Strategies to Kill Cancer. Stem Cell Basics: Introduction. Laboratory studies of stem cells enable scientists to learn about the cells’ essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. Scientists are already using stem cells in the laboratory to screen new drugs and to develop model systems to study normal growth and identify the causes of birth defects. New Bandages Latest in Healthcare Technology - High Tech Bandages and Band-Aids. ChitoGauze (Photograph courtesy of HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.) HemCon Medical Technologies manufactures bandages and wound dressings that harness the power of the sea.
The company's products use chitosan, a biopolymer made from a component in the exoskeletons of crab, shrimp and other crustacean exoskeletons. The positively charged chitosan attracts the negatively charged outer membranes of red blood cells; when the two come into contact, localized clotting occurs. Gecko Bandage (Photograph by Bob Langer and Jeff Karp, MIT) The ability of geckos to scale vertical surfaces comes from the special topography of their feet: nano-size hairs gives their feet an adhesive property. QuikClot (Photograph courtesy of Z-Medica Corporation) The family of QuikClot products make use of kaolin clay, a natural blood-clotter. Ultrasound Device (Photograph courtesy of George K.
Forget bandages—make way for sound. Scaffold Bandage (Photograph courtesy of University of Sheffield) Electric Bandage. Explanation: How Brain Training Can Make You Significantly Smarter. Brain Implants Help Paralyzed Monkeys Get a Grip. Spinal cord injuries cause paralysis because they sever crucial communication links between the brain and the muscles that move limbs. A new study with monkeys demonstrates a way to re-establish those connections. By implanting electrodes in a movement control center in the brain and wiring them up to electrodes attached to muscles in the arm, researchers restored movement to monkeys with a temporarily paralyzed hand. The work is the latest promising development in the burgeoning field of neuroprosthetics. In recent years, scientists have taken many steps toward creating prosthetics to help paralyzed people interact more with the world around them.
They've developed methods to decode signals from electrodes implanted in the brain so that a paralyzed person can control a cursor on a computer screen or manipulate a robotic arm with their thoughts alone. Such brain implants are still experimental, and only a handful of people have received them. The brain is actually wired like a chess board and a new scanner reveals how in stunning detail. By Ted Thornhill Published: 10:04 GMT, 30 March 2012 | Updated: 15:31 GMT, 30 March 2012 For a long time it was thought that the brain was a mass of tangled wires, but researchers recently found that its fibers are actually set up like a chess board, crossing at right-angles.
What’s more, this grid structure has now been revealed in amazing detail as part of a brain imaging study by a new state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Van Wedeen, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who led study, said: ‘Far from being just a tangle of wires, the brain's connections turn out to be more like ribbon cables - folding 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles, like the warp and weft of a fabric.
Curvature in this image of a whole human brain turns out to be folding of 2D sheets of parallel neuronal fibers that cross paths at right angles ‘This grid structure is continuous and consistent at all scales and across humans and other primate species.’ What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain. An opening against Alzheimer’s. Under normal circumstances, the tau protein is a hard-working participant in memory and brain functioning. But in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, tau not only ceases to play a productive role in brain health, but actually undergoes a Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation to become a misshapen villain that destroys brain cells. “Since Alzheimer’s disease takes at least a decade to develop, the major challenge to halt memory loss is to identify the initial period when the tau protein is transformed from ‘good guy’ to ‘bad guy,’” said co-senior author Kun Ping Lu (left), BIDMC investigator, who along with co-senior author Xiao Zhen Zhou, did the research.
Photo by Bruce Wahl/BIDMC Media Services The most common form of dementia in older individuals, Alzheimer’s affects 5.4 million Americans and 30 million people worldwide. To read the full release, visit www.bidmc.org. The 29 Healthiest Foods on the Planet | Belly Bytes. The following is a "healthy food hot list" consisting of the 29 food that will give you the biggest nutritional bang for you caloric buck, as well as decrease your risk for deadly illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Along with each description is a suggestion as to how to incorporate these power-foods into your diet. Fruits 01. Apricots The Power: Beta-carotene, which helps prevent free-radical damage and protect the eyes. The body also turns beta-carotene into vitamin A, which may help ward off some cancers, especially of the skin. 02. The Power: Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat that helps lower overall cholesterol and raise levels of HDL, plus a good dose of fiber. 03. The Power: Ellagic acid, which helps stall cancer-cell growth. 04. The Power: Stop aging, live longer and keep your mind sharp with blueberries. 05. 06. The Power: Helps fight bladder infections by preventing harmful bacteria from growing. 07. 08. 09. 10. Vegetables 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Printer. Eating 10 hot dogs in 6 minutes and belching the national anthem may impress your friends, but neither of those feats will do much for your body—at least not much good.
Instead, why not train yourself to do something that may actually pay off? We're not talking bench presses and interval training (though those do help). You can teach your body to cure itself from everyday health ailments—side stitches, first-date jitters, even hands that have fallen asleep. Just study this list, and the next time your friends challenge you to an ice cream eating contest, chow down: You know how to thaw a brain freeze—and 17 other tricks that'll make everyone think you're the next David Blaine.
But without all that "hold your breath for 17 minutes" mess. Do Them Right: To mazimize your workout, good form is a must. Cure a Tickling Throat When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Experience Supersonic Hearing If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. Printer. Who came up with the idea that we are supposed to drink orange juice at breakfast? And why, if oatmeal is so good for us, do we eat that only in the morning as well? Apologies to the Palinites, but nutritionists are starting to realize that you and I like our oatmeal and OJ before we start the day because we evolved to like it that way—because enjoying the two together is healthier than eating each of them alone.
Epidemiologist David R. Jacobs, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota calls it food synergy, and he, along with many other nutritionists, believes it might explain why Italians drizzle cold-pressed olive oil over tomatoes and why the Japanese pair raw fish with soybeans. "The complexity of food combinations is fascinating because it's tested in a way we can't test drugs: by evolution," says Jacobs. And, he adds, "it's tested in the most complex of systems: life. " Tomatoes & Avocadoes And when it comes to salads, don't choose low-fat dressings. Oatmeal & Orange Juice Lemon & Kale.