Clinical research on newborns urine by NMR at Bruker Biospin
NMR spectra of urine samples taken from newborns will allow to elaborate statistic methods for the diagnosis of a number of diseases More at Bruker-Biospin
Molecular
Engineering of Organic Sensitizers for Solar Cell Applications
Sanghoon Kim, Jae Kwan
Lee, Sang Ook Kang, Jaejung Ko, J.-H. Yum, Simona Fantacci, Filippo De Angelis,
D. Di Censo, Md. K. Nazeeruddin, and Michael Grätzel
J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 2006; ASAP Web Release Date:
05-Dec-2006; (Article) DOI: 10.1021/ja066376f
Photosensitized Reduction of Water to Hydrogen
Using Human Serum Albumin Complexed with Zinc-Protoporphyrin IX
Teruyuki Komatsu, Rong-Min Wang, Patricia A. Zunszain, Stephen Curry, and
Eishun Tsuchida http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja0656806
Tumour Metabolomics in Animal Models of Human
Cancer
Julian L.
Engineering Light-Gated Ion Channels
Matthew R. Banghart, Matthew Volgraf, and Dirk Trauner http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi0618058
X-ray Structure of a Hydroxylase-Regulatory
Protein Complex from a Hydrocarbon-Oxidizing Multicomponent Monooxygenase,
Pseudomonas sp. OX1 Phenol Hydroxylase,
Matthew H. Sazinsky, Pete W. Dunten, Michael S. McCormick, Alberto DiDonato,
and Stephen J. Lippard http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bi0618969
La yerba mate,
herramienta médica
BBC Mundo Ciencia
Nota de BBCMundo.com:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/hi/spanish/science/newsid_6206000/6206128.stm
Publicada: 2006/12/04 17:45:23 GMT
Análisis de sangre en
un chip / Portable 'lab on a chip'
Somerterse a un análisis de sangre
sopone ciertas molestias: pedir cita en el laboratorio, el ayuno previo, el
pinchazo, esperar los resultados... Inconvenientes que desaparecerían si la
tecnología presentada hoy por el MIT llega a producirse y usarse de forma
masiva. Sus investigadores lo definen como el 'laboratorio en un chip', un
éxito de la miniaturización que permitiría examinar la calidad de la sangre
desde un dispositivo de una píldora. Ésta está siendo desarrollada con fines
militares, para que los soldados puedan conocer al momento si han sido víctimas
de un ataque químico o bioológico que afecta a su organismo, pero el centro de
investigación ya aventura que podría servir para
realizar análisis de sangre
instantáneos o para alertar a los enfermos cardiacos si sufren alguna anomalía.
¿Nanotecnología? Posiblemente, el MIT habla de hacer correr la sangre por
canales de 10 micras de diámetro.
Portable
'lab on a chip' could speed blood tests. MIT micropump assures portability, efficiency,
in routine or combat conditions
Anne
Trafton, News Office
October 16,
2006
Testing
soldiers to see if they have been exposed to
biological
or chemical weapons could soon be much
faster
and easier, thanks to MIT researchers who are
helping
to develop a tiny diagnostic device that could
be
carried into battle.
By tweaking
the design of a tiny pump, researchers
affiliated
with MIT's Institute for Soldier
Nanotechnologies
have taken a major step towards
making an
existing miniature "lab on a chip" fully
portable,
so the tiny device can perform hundreds of
chemical
experiments in any setting.
"In
the same way that miniaturization led to a
revolution
in computing, the idea is that miniature
laboratories of fluid being pumped from one channel
to
another, with reactions going on here and there,
can
revolutionize biology and chemistry," says Martin
Bazant,
associate professor of applied mathematics
and
leader of the research team.
Within the
lab on a chip, biological fluids such as
blood are
pumped through channels about 10
microns,
or millionths of a meter, wide. (A red blood
cell is
about 8 microns in diameter.) Each channel
has its
own pumps, which direct the fluids to certain
areas of
the chip so they can be tested for the
presence
of specific molecules.
Until now,
scientists have been limited to two
approaches
to designing labs on a chip, neither of
which
offer portability. The first is to mechanically
force
fluid through microchannels, but this requires
bulky
external plumbing and scales poorly with
miniaturization.
The second
approach is capillary electro-osmosis,
where
flow is driven by an electric field across the
chip.
Current electro-osmotic pumps require more
than 100
volts of electricity, but the MIT researchers
have now
developed a micropump which requires
only
battery power (a few volts) to achieve similar
flow
speeds and also provides a greater degree of
flow
control.
The key to
boosting energy efficiency is altering the
electric
field in the channel, Bazant said. Instead of
placing
electrodes at each end of the channel, as in
capillary
electro-osmosis, the voltage can be lowered
substantially with alternating current (AC) applied at
closely
spaced microelectrode arrays on the channel
floor.
Existing AC electro-osmotic pumps, however,
are too
slow for many applications, with velocities
below 100
microns per second.
In the new
system, known as a three-dimensional AC
electro-osmotic pump, tiny electrodes with raised
steps
generate opposing slip velocities at different
heights,
which combine to push the fluid in one
direction,
like a conveyor belt. Simulations predict a
dramatic
improvement in flow rate, by almost a factor
of
twenty, so that fast (mm/sec) flows, comparable to
pressure-driven systems, can be attained with
battery
voltages. Experiments in the lab of Todd
Thorsen,
assistant professor of mechanical
engineering,
have recently demonstrated the
effectiveness of the design.
