medicine - BLOGS - Blacksciencefictionsociety
2024-03-28T15:14:06Z
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/medicine
Plastics and Infarctions...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/plastics-and-infarctions
2024-03-11T15:36:52.000Z
2024-03-11T15:36:52.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12399328276,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12399328276,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="12399328276?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align:center;">Plastic chokes a canal in Chennai, India. Credit: R. Satish Babu/AFP via Getty</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Topics: Applied Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Environment, Medicine</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong><em>People who had tiny plastic particles lodged in a key blood vessel were more likely to experience heart attack, stroke or death during a three-year study.</em></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00391-7">Plastics</a> are just about everywhere — <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01828-w">food packaging</a>, tyres, clothes, water pipes. And they shed <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01143-3">microscopic particles</a> that end up in the <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2024/03/11/plastics-and-infarctions/" target="_blank">environment</a> and can be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02091-w">ingested</a> or inhaled by people.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Now, the first data of their kind show a link between these microplastics and human health. A study of more than 200 people undergoing surgery found that nearly 60% had microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics in a main artery<sup><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00650-3#ref-CR1">1</a></sup>. Those who did were 4.5 times more likely to experience a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01450-9">heart attack</a>, a stroke, or death in the approximately 34 months after the surgery than were those whose arteries were plastic-free.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>“This is a landmark trial,” says Robert Brook, a physician-scientist at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, who studies the environmental effects on cardiovascular health and was not involved with the study. “This will be the launching pad for further studies across the world to corroborate, extend, and delve into the degree of the risk that micro- and nanoplastics pose.”</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>But Brook, other researchers and the authors themselves caution that this study, published in <strong>The New England Journal of Medicine</strong> on 6 March, does not show that the tiny pieces caused poor health. Other factors that the researchers did not study, such as socio-economic status, could be driving ill health rather than the plastics themselves, they say.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00650-3#:~:text=People%20who%20had%20tiny%20plastic,during%20a%20three-year%20study.&text=Plastics%20are%20just%20about%20everywhere,tyres%2C%20clothes%2C%20water%20pipes.">Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problems</a>, Max Kozlov, Nature.</span></p><p></p></div>
A Path From Panic...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/a-path-from-panic
2024-01-10T10:00:00.000Z
2024-01-10T10:00:00.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12356767098,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12356767098,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="12356767098?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align:center;">PAC1R-expressing dorsal raphe neurons in the mouse brain (red) serve as the projection targets for PACAP parabrachial neurons to mediate panic-like behavioral and physical symptoms. Credit: Salk Institute</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Topics: Biology, Medicine, Research, Science</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Overwhelming <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2024/01/10/a-path-from-panic/" target="_blank">fear, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate</a>—these are the symptoms of a panic attack, which people with panic disorder have frequently and unexpectedly. Creating a map of the regions, neurons, and connections in the brain that mediate these panic attacks can provide guidance for developing more effective panic disorder therapeutics.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Now, Salk researchers have begun to construct that map by discovering a brain circuit that mediates <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/panic/">panic</a> disorder. This circuit consists of specialized neurons that send and receive a neuropeptide—a small protein that sends messages throughout the brain—called PACAP. What's more, they determined that PACAP and the neurons that produce its receptor are possible druggable targets for new panic disorder treatments.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>The findings were <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01504-3">published</a> in <strong>Nature Neuroscience.</strong></em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>"We've been exploring different areas of the brain to understand where panic attacks start," says senior author Sung Han, associate professor at Salk.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>"Previously, we thought the amygdala, known as the brain's fear center, was mainly responsible—but even people who have damage to their amygdala can still experience panic attacks, so we knew we needed to look elsewhere. Now, we've found a specific brain circuit outside of the amygdala that is linked to panic attacks and could inspire new panic disorder treatments that differ from currently available panic disorder medications that typically target the brain's serotonin system."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><a href="https://medicalxpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-scientists-uncover-key-brain-pathway.amp">Scientists uncover key brain pathway mediating panic disorder symptoms</a>, Salk Institute.</span></p><p></p></div>
Physiology or Medicine...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/physiology-or-medicine
2023-10-02T10:48:07.000Z
