Scientists develop supersensitive biosensor for cancer

A team of physicists and engineers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, has created an optical biosensor for cancer detection using nanostructured metamaterials that are 1 million times more sensitive than previous versions, pointing the way toward an effective early detection system for cancer and other illnesses.

The device, which is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, has been developed to provide oncologists with a way to detect a single molecule of an enzyme produced by circulatingcancer cells.

Such detection could allow doctors to diagnose patients with certain cancers far earlier than possible today, monitor treatment and resistance, and more.

The research, published online in the journalNature Materials, describes how the nanosensor acts like a biological sieve, isolating a small protein molecule weighing less than 800 quadrillionths of a nanogram from an extremely dilute solution.

The researchers believe the sensing technology will also be useful in diagnosing and monitoring other diseases.

"The prognosis of many cancers depends on the stage of the cancer at diagnosis," says Giuseppe "Pino" Strangi, professor of physics at Case Western Reserve and leader of the research.

Read more: Scientists develop supersensitive biosensor for cancer

The researchers used nanostructured metamaterials 1 million times more sensitive
than previous versions, enabling an early detection system for cancer.

Source: medicalnewstoday

A Mom’s Guide to Deadly Allergies

Know Your Child’s Allergies and Risks

Kids love peanut butter and milk, but for some they can cause food allergy symptoms such as hives and swollen lips, or a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. How can parents prevent that scary scenario? Read on for the Health Detective’s findings...Minutes after downing a Butterfinger candy bar, a sixth-grade boy from Kent, Wash., experienced severe nausea, stomach pain and belly cramping – classic food allergy symptoms. The boy had a peanut allergy, and the candy contains roasted peanuts. 

“I gave him Benadryl [an antihistamine], but it didn’t help,” says his school’s nurse, Sheri Siedentopf, R.N. 

Fearing a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction, she injected him with epinephrine and then called 911 and his parents. “Thankfully, he improved in a few minutes,” she says.

Read more: A Mom’s Guide to Deadly Allergies

Source: lifescript.

Still too high in fat and sodium in kids' meals.

What will it take to get children to choose fruit instead of ice cream when eating out? Despite a move by many restaurants toward healthier kids' meals, research published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior shows that while calorie ratings have improved, there is still a way to go in reducing fat, sodium and sugar.

For many American children, eating out is routine.

Studies show that, while home-prepared food has more nutritional value than restaurant meals, the diets of most children in the US already lack fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy items.

The options available in restaurants, meanwhile, often contain excess calories, solid fats, sodium and added sugar.

Many restaurants have already begun offering healthier choices for children, in anticipation of legislation that will require calorie counts to be included on menus from December 2016.

For the past 6 years, healthier children's dishes have been among the top 10 food trends in the National Restaurant Association's annual survey of chefs.

Read more: Still too high in fat and sodium in kids' meals.

Fat and sodium still feature excessively in kids' meals.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Testosterone therapy by Shots and Gel Protects Men With Coronary Artery Disease from Heart Attack Risks.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration required manufacturers of testosterone products to add new label information warning of a possible increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. A new study suggests this may be both unnecessary and unhealthy for some men. Testosterone therapy or T therapy helped men with preexisting coronary artery disease reduce their risks of strokes, heart attacks, and even death.

In fact, the men who did not receive testosterone as part of their treatment were 80 percent more likely to suffer an adverse event, such as a heart attack, than those taking T.

Testosterone is a sex hormone that is commonly thought to regulate sex drive, bone mass, fat distribution, muscle mass and strength, and to be responsible for the production of sperm and red blood cells in men. As men age, they generally make less testosterone at a rate of about 1 to 2 percent per year. A man in his 70s may have half the testosterone he had at age 20.

Though this may be normal, some men feel the effects more strongly than others. Low testosterone levels may contribute to depression, decreased bone density, increased body fat, insomnia, and diminished sexual desire.

Read more: Testosterone therapy by Shots and Gel Protects Men With Coronary Artery Disease from Heart Attack Risks.

Source: medicaldaily

'Marijuana receptor' might hold the key to novel fertility treatments for men.

Research suggests that cannabis exposure may affect DNA-bound proteins, sperm chromatin and have an impact on fertility, embryo development and offspring health

Scientists have shown that a cannabinoid receptor, called 'CB2,' helps regulate the creation of sperm. Not only does this provide more evidence that marijuana can disrupt fertility in males, but it also suggests a therapeutic strategy for treating male infertility.

In a research report appearing in the April 2016 issue of The FASEB Journal, scientists show that a cannabinoid receptor, called "CB2," helps regulate the creation of sperm. Not only does this provide more evidence that marijuana can disrupt fertility in males, but it also suggests a therapeutic strategy for treating male infertility.

"The possibility to improve male fertility is one of the main focuses of this study, since infertility is a worldwide problem that affect up to 15% of couples in which male factors account for almost 20-70%," said Paola Grimaldi, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, School of Medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy.

Read more: 'Marijuana receptor' might hold the key to novel fertility treatments for men

Illustration of sperm and egg cell.

Source: Tatiana Shepeleva / Fotolia

Sugar addiction could be A Form Of Drug Abuse.

Sugar-addicted rats were successfully treated with a smoking cessation drug, according to new research.

A spiral into years or a life of drug abuse can be mentally and physically destructive, but what if sugar addiction reaped the same consequences? Amid the United States obesity epidemic — as well as increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease — researchers are beginning to see sugar addiction in a new light: as something nearly as damaging to health as drug dependence.

In a new study out of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia, researchers suggest that in the future, sugar addiction may be treated the same way as drug addiction. Their research showed that rats addicted to sugar could be treated with nicotine addiction drugs. Like alcohol and drug addiction, consuming high levels of sugar increases dopamine levels and activates the same reward pathways in the brain.

