Category Health/Medical

A new imaging technique based on light and sound produces images doctors can use to distinguish cancerous breast tissue (below the dotted blue line) from normal tissue more quickly than is currently possible. Pathologists routinely inspect surgical specimens to make sure all cancerous tissue has been removed. The new technique (right) produces images as detailed and accurate as traditional methods (left), but in far less time. The researchers are working to make the technique fast enough to be used during a surgery, so patients don’t have to return for a second surgery. (Image: Terence T.W. Wong)

Of the quarter-million women diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the US, about 180,000 undergo surgery to remove the cancerous tissue while preserving as much healthy breast tissue as possi...

Healthy liver (left) and diseased liver (right) with infiltrated CD8 T-cells indicated by arrow. Credit: Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Role of NKT and CD8 T-cells demonstrated in mice and humans. A team of investigators led by Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has identified key inflammatory cells involved in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Current treatment for the disorder involves changes to diet, yet no medication has been approved for treatment. Findings from this study provide a potential therapeutic target and offer the possibility for developing a treatment.

“The rise in obesity has led to an epidemic of fatty liver disease in both children and adults,” said Kohli, head of the division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition...

Multifunctional scales, will be able to monitor your health and inform about potentially dangerous life conditions, such as arteriosclerosis or cardiac arrhythmia.

KTU Institute of Biomedical Engineering is developing the multifunctional scales, which can monitor your health and inform about potentially dangerous life conditions, such as arteriosclerosis or cardiac arrhythmia. “Hospitals are fully equipped with advanced technologies for diagnosing illnesses and critical conditions, but it is too expensive to use this equipment for everyday health monitoring. On the other hand, people do not have many devices for personal health monitoring at home, and these devices could be very practical,” says Vaidotas Marozas, the Director of the KTU Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

A team of KTU re...

It is this nano-machine that evolves to escape treatment by antibiotics, which are small chemicals that have the ability to turn this machine off, literally throwing a spanner in the works (inlay picture.) Credit: Dr Matthew Belousoff, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute

An international study led by Monash University has discovered the molecular mechanism by which the potentially deadly superbug ‘Golden Staph’ evades antibiotic treatment, providing the first important clues on how to counter superbug antibiotic resistance. Now, the Monash BDI researchers have identified the first important clues on how to ‘retool’ antibiotics to counter the strategies bacteria enlist to evade the life-saving drugs, with the findings published in the journal mBio...