack some highly conserved regions [see Factbox] of a surface protein in the influenza virus. The findings are published in the journal Science. Eighteen types of influenza Influenza is traditionally categorised into influenza A and influenza B, and these can be divided into several subtypes, totalling 18 types. Nick Laursen Antibodies found in humans “That’s the big picture.
Modafinil - the time-shifting drug. The wonders of pharmacology keep appearing regularly, each new drug seemingly too good to be true. In recent times there have been several killer apps for the drug industry – chemical substances that replace depression with a happy disposition or bolster a flagging sex drive to royal command performance (with encore) levels. Prozac and Viagra provided benefits so compelling they have entered everyday language and have a global following. Now there’s another “drug-most-likely-to-succeed” – this one enables you to stay awake for 40+ hours with close to full mental capacity with few side effects Modafinil improves memory, and enhances one's mood, alertness and cognitive powers.
The drug has a smoother feel than amphetamines and enables the user to stay awake and alert for 40 hours or more. Once the drug wears off, you just have to catch up on some sleep. Not surprisingly, the military are showing the most interest in the drug. A large part of battle fatigue is sleep deprivation. 3D printed robotic exoskeleton gives young girl a helping hand. Emma's custom 'magic arms' were created using 3D printing technology Image Gallery (5 images) A two year old girl born with arthrogryposis, a congenital disease that left her unable to lift her own arms, although able to walk, has been given a new lease on life by a 3D printed robotic exoskeleton, enabling her to move freely for the very first time. The exoskeleton, made of a similar material to Lego, was manufactured using a Stratasys Dimension 3D printer so as to create a prosthetic light enough for young Emma to continue walking around freely.
View all The exoskeleton was based on another piece of robotics developed by the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware called the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (WREX), an orthopedic apparatus for the arm made from hinged bars and resistance bands that helps children with very little residual strength to move their arms in space. Emma in the original WREX wheelchair, before her 3D printed exoskeleton was made. Your Diet Affects Your Grandchildren's DNA, Scientists Say | Epigenetics.
You are what you eat, the saying goes. And, according to two new genetic studies, you are what your mother, father, grandparents and great-grandparents ate, too. Diet, be it poor or healthy, can so alter the nature of one's DNA that those changes can be passed on to the progeny. While this much has been speculated for years, researchers in two independent studies have found ways in which this likely is happening. The findings, which involve epigenetics, may help explain the increased genetic risk that children face compared to their parents for diseases such as obesity and diabetes. The punch line is that your poor dietary habits may be dooming your progeny, despite how healthy they will try to eat. [10 Worst Hereditary Conditions] Epigenetics Epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression from outside forces.
Recent studies have shown how nutrition dramatically alters the health and appearance of otherwise identical mice. Of mice and humans Attack on the DNA. Stanford and Venter Institute Simulate an Entire Organism With Software. The scientists and other experts said the work was a giant step toward developing computerized laboratories that could carry out many thousands of experiments much faster than is possible now, helping scientists penetrate the mysteries of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. “You read in the paper just about every week, ‘Cancer gene discovered’ or ‘Alzheimer gene discovered,’ ” said the leader of the new research, Markus W. Covert, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford. “A lot of the public wonders, ‘Why haven’t we cured all these things?’ The answer, of course, is that cancer is not a one-gene problem; it’s a many-thousands-of-factors problem.” For medical researchers and biochemists, simulation software will vastly speed the early stages of screening for new compounds.
This kind of modeling is already in use to study individual cellular processes like metabolism. Efforts to build computer models of cell behavior are not new. Media.mercola.com/imageserver/public/first-genetically-modified-babies-born-ref.pdf. Will these Genetically Modified Babies Alter Human Species? By Dr. Mercola When I first read that genetically modified humans have already been born, I could hardly believe it. However, further research into this story featured in the UK's Daily Mail1 proved it to be true.
They've really done it... they've created humans that nature could never allow for, and it's anyone's guess as to what will happen next. Even more shocking was the discovery that this is actually old news! The Daily Mail article was not dated, and upon investigation, the experiments cited actually took place over a decade ago; the study announcing their successful birth was published in 20012. "The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics... Human Germline Now Altered... "These are the first reported cases of germline mtDNA genetic modification which have led to the inheritance of two mtDNA populations in the children resulting from ooplasmic transplantation.
