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According to a report in The Sun, scientists have said that, human
teleportation like Star Trek's "Beam me up Scotty" routine is likely
to be a reality in 100 years. The forecast follows encouraging experiments
on the transfer of electrons, tiny particles that make up atoms, from
one part of a lab to another. Dr George Forster, a consultant for Birmingham's
Think Tank Discovery Centre has said that people will be teleported
once everything that constitutes human beings is recorded and then recreated.
Forster added, "The problem is the sheer volume of data in the body.
A computer more powerful than any yet built would be required. But it
is entirely possible." Scientists turn common cold virus into cancer killer (Go To Top) Washington:
Some American scientists have genetically modified the common cold virus
to transform it into a deadly cancer cell killer. Dr. Wold, chair of
the department of molecular microbiology and immunology, at the Saint
Louis University School of Medicine and his colleagues have found a
way to convert the relatively benign "adenovirus" that causes the common
cold into an anti-cancer drug that attacks and destroys cancerous cells
while leaving healthy cells intact. "Human cancer is currently treated
with surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy, depending on the cancer
type," Wold said. "These treatments can be highly successful, but new
therapies are required, especially for tumors that have become resistant
to chemo- or radiation-therapy." Wold's group has developed several
new "adenovirus cancer gene therapy vectors," changing these genes so
the virus will attack cancer cells. Wold and his colleagues have done
this by modifying one gene so that the virus can grow in cancer cells
but not normal cells and by boosting the activity of another gene that
the virus normally uses to disrupt the cells it has infected. "When
the virus infects cells, it takes the altered genes with it, and those
genes attack cancer cells while leaving normal cells intact," Wold explained. 'Ecstasy' causes confusion and blurred vision: Survey (Go To Top) Sydney: A
ground-breaking study has found that people who use the party drug,
Ecstasy, regularly suffer from confusion and blurred vision. According
to a Herald Sun report, the drug and alcohol clinic, Turning Point,
interviewed 100 regular Ecstasy users aged between 17 to 45 for the
study. All of those surveyed had lived in Melbourne for the past 12
months and had taken ecstasy at least once a month during the previous
six months. The survey reported that 84 percent suffered confusion,
73 percent appetite loss and 66 percent were affected by blurred vision.
It also found that 36 percent of the users had taken the drug once a
week during the six-month period. Users reported financial problems
(39 percent), relationship or social problems (39 percent), and occupational
and study problems (38 percent). According to the Australian Drug Guide,
ecstasy "confers a sense of euphoria, intimacy with others and self-revelation,
and intensifies colour and other perceptions". Scientists create cheap, instant test kit for STD (Go To Top) London:
In a new development, scientists have found a cheap, instant test that
can detect the sexually transmitted infection Chlamydia. University
of Cambridge researchers, who developed the 50p test, say it could be
used globally as the disease affects millions but hardly with any symptoms,
reports the BBC. Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted
diseases, which can cause women to become infertile and is the main
cause of preventable blindness in newborn babies in developing countries.
The World Health Organisation recorded 92 million new cases in 1999
alone. In the test, a urine or vaginal swab is taken. The 'dipstick'
can then show whether a component of the Chlamydia bacteria is present
and takes around 25 minutes to produce a result. Dr. Helen Lee, who
led the research, says the new test could be used in the developing
world, where people may find it hard to access healthcare, and in developed
countries, where up to half those tested do not come back for their
results. "It's important to have a quick, simple-to-use test for Chlamydia
because seven out of 10 women who contract the disease have no idea
they have been infected. But once it has been diagnosed it is easily
treated with a one-off pill," says Lee. Dr. Lee has set up a company,
which will distribute the test, initially in Africa and Asia. Scietists freeze light beam (Go To Top) Washington:
Physicists at the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have
become the first to stop a pulse of light in its tracks with all its
photons intact. In a vacuum, light travels at the phenomenal speed of
300,000,000 metres per second. Scientists can exploit the way that the
electric and magnetic fields in light interact with matter to slow it
down. Over the last few years, scientists have become masters of the
light beam. Speeds of a few metres per second are now reached routinely
in laboratories around the world. It is rather harder, however, to stop
light completely and previous attempts have halted light but lost its
photons in the process. Mikhail Lukin and colleagues managed to stop
light without this loss by firing a short burst of red laser light into
a gas of hot rubidium atoms, says a report in Nature. This is then "frozen"
with the help of two control beams. The light in the control beams interacts
with the rubidium atoms to create layers that alternately transmit and
reflect the pulse. As the signal tries to propagate through these layers,
the photons bounce backwards and forwards between them. As a result,
the pulse makes no forward progress - the light is "frozen" in place.
