science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τετάρτη 17 Ιουλίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Injectable ‘Smart Sponge’ Holds Promise for Controlled Drug Delivery
People With Pre-Diabetes Who Drop Substantial Weight May Ward Off Type 2 Diabetes
Researchers Step Closer to Custom-Building New Blood Vessels
In children with fever, gene profiling distinguishes bacterial from viral infections
Gas cloud swings around gravity monster at the heart of the Milky Way
Multiple Sclerosis drug FTY-720 shows promise for preventing heart failure
Diet additions may help youth with Type 1 diabetes keep producing own insulin

Injectable ‘Smart Sponge’ Holds Promise for Controlled Drug Delivery

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 05:57 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a drug delivery technique for diabetes treatment in which a sponge-like material surrounds an insulin core. The sponge expands and contracts in response to blood sugar levels to release insulin as needed. The technique could also be used for targeted drug delivery to cancer cells.

People With Pre-Diabetes Who Drop Substantial Weight May Ward Off Type 2 Diabetes

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 05:47 AM PDT

People with pre-diabetes who lose roughly 10 percent of their body weight within six months of diagnosis dramatically reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes over the next three years, according to results of research led by Johns Hopkins scientists.

The findings, investigators say, offer patients and physicians a guide to how short-term behavior change may affect long-term health.

Researchers Step Closer to Custom-Building New Blood Vessels

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 05:41 AM PDT

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have coaxed stem cells into forming networks of new blood vessels in the laboratory, then successfully transplanted them into mice. The stem cells are made by reprogramming ordinary cells, so the new technique could potentially be used to make blood vessels genetically matched to individual patients and unlikely to be rejected by their immune systems, the investigators say. The results appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In children with fever, gene profiling distinguishes bacterial from viral infections

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 05:29 AM PDT

In children with fever but no other symptoms of illness, it is difficult to know whether a child has a viral infection that will resolve on its own or a potentially serious bacterial infection that requires antibiotics.

Gas cloud swings around gravity monster at the heart of the Milky Way

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 05:18 AM PDT

Recent observations from April this year of the galactic centre have revealed that parts of the in-falling gas cloud, which was detected in 2011, have already swung past the black hole at the heart of our Milky Way. Due to the tidal force of the gravity monster, the gas cloud has become further stretched, with its front moving now already 500 km/s faster than its tail. The findings confirm earlier predictions: the cloud will come so close to the black hole in the course of the next year that it will be completely torn apart.

Multiple Sclerosis drug FTY-720 shows promise for preventing heart failure

Posted: 16 Jul 2013 11:49 AM PDT

A drug already approved to treat multiple sclerosis may also hold promise for treating cardiac hypertrophy, or thickening of the cardiac muscle–a disorder that often leads to heart failure, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report.

The findings are published in the July 16 issue of Circulation: Heart Failure.

Cardiac hypertrophy is a slow thickening of the heart muscle that shrinks the interior volume of the heart, forcing the organ to work harder to pump a diminishing volume of blood.

Diet additions may help youth with Type 1 diabetes keep producing own insulin

Posted: 16 Jul 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Adding foods rich in specific amino and fatty acids to the diets of youth with Type 1 diabetes kept them producing some of their own insulin for up to two years after diagnosis, said researchers at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."