Australian-German research finds world-first cure for deadly skin disease

Sydney, (IANS): Researchers from Australia and Germany have for the first time cured patients suffering from toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), a deadly skin disease, said a news release on Monday.An international collaboration, including researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, has developed the first-ever cure for TEN in a breakthrough study published in Nature, WEHI said in a news release on Monday.Also known as Lyell's syndrome, TEN is a rare skin disease that causes widespread blistering and detachment of the skin and can lead to dehydration, sepsis, pneumonia and organ failure, Xinhua news agency reported.The potentially deadly condition is triggered by a severe adverse reaction to common medications and has a mortality rate of approximately 30 per cent.The new study identified a hyperactivation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway - a chain of interactions between proteins in a cell that is involved in processes such as immunity, cell death and tumour formation - as a driver of TEN.By using JAK inhibitors - an existing class of drugs used to treat inflammatory diseases - they were able to treat patients with TEN."Finding a cure for lethal diseases like this is the holy grail of medical research. I am beyond proud of this...

Read More........→November 13, 2024

Scientists Studying Crows Get Big Surprise –They’re So Smart They Understand the Concept of Zero

Chuck Homler, DBA Focus on Wildlife/CC license 4.0Building on substantial evidence of crow consciousness, a German university has proven some crows can learn to recognize ‘zero’ as a counting unit. While that sounds ridiculous, zero is not nothing, rather it’s one of the most complex mathematical concepts devised—that something can and should represent nothing, not only as the base value, but as a placeholder. The work comes from the University of Tübingen in Germany, where professor Andreas Nieder works with carrion crows to perform intelligence tests. “The conception of “nothing” as number “zero” is celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in mathematics,” wrote Nieder in his paper. “We show that crows can grasp the empty set as a null numerical quantity that is mentally represented next to number one.” Exactly how this breakthrough was made is straightforward and did not involve birds watching Sesame Street. The crows were shown two sets of dots on a screen and were taught to indicate if the two screens had the same values. There could be between zero and four dots. Exactly as with 1, 2, 3, and 4—when the screens showed no dots, neurons in the crow’s brain demonstrated it was understanding this was a numeric value, but that it was a numeric value that contained nothing. Sometimes the crows made mistakes, often by thinking...

Read More........→May 01, 2024

World's first 100% hydrogen-powered train now runs in Germany

Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, on Wednesday announced the launch of the world’s first hydrogen powered train, the Coradia iLint, setting another historical milestone. The train has started plying on the world’s premiere 100 per cent hydrogen train route in Bremervörde, Lower Saxony, Germany, for passenger service. This regional train only emits steam and condensed water while operating with a low level of noise. Altom has developed 14 vehicles with fuel cell propulsion for Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG). LNVG had started looking for alternatives to diesel trains in 2012, providing the momentum for the development of the trains in Germany. Other project partners for this world debut are the Elbe-Weser railways and transport company (evb) and the gas and engineering company Linde. “Emission free mobility is one of the most important goals for ensuring a sustainable future and Alstom has a clear ambition to become the world leader in alternative propulsion systems for rail. The world’s first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, demonstrates our clear commitment to green mobility combined with state-of-the-art technology. We are very proud to bring this technology into series operation as part of a world premiere, together with our great partners,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO and chairman...

Read More........→February 17, 2023

Coronavirus can enter the brain through the nose: A study claimed

By : Sentinel Digital Desk | 2 Dec 2020 11:29 AM Berlin: A study conducted by researchers from Charite-Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Germany claimed that the novel coronavirus can enter people's brains through their nose. The study was published in the journal 'Nature Neuroscience'. And at this time, the importance of this study is believed to be huge as with the help of the findings of the study it will now be possible to find out why neurological symptoms are observed in patients during Covid-19 disease and how to treat them. Also Read - Indonesia: Thousands evacuated as volcano erupts According to the study published in the journal 'Nature Neuroscience', SARS-COV-2 affects not only the respiratory system but also the central nervous system (CNS) causing different neurological symptoms such as snoring, loss of taste recognition, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness, etc. The researchers at the University of Charite, Germany examined the nasopharynx -- the upper part of the throat that connects to the nasal cavity -- a likely first site of viral infection and replication, and the brains of 33 patients -- 22 males and 11 females -- who died with COVID-19. Also Read - PDM's fifth power show calls for Imran Khan's ouster Although the latest study has described the presence of viral Ribonucleic acid (RNA) and 'cerebrospinal fluid' in...