The pulse is set free when the control beams are turned off. Ulf Leonhardt
at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, says the technique
is novel in that the effect the control beams have is "like storing
light behind bars". Lukin and colleagues Michal Bajscy and Alexander
Zibrov have so far managed to hold light still for just fractions of
a millisecond using their new method. But there is no reason why it
cannot be trapped for longer, they suggest. This could be a useful trick
to employ in telecommunications systems that send optical signals, or
more fancifully, in quantum computers. Vitamin D keeps colon cancer at bay: Study (Go To Top) Washington: New research shows that proper intake of cereal fibre and vitamin D help reduce the risk of serious colon polyps, responsible for the onset of colon cancer. The findings appearing in the Dec. 10 issue of the 'Journal of the American Medical Association' confirms that Vitamin D or the "sunshine vitamin may play a role in the prevention of colorectal cancer. "The finding that may surprise the scientific community is the Vitamin D data. Higher levels of Vitamin D intake were associated with a lower risk of serious colon polyps. There have been some studies suggesting this, but our data are compelling," David Lieberman, chief of gastroenterology at the Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health and Science University, said. The study
comprising 1300 men who consumed higher amounts of cereal fiber, showed
that they were significantly less likely to have serious colon polyps,
or tumours, which are often the precursor to cancer. Another significant
association with reduced risk was the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, as men who took a daily aspirin were about two-thirds as likely
to have a tumour. Colon cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer,
affecting around 55,000 Americans every year. Considered one of the
most preventable types of cancer, several dietary factors help to play
a protective role. Diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fibre from whole
grains and low in animal fat, especially from red meat, help cut down
risk. BP is an inflammatory disorder? (Go To Top) Washington:
A new study has found that high levels of C-reactive protein are associated
with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure. Increased
levels of C-reactive protein are associated with chronic activation
of the immune system, otherwise known as an inflammatory response, background
information in the article reported. According to an article in the
latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA),
high C-reactive protein levels have also been linked to an increased
risk of heart attack and stroke. Because of this association, some researchers
believe that hypertension (high blood pressure) may be in part an inflammatory
disorder. Howard D Sesso, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard
Medical School, Boston, and colleagues examined whether C- reactive
protein levels were associated with hypertension. The researchers studied
20,525 women who participated in the Women's Health Study, which started
in 1992. The researchers found that "Overall, there was a positive association
between increasing levels of C-reactive protein and risk of developing
hypertension," the authors write. Mini-Insulin-Producing organ - A potential cure for Diabetes (Go To Top) Sydney:
Using a revolutionary new tissue-engineered implant method, scientists
at Melbourne University and at the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery
at St. Vincent's Hospital are growing a "mini-pancreas" inside a diabetic
rat. According to the Herald Sun, the mini-organ is growing with its
own blood supply and the cells are producing insulin and thriving. A
million Australians and 190 million people world-wide are affected by
diabetes, which occurs when sugar and starch are not absorbed by the
body because of a lack of functioning insulin in the pancreas. This
breakthrough has been achieved by providing the building blocks to actually
grow a healthy organ with its own blood supply inside the body. The
team's invention is a chamber containing "scaffolding", the same principle
used in building construction. Surgeons then implant a large blood vessel
from the body into the chamber, which supports the survival and growth
of cells. After the vessel has sprouted and cells have grown, the biodegradable
"scaffolding" dissolves. The group is hoping to launch trial fat tissue
support chambers in humans by 2005 and believes the technology could
