The spread of cancer and the effect of drugs to combat it could be closely monitored using tiny implants. US researchers are perfecting a way to use microscopic particles which stick to chemicals in cancer cells and show up during scans. Their latest advance is to find a way to keep a supply of the particles inside the body for longer periods. However, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) technique has not yet been tested in humans
There is a new form of contraception available for women. The device is a soft plastic ring that releases the contraceptive hormone directly into the bloodstream. Professor Gab Kovacs from Melbourne IVF says the device is inserted internally and is 99 per cent effective. It contains half the dose of female hormone contained in the lowest dose contraceptive pills
Scientists are developing an artificial vein for use in patients with circulation problems. The device, which encourages blood to flow in its natural spiralling fashion, has produced highly promising results in clinical trials. The developers hope it will offer surgeons carrying out bypass operations an alternative to relying on blood vessels taken from the patient’s body. It is hoped it could be made available to patients within a year
Scientists from the Northern Territory Menzies School of Health Research say they have discovered an effective treatment for the strain of malaria found in the Asia-Pacific region. The treatment combines a Chinese herbal extract and a longer-acting anti-malarial drug used to combat the more deadly strain of the disease found in Africa
Emergency workers attending the scene of a dirty
bomb or nuclear blast could soon have a drug to help protect them
An antiviral drug widely used to treat hepatitis B causes some people with HIV to become rapidly resistant to their medication. The finding could have major implications for over four million people worldwide who are jointly infected with hepatitis B and HIV
After an 8-year-long court battle, Welsh activists have finally been allowed to released a Russian study showing an increased cancer risk linked to eating genetically modified potatoes. While the victory of the Welsh Greenpeace members in the courtroom would seem to vindicate the work of the Russian scientists that did the original research, there are still serious questions to be answered. The trials involved rats being fed several types of potatoes as feed. The rats who were fed GM potatoes suffered much more extensive damage to their organs than with any other type; just the same, serious questions remain about the validity of the findings. The Welsh group wants to use this information to stop the testing of GM crops in the UK, tests currently slated for the spring of this year
Profoundly blind people could get their best shot yet of restored vision with a more advanced bionic eye
, researchers have announced. Trials of the new retinal prosthesis will begin shortly, following the success of a prototype that has enabled six blind people to see again. The prototypes were fitted in 2002 to patients who had lost their sight entirely. Within a few weeks all could detect light, identify objects and even perceive motion again. For one patient, this was the first time he had seen anything in half a century, after his sight was destroyed by retinitis pigmentosa, a virus that attacks retinal cells
Scientists have shown what happens when an infection-fighting antibody attacks a gap in HIV’s formidable defences. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-led team say the work could aid HIV vaccine development. They have published an atomic-level image in Nature showing the antibody, b12, attacking part of a protein on surface of the virus. HIV avoids attack by constantly mutating, but this protein segment is a weak spot because it remains stable
Doctors at a Texas military base are testing a procedure on wounded Iraq veterans that may allow them to regrow portions of lost fingers. The procedure involves treatments with a fine powder called extracellular matrix, which is taken from the bladders of pigs. The substance is what cells latch on to in mammals to allow them to divide and grow into tissue. Scientists who developed the procedure say the substance appears to activate latent biological processes in humans that encourage healing and tissue regeneration. They said the processes are active in human fetuses, which have the ability to regenerate and grow new parts, but the ability becomes dormant after birth
More than 300 cases of the highly infectious disease, which is spread by airborne droplets and kills 98% of those infected within about two weeks, have been identified in South Africa — via Bruce Sterling
A data cable made from stretched nerve cells could someday help connect computers to the human nervous system. The modified cells should form better connections with human tissue than the metal electrodes currently used for purposes such as remotely controlling prosthetics — via Warren Ellis
Bird flu hasn’t gone away. The discovery, announced last week, that the H5N1 bird flu virus is widespread in cats in locations across Indonesia has refocused attention on the danger that the deadly virus could be mutating into a form that can infect humans far more easily
The invisible RFID ink process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to tattoo
an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away — via Warren Ellis
Researchers at the University of Alberta Department of Medicine have shown that an existing small, relatively non-toxic molecule, dichloroacetate, causes regression in several different cancers. But there’s a catch: the drug isn’t patented, and pharmaceutical companies may not be interested in funding further research if the treatment won’t make them a profit. In findings that astounded
the researchers, the molecule known as DCA was shown to shrink lung, breast and brain tumours in both animal and human tissue experiments
By genetically removing a particular protein, scientists have developed cattle that seem to be resistant to mad cow disease. Dr Juergen Richt with the United States Department of Agriculture in Ames, Iowa and colleagues generated cattle lacking the prion protein and monitored them for growth and general health status from birth to 20 months of age
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University may have found a way to kill cancer cells without radiation or toxic chemicals. The group is taking the step of patenting the idea, as this new approach using sugars may hold real potential for the fight against cancer
Ah, Pravda… it does bring the wacky: Russian scientists from the city of Novosibirsk, Siberia, made a sensational report at the international conference devoted to new methods of treatment and rehabilitation in narcology. The report was called Methods of painful impact to treat addictive behavior
. Siberian scientists believe that addiction to alcohol and narcotics, as well as depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosomatic diseases occur when an individual loses his or her interest in life. The absence of the will to live is caused with decreasing production of endorphins — the substance, which is known as the hormone of happiness. If a depressed individual receives a physical punishment, whipping that is, it will stir up endorphin receptors, activate the production of happiness
and eventually remove depressive feelings — via Improbable Research
It has long been known that the Toxoplasma gondii parasite alters its host’s behaviour, but now it seems the way it alters it depends on the sex of the host. A common parasite can increase a women’s attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid. Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women. On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls
Around the time that the great pyramids were built in Egypt and Stonehenge was erected in England, a young woman living in what is now Iran lost an eye and was fitted with a prosthetic device. The find supports speculation that such prosthetics were available to a fortunate few in the ancient world. The newly found eye looked like the real thing
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