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Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
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Approximately one in every thousand children develops a urethral stricture, sometimes even when they are still a foetus in the womb.

In order to prevent life-threatening levels of urine from accumulating in the bladder, paediatric surgeons like Gaston De Bernardis at the Kantonsspital Aarau have to surgically remove the affected section of the urethra and sew the open ends of the tube back together again.

It would be less damaging to the kidneys, however, if a stent could be inserted to widen the constriction while the foetus is still in the womb.

Stents have been used to treat blocked coronary vessels for some time now, but the urinary tract in foetuses is much narrower in comparison.

It's not possible to produce stents with such small dimensions using conventional methods, which is why De Bernardis approached the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.

The lab's researchers have now developed a new method that enables them to produce highly detailed structures measuring less than 100 micrometres in diameter, as they report in a recently published journal article.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Thin films made of carbon nanotubes hold a lot of promise for advanced optoelectronics, energy and medicine, however with their manufacturing process subject to close supervision and stringent standardization requirements, they are unlikely to become ubiquitous anytime soon.

"A major hindrance to unlocking the vast potential of nanotubes is their multiphase manufacturing process which is extremely difficult to manage.

We have suggested using artificial neural networks (ANN) to analyze experimental data and predict the efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesis," explains one of the authors of the study and Skoltech researcher, Dmitry Krasnikov.

In their work published in the prestigious Carbon journal, the authors show that machine learning methods, and, in particular, ANN trained on experimental parameters, such as temperature, gas pressure and flow rate, can help monitor the properties of the carbon nanotube films produced.

"The development of human civilization and the advancement of the materials manufacturing and application technologies are closely interlinked in the era of information and technology, with both materials and computational algorithms and their applications shaping our day-to-day life.

This is equally true for ANN that have evolved into an indispensable tool for dealing with multi-parameter tasks, which run the gamut from object recognition to medical diagnosis.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Targeted drug-delivery systems hold significant promise for treating cancer effectively by sparing healthy surrounding tissues.

A Northwestern University research team has developed a new way to determine whether or not single drug-delivery nanoparticles will successfully hit their intended targets -- by simply analyzing each nanoparticle's distinct movements in real time.

By studying drug-loaded gold nanostars on cancer cell membranes, the researchers found that nanostars designed to target cancer biomarkers transited over larger areas and rotated much faster than their non-targeting counterparts.

"Moving forward, this information can be used to compare how different nanoparticle characteristics -- such as particle size, shape and surface chemistry -- can improve the design of nanoparticles as targeting, drug-delivery agents," said Northwestern's Teri Odom, who led the study.

The study published today (Aug. 9) in the journal ACS Nano.

Odom is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

HANOVER, N.H. - August 9, 2019 - Certain strains of cholera can change their shape in response to environmental conditions to aid their short-term survival, according to new research from Dartmouth College.

In the research, some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae transformed themselves from small, comma-shaped cells to long filaments in nutrient-poor environments.

According to the study, the formation of the elongated cell shapes allows the rapid formation of communities of bacteria that bind to surfaces - known as biofilms - that are essential in turbulent nutrient environments.

"Bacteria are normally thought of as solitary organisms, but they are actually highly-social organisms that like to live in groups," said Carey Nadell, an assistant professor of biology at Dartmouth.

"This research shows that we can relate cell structure to group behavior in new ways when looking at realistic environments."

When not inside a human host, V. cholerae grows on nutritious pieces of debris in aquatic environments.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A thin film that reflects light in intriguing ways could be used to make road signs that shine brightly and change color at night, according to a study that will be published on Aug. 9 in Science Advances.

The technology could help call attention to important traffic information when it's dark, with potential benefits for both drivers and pedestrians, researchers say.

The film consists of polymer microspheres laid down on the sticky side of a transparent tape.

The material's physical structure leads to an interesting phenomenon: When white light shines on the film at night, some observers will see a single, stable color reflected back, while others will see changing colors.

It all depends on the angle of observation and whether the light source is moving.

The research was led by Limin Wu, PhD, at Fudan University in China, whose group developed the material.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

A technology that can obtain high-resolution, micrometer-sized images for mass spectrometric analysis without sample preparation has been developed.