"It's
just a huge improvement with a very simple
idea,"
said Bazant.
Thorsen's
group is working toward integrating the
pumps
into a portable blood analysis device, which
soldiers
could carry onto the battlefield. If exposure
to
chemical or biological weapons were suspected,
the
device could automatically and rapidly test a
miniscule
blood sample, rather than sending a large
sample to
a lab and waiting for the results. The chips
are so
small and cheap to make that they could be
designed
to be disposable, Bazant said, or they
could be
made implantable.
Potential
applications are not limited to military use --
imagine
going to a doctor's office and getting test
results
immediately. The technology could also be
useful
for first responders. If emergency personnel
knew
immediately whether a person had suffered a
heart
attack or a stroke, they could start the
appropriate
treatment right away.
Labs on a
chip can also be used in traditional
chemistry
or biology labs to speed up processes
such as
DNA testing or screening for the presence of
certain
antigens. Only tiny amounts of reactants
would be
needed, and experiments could be done
more
rapidly and efficiently.
"Instead
of a thousand people pouring test tube A
into test
tube B in different laboratories, you've got a
tiny
little chip with thousands of experiments all going
on at
once," Bazant said.
Bazant and
former MIT postdoctoral associate
Yuxing Ben
published an article on the theoretical
work in
the online edition of the journal Lab on a
Chip, and
a related experimental paper will appear in
an
upcoming edition of Applied Physics Letters. Co-
authors
on that paper with Bazant and Thorsen are
graduate
student J.P. Urbanski and postdoctoral
associate
Jeremy Levitan.
The
research was funded by the U.S. Army through
the
Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.
DNA Computer Plays Complete Game of Tic-Tac-Toe
October 18, 2006
http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000A70B0-8024-1536-802483414B7F011B
Breast Cancer Risk Linked To Red Meat, Study
Finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111300824_pf.html
The
Calculating Brain: New Studies Suggest That Neurons Are Built To Perform Simple
Arithmetic
http://www.hhmi.org//news/yuste20061120.html
Genetic risk for violent behavior?
By JACOB
RUSSELL
Minister
Tony Blair might be on to something in his
recent
call to clamp down early on antisocial
behavior,
a recent study shows.
"If we
are not prepared to predict and intervene far
more
early, then there are children that are going to
grow up
in families that we know perfectly well are
completely
dysfunctional," Blair said. "And the kids a
few years
down the line are going to be a menace to
society
and actually a threat to themselves.
Dr. Essi
Viding, professor in the Department of
Psychology
at the
Frith,
professor at the
Neuroscience
and the Department of Psychology at
research
on genes for susceptibility to violence.
The study
shows that low activity in the MAOA gene,
which
produces the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A,
is linked
to aggressive behavior in men. MAOA-L, the
term used
to describe low-activity carriers, may
contain a
vulnerable neural signature that could turn
violent
in a bad environment, particularly in the
amygdala.
The amygdala is located between the
right and
left cerebral hemispheres and controls the
emotions.
Patients with MAOA-L appear to have a
shorter
amygdala stem than others.
The
research indicates that if carriers of the MAOA-L
gene grow
up in high-risk families, they will be more
susceptible
to violent behavior.
Though no
one appears to know exactly what Blair is
up to,
the assumption is that he recognizes that
personality
disorders do not come as a surprise
when an
individual turns 18. He is aware of the
importance
of early environmental problems,
particularly for those who come from families that
have
concentrated psychiatric vulnerability.
Viding
supports this.
"The
discovery that psychopathic tendencies are
strongly
heritable suggests that we need to get help
for these
youngsters early on," she said.
She
suggests it would be important to provide
support
structures and programs that take place
during
the important phase of early brain
development.
"Animal
studies suggest that if (social circumstances)
are
changed early enough, this is effective," she told
United Press International. "Early enough being the
key.
Given what we know about different brain
profiles
of different subtypes of antisocial behavior,
we may
also need to think about tailoring the
treatment.
For example, we should take different
approaches
depending on a risk genotype. ... I
believe
that MAOA-L is only part of the bigger
picture."
While the
MAOA-L gene can be a predictor, it is
important
to recognize that the genes influencing
behavior
have a very small effect. Even combined
with
stressful environments, there is no perfect
indication
that one will become antisocial.
This issue
is not fundamentally genetic, said Dr.
Sujatha
Byravan, president of the Council for
Responsible Genetics. He said Blair's claims
targeted
children raised by single mothers who
become a
menace to society. Blair was suggesting
identifying
the kinds of situations that put children at
risk and
addressing the problem before birth.
"We
don't have a genetic reason for criminal
behavior,"
she said. "But it's interesting that genetics
as the
reason for criminal behavior continues to
appear."
"Gene
therapy has not worked," she said. "Maybe
you can
repair (the problem) by changing the social
circumstances in a person's life or doing other things,
but you
can't change it just by changing someone's
genes."
Viding
agrees. "Fixing the genes is totally unrealistic
and I
doubt Mr. Blair would propose that. The effect
of any
one gene on behavior is so minute, and it
does not
spell destiny. We are not talking about
dominant
genes for eye color here. You need
accumulative genetic risk."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International. All
Rights
Reserved.
Night of the living enzyme
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/dnnl-not112806.php