Biosingularity

Archive for August 2007

New Red Fluorescent Protein a Glowing Success

Posted by: Derya on: August 28, 2007

A new red fluorescent protein—derived from a brilliant red sea anemone purchased in a Moscow pet shop—can reveal body tissues more vividly than other fluorescent proteins in use today. The Russian researchers who developed the new protein said it can render cancers and other target tissues easily visible in living animals, making them glow like [...]

Surgery for severe obesity saves lives

Posted by: Derya on: August 25, 2007

An extensive swedish study from the Sahlgrenska Academy has established that surgery reduces premature death in patients with severe obesity. A long-term follow up has shown that mortality is significantly lower among patients who undergo surgery than among those who do not.

Vaccine thwarts the tangles of Alzheimer’s

Posted by: Derya on: August 25, 2007

A new study by NYU Medical Center researchers shows for the first time that the immune system can combat the pathological form of tau protein, a key protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers, led by Einar Sigurdsson Ph.D. at New York University School of Medicine, created a vaccine in mice that suppresses aggregates of [...]

Scientists find way to balance skin color and tone

Posted by: Derya on: August 25, 2007

In the timeless quest for healthier, younger looking skin, scientists from the University of Cincinnati and Tokyo Medical University have made an important discovery toward manipulating skin tone and color. The implications of this research range from helping doctors develop more natural looking bioengineered skin grafts to helping cosmetics companies develop new products for achieving [...]

Scientists reveal how caloric restriction extends life by reducing toxic trash

Posted by: Derya on: August 24, 2007

Reduce, recycle and rebuild is as important to the most basic component of the human body, the cell, as it is to the environment. And a University of Florida study shows just how much the body benefits when it “goes green,” at least if you’re a rat: Cutting calories helps rodents live longer by boosting [...]

Out-of-body experience recreated

Posted by: Derya on: August 23, 2007

Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers. The experiments, described in the Science journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced by one in 10 people. Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere.The visual illusion plus the feel of their [...]

Newly created cancer stem cells could aid breast cancer research

Posted by: Derya on: August 21, 2007

In some ways, certain tumors resemble bee colonies, says pathologist Tan Ince. Each cancer cell in the tumor plays a specific role, and just a fraction of the cells serve as “queens,” possessing the unique ability to maintain themselves in an unspecialized state and seed new tumors. These cells can also divide and produce the [...]

Amazing 3D simulations of science in silico

Posted by: Derya on: August 19, 2007

Computer simulations and visualizations are performing the thought experiments of the 21st century and pushing the limits of human vision and imagination. In silico simulations are probably future of many complex biological experiments. Hat tip to  reasonable deviations blog.

‘Western’ diet linked to increased risk of colon cancer recurrence

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

Colon cancer patients who eat a diet high in red meat, fatty products, refined grains, and desserts — a so-called “Western diet” — may be increasing their chance of disease relapse and early death, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Research identifies sirtuin protein instrumental in fat production and metabolism

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has identified a protein found in fat cells that may play a major role in how fat is produced and stored, offering a new target for treatments to prevent obesity and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. This latest research appears in the August 2007 issue of Cell [...]

Obesity and lack of exercise could enhance the risk of pancreatic cancer

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

Obesity and aversion to exercise have become hallmarks of modern society – and a new study suggests that a blood protein linked to these lifestyle factors may be an indicator for an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Researchers from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute report their findings in the August 15 issue of Cancer [...]

Brain imaging reveals breakdown of normal emotional processing

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

 Brain imaging has revealed a breakdown in normal patterns of emotional processing that impairs the ability of people with clinical depression to suppress negative emotional states. Efforts by depressed patients to suppress their feelings when viewing emotionally negative images enhanced activity in several brain areas, including the amygdala, known to play a role in generating [...]

Brain as memory machine

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

What happens in our brains when we learn and remember” Are memories recorded in a stable physical change, like writing an inscription permanently on a clay tablet” Prof. Yadin Dudai, Head of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department, and his colleagues are challenging that view. They recently discovered that the process of storing long-term memories is [...]

Loneliness is bad for your health

Posted by: Derya on: August 18, 2007

Two University of Chicago psychologists, Louise Hawkley and John Cacioppo, have been trying to disentangle social isolation, loneliness, and the physical deterioration and diseases of aging, right down to the cellular level. The researchers suspected that while the toll of loneliness may be mild and unremarkable in early life, it accumulates with time. To test [...]

MIT creates 3D images of living cell

Posted by: Derya on: August 15, 2007

A new imaging technique developed at MIT has allowed scientists to create the first 3D images of a living cell, using a method similar to the X-ray CT scans doctors use to see inside the body. The technique, described in a paper published in the Aug. 12 online edition of Nature Methods, could be used [...]

Scientists turn mouse into factory for human liver cells

Posted by: Derya on: August 13, 2007

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have figured out how to turn a mouse into a factory for human liver cells that can be used to test how pharmaceuticals are metabolized. The technique, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, could soon become the gold standard not only for examining drug metabolism in the liver, which [...]

