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US detects North Korea missile launch

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US detects North Korea missile launch By Zachary Cohen and Barbara Starr , CNN Updated 1624 GMT (0024 HKT) July 28, 2017 One thing to know about North Korea's missiles North Korea missile launch ceremony taunts US Trump urges China to act on North Korea Trump calls North Korea a 'menace' How far can a North Korean missile reach? How the Kim dynasty has shaped North Korea Footage emerges of North Korea missile test How much damage can North Korea's weapons do? US detects N. Korea missile launch Why does North Korea hate the US? Footage emerges of North Korea's ICBM launch What is North Korea's mysterious Office 39? What it's really like to be inside North Korea Celebrity defector returns to North Korea One thing to know about North Korea's ...
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Holographic imaging could be used to detect signs of life in space

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Holographic imaging could be used to detect signs of life in space Engineers explore ways to sample and identify living microbes in the outer solar system Date: July 21, 2017 Source: California Institute of Technology Summary: Engineers say a method called digital holographic microscopy could be used to detect living microbes in space. Share: FULL STORY Plumes water ice and vapor spray from many locations near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus, as documented by the Cassini-Huygens mission. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute We may be capable of finding microbes in space -- but if we did, could we tell what they were, and that they were alive? This month the journal Astrobiology is publishing a special issue dedicated to the search for signs of life on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Included is a paper from Caltech's Jay Nadeau and ...
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Glowing tumor technology helpssurgeons remove hidden cancer cellsCombining intraoperative imaging with PET scanshelps surgeons identify malignant nodulesJuly 27, 2017University of Pennsylvania School ofMedicineSurgeons were able to identify and remove agreater number of cancerous nodules fromlung cancer patients when combiningintraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) --through the use of a contrast agent thatmakes tumor cells glow during surgery --with preoperative positron emissiontomograph y (PET) scans. This study showshow effective the combination of IMI withthe tumor-glowing agent can be whencombined with traditional PET imaging.a b v e g dCite This Page:University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "Glowingtumor technology helps surgeons remove hidden cancer cells:Combining intraoperative imaging with PET scans helpssurgeons identify malignant nodules." ScienceDaily.ScienceDaily, 27 July 2017. .FULL STORYCancer cells glow during surgery.Credit: Penn MedicineSurgeons were able to identify and remove agreater number of cancerous nodules from lungcancer patients when combining intraoperativemolecular imaging (IMI) -- through the use of acontrast agent that makes tumor cells glow duringsurgery -- with preoperative positron emissiontomography (PET) scans. The study from theAbramson Cancer Center at the University ofPennsylvania (ACC) is the first to show howeffective the combination of IMI with the tumor-glowing agent can be when combined withtraditional PET imaging. Researchers publishedtheir findings today in Annals of Surgery."Surgically removing tumors still leads to the best outcomesin cancer patients, and this study shows intraoperativemolecular imaging can improve the surgeries themselves,"said the study's lead author Jarrod D. Predina, MD, MS, a post-doctoral research fellow in the Thoracic Surgery ResearchLaboratory and the ACC's Center for Precision Surgery. "Themore we can improve surgeries, the better the outcomes forthese patients will be."Pulmonary nodules are small growths in the lung. Doctorsdiscover them in about 250,000 Americans each year. In80,000 of those patients, the nodules are suspicious enoughto warrant surgery. PET scans are standard before theseprocedures, and studies have shown they can detectmalignancies in the nodules 90 percent of the time. Butresearch has also shown these scans have limitations. Theycan't usually show tumors smaller than a centimeter. Theyalso can't distinguish between cancerous growths and benigninflammatory diseases like infections. And importantly, scanstaken before surgery don't give surgeons real-time guidanceonce the procedure begins.In order to get live imaging during surgery, Penn researchersused a near-infrared contrast agent called OTL38 that makestumor cells glow. In past studies, they've shown it can detectmalignant nodules as small as three millimeters -- roughlyone-third of the length of a shirt button.For this study, they combined PET imaging and IMI for 50patients having surgery to remove lung nodules. All of thepatients underwent a pre-operative PET scan within 30 days oftheir procedure. These scans identified a total of 66 nodules.During the operation, IMI identified 60 of the 66 previouslyknown nodules, or 91 percent. In addition, doctors used IMIto identify nine additional nodules that were undetected bythe PET scan or by traditional intraoperative monitoring.Between PET and IMI, a total of 75 nodules were identified.Researchers found that PET was accurate in determining ifnodules were cancerous in 51 of them (68 percent). Bycomparison, IMI alone was accurate in 68 cases (91 percent).IMI further improved diagnostics in 30 percent of the patientsevaluated with this approach. In about 10 percent of patients,IMI helped surgeons find cancer that would have otherwisebeen missed by standard imaging like CT or PET."This shows the contrast agent is allowing us to remove morecancer from the patient than we would have with PET imagingalone," said the study's senior author Sunil Singhal, MD, theWilliam Maul Measey Associate Professor in Surgical Researchand director of the ACC's Center for Precision Surgery.Singhal is quick to point out that this study does not devaluethe role of PET scans."PET imaging still has an important role to play in developingtreatment plans for patients, but given its limitations, it's clearthat IMI with this contrast agent can improve the picturesurgeons are seeing," Singhal said. "That's especially true whenyou're talking about nodules that are only a centimeter orsmaller."Researchers also say this study lays the groundwork for futureresearch involving OTL38. They're currently evaluating thistechnology in a formal, multi-center trial that will be the firstPhase II study of molecular imaging in the United States.They're also exploring the effectiveness of additional contrastagents, some of which they expect to be available in clinicwithin a few months. They will also keep track of thesepatients to find out if these improved surgeries help patientslive longer. These cancers also come back within five years in25 to 30 percent of cases, so they hope to show theseprocedures lower that recurrence rate.Story Source:Materials provided by University of Pennsylvania School ofMedicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Living computers: RNA circuits transform cells into nanodevices

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Living computers: RNA circuits transform cells into nanodevices Date: July 26, 2017 Source: Arizona State University Summary: Scientists have demonstrated how living cells can be induced to carry out computations in the manner of tiny robots or computers. Share: FULL STORY Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is used to create logic circuits capable of performing various computations. In new experiments, Green and his colleagues have incorporated RNA logic gates into living bacterial cells, which act like tiny computers. Credit: Graphic by Jason Drees for the Biodesign Institute The interdisciplinary nexus of biology and engineering, known as synthetic biology, is growing at a rapid pace, opening new vistas that could scarcely be imagined a short time ago. In new research, Alex Green, a professor at ASU's Biodesign Institute, demonstrates how living cells can be in...
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