Tag: medicine

Doctors can now grow human vocal cords in a lab

Used to be that if you damaged your vocal cords and needed a new set, doctors would have to shoot you full of immunosuppressants to keep your body from rejecting the cadaver-sourced replacements. Not anymore. Researchers at University of Wisconsin Medical School have published a preliminary study in the journal Science Translational Medicine wherein they successfully cultured 170 sets of vocal cords in the lab. These organs do not require the course of immunosuppressants that conventional transplants require. “We never imagined that we would see the impressive level of function that we did, ” study senior author Nathan Welham told Buzzfeed . Via: Buzzfeed Source: Science Translational Medicine

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Doctors can now grow human vocal cords in a lab

Pop-up sensor would give robot surgeons a sense of touch

Robotic surgery is no longer the stuff of science fiction. However, these robots can’t really feel their way around — the need for super-small mechanisms rules out existing approaches to touch. That’s where Harvard researchers might come to save the day. They’ve developed a pop-up sensor whose four layers collapse to a tiny footprint (just a tenth of an inch) when necessary, but expand into a 3D sensor thanks to a built-in spring. The design is extremely sensitive, too, with a light intensity sensor that can detected mere millinewtons of force. Source: Harvard University , IEEE Sensors Journal

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Pop-up sensor would give robot surgeons a sense of touch

DNA Data From California Newborn Blood Samples Stored, Sold To 3rd Parties

schwit1 writes: “This might come as a surprise to California natives in their 20s and early 30s: The state owns your DNA. Every year about four million newborns in the U.S. get a heel prick at birth, to screen for congenital disorders, that if found early enough, can save their life.” However, when those tests are done, the leftover blood isn’t simply thrown away. Instead, they’re taken to an office building and the DNA data is stored in a database. “It’s a treasure trove of information about you, from the color of your eyes and hair to your pre-disposition to diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.” And that’s not the end of it: “The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is not the only agency using the blood spots. Law enforcement can request them. Private companies can buy them to do research – without your consent.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DNA Data From California Newborn Blood Samples Stored, Sold To 3rd Parties

Nanofiber gel and snake venom work together to stop the bleeding

Researchers at Rice University announced a novel use for batroxobin , a hemotoxic component in the venom of two South American pit viper species. They’ve figured out how to leverage it as a potent anticoagulant — when combined with a nanofiber hydrogel called SB50 — that could save countless lives in surgery. Medical science has actually been employing batroxobin as a topical clotting agent and thrombosis treatment since the mid 1930s. But more importantly, it’s been shown to stop the flow of blood even if the patient is on heparin, a powerful anticoagulant administered before some surgeries. Via: Rice University Newsroom Source: Rice University

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Nanofiber gel and snake venom work together to stop the bleeding

3D-Printed Teeth Can Kill 99% of Dental Bacteria

An anonymous reader writes: A research group in the Netherlands has developed a new plastic resin that can destroy most dental bacteria when used for the creation of dental appliances via 3D-printing. The process involves embedding antimicrobial quaternary ammonium salts inside extant dental resin polymers. Since the salts are positively charged, these disrupt negatively-charged bacterial membranes. The process is also being mooted for use in the creation of knee arthroplasties, and in the manufacture of children’s toys and food packaging. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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3D-Printed Teeth Can Kill 99% of Dental Bacteria

How Neurosurgeons Can Now Look at Your Brain Through Your Eyes

For many years scientists have been trying to find a way to measure the pressure in a patient’s brain without having to drill a hole in the person’s skull. Although this remains the most reliable way to measure pressure in the brain it is invasive, expensive and comes with the risk of infection and bleeding. Read more…

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How Neurosurgeons Can Now Look at Your Brain Through Your Eyes

Maybe You Don’t Need 8 Hours of Sleep After All

schwit1 writes: You’ve heard of the Paleo diet, but the next big thing in health may well be the Paleo sleep schedule. A UCLA researcher studied three hunter-gatherer and hunter-farmer groups — the Hadza in Tanzania, San in Namibia, and Tsimane in Bolivia, “who live roughly the same lifestyle humans did in the Paleolithic, ” as NPR reports — and determined our ancient ancestors may not have slept nearly as much we thought, and may have actually slept less than modern Westerners. “People like to complain that modern life is ruining sleep, but they’re just saying: Kids today!” Jerome Siegel tells the Atlantic . “It’s a perennial complaint but you need data to know if it’s true.” Siegel found that members of the three aforementioned groups sleep between 5.7 hours and 7.1 hours per night. That’s less than is recommended for our health, yet the groups seemed very healthy indeed. (And if you’re feeling insomniac, some earlier Slashdot stories about sleep are also pretty thought-provoking.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Maybe You Don’t Need 8 Hours of Sleep After All

DNA nanomachine detects HIV antibodies in minutes, not hours

Current methods for detecting the antibodies that indicate HIV infection are agonizingly slow and cumbersome. However a new DNA nanomachine developed by an international team of researchers (and funded, in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) could shorten the process to a matter of minutes. The DNA-based nanomachine is designed and synthesized to recognize and bind with a specific target antibody, even within biologically-dense and complex samples like blood. When these “machines” do bind with the target antibody, the joining causes a structural change that generates a little burst of light. A test that used to require hours of careful, complex and downright expensive prep-work could now take as little as five minutes. And the sooner that doctors are aware of the infection, the sooner they can start treating it . What’s more, these nanomachines can easily be customized to detect a wide variety of antibodies. “Our modular platform provides significant advantages over existing methods for the detection of antibodies, ” Prof. Vallée-Bélisle of the University of Montreal, a senior co-author of the paper, said in a statement. “It is rapid, does not require reagent chemicals, and may prove to be useful in a range of different applications such as point-of-care diagnostics and bioimaging.” The team hopes to further develop the technology, making the signals even easier to detect. “For example, we could adapt our platform so that the signal of the nanoswitch may be read using a mobile phone , ” Simona Ranallo, University of Rome PhD student and first-author of the paper, said in a statement. “This will make our approach really available to anyone! We are working on this idea and we would like to start involving diagnostic companies.” [Image Credit: lede – LightRocket via Getty Images, inline – Marco Tripodi] Source: University of Montreal

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DNA nanomachine detects HIV antibodies in minutes, not hours

The First Human Head Transplant Will Take Place in 2017

Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero grabbed the world’s attention this past winter when he announced his plans to perform the first human head transplant. Many doubted that such an outrageous procedure would ever see the light of day. Now, Canavero has a date on the books. Read more…

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The First Human Head Transplant Will Take Place in 2017