New research identifies a new type of light sensor that could allow medical and security imaging, via low cost cameras. The team of researchers from the University of Surrey have developed a new
Men who show signs of chronic inflammation in non-cancerous prostate tissue may have nearly twice the risk of actually having prostate cancer than those with no inflammation, according to results of a new study led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. The link between persistent inflammation and cancer was even stronger for men with so-called high-grade prostate cancer
Modifying how urine culture results are reported to clinicians can improve prescribing practices, pilot study suggests
A simple change in how the hospital laboratory reports test results may help improve antibiotic prescribing practices and patient safety, according to a pilot, proof-of-concept study. No longer routinely reporting positive urine culture results for inpatients at low risk for urinary tract infections (UTIs) greatly reduced unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and did not affect the treatment of patients who did need antibiotics, the study authors found.
Urine cultures for hospitalised patients are often ordered unnecessarily. Positive culture results from patients without any UTI symptoms can lead to antibiotic prescriptions that are of no benefit and may cause harm to patients, including C. difficile infection and subsequent infection with more antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
In the study, conducted in 2013 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, urine culture results from non-catheterised inpatients
Your smartphone now can see what the naked eye cannot: A single virus and bits of material less than one-thousandth of the width of a human hair.
Aydogan Ozcan, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and his team have created a portable smartphone attachment that can be used to perform sophisticated field testing to detect viruses and bacteria without the need for bulky and expensive microscopes and lab equipment. The device weighs less than half a pound.
The first UK study of the use of ketamine intravenous infusions in people with treatment-resistant depression has been carried out in an NHS clinic by researchers at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford.
Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have designed a protype system-on-chip (SoC) that could make possible a fully implanted cochlear implant.
A cochlear implant is a device that electronically stimulates the auditory nerve to restore hearing in people with profound hearing loss. Conventional cochlear implants are made up of an external unit with a microphone and sound processor to pick up and encode sound, and an internal unit that is seated in the skull and connected to an electrode array inserted into the cochlea. The external unit raises concerns in some individuals with social stigma and has limited use in the shower or during water sports.
Women diagnosed with breast cancer often face a crucial decision about the extent of their surgical treatment. Many meet national guidelines recommending testing for mutations in the BRCA 1 and 2 genes, which carry a substantial risk of future cancer. A new study reports that among women with breast cancer who undergo recommended testing before surgery, more than 7 in 10 who test positive will change their surgical plan, typically opting for a more extensive procedure such as a double mastectomy and sometimes ovary removal.
‘As soon as somebody hears they have a 65 percent chance of a new breast cancer in the future or an up to 60 percent chance of ovarian cancer, they are likely to do whatever they can to prevent that,’ said lead author Dr. Elizabeth Lokich, an obstetrics and gynecology fellow in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and at Women & Infants Hospital.
The study appears with the recommendation that women who meet National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for genetic testing (nccn.org) get the test before deciding on their surgery.
‘Particularly because of what we found
Inhibiting enzymes that cause changes in gene expression could decrease chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer patients, researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Georgia say.
Dr. Susanna Greer, associate professor of biology, and research partners at the University of Georgia have identified two enzymes that suppress proteins that are important for regulating cell survival and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest gynaecological cancers, with a 60 percent mortality rate and a five-year survival rate for less than 30 percent of women in the advanced stage of the disease. The high mortality rate is largely due to the development of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Understanding the molecular and genetic mechanisms that drive the development of acquired chemoresistance can help improve therapeutic agents for ovarian cancer treatment.
‘Ovarian cancer is usually treated by surgery followed by chemotherapy,’ Greer said, ‘but because it’s typically found fairly late, ovarian cancer is often refractory to chemotherapy. You have tumours that initially respond to chemotherapy and then don’t. Ovarian cancer is the 8th most commonly diagnosed cancer in U.S. women, but due to its late diagnosis, causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.’
In a previous study, Greer found the expression of the protein RGS10, which regulates ovarian cancer cell growth and survival, is suppressed in ovarian cancer cells that are chemoresistant. The suppression was caused by two important mechanisms that silence genes and contribute to the progression of many cancers – DNA methylation, a biochemical process in which a methyl group is added to specific building blocks of DNA, and histone deacetylation, a process in which enzymes remove functional groups of atoms from proteins associated with DNA.
In their study, the researchers investigate the silencing of RGS10 expression in ovarian cancer cells by epigenetics, which is heritable changes in genes and gene expression that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence, but rather by reversible and self-perpetuating mechanisms of DNA programming.
They identified two epigenetic regulators, HDAC1, a histone deacetylase, and DNMT1, a DNA methyl transferase. Decreasing the expression of HDAC1 and DNMT1 and blocking their activity significantly increased RGS10 expression and cell death. This also decreased the binding of HDAC1 to RGS10 in chemoresistant cells.
The research suggests that inhibiting HDAC1 and DNMT1 could be a novel therapeutic approach to overcoming chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.
EurekAlert
As long as inexpensive statins, which lower cholesterol, are readily available and patients don
Cancer patients could one day experience fewer side effects from chemotherapy following a discovery that opens the door for more targeted treatments.
Researchers have identified a possible way of treating tumours that would see doctors place harmless metal implants at the cancer site.
The discovery could make treatment more targeted than existing therapies, avoiding unwanted side effects, such as hair loss, tiredness and nausea. These occur when chemotherapy drugs carried in the blood kill healthy cells as well as cancer cells.
The scientists found that they could alter the chemical composition of commonly used chemotherapy drugs so that they only become active when they come into contact with a metal called palladium.
Researchers hope that by implanting small devices coated with palladium into patients
April 2024
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