Read More........→December 02, 2020

Healthy sex reduces migraines by 80 pc!

Many people suffer from the unbearable pain of migraine. Many people do not have the condition to move the neck and head in pain. Migraine headaches can be caused mainly by anxiety or climate change. Medications or rules provide temporary relief from this pain, but it reappears after a while. However, this time the researchers found a cure for migraine pain. According to them, healthy sex can reduce the risk of migraines. Researchers from the Department of Neurology at the University of Münster in Germany recently published a report in Cephalalgia, The Journal of the International Headache Society. There, the experimental results of the scientists and some statistics are published. They claim that regular healthy sex has a direct effect on the hypothalamus of the brain. It can reduce the pain of migraines by about 80 percent. Researchers studied 350 migraine sufferers in New York for almost two years. One group is advised to have sex with their partner. The other team was deprived of that opportunity. Over time, about 75 percent of those who have had regular sex have recovered from migraine headaches. In the days since the onset of migraine pain, three out of every five people have been released from the pain. Researchers have also explained that matter. According to them, endorphin hormones are dripped by the...

Read More........→July 26, 2020

Bionic kangaroo produces its own energy, human gestures control every move

© Photo: Voice of Russia A bionic kangaroo has been built and is producing its own energy. Festo, a German automation firm, has made the robotic animal listen to human gestures in order for it to move about. The robotic creature stores up and uses the kinetic energy from its own movements. Weighing in at 15.4 pounds and topping off at about three feet, three inches tall the robot does not move as swiftly as its natural-born counterpart. Inventors took more than two years to develop the tech animal, with its body parts consisting of elastic tendons, pneumatics and servos to create enough energy to hop about as the animal's signature move. Inside of each leg is a pneumatic cylinder paired with an elastic tendon. When the robotic creature is switched on, the tendons are already pre-tensed and the robot leans forward in turn shifting its center of gravity. The creature's pneumatic cylinders release the tendons only once the perfect angle with the best velocity is achieved—then the robot jumps into the air. Moving the legs forward and lifting the tail are servos. It converts the kinetic energy from the jump into stored energy when it executes its landing. In addition to the robotic kangaroo being able to generate its own energy, it uses lithium polymer rechargeable batteries, which can be taken out of the kangaroo to be charged...

Read More........→June 09, 2016

Gravitational waves detected for the first time

Credits: R. Hurt/Caltech-JPL In a historical scientific landmark, researchers have announced the first detection of gravitational waves, as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity 100 years ago. This major discovery opens a new era of astronomy. For the first time, scientists have directly observed "ripples" in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. The observation was made at 09:50:45 GMT on 14th September 2015, when two black holes collided. However, given the enormous distance involved and the time required for light to reach us, this event actually occurred some 1.3 billion years ago, during the mid-Proterozoic Eon. For context, this is so far back that multicellular life here on Earth was only just beginning to spread. The signal came from the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, in the rough direction of (but much further away than) the Magellanic Clouds. The two black holes were spinning together as a binary pair, turning around each other several tens of times a second, until they eventually collided at half the speed of light. These objects were 36 and 29 times the mass of our Sun. As their...

Read More........→February 15, 2016

A Deep Look Into A Single Molecule

Credit: PTB The quantum state of a molecular ion has been measured live and in a non-destructive fashion for the first time. The interaction of thermal energy from the environment with motional degrees of freedom is well known and often referred to as Brownian motion (also thermal motion). But in the case of polar molecules, the internal degrees of freedom - in particular the rotational quantum state - are also influenced by the thermal radiation. So far, the detection of the rotational state was only possible by destroying the molecule. However, a German research group has now demonstrated the first implementation of a non-destructive state detection technique for molecular ions. Piet Schmidt and his colleagues from the QUEST-Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) observed changes in the rotational state of a trapped and indirectly cooled molecular ion in real time and in situ. This technique enables novel spectroscopy methods with applications ranging from chemistry to tests of fundamental physics. The results are published in the current issue of "Nature". Basic concept of the experiment: MgH+ (orange) and Mg+ (green) are trapped together in a linear ion trap. The two-ion compound is cooled to the motional ground state via the atomic ion. An oscillating dipole force changes the motional state according...