DGIST Research Fellow Jae Young Kim and Chair-professor Dae Won Moon's team succeeded in developing the precise analysis and micrometer-sized imaging of bio samples using a small and inexpensive laser.

DGIST announced that Research Fellow Jae Young Kim in the Department of Robotics Engineering and Chair-professor Dae Won Moon's team developed a technology that can analyze experiment samples without any preparation processing.

Due to its ability to obtain high-resolution mass spectrometric images without an experimental environment using 'continuous wave laser'1, the technology is expected to be applied widely in the precise medicine and medical diagnosis fields.

Many advance preparations are needed for the mass spectrometric imaging of biometric samples using 'specimen,' which thinly cut an object to analyze.

The specimen must be changed artificially since they cannot be analyzed accurately in a room temperature or atmospheric pressure.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Technology that can help interpret inaudible calls from laboratory mice has been developed in a bid to improve research.

The computer tool can reveal valuable insights into rodents' communication patterns and is more reliable than existing methods, which rely on human interpretation.

The system analyses audio recordings of ultrasonic vocalisations - beyond the range of human hearing.

Researchers say it could support research involving mice, which play a crucial role in testing new therapies for human diseases.

Monitoring rodent communications can reveal important information about how diseases progress, particularly for neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and autism.

Experts previously categorised mouse communications into nine call types by manually deciphering visual representations of the soundwaves, known as spectrograms.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

The main risks to bees include wide-spread pesticide use in agriculture, parasites, disease and climate change, and crucially - the loss of valuable biodiversity which poses a further threat to bees and other wild pollinators.

One way to help boost their numbers is by planting the correct wildflowers, providing a better habitat for pollinators to disperse, nest and breed.

However, it is unclear which plant species are the most preferred between different pollinators, including bees, and how this might change over time and in different environmental conditions.

Historically, scientists used light microscopy to identify individual bee-collected pollen grains, which was a time-consuming and impractical method.

To obtain a more accurate understanding without the need for laborious manual inspection of pollen, scientists have developed a rapid analysis method called 'Reverse Metagenomics' (RevMet) that can identify the plants that individual bees visit using the MinION, a portable DNA sequencer from Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

The portability of the equipment involved means that this type of analysis could be performed on-site where bees are collected and sampled - vastly increasing our understanding of where bees look for pollen on a national scale.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Machine learning, introduced 70 years ago, is based on evidence of the dynamics of learning in our brain.

Using the speed of modern computers and large data sets, deep learning algorithms have recently produced results comparable to those of human experts in various applicable fields, but with different characteristics that are distant from current knowledge of learning in neuroscience.

Using advanced experiments on neuronal cultures and large scale simulations, a group of scientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel has demonstrated a new type of ultrafast artifical intelligence algorithms -- based on the very slow brain dynamics -- which outperform learning rates achieved to date by state-of-the-art learning algorithms.

In an article published today in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers rebuild the bridge between neuroscience and advanced artificial intelligence algorithms that has been left virtually useless for almost 70 years.

"The current scientific and technological viewpoint is that neurobiology and machine learning are two distinct disciplines that advanced independently," said the study's lead author, Prof. Ido Kanter, of Bar-Ilan University's Department of Physics and Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center.

"The number of neurons in a brain is less than the number of bits in a typical disc size of modern personal computers, and the computational speed of the brain is like the second hand on a clock, even slower than the first computer invented over 70 years ago," he continued.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers have found a way to use polymer printing to stretch and flatten twisted molecules so that they conduct electricity better.

The conjunction allows electricity to travel very quickly through a polymer, making it highly desirable for use in electrical and optical applications.

This mode of transporting charges works so well that conjugated polymers are now poised to compete with silicon materials, the researchers said.

However, these polymers tend to contort into twisted spirals when they join, severely impeding charge transport.

"Even a slight twist of the backbone can substantially hinder the ability of the electrons to delocalize and flow."

It is possible to flatten conjugated polymers by applying an enormous amount of pressure or by manipulating their molecular structure, but both techniques are very labor-intensive, Diao said.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Electromagnetic fields might help prevent some breast cancers from spreading to other parts of the body, new research has found.