"... "The U.S. Chanel No. 5: A brain parasite may be the secret to the famous perfume. Photograph by Thinkstock. On the fifth day of the fifth month of 1921, Coco Chanel changed the scent of the world. She released Chanel No. 5 as her final vaudeville act—her only child. The perfume would grow to be “le monstre" of the perfume industry, a $300-per-ounce, elegant mist still anchoring the multibillion-dollar Chanel empire. It succeeded where others had never tried by combining the cheap, musky scent of the courtesan demi-mondaines—the “women of the half-world,” as Coco herself was—with the light, single florals reserved for the upper class of Parisian women. Needing a musky base note, Coco resorted to an old perfumer’s trick: scrapings of sexual pheromones from the perianal gland of the Abyssinian civet cat.
Fast-forward to 1998. French chemists discovered something unexpected in a 1995 sauvignon blanc from Bordeaux: 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, a grape breakdown product that doubles as a fragrant pheromone in cat pee. Once you play host to Toxo, you have it for life. Tropical tree extract can clean drinking water. The tropical tree Moringa oleifera has a special quality that makes it very suitable for cleansing water.
The tree is to be used to cleanse water of eggs from intestinal parasites, which plague more than one billion people around the world. (Photo: J.M. Garg) There are many reasons why doctors recommend that visitors to Asia or Africa should always drink bottled water. One reason is that drinking water in Asia or Africa often contains the eggs of parasites – which can be an uncomfortable companion to bring back from a holiday or business trip. The parasites develop and grow in your intestines and some of them can become as thick as a little finger and up to 10 cm long.
In Denmark and other western countries your doctor will prescribe medicine that effectively kills the parasitic worms – but you do not have that possibility if you are a poor peasant in Africa or Asia. “Some people can develop anaemia if they have too many blood-sucking parasites in their intestines. From faeces to food: Invention allows 'living without breathing' Scientists have invented particles able to keep a person alive even if they are unable to breath.
The breakthrough treatment works by oxygenating the blood through an injection that can keep someone alive for up to 30 minutes even if they are unable to breath at all and could save thousands of lives. The injected particles contain oxygen within a layer of natural molecules known as lipids. Previous attempts at developing a treatment of this nature had failed because the injections caused a gas embolism rather than oxygenation of the cells. "We have engineered around this problem by packaging the gas into small, deformable particles," said scientist John Kheir. "They dramatically increase the surface area for gas exchange and are able to squeeze through capillaries where free gas would get stuck. " View: Full article | Source: Gizmodo Discuss: View comments (24) New vaccine could provide lifetime immunity to nicotine addiction. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed a vaccine that could help existing smokers quit for good and prevent those yet to try cigarettes from ever becoming addicted.
The vaccine turns the recipient’s kidney into a factory continuously churning out antibodies that clear the bloodstream of nicotine before it has a chance to reach the brain and deliver it’s addictive rush. Unlike previously tested nicotine vaccines that only last a few weeks, the effects of a single dose of this new vaccine should last a lifetime. Generally, there are two types of vaccines. The first are active ones that activate a lifetime immune response by presenting a bit of the foreign substance, such as a piece of virus, to the immune system. Nicotine isn't suitable for active vaccines as the molecule is too small to be recognized by the immune system. Dr. However, he adds that it might also be possible to use the vaccine to preempt nicotine addiction in those that have never smoked.
Making Norway's deadliest food. Helga Næs from Nofima. (Photo: Preben Forberg) The only facility of its kind in Europe, the new laboratory at Ås will offer researchers the opportunity to contaminate foodstuff of every kind with pathogenic microbes. “The pathogen processing plant will be a national resource centre, available for researchers from across Norway and abroad who wish to conduct experiments with hazardous food production,” explains Helga Næs, Research Director Food Safety and quality at the research institute Nofima - one of the partners behind the project, alongside the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and funder The Research Council of Norway. “So far the only option available to researchers has been to use models, such as cell cultures in tubes or dishes with nutrients, to study these hazardous bacteria.
The facility will open up a range of new approaches for researchers. 18 people fell ill and one child died after eating contaminated smoked sausage. Improvised sausage factory Enlarged E.coli bacteria. Tests of Parents Are Used to Map Genes of a Fetus. The accomplishment heralds an era in which parents might find it easier to know the complete DNA blueprint of a child months before it is born. That would allow thousands of genetic diseases to be detected prenatally.
