Sci-tech
Smoking
Delays Healing
Cigarette
may cause more harm than most people think apart from damaging
the lungs. It slows wound healing and increases the risk of
scarring. Study at the University of California has found
that cigarette smoke delays the formation of healing tissue.
Wound healing is a highly choreographed, four-act biological
drama of clotting, inflammation, cell proliferation and tissue
remodelling. It features an exotic cast of clotting and growth
factors, specialised cells and structural proteins, each of
whom must time their entrance and exit perfectly. However,
cigarette smoke interferes with this process. Cells (or fibroblasts)
secrete many proteins that compose the extra-cellular matrix
and are critical in orchestrating tissue repair and remodelling.
Surprisingly, doses found in tissues of smokers, smoke did
not kill the fibroblasts but instead damaged them in a way
that caused them to produce stress response and survival proteins.
Rubbersidewalks
Rubbersidewalks
are a cost-effective and environmentally sound solution to
the chronic problems caused by tree-lined sidewalks. Cities
across the country struggle with the public safety concerns
and financial burdens posed by tree roots lifting concrete
sidewalks. Rubbersidewalks' modular sidewalk system allows
air and water to easily reach soil below so trees develop
less aggressive roots, which can be easily maintained during
periodic inspection. One-square-foot of Rubbersidewalks recycles
waste rubber from one passenger tire and in California alone
more than 34 million passenger tires are disposed of each
year creating 408 million pounds of waste rubber. Each 20
square foot installation saves one tree from removal Rubbersidewalks'
pavers are recollected and recycled at the end of their life
cycle.
Monkey
embryos cloned for the first time
Monkey
embryos have been successfully cloned for the first time,
and embryonic stem cells have been extracted from them, scientists
reported on Monday. The success could have implications for
human therapies as it means that stem cell researchers could
one day test stem cell therapies in non-human primates, before
taking treatments into the clinic. They used a new, gentler
method to coax the embryos to develop to the blastocyst stage
a hollow mass of cells which contains embryonic stem cells,
the universal precursors to all the cell types in the body.
These unspecialised cells may offer clinicians hope in repairing
damaged organs and tissues. But cloning human embryos is fraught
with ethical problems - plus the practical problems of obtaining
donor egg cells. Now a team led by Gerald Schatten, a developmental
biologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine,
US, in collaboration with the Korean researchers, has successfully
applied the team's technique to macaque monkeys.
Political
Spam Ready to Bomb Your Cell-phones
After
being bombarded with entertainment and advertisement spam,
get ready to receive some political spam as well on your cell-phones,
as SMS becomes the new in thing in the political campaign
arena. Federal politicians in Australia have been granted
permission to update their constituents with everything from
electorate news to the latest government programmes and Christmas
greetings via a SMS. The order allows the leaders to send
text messages to up to 7000 constituents or almost 10 per
cent of their electorate, over three years, with the cost
being 1800 dollars an MP. However, the service cannot be used
for political or commercial use.
Eel's
Nerve Circuitry to Help Paralysis
In
a collaboration blending biology and robotics, researchers
are unravelling the circuitry in an eel's spinal cord to help
develop a microchip implant that may someday help paralysed
people walk again. Researchers are trying to understand how
the brain transmits electrical messages along the spinal cord
that tell the legs what to do. Then, they aimed at making
microchips that replicate this process. They started by modelling
the way swimming signals move along the spinal cord of a lamprey
eel. They found that although the lamprey is a very primitive
vertebrate, it has shown that it's remarkably like humans
in the ways it makes and controls its locomotion. But unlike
that of humans, the lamprey's nervous system is remarkably
easy to study. The researchers are now moving to expand their
project by developing a neuroprosthetic implant that would
connect to human central pattern generators to restore locomotion
in patients with spinal cord injuries.
Gene
Technique to Fight Blindness
The
first clinical trial of a therapy based on the much-heralded
technique of RNA interference, or RNAi, will begin within
several weeks to treat a condition, which can lead to blindness.
The technique works by silencing a key gene involved in a
progressive disorder of the retina called wet age-related
macular degeneration (AMD), say executives at Acuity Pharmaceuticals,
a private biotechnology company in Philadelphia, US. RNAi
is a naturally occurring process in which the presence of
double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in cells triggers a series of
steps that ultimately destroys messenger RNA (mRNA) and shuts
down protein production. It is believed to have evolved to
protect cells from invading viruses. In the upcoming Phase
I trial, doctors will inject many copies of Cand5, a "small,
interfering" double-stranded RNA, or siRNA, directly
into the eyeballs of patients suffering from the disabling
eye disorder. "It's tremendously exciting," says
Michael McManus, an RNAi expert at the University of California,
San Francisco, US. "It represents the first step in using
this technology to treat a human disease."
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
|
|