Tag Archives: malaria

Epidemien in Afrika bekämpfen

By Guest PostMay 10, 2016Healthbekaempfen, cheikh fall, epidemien in afrika, konstantinos mitsakakis, malaria

Forscher entwickeln einen Schnelltest, der Malaria und andere tropische Krankheiten in einer einzigen Blutprobe diagnostiziert

Der Welt-Malaria-Tag am 25. April 2016 ruft eine weitverbreitete Krankheit in Erinnerung, die angesichts globaler Bedrohungen wie dem Ebola- oder dem Zika-Fieber häufig in Vergessenheit gerät. Die Diagnose von Malaria ist schwierig, da Fieber das vorwiegende Symptom zahlreicher tropischer Infektionen darstellt. Mit der CD-förmigen Plattform „LabDisk“ lässt sich nun eine einzige Blutprobe innerhalb von 60 bis 90 Minuten mithilfe bestimmter biochemischer Komponenten auf mehrere Erreger gleichzeitig testen. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler unter der Leitung von Dr. Konstantinos Mitsakakis vom Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik (IMTEK) der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität und dem Freiburger Hahn-Schickard-Institut für Mikroanalysesysteme haben das Diagnosewerkzeug für Malaria und andere tropische Infektionskrankheiten entwickelt. Die Disk ist einfach und kostengünstig herzustellen, für ein tragbares Gerät ausgelegt und kann selbst von ungeschultem Personal direkt bei den Patientinnen und Patienten bedient werden. Damit ist sie besonders für den Einsatz in strukturschwachen Gebieten geeignet. Die LabDisk ist das Ergebnis des Projekts „DiscoGnosis“, das die Europäische Kommission mit 3 Millionen Euro förderte.

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Volunteers Can Now Help Scripps Research Institute Scientists Seek Ebola Cure in Their (Computers’) Spare Time

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2014Health, Technologyaais openidl, aids, andrea graham, cancer, co infections, dengue fever, duerre sommer, influenza, Japan, malaria, naturvertraegliche energiewende, project, sarah budischak, scripps research institute, solving infectious disease, stanley litow, use of blockchain

IBM’s SoftLayer cloud-enabled World Community Grid to provide free virtual supercomputer power to The Scripps Research Institute to speed screening of promising chemical compounds

ARMONK, NY & LA JOLLA, CA – 03 Dec 2014: Although some medical therapies show promise as treatments for Ebola, scientists are still looking urgently for a definitive cure.

For the first time, anyone with access to a computer or Android-based mobile device can help scientists perform this critical research — no financial contribution, passport, or PhD necessary. In fact, volunteers can be asleep, traveling or on a coffee break when they help researchers search for an Ebola cure. (more…)

Warmer temperatures push malaria to higher elevations

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2014Environment, Healthanti-malarial drugs, antioquia region, changes in climate, climate change, Colombia, debre zeit region, ecologist, ethiopia, fluctuations in rainfall, global warming, malaria, menno bouma, mercedes pascual, mosquito borne disease, temperature change, university of michigan, warmer temperature

ANN ARBOR — Researchers have debated for more than two decades the likely impacts, if any, of global warming on the worldwide incidence of malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that infects more than 300 million people each year.

Now, University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues are reporting the first hard evidence that malaria does—as had long been predicted—creep to higher elevations during warmer years and back down to lower altitudes when temperatures cool. (more…)

UCLA researchers create Google Glass app for instant medical diagnostic test results

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2014Technologyaydogan ozcan, bingen cortazar, breakthrough technology, diagnostic test results, google glass app, hiv, malaria, medical, mehmet turan, prostate cancer, rapid diagnostic tests, rdts, romain caire, steve feng, telemedicine, ucla researchers, ucla technology

A team of researchers from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a Google Glass application and a server platform that allow users of the wearable, glasses-like computer to perform instant, wireless diagnostic testing for a variety of diseases and health conditions.

With the new UCLA technology, Google Glass wearers can use the device’s hands-free camera to capture pictures of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), small strips on which blood or fluid samples are placed and which change color to indicate the presence of HIV, malaria, prostate cancer or other conditions. Without relying on any additional devices, users can upload these images to a UCLA-designed server platform and receive accurate analyses — far more detailed than with the human eye — in as little as eight seconds. (more…)

Breaking Dengue Fever

By Guest PostJune 30, 2013Healthasia-pacific, China, dengue fever, florida, guangzhou, hawaii, infectious disease, malaria, michigan state university, mosquito species, mosquitoes, sun yat sen, united states, university, vaccine, wolbachia bacteria, zhiyong xi

Like malaria, dengue fever is an infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Unlike malaria, there is no vaccine for it. As many as 100 million people contract dengue each year, but MSU researcher Zhiyong Xi is working to change that.