The study showed that low intensity electromagnetic fields hindered the mobility of specific breast cancer cells by preventing the formation of long, thin extensions at the edge of a migrating cancer cell.

The research was done on cells in a lab, and the concept hasn't yet been tested in animals or humans.

"A cancer cell has a tendency to do the most destructive thing imaginable," said Jonathan Song, lead author of the study.

"One very destructive thing these cells do is migrate to distant areas of the body," he said.

"And what we learned here is that it seems by treating them with a certain class of electric field we are altering their potential to spread somehow."

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Stem cells hold the key to wound healing, as they develop into specialised cell types throughout the body - including in teeth.

Published today (Friday 9 August) in Nature Communications, the study showed that a gene called Dlk1 enhances stem cell activation and tissue regeneration in tooth healing.

Importantly, the work showed that when these stem cells are activated, they then send signals back to the mother cells of the tissue to control the number of cells produced, through a molecular gene called Dlk1.

This paper is the first to show that Dlk1 is vital for this process to work.

This mechanism could provide a novel solution for tooth reparation, dealing with problems such as tooth decay and crumbling (known as caries) and trauma treatment.

Further studies need to take place to validate the findings for clinical applications, in order to ascertain the appropriate treatment duration and dose, but these early steps in an animal model are exciting, as Dr Hu explains.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

You know you have a skeleton, but did you know that your cells have skeletons, too?

Understanding how cells control movement could one day lead to tiny, bioinspired robots for therapeutic applications.

The building blocks of the cellular cytoskeleton are thin, tube-like filaments called microtubules that can form together into three-dimensional scaffolds.

Each microtubule is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair and only about 10 micrometers long (about 1,000 times smaller than a common black ant).

Along with motor proteins that power movement, these incredibly small structures combine to propel the relatively large cell--like ants steering and powering a car.

How asters in a test tube are related to a cytoskeleton powering cell movement, however, is still unclear.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

An international collaboration of researchers from the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan and Gladstone Institutes in the USA have generated 3D blastocyst-like structures from stem cells.

After many more cell divisions, the embryo turns into a blastocyst that is implanted in the womb where it differentiates and grows into a fetus.

Inside are pluripotent cells--cells that can become any type of cell in the body, but not the placenta--while the outer shell is made from trophoblasts--cells that eventually form the placenta.

For several years, scientists have been able to convert somatic cells--like skin cells--into pluripotent cells.

In an earlier study conducted at Gladstone, authors Cody Kime and Kiichiro Tomoda were able to convert pluripotent mouse cells from an implanted-like state to a pre-implanted state.

As Kime explains, "over seven years ago, our reprogramming experiments suggested that we had found a way to increase cell potency beyond pluripotency, which was unlikely and had not been seen before.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 8, 2019--IDEMIA Identity & Security USA has licensed an advanced optical array developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The portable technology can be used to help identify individuals in challenging outdoor conditions.

The invention overcomes effects such as low contrast, distance and glare typical when photographing subjects through windshields.

This technology, as applied by IDEMIA, has the potential to expedite vehicles at critical checkpoints.

"The technique takes advantage of light field imaging techniques and a computational neural network to address challenges in identity verification, including motion blur, poor lighting conditions, head pose and surface reflection," said project lead and co-inventor Hector Santos-Villalobos.

Other ORNL inventors include Justin Baba, Philip Bingham, David Bolme, Matthew Eicholtz, Regina Ferrell and Christi Johnson.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

It kills a child under 5 every minute on average.

Diarrheal disease, the second leading cause of death for children globally, could become even more difficult to control as poor urban areas with limited clean water access expand.

An international team of researchers led by a Stanford epidemiologist finds reason for hope in a low-cost water treatment device that reduces rates of diarrhea in children, provides good-tasting water and avoids the need for in-home treatment - improvements over other purification strategies that could significantly increase uptake.

Their results were published Aug. 8 in The Lancet Global Health.

Even if it is safe at the source, water in these systems is at risk of becoming contaminated while sitting in pipes.

"Group level water treatment among people who share a water supply removes the individual burden on households to treat their own water," said study senior author Stephen Luby, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Approximately one in every thousand children develops a urethral stricture, sometimes even when they are still a foetus in the womb.

