Category Health/Medical

Takuro Iwata, Takashi Katagiri, Yuji Matsuura. Real-Time Analysis of Isoprene in Breath by Using Ultraviolet-Absorption Spectroscopy with a Hollow Optical Fiber Gas Cell. Sensors, 2016; 16 (12): 2058 DOI: 10.3390/s16122058

Affordable gas sensor setup developed by Tohoku University team monitors trace levels of health-indicating chemicals, paving the way for future non-invasive studies. Using hollow-core optical fibre as a sensitive gas cell, researchers in Japan have devised a relatively simple and affordable sensor for monitoring biomarkers in human breath at low concentrations. Trace amounts of gases exhaled through the nose and mouth offer clues to respiratory conditions such as asthma, as well as other easy-to-administer health screening opportunities.

Tohoku University scientists expl...

TDP1 promotes mitochondrial gene transcription in human cells.

A 5-yr study has found the mechanism responsible for repairing damage to mitochondrial DNA. This discovery could pave the way for new treatments for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. This research may also have important implications for clinical advances in so called ‘three-parent baby’ mitochondrial donation. They also show how the enzyme TDP1- already known to have a role in repairing damaged DNA in the cell’s nucleus – is also responsible for repairing damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

During the process of energy production and making proteins, a large amount of rogue reactive oxygen species are produced which constantly attack the DNA in the mitochondria...

NPGL apparently aims to maintain body mass at a constant, come feast or famine.

Study explains why food looks even better when dieting. Up until now, scientists knew that leptin – a hormone released by fatty tissue, reduces appetite, while ghrelin – a hormone released by stomach tissue makes us want to eat more. These hormones, in turn, activate a host of neurons in the brain’s hypothalamus – the body’s energy control center. The discovery of NPGL by Professor Kazuyoshi Ukena of Hiroshima University shows that hunger and energy consumption mechanisms are even more complex than we realized – and that NPGL plays a central role in what were thought to be well-understood processes.

Professor Ukena first discovered NPGL in chickens after noticing that growing birds grew larger irrespective of d...

Cartilage Tissue Engineering by the 3D Bioprinting of iPS Cells in a Nanocellulose/Alginate Bioink. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00690-y

A team of researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy has managed to generate cartilage tissue by printing stem cells using a 3D-bioprinter. The fact that the stem cells survived being printed in this manner is a success in itself. In addition, the research team was able to influence the cells to multiply and differentiate to form chondrocytes (cartilage cells) in the printed structure. The project is being conducted in collaboration with a team of researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology who are experts in the 3D printing of biological materials...