CATCHING A COLIFORM BACTERIA INFECTION WHEN SWIMMING IS NOT PLEASANT

Nothing can put a dampener on a summer holiday like a coliform bacteria outbreak. But even worse than being told to keep out of the water in the event of an outbreak is not being told to keep out of the water in the event of an outbreak and ending up paying the price. Researchers at McMaster University have now developed a paper strip test that is cheap to produce, extremely portable, simple to use, and detects E. coli in water in 30 minutes.

While many popular recreational waters are regularly tested for coliform outbreaks, the methods used are generally slow and cumbersome, with samples often having to be sent to a lab for amplification before testing. The new paper strips developed at McMaster overcome all these problems. They work quickly, they are portable, they are simple to use, and they are cheap and easy to produce.

Using inkjet-printing technology, the paper strips are coated with chemicals that change color in the presence of E. coli. Concentrations of the bacteria are indicated by different colors on the strip. While the strips can quickly indicate if water is safe for swimming, they aren’t sensitive enough to identify if it is safe for drinking – a standard that is hundreds of times tighter than for safe swimming water.

However, the McMaster team, led by chemistry professor John Brennan, is planning to conduct field-testing on the prototype strips to help in their refinement that may lead to the development of strips capable of testing the safety of drinking water.

The test strips have been validated by scientists from the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, which receives funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The NSERC is now funding the next stage of pre-commercial development of the strips, with a possibility the final product will become commercially available in two to three years.

The team’s research is detailed in a paper appearing online in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.

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SHORT CIRCUITING THE DISEASE TESTING PROCEDURE USING MOBILE DEVICE APP

Infectious diseases these days seem to have gotten a lot of attention, with media hype and threats of pandemics often being portrayed in apocalyptic sci-fi movies. We all know that several types of these diseases can spread rapidly, and it is absolutely crucial that doctors be able to identify them quickly in order to prevent an epidemic. Unfortunately, current testing procedures can take hours and even days, delaying the process of adequate prevention. It should then ease your mind to hear that researchers at the University of Tennessee have invented a mobile device that can rapidly detect these unwanted afflictions.

“Time is of the essence in treating infectious diseases,” said Jayne Wu, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee. “This device has the potential to save a lot of lives by saving time in detection. It also saves a lot of money as it is cheaper to detect diseases than the system that is currently being used since we do not have to send them to a lab and have the sample be scrutinized by technicians.”

The portable device developed by the University of Tennessee researchers can be used onsite to detect infectious diseases, pathogens and physiological conditions in people and animals. Furthermore, it has been designed to be easily used by any health care professional in any location. A droplet of blood is simply placed onto a microchip which is slotted into the device. The microchip is then treated with disease-specific antigens and can quickly identify if these disease-specific antibodies are present in the blood sample. If the antigens and antibodies match, then the device automatically informs the health care provider that the patient is infected. This all occurs in the space of minutes. To date, the device has been used to detect tuberculosis in humans and wild animals, and Johne’s disease in cattle.

“Johne’s disease is highly prevalent in this country and is causing more than $200 million of annual losses to the U.S. dairy industry,” said Shigetoshi Eda, associate professor of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries at the UT Institute of Agriculture Center for Wildlife Health. “Since there is no practical treatment for the disease, early diagnosis is critically important for disease control in dairy farms. This, in turn, helps farmers’ business and the milk supply.”

The researchers hope to further develop the device so it can detect a broader range of diseases and physiological conditions. In the future, it is envisioned that the device could diagnose cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and even detect pathogens in food materials.

Source: University of Tennessee

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WANT TO CHECK YOUR SKIN TO SEE IF YOU HAVE SKIN CANCER

Then do it yourself with a new application for the smartphone which you can download for under $6

More…

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BRAIN LOSING CONSCIOUSNOUS CAN BE TRACKED

Using a newly developed imaging technique, researchers in the U.K. have for the first time observed what happens to the brain as it loses consciousness. The method known as “functional electrical impedance tomography by evoked response” (fEITER) uses a 32 electrode array to scan the brain at a rate of 100 times a second and by applying this as an anaesthetic drug takes effect, researchers are able to build a real-time 3-D video that will aid in better understanding of how the brain functions and the nature of consciousness.

The multidisciplinary team from the University of Manchester are the first to apply electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to anaesthesia.

So far the evidence supports the theory put forward by Oxford University’s Professor Susan Greenfield that consciousness is not an ON/OFF state but more like a dimmer switch.

“Our findings suggest that unconsciousness may be the increase of inhibitory assemblies across the brain’s cortex,” said Brian Pollard, Professor of Anaesthesia at The University of Manchester (UK). “These findings lend support to Greenfield’s hypothesis of neural assemblies forming consciousness.

“We have looked at 20 healthy volunteers and are now looking at 20 anaesthetized patients scheduled for surgery. We are able to see 3-D images of the brain’s conductivity change, and those where the patient is becoming anaesthetized are most interesting.”

“We have been able to see a real time loss of consciousness in anatomically distinct regions of the brain for the first time. We are currently working on trying to interpret the changes that we have observed. We still do not know exactly what happens within the brain as unconsciousness occurs, but this is another step in the direction of understanding the brain and its functions.”

EIT also holds promise in diagnosing changes to the brain that occur as a result of head injury, stroke and dementia.

“If its power can be harnessed, then it has the potential to make a huge impact on many areas of imaging in medicine,” said Pollard.

The findings are were presented earlier this month at the European Anaesthesiology Congress in Amsterdam.

Source: University of Manchester.

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Soda color in cancer link

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Little people secret

that might save

big problems of

diabetes, cancer

Nicky Phillips

February 18, 2011

Then and now … members of the group of 99 Ecuadorians with dwarfism who took part in a 22-year study, pictured at the start of the study in 1988, above, and in 2009.