In order to prevent life-threatening levels of urine from accumulating in the bladder, paediatric surgeons like Gaston De Bernardis at the Kantonsspital Aarau have to surgically remove the affected section of the urethra and sew the open ends of the tube back together again.

It would be less damaging to the kidneys, however, if a stent could be inserted to widen the constriction while the foetus is still in the womb.

Stents have been used to treat blocked coronary vessels for some time now, but the urinary tract in foetuses is much narrower in comparison.

It's not possible to produce stents with such small dimensions using conventional methods, which is why De Bernardis approached the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.

The lab's researchers have now developed a new method that enables them to produce highly detailed structures measuring less than 100 micrometres in diameter, as they report in a recently published journal article.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Targeted drug-delivery systems hold significant promise for treating cancer effectively by sparing healthy surrounding tissues.

A Northwestern University research team has developed a new way to determine whether or not single drug-delivery nanoparticles will successfully hit their intended targets -- by simply analyzing each nanoparticle's distinct movements in real time.

By studying drug-loaded gold nanostars on cancer cell membranes, the researchers found that nanostars designed to target cancer biomarkers transited over larger areas and rotated much faster than their non-targeting counterparts.

"Moving forward, this information can be used to compare how different nanoparticle characteristics -- such as particle size, shape and surface chemistry -- can improve the design of nanoparticles as targeting, drug-delivery agents," said Northwestern's Teri Odom, who led the study.

The study published today (Aug. 9) in the journal ACS Nano.

Odom is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A thin film that reflects light in intriguing ways could be used to make road signs that shine brightly and change color at night, according to a study that will be published on Aug. 9 in Science Advances.

The technology could help call attention to important traffic information when it's dark, with potential benefits for both drivers and pedestrians, researchers say.

The film consists of polymer microspheres laid down on the sticky side of a transparent tape.

The material's physical structure leads to an interesting phenomenon: When white light shines on the film at night, some observers will see a single, stable color reflected back, while others will see changing colors.

It all depends on the angle of observation and whether the light source is moving.

The research was led by Limin Wu, PhD, at Fudan University in China, whose group developed the material.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Technology that can help interpret inaudible calls from laboratory mice has been developed in a bid to improve research.

The computer tool can reveal valuable insights into rodents' communication patterns and is more reliable than existing methods, which rely on human interpretation.

The system analyses audio recordings of ultrasonic vocalisations - beyond the range of human hearing.

Researchers say it could support research involving mice, which play a crucial role in testing new therapies for human diseases.

Monitoring rodent communications can reveal important information about how diseases progress, particularly for neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and autism.

Experts previously categorised mouse communications into nine call types by manually deciphering visual representations of the soundwaves, known as spectrograms.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Machine learning, introduced 70 years ago, is based on evidence of the dynamics of learning in our brain.

Using the speed of modern computers and large data sets, deep learning algorithms have recently produced results comparable to those of human experts in various applicable fields, but with different characteristics that are distant from current knowledge of learning in neuroscience.

Using advanced experiments on neuronal cultures and large scale simulations, a group of scientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel has demonstrated a new type of ultrafast artifical intelligence algorithms -- based on the very slow brain dynamics -- which outperform learning rates achieved to date by state-of-the-art learning algorithms.

In an article published today in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers rebuild the bridge between neuroscience and advanced artificial intelligence algorithms that has been left virtually useless for almost 70 years.

"The current scientific and technological viewpoint is that neurobiology and machine learning are two distinct disciplines that advanced independently," said the study's lead author, Prof. Ido Kanter, of Bar-Ilan University's Department of Physics and Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center.

"The number of neurons in a brain is less than the number of bits in a typical disc size of modern personal computers, and the computational speed of the brain is like the second hand on a clock, even slower than the first computer invented over 70 years ago," he continued.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Electromagnetic fields might help prevent some breast cancers from spreading to other parts of the body, new research has found.

The study showed that low intensity electromagnetic fields hindered the mobility of specific breast cancer cells by preventing the formation of long, thin extensions at the edge of a migrating cancer cell.

