The partners in EUREKA project E! 2526 IMPULSE have developed an implanted nerve stimulator which helps patients with drop foot to walk much better. Over 500,000 people suffer from a stroke each year in Europe and 10% of stroke victims are left with drop foot, which causes severe walking problems.
Drop foot is a chronic condition, often caused by a stroke which is characterised by the inability to raise the foot during the swing phase of walking. People affected tend to have a labo
The first ‘next generation’ MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) body scanner in the world will be officially launched at Hope Hospital later this week (Friday 18th February).
The Achieva 3T MR Scanner has been purchased by The University of Manchester and will be used by researchers to further their studies in a wide range of medical areas.
The state-of-the-art technology involved will revolutionise the way scanning takes place and means that higher quality scans can be carr
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the Universities of Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester and Glasgow has been awarded a £3m research grant to develop a new nanotechnology tool which they have called the ‘Snomipede’. The team, led by Professor Graham Leggett at the University of Sheffield, hopes that once developed, the Snomipede could enable advances in areas as diverse as the understanding of the origins of disease and the low-cost commercial manufacture of plastic computer chips.
Experts at the University of Sheffield have proven conclusively that the functions of language and mathematics are separate in the adult brain, meaning that it is not just linguistic ability that separates us from other animals. Academics and researchers had thought that language may enable higher cognitive functions, and that without it we would lose other high level skills. However, the study has shown that even when the brain is rendered incapable of using or understanding language, it can s
“The Web will become more than what we see on our computer screens, it will become a place where computers interact with each other and where meaning is attached to information.” That is the vision behind a cutting-edge Semantic Web project.
For Richard Benjamins, the coordinator of the IST project ESPERONTO, the future of the Semantic Web lies in it becoming “something akin to ambient intelligence” with the meaning of digital information understandable not only by humans but by a
New and effective treatments for lung cancer may rest on their ability to hinder the action of estrogen in lung cancer cells, according to two studies published in the current issue of Cancer Research. The University of Pittsburgh studies build on current knowledge about the relationship between estrogen and lung cancer growth and suggest that blocking estrogen may be vitally important to improving survival from the disease.
Since 1930, a 600 percent increase in death rates from
How will rising levels of carbon dioxide influence ecosystems? Scientists have tackled this question numerous times, but none have tested the assumption that a single-abrupt increase in CO2 concentrations will produce changes similar to gradual increases over several decades. UCR scientist part of research team published in the journal Nature.
A paper in the Feb. 10 issue of the journal Nature titled Abrupt Rise in Atmospheric CO2 Overestimates Community Response in a Model Pla
To gauge the toxicity of Pfiesteria, the important single-celled fish predator that was the culprit behind a number of fish kills and fish diseases along the East Coast in the 1990s, researchers need to both use the proper study methods and recognize that certain populations of the organism, called strains, are toxic while others are not.
That’s the main result of a wide-ranging study by Dr. JoAnn M. Burkholder, professor and director of the Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology at N
Risk of damage from loud music
A new U of T study recommends the provision of ear plugs, education at concert entrances and the reduction of music sound levels to minimize the risk of hearing loss for rock concert attendees.
The conclusions are part of a study published in the January/February issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health, which looked at whether concert goers perceive there is a risk of hearing damage from the loud music at concerts and whether they use
A Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) professor and 138 of his undergraduates have co-authored a paper that provides the first genome-wide estimate of vital genes that are also essential for eye development of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The undergraduates are students in a unique biology class taught by HHMI professor Utpal Banerjee at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Banerjee and his students identified 501 essential genes responsible for proces
Mayo Clinic researchers are the first to identify an interaction between two cellular proteins — Skp2 and FOXO1 — that is important for the growth and survival of cancer cells. Researchers also show that this interaction can be chemically reversed to stop cancer tumor growth — a strategy that may lead to new and better cancer treatments.
Their report appears as an electronic advance article of PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( http://www.pnas.org/cgi
Scientists have produced an audio soundbite that captures what the Cassini orbiter heard from Huygens as the probe descended on Titan on Jan. 14.
The sounds may not be music to everyone’s ears, but they’re beautiful, interesting and important to investigators who are reconstructing the probe’s exact position and orientation throughout its parachute dive to Titan’s surface. “The minute-long sound file covers about four hours of real time, from when the Huygen
Innovative research restores hand function
Once-paralyzed stroke victims are regaining arm and hand functions thanks to an innovative treatment developed by University of Toronto and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute researchers.
The treatment, outlined in the January Neuromodulation, uses a neuroprosthesis that stimulates muscles with electrical pulses, mimicking the intricate movements along the hand and arm. Simultaneously, the patient concentrates on the movement itsel
3-D ultrasound reveals effects of tongue surgery on speech
New imaging research about tongue shape and volume before and after surgery should ultimately help surgeons decide how to best reconstruct tongue defects resulting from cancer surgery, says a team of researchers at the University of Toronto.
Tim Bressmann, a professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, and his colleague Jonathan Irish, a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and a head an
An herb used in traditional Indian medicine to treat diabetes seems to lower blood sugar and insulin levels in a manner similar to prescription drugs, a new study reports.
Researchers gave extracts of the herb Salacia oblonga to 39 healthy adults, and the results were promising. The largest dose of the herb extract – 1,000 milligrams – decreased insulin and blood glucose levels by 29 and 23 percent, respectively. “These kinds of reductions are similar to what we might see with p
Awareness and wildlife health monitoring is key to preventing future fatalities
All recent Ebola virus outbreaks in humans in forests between Gabon and the Republic of Congo were the result of handling infected wild animal carcasses, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its regional partners. Appearing in the February edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the study found that many animal carcasses tested for Ebola between 2001 and 2003
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