Archive for November, 2008
MIT’s “Perfect Mirror” Technology Used To Shrink Tumor
by bethany on Nov.20, 2008, under Cancer
Medical lasers are like science fiction heat rays that can vaporize tumors. The problem has been getting the lasers to where they are needed inside the body while protecting healthy tissue.
Now “perfect mirror” technology, developed by MIT researchers, is being used to shoot a laser through a spaghetti-thin, flexible fiber to attack tumors and other diseased tissue in highly targeted, minimally invasive surgery.
OmniGuide fiber, licensed through MIT’s Technology Licensing Office, scored a world first at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston last October when thoracic surgeon Dr. Raphael Bueno used it to shrink a patient’s cancerous lung tumor by 90 percent. Although carbon dioxide lasers have been used for more than 30 years to surgically remove diseased tissue in the throat, larynx, intestines and elsewhere, there was no easy way to get the lasers inside the body. Extensive surgery was required.
Pathologists Find HIV Weakness
by andreas on Nov.20, 2008, under HIV/AIDS
Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 budding from cultured lymphocyte. Multiple round bumps on cell surface represent sites of assembly and budding of virions.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions. The weak spot is hidden in the HIV envelope protein gp120, which is essential for HIV attachment to host cells.
The weak spot is hidden in the HIV envelope protein gp120. This protein is essential for HIV attachment to host cells, which initiate infection and eventually lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Normally the body’s immune defenses can ward off viruses by making proteins called antibodies that bind the virus. However, HIV is a constantly changing and mutating virus, and the antibodies produced after infection do not control disease progression to AIDS. For the same reason, no HIV preventative vaccine that stimulates production of protective antibodies is available.
Could A Contact Lens Save Your Vision?
by andreas on Nov.20, 2008, under general research
Soon contact lenses won’t just correct eyesight; they could save your vision.
By applying electrically conductive, antibiotic nanosilver particles to contact lenses, researchers at the University of California, Davis, can continuously map the pressure inside the eye while administering medication directly and painlessly into it.
The new lenses promise to advance understanding of diseases like glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, and could save the eyesight of millions, say the researchers.
Scientists take a step closer to an elixir of youth
by andreas on Nov.20, 2008, under cardiology, general research
Crystal structure of HLA-A*2402 complexed with a telomerase peptide.
Researchers believe boosting the amount of a naturally forming enzyme in the body could prevent cells dying and so lead to extended, healthier, lifespans. The protein telomerase helps maintain the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes which act like the ends of shoelaces and stop them unravelling.
Researchers Sequence Woolly-Mammoth Genome
by admin on Nov.20, 2008, under general research
OK, so this is a little off topic, but it does show how far researchers have come in sequencing genomes. Scientists at Penn State reported the genome-wide sequence of the woolly mammoth, an extinct elephant species adapted to living in cold environments. In all, four billion DNA bases were sequenced.
Previous studies on extinct organisms have generated only small amounts of data,” explains Stephan C. Schuster, Penn State professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. “Our dataset is 100 times more extensive than any other published dataset for an extinct species, demonstrating that ancient DNA studies can be brought up to the same level as modern genome projects.”
“Only after the genome of the African elephant has been completed will we be able to make a final assessment about how much of the full woolly-mammoth genome we have sequenced,” Miller says.
The team sequenced the mammoth’s nuclear genome using DNA from the hairs of a mammoth body buried in the Siberian permafrost for 20,000 years and a second mammoth mummy that is at least 60,000 years old.
Source: http://www.physorg.com
