Medical Breakthrough – Page 20

Healthcare, Inventions, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Wound dressing uses electricity to bust up antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections

June 5, 2019

Scientists have developed a wound dressing that can generate a weak electrical field to break down slimy bacterial biofilms that can infect wounds

An incredible new study has demonstrated the potential of a wound dressing that can fight bacterial infections using a weak electrical field. Offering a novel way to battle antibiotic resistant infections, the dressing has been approved by the FDA and is currently being tested in human burn patients.

The National Institutes of Health estimates up to 80 percent of all bacterial infections are caused by a phenotype known as a bacterial biofilm. These biofilms occur when bacterial cells adhere together to form a slimy substance, often around wounds or implanted medical devices. Bacterial biofilms can be difficult to eradicate at the best of times, a task made even more challenging with the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Continue reading… “Wound dressing uses electricity to bust up antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections”

3D Printer, Biotech, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

New video shows 3D printed lung “breathing”

May 16, 2019

First Breaths

Scientists just took a major step forward towards 3D printed organs — with a new lung-like system full of air sacs can expand and contract, filling the same biological role as our lungs do by pumping oxygen into blood.

Bioprinted organs could someday help people who are waiting and sometimes dying on the organ transplant waitlist. In research published in the journal Science last week, the team behind the new printing technique made a similar device and successfully grafted it into mice with injured livers.

Continue reading… “New video shows 3D printed lung “breathing””

3D Printer, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine, Science & Technology News

Bioengineers 3D print complex vascular networks

May 9, 2019

They’ll be essential to 3D-printed organs and replacement tissues.

Bioengineers are one step closer to 3D printing organs and tissues. A team led by Rice University and the University of Washington have developed a tool to 3D print complex and “exquisitely entangled” vascular networks. These mimic the body’s natural passageways for blood, air, lymph and other fluids, and they will be essential for artificial organs.

For decades, one of the challenges in replicating human tissues has been figuring out a way to get nutrients and oxygen into the tissue and how to remove waste. Our bodies use vascular networks to do this, but it’s been hard to recreate those in soft, artificial materials.

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cutting edge, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

This injectable gel could one day rebuild muscle, skin, and fat

May 10, 2019

A new injectable gel could help repair damaged soft tissues.

This injectable gel could one day rebuild muscle, skin, and fat

Car crashes, battle wounds, and surgeries can leave people with gaping holes in soft tissue that are often too large for their bodies to repair. Now, researchers have developed a nanofiber-reinforced injectable gel that can rebuild missing muscle and connective tissues by serving as a scaffold and recruiting the body’s wound-healing cells. So far, the team has tested the material only in rats and rabbits. But if it performs as well in humans, it could give reconstructive surgeons a fast and easy way to help patients regenerate lost tissues without scarring or deformity.

Continue reading… “This injectable gel could one day rebuild muscle, skin, and fat”

Baby Gadgets, Children, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

The Artificial Womb moves forward

May 3, 2019

A view of a fetus in an artificial womb, 1965.

Researchers successfully nurture extremely preterm lamb fetuses outside a natural womb. Photo: Fritz Goro

If you live for about 80 years, your nine months in the womb will represent less than 1% of your time on Earth. But those nine months represent a crucial period for growth and development.

Sometimes, though, babies are born before they get those nine full months in utero. And while the accepted protocol is to place premature infants in an artificial incubator — protecting the baby from infection and maintaining temperature and humidity — soon there may be better options.

Continue reading… “The Artificial Womb moves forward”

Cancer, DNA, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Advance in CAR T-cell therapy eliminates severe side effects

April 26, 2019

Scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor. Credit: NIAID

An advance in the breakthrough cancer treatment known as CAR T-cell therapy appears to eliminate its severe side effects, making the treatment safer and potentially available in outpatient settings, a new USC study shows.

“This is a major improvement,” said Si-Yi Chen of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and senior author of the study appearing online April 22 in Nature Medicine. “We’ve made a new CAR molecule that’s just as efficient at killing cancer cells, but it works more slowly and with less toxicity.”

Continue reading… “Advance in CAR T-cell therapy eliminates severe side effects”

DNA, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News, Stem cells

Device tests thousands of stem cells super fast

April 25, 2019

Institute for Molecular Engineering researchers have developed a “lab-on-a-chip” that could help us understand how single stem cells react to different molecules and environments. (Credit: Zhang et al.)

