A system of opposing genetic forces determines why mammals develop a single row of teeth, while sharks sport several, according to a study published today in the journal Science.
Scientists Discover Why Teeth Form in a Single Row - MarketWatch
Friday, February 27, 2009
Scientists Discover Why Teeth Form in a Single Row - MarketWatch
Friday, November 14, 2008
A New Method to Alter Genetic Code
PIGS really could save our bacon. Organs that are invisible to our immune system and so won't be rejected when they are transplanted could be ready within 10 years, thanks to a faster way of genetically engineering pigs.
Progress towards these "xenotransplants" has stalled through lack of funding and problems with the cloning technique used to engineer the pigs. Now there is a simpler way. The new technique will alter the DNA in a boar's sperm cells, and therefore in any future offspring, by injecting a virus into its testicles carrying the desired genes - such as those used to "disguise" pig organs. When the boars breed naturally, they should pass on the genetic changes to
Tags: DNA, Xenotransplants, genetically engineered pigs
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Thursday, September 18, 2008
Simulation Based Research by Henry Markham
Henry Markham proposes 'simulation based research'
- Reverse Engineer natural processes.
- Generate Neurons
- Reverse Engineer Electrical Types.
- Molecular Basis of Electrical Diversity
- Forward Engineering Single Neuron Models
- Probe Neuron Models
- The channelome project
The human “channelome,” comprises families of
membrane ion channel proteins regulating bodily functions—some
400 genes, mixed and matched.
- Placing snapses
- Blue Builder Simulation Package
- Capturing snaptic transmission
- 6 types of snapsis
- anatomy of Martinotti Loops
- Network Activity
- Most processing is analog
Blue Brain has no hypothesis so it had funding problems in the US.
Emergent properties
- Consciousness?
IT challenge
- workflows
- supercomputers
- build neurons
- VISUALIZATION
- INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION
- Analysis
Blue Brain is a facility to build circuits
- The future is virtual labs
Funding is trivial
- over 1000 different diseases affected by the brain circuits
Robotic Surgery on the Rise
Robotic surgical device manufacturing is at the burgeoning intersection of the automation industry and the medical instrumentation field. Although the current-day technology has existed since the early 2000s, the last couple of years have seen a large upswing in robotic surgery procedures.
The market for robot-assisted medical systems grew from $626.5 million in 2007 to an estimated $1 billion in 2008, according to a report published by Research and Markets. At the current rate, it is forecast to expand to $14 billion by 2014.
Much of this growth has been driven by sales of the "da Vinci" robotic system, developed by Intuitive Surgical. According to Barron's, the number of patients who underwent da Vinci surgery last year soared to 85,000, an increase of 75 percent from 2006. System sales rose by 42 percent over the same period.
The system's tiny robot arms are able to go places where human hands cannot, such as between the ribs in order to access the heart. The arms follow commands given by a surgeon in another room, who monitors the operation on a magnified screen. This process is particularly helpful for high-risk patients who would normally be considered poor candidates for intensive surgery.
Tags: da Vinci, Robotic Surgery
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The Hidden Talents of the Lowly Sea Cucumber | Popular Science
A recent study shows that a gene in the sea cucumber blocks transmission of the parasite that causes malaria. Passed to humans by mosquitoes, malaria threatens around 40 percent of the world's population and is blamed for up to a million deaths a year. The idea is to incorporate the gene into mosquitoes, causing them to produce the protein lectin, which is poisonous to the malaria parasite early in development. The new, genetically modified mosquitoes would be released into the wild in hopes that they reproduce and spread the new gene to future generations and tamp out the spread of malaria.
The Hidden Talents of the Lowly Sea Cucumber | Popular Science
Cancer Risk Linked To Gum Disease
This looks like another indicator of inflammation risk.
The researchers found that after adjusting for details about the history of smoking, dietary factors, and other known risk factors, participants with a history of gum disease were 14% more likely to develop any type of cancer compared to those without history of gum disease.
