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    Category Health/Medical

    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  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    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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    Disabling erbB Pathway + IFN-γ Therapy Eradicates a Breast Cancer type in mice

    October 7, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Highlights •IFN-γ and 4D5 act directly on erbB2-positive breast cancer cells •IFN-γ, but not IFN-α or β, cooperates with 4D5 directly on erbB2+ breast cancer cells •IFN-γ and 4D5 alters KLF4 levels and degrades Snail by the GSK3-β/proteasome pathway •Sequential combination treatment with mAb and IFN-γ sensitizes for tumor eradication

    Highlights •IFN-γ and 4D5 act directly on erbB2-positive breast cancer cells •IFN-γ, but not IFN-α or β, cooperates with 4D5 directly on erbB2+ breast cancer cells •IFN-γ and 4D5 alters KLF4 levels and degrades Snail by the GSK3-β/proteasome pathway •Sequential combination treatment with mAb and IFN-γ sensitizes for tumor eradication. Credit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.08.044

    This therapy, when translated for use in people humans, would be beneficial in reducing toxicity because the amount of antibody could be decreased by 2/3 and the amount of chemotherapy by at least 1/2, they say. This in turn, “reduces the cost of treatment so that individuals previously not able to afford targeted therapy will be able to do so.

    “This line of research is important to future ...

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