Amazing feat. When someone accuses you of being lazy, you know how to defend yourself, err, your body.
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| The researchers used gene expression patterns to try to predict the time of death for each person in the study (inner circles), and then compared it with the actual time of death (outer circles). The two matched closely in healthy people, as shown by the short lines between the two points in the left diagram. But in depressed people, the two were out of sync, as seen with the longer lines at right.(Credit: University of Michigan Health System) |
Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more.But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression — even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.
It’s the first direct evidence of altered circadian rhythms in the brain of people with depression, and shows that they operate out of sync with the usual ingrained daily cycle. The findings, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School and other institutions.
Read the rest at University of Michigan Health System: Out of sync with the world: Brain study shows body clocks of depressed people are altered at cell level
Coffee Propaganda from HYUNJI AJ BAE on Vimeo.
An excellent coffee propaganda. Gotta start storing some coffee beans now. Great colors and graphics.
(via Laughing Squid)
Developed by CrazyLabo and the Kitakyushu National College of Technology in Japan, these sniffing robots will rudely make you aware of your bad smelling breath and feet. When you breathe into Kaori-chan’s face, the humanoid, she will analyze your breath and tell you straight up how she can’t stand it. Shuntaro-kun, on the other hand, will sniff your feet and lose consciousness if the stink is extremely bad.
(via Oh Gizmo!)
(video from uwhuskies)
Take a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device.University of Washington engineers and NanoFacture, a Bellevue, Wash., company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.
The device will give hospitals and research labs a much easier way to separate DNA from human fluid samples, which will help with genome sequencing, disease diagnosis and forensic investigations.
Rad the rest at University of Washington: New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes, by Michelle Ma
AsapSCIENCE offers a scientific breakdown of the classic battle of the sexes question of who suffers more pain. You decide.
A college student at New York University, Joe Landolina, along with NYU grad, Isaac Miller, invented a gel that can instantly stop even heavy bleeding from major organs and arteries.
The lifesaving goo is an artificial version of something called the extracellular matrix, which makes up the connective tissue that helps hold animal bodies together.“We use plant-derived versions of the polymers that make up your skin,” the whiz kid said. “If they go into a wound, they build on existing polymers. It’s like it tells your body to stop bleeding.”
The video is a demonstration of how the gel does its magic. A pork is cut deep while injected with real pig’s blood which gushes out freely. The gel is applied to the wound which is then sprayed with a substance that speeds coagulation and voila! The heavy bleeding stops, instantly.
Does this mean no more stitches? I’m planning to go back to surgery so I’m really excited about this. I presume it doesn’t compromise the blood supply, like if a major blood vessel is injured and this gel is applied and it doesn’t fill up the hollowness of the vessel. Wow.
College student creates instant healing gel to stop heavy bleeding (via Geekologie)
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| This neuron, created in the Su-Chun Zhang lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, makes dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in normal movement. The cell originated in an induced pluripotent stem cell, which derive from adult tissues. Similar neurons survived and integrated normally after transplant into monkey brains—as a proof of principle that personalized medicine may one day treat Parkinson’s disease.
Image by Yan Liu and Su-Chun Zhang, Waisman Center |
Scientists have successfully transplanted neural cells derived from a monkey’s skin into its brain. According to the authors of the study in Cell Reports, the cells developed into different types of mature neurons and looked totally normal after six months. The transplanted cells were only detectable because they were tagged with a fluorescent protein.
Because the cells were derived from adult cells in each monkey’s skin, the experiment is a proof-of-principle for the concept of personalized medicine, where treatments are designed for each individual. And since the skin cells were not “foreign” tissue, there were no signs of immune rejection — potentially a major problem with cell transplants. “When you look at the brain, you cannot tell that it is a graft,” says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Structurally the host brain looks like a normal brain; the graft can only be seen under the fluorescent microscope.”
The transplanted cells came from induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells which can develop into “virtually any cell in the body,” just like the embryonic stem cells except that the IPS come from adult cells and not embryos. The cells were implanted through a surgical technique guided by MRI. The rhesus monkeys used in the study had a brain lesion that causes Parkinson’s disease which afflicts millions of people.
Read the rest at University of Wisconsin-Madison News: Transplanted brain cells in monkeys light up personalized therapy, by David Tenenbaum
The journal reference:
Emborg, M.E., Liu, Y., Xi, J., Zhang, X., Yin, Y., Lu, J., … Zhang, S. (2013). Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural cells survive and mature in the nonhuman primate brain. Cell Reports, 3, 1-5.
(Credit: Umeå Centre for Molecular Medicine, Umeå University)
This looks like a pretty coral. It’s actually an image (from a new visualization technique) of a mouse pancreas with type-1 diabetes. The red branches are the blood vessels while the blue blobs are the insulin-producing islets of Langerhans. The green blobs are the culprit and are not supposed to be there. They’re autoimmune cells destroying the islets of Langerhans resulting to insufficient production of insulin which is needed to process the sugars in our blood.
This colorful image is produced by researchers at Umea University in Sweden using a new visualization method (presented in the Journal of Visualized Experiments).
Pretty Pancreas, LiveScience