Cancer Risk Linked To Gum Disease
Technorati Tags: cancer,inflammation
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Printable Robots - OhmyNews International
Consider recent advances in inkjet printing. The same basic technology in a $100 home printer has been used by researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina for the printing of "bio-ink" skin tissue as potential grafts for burn victims. It may also provide the basis for the printing of complete artificial organs such as kidneys and livers.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Race to Read Genomes on a Shoestring, Relatively Speaking - New York Times
A person wanting to know his or her complete genetic blueprint can already have it done — for $350,000.
But whether a personal genome readout becomes affordable to the rest of us could depend on efforts like the one taking place secretly in a nondescript Silicon Valley industrial park. There, Pacific Biosciences has been developing a DNA sequencing machine that within a few years might be able to unravel an individual’s entire genome in minutes, for less than $1,000. The company plans to make its first public presentation about the technology on Saturday.
The Race to Read Genomes on a Shoestring, Relatively Speaking - New York Times
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Pigs raise hopes for blindness cure - Telegraph
"The results are really encouraging," says Prof Coffey. "We plan to do the first patient within three years."
Using surgical instruments introduced through three one millimetre holes in the eye, the team goes under the retina, a translucent layer, then inflate it so it separates from the underlying cells.
The human eye cells derived from embryonic cells were then introduced on a rolled up patch and injected through a one millimetre hole, where the patch of human cells unfolded under the retina.
"I was over the moon when I got the results because it is a proof of concept," says Prof Coffey. "We really can do it."
Although the implanted human cells are black, the same as the surrounding pig cells, they can be distinguished when light of a given colour is shone into the eye. The human cells glowed when viewed this way under the gaze of an instrument called a scanning laser opthalmoscope. "That indicates good function," says Prof Coffey.
The operation on three sighted pigs took only 30 minutes, suggesting the stem cell implants could eventually become a routine outpatient operation, they told an event backed by the company Mostra at the Globe Theatre to promote the London Project to Cure Blindness - a scientific initiative between UCL, Moorfields and The University of Sheffield.
Pigs raise hopes for blindness cure - Telegraph
Technorati Tags: macular degeneration
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Doctors Report Transplant Breakthrough
The treatment involved weakening the patient's immune system, then giving the recipient bone marrow from the person who donated the organ. In one experiment, four of five kidney recipients were off immune-suppressing medicines up to five years later.
"There's reason to hope these patients will be off drugs for the rest of their lives," said Dr. David Sachs of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who led the research published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Since the world's first transplant more than 50 years ago, scientists have searched for ways to trick the body to accept a foreign organ as its own. Immune-suppressing drugs that prevent organ rejection came into wide use in the 1980s. But they raise the risk of cancer, kidney failure and many other problems. And they have unpleasant side effects such as excessive hair growth, bloating and tremors.
Eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs is "a huge advance," said Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, a University of Louisville immunology specialist who had no role in the work.
"It still needs some fine-tuning so that everyone who gets treated gets the same consistent outcome ... It's not the holy grail of tolerance yet," she cautioned.
Doctors Report Transplant Breakthrough
Technorati Tags: Organ Transplants,immune system
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Stem Cell Study to Target Crohn's disease
Crohn's sufferers are genetically predisposed to the disease, which is first triggered in their body when they come into contact with a particular environmental stimulus. Once this happens, the immune system responds — leading to symptoms that blight the lives of sufferers.
Stem cells hold a potential solution to this problem. As the body's 'master' cells, which can be directed to form any type of tissue, they will be extracted from patients and then re-established in their bone marrow to 're-boot' the immune system, taking it back to a state before Crohn's symptoms were triggered.
Professor Hawkey and his team intend to recruit 48 volunteers who are suffering with the most serious symptoms, from the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic and Canada. The study is called ASTIC – which stands for Autologous Stem cell Transplant International Crohn's Disease trial.
Tags: Stem Cells, Crohn's Disease
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Nanotechnology Propels Advances In Regenerative Medicine Research
Nanotubes help adult stem cells morph into neurons in brain-damaged rats.