2023-10-02T10:48:07.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12238025478,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12238025478,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="640" alt="12238025478?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align:center;"><em>Figure 2.</em> mRNA contains four different bases, abbreviated A, U, G, and C. The Nobel Laureates discovered that base-modified mRNA can be used to block the activation of inflammatory reactions (secretion of signaling molecules) and increase protein production when mRNA is delivered to cells. © The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Topics: COVID-19, Medicine, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize, Physiology</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Press Release</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">2023-10-02</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><a href="http://nobelprizemedicine.org/" target="_blank">The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">has today decided to award</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">jointly to</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>mRNA vaccines: A promising idea</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">In our cells, genetic information encoded in DNA is transferred to messenger RNA (mRNA), which is used as a template for protein production. During the 1980s, efficient methods for producing mRNA without cell culture were introduced, called <em>in vitro</em> transcription. This decisive step accelerated the development of molecular biology applications in several fields. Ideas of using mRNA technologies for vaccine and therapeutic purposes also took off, but roadblocks lay ahead. <em>In vitro</em> transcribed mRNA was considered unstable and challenging to deliver, requiring the development of sophisticated carrier lipid systems to encapsulate the mRNA. Moreover, <em>in vitro</em>-produced mRNA gave rise to inflammatory reactions. Enthusiasm for developing the mRNA technology for clinical purposes was, therefore, initially limited.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">These obstacles did not discourage the Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó, who was devoted to developing methods to use mRNA for therapy. During the early 1990s, when she was an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, she remained true to her vision of realizing mRNA as a therapeutic despite encountering difficulties in convincing research funders of the significance of her project. A new colleague of Karikó at her university was the immunologist Drew Weissman. He was interested in dendritic cells, which have important functions in immune surveillance and the activation of vaccine-induced immune responses. Spurred by new ideas, a fruitful collaboration between the two soon began, focusing on how different RNA types interact with the immune system.</span></p><p></p></div>
Trinity and Consequences...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/trinity-and-consequences
2023-08-01T10:00:00.000Z
2023-08-01T10:00:00.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12167982290,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12167982290,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="660" alt="12167982290?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align:center;">(Credit: DoruqpashA/Shutterstock)</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Topics: Education, Existentialism, History, Medicine, Nuclear Power</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>21st-century weather models show how radioactive fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2023/08/01/trinity-and-consequences/" target="_blank">spread more widely than thought</a> across the US</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>The Trinity Nuclear Test on 16 July 1945 is a key incident in the blockbuster <strong>Oppenheimer</strong> movie and in the history of humankind. Many scientists think it marks the beginning of the <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/anthropocene/">Anthropocene</a>, a new geological era characterized by humanity’s influence on the Earth. That’s because Trinity’s radioactive fallout will forever appear in the geological record, creating a unique signature of human activity that can be precisely dated.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>But there’s a problem. In 1945, radioactive monitoring techniques were in their infancy, so there are few direct measurements of fallout beyond the test site. What’s more, weather patterns were also less well understood, so the spread of fallout could not be easily determined.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>As a result, nobody really knows how widely Trinity’s fallout spread across the U.S. or, indeed, how the fallout dispersed from other atmospheric nuclear tests on the U.S. mainland.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em><strong>Nuclear Mystery</strong></em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Today, that changes thanks to the work of Sébastien Philippe at Princeton University and colleagues. This team used a state-of-the-art weather simulation for the 5 days after each nuclear test to simulate how the fallout would have dispersed.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>The result is the highest resolution estimate ever made of the spread of radioactive fallout across the U.S. It marks the start of the Anthropocene with extraordinary precision, and it throws up some significant surprises. Some parts of the U.S. are known to have received high levels of fallout, and the new work is consistent with this. But the research also reveals some parts of the US that received significant fallout without anybody realizing it.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>The findings “provide an opportunity for re-evaluating the public health and environmental implications from atmospheric nuclear testing,” said Philippe and co.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Between 1945 and 1962, the U.S. conducted 94 atmospheric nuclear tests that generated yields of up to 74 kilotons of TNT. (Seven other tests were damp squibs.) 93 of these tests took place in Nevada, but the first, the Trinity test in the <strong>Oppenheimer</strong> film, took place in New Mexico.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/how-the-trinity-nuclear-test-spread-radioactive-fallout-across-america">How The Trinity Nuclear Test Spread Radioactive Fallout Across America</a>, the Physics arXiv Blog, Discover Magazine</span></p><p></p></div>
Electrical Wound Care...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/electrical-wound-care
2023-04-27T13:28:30.000Z
