The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego studied these ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells. The devices are a common fixture in nail salons, and generally use a particular spectrum of UV light (340-395nm) to cure the chemicals used in gel manicures. While…
Researchers at the University of Freiburg discover how the “Zona Incerta” communicates with the neocortex. The neocortex is the largest and most complex part of the brain and has long been considered the ultimate storage site for long-term memories. But how are traces of past events and experiences laid down there? Researchers at the University of Freiburg Medical School led by Prof. Dr. Johannes Letzkus and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research have discovered that a little-studied area of…
Study in mice and human cells suggests existing cancer drug may be effective against the insidious disease. Using the latest technologies—including both single-nuclear sequencing of mice and human liver tissue and advanced 3D glass imaging of mice to characterize key scar-producing liver cells—researchers have uncovered novel candidate drug targets for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The research was led by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Utilizing these innovative methods, the investigators discovered a network of…
Researchers from Erlangen and Würzburg develop reliable rapid test on the basis of magnetic nanoparticles. Functionalized nanoparticles could soon revolutionize point-of-care diagnostics. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg have developed a method for binding specific molecules in samples and serums, such as antibodies in the blood, to the surface of iron oxide particles thus allowing them to be identified using an inexpensive and compact detector. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal Nature Communications. The…
Mouse study IDs gene and protein that could be targets for therapy. People with a condition known as dry eye disease are more likely than those with healthy eyes to suffer injuries to their corneas. Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that proteins made by stem cells that regenerate the cornea may be new targets for treating and preventing such injuries. The study is published online Jan. 2 in the Proceedings of…
Findings could lead to new therapies, prevention strategies. A type of chronic leukemia can simmer for many years. Some patients may need treatment to manage this type of blood cancer — called myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) — while others may go through long periods of watchful waiting. But for a small percentage of patients, the slower paced disease can transform into an aggressive cancer, called secondary acute myeloid leukemia, that has few effective treatment options. Little has been known about how…
Columbia biomedical engineers develop therapeutic strategy to combine bacterial therapies with pharmaceutical drugs. Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the United States and around the world. Many of the currently available therapies have been ineffective, leaving patients with very few options. A promising new strategy to treat cancer has been bacterial therapy, but while this treatment modality has quickly progressed from laboratory experiments to clinical trials in the last five years, the most effective treatment for certain types of…
It has long been known that beyond a certain dose, X-rays damage living tissue, so there are clear medical indications for X-rays to keep radiation exposure to a minimum. In basic research on the properties and characteristics of mineralised tissue samples such as bone, researchers rely on increasingly powerful X-ray sources. Bones from fish and mammals “Until now, the motto has actually been: more flux and higher energy is better, because you can achieve greater depth of field and higher…
A simple and cheap solution can save lives. Anti-inflammatory, therapeutic effects, but also risks – the radioactive noble gas radon contains both at the same time. Radon and especially its short-living progeny are considered to be responsible for about half of the annual radiation exposure from natural sources and are classified as carcinogenic. Researchers from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung now have proven in a paper published in the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” that face masks…
NIAID participated in international PREVAC consortium. WHAT: Two randomized, placebo-controlled trials evaluating three Ebola vaccine administration strategies in adults and children found that all the regimens were safe in both age groups, according to results published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Antibodies were produced in response to the vaccine regimens beginning at 14 days after the first vaccination and continued to be detectable at varying levels—depending on the vaccine and regimen used—in both children and adults for…
International expert committee led by Professor Arndt Vogel updates ESMO treatment guidelines for biliary tract cancer. Biliary tract cancers (BTC) are cancers of the bile ducts and gallbladder. BCTs are rare and account for less than one percent of malignant neoplasms in humans. Overall, BCT have a poor prognosis. Five years after diagnosis, only 10 to 20 percent of those affected are still alive. However, advances in medicine and research offer hope, which have led to the updating of the…
Centre for Clinical Studies (ZKS) brings findings from science into practical application. Hannover Medical School (MHH) is one of Germany’s leading institutions in vaccine research. Before new vaccines are launched on the market, they have to undergo extensive clinical testing. The requirements for a clinical trial are high, the bureaucratic effort for planning and implementation is immense. Because this can hardly be done alongside the actual research work, the MHH has set up the Centre for Clinical Studies (ZKS). Here,…
TU Freiberg explains basics of aerosol formation at the vocal folds. Very small exhaled droplets, so-called aerosol particles, play an important role in the airborne transmission of pathogens such as the corona virus. Researchers in the field of fluid mechanics used a model to investigate how exactly the small droplets are formed in the larynx when speaking or singing. The team now reports its results in the current issue of Physics of Fluids by AIP Publishing. The findings can now…
When shopping in the supermarket, consumers must be able to rely on food labels. However, are they always correct? In the joint project QSPEC, the AMO GmbH, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH), the Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH), the TOPTICA Photonics AG, the AMOtronics UG and the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) want to develop a new analysis method that uses quantum mechanical effects to test food for its ingredients and origin more cost-effectively. Fraud in the labeling of…
In severe epilepsies, surgical intervention is often the only remedy – usually with great success. While neuropsychological performance can recover in the long term after successful surgery, on rare occasions, unexpected declines in cognitive performance occur. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now been able to show which patients are at particularly high risk for this. Their findings have been published in the journal “Annals of Neurology.” They may help identify affected individuals for whom surgery should be avoided….
No amount of alcohol consumption is safe for a developing fetus; a new study presents in molecular detail how alcohol harms growth and functioning of developing brain organoids. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy poses significant peril to the healthy development of the unborn child. There is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy. The consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) are reflected in the different diagnoses that emerge under the umbrella of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. At one end of…
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