European regulators nod for Roche's Zelboraf

European Drug Regulators have approved the skin cancer drug, Zelboraf containing active ingredient Vemurafenib, for the treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma, which is a fatal form of skin cancer.

Roche, manufacturer of Zelboraf, has announced this on Monday.

From SayPeople,

Zelboraf can be used as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients, whose late stage skin cancer have spread to other parts of the body and become inoperable. It can be given as a twice daily pill.

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Stronger adhesion gained through biomimetics

Article first published as Substance From Gecko Feet Holds a Lot of Weight on Technorati.

Researchers from University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed very strong sticky substance that has the ability to hold 318 kg or 700 pounds of a substance on a smooth wall without slipping.

Researchers extensively studied the adhesive forces in the feet of gecko, which is a small tropical lizard with hooked ridges in feet allowing it to climb smooth vertical surfaces. The sticky nature in the feet of gecko is able to hold 4 kg of material on the wall, without slipping, as it has high-capacity, dry and reversible in nature.

They have named “Geckskin” to the adhesive material.

"Our Geckskin device is about 16 inches square, about the size of an index card, and can hold a maximum force of about 700 pounds while adhering to a smooth surface such as glass." said Alfred J. Crosby from Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and one of the authors in this study.

Geckskin can be released from the wall or attaching surface with negligible efforts despite of its highly strong sticking ability. After release it can be used many times without any loss of effectiveness. Researchers have reported that it can attach a 42-inch television on the wall, can be released from the wall with little force and can be attached on any other surface without leaving any residue behind.

The researchers have published their findings in the journal of Advanced Materials.

Source:

UMassAmherst

Heart disease in women; signs and preventions

Article first published as Signs and preventive measures of Heart disease in women on Technorati.

People usually think that heart diseases are rare among women but it is one of the most common causes of death due to diseases. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 88,000 women of the ages 45-64 and 372,000 women of age 65 and older have heart attack in a year and one in three American women dies from heart disease.

According to Health officials, following signs of heart are found in the women having heart disease:

• Feelings of tiredness, which do not disappear even with proper sleep


• Difficult breathing and sleeping


• Scared or nervous feelings


• Headaches which can be new and/or worse


• Upset stomach with belly pain that is usually above the belly button


• Pain and burning sensations in chest, which sometimes feel “heavy” or “tight” and this condition could spread to the jaw, neck, shoulders, ear or the inside of the arms


• Pain in the back, between the shoulders

For a healthy heart, following measures may be adopted;

• Women, with family history of heart problem, properly maintain their lifestyle and visit doctor or clinic more often


• Smoking must be avoided and women must remain away from people who smoke


• Cholesterol and Blood pressure must be maintained properly


• Diabetes must be properly checked and controlled


• Walking and other such activity on daily basis are helpful in decreasing the chances of heart attack


• Eating must be controlled properly with reduced salt consumption through diet


• Healthy weight is essential for controlling heart disease


• Women with reduced stress, sadness and anger have reduced risks of heart attack

"DNA nanorobots" to treat cancer

Researchers have recently published their findings of successful use of DNA nanobots for the treatment of cancerours cells.

They have published their findings in the journal of Science.

Aptamers have been used to target the particular cells and payloads with drug molecules and antibodies were used to deliver drugs.

From SayPeople,

Scientists have used a method called as “DNA origami” to make the container having DNA chains folded in a prescribed manner. Then they used “aptamers” to lock the barrel shaped robot. Aptamers have the ability to recognize the particular cell types. 

Scientists then used these robots and observed the unlocking of the robot on contact with the cancer cell proteins leading to the release of antibodies that stopped the growth of cells.

According to researchers, these methods could be used for various other diseases where targeting of cells are to be done.

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USB memory stick sized DNA sequencer

Researchers from Oxford Nanopore Technologies have developed a USB memory stick sized platform for the sequencing DNA.

They named it MinION that uses the GridIOn platform developed by the company. GridION has scalable instruments with consumable cartridges having array chips for nano-pore sensing. MinION is a disposable device for sensing experiments such as DNA sequencing and protein and other nanopore sensing.

"The exquisite science behind nanopore sensing has taken nearly two decades to reach this point; a truly disruptive single molecule analysis technique, designed alongside new electronics to be a universal sequencing system. GridION and MinION are poised to deliver a completely new range of benefits to researchers and clinicians," said Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore.


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Body clock has an important effect on immunity

Researchers from Yale University have recently published their findings of the effect of Circadian rhythm or body clock on the immunity of the body. Circadian rhythm is an endogenous timing system regulating different metabolic activities.

They have worked on mice model with sepsis and found that a certain protein, Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), showed different activity at different times of the night and day showing different affects on sepsis.

Researchers have suggested that optimized treatment strategies could be developed by considering the circadian rhythm.

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MRI scans showed brain changes in Autistic infants

Researchers have worked on the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of 92 infants aging from 6 months to 2 years. They have found that there are certain brain connection changes in the infants whose siblings are autistic.

Researchers have published their findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

According to researchers, findings of tracking the changes of the brain in the early stages can lead to better developmental outcomes.

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