Nanostructures promote formation of blood vessels, bolster cardiovascular function after heart attack
Are the two major advances discussed at a conference recently. No hint of how the nanotubes did this was supplied.
Tags: nonotube, CHD, stem cells
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Monday, October 15, 2007
Cancer Death Rates Dropping Fast
This rate of improvement in cancer treatement is evidence of medical transformation. While a 2pct improvement may not sound like much the cumulative effect is transforming.
Tags: colon cancer
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Virtual Colonoscopy
AFP
- Oct 04, 2007
- 1 hour ago
Virtual colonoscopy requires some injection of air. The removal of any polyps found requires a separate procedure. The study found almost the same number of ...
CNNMoney.com
- Oct 03, 2007
- Oct 03, 2007
The results are expected to lead to wider adoption of CT colonography (also known as virtual colonoscopy) as routine screening for colorectal cancer. ...
Cancer Consultants (press release)
, USA
- Oct 04, 2007
- 5 hours ago
According to an article recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, virtual colonoscopy, also referred to as computed tomographic ...
San Jose Mercury News
, USA
- Oct 04, 2007
- 12 hours ago
Virtual colonoscopy also is less invasive, has fewer complications and doesn't require sedation, said the lead author, David Kim. stripping 4 million ...
Link
Tags: Colonoscopy
This is another example of the advances made in imaging. More to follow...
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Friday, August 03, 2007
The Library of Congress - Webcasts
The Library of Congress - Webcasts
Medical transformation depends so much on new technology and world views that this video explains, I have a link to it here.
John C. Mather presents us with a view of the cosmos and how all matter is created. The second presentation by Craig Mello deals with modern biology and RNAi. Both are key to understanding reality and disease.
Medical transformation depends so much on new technology and world views that this video explains, I have a link to it here.
John C. Mather presents us with a view of the cosmos and how all matter is created. The second presentation by Craig Mello deals with modern biology and RNAi. Both are key to understanding reality and disease.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Benefits of stem-cell engraftment may not last
The good news is that real, beating cardiomyocytes can be grown from undifferentiated stem cells, and large quantities of these cells with distinctly human characteristics can be obtained from human embryonic stem cells, as Mummery's talk proved. These differentiated cells will permit screens for drugs that bolster the numbers of cardiomyocytes produced and that help cardiomyocytes engraft and survive. Thus, although this progress may not signal the arrival of effective therapies, it may mark the true beginning of their development.
The good news is also that the real work of heart repair is beginning. The tough answers are beginning to come out. Now, we can suspect that varying results might be caused by mis-labeling cells. Now, we know that the heart is a difficult but not impossible place to use stem cells, and that stem cells can form heart cells.
Tags: Heart, Cardiomyocytes, Mummery, ISSCR.
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Monday, July 09, 2007
Scientists Create Breakthrough Sensor Capable of Detecting Individual Molecules
This device could make direct observation of single biological events possible.
Applied physicists at the California Institute of Technology have figured out a way to detect single biological molecules with a microscopic optical device. The method has already proven effective for detecting the signaling proteins called cytokines that indicate the function of the immune system, and it could be used in numerous medical applications, such as the extremely early detection of cancer and other diseases, as well as in basic biological research.
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Embryo Screening
The Times's Amy Harmon talks about the increasingly common practice of the embryo screening procedure known as PGD. (Producer: Erik Olsen)
Embryo screening will be much more complex when more than one condition is being checked. The field should be very interesting.
Tags: Embryo Screening, PGD
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Thursday, June 21, 2007
Studies to find better ways to preserve human eggs, ovarian tissue under way
The goal is to make human eggs, ovarian tissue, blood vessels, even whole organs available when needed.
To get there, researchers are directly comparing slow-freezing techniques, used successfully for decades to preserve sperm and embryos, to a more rapid method of cryopreservation that transforms tissues into durable
“Regenerative medicine will help supplement the shortage of organs in the future, and we need technology to preserve those we make.”
Article
Tags: Regenerative Medicine, Cryopreservation, human eggs
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