Among the estimated 2.5 billion people at risk for dengue, more than 70 percent live in Asia Pacific countries, which spurred Xi to establish a collaborative research institute at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. (more…)

Using IBM’s Crowdsourced Supercomputer, Harvard Rates Solar Energy Potential of 2.3 Million New Compounds

By Guest PostJune 24, 2013Technologyaids, alan aspuru guzik, america, basic materials data, Berkeley, boinc, bright idea, cancer, carbon compounds, cepdb database, clean energy project, crowdsourced supercomputer, cyrus wadia, diseases, harvard, harvard rates, ibm, linux computer, mac, malaria, mgi, new york university, organic, organic semiconductors, plastic bags, rare earth elements, solar cells, solar energy materials, solar energy potential, sunlight into electricity, university of california, viktors berstis, White House, windows, world community grid

White House Applauds Citizen Science, Big Data Initiative

CAMBRIDGE, MA – 24 Jun 2013: The search for more versatile and less expensive materials for solar energy received a boost today as Harvard launched a free database that catalogues the suitability of 2.3 million organic, carbon compounds for converting sunlight into electricity.

Harvard’s Clean Energy project — which screened the molecules using World Community Grid, an IBM-managed virtual supercomputer that harnesses the surplus computer power donated by volunteers — is believed to be the most extensive investigation of quantum chemicals ever performed. (more…)

March of the Pathogens: Parasite Metabolism Can Foretell Disease Ranges under Climate Change

By Guest PostFebruary 27, 2013Environment, Scienceandrew dobson, Arctic, arctic climate, attitude, bacteria, body temperature, bryanne hoar, california santa barbara, climate change, cold blooded intermediate, disease causing parasite, disease ranges, earth grows warmer, ecology, emerging disease, environmental factors, environmental temperatures, equator, fundamental thermal niche, global warming, humans, infectious diseases, infectivity, life cycle, life cycle components, livestock, malaria, metabolic patterns, metabolic theory, microorganism, migrate, model, mortality, nematode, ostertagia gruehneri, parasite life cycle, parasite metabolism, pathogens, peter molnar, plasmodium, princeton university, range, reproduction, roundworm, ryan hechinger, sky is falling, susan kutz, temperatures, territory, university, university of calgary, viruses, wildlife, wooly bovine, worms

Knowing the temperatures that viruses, bacteria, worms and all other parasites need to grow and survive could help determine the future range of infectious diseases under climate change, according to new research.

Princeton University researchers developed a model that can identify the prospects for nearly any disease-causing parasite as the Earth grows warmer, even if little is known about the organism. Their method calculates how the projected temperature change for an area would alter the creature’s metabolism and life cycle, the researchers report in the journal Ecology Letters. (more…)

New Global Subsidy that Provides Access to Most Effective Malaria Drugs Shows Promise

By Guest PostNovember 15, 2012Healthacts, african children, african countries, african nations, amfm program, anti malaria medications, anti-malarial drugs, artemisinin combination therapies, buying time, claire panosian dunavan, disease, geneva, ghana, global fund, Kenya, key, Madagascar, malaria, malaria case, niger, nigeria, physician, qaacts, saving lives, Tanzania, the lancet, ucla, uganda, Zanzibar

UCLA infectious diseases doctor played key role in finance strategy for therapy

A new international program, conceived in part by a UCLA physician, has rapidly transformed access to lifesaving anti-malarial drugs by providing cheap, subsidized artemisinin-based combination therapies in seven African countries that account for a quarter of the world’s malaria cases.

The first independent evaluation of the Affordable Medicines Facility–malaria (AMFm) program was recently published in the journal The Lancet. The program is based at the Global Fund in Geneva, an international financing institution dedicated to disbursing funds to prevent and treat infectious diseases. The evaluation shows that the program improved access to key artemisinin combination therapies, or ACTs, which offer broader protection and less antibiotic resistance than anti-malaria medications currently available in those African nations. (more…)