Can we really outgrow asthma?

If you're one of the 25 million Americans who have asthma, you probably want to know if you're always going to be living with it. If you're a parent of one of the 7 million U.S. children with asthma, you probably want to know if your child might outgrow it. The short answer: That depends. Here's why.

Can Children Outgrow Asthma?

About half of all children with asthma start having symptoms before age five. However, it's hard to diagnose asthma in a child under age five. That's because the lung function tests that are most important for making the diagnosis are too hard for a young child to perform.

If you have a child with asthma symptoms, there is about a 50% chance your child will outgrow the symptoms. But there's also a 25% chance those symptoms will come back once the child is an adult. This means the chance of your child permanently outgrowing asthma is about 25%.

Read more: Can we really outgrow asthma?

Source: healthgrades

DNA damage detected in patients after CT scanning.

Using new laboratory technology, scientists have shown that cellular damage is detectable in patients after CT scanning. In this study, researchers examined the effects on human cells of low-dose radiation from a wide range of cardiac and vascular CT scans. These imaging procedures are commonly used for a number of reasons, including management of patients suspected of having obstructive coronary artery disease, and for those with aortic stenosis, in preparation of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Using new laboratory technology, scientists have shown that cellular damage is detectable in patients after CT scanning, according to a new study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

"We now know that even exposure to small amounts of radiation from computed tomography scanning is associated with cellular damage," said Patricia Nguyen, MD, one of the lead authors of the study and an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford. "Whether or not this causes cancer or any negative effect to the patient is still not clear, but these results should encourage physicians toward adhering to dose reduction strategies."

Read more: DNA damage detected in patients after CT scanning.

Computed tomography (stock image). Along with the burgeoning use of advanced medical imaging
tests over the past decade have come rising public health concerns about possible links between low
dose radiation and cancer. The worry is that increased radiation exposure from such diagnostic
procedures as CT scans, which expose the body to low-dose X-ray beams, can damage DNA and
create mutations that spur cells to grow into tumors.

Source: Lilyana Vynogradova / Fotolia

Microbes and Cancer.

Understanding cancer’s relationship with the human microbiome could transform immune-modulating therapies.

In 2013, two independent teams of scientists, one in Maryland and one in France, made a surprising observation: both germ-free mice and mice treated with a heavy dose of antibiotics responded poorly to a variety of cancer therapies typically effective in rodents. The Maryland team, led by Romina Goldszmid and Giorgio Trinchieri of the National Cancer Institute, showed that both an investigational immunotherapy and an approved platinum chemotherapy shrank a variety of implanted tumor types and improved survival to a far greater extent in mice with intact microbiomes. The French group, led by INSERM’s Laurence Zitvogel, got similar results when testing the long-standing chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide in cancer-implanted mice, as well as in mice genetically engineered to develop tumors of the lung.

The findings incited a flurry of research and speculation about how gut microbes contribute to cancer cell death, even in tumors far from the gastrointestinal tract. The most logical link between the microbiome and cancer is the immune system. Resident microbes can either dial up inflammation or tamp it down, and can modulate immune cells’ vigilance for invaders. Not only does the immune system appear to be at the root of how the microbiome interacts with cancer therapies, it also appears to mediate how our bacteria, fungi, and viruses influence cancer development in the first place.

Read more: Microbes and Cancer.

Source: © Istock/Kateja_FN/Frank Ramspott

Combined HIV-Hepatitis C Vaccine Soon Preventing Co-Infection

Some 2.3 million people around the world are infected with both HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) at the same time. The two are often intertwined, with HCV being the top cause of death aside from AIDS for co-infected patients. While there are currently vaccines for both hepatitis A and hepatitis B, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C. Likewise, HIV/AIDS treatment has improved significantly in recent decades, but there is still no vaccine.

In a new study, researchers note that a combined HIV and hepatitis C vaccine may soon be on the horizon. The study, which was presented at The International Liver Congress in Barcelona, describes how a combined vaccine would involve two main steps: first, exposing the immune system to adenoviral vectors that contain fragments of both HCV and HIV viruses, which would trigger antigens; and afterwards, administering booster vaccinations in an MVA vector containing the same HCV and HIV virus fragments.

