Lifeboat Foundation

Very cool; another example where nature inspires others. Einstein was inspired often by nature and its environment.

Titanium is used medically in applications such as artificial joints and dental implants. While it is strong and is not harmful to tissues, the metal lacks some of the beneficial biological properties of natural tissues such as bones and natural teeth. Now, based on insights from mussels—which are able to attach themselves very tightly to even metallic surfaces due to special proteins found in their byssal threads—scientists from RIKEN have successfully attached a biologically active molecule to a titanium surface, paving the way for implants that can be more biologically beneficial.

The work began from earlier discoveries that mussels can attach to smooth surfaces so effectively thanks to a protein, L-DOPA, which is known to be able to bind very strongly to smooth surfaces such as rocks, ceramics, or metals. Interestingly, the same protein functions in humans as a precursor to dopamine, and is used as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Continue reading “Mussels inspire scientists to attach biologically active molecule to titanium surface” »

I am glad others are seeing the light.

It holds the key to the future of bio-technology and computing.

Personally; I have heard this several years ago from some medical researchers. Glad that more have concluded this tie.

Genetic mutations on several genes including BRCA2 have been associated with prostate cancer; while in a separate study, a BRCA1 mutation has been linked to a particular form of uterine cancer.

The first study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 12 percent of men with advanced prostate cancer had inherited mutations in genes involved in the repair of damaged DNA.

Professor Johann de Bono of the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who led the study, said: ‘Our study has shown that a significant proportion of men with advanced prostate cancer are born with DNA repair mutations – and this could have important implications for patients.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will set up seven new Research Units and one new Clinical Research Unit. This was decided by the Senate of the DFG in its summer session during the DFG Annual Meeting in Mainz. In addition to the already established Units, another Research Unit is now in a position to start work. This Unit is funded jointly by the DFG and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The DFG Senate had already supported this Unit in March 2016 and approval has now been obtained from the Austrian partner organisation.

The research collaborations will offer researchers the possibility of pursuing current and pressing issues in their research areas and establishing innovative work directions. Clinical Research Units are also characterised by the close connection between research and clinical work. The maximum funding duration of Research Units and Clinical Research Units is two periods of three years. In the initial funding period, the nine new groups will receive approximately €23 million in total. As a result, the DFG will be funding a total of 190 Research Units and 19 Clinical Research Units.

The new Research Units.

Continue reading “Eight new research units, 1 new clinical research unit” »

Children with a rare neurological disease were recently given the chance to walk for the first time thanks to a new robotic exoskeleton. These devices – which are essentially robotic suits that give artificial movement to a user’s limbs – are set to become an increasingly common way of helping people who’ve lost the use of their legs to walk. But while today’s exoskeletons are mostly clumsy, heavy devices, new technology could make them much easier and more natural to use by creating a robotic skin.

Exoskeletons have been in development since the 1960s. The first one was a bulky set of legs and claw-like gloves reminiscent of the superhero, Iron Man, designed to use hydraulic power to help industrial workers lift hundreds of kilogrammes of weight. It didn’t work, but since then other designs for both the upper and lower body have successfully been used to increase people’s strength, help teach them to use their limbs again, or even as a way to interact with computers using touch or “haptic” feedback.

Continue reading “Forget Iron Man: skintight suits are the future of robotic exoskeletons” »

Nice read that places things into perspective.

David Panchision, Ph.D., NIMH program director for stem cell research, discusses the promise of induced pluripotent stem cells and organoids for understanding and treating mental illness.

Continue reading “IPS Cells & Organoids — Sci-Fi vs Reality” »

Very cool.

MIAMI. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new type of Nano bead, a medical magnetic bead, offers better treatment for some liver cancers. It’s called the LUMI bead and it lets doctors see in real time if the bead is delivered to the target.

Robert Freeman had retired to Florida and was enjoying life when he got the news. He had stage four liver cancer. His doctor put him on chemotherapy right away.

Continue reading “Beads blast cancer tumors” »

For all my Precision Medicine, Cancer researchers, and anti-aging friends researchers have id that the mitochondria pathway has been used by cancer cells to exploit for motility and metastasis.

Researchers have identified a new mitochondrial pathway that cancer cells exploit for motility and metastasis—providing a viable, “druggable” target for many different types of tumors. [NIEHS].

Being treated for high cholesterol with statins is being linked with a reduced risk of death and better survival from four common cancers, a medical conference has heard.

Among the patients in the study, almost 8,000 had lung cancer, 5,500 had breast cancer, 4,600 had prostate cancer and 4,500 had colon cancer, the researchers found. So the researchers think the statin treatment might explain the protective effect, rather than high cholesterol itself.

Data for patients admitted to United Kingdom hospitals between January 1, 2000-March 31, 2013 with the listed cancers were obtained from the Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality (ACALM) clinical database, which also provided data on comorbidities such as high cholesterol; mortality data was obtained from the Office of National Statistics.

Continue reading “Doctors find link between statins and cancer survival rate” »