The Life Technology™ News Blog: 05/02/19

Thursday, May 02, 2019

Researchers find gene for urethral obstruction

Even before birth, an obstructed urethra can cause a variety of issues in the unborn child, ranging from mild urinary problems to kidney failure. This highly variable disease is called LUTO (lower urinary tract obstruction). Especially boys are affected. An international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn has now discovered a first gene involved in this rare disease. The results are now published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

* This article was originally published here

Tapping fresh water under the ocean has consequences

The last place most people would expect to find fresh groundwater is tens to hundreds of kilometers offshore in the ocean. Yet not only is that exactly where freshwater can be found, in the ground of the continental shelf beneath the ocean, but simulations have shown that it could be a common occurrence across a range of geologic systems.

* This article was originally published here

Blood pressure drug shows no benefit in Parkinson's disease

A study of a blood pressure drug does not show any benefit for people with Parkinson's disease, according to findings released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 71st Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, May 4 to 10, 2019.

* This article was originally published here

Scientists discover evolutionary link to modern-day sea echinoderms

Scientists at The Ohio State University have discovered a new species that lived more than 500 million years ago—a form of ancient echinoderm that was ancestral to modern-day groups such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, brittle stars and crinoids. The fossil shows a crucial evolutionary step by echinoderms that parallels the most important ecological change to have taken place in marine sediments.

* This article was originally published here

Chemical modifiers tag-team to regulate essential mechanism of life

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have made a key observation about one of the most fundamental biological processes: gene transcription.

* This article was originally published here

Obstacles to overcome before operating fleets of drones becomes reality

Search and rescue crews are already using drones to locate missing hikers. Farmers are flying them over fields to survey crops. And delivery companies will soon use drones to drop packages at your doorstep.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers putting the brakes on lethal childhood cancer

Malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT) is one of the most aggressive and lethal childhood cancers.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers find gene for urethral obstruction

Opportunistic cancer cells 'slip through the gaps' to spread through blood vessels

Cancer cells may rely on opportunism, as well as chemical signalling, to spread through the body, according to new findings by mathematicians at the University of Birmingham.

* This article was originally published here

New cancer therapy target found in mitochondria for potential treatment of blood cancers

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center identified a new therapeutic target in cancer cells and explains how new anti-cancer drugs called imipridones work by inducing cancer cell death in blood cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and mantle cell lymphoma.

* This article was originally published here

Like Uber, but for organs: first kidney delivered by drone

A kidney needed for transplantation has been delivered by a drone for the first time ever, the University of Maryland Medical Center said, a development that could herald faster and safer organ transport.

* This article was originally published here

SpaceX confirms crew capsule destroyed in ground test

SpaceX finally confirmed Thursday its crew capsule was destroyed in ground testing two weeks ago and conceded that the accident is "not great news" for the company's effort to launch astronauts this year.

* This article was originally published here

Building better life support systems for future space travel

Astronauts on future long-duration spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars could rely on microalgae to supply essentials including food, water and oxygen. A new investigation aboard the International Space Station tests using the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris as a biological component of a hybrid life support system (LSS).

* This article was originally published here

Parents, would you let your kid ride an Uber or Lyft by themselves?

May 1—Having grown up riding the New York City subways by herself at age 11 or 12, suburban New Jersey mom Kasia Bardi was fine the first time her 12-year old boy Fabrizio rode an Uber alone to an "important soccer game."

* This article was originally published here

Pathogens find safe harbor deep in the gastric glands

Scientists have long tried to understand how pathogenic bacteria like Helicobacter pylori, a risk factor for stomach ulcers and cancer, survive in the harsh environment of the stomach. In a new study publishing May 2 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, researchers led by Connie Fung and Manuel Amieva at Stanford University propose that H. pylori exploit a specialized niche that provides safe harbor deep in the gastric glands to maintain lifelong colonization.

* This article was originally published here

Hearing loss weakens skills that young cancer survivors need to master reading

Researchers have identified factors that explain why severe hearing loss sets up pediatric brain tumor survivors for reading difficulties with far-reaching consequences. The findings lay the foundation for developing interventions to help survivors become better readers.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers make organic solar cells immune to the ravages of water, air and light

The market for organic solar cells is expected to grow more than 20% between 2017 and 2020, driven by advantages over traditional silicon solar cells: they can be mass produced at scale using roll-to-roll processing; the materials comprising them can be easily found in the earth and could be applied to solar cells through green chemistry; they can be semitransparent and therefore less visually intrusive—meaning they can be mounted on windows or screens and are ideal for mobile devices; they are ultra-flexible and can stretch; and they can be ultra-lightweight.

* This article was originally published here

Self-powered wearable tech

For emerging wearable tech to advance, it needs improved power sources. Now researchers from Michigan State University have provided a potential solution via crumpled carbon nanotube forests, or CNT forests.

* This article was originally published here

SpaceX confirms crew capsule destroyed in ground test

Biomarker may predict if immunotherapy is right choice for colorectal cancer patients

Foundational research by a City of Hope physician-scientist and his colleagues could one day help metastatic colorectal cancer patients decide whether to choose immunotherapy or chemotherapy as their first treatment option.

