Medical

A new drug delivery method may enable cancer drugs to overcome resistance mechanisms in tumors, resulting in the destruction of cancer cells using 50 times less chemotherapy than is currently required.

Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland have managed to develop a system wherein a man can move his prosthetic arm by using nothing but the power of thought. The Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) is a resounding success, as was the unique method used to attach it.

An app called QUiPP could help doctors to better identify women at risk of giving birth prematurely. The app, developed at King’s College London, was tested in two studies of high-risk women being monitored at antenatal clinics. Worldwide 15m babies are born preterm (before 37 weeks) each year and over a million of these die of prematurity-related complications.

Sperm that don’t swim well rank high among the main causes of infertility. To give these cells a boost, women trying to conceive can turn to artificial insemination or other assisted reproduction techniques, but success can be elusive. In an attempt to improve these odds, scientists have developed motorised 'spermbots' that can deliver poor swimmers — that are otherwise healthy — to an egg. Their report appears in ACS’ jou...

Researchers in Germany have been able to grow the inner-most layer of fallopian tube cells in the lab for the first time. Rather than using them to develop transplants for women, the lab-grown cells are instead intended to help scientists further their knowledge of how diseases and infection develop, and subsequently spread, from the tube into other parts of a woman’s reproductive system.

Last summer, neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley spent two months playing video games. For five days a week, he played Meditrain - which involves meditation and was developed in collaboration with Zynga - on his iPad, and another called Rhythmicity, which he developed with Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead, and Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation. "It's based on the hypothesis that our brain is a rhythmic machine," Gazzaley says. 

  Applied Nanodetectors is developing a simple breathalyser that will give diabetics a non invasive method for monitoring their daily glucose levels and has the potential to replace the ‘prick test’ methods used today.

  Intestinal gases have been linked to colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but their role in health is poorly understood and there is currently no easy and reliable tool for detecting them inside the gut.

Speeding time-to-market for wearable and healthcare products, a pulse oximeter and heart rate integrated sensor module has been unveiled by Maxim Integrated Products. The MAX30102 integrated pulse oximetry and heart rate monitor module is an ultra-low power solution, operating on a single 1.8V power supply and a separate 5V power supply for the internal LEDs.

On 10 January, Illumina of San Diego, California, announced that it has formed a venture that will use genetic-sequencing technology to detect cancer through a simple blood test. Such a ‘liquid biopsy’ would identify tumour-specific DNA or RNA in the blood before a person has begun to show symptoms. The Illumina announcement made a splash because of its backing — US$100 million in funding, with investors including Bill Gate...