The research was done on cells in a lab, and the concept hasn't yet been tested in animals or humans.

"A cancer cell has a tendency to do the most destructive thing imaginable," said Jonathan Song, lead author of the study.

"One very destructive thing these cells do is migrate to distant areas of the body," he said.

"And what we learned here is that it seems by treating them with a certain class of electric field we are altering their potential to spread somehow."

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

You know you have a skeleton, but did you know that your cells have skeletons, too?

Understanding how cells control movement could one day lead to tiny, bioinspired robots for therapeutic applications.

The building blocks of the cellular cytoskeleton are thin, tube-like filaments called microtubules that can form together into three-dimensional scaffolds.

Each microtubule is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair and only about 10 micrometers long (about 1,000 times smaller than a common black ant).

Along with motor proteins that power movement, these incredibly small structures combine to propel the relatively large cell--like ants steering and powering a car.

How asters in a test tube are related to a cytoskeleton powering cell movement, however, is still unclear.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 8, 2019--IDEMIA Identity & Security USA has licensed an advanced optical array developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The portable technology can be used to help identify individuals in challenging outdoor conditions.

The invention overcomes effects such as low contrast, distance and glare typical when photographing subjects through windshields.

This technology, as applied by IDEMIA, has the potential to expedite vehicles at critical checkpoints.

"The technique takes advantage of light field imaging techniques and a computational neural network to address challenges in identity verification, including motion blur, poor lighting conditions, head pose and surface reflection," said project lead and co-inventor Hector Santos-Villalobos.

Other ORNL inventors include Justin Baba, Philip Bingham, David Bolme, Matthew Eicholtz, Regina Ferrell and Christi Johnson.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Thin films made of carbon nanotubes hold a lot of promise for advanced optoelectronics, energy and medicine, however with their manufacturing process subject to close supervision and stringent standardization requirements, they are unlikely to become ubiquitous anytime soon.

"A major hindrance to unlocking the vast potential of nanotubes is their multiphase manufacturing process which is extremely difficult to manage.

We have suggested using artificial neural networks (ANN) to analyze experimental data and predict the efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesis," explains one of the authors of the study and Skoltech researcher, Dmitry Krasnikov.

In their work published in the prestigious Carbon journal, the authors show that machine learning methods, and, in particular, ANN trained on experimental parameters, such as temperature, gas pressure and flow rate, can help monitor the properties of the carbon nanotube films produced.

"The development of human civilization and the advancement of the materials manufacturing and application technologies are closely interlinked in the era of information and technology, with both materials and computational algorithms and their applications shaping our day-to-day life.

This is equally true for ANN that have evolved into an indispensable tool for dealing with multi-parameter tasks, which run the gamut from object recognition to medical diagnosis.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

HANOVER, N.H. - August 9, 2019 - Certain strains of cholera can change their shape in response to environmental conditions to aid their short-term survival, according to new research from Dartmouth College.

In the research, some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae transformed themselves from small, comma-shaped cells to long filaments in nutrient-poor environments.

According to the study, the formation of the elongated cell shapes allows the rapid formation of communities of bacteria that bind to surfaces - known as biofilms - that are essential in turbulent nutrient environments.

"Bacteria are normally thought of as solitary organisms, but they are actually highly-social organisms that like to live in groups," said Carey Nadell, an assistant professor of biology at Dartmouth.

"This research shows that we can relate cell structure to group behavior in new ways when looking at realistic environments."

When not inside a human host, V. cholerae grows on nutritious pieces of debris in aquatic environments.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

A technology that can obtain high-resolution, micrometer-sized images for mass spectrometric analysis without sample preparation has been developed.

DGIST Research Fellow Jae Young Kim and Chair-professor Dae Won Moon's team succeeded in developing the precise analysis and micrometer-sized imaging of bio samples using a small and inexpensive laser.

DGIST announced that Research Fellow Jae Young Kim in the Department of Robotics Engineering and Chair-professor Dae Won Moon's team developed a technology that can analyze experiment samples without any preparation processing.

Due to its ability to obtain high-resolution mass spectrometric images without an experimental environment using 'continuous wave laser'1, the technology is expected to be applied widely in the precise medicine and medical diagnosis fields.

