Way To Create Stronger Heart Cells Is Found

Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have identified two chemicals which can improve speed, quantity and quality of direct cardiac reprogramming, bringing the technology to regenerate damaged hearts one step closer. The new discovery advances efforts to find effective treatments for heart failure. Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes in the US are exploring cellular reprogramming in the heart as a way to regenerate muscle cells in the hopes of curing, heart failure. It takes only three transcription factors – proteins that turn genes on or off in a cell – to reprogramme connective tissue cells into heart muscle cells in a mouse. After a heart attack, connective tissue forms scar tissue at the site of the injury, contributing to heart failure. The three factors, Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5 (GMT), work together to turn heart genes on in these cells and turn other genes off, effectively regenerating a damaged heart with its own cells. However, the method is not foolproof. In the new study, scientists tested 5500 chemicals to try to improve this process. They identified two chemicals that increased the number of heart cells created by eightfold.

Browsing History Can Aid Cancer Detection

Microsoft Corp. researchers want to give patients and doctor a new tool in the quest to find cancers earlier: web searchers. Lung cancer can be detected a year prior than it is using current methods of diagnosis in more than one-third of cases by analyzing a patient’s internet searches for symptoms and demographic data that put them at higher risk, according to research from Microsoft published on 10 November in the journal JAMA Oncology. The study shows it’s possible to use search data to give patients or doctors enough reason to seek cancer screenings earlier, improving the prospects for treatment for lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. To train their algorithms, researchers scanned anonymous queries in Bing. They took searchers who had asked something that indicated a recent lung cancer diagnosis. Then they went back over the user’s previous searches. They looked for searches such as those related to symptoms, including bronchitis, chest pain and blood in sputum. The researchers reviewed other risk factors such as gender, age, race and whether searchers lived in areas with high levels of asbestos and radon, both of which increase the risk of lung cancer.

Strange Mars Funnel May Harbour Microbial Life

A strangely shaped depression on Mars could be a new place to look for signs of life on the red planet, according to a new study. The depression was probably formed by a volcano beneath a glacier and could have been a warm, chemical rich environment well suited for microbial life. Researchers were drawn to this site because it looked like it could host some of the key ingredients for habitability – water, heat and nutrients. The depression is inside a crater perched on the rim of the Hellas basin on Mars and surrounded by ancient glacial deposits. In 2009, researcher noticed crack-like features on pictures of depressions taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that looked similar to “ice cauldrons” on Earth, formations found in Iceland and Greenland made by volcanoes erupting under an ice sheet. Another depression in the Galaxias Fossae region of mars had a similar appearance. These landforms caught researchers eye because they’re weird looking. They’re concentrically fractured so they look like a bulls-eye. That can be a very diagnostic pattern we see in Earth materials. The interaction of Lava and ice to form a depression would be an exciting find because it could create an environment with liquid water and chemical nutrients, both ingredients required for life on Earth.

A Breathalyzer To Diagnose Diabetes

Oxford researchers have developed a new, portable breath analyzer that could someday help doctors diagnose diabetes without painful pinpricks, needles or other unpleasant methods. Many studies examining the hallmarks of diabetes in exhaled breath have shown that elevated levels of acetone are strongly linked to diabetes. Detecting the concentrations of any given substance in breath in a simple way, however, is a major challenge. Breath contains a complex mix of compounds, including water, carbon dioxide and methane that can throw results off. Mass spectrometry can do the job, but it is not very practical for point of care testing. Researchers wanted to fill that void. Researchers from University of Oxford in the UK created a hand held device with an adsorbent polymer that can trap acetone from exhaled breath, then release it into a cavity where a laser probes its concentration. They tested the accuracy of the device on the breath of healthy subjects under different conditions, such as after overnight fasting or exercising, and compared results with mass spectrometry readings. The measurements were a close match and covered a wide range of concentrations, including those that would suggest a patient has undiagnosed type-1 diabetes, or have problems controlling their blood glucose. As well as being used several times before a replacement is needed, the device could be used in any setting, be it at home or in a clinician’s office. Earlier this year, reports were carried about a different breathalyzer that can monitor blood sugar levels, developed by Teesside and Middlesex technology firms, that could one day replace finger pricking for people with diabetes. Adding to the practicality of the device, the researchers said it could be re-used many times.