* This article was originally published here

Study shows that artificial neural networks can be used to drive brain activity

MIT neuroscientists have performed the most rigorous testing yet of computational models that mimic the brain's visual cortex.

* This article was originally published here

Psoriasis symptoms, quality of life tied to disease severity

(HealthDay)—Patient-reported symptoms of psoriasis, quality of life, and work productivity worsen with increasing disease severity, as measured by two established clinician assessment tools, according to a study published online April 20 in BMJ Open.

* This article was originally published here

Patients satisfied with oral sedation for cataract surgery

(HealthDay)—Using oral sedation during cataract surgery does not negatively impact patient satisfaction compared with using an intravenous (IV) sedative, according to a study published online April 16 in Ophthalmology.

* This article was originally published here

Few U.S. adults use USB-shaped electronic vapor products

(HealthDay)—About 7.9 percent of U.S. adults reported ever use of electronic vapor products (EVPs) shaped like universal serial bus (USB) flash drives in 2018, according to a study published online April 25 in Tobacco Control.

* This article was originally published here

Research on Reddit identifies opioid addiction self-treatment risks

Using advanced machine-learning techniques, Georgia Tech researchers have examined nearly 1.5 million Reddit posts to identify risks associated with several of the most common alternative—and unproven—treatments" for opioid addiction.

* This article was originally published here

Emergency room patients acuity levels not always considered when within wait time target

New research from the UBC Sauder School of Business reveals that Metro Vancouver emergency patient acuity levels sometimes come second to wait time targets, largely due to doctors being unclear around existing emergency room prioritization guidelines. The study found that patient acuity levels are considered more seriously once wait time targets have passed.

* This article was originally published here

NASA goes infrared on powerful Tropical Cyclone Fani

NASA's Aqua satellite focused an infrared eye on a very powerful Tropical Cyclone Fani as it approached landfall in northeastern India. Fani is a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

* This article was originally published here

A model to decipher the complexity of gene regulation

How, where and when genes are expressed determine individual phenotypes. If gene expression is controlled by many regulatory elements, what, ultimately, controls them? And how does genetic variation affect them? The SysGenetiX project, led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in collaboration with the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland, sought to investigate these regulatory elements, as well as the manifold interactions between them and with genes, with the ultimate goal of understanding the mechanisms that render some people more predisposed to manifesting particular diseases than others.

* This article was originally published here

Aiming at Trump, House OKs bill to keep US in climate accord

The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling his pledge to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement and ensure the U.S. honors its commitments under the global accord.

* This article was originally published here

Study on explosive volcanism during ice age provides lessons for today's rising CO2

A University of Oklahoma-led study recently found that explosive volcanic eruptions were at least 3-8 times more frequent during the peak of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (~360 to 260 million years ago). Aerosols produced by explosive volcanism helped keep large ice sheets stable, even when CO2 levels increased, by blocking sunlight. But the volcanic emissions also may have started a cascade of effects on the climate system that resulted in additional CO2 removal from the atmosphere.

* This article was originally published here

New tools could provide ironclad certainty that computer bugs are a thing of the past

It's bad enough losing an hour's work when your computer crashes—but in settings like healthcare and aviation, software glitches can have far more serious consequences. In one notorious case, a computer bug caused cancer patients to receive lethal overdoses from a radiation therapy machine; in more recent headlines, flawed software was blamed for airplane crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

* This article was originally published here

New chip stops attacks before they start

A new computer processor architecture developed at the University of Michigan could usher in a future where computers proactively defend against threats, rendering the current electronic security model of bugs and patches obsolete.

* This article was originally published here

Less-invasive mastectomy safe for more breast cancer patients, study finds

A less-invasive mastectomy that leaves the surface of the breast intact has become a safe option for more patients, including those whose breast cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or who have risk factors for surgical complications, a Mayo Clinic study shows. In the procedure, known as a nipple-sparing mastectomy, surgeons remove breast tissue, leaving the skin, nipple and areola, and immediately rebuild the breasts. The findings are being presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting.

* This article was originally published here

Record solar hydrogen production with concentrated sunlight

Hydrogen will play a key role in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. It can be sustainably produced by using solar energy to split water molecules. The resulting clean energy can be stored, used to fuel cars or converted into electricity on demand. But making it reliably on a large scale and at an affordable cost is a challenge for researchers. Efficient solar hydrogen production requires rare and expensive materials—for both the solar cells and the catalyst—in order to collect energy and then convert it.

* This article was originally published here

Uber riders can buy transit tickets on app for Denver

Riders in Denver will soon be able to buy tickets for public transportation using the Uber app, the latest step on the ride-hailing company's mission to become a one-stop shop for transportation.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers investigate differences in coatings of drug-coated balloon catheters

Drug-coated balloon catheters to open narrowed blood vessels and to deliver drugs to the impacted sites are used frequently for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease. Scientists believe improvement of the coatings could lead to better designs and improved outcomes. Now for the first time, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have examined these coatings at microscopic levels in hopes of producing more efficient alternatives for treating arterial disease.