also eventually enable them to grow healthy livers. Even moderate drinking shrinks the brain: Study (Go To Top) Washington: A new study has found a link between low to moderate alcohol consumption and a decrease in the brain size of middle-aged adults, leading to impaired cognition and motor functions. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions also found that low or moderate consumption did not reduce the risk of stroke, which contradicts the findings of some previous studies. The study is published in the rapid access edition of Stroke: The Journal of the American Heart Association. "Previous studies conducted with older adults found an association between heavy drinking, brain atrophy and an increased risk for stroke. We studied a younger, middle-aged population and found that low amounts of alcohol consumption are also associated with decreases in brain size," said Jingzhong Ding, lead author of the study. "Our findings do not support the hypothesis that low or moderate alcohol intake offers any protection against cerebral abnormalities or the risk of stroke in middle-aged adults." For the study, Dr. Ding and his colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the brains of 1,909 men and women, age 55 and older. The MRI was used to access brain size and to detect infarcts and white matter lesions, which are changes in the brain associated with an increased risk for stroke. The researchers found as alcohol consumption increased, the MRI detected increases in the ventricular and sulcal areas of the brain, which are spaces that do not contain brain tissue and an indication of brain atrophy. However, they
found no consistent association between alcohol intake and the presence
of infarctions or white matter lesions. Former drinkers and moderate
drinkers were more likely to have infarctions compared to those who
never drank without adjusting for other factors. After adjusting for
factors such as smoking habits, body mass and income, the researchers
found no reduction or protection in infarction associated with former
drinkers or moderate drinkers. In addition, they did not find an association
between alcohol intake and white matter lesions. "Because MRI measures
in the brain were only conducted once during follow up, a causal relationship
between alcohol intake and brain atrophy is difficult to establish,"
explained Dr. Ding. "The strength of the study lies in the large population-based
sample and the consistency of the findings by gender and race." Glycerin is a good therapy for skin cancer: Study (Go To Top) Washington: Research carried out by Drs. Wendy Bollag and Xiangjian Zheng have concluded that glycerin has therapeutic value and can make the skin look and function better. According to their findings, which appear in the December issue of 'The Journal of Investigative Dermatology', glycerin is a commonly found in skin care products because it attracts water and helps the skin to look better. They say it is a natural alcohol and water attractor. They claim that glycerin also works as a signal to help direct skin cells through their four normal stages of maturity. In the endless cycle of skin-cell production, the youngest cells move up from the deepest layer and switch from replicating as their main function to eventually becoming mature surface cells that spit out lipids to help form the skin's protective barrier before they die. The researchers' findings translate that the easily accessible fluid can help people with diseases such as psoriasis and non- melanoma skin cancers that result from abnormal proliferation and maturation of skin cells, and may heighten wound-healing. The researchers found glycerol's role in skin cell maturation while studying phospholipase D, an enzyme that converts fats or lipids in the external, protective cell membrane to cell signals. Phospholipids are fats found throughout the body that make up much of the plasma membrane lipid bilayer that encases each cell and helps keep it from mixing with other cells. All cells have this layer and skin cells secrete extra lipids, which help provide an additional barrier. "We think the
glycerol is serving as a substrate to allow the skin to mature properly
and, when you don't have enough glycerol in the skin, cells don't mature
properly and that is why you get hyper-proliferative, thick skin," Dr.
Bollag said. They hope their findings will not only contribute to a
better understanding of normal skin development but lead to more effective
treatment when development is abnormal. Molecule that kills only cancerous cells discovered (Go To Top) Washington:
A molecule that selectively kills cancerous cells in a desired way and
leaves healthy cells virtually untouched, has been produced by chemists
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The basic laboratory
experiments were done in microtiter dishes, where the compound was simply
exposed to leukemia and lymphoma cells and healthy white blood cells
from mice. "It's hard to say where this discovery may fit into the big
picture, but the pathway we've found is real; it is very provocative,"
said Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry, who directed the
study funded by the National Science Foundation. |
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