“Excess sugar consumption has been proven to contribute directly to weight gain,” Professor Selena Bartlett of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, an author of the study, said in the press release. “It has also been shown to repeatedly elevate dopamine levels which control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers in a way that is similar to many drugs of abuse including tobacco, cocaine and morphine.”

Read more: Sugar addiction could be A Form Of Drug Abuse.

In America, nearly every packaged food contains some amount of sugar;
as a result, our tolerance for sweets has gotten higher and contributed to obesity and diabetes.

Source: Pixabay, public domain

Apolipoproteins - Novel perspectives and other challenges.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in the West, and dyslipidemia is considered to be one of their key risk factors. The majority of CVD cases could be prevented by effective management of dyslipidemia. The use of new biomarkers like apolipoproteins as part of extended lipid profiles may be among the most significant new tools for such a task.

Dyslipidemias

Dyslipidemias cover a broad spectrum of lipid abnormalities. Clinicians have so far paid maximum attention to elevated levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C). Many other types of dyslipidemias, however, also appear to enhance the risk of CVD. 

Lipid metabolism can become imbalanced or disturbed in several ways, resulting in changes to plasma lipoprotein function and thereafter to the development of atherosclerosis. Many patients who have high cardiovascular risk still have unfavorable lipid profiles.

Given the fast-growing interest in lipidology, clinicians have sought ways to apply evidence-based medicine daily in dyslipidemia management. There are several lipid guidelines from professional societies in different parts of the world to diagnose and make assessments of dyslipidemia. 

The role of apolipoproteins

In recent years, both Europe and the US have witnessed revisions in CVD guidelines and in the approach to lipid profiling. One major new area of attention is the role of apolipoproteins.

Read more: Apolipoproteins - Novel perspectives and other challenges.

Source: cli-online

Automatiion in the clinical microbiology laboratory

In spite of some exceptions, the clinical microbiology lab has been a late starter as far as automation is concerned. It has also traditionally been viewed as ‘low tech’, especially when compared to its cousins in clinical chemistry or pathology. A variety of factors, however, have been converging to reverse such a situation.

Automation hampered by process complexity

One of the most important barriers to the automation of a clinical microbiology lab is process complexity. Unlike hematology or chemistry labs, which have little diversity in specimens and generally use standard collection tubes, microbiology laboratories need to work with a vast range of specimen types in a multitude of transport containers. The complex nature of specimen processing and culturing and the ensuing lack of standardization have been major deterrents to automation.

Nevertheless, growth in the presence of automated technologies in clinical microbiology labs is now expected to accelerate as a result of several factors, above all rising demand. This requires agility and high responsiveness, making automation indispensable.

Aging populations drive demand

Aging populations with more-complex diseases and conditions require a growing number of tests - for example, to monitor implants and prosthetic devices for infections. The elderly also need greater care in medicating, since they are more prone to adverse drug events.

In the year 2000, an article by Dr. Thomas T. Yoshikawa of the King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles noted that though “the major focus in infectious diseases for the past decade has been on young adults”, in the future “the vast majority of serious infectious diseases will be seen in the elderly population.”

Read more: Automatiion in the clinical microbiology laboratory

Source: captodayonline

Brain signalling regulation by nerve terminal nanofilaments

State-of-the-art electron microscopy reveals the large-scale organization of the proteins that regulate neurotransmitter release

This spectacular image – which took the best part of a year to create – shows the fine structure of a nerve terminal at high resolution, revealing, for the very first time, an intricate network of fine filaments that controls the movements of synaptic vesicles.

The brain is soft and wet, with the consistency of a lump of jelly. Yet, it is the most complex and highly organized structure that we know of, containing hundreds of billions of neurons and glial cells, and something on the order of one quadrillion synaptic connections, all of which are arranged in a very specific manner.

This high degree of specificity extends down to the deepest levels of brain organization. Just beneath the membrane at the nerve terminal, synaptic vesicles store neurotransmitter molecules, and await the arrival of a nervous impulse, whereupon they fuse with the membrane and release their contents into the synaptic cleft, the miniscule gap at the junction between nerve cells, and diffuse across it to bind to receptor protein molecules embedded at the surface of the partner cell.

Read more: Brain signalling regulation by nerve terminal nanofilaments

3D reconstruction showing three types of nanofilaments that connect to synaptic
vesicles in the nerve terminals of excitatory synapses in the rat hippocampus.

Source: Cole, A. A., et al., Journal of Neuroscience (2016)

Gut microbes regulate nerve fibre insulation.

Far from being silent partners that merely help to digest food, the bacteria in your gut may also be exerting subtle influences on your thoughts, moods, and behaviour. And according to a new study from researchers at University College Cork, your gut microbes might affect the structure and function of the brain in a more direct way, by regulating myelination, the process by which nerve fibres are insulated so that they can conduct impulses properly.

The surprising new findings, published today in the journal Translational Psychiatry, provide what is perhaps the strongest evidence yet that gut bacteria can have a direct physical effect on the brain, and suggest that it may one day be possible to treat debilitating demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and even psychiatric disorders, by altering the composition of the gut’s microbial menagerie in some way or another.

Gut microbe research has exploded in the past 10 years, and in that time, it has become increasingly clear that there is a two-way line of communication betweengut bacteria and the brain. The human gut microbiome seems to play important roles in health and disease, and alterations in its composition have been implicated in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including autism, chronic pain, depression, and Parkinson’s Disease, although the links still remain somewhat tenuous.

Read more: Gut microbes regulate nerve fibre insulation.

Scanning electron micrograph showing E. coli bacteria.

Source: Wikimedia Commons