Author Archives: karen
Music as a medicine for sudden hearing loss
Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is a disease that suddenly affects hearing in one ear without any special trigger and is often accompanied by tinnitus (a ringing in the ear), ear fullness, vertigo, dizziness. The rate of
Flares and pirouettes: the different moves of spinning bacteria
Bacteria often form together on surfaces in dense communities, known as biofilms. These cause medical and industrial problems because this lifestyle increases their resistance to disease and other stresses, making them difficult to remove. We aim to
How to avoid cisplatin associated hearing-loss using nanoparticles
Cisplatin (CDDP) is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent against a variety of solid tumors including head and neck, lungs, ovary, bladder and testicles, however, it presents severe side-effects that affect kidney function, nervous system and hearing. There
Electrostatic charging of pharmaceuticals – a multifaceted phenomenon
Pharmaceutical solids are usually insulators and thus they are likely to carry an electrostatic charge during powder handling processes. Tribocharging is a popular phenomenon in pharmaceutical solids that arises from particle – particle and particle – wall
Paper-based sensor for on-site detection of hydrogen sulfate in water
In 2013 UNICEF reported that ca. 2200 children below 5 years old die every day of diarrheal diseases. This report also indicates that around 90% of these deaths are the consequence of unsafe drinking water. The detection
High-level incorporation of silver in gold nanoclusters for detecting hydrogen peroxide and herbicide
Recent advances in synthesizing noble metal nanoclusters (NCs), in particular Au and Ag NCs, offer a promising class of fluorescent probes for constructing optical sensors, which are expected to improve their features in terms of simplicity, photostability
Using computers to understand the deposition of pollutant and therapeutic aerosols in the human lungs
In an urban setting, suspended pollutant particles enter our lungs along with air we inhale. A good portion of them gets deposited on our airways, often inducing toxic effects. A young child or an elderly patient facing
Rat speech patterns predict future alcohol use and reveal past alcohol experience
Heightened emotional states increase impulsive behaviors such as excessive alcohol drinking in humans. However, very few animal studies have focused on the role of emotional status as a motivator of alcohol drinking. This is a major roadblock
Towards organs on demand: a new platform for successful kidney organogenesis
The ultimate treatment for end-stage renal disease is orthotopic transplantation. However, the demand for kidney transplantation far exceeds the number of available donor organs. While more than 100,000 Americans need a kidney, only 17,000 people receive a
Biocatalysts for hydrogen fuel cell: Biology’s unique way to prevent breakdown by oxygen
Hydrogen could fuel the future! Together with oxygen, hydrogen can be converted to electricity with only water as an exhaust product. The conversion from hydrogen to electricity is done in fuel cells, which require a platinum catalyst.
Why seeds produced by a plant are not the same?
Offspring of any organism, if they are not clones, differ from each other. Seeds produced by a mother plant are no exception, and they vary in size, color and shape. Usually, these differences are minor and represent
Nanoscintillators: magic internal light sources to assist radiotherapy
Photosensitizers are molecules that are able to produce cytotoxic species that include singlet oxygen, a particular form of oxygen that is strongly oxidizing, when they are illuminated by visible or NIR light. Because of this property, they
Combining paper-based electrochemistry and mass spectrometry
Electrochemistry / mass spectrometry ( EC / MS ) has many applications in science and industry such as drug discovery, elucidation of redox mechanisms, identification of drug metabolites, and online chemical derivatization for improving analytical figures of
The key key to open the door of iPSCs clinical therapy for patients
The discovery of iPSCs is probably one of the most astonishing accomplishments in the beginning of 21st century. This is by 4 early protein factors, the differentiated cells–such as fibroblasts, T and B cells—can return to pluripotent
Contraception by Essure: FDA’s gift to women comes in a new “Black Box”?
Worldwide, at least 750,000 women have had the Essure® procedure, which is the only method on hysteroscopic sterilization (HS) currently available. Efficacy data provided by the device manufacturer claims that HS is 99.83% effective at preventing pregnancy
Red ochre and early humans
Already 200.000 to 100.000 years ago Neanderthal people in Europe as well as early modern humans in Africa painted their body with red ochre mixed with fat. They did it long before modern man developed significant artistic
Prompt resolution of essential drug intolerance
The gut is nowadays seen as a site of cross-talk and interchange between the inner body (supposed to be sterile, namely free of viable harmful bugs) and the outer contaminated world, mainly entering the digestive tract through
Essential role of a conserved nitrogen phosphotransferase system in rhizobium-legume symbiosis
The overuse of chemical nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture has caused serious environmental issues around the world. Legume crops play important roles in sustainable agriculture and are characterized by their ability of forming nitrogen-fixing nodules, in which rhizobia
Lyme disease causing Borrelia are genetically distinct from their relapsing fever causing cousins
Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and its relatives, is currently the most prevalent vector-borne disease in North America and temperate regions of Eurasia. Increasing temperatures have expanded the habitat range for