Read More........→February 15, 2016

Genes for longer and healthier life identified

From a 'haystack' of 40,000 genes in three different organisms, scientists have found genes that are involved in physical aging. If you influence only one of these genes, the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals is extended – and possibly that of humans, too. Driven by the quest for eternal youth, humankind has spent centuries obsessed with the question of how exactly it is that we age. With advancements in molecular genetics in recent decades, the search for genes involved in the aging process has greatly accelerated. Until now, this was mostly limited to genes of individual model organisms such as the C. elegans nematode, which revealed that around 1% of its genes could influence life expectancy. However, researchers have long assumed that such genes arose during the course of evolution and in all living beings whose cells preserved a nucleus – from yeast to humans. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the JenAge consortium in Germany have now systematically gone through the genomes of three different organisms in search of the genes associated with the aging process that are present in all three species – and thus, derived from a common ancestor. Although they are found in different organisms, these so-called orthologous genes are closely related to each other, and they are all found in humans, too. To detect them, researchers...

Read More........→January 17, 2016

Zen Meditation Improves Sense of Touch: Mental States Induce Neuroplasticity and Learning

Credit: Wikipedia A study conducted with experienced scholars of Zen-Meditation shows that mental focussing can induce learning mechanisms, similar to physical training. Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University München discovered this phenomenon during a scientifically monitored meditation retreat. The journal “Scientific Reports”, from the makers of “Nature”, has now published their new findings on the plasticity of the brain.  Participants of the study use a special meditation technique: The participants were all Zen-scholars with many years of meditation practice. They were scientifically escorted during a four-day Zen-retreat in the spiritual center “Benediktushof”, Germany. The retreat was held in complete silence, with at least eight hours of meditation per day. All participants practiced their familiar meditation, which is characterized by a non-specific monitoring of thoughts and surroundings. Additionally, some participants applied a special finger-meditation for two hours per day, during which they were asked to specifically focus on their right index finger and become aware of spontaneously arising sensory percepts in this finger. Subsequent assessment of the group that practiced finger-meditation showed a significant improvement in the tactile acuity of the right...

Read More........→September 15, 2015

Shhh! Your baby learning in sleep too

© Flickr.com/ robscomputer/cc-by-2.0 London: While infants sleep, they are reprocessing what they have learnt during the day, a study has found. Working with researchers from the University of Tubingen, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany discovered that babies of the age from nine to 16 months remember the names of objects better if they had a short nap. And only after sleeping can they transfer the learnt names to similar new objects. The infant brain thus forms general categories during sleep, converting experience into knowledge. The results show that sleep significantly affects memory organisation even in the infant brain - and at a time when memory is growing on a massive scale. "The waking infant brain quickly forgets newly-learnt names, but during sleep, words are more durably linked to objects and imprinted," said Angela Friederici, director at Max Planck Institute. The researchers also showed that the formation of categories is closely related to a typical rhythmic activity of the sleeping brain called "sleep spindles". Infants with high "sleep spindle" activity are particularly good at generalising their experiences and developing new knowledge while sleeping. In order to study the impact of sleep on infant memory, the team invited parents to...

Read More........→August 12, 2015

Soon, your smartphone can tell if you are pregnant

Berlin, July 2Small add-on devices could allow your smartphone to take pregnancy tests or monitor diabetes, scientists say. Researchers at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT), University of Hanover, Germany, have developed a self-contained fibre optic sensor for smartphones with the potential for use in a wide variety of biomolecular tests, including those for detecting pregnancy or monitoring diabetes. According to the researchers, the readings of the sensor can run through an application on a smartphone which provide real-time results. When properly provisioned, the smartphone user has the ability to monitor multiple types of body fluids, including blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath. In case of medical applications, the sensor readings can be combined with the GPS signal of a smartphone and users can then be guided to the next drug store, hospital or the ambulance, the researchers said. The sensor uses the optical phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) - which occurs when light causes electrons on the surface of a thin film to jostle - to detect the composition of a liquid or the presence of particular biomolecules or trace gases. "We have the potential to develop small and robust lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones. So, surface plasmon resonance sensors could become ubiquitous now," said Kort Bremer,...

