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.

This Smart Material Can De-Ice Any Surface

Researchers have discovered a ‘smart’ material that can be applied to any surface to repel ice and outperform all other currently in use. Icy conditions can be deadly, whether you are flying into bad weather or too close to power transmission lines during a storm, researchers said. One side of the surface of the material known as a magnetic slippery surface (MAGSS) is coated with a magnetic material, while a thin layer of magnetic fluid – a mixture of fluid and iron oxide nanoparticles – is deposited on the other side. The magnetic fluid faces outside. When a droplet of water hits the surface, the magnetic fluid acts as a barrier, stopping the droplet from reaching the solid surface. There’s no adhesion of the ice to the solid surface, so it basically slides off the surface. Anti-icing surfaces have a critical footprint on daily lives of humans ranging from transportation systems and infrastructure to energy systems, but creation of these surfaces for low temperatures remain elusive, researchers said. Researcher hopes to develop the coating as a spray that can be applied to any surface.

Soon, You Can Conduct HIV Test With A USB Stick

Scientists in Britain have developed a type of HIV test using a USB stick that can give a fast and highly accurate reading of how much virus is in a patient’s blood. The device, created by scientists at Imperial College London and US firm DNA Electronics, requires a drop of blood to detect HIV and then creates an electrical signal that can be read by a handheld device. Researchers said that the device could be useful in remote settings to help patients manage their treatments effectively, since current tests to detect virus levels take three days and involve sending a blood sample to a laboratory. Researchers have taken the job done by this equipment, which is the size of a large photocopier, and shrunk it down to a USB chip. The tests, which uses a mobile phone chip, requires a drop of blood to be placed onto a spot on the USB stick. Any HIV in the sample triggers an acidity change, which the chip transforms into an electrical signal. This is sent to the USB stick, which shows the result on a computer or electronic device. Results showed the stick test was 95% accurate over 991 blood samples, and the average time to produce a reading was 20.8 minutes.

Nanowires Made From DNA Strands To Power e-Devices

Scientists have successfully created gold plated nanowires assembled from DNA strands that can conduct current, an advance that may pave the way for tiny electronic devices made from genetic material. Currently, the circumference of the smallest transistors is tinier than the AIDS virus. The industry has shrunk the central elements of their computer chips to 14 nanometers in the last 60 years. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) and Paderborn University in Germany combined a long single strand of genetic material with shorter DNA segments through the base pairs to form a stable double strand. Using this method, the structures independently take on the desired form. Genetic matter doesn’t conduct a current particularly well. Researchers have therefore placed gold-plated nanoparticles on the DNA wires using chemical bonds. With the help of this approach, which resembles the Japanese paper folding technique origami and is therefore referred to as DNA origami, researchers can create tiny patterns. Extremely small circuits made of molecules and atoms are also conceivable here. This strategy, which scientists call the “bottom-up” method, aims to turn conventional production of electronic components on its head.

Wireless Implant Could Cure Paralysis In Future

Monkey with spinal cord damage that paralyzed one leg quickly regained the ability to walk with a wireless connection from the brain to the spinal cord below the injury. In recent years, scientists have achieved brain control of robotic hands, helped a paralyzed man regain use of a hand through a chip in his brain and used electrical stimulation of nerves in heal paralyzed rats. The system is unusual because it concentrates on the lower body, and is wireless rather than tethered to a computer. It utilizes new developments in brain recording and in nerve stimulation. It does require a computer to decode and translate brain signals and send them to the spinal cord. Researchers of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said that he hoped the system he and his colleagues developed could be transferred “in the next 10 years” to humans for therapy that would aid in rehabilitation. He emphasized the goal was better rehabilitation, not a science fiction fix for paralysis. People are not going to walk in the streets with a brain spine interface. Among the reasons why the system is not a miracle fix for paralysis is that it relays only impulses to extend and bend the leg at the right time to fit into a four legged gait, not other, more subtle movements involving changes in direction or navigating through obstacles. Humans present different challenges, for instance, in terms of balance in two legs. Researcher said that prior to this development 10 years of research in rodents was necessary. One of the reasons that only one leg was paralyzed is that four legged animals can function even without the use of one leg and retain bladder and bowel control, whereas complete severing of the spinal cord can be devastating for an animal’s life. The wireless sensor was developed by David Broton of Brown University. Combined with microelectrodes, it records and transmits impulses in the part of the brain where signals to move the leg originate. He said that one of the reasons the system might be helpful in rehabilitation was that it strengthened remaining connections between parts of the spinal cord and the injured limb. The brain recording device was combined with electrical stimulation to an area just outside the spinal cord that conveyed signals to the reflex system. The spinal cord has its own system for receiving input from the legs and responding. Researcher said that one crucial part was timing. “If the brain says it wants that limb to move, it must happen within milliseconds for that connection to strengthen.”