July 31st, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News
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Researchers at Northeastern University are using nanosensors implanted into the skin — similar to a tattoo — and a modified iPhone to measure sodium and glucose levels in patients. The implications for this could be tremendous, but first, here’s how it works:
“The team begins by injecting a solution containing carefully chosen nanoparticles into the skin. This leaves no visible mark, but the nanoparticles will fluoresce when exposed to a target molecule, such as sodium or glucose. A modified iPhone then tracks changes in the level of fluorescence, which indicates the amount of sodium or glucose present.”
For patients who are diabetics, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
April 8th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
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University of Florida researchers have developed a signaling technology that can be embedded into drug tablets to notify clinicians and caretakers that a pill has been ingested.
Although a bit of electronics is going to be moving through the digestive system, the researchers believe that it will pass safely without causing side effects to the patient.
If the technology proves itself, it may soon be used to confirm compliance in clinical trials or to monitor patients under a strict drug regimen.
One part is the pill, a standard white capsule coated with a label embossed with silvery lines. The lines comprise the antenna, which is printed using ink made of non-toxic, conductive silver nanoparticles. The pill also contains a tiny microchip, one about the size of a period on paper. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
February 11th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
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New cancer targeting nanoparticles seem like daily news here at Medgadget. Today we have gold nanoparticles developed jointly by researchers at Rice University and A.V. Lykov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute in Minsk, Belarus that create plasmonic nanobubbles when targeted with a laser. These particles can be guided to a tumor by antibodies and then activated to generate tiny explosions, so clinicians one day will be able to stay back and enjoy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
October 5th, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
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We have known for many years that melittin, an ingredient in bee venom, is a poison to tumor cells. Development of therapeutic uses of the substance has been stymied by the fact that melittin does damage to healthy cells as well. Now researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have developed nanoparticles called “nanobees” that can ferry the melittin directly to tumor cells with great specificity.
The Wall Street Journal reports: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
October 1st, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
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An international team of collaborators from a number of academic institutions and a couple pharmaceutical firms has been working with researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study how special sugar coated iron oxide nanoparticles interact with each other to destroy cancer cells under laboratory conditions. The 100 nanometer wide particles, which are attracted by tumor cells, are particularly prone to magnetically induced heating.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*