Dangerous Liaison Bacteria, Viruses in League Lab Manager. Like all viruses, a phage can reproduce itself only by climbing into a cell — in this case, a bacterial cell — and commandeering its replicative machinery. Usually that’s lethal to the invaded cell, because the viruses’ offspring break out of the cell by puncturing its outer membrane, destroying the cell. Leaving host cells alive But Inoviruses don’t do that. Instead, these long, thin viruses are extruded from the bacterial cell without causing damage. Indeed, as the study shows, in the presence of organic substances called polymers, they shelter the bacteria they’ve infected by forming goopy lattices — biofilms — able to repel or sequester electrically-charged small molecules, including many drugs.
Related article: Breakthrough Antibacterial Approach Could Resolve Serious Skin Infections Members of the Inovirus family of phages infect a broad class of bacteria, encompassing Escherichia (for example, E. coli, which can aggregate into treacherous biofilms) as well as Pseudomonas. Teaming up. Groundbreaking Discovery Vessels Link Immune System And Brain. Research published in the prestigious online journal Nature has rocked and potentially revolutionized the spheres of biology and medicine.
The discovery has made large cracks in current medical paradigms by determining that the brain is directly and intimately connected to the immune system via specific vessels of the lymphatic system that hitherto have remained elusive. The paper entitled, “Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels,” opens with the words: “One of the characteristics of the central nervous system is the lack of a classical lymphatic drainage system.” What modern medical science has long regarded as a “characteristic” in its practice and teachings has now been overturned, causing shockwaves strong enough to prompt the chairman of the University of Virginia’s Department of Neuroscience to say, “They’ll have to change the textbooks.”
Diagram of the Lymphatic system without missing link Via: Alila Medical Media. New Birth Control for Men The Injectable Vasectomy - Urology. The search for a male contraceptive hasn’t been an easy one. For years, scientists have attempted to formulate injections, patches and pills for men without much success. The only tried and true solution is the vasectomy. While this method is very effective (99.85%), undergoing a vasectomy is a permanent decision and is not something to be taken lightly.
The traditional vasectomy procedure (also known as the good old “snip snip”) involves eliminating the sperm supply by cutting the vas deferens (the tube where sperm is produced), separating them from each testicle. This method prevents sperm from mixing with semen, and therefore, is a very reliable form of birth control. For men considering a vasectomy, they must be absolutely, 100% sure that they don’t want to have a child in the future. That is, until now.
Meet Sujoy Guha, an Indian scientist who just might have discovered the holy grail of male birth control. What is so great about RISUG anyway? Image courtesy of: Thinkstock. Systems Theory A Modified Extracorporeal Circuit To Attenuate Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - PERFUSION.COM, INC. Abstract This book explores the validity of utilizing a modified extracorporeal circuit to attenuate the systemic inflammatory response syndrome known as SIRS. Attention is directed specifically at the existence of this disease within the setting of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, commonly referred to as CPB; a standard technique utilized when performing cardiac surgery. Effort is focused on how this new and innovative Pinnacle System enables the reduction of inflammation within this field of clinical surgery, as compared to that of the existing standard bypass system. This was achieved by measuring and comparing research results derived from both bypass systems, such results were obtained from 214 participants who were selected as secondary research samples.
The Alzheimer’s Breakthrough That’s Been Missing Until Now—The Third Dimension — NOVA Next. Scientists think they have uncovered a key characteristic that’s been missing from Alzheimer’s research—the third dimension. Rudolph Tanzi and Doo Yeon Kim, neuroscientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, announced yesterday that they had successfully grown human neurons in 3D in tiny petri dishes and, in the process, said they have solved one of the key mysteries of Alzheimer’s. Their finding could pave the way for rapid testing of drugs to treat the disease, reducing the time needed to receive preliminary results from many years to mere months. Tangles that form between the 3D web of neurons in our brains are a key trait of Alzheimer's. For decades, researchers have been studying the disease using mice modified with a gene that’s known to cause Alzheimer’s in humans.
Kim suggested to Tanzi that they grow human neurons with an Alzheimer’s mutation in a gel, which would allow the cells to form a three-dimensional web that more closely mimics the structure of the human brain. Dr.