“Finding effective vaccinations against the world’s biggest killers is a huge and pressing problem,” said Laurent Castera, Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, in a statement. “This study shows for the first time that it is possible to generate simultaneous immune response against diseases HCV and HIV, raising the possibility of a combined vaccination.”

HIV, or the human immunodeficiency virus, causes HIV infection and over time, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HCV is also a viral infection that mostly targets the liver, resulting in symptoms of fever, dark urine, stomach pain, and eventually liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), or liver failure.

Read more: Combined HIV-Hepatitis C Vaccine Soon Preventing Co-Infection

While HIV and hepatitis C vaccines are still in experimental stages, researchers may have paved

the way for a combined vaccine in which they're administered at the same time.

Source: Josep Lago / Getty

Diabetes once a problem of the rich, now belongs to the poor too.

As the global diabetes rate soared over the past quarter-century, the affected population transformed: What was once predominantly a rich-country problem has become one that disproportionately affects poorer countries.

That's one of the many conclusions of the World Health Organization's first global report on the chronic disease. Worldwide, diabetes rates nearly doubled, from 4.7 percent in 1980 to 8.5 percent in 2014. Roughly one in 12 people living in the world today have the disease, which has spread dramatically.

“If we are to make any headway in halting the rise in diabetes, we need to rethink our daily lives: To eat healthily, be physically active, and avoid excessive weight gain,” Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, said in a statement. “Even in the poorest settings, governments must ensure that people are able to make these healthy choices and that health systems are able to diagnose and treat people with diabetes.”

Read more: Diabetes once a problem of the rich, now belongs to the poor too.

A woman fills a syringe as she prepares to give herself an injection of insulin.

Source: Reed Saxon/AP

Key to making reversible, non-hormonal male contraceptives!

At last!

Scientists are getting closer to developing a new kind of reversible male contraceptive that doesn't produce any hormonal side effects.

While a commercial drug could still be some way off, the researchers have managed to isolate a key enzyme found only in sperm. Now that they've identified it and can manufacture this enzyme, the team hopes to target it with a range of drug candidates. With the right drug, it should be possible to decrease sperm motility – their ability to swim – which could prevent sperm from egg fertilisation.

"The milestone reached is the production and isolation of a full-length, active kinase enzyme in sufficient quantities to conduct drug screens," said researcher John Herr from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "Isolation of an active, full-length form of this enzyme allows us to test drugs that bind to the entire surface of the enzyme so that we can identify inhibitors that may exert a selective action on sperm."

The enzyme in question – called testis-specific serine/threonine kinase 2 (TSSK2) – is unique to the testes, and also appears to only be involved in the final stage of sperm production. That's important, the researchers say, because it makes it more likely that any drug candidate that successfully targets the enzyme won't produce any side effects elsewhere in the body.

Read more: Key to making reversible, non-hormonal male contraceptives!

Source: cloudfront

Antibiotics not promote resistance through gene conjugation.

The exponential rise of antibiotic drug resistance is a considerable threat to global public health. Researchers are continually searching for the underlying mechanisms that promote this resistant phenotype. Some evidence exists to suggest that antibiotic use encourages the spread of bacterial resistance through genetic swapping. However, new research suggests that these examples are outliers and not indicative of the majority of bacterial populations.

Researchers at Duke University suggest that differential birth and death rates of microbes and not DNA donation are to blame. The results have implications for designing antibiotic protocols to avoid the spread of antibacterial resistance. 

"The entire field knows there's a huge problem of overusing antibiotics," noted senior study author Lingchong You, Ph.D., associate professor of engineering at Duke University. "It is incredibly tempting to assume that antibiotics are promoting the spread of resistance by increasing the rate at which bacteria share resistant genes with each other, but our research shows they often aren't."

