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    Category Health/Medical

    Physicists use Nano-Diamond technique to ID Cancerous Tumors before they become Life Threatening

    October 9, 2015, Categories  Physics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    This is a photo of nano-diamonds using an optical microscope. The purpose is to characterize the size of nano-diamonds. Credit: Photo by Ewa Rej, the University of Sydney

    This is a photo of nano-diamonds using an optical microscope. The purpose is to characterize the size of nano-diamonds. Credit: Photo by Ewa Rej, the University of Sydney

    They reveal how a nanoscale, synthetic version of the precious gem can light up early-stage cancers in non-toxic, non-invasive MRI scans. “We knew nano diamonds were of interest for delivering drugs during chemotherapy because they are largely non-toxic and non-reactive,” says Professor Reilly.

    “We thought we could build on these non-toxic properties realising that diamonds have magnetic characteristics enabling them to act as beacons in MRIs. We effectively turned a pharmaceutical problem into a physics problem.”

    Professor Reilly’s team turned its attention to hyperpolarising nano-diamonds, a process of aligning atoms in...

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    Bio-inspired Robotic Finger Looks, Feels and Works like the Real Thing

    October 9, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical

    This new technology used both a heating and then a cooling process to operate the robotic finger. Results from the study showed a more rapid flexing and extending motion of the finger as well as its ability to recover its trained shape more accurately and more completely, confirming the biomechanical basis of its trained shape. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

    This new technology used both a heating and then a cooling process to operate the robotic finger. Results from the study showed a more rapid flexing and extending motion of the finger as well as its ability to recover its trained shape more accurately and more completely, confirming the biomechanical basis of its trained shape. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

    This robotic finger could be adapted for a prosthetic device, such as on a prosthetic hand. It uses a shape memory alloy, a 3D CAD model of a human finger, a 3D printer and a unique thermal training technique. “We have been able to thermomechanically train our robotic finger to mimic the motions of a human finger like flexion and extension,” said Engeberg...

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    Environmental Memories Transmitted from Father to Grandchildren: Diabetes/ CA/ Heart disease

    October 8, 2015, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    A putative model attempting to depict different levels of genomic organization that may be associated with specific acquired spermatozoal defects. The sperm nucleus is broken down sequentially until the raw DNA. In human spermatozoa it is proposed that up to 15% of histone complexed DNA may remain after spermiogenesis while the remainder is all protamine complexed. For further information see Ward and Coffey (1991).

    A putative model attempting to depict different levels of genomic organization that may be associated with specific acquired spermatozoal defects. The sperm nucleus is broken down sequentially until the raw DNA. In human spermatozoa it is proposed that up to 15% of histone complexed DNA may remain after spermiogenesis while the remainder is all protamine complexed. For further information see Ward and Coffey (1991).

    A dad’s food intake, drugs, exposure to toxic products and even stress can affect the development and health not only of his unborn children, but even of his grandchildren. They have discovered histones may play a crucial role in the process.

    In the past, most epigenetics has focused on a process involving DNA and methyl groups that turn up or down the expression of specific ge...

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    Antioxidants can Double the rate of Melanoma Metastasis in mice, new research shows

    October 8, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The results reinforce previous findings that antioxidants hasten the progression of lung cancer. People with cancer or an elevated risk of developing the disease should avoid nutritional supplements that contain antioxidants, the researchers say. Given well-established evidence that free radicals can cause cancer, the research community had simply assumed that antioxidants, which destroy them, provide protection against the disease.

    “As opposed to the lung cancer studies, the primary melanoma tumor was not affected,” Professor Bergö says. “But the antioxidant boosted the ability of the tumor cells to metastasize, an even more serious problem because metastasis is the cause of death in the case of melanoma. The primary tumor is not dangerous per se and is usually removed.”

    Experiments ...

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