UK's pathology services at the tipping point
Pathology services in the UK are struggling to cope with the increasing number of patient samples that need to be tested, according to a Cancer Research UK report* published today.
Blood
News • In heart's upper chamber
'Corkscrew' shape of blood flow may signal lower stroke risk
Using specialized CT scans of a healthy heart and one with heart disease, a team of Johns Hopkins cardiologists and biomedical engineers say they've created computer models of the "shape" of blood flow through the heart's upper left chamber that someday may help predict stroke risk.
Article • Computerised blood bank
An integrated single database solution
According to a 2007 World Health Organization report*, patient misidentification was cited in more than 100 individual root cause analyses (January 2000 to March 2003) by the USA’s Department of Veterans Affairs National Centre for Patient Safety. Major areas where patient misidentification can occur include drug administration, phlebotomy, blood transfusion, and surgical procedures.
Diabetic biomarker test successfully verified
EKF Diagnostics announces that its newly introduced Glycated Serum Protein (GSP) LiquiColor® diabetic biomarker test has been verified for use on the Siemens Vista chemistry analyzer. In a scientific poster published by scientists at the Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood, USA [1], it was demonstrated that EKF’s GSP assay enhances the versatility of the Vista system for the specialized…
Artificial blood vessels can grow with the recipient
In a groundbreaking new study led by University of Minnesota biomedical engineers, artificial blood vessels bioengineered in the lab and implanted in young lambs are capable of growth within the recipient. If confirmed in humans, these new vessel grafts would prevent the need for repeated surgeries in some children with congenital heart defects.
News • Diabetes
Recommended blood pressure targets are being challenged
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare recently raised the recommended target blood pressure for patients with diabetes. This may lead to more patients suffering from stroke or heart attack, according to a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy. The new study is the world’s largest on the subject and is based on data from the National Diabetes Register.
News • Oncology
Loophole for cancer cells
Many cancers only become a mortal danger if they form metastases elsewhere in the body. Such secondary tumours are formed when individual cells break away from the main tumour and travel through the bloodstream to distant areas of the body. To do so, they have to pass through the walls of small blood vessels. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim and…
News • Breakthrough
Early detection of leukemia patients' resistance to therapy
Australian researchers have made a world-first breakthrough in the early detection of patients' resistance to a common treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. The discovery offers some hope that the patients' treatment could be changed sooner to improve their chances of survival.
News • Staphylococcus aureus
Women more likely to die within 30-days from bacterial blood infection
Clinicians around the world have long suspected that bacteraemia due to Staphylococcus aureus has a worse outcome in women compared to men, but direct evidence has been elusive. A study just published confirms that significantly more women than men diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) – a blood infection of the common bacteria – die within 30 days.
Article • Early warning
Blood test detects early Alzheimer’s
The cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown. Early diagnosis is currently not possible as clinical symptoms only occur once a large number of neurones in the brain have already been destroyed. There is no treatment available either.
News • Brain disorder
Using ultrasound to achieve permeability of blood vessels
CarThera, a French company based at the Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), that designs and develops innovative ultrasound-based medical devices to treat brain disorders, announces the publication on initial successes in disrupting the blood-brain barrier (BBB) with the use of ultrasound. This has been achieved in association with teams from the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (the Greater…
News • Neurological Disorders
Predicting the risk of post-treatment brain bleeding after stroke
In a study of stroke patients, investigators confirmed through MRI brain scans that there was an association between the extent of disruption to the brain's protective blood-brain barrier and the severity of bleeding following invasive stroke therapy. The results of the National Institutes of Health-funded study were published in Neurology.
News • Endothelial progenitor cells
Growing blood vessels could boost regenerative medicine
In addition the technique to grow the blood vessels in a 3D scaffold cuts down on the risk of transplant rejection because it uses cells from the patient. It was developed by researchers from the University of Bath's Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, working with colleagues at Bristol Heart Institute.
News • Iso-acoustic focusing
Ultrasound method increases awareness about cancer cells
In brief, the new method involves exposing cells to ultrasound when they flow through a so-called micro-channel inside a chip. The individual cells are separated in the acoustic field and by studying the cells’ lateral movement at the end of the channel it is possible to identify the acoustic properties of the cells. Conversely, if you know the cells’ acoustic characteristics, you can detect…
News • Sensor
Technology for examining cardiovascular blood vessels
For the examination of coronary blood vessels, intravascular methods with imaging technologies are already state-of-the-art. However, ultrasonic methods, which are used to gather information about the tissue, can only be used externally, up to now. The piezo electronical components necessary for this have not been sufficiently miniaturized to be inserted into the blood vessels.
News • Lung cancer
“Liquid biopsy” blood test detects genetic mutations
A simple blood test can rapidly and accurately detect mutations in two key genes in non-small cell lung tumors, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions report in a new study – demonstrating the test’s potential as a clinical tool for identifying patients who can benefit from drugs targeting those mutations.
News • PIK3CA
Cancer drug could treat blood vessel deformities
A drug currently being trialled in cancer patients could also be used to treat an often incurable condition that can cause painful blood vessel overgrowths inside the skin, finds new research in mice led by UCL, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona.
News • PET study
Functional interplay between two transporters at blood-brain barrier
A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna has, in collaboration with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, developed two new PET tracers that allow the activity of drug transporters at the blood-brain barrier to be measured. The studywas able to demonstrate that people with a genetic polymorphism in a transporter gene have lower transporter activity at the blood-brain barrier, which can lead…
News • MS
How do immune cells enter the cerebrospinal fluid?
A research team headed by scientists at the Institute of Neuroimmunology and the Institute for Multiple Sclerosis Research (IMSF), University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), has gained new insights into the immune function of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). They used real-time microscopy to film the lively trafficking of immune cells between the CSF and the nervous tissue. Here the meninges play the…
Article • Cases rise
Should we screen for sickle cell disease?
Every year around a quarter of a million children worldwide die from sickle cell disease. In Germany around 3,000 people suffer from this rare inherited blood disorder.
News • Peripheral artery disease
Treating poor blood circulation with injectable gel
Bioengineers and physicians at the University of California, San Diego have developed a potential new therapy for critical limb ischemia, a condition that causes extremely poor circulation in the limbs and leads to an estimated 230,000 amputations every year in North America and Europe alone to prevent the spread of infection and tissue death. The new therapy could prevent or limit amputations…
3-D printed diagnostic device can detect anemia
Identifying a blood disorder may be as easy as running a blood sample from a finger prick under a smartphone. That is the concept behind a new biomedical device being developed by Kansas State University researchers.
News • Drug delivery vehicles
Stealth effect of nanocarriers conferred more efficiently
By using drug delivery vehicles, so-called nanocarriers, pharmaceuticals reach the diseased area in the body. There they accelerate the healing process. But in order to prevent them from getting ingested by phagocytes, the surfaces of the nanocarriers are typically coated with the biocompatible synthetic polymer poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Scientists at the Mainz University Medical Center and…
News • Biophysic
What happens when red blood cells "wriggle"
For the first time, and using physical methods, scientists have demonstrated how red blood cells move. They recognized that fast molecules in the vicinity make the cell membrane in the blood cells wriggle – but that the cells themselves also become active when they have enough reaction time.
News • Respiratory infection
Under the weather? A blood test can tell if antibiotics are needed
Researchers at Duke Health are fine-tuning a test that can determine whether a respiratory illness is caused by infection from a virus or bacteria so that antibiotics can be more precisely prescribed.