* This article was originally published here

Open heart surgery outperforms stents in patients with multivessel disease

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery may be the best treatment option for most patients with more than one blocked heart artery, according to research published today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, published by Elsevier.

* This article was originally published here

Discovery of RNA transfer through royal jelly could aid development of honey bee vaccines

Researchers have discovered that honey bees are able to share immunity with other bees and to their offspring in a hive by transmitting RNA 'vaccines' through royal jelly and worker jelly. The jelly is the bee equivalent of mother's milk: a secretion used to provide nutrition to worker and queen bee larvae.

* This article was originally published here

Less-invasive mastectomy safe for more breast cancer patients, study finds

Self-powered wearable tech

Synthetic biology used to target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue, study reports

Synthetic proteins engineered to recognize overly active biological pathways can kill cancer cells while sparing their healthy peers, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

* This article was originally published here

Asia in charge of electric car battery production

Global production of batteries for electric cars is concentrated in Asia, with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean firms dominating the sector and building factories in Europe to conserve their supremacy.

* This article was originally published here

Seeking better detection for chronic malaria

In people with chronic malaria, certain metabolic systems in the blood change to support a long-term host-parasite relationship, a finding that is key to eventually developing better detection, treatment and eradication of the disease, according to research published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.

* This article was originally published here

Cocaine deaths up in US, and opioids are a big part of it

U.S. health officials say cocaine overdose deaths have been rising.

* This article was originally published here

AI project on machine learning wants computers to anticipate what data users want

Large flooding across Nebraska this year created a desperate need for relief efforts, with various calls for help and supplies coming in from all across the 77,000-square-mile state.

* This article was originally published here

British cyber expert pleading guilty to creating malware

A British cybersecurity researcher credited with stopping a worldwide computer virus in 2017 is scheduled in Wisconsin federal court to plead guilty to developing malware to steal banking information.

* This article was originally published here

Sexuality continues to change and develop well into adulthood, finds study

A new study has shown that traditional labels of 'gay', 'bisexual' and 'straight' do not capture the full range of human sexuality, and whether a person is attracted to the same, or opposite sex can change over time.

* This article was originally published here

3-D printing of metallic micro-objects

3-D printing has become an increasingly important production method. Researchers at ETH have now developed a new 3-D printing technique by which micrometre-sized objects made of several metals can be produced with high spatial resolution.

* This article was originally published here

Space station back to full power, SpaceX launch early Friday

The International Space Station is back up at full power, after the successful replacement of a failed electrical box.

* This article was originally published here

High-speed experiments improve hypersonic flight predictions

When traveling at five times the speed of sound or faster, the tiniest bit of turbulence is more than a bump in the road, said the Sandia National Laboratories aerospace engineer who for the first time characterized the vibrational effect of the pressure field beneath one of these tiny hypersonic turbulent spots.

* This article was originally published here

Virtual human body models supplement crash-test dummies

Countless people die every year in road accidents. To improve the safety of vehicle occupants, it has been customary for decades to carry out crash-tests using dummies. These crash-test dummies are increasingly getting virtual support in the form of computer models that simulate the defensive behavior of humans before a collision. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI are among those using virtual human-body models in crash simulations, which yield more realistic conclusions about the injury risk. In their calculations, the researchers focus especially on muscle stiffness, which has not been taken into account in previous investigations.

* This article was originally published here

European alliance to invest up to 6 bn euros in electric car batteries

European governments and companies will form an alliance for developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles, investing five to six billion euros ($5.6 to $6.7 billion) in the project, the French and German finance ministers said Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

Should we turn the Sahara Desert into a huge solar farm?

Whenever I visit the Sahara I am struck by how sunny and hot it is and how clear the sky can be. Aside from a few oases there is little vegetation, and most of the world's largest desert is covered with rocks, sand and sand dunes. The Saharan sun is powerful enough to provide Earth with significant solar energy.

* This article was originally published here

Gene therapy may help fight tough-to-treat blood cancer

(HealthDay)—A gene therapy that tweaks the immune system might offer hope to people with blood cancer that has resisted standard treatments, a new preliminary trial suggests.

* This article was originally published here

Simulations identify importance of lattice distortions in ion-conducting fuel cell materials

Ionic conduction involves the movement of ions from one location to another inside a material. The ions travel through point defects, which are irregularities in the otherwise consistent arrangement of atoms known as the crystal lattice. This sometimes sluggish process can limit the performance and efficiency of fuel cells, batteries, and other energy storage technologies.

* This article was originally published here

A first in medical robotics: Autonomous navigation inside the body

Bioengineers at Boston Children's Hospital report the first demonstration of a robot able to navigate autonomously inside the body. In an animal model of cardiac valve repair, the team programmed a robotic catheter to find its way along the walls of a beating, blood-filled heart to a leaky valve—without a surgeon's guidance. They report their work today in Science Robotics.

* This article was originally published here