2023-04-27T13:28:30.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11036959494,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11036959494,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11036959494?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p style="text-align:center;">New research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Freiburg, Germany, shows that wounds on cultured skin cells heal three times faster when stimulated with electric current. The project was recently granted more funding so the research can get one step closer to the market and the benefit of patients. Credit: Science Brush, Hassan A. Tahin</p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Topics: Applied Physics, Biotechnology, Medicine</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>Chronic wounds are a major health problem for diabetic patients and the elderly—in extreme cases, they can even lead to amputation. Using <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2023/04/27/electrical-wound-care/" target="_blank">electric stimulation</a>, researchers in a project at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Freiburg, Germany, have developed a method that speeds up healing, making wounds heal three times faster.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>There is an old Swedish saying that one should never neglect a small wound or a friend in need. For most people, a small wound does not lead to any serious complications, but many common diagnoses make wound healing far more difficult. People with diabetes, <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/spinal+injuries/">spinal injuries</a>, or poor blood circulation have impaired wound-healing ability. This means a greater risk of infection and chronic wounds—which can lead to serious consequences like amputation in the long run.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>Now a group of researchers at Chalmers and the University of Freiburg have developed a method using <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/electric+stimulation/">electric stimulation</a> to speed up the healing process. The study, "Bioelectronic microfluidic wound healing: a platform for investigating direct current <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/tags/stimulation/">stimulation</a> of injured cell collectives," was published in the Lab on a Chip journal.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>"Chronic wounds are a huge societal problem that we don't hear much about. Our discovery of a method that may heal wounds up to three times faster can be a game changer for diabetic and elderly people, among others, who often suffer greatly from wounds that won't heal," says Maria Asplund, Associate Professor of Bioelectronics at the Chalmers University of Technology and head of research on the project.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><a href="https://medicalxpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-electricity-wounds-faster.amp" target="_blank">How electricity can heal wounds three times faster</a>, The Chalmers University of Technology</span></span></p></div>
Multidisciplinarity...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/multidisciplinarity
2023-03-30T10:00:00.000Z
2023-03-30T10:00:00.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}11009667691,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11009667691,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="11009667691?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Topics: Diversity in Science, Education, Medicine, Research, STEM</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>AAAS will bring together a diverse group of professionals in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (<a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2023/03/30/multidisciplinarity/" target="_blank">STEMM</a>) to tackle the barriers to individuals entering and staying in careers in those fields.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>The first Multidisciplinary Working Group (MWG), called Empowering Career Pathways in STEMM (ECP), will focus on developing recommendations that acknowledge and value the variety of professional journeys that contribute equally to the scientific enterprise.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>“We need to abandon the idea of a so-called gold standard for what a STEMM career looks like and outdated notions of success that have resulted in excluding and losing talent and, more importantly, potential,” said Julie Rosen, AAAS’ director of strategic initiatives, who was brought on board to launch and oversee the MWGs.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>Some of the major barriers to individuals entering STEMM careers and challenges to retaining talent include exclusionary practices that limit access to career opportunities, disincentives for those wanting to make career changes, unrealistic goals for success, and disconnects between formal training and on-the-job competencies.</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><em>“The landscape that early-career scientists are facing is nebulous and, for those coming from communities or backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEMM, it can seem insurmountable,” said Gilda Barabino, chair of the AAAS Board of Directors and president of Olin College of Engineering. “By identifying ways to reimagine how a career in science or engineering may play out, the first AAAS working group will empower multiple paths that can help strengthen the STEMM enterprise.”</em></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/inaugural-aaas-multidisciplinary-working-group-focus-stemm-workforce-development?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D59251891467171664773836740394514947539%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1680131672" target="_blank">Inaugural AAAS Multidisciplinary Working Group to Focus on STEMM Workforce Development</a></span></span></p></div>
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/the-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine-2022
2022-10-03T14:12:41.000Z
2022-10-03T14:12:41.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10833439300,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10833439300,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="454" alt="10833439300?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:8pt;">Image Link: <a href="https://www.nobelprizemedicine.org/" target="_blank">NobelPrizeMedicine.org</a></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Topics: Medicine, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Press release</span></span></strong></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">2022-10-03</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><a href="http://nobelprizemedicine.org/" target="_blank">The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet</a></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">has today decided to award</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">to</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Svante Pääbo</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong>for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution</strong></span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Humanity has always been intrigued by its origins. <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2022/10/03/the-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine-2022/" target="_blank">Where do we come from</a>, and how are we related to those who came before us? What makes us, <em>Homo sapiens</em>, different from other hominins?</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Through his pioneering research, Svante Pääbo accomplished something seemingly impossible: sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans. He also made the sensational discovery of a previously unknown hominin, Denisova. Importantly, Pääbo also found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct hominins to <em>Homo sapiens</em> following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago. This ancient flow of genes to present-day humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune system reacts to infections.</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Pääbo’s seminal research gave rise to an entirely new scientific discipline; <em>paleogenomics</em>. By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human.</span></span></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Mon. 3 Oct 2022. <<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2022/press-release/" target="_blank">https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2022/press-release/</a>></span></span></p></div>