But the ability to know so much about an unborn child is likely to raise serious ethical considerations as well. It could increase abortions for reasons that have little to do with medical issues and more to do with parental preferences for traits in children. “It’s an extraordinary piece of technology, really quite remarkable,” said Peter Benn, professor of and developmental biology at the University of Connecticut, who was not involved in the work. “What I see in this paper is a glance into the future.” The paper, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, was written by genome scientists at the . The process is not practical, affordable or accurate enough for use now, experts said. But Dr. Dr. Ultra-sensitive biosensor could detect diseases in their earliest stages. The new ultra-sensitive biosensor has been demonstrated by detecting very small concentrations of Prostate Specific Antigen (pictured) (Image: EAS via Wikipedia) A new ultra-sensitive test developed by scientists from the Imperial College London and Spain’s University of Vigo has the potential to detect the earliest stages of a disease, thereby giving any treatment the best possible chance of succeeding.
The researchers claim their new biosensor test is capable of detecting biomarkers (molecules which indicate the presence of a disease) at concentration levels much lower than is possible with existing biosensors. While the new test has already proven capable of detecting a biomarker associated with prostate cancer, the team says their biosensor could be easily reconfigured to detect biomarkers related to other diseases or viruses. The new biosensor consists of nanoscopic-sized gold stars suspended in a solution containing blood-derived proteins.
Source: Imperial College London. MedlinePlus: Videos of Surgical Procedures. Dip Chip biosensor uses microbes to instantly detect almost any toxic substance. The Dip Chip biosensor, with a key for scale Once upon a time, tasters were employed by the well-to-do, in order to check that their food or drink wasn't poisonous. Today, there are electronic biosensors that can do more or less the same thing. Unfortunately, as was no doubt sometimes the case with the tasters, the biosensors can’t always give us immediate results. Additionally, they’re usually only able to test for specific substances, and not simply for “anything that’s toxic.” The biosensor was created by Professors Yosi Shacham-Diamand and Shimshon Belkin, of Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, respectively. It contains microbes, which have been genetically modified to produce a biochemical reaction whenever they’re exposed to a toxic material, not unlike the reactions that occur in humans and other animals.
The Dip Chip reportedly gives very few false readings, either positive or negative. Source: Tel Aviv University About the Author. Brain Disease Is Found in Veterans Exposed to Bombs. Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times Drs. Lee E. Goldstein and Ann McKee, authors of a paper on chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The researchers also discovered what they believe is the mechanism by which explosions damage brain tissue and trigger the wasting disease, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., by studying simulated explosions on mice.
The animals developed evidence of the disease just two weeks after exposure to a single simulated blast, researchers found. “Our paper points out in a profound and definitive way that there is an organic, structural problem in the brain associated with blast exposure,” said Dr. The paper provides the strongest evidence yet that some and perhaps many combat veterans with invisible brain injuries caused by explosions are at risk of developing long-term neurological disease — a finding that, if confirmed, would have profound implications for military policy, veterans programs and future research. Dr. But Dr. Dr. Superbug-killing coating "magnetically" draws in bacteria. Synthetic DNA is tomorrow's medicine.
Biomaterials. Antibiotic resistant bacteria discovered in isolated New Mexico cave. Engineered cells seek out and kill HIV in living organisms. Bats Harbor Novel Type of Influenza. Gold nanostars deliver drugs directly to cancer cell nucleus. Throat Therapy. Battery-powered plasma flashlight makes short work of bacteria. Money Talks, Science Walks: Millions Spent to Weaken FDA. New Evidence in High Profile Shaken Baby Case. Toys contaminated with harmful bacteria. New plastic bleeds and heals like human skin. Successful face transplant is "most extensive to date" Save Lives Like a Combat Medic: How to Use a Tourniquet to Control Major Bleeding. Nanopollutants Change Blood Vessel Reactivity. Scientists create anthrax-unfriendly "killer silk" Peoples' immune systems can now be duplicated in mice. Physicians grow retinas from human blood-derived stem cells. Nasty nasal parasite. Artificial vein valve could replace drugs for treating common circulatory problem.
Nootropics: their effects, their risks, and where to get them - Thinking in a nutshell. Nootropic (Smart Drugs) Vaults. Autopsies in the U.S.A. Researchers discover how to fight fat ... with fat. Maintaining a brain protein’s sugar levels could prevent development of Alzheimer’s. World's first biodegradable joint implant grows new joints.
Flatworms could hold key to immortality. Flesh-eating bacteria inspires highly selective instant adhesive that won't stick to fingers.