Many advance preparations are needed for the mass spectrometric imaging of biometric samples using 'specimen,' which thinly cut an object to analyze.

The specimen must be changed artificially since they cannot be analyzed accurately in a room temperature or atmospheric pressure.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

The main risks to bees include wide-spread pesticide use in agriculture, parasites, disease and climate change, and crucially - the loss of valuable biodiversity which poses a further threat to bees and other wild pollinators.

One way to help boost their numbers is by planting the correct wildflowers, providing a better habitat for pollinators to disperse, nest and breed.

However, it is unclear which plant species are the most preferred between different pollinators, including bees, and how this might change over time and in different environmental conditions.

Historically, scientists used light microscopy to identify individual bee-collected pollen grains, which was a time-consuming and impractical method.

To obtain a more accurate understanding without the need for laborious manual inspection of pollen, scientists have developed a rapid analysis method called 'Reverse Metagenomics' (RevMet) that can identify the plants that individual bees visit using the MinION, a portable DNA sequencer from Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

The portability of the equipment involved means that this type of analysis could be performed on-site where bees are collected and sampled - vastly increasing our understanding of where bees look for pollen on a national scale.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers have found a way to use polymer printing to stretch and flatten twisted molecules so that they conduct electricity better.

The conjunction allows electricity to travel very quickly through a polymer, making it highly desirable for use in electrical and optical applications.

This mode of transporting charges works so well that conjugated polymers are now poised to compete with silicon materials, the researchers said.

However, these polymers tend to contort into twisted spirals when they join, severely impeding charge transport.

"Even a slight twist of the backbone can substantially hinder the ability of the electrons to delocalize and flow."

It is possible to flatten conjugated polymers by applying an enormous amount of pressure or by manipulating their molecular structure, but both techniques are very labor-intensive, Diao said.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Stem cells hold the key to wound healing, as they develop into specialised cell types throughout the body - including in teeth.

Published today (Friday 9 August) in Nature Communications, the study showed that a gene called Dlk1 enhances stem cell activation and tissue regeneration in tooth healing.

Importantly, the work showed that when these stem cells are activated, they then send signals back to the mother cells of the tissue to control the number of cells produced, through a molecular gene called Dlk1.

This paper is the first to show that Dlk1 is vital for this process to work.

This mechanism could provide a novel solution for tooth reparation, dealing with problems such as tooth decay and crumbling (known as caries) and trauma treatment.

Further studies need to take place to validate the findings for clinical applications, in order to ascertain the appropriate treatment duration and dose, but these early steps in an animal model are exciting, as Dr Hu explains.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

An international collaboration of researchers from the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan and Gladstone Institutes in the USA have generated 3D blastocyst-like structures from stem cells.

After many more cell divisions, the embryo turns into a blastocyst that is implanted in the womb where it differentiates and grows into a fetus.

Inside are pluripotent cells--cells that can become any type of cell in the body, but not the placenta--while the outer shell is made from trophoblasts--cells that eventually form the placenta.

For several years, scientists have been able to convert somatic cells--like skin cells--into pluripotent cells.

In an earlier study conducted at Gladstone, authors Cody Kime and Kiichiro Tomoda were able to convert pluripotent mouse cells from an implanted-like state to a pre-implanted state.

As Kime explains, "over seven years ago, our reprogramming experiments suggested that we had found a way to increase cell potency beyond pluripotency, which was unlikely and had not been seen before.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

It kills a child under 5 every minute on average.

Diarrheal disease, the second leading cause of death for children globally, could become even more difficult to control as poor urban areas with limited clean water access expand.

An international team of researchers led by a Stanford epidemiologist finds reason for hope in a low-cost water treatment device that reduces rates of diarrhea in children, provides good-tasting water and avoids the need for in-home treatment - improvements over other purification strategies that could significantly increase uptake.

Their results were published Aug. 8 in The Lancet Global Health.

Even if it is safe at the source, water in these systems is at risk of becoming contaminated while sitting in pipes.

"Group level water treatment among people who share a water supply removes the individual burden on households to treat their own water," said study senior author Stephen Luby, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine.

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