Gene regulation, not just genes, is what sets humans apart from primates

Posted by: Derya on: August 13, 2007

The striking differences between humans and chimps aren’t so much in the genes we have, which are 99 percent the same, but in the way those genes are used, according to new research from a Duke University team. It’s rather like the same set of notes being played in very different ways. In two major [...]

Green tea boosts production of detox enzymes, rendering cancerous chemicals harmless

Posted by: Derya on: August 11, 2007

Concentrated chemicals derived from green tea dramatically boosted production of a group of key detoxification enzymes in people with low levels of these beneficial proteins, according to researchers at Arizona Cancer Center. These findings, published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest [...]

Cancer Fighting Technology for Brain Tumors

Posted by: Derya on: August 10, 2007

Trilogy Stereotactic Radiation Therapy to treat brain tumors. Trilogy precisely pinpoints the exact location of the cancer and treats it with a highly accurate beam of radiation.

New research discovers independent brain networks control human walking

Posted by: Derya on: August 9, 2007

In a study published in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland found that there are separate adaptable networks controlling each leg and there are also separate networks controlling leg movements, e.g., forward or backward walking. These findings are contrary to the currently accepted theory that leg [...]

Researchers discover novel pathway for increasing ‘good’ cholesterol

Posted by: Derya on: August 9, 2007

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a group of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases (PCs) may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C, and [...]

Drinking milk helps gain muscle and lose fat after exercise

Posted by: Derya on: August 9, 2007

Part of an ongoing study into the impact of drinking milk after heavy weightlifting has found that milk helps exercisers burn more fat.

Scientists discover a control mechanism for metastasis

Posted by: Derya on: August 9, 2007

Metastasis – when cancer cells dissociate from the original tumor and migrate via the blood stream to colonize distant organs – is the main cause of cancer death. A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science has now revealed new details about the mechanisms controlling metastasis of breast cancer cells. Their findings, published [...]

Wonderful Medical Animation Reel

Posted by: Derya on: August 8, 2007

This 3D animation shows various surgical (mostly orthopedic) medical procedures performed to fix the problems in our bodies. Very nice done. 

Robosingularity blog launched

Posted by: Derya on: August 5, 2007

I started the third in series of singularity blogs, Robosingularity. The focus, as you may guess, is advances in robotics.In similar vein to to this blog and nanosingularity I will be posting articles on recent advances related to robotics and artificial intelligence. The site will also feature many cool videos that showcase the amazing abilities [...]

Repairing damaged retinas is now a possibility

Posted by: Derya on: August 5, 2007

Japanese researchers from RIKEN and Kyoto University have demonstrated retinal regeneration in a mammalian model of retinal degeneration after stimulation of the Wnt signaling pathway, which functions as a regulator of some adult stem cell populations—in addition to its better known roles in embryogenesis and development.It is a discovery that may ultimately lead to new [...]

Maturity brings richer memories

Posted by: Derya on: August 5, 2007

MIT neuroscientists exploring how memory formation differs between children and adults have found that although the two groups have much in common, maturity brings richer memories.In the August 5 advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, the MIT team reports that children rival adults in forming basic memories, but adults do better at remembering the rich, [...]

New Drug May Help Treat Crohn’s Disease

Posted by: Derya on: August 4, 2007

Two new studies show that a new drug called Cimzia may ease symptoms of Crohn’s disease. Cimzia hasn’t been approved by the FDA yet. Patients would give themselves injections of the drug, which targets an inflammatory chemical called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha. The two new studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, highlight [...]

Toward an alternative to stem cells for treating chronic brain diseases

Posted by: Derya on: August 3, 2007

With ethical issues concerning use of discarded embryos and technical problems hindering development of stem cell therapies, scientists in Korea are reporting the first successful use of a drug-like molecule to transform human muscle cells into nerve cells. Their report, scheduled for the August 8 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly [...]

Biologists discover a reason why chromosomes break, often leading to cancer

Posted by: Derya on: August 3, 2007

In the past ten years, researchers in genome stability have observed that many kinds of cancer are associated with areas where human chromosomes break. They have hypothesized – but never proven – that slow or altered replication led to the chromosomes breaking. In a Tufts University study published in the Aug. 3 journal “Molecular Cell,” [...]

Bioengineers Devise ‘Dimmer Swith’ To Regulate Gene Expression In Mammal Cells

Posted by: Derya on: August 3, 2007

Three Boston University biomedical engineers have created a genetic dimmer switch that can be used to turn on, shut off, or partially activate a gene’s function. Professor James Collins, Professor Charles Cantor and doctoral candidate Tara Deans invented the switch, which can be tuned to produce large or small quantities of protein, or none at [...]

Scientists find why red beans and rice can be nauseating

Posted by: Derya on: August 3, 2007

People cry foul when fowl is undercooked, but what about red beans and rice? Scientists have discovered how lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide that is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains, can make you feel temporarily miserable.

3D Animation of the Human Body

Posted by: Derya on: August 1, 2007

Scientists develop a model that could predict cells’ response to drugs

Posted by: Derya on: August 1, 2007

MIT researchers have developed a model that could predict how cells will respond to targeted drug therapies. Models based on this approach could help doctors make better treatment choices for individual patients, who often respond differently to the same drug, and could help drug developers identify the ideal compounds on which to focus their research. [...]


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