Read More........→July 18, 2015

World’s First Time-controlled Molecular Self-Organization

Credit: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) Technologies Division) developed a method for preprogramming the timing of molecules to initiate self-organization by mixing molecules with modified side chains.  (a) Previously reported porphyrin molecule 1; (b) two kinds of self-organization in which porphyrin molecule 1 is able to take part. A particulate structure is formed early, but that disappears with time and then a fibrous structure is formed; (c) self-organization involving molecule 1 to form a fibrous structure begins in about four hours The results of this research will be published in the German Chemical Society’s journal “Angewandte Chemie International Edition” in the near future. Molecular self-organization is widely observed in nature, and is a critical phenomenon in terms of developingsystems that perform complex functions as seen in such natural mechanisms as photosynthesis and neurocircuits. Attempts have been made to develop new materials capable of executing advanced functions using the principle behind the phenomenon of molecular self-organization. However, due to the spontaneous nature of molecular self-organization, it is extremely difficult to control the phenomenon by design. In particular, almost no research had been conducted to control the timing of the self-organization phenomenon including...

Read More........→December 29, 2014

Venus Fly Trap -- Medicine?

Scientists have found that the Venus Fly Trap is a potential source of treatment for cancer, mainly skin cancer. Venus Fly Trap extract is used in a mixture called Carnivora, which is the compound that can "cure": Skin cancer Colitis Crohn's disease Rheumatoid arthritis Sclerosis, Neurodermatitis Chronic fatigue syndrome HIV and multiple types of herpes Amongst these diseases are not only deadly and fatal, but also common diseases that affect large majorities of people. The use of Venus Fly Trap Extract started in 1970, where a German physician used its contents on Cancerous cells to determine whether it could "digest" the abnormal cells. Later on, a formula called Carnivora was created, potentially "curing" Cancer. Today, scientists find that Venus Fly Trap Extract is not only used for Cancer, but other diseases as well. In fact, scientists have tested the enzymes and the chemicals within the plant that helps to break down the cancerous proteins in tumors. However, Carnivora is considered by law, incomplete. There are plenty of unknown side effects that may Advertisement for the Carnivora formula occur. The FDA, or the Food and Drug Administration does not approve the use of  Carnivora, unless the patient requires or asks of it. The Venus Fly Trap Extract has been used and successfully tested on animal subjects,...

Read More........→September 20, 2014

Scientist suggests Starbucks analyze brainwaves to calculate best coffee price

A German scientist has suggested that we are paying less for a cup of delicious steaming coffee than we should – and came up with a method that would allow coffee sellers to calculate how far they could ratchet up their prices. According to the Daily Mail, German neurobiologist Kai-Markus Müller has figured people would be willing to pay up as much as €2.40 for a small coffee, while a Starbucks in Stuttgart charges only €1.80. He said that by measuring customers' brainwaves companies could test if they were selling their products for the maximum price without putting their clients off. In the coffee experiment, the scientist showed people the same cup of coffee on a screen several times but with different prices while monitoring their brain's activity. He found out that people strongly reacted to prices that seemed too low or too high, such as 10 cents or €10 per cup, but didn’t seem to object when the price went above the customary €1.80. “In other words, the company is missing out on millions in profits, because it is not fully exploiting consumers' willingness to pay money,” Dr. Müller said. Voice of Russia, Daily Mail, Source: Articl...

Read More........→March 16, 2014

Chimpanzees Are Rational, Not Conformists

Higher rewards himpanzees are sensitive to social influences but they maintain their own strategy to solve a problem rather than conform to what the majority of group members are doing. However, chimpanzees do change their strategy when they can obtain greater rewards, MPI researchers found. The study was published in PLOS ONE on November 28, 2013. Chimpanzees are known for their curious nature. They show a rich palette of learning behaviour, both individually and socially. But they are also rather  hesitant  to abandon their personal preferences, even when that familiar behaviour becomes extremely ineffective. Under which circumstances would chimpanzees flexibly adjust their behaviour? Edwin van Leeuwen and colleagues from the MPI's for Psycholinguistics and Evolutionary Anthropology conducted a series of experiments in Germany and Zambia to answer this question. Wooden balls for peanuts The researchers studied 16 captive chimpanzees at the Wolfgang Kohler Primate Research Center in Germany (Leipzig) and 12 semi-wild chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust, a sanctuary that houses more than a hundred chimpanzees under nearly natural conditions in the north-western part of Zambia. Chimpanzees were trained on two different vending machines. A minority of the group was made familiar with one machine...

