Consumer DNA tests have taken off in popularity, promising to give you clues to your heritage and health. But after the test is done, who owns your personal genetic data? Bloomberg QuickTake explains why you should think twice before sending in that vial.
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A new form of electronics manufacturing which embeds silicon nanowires into flexible surfaces could lead to radical new forms of bendable electronics, scientists say.
In a new paper published today in the journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering, engineers from the University of Glasgow describe how they have for the first time been able to affordably ‘print’ high-mobility semiconductor nanowires onto flexible surfaces to develop high-performance ultra-thin electronic layers.
Those surfaces, which can be bent, flexed and twisted, could lay the foundations for a wide range of applications including video screens, improved health monitoring devices, implantable devices and synthetic skin for prosthetics.
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Autophagy is how our cells recycle their components. Most of the time it runs quietly in the background. But when cells are stressed (such as during fasting or in the presence of dysfunctional proteins) it is increased in order to protect us. Read on to learn about autophagy, its definition and how it works, autophagy regulation, and how to increase autophagy through things like fasting.
Discover the exact, genetic factors in your body that are affecting autophagy with SelfDecode, the most powerful genetic health analysis tool available.
Continue reading “What is Autophagy? Definition, Benefits, 25 Ways to Increase It” »
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a drug-delivery system that allows rapid response to heart attacks without surgical intervention. In laboratory and animal testing, the system proved to be effective at dissolving clots, limiting long-term scarring to heart tissue and preserving more of the heart’s normal function.
“Our approach would allow health-care providers to begin treating heart attacks before a patient reaches a surgical suite, hopefully improving patient outcomes,” says Ashley Brown, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor in the Joint Biomedical Engineering Program (BME) at NC State and UNC. “And because we are able to target the blockage, we are able to use powerful drugs that may pose threats to other parts of the body; the targeting reduces the risk of unintended harms.”
Heart attacks, or myocardial infarctions, occur when a thrombus – or clot – blocks a blood vessel in the heart. In order to treat heart attacks, doctors often perform surgery to introduce a catheter to the blood vessel, allowing them to physically break up or remove the thrombus. But not all patients have quick access to surgical care.
Continue reading “New system allows rapid response to heart attacks, limits cardiac damage” »
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The data captured helps better understand human movement.
This Japanese robot can do push-ups, play badminton, and could help us better understand our bodies.
Continue reading “Japanese exercise robot could help us understand our bodies” »
The WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases developed the guide to help boost public health by using crowdsourcing, where a group of experts and non-experts solve a problem and then share the solution with the public.
Researchers can get too close to their subject and a layman’s intuition can achieve medical breakthroughs, as World Health Organisation crowdsourcing initiatives continue to show.
