Mice and monkeys don’t develop diseases in the same way that humans do. Nevertheless, after medical researchers have studied human cells in a Petri dish, they have little choice but to move on to study mice and primates.
University of Washington bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.
If you throw a rubber balloon filled with water against a wall, it will spread out and deform on impact, while the same balloon filled with honey, which is more viscous, will deform much less. If the balloon’s elastic rubber was stiffer, an even smaller change in shape would be observed.
By simply analyzing how much a balloon changes shape upon hitting a wall, you can uncover information about its physical properties.
Although cells are not simple sacks of fluid, they also contain viscous and elastic properties related to the membranes that surround them; their internal structural elements, such as organelles; and the packed DNA arrangement in their nuclei. Because variations in these properties can provide information about cells’ state of activity and can be indicative of diseases such as cancer, they are important to measure. (more…)
UA researchers are investigating bacterial eating habits as part of a $1 million study to determine the environmental fate of newly developed munitions.
University of Arizona researchers are studying the environmental effects of insensitive munitions compounds, or IMCs, which are new, more stable explosives that won’t detonate in response to heat or shock.
Not much is known about the environmental impact of IMCs, which the U.S. Department of Defense hopes will reduce injuries and fatalities among troops who handle explosives. (more…)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The rate of workplace deaths in Michigan remained steady in 2011, as 141 workers died on the job compared with 145 in 2010, according to an annual report from Michigan State University.
With technological advancements opening the door to less invasive medical procedures, robotic-assisted surgery is becoming increasingly popular, despite being more expensive than traditional surgery. Robotic-assisted surgical removal of the bladder due to cancer is a new approach to the traditional “open” — or more invasive — operation called a radical cystectomy.
Bladder cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, and the American Cancer Society estimates that 73,500 people will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2012. A third of those will require a radical cystectomy. (more…)
Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.
The technique could lead to affordable personalized medicine, potentially revealing predispositions for afflictions such as cancer, diabetes or addiction. (more…)
In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, authors including biostatisticians from Brown report that coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) is a safe way to screen patients coming to the ER with chest pains who are not at high risk for acute coronary syndrome. Patients who got CCTA and tested negative were more likely to be discharged home and spend less time at the hospital.
Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA), a technology for diagnostic imaging of the heart, is a safe way to assess whether patients whose risk of heart attack is not high need to be hospitalized when they arrive at the emergency room complaining of chest pains. Brown biostatisticians led by Constantine Gatsonis are part of a team of researchers who report that finding in The New England Journal of Medicine and at the American College of Cardiology Conference March 26. (more…)
*Berkeley Lab Researchers Identify Structure of Key Control Element Behind Protein Misfolding That Can Lead to Disease*
The gold standard for nanotechnology is nature’s own proteins. These biomolecular nanomachines – macromolecules forged from peptide chains of amino acids – are able to fold themselves into a dazzling multitude of shapes and forms that enable them to carry out an equally dazzling multitude of functions fundamental to life. As important as protein folding is to virtually all biological systems, the mechanisms behind this process have remained a mystery. The fog, however, is being lifted.
A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), using the exceptionally bright and powerful x-ray beams of the Advanced Light Source, have determined the crystal structure of a critical control element within chaperonin, the protein complex responsible for the correct folding of other proteins. The incorrect or “misfolding” of proteins has been linked to many diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and some forms of cancer. (more…)
