Monthly Archives: February 2016
Africa’s roads to ruin?
Africa’s natural environments and spectacular wildlife are about to face their biggest challenge ever. In a recent paper, my colleagues and I assessed an infrastructure-expansion scheme for Africa so sweeping in scope, it is dwarfing anything the
Medicare at 50: a long political struggle
Medicare came into being 50 years ago. In the context of the long history of struggles to obtain national health insurance in the USA, this was a momentous act. Organized efforts to attain national health insurance in
How magnetic interaction between two distant paramagnetic metals is influenced by central diamagnetic cyanidometal?
Magnetism is an ancient and classic physical phenomenon and will be forever interesting topics. Molecule-based magnetic materials, in which the structural building blocks are molecular in nature, are of increasing interest because they provide fundamental insight into
Skin versus nerve as a source of cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury
Following injury to the adult human spinal cord spontaneous repair processes fail resulting in life-long functional deficits below the level of injury, which can include paralysis, absent or abnormal sensory perception, chronic pain, and diminished cardiovascular, respiratory,
Artificial vision by Direct Optic Nerve Electrode (AV-DONE)
There are many blind people in the world. Major causes of blindness are cataract and refractive error according to WHO’s report. But those disease have solutions like surgeries, glasses and contact lens. In spite of recent medical development,
Wait a minute, how come heavier reacts faster?! Quantum effects in biochemistry and medicine
Physics is often thought to be quite irrelevant to Biochemistry and Medicine. But, the very first Physics Nobel Prize in 1901, for the discovery of X-rays, is highly related to Medicine nowadays. This clearly shows that a
Imaging tumor development using next generation raster scan optoacoustic mesoscopy
Cancer is one of the major diseases in the 21st century. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on cancer research in the last half century, but still, our understanding of the disease mechanisms is limited.
A brain haemorrhage during anticoagulant therapy: what therapy next?
We read with interest the articles by Ntaios and by Ricci et al. concerning pros and cons of restarting oral anticoagulants (drugs that work to prevent the coagulation (clotting) of blood) after intracerebral hemorrhage. While we appreciate
A treatment option for laparoscopically-resected uterine leiomyosarcoma with morcellation
A new and frequently utilized treatment option for symptomatic uterine leiomyoma is laparoscopic resection with morcellation so the specimen can be extracted through a small abdominal incision or through the vagina. Despite meticulous preoperative evaluation , some
The genetic secrets of Uveal Melanoma
Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary cancer occurring in the eyes of adults, with 1/100,000 new cases per year in the Western world. Most patients are between 60 and 65 years old. Although it is a
HDL cholesterol: sometimes more is not necessarily better
Lipoproteins are complex particles that are responsible for transporting the water insoluble molecule, cholesterol, through the blood stream. Cholesterol is transported from the liver to peripheral tissues. Excess cholesterol in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is deposited in the
A synaptic receptor with a dual personality
Learning and storage of information in the brain at the cellular level involves dynamic modification of synapses, the place where information passes from a neuron to another. The efficacy of this transmission of information changes and depends
TGFbeta signalopathies as a paradigm for translation medicine
Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a disorder that affects different organ systems, such as the heart, aorta, eyes and the skeleton. Typically MFS patients present with tall stature, hands with long fingers, chest deformity. One of its most
Parkinson’s alpha-synuclein assembles in the disease prone stable dimers
The self – assembly of proteins into amyloid – type aggregates is a widespread phenomenon associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). According to the current model for PD, the aggregation of alpha-Synuclein (α-Syn) and
Importance of updating prognostic predictions: an example from breast cancer
Today prognostic prediction models are an integral part of clinical practice in many fields. They are typically used to access the risk of an event in the future after a well-defined starting point, for instance the risk
Understanding stability in functional nanoparticle inks
The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in 3-D printing. While many applications of 3-D printing use curable polymers to construct macroscopic scale objects (think printing of toys, jewelry, and architectural models), one of the
Heat-alkalinity-time pasteurization can efficiently inactivate PEDV in porcine plasma
Emergence of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in North America and Asia resulted in massive losses to the pork industry. The virus is spread by the fecal-oral route and infection can cause acute diarrhea, dehydration and vomiting
Sexual dimorphism in pituitary prolactin tumors
The pituitary is located in the middle of the skull base, under the brain. This gland weight less than 1 g but its five cell types control growth, lactation and hormonal production by the thyroid, adrenals and
European Pharma Summit 2016
Organizer: GTCbio Start date: May 11th, 2016 End date: May 13th, 2016 We invite you to attend the European Pharma Summit 2016, which will take place on May 11-13, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. This event seeks to
How do chaperones save protein folding?
Protein folding both in vitro and in vivo goes via formation of intermediate states. These “molten globule”-like states fluctuate, expose their hydrophobic sites and therefore easily aggregate. This retards or even inhibits formation of protein native structures,
