Archive for the ‘Medical Science’ Category
In what is another fascinating example of science fiction turned into reality, is developing a tiny robot, for now only in prototype stage, which operates in some respects as a living creature that could someday be used safely for identifying diseases in the human body.
The intention with the design of the robot is to create and integrate components that respond to light and chemicals in the same way that biological systems respond. It’s a new way into robotics. The ultimate goal is that the robot, called Cyberplasm, has an electronic nervous system, sensors produced from mammalian cells that make the role of eyes and a nose as well as artificial muscles to use glucose for energy to be operated and propel the robot.
The Cyberplasm is under development in the coming years as part of an international collaboration funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the United Kingdom, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Working in the UK is being conducted at the Newcastle University. Read the rest of this entry »
Vitamin E supplements may harm the maintenance of bones, according to a study by Japanese scientists that today includes the British journal “Nature Medicine”.
The positive effects of some nutrients such as vitamin D in bone health have been well documented, but in the case of vitamin E is controversial among scientists, which now account these results.
Previous experiments, one conducted in rats and published in 2010, advocating the benefits of their consumption because they enhance bone mass and recommend its intake through foods such as oil, almonds and vegetables such as spinach or broccoli. Read the rest of this entry »
It has succeeded in developing a gelatinous material, used a new method for treating burns, seems to be able to help regenerate tissue without scarring stops the process, at least in the experiments performed so far in mouse skin damaged by severe burns.
The new treatment, developed by scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the United States has not yet been tested in human patients. But researchers believe the procedure, which stimulates the formation of new blood vessels and skin, including hair follicles, could lead to a better healing process in people who have suffered severe burns, third degree. Read the rest of this entry »
Among the causes of development of heart disease, smoking is one of the most important. Smokers have an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes in general, and death from such diseases, although the risk varies between individuals. So far, there has been no simple method to measure sufficiently detailed so the different effects of smoking on heart disease.
A team of researchers at Southwestern Medical Center, part of the University of Texas, has determined that a blood test may one day quantify the degree of toxicity to the lungs of a person and their risk of heart disease. The lung protein levels in the blood of smokers may indicate the risk of excessive accumulation of atheromatous plaques in blood vessels. Read the rest of this entry »
The effects of obesity on our bodies are well known, and now scientists have made a breakthrough that provides insight into how the disease progresses, and clues for developing future treatments.
In this new study, researchers at Monash University in Australia, in collaboration with U.S. colleagues, have obtained new data on how it develops resistance to the hormone leptin, a fundamental causal component of obesity.
Our bodies produce leptin in response to the growth of lipid reserves. Acting on a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, leptin tells the body to increase energy and reduce food intake, and thus helps us maintain a healthy body weight. The body’s response to leptin is impaired in people with overweight or obese, so this is where this problem is referred to as “leptin resistance”. Read the rest of this entry »
Researchers at the Laboratory of Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience (LNVC), Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Neuroscience of the University of Granada, Spain, are implementing a new technique, called multifocal electroretinography (mfERG), to make progress on the study of the retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal pathology considered rare disease and for which there is still no treatment or cure.
A team of researchers from the Laboratory of Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience (LNVC), Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Neurosciences at the University of Granada have started applying a new technique to achieve progress in the study of retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal disease for which there is still no treatment or cure. Read the rest of this entry »
In a recent study has concluded that estrogen significantly regulates energy expenditure, appetite and body weight, and that an insufficient amount of estrogen receptors in specific parts of the brain can lead to obesity.
So far, did not consider that sex hormones may play an important role in regulating food intake and body weight regulation.
The team of Dr. Deborah Clegg, professor of internal medicine at Southwestern Medical Center, part of the University of Texas, has found in her study with mice that estrogen, acting through two neural centers in the brain hypothalamus, kept under control body weight in females in regulating hunger and energy expenditure. Read the rest of this entry »
Every six seconds died in the world a person because of a stroke. “One in six” is the motto of the World Stroke Day this year, which refers to the fact that one in six people suffer a stroke over their lifetime. As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 85% of cases are due to preventable risk factors.
“Stroke is not an inevitable consequence of aging. By identifying and modifying risk factors can reduce the incidence and associated mortality rate”, says Freek Verheugt, a researcher at the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis (OLVG) of Amsterdam hospital in Netherlands. International forecasts indicate that the incidence of fatal stroke will continue to grow and will spend 6 billion per year in 2010 to nearly 8 million per year in 2030. Read the rest of this entry »
Science has been working for quite some time in the laboratory culture of tissues and organs. Currently, tissue engineering and artificial tissue allows for the construction of some classes, but not yet achieved any success with larger structures such as organs.
Now, a group of researchers from the Fraunhofer Society is using new techniques and materials to create artificial blood vessels in the BioRap project. If all goes well, this technology will in future be able to provide even more complex tissues and artificial organs.
In early 2011, there were over 11,000 people on the waiting list for organ transplants in Germany, although the average is performed only half that number of transplants. Read the rest of this entry »
In many of the patient visits his doctor, the pain is the protagonist and sometimes the only significant symptom of the problem which leads them to the office. In such cases, physicians must be guided by the level of pain the patient describes. But it is not always easy to express in a reasonably objective manner the degree of physical pain, or separate nervousness or fear.
This is evident especially in babies or very young children, and also in the elderly with diminished mental faculties. It is clear for a long time needed a better way to measure pain, and not has to rely so heavily on words or other manifestations that uses the patient to describe his feelings. Read the rest of this entry »