Investigators have known for decades that bacteria can swap genetic elements through a process called conjugation, which allows helpful genes to spread quickly between individuals and even between species. Because the number of resistant bacteria rises when antibiotics fail to kill them, many researchers have assumed that the drugs increased the amount of genetic swapping taking place. The Duke researchers, however, hypothesized that the antibiotics were killing off the two "parent" lineages and allowing a newly resistant strain to thrive instead.

Read more: Antibiotics not promote resistance through gene conjugation.

Source: biologyexams4u

Six Signs to be a Biomedical Lab Tech

You’ve always been the type of person who takes a painstaking amount of time to make sure the details are correct and meticulously recorded. You’re a multitasking whiz who enjoys order and routine in your life. Wouldn’t it be great if you could find a career that capitalized on all of these characteristics?

It’s important to make sure that your personality and natural gifts align with the profession you pursue. You’ll be happy to hear that a medical lab tech career might be right up your alley! This will allow you to join the fast-growing healthcare field while still getting to work a technical, behind-the-scenes job.

If this seems like an ideal option for you, keep reading to see if you have what it takes to launch a successful medical lab tech (MLT) career!

6 Signs you’re cut out for a medical lab tech career

We spoke with Tammy Renner, Rasmussen College’s national MLT program director and 33-year MLT veteran, to identify some common characteristics that the best MLT’s share. See how many describe you!

1. You’ve always loved science

MLTs usually have a strong background in chemistry, biology and physiology. Specifically, knowledge of tissues and cells is required, as is an expert understanding of chemical compositions and interactions.

Read more: Six Signs to be a Biomedical Lab Tech

Source: rasmussen

Building a career in the biomedical laboratory sciences.

Passion is the key to success, says Jim Smith in his keynote speech at the London NatureJobs Career Expo.

Jim Smith is a successful scientist by anyone’s measure. The UK scientist helped discover key growth factors required for the early development of embryos, and has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions. Smith now juggles three high-level roles at the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute of Medical Research and the soon-to-be-opened Francis Crick Institute in London with the running of his own lab at the MRC.

Like many people who have excelled in their field, Smith’s career has the illusion of being planned from the start. However he says this was not the case. He didn’t study biology until he was persuaded to take a cell biology class at the University of Cambridge while studying for a degree in natural sciences.

He fell so in love with the subject that he progressed to a PhD studentship with the famous development biologist Lewis Wolport. “You should allow yourself to fall in love with your subject, become engrossed by it,” Smith says. This passion is a key to success he stresses, because it drives you to put the necessary effort in. “There are times in your career when you know that working twice as hard will produce double the results, at these times you should work 3 or 4 times as hard,” Smith says.

Finding the ‘niche’ in science that you are most passionate about can be challenging.

Read more: Building a career in the biomedical laboratory sciences.

Source: naturejobs

Harvard scientists are stunned by superhuman abilities of Himalayan monks.

Most of us have a fairly good idea that brains of Buddhist monks function far beyond most humans’ capabilities and that the monks can actually rewire their brains. While there is no question that Buddhist monks possess superhuman powers, how they do some really incredible out-of-this-world kind of stuff continues to fascinate and show scientists what we – ‘normal human beings’ – can all do.

Professor Herbert Benson and his team of researchers from the Harvard School Of Medicine went to remote monasteries in the Himalayan mountains in the 1980′s to discover, decode, and document the subtle ways through which the monks manipulate their bodies – like raising the temperatures of their fingers and toes by as much as 17 degrees, and lowering their body’s metabolic rate by up to 64% – using a stress reduction yoga technique called ‘g Tum-mo’.

The Harvard research team also recorded monks drying cold, wet sheets with body heat. They also documented monks spending a winter night – when temperatures reached zero degrees F – on a rocky ledge 15,000 feet high in the Himalayas — wearing only woolen or cotton shawls. These remarkable feats, the Harvard research team observed, were achieved by intense daily meditations, guided exercises and spiritual conditioning.

Read more: Harvard scientists are stunned by superhuman abilities of Himalayan monks.

Source: anonhq