Read More........→December 23, 2013

One step closer: new gene therapy may completely cure AIDS

A new way to treat AIDS has been discovered by an Australian researcher. Tests on animals will begin soon, but five years remain until they can be conducted on humans. David Harrich, an associate professor at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) may have found a solution to cure HIV. This is the result of experiments with HIV protein and a gene known as Tat. Harrich himself says that the modified substance does not have any harmful effect on human cells, but he must still put it through very rigorous testing. First it will be tested on mice then in five years on humans. The idea of gene therapy gained popularity after the case of the Berlin Patient. The patient was cured of HIV after he had been transplanted bone marrow with a mutant form of the protein. Voice of Russia, FoxNews, Source: Voice of Russi...

Read More........→April 07, 2013

Galileo IOV take-off

The quartet of navigation satellites will operate from medium orbit 23 222 km above Earth. This is a significant milestone for Europe’s Galileo programme because four is the minimum number required for navigational fixes, enabling full system testing whenever they are all visible in the sky. Galileo IOV-2 launch [flight VS03] Soyuz VS03 liftoff The Soyuz ST-B launcher carrying the next two Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites take off on 18:15:00 GMT (20:15:00 CEST). Deployment of its twin satellites into orbit is scheduled for three hours 44 minutes after take-off. Separation of the two Galileo satellites from Fregat stage This In-Orbit Validation phase will be followed by the deployment of more satellites and ground segment to achieve ‘Full Operational Capability’. After that, users on the ground can exploit the services. Four Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites in medium-Earth orbit, the minimum number needed to perform a navigation fix. The first four Galileo satellites were built by a consortium led by EADS Astrium, Germany, with Astrium producing the platforms and Astrium UK responsible for the payloads. They were assembled and tested in Rome by Thales Alenia Space. For more information about Arianespace, visit: http://www.arianespace.com/index/index.asp, ESA - Navigation - The future - Galileo: http://www.esa.int/esaNA/galileo.html,...

Read More........→March 07, 2013

Celestial Fireworks When Milky Way's Giant Black Hole Swallowed A Satellite Galaxy

Julie Turner, Vanderbilt University These days the core of the Milky Way galaxy is a pretty tame place...cosmically speaking. The galactic black hole at the center is a sleeping giant. Existing stars are peacefully circling. Although conditions are favorable, there doesn’t even seem to be much new star formation going on. But there is growing evidence that several million years ago the galactic center was the site of all manner of celestial fireworks. A pair of assistant professors – Kelly Holley-Bockelmann at Vanderbilt and Tamara Bogdanović at Georgia Institute of Technology – have come up with an explanation that fits these “forensic” clues. Artist's illustration of a satellite galaxy on a collision course with the galactic black hole. Writing in the March 6 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the astronomers describe how a single event – a violent collision and merger between the galactic black hole and an intermediate-sized black hole in one of the small “satellite galaxies” that circle the Milky Way – could have produced the features that point to a more violent past for the galactic core. “Tamara and I had just attended an astronomy conference in Aspen, Colorado, where several of these new observations were announced,” said Holley-Bockelmann. “It was January 2010 and a snow storm had closed...

Read More........→March 05, 2013

Birth Of A Giant Planet: Candidate Protoplanet Spotted Inside Its Stellar Womb

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve our understanding of how planets form and allow astronomers to test the current theories against an observable target. This artist’s impression shows the formation of a gas giant planet in the ring of dust around the young star HD 100546. This system is also suspected to contain another large planet orbiting closer to the star. The newly-discovered object lies about 70 times further from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. This protoplanet is surrounded by a thick cloud of material so that, seen from this position, its star almost invisible and red in colour because of the scattering of light from the dust. An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has studied the disc of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbour located 335 light-years from Earth. They were surprised to find what seems to be a planet in the process of being formed, still embedded in the disc of material around the young star. The candidate planet would be a gas giant similar to Jupiter. “So far, planet formation has mostly been a topic tackled...

Read More........→March 01, 2013