A GROUP with dwarfism from a province in Ecuador could hold clues to preventing cancer.

Of the 99 individuals, who are in perfect proportion except for a genetic mutation that stunts their growth, only one developed cancer during a 22-year study.

Scientists researching the group believe this growth mutation is the key to their disease immunity, and suggest drugs could give a similar degree of protection to full-grown adults.

An Ecuadorian endocrinologist and co-author of the study, Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, said researchers first noticed the lack of chronic disease in the community while they were investigating their growth defect.

”[We] were more in search of problems than solutions,” he said.

After more than two decades of following those with Laron dwarfism, which is caused by a mutation in their growth hormone receptor gene, Dr Guevara-Aguirre and his American colleague Valter Longo found no cases of diabetes and only one non-lethal case of cancer.

When they looked at the group’s normal-sized relatives, who lived in the same town over the same period, around17 per cent had been diagnosed with cancer and 5 per cent had diabetes – the same rate found among other Ecuadorian adults.

The researchers concluded that growth hormone must have a downside in normal size adults. ”The growth hormone receptor-deficient people don’t get two of the major diseases of ageing,” said Associate Professor Longo, a biologist at the University of Southern California.

To understand how this mutation could protect against cancer and diabetes, the researchers studied the effects of compounds in the participants’ blood.

They found low levels of IGF-1 could reduce DNA damage and promote cell death when DNA damage did occur – two processes that decrease cancer-promoting behaviour in cells.

The Laron group also had lower blood insulin levels, which accounted for the absence of diabetes.

People with Loran dwarfism were instead more likely to die from accidents, cardiovascular disease or alcohol-related causes, the researchers found.

Drugs that reduce growth hormone are readily available and are used to treat people with gigantism. The risks and benefits of giving adults these or similar drugs to reduce growth hormones would need to be weighed up against the side-effects of drugs used to treat diabetes and cancer, said Professor Longo, whose findings are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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The enzyme that allows fireflies to glow could be used to monitor the effectiveness of an anti-blood-clotting medication (Photo: Nevit Dilmen)

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One-minute test accurately detects concussion

By developing a simple one-minute sideline test, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have tackled the issue of diagnosing concussion head on. Up until now, sideline tests for concussion have been vague and often miss a large spectrum of brain functions that may have been affected. It is a well-known fact that any concussion left untreated or ignored may lead to serious or potentially fatal consequences, thus the Pennsylvanian researchers are eager to get this simple and effective test into action.

This one-minute test, called the King-Devick (K-D) test, essentially comes down to the athlete’s ability to read numbers. By displaying a series of numbers on flash cards to the athlete and recording the time it takes to respond, any sideline doctor or coach can instantly determine if concussion has occurred. By comparing results to the athlete’s baseline test, concussion can be confidently diagnosed if their response is more than five seconds slower. The test also checks for impairments of eye movement, attention, language and other symptoms of impaired brain function.

“This rapid screening test provides an effective way to detect early signs of concussion, which can improve outcomes and hopefully prevent repetitive concussions,” said the study’s senior author, Laura Balcer, MD, Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “If validated in future studies, this test has the potential to become a standard sideline test for athletes.”

In a study of 39 boxers and MMA fighters, post-fight test times on average for those who suffered head trauma worsened by 11.1 seconds, whilst those who had lost consciousness were on average 18 seconds slower. It is also worth noting that those who did not suffer any head trauma improved their times by more than a second on average.

It is hoped that the King-Devick test will become a standard procedure for coaches of intense sporting games such as rugby and boxing, aiding them in their decisions to keep players on or not. “Concussion is a complex type of brain injury that is not visible on the routine scans we do of the brain, yet is detectable when we measure important aspects of brain function, such as vision,” said the study’s lead author, Kristin Galetta, MS. “The K-D test is only one test on the sidelines, though, and the diagnosis of concussion requires a combination of tests and input of medical professionals.”

A follow-up study at the University of Pennsylvania will examine the reliability of the K-D test and changes in athlete test scores over the course of a season.

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AIRPORT screenings can give you a sexually transmitted disease

You could pick up a sex disease on your next trip – and you don’t even have to visit a hooker in a foreign city to get it.

Just a visit to the airport will do, because the perverted American government is spreading germs as it forces passengers to spread for its new “enhanced security screenings.”

You’ve probably heard a bit about these government-sanctioned gropings. One TV news producer singled out for a special pat down said the agent stuck a hand inside her pants and even felt around inside her panties.

“It was basically worse than going to the gynecologist,” she said. “It was embarrassing. It was demeaning. It was inappropriate.”

It’s also a very real public health threat.

The TV news producer didn’t mention the rubber gloves worn by the screeners, but there have been multiple reports of Transportation Security Admininstration (TSA) workers using the same gloves from one passenger to the next.

And that means every visit with a TSA worker could be like a quick dip in a Tijuana whorehouse – because these guys could be passing out everything from herpes to the crabs all day and night.

That’s a bigger threat to passenger safety than any wannabe terrorist!

A breast cancer survivor was forced to remove her prosthetic breast. A bladder cancer survivor was left covered in his own urine when TSA workers caused his urostomy bag to burst. Children have been screaming through some very personal lessons in “bad touch.”

And in one case, a nursing mother who complained to the TSA after agents X-rayed bottles of pumped breast milk was singled out for retaliatory extra screening during her next trip.

Watch her 90-minute ordeal here.

Expect more stories like these, assuming people are still allowed to talk about them – because Uncle Sam has finally succeeded. He’s groped passenger rights away – and we might never get them back.

Happy New Year!

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