Steve Austin's Beads...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/steve-austin-s-beads
2021-09-22T01:17:08.000Z
2021-09-22T01:17:08.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9594384667,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9594384667,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="9594384667?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:8pt;">Magnetic prosthetic: A magnetic sensing array enables a new tissue tracking strategy that could offer advanced motion control in artificial limbs. (Courtesy: MIT Media Lab/Cameron Taylor/Vessel Studios)</span></p><p></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Topics: Biotechnology, Magnetism, Materials Science, Medicine, Nanotechnology, Robotics</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Cultural reference: <a href="https://www.nbc.com/the-six-million-dollar-man" target="_blank">The Six Million Dollar Man</a>, NBC</span></span></p><p> </p><p><em><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">In recent years, health and fitness wearables have gained popularity as platforms to wirelessly track daily physical activities, by counting steps, for example, or recording heartbeats directly from the wrist. To achieve this, inertial sensors in contact with the skin capture the relevant motion and physiological signals originating from the body.</span></span></em></p><p> </p><p><em><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">As wearable technology evolves, researchers strive to understand not just how to track the body’s dynamic signals, but also how to simulate them to control artificial limbs. This new level of motion control requires a detailed understanding of what is happening beneath the skin, specifically, the <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2021/09/21/steve-austins-beads/" target="_blank">motion of the muscles</a>.</span></span></em></p><p> </p><p><em><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Skeletal muscles are responsible for almost all movement of the human body. When muscle fibers contract, the exerted forces travel through the tendons, pull the bones, and ultimately produce motion. To track and use these muscle contractions in real-time and with high signal quality, engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.mit.edu/" target="_blank">MIT</a>) employed low-frequency magnetic fields – which pass undisturbed through body tissues – to provide accurate and real-time transcutaneous sensing of muscle motion. They describe their technique in <a href="https://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/6/57/eabg0656" target="_blank">Science Robotics</a>.</span></span></em></p><p> </p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/magnetic-beads-inside-the-body-could-improve-control-of-bionic-limbs/" target="_blank">Magnetic beads inside the body could improve control of bionic limbs</a>, Raudel Avila is a student contributor to Physics World</span></span></p><p></p></div>
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine...
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blogs/nobel-prize-in-physiology-and-medicine
2020-10-05T14:32:47.000Z
2020-10-05T14:32:47.000Z
Reginald L. Goodwin
https://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/members/ReginaldLGoodwin
<div><p><img class="align-center" src="https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2020/09/medicine2020-figure2-en.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" alt="medicine2020-figure2-en.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></p><p> </p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:8pt;">Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the Hepatitis C virus. Top right: the virus particle containing an RNA genome and the viral envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2 exposed on the surface. Bottom: the viral genome encoding a large polyprotein that is cleaved into multiple structural and non-structural proteins with 5’ and 3’ terminal untranslated regions.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Topics: Medicine, Nobel Laureates, Nobel Prize</span></span></p><p><strong><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">The discovery of Hepatitis C virus</span></span></strong><br /> <em><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">The 2020 Nobel Prize in <a href="https://physicsandnano.com/2020/10/05/nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine/" target="_blank">Physiology or Medicine</a> is awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis, from the Greek names for liver and inflammation, is a disease characterized by poor appetite, vomiting, fatigue, and jaundice – yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes. Chronic hepatitis leads to liver damage, which may progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Viral infection is the leading cause of hepatitis, with some forms persisting without symptoms for many years before life-threatening complications develop. Until the 1960s, exposure to blood from infected individuals was a major health hazard, with up to 30% risk of chronic hepatitis following surgery or multiple blood transfusions. This risk was only partially reduced by the discovery of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the eventual elimination of HBV-contaminated blood through testing. A more insidious form of hepatitis, characterized by very mild symptoms in the acute phase and a high risk of progression to chronic liver damage and cancer, remained. The work of Alter, Houghton, and Rice characterized this form of hepatitis to be a distinct clinical entity, caused by an RNA virus of the Flavivirus family, now known as Hepatitis C virus (HCV). This pioneering work has paved the way for the development of screening methods that have dramatically reduced the risk of acquiring hepatitis from contaminated blood and has led to the development of effective antiviral drugs that have improved the lives of millions of people.</span></span></em></p><p> </p><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Advanced information. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Mon. 5 Oct 2020. <<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2020/advanced-information/" target="_blank">https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2020/advanced-information/</a>></span></span></p><p></p></div>