Category Health/Medical

This is a miniaturized biological solar cell assembled micro-BSC device. Credit: Seokheun Choi

New solar cell could power point-of-care medical devices in limited-resource regions. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have created a micro-scale biological solar cell that generates a higher power density for longer than any existing cell of its kind. A microfluidic lab-on-a-chip system that generates its own power is essential for stand-alone, independent, self-sustainable point-of-care diagnostic devices to work in limited-resource and remote regions. Miniaturized biological solar cells (or micro-BSCs) can be the most suitable power source for those applications because the technique resembles Earth’s natural ecosystem.

“Micro-BSCs can continuously generate el...

25-Year Physical Activity Trajectories and Development of Subclinical Coronary Artery Disease as Measured by Coronary Artery Calcium. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2017; DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.07.016

White men who exercise at high levels are 86% more likely than people who exercise at low levels to experience a buildup of plaque in the heart arteries by middle age, a new study suggests. Led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Kaiser Permanente, the study looked at the physical activity trajectories of 3,175 black and white participants in the multicenter, community-based, longitudinal cohort CARDIA study, and assessed the presence of coronary artery calcification, or CAC, among participants.

CAC is a clinical measure of the accumulation of calcium and plaque in the a...

A space-filling model of the solved protein complex responsible for the selection of antigens. Credit: AG Tampé

The immune system checks the health of cells by examining a kind of molecular passport. Sometimes, cells present the wrong passport, which can lead to autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammations or cancer. Scientists of the Goethe University Frankfurt explain the process how this happens in the new issue of the journal Science.

Most cells provide the T cells of the adaptive immune system with information about their condition by presenting selected components of their interior (called antigens) on their surface. If these components include fragments of viruses or altered cell components, the affected cell is eliminated. The selection of the antigens is essential in this process...

This is Lori McMahon and Luke Stewart. Credit: UAB

These results in animal models, represent a potentially novel therapeutic target for the treatment of seizure disorders. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found that inducing a biochemical alteration in brain proteins via the dietary supplement glucosamine was able to rapidly dampen that pathological hyperexcitability in rat and mouse models. These results represent a potentially novel therapeutic target for the treatment of seizure disorders, and they show the need to better understand the physiology underlying these neural and brain circuit changes.

Proteins are the workhorses of living cells, and their activities are tightly and rapidly regulated in responses to changing conditions...