Category Archives: Medical advancements

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Cracking The Age Puzzle

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Scientists have discovered a new protein that regulates cellular aging

Scientists have discovered a new protein that regulates cellular aging(Credit: AnatomyInsider/Depositphotos)

We’re all familiar with the inescapable effects that the march of time has on our bodies, but the processes that drive aging are still offering up surprises. Scientists have long known that DNA segments called telomeres play a crucial part in our aging process, but new research has discovered a protein that acts as a kind of cellular timekeeper, regulating the length of telomeres to maintain healthy cell division and prevent the development of cancer. read more

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Skin Can Power Medical Implants

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The solar measurement device worn by study participants to examine the real-world feasibility of solar powering...

The solar measurement device worn by study participants to examine the real-world feasibility of solar powering medical implants(Credit: Lukas Bereuter)

It can be a hassle when your phone’s battery runs out of juice and you have to hunt down a power outlet to recharge, but a flat battery is an even bigger hassle in implanted electronic medical devices, such as pacemakers. It often means invasive surgery to replace the battery or the entire unit, but now a new study has found that the use of solar cells implanted under the skin to power medical implants is a feasible approach. read more

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Powdered Artificial Blood Coming Soon

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For medics in the field, getting replacement blood into patients as soon as possible can make the difference between life or death.

But scientists working to develop artificial blood cells could bring life-saving transfusions to more trauma patients within the next 10 years.

The hope is that the artificial blood could be freeze dried and stored in powder form, ready for use by paramedics and combat medics on the battlefield.

Scientists are developing artificial blood which could bring life-saving transfusions to more trauma patients. It won¿t replace human blood, but it could buy patients vital time they need to get to hospital and receive donor bloodScientists are developing artificial blood which could bring life-saving transfusions to more trauma patients. It won’t replace human blood, but it could buy patients vital time they need to get to hospital and receive donor blood

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New Gene-Editing Tool

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Chinese scientists have begun the first human trials using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool by treating patients...Chinese scientists have begun the first human trials using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool by treating patients with lung cancer(Credit: chepko/Depositphotos)

The powerful gene-editing CRISPR-Cas9 technique is a promising tool in the fight against conditions like retinal degradation, muscular dystrophy and HIV, but so far trials have been restricted to cultured cells and laboratory mice. read more

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3D Printed Face Reconstruction

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A cancer survivor whose face was ravaged by a tumor, leaving him with a large hole where his eye, nose and cheekbone had been, has become the first person to receive a 3D printed face prosthesis made with a smart phone.

Married former salesman Carlito Conceiçao has lived with the hole and an uncomfortable prosthetic that kept falling off since 2008 – but now a ground-breaking procedure used a free app on a smartphone to build and print a 3D image of the missing part of his face.

Researchers now hope to train as many people as possible to make the affordable and practical technology accessible in remote areas of the world where people have minimal health care services. read more

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Our Brains Also Sag with Age

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The numerous folds which cover our brains change over time, becoming slacker as we age, according to a study.

What’s more, this slacking was seen to be more pronounced in those with Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers believe that learning more about how the mechanisms which control how folding changes with age could potentially be used to help diagnose brain diseases and spot dementia.

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Researchers mapped the brains of 1,000 people found the folds covering their brains (pictured) changed with age, with the cortex losing elasticity and becoming more slack
Researchers mapped the brains of 1,000 people found the folds covering their brains (pictured) changed with age, with the cortex losing elasticity and becoming more slack

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A Virus for Alcoholism

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About 17 million adults and more than 850,000 adolescents had some problems with alcohol in the United States in 2012.

Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain.

Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism.

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Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain. Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism
Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain. Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism

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How is that Cancer Moonshot Progressing?

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by: the Common Constitutionalist

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Recognizing, as I’m sure we all do, that every speech Barack Obama has ever given is a work of oratory genius and each monologue is more memorable than the last, I ask that you think back to his final State of the Union speech.

Amongst the ramblings from one statist government giveaway to the next, was a segment on what the President classified as the White House Cancer Moonshot. Obama stated on January 12, 2016 that, “last year Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer.”

I’m not making light of this statement, and certainly not of Biden, for he lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in May of 2015.

Obama continued by saying that, “last month he [Biden] worked with Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade.” He received a standing ovation from virtually ever member in the chamber.

This is my problem. Not that Biden lost his son to cancer and wishes for no one else to suffer the way his son and family did. I get that. It’s the way almost everyone in government proposes to solve the problem. It’s always the same. The federal government ponies up billions of dollars of our money to fund quasi-government science projects, which rarely if ever accomplish anything. read more

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Artificial Pancreas Automates Insulin Delivery

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For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a so-called artificial...
For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a so-called artificial pancreas designed to both monitor and inject insulin automatically, requiring minimal input from the user(Credit: Medtronic)

Monitoring blood-glucose levels and injecting insulin to keep them in a safe range is a never-ending headache for sufferers of type 1 diabetes. A number of research projects have made promising steps recently to promise easier ways of doing things, and now this type of convenience is set to move out of the lab and into the real-world. For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a so-called artificial pancreas designed to both monitor and inject insulin automatically, requiring minimal input from the user. read more

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