A new “lab-on-a-chip” can examine thousands of individual live cells over a weeklong period, performing experiments that would take more than 1 million steps in a laboratory.

The credit-card-sized, microfluidic device not only saves time and money, but also offers a new glimpse into how single stem cells react to different molecules and environments.

When researchers examined neural stem cells on the device and analyzed the data, they found several new rules that determine the timing and signaling sequences necessary for the cells to differentiate or renew themselves. The finding could have implications in understanding brain development or in treating patients with immunotherapy.

Continue reading… “Device tests thousands of stem cells super fast”

DNA, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Fecal transplants result in massive long-term reduction in autism symptoms

April 19, 2019

A two-year study on fecal transplants in autism sufferers has found they can reduce symptoms by as much as 45 percent(Credit: Arizona State University)

Scientific research continues to uncover interesting connections between the gut microbiome and human health, including everything from depression to PTSD to autoimmune disease. Another example of this are the emerging ties between gut health and autism, with an exciting new study demonstrating how boosting microbial diversity via fecal transplants can dramatically reduce its symptoms in the long term.

Continue reading… “Fecal transplants result in massive long-term reduction in autism symptoms”

Breakthrough Thinking, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Positive trial results show ultrasound energy can treat high blood pressure

March 30, 2019

A procedure called renal denervation resulted in medication-free blood pressure control in over a third of trial patients

A promising new study is documenting the long-term effects of a novel surgical procedure using ultrasound to reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension. It’s hoped the one-off procedure, called renal denervation, could offer patients an alternative option to taking hypertension drugs.

Renal denervation has been in development for almost a decade, however inconsistent clinical trial results have slowed the progress of this novel surgical procedure. The treatment involves delivering ultrasound pulses to nerves in the walls of renal arteries. This procedure has been found to reduce blood pressure, particularly in cases where hypertension has not effectively responded to traditional medications.

Continue reading… “Positive trial results show ultrasound energy can treat high blood pressure”

Biotech, DNA, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Harvard University uncovers DNA switch that controls genes for whole-body regeneration

March 20, 2019

A piece of non-coding DNA may hold the key to how humans could regenerate body parts

Humans may one day have the ability to regrow limbs after scientists at Harvard University uncovered the DNA switch that controls genes for whole-body regeneration.

Some animals can achieve extraordinary feats of repair, such as salamanders which grow back legs, or geckos which can shed their tails to escape predators and then form new ones in just two months.

Planarian worms, jellyfish, and sea anemones go even further, actually regenerating their entire bodies after being cut in half.

Now scientists have discovered that that in worms, a section of non-coding or ‘junk’ DNA controls the activation of a ‘master control gene’ called early growth response (EGR) which acts like a power switch, turning regeneration on or off.

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Alzheimer's Disease, cutting edge, Genes, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

A novel dementia treatment will flood people’s brains with a low-risk version of a key gene.

March 7, 2019

No one knows for certain what causes Alzheimer’s disease. But one fact about the condition has gained nearly irrefutable status. Depending on what versions of a gene called APOE you inherit, your risk of the brain disorder can be half the average—or more than 12 times as high.

Sometimes called “the forgetting gene,” APOE comes in three common versions, called 2, 3, and 4. Type 2 lowers a person’s risk, 3 is average, and 4 increases the chance dramatically. The risk is so great that doctors avoid testing people for APOE because a bad result can be upsetting, and there’s nothing to do about it. There’s no cure, and you can’t change your genes, either.

Well, today you can’t. But doctors in New York City say that beginning in May, they will start testing a novel gene therapy in which people with the unluckiest APOE genes will be given a huge dose to their brain of the low-risk version.

Continue reading… “A novel dementia treatment will flood people’s brains with a low-risk version of a key gene.”

Cancer, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Device spots cancer in a single blood drop

March 6, 2019

A new ultrasensitive diagnostic device could allow doctors to detect cancer quickly from a droplet of blood or plasma, report researchers.

The device could lead to timelier interventions and better outcomes for patients.

The “lab-on-a-chip” for liquid biopsy analysis detects exosomes—tiny parcels of biological information tumor cells produce to stimulate tumor growth or metastasize.

Continue reading… “Device spots cancer in a single blood drop”