Michael Berger over at Nanowerk has filed a report about a novel nanoscale sensor platform developed by investigators at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Mainz in Germany. The most exciting thing for us about the platform, which is built upon membrane coated plasmonic particles, is in its ability to offer a local analysis of protein interaction with biological membranes, or as explained in the article, these nanoparticles “can serve as reporters for cellular reactions taking place on and within biological membranes.”
Read: Probing biomolecular interactions with single plasmonic nanoparticles…
Abstract: Protein–Membrane Interaction Probed by Single Plasmonic Nanoparticles ASAP Nano Lett., ASAP Article, 10.1021/nl080805l
Archives: 5/2008
Here’s an interesting idea. The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) is reporting that a Dutch investigator Tim Idzenga believes that a microphone attached to perineum in men can listen to changes in the sound of flowing urine during urination, potentially detecting hissing tones of benign prostatic hyperplasia. He even wants to commercialize the idea to develop a diagnostic system:
Elder men with voiding symptoms, such as a weak urinary stream and frequent voiding, often suffer from an enlarged prostate, clinically known as ‘Benign Prostatic Enlargement’ (BPE). However, a weak urinary stream and frequent voiding can also be caused by a weak bladder, for which a prostate operation does not help.
If BPE is suspected in a patient, the bladder pressure during voiding is measured using a catheter inserted into the bladder via the urethra. The urinary flow is simultaneously recorded. This investigation is time-consuming, painful and carries a risk of infection. On top of this, it is not carried out in all patients with BPE symptoms. Consequently, there is a need for a simple, painless measurement method for determining the resistance of the urethra and its location.
Tim Idzenga came up with the idea of using the sound produced by the urinary flow in the urethra as a measure of the urethral resistance. He performed the measurement by placing a microphone against the perineum, between the scrotum and anus. The frequency spectrum of the sound was found to correlate with the narrowing of the urethra. The degree of narrowing can therefore be determined from the recorded urinary sound.
A patent for this invention is being applied for in cooperation with the company IQ+ Medical BV. The method will be tested at the urology outpatient clinic of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. Besides the standard method, patients with voiding symptoms will also be asked to urinate with a microphone against the perineum.
NWO press release: Listening to the urinary stream…
Image credit: Wellcome images: Anatomy of the prostate. Colour artwork….
(hat tip: MTB Europe)
Leica Microsystems has introduced two new stereomicroscopes, Leica M205 FA (top) and M165 FC (below). The devices are based on the company’s innovative FusionOptic™ technology that utilizes normal human neurology to increase the resolution of stereomicroscopes (for details, see our Nov. 2007 post:FusionOptic™ technology).
German Healthcare Export Group provides the details:
The Leica M205 FA and M165 FC stereomicroscopes are Leica Microsystems‘ latest addition to its innovative M series for demanding fluorescence applications in developmental, molecular and cellular biology.
Combining the revolutionary FusionOptics™ technology with the successful TripleBeam™ principle, the fully automated Leica M205 FA creates fluorescence images of exceptional quality. Used for the first time in the M series, FusionOptics™ (patent pending) takes advantage of a neurological phenomenon: The left beam path produces great depth of field, while the right beam path provides a high-resolution image.
The human brain itself then combines the best information from both channels, using it to compose an image whose resolution and depth of field have never been achieved in any stereomicroscope before.
With its fully apochromatic optics, the largest zoom range on the market (20.5:1) and the top resolution performance of up to 1050 lp/mm, the Leica M205 FA is able to show the viewer details that used to be invisible.
The TripleBeam™ principle, with its patented third beam path reserved exclusively for fluorescence illumination, delivers evenly illuminated, reflex-free fields of view at all zoom settings. Besides this, the FluoCombi III™ objective revolver features the unique capability to exploit all the advantages of both stereo and high-resolution micro-objectives on one instrument with a simple switch. It enables parallaxfree imaging from overview magnification to the finest detail. Time-intensive studies of living organisms and documentation of complex images series and multifluorescence images are made possible and instantly reproducible by motorizing focus, zoom, filter changer, iris diaphragm fluorescence intensity manager and microscope stage.
An external SmartTouchTM control unit ensures convenient control of all microscope functions using a clearly arranged touch display and freely programmable control buttons. The microscope is fully integrated in the modular software solutions Leica AF6000 E to AF6000. For documentation, image overlay and time series, the Leica AF6000 E is recommended as an introductory software package. This can be upgraded to the Leica AF6000 as necessary to suit applications ranging from multi-channel fluorescence, time and z series with parallax correction to 3D reconstruction.
The Leica M165 FC continues the tradition of high-quality manual fluorescence stereomicroscopes. With this microscope, the classical stereo-optics approach has been exploited to the utmost optical limits. The fully apochromatically corrected 16.5:1 zoom – combined with TripleBeam™ and FluoCombi III™ – guarantees high-contrast fluorescence images down to the finest structures of the specimen. Encoded zoom, iris diaphragm and objective revolver allow configuration parameters and optical data to be reproducibly read out at the computer.
Product pages: Leica M205 FA and Leica M165 FC
German Healthcare Export Group: Leica Microsystems Combines FusionOpticsTM with TripleBeamTM…
For this one, your glasses ain’t gonna be much help. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be hosting for the second time the world’s most puny sport, and you are invited. This year, three student teams (Carnegie-Mellon University, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the University of Waterloo, from Ontario, Canada), will participate in a public exhibition at the 2008 US RoboCup Open in Pittsburgh, PA, May 25 to 27, a competition “where miniature “soccer players”–computer-driven robots six times smaller than an amoeba operating on a field the size of a grain of rice–will show off their skills.” So, what does it have to do with medicine? Consider the following:
The nanobots will be demonstrating agility, maneuverability, response to computer control and ability to move objects—all tools that future miniaturized mechanized workers will need for tasks such as microsurgery within the human body or the manufacturing of atom-sized components for microscopic electronic devices.
RoboCup is an annual international competition designed to foster innovations and advances in artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics by using the game of soccer as a testing ground. NIST’s goal in coordinating competitions between the world’s smallest robots is to show the feasibility and accessibility of technologies for fabricating MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS), tiny mechanical devices built onto semiconductor chips and measured in micrometers (millionth of a meter).
The soccer nanobots are operated by remote control under an optical microscope. They move in response to changing magnetic fields or electrical signals transmitted across the microchip arena. Although the bots are a few tens of micrometers to a few hundred micrometers long, they are considered “nanoscale” because their masses range from a few nanograms to a few hundred nanograms. They are manufactured from materials such as aluminum, nickel, gold, silicon and chromium.
Among the nanosoccer drills that will be demonstrated in Pittsburgh are the two-millimeter dash in which nanobots seek fast times for a goal-to-goal sprint across the playing field; a slalom course where the path between goals is blocked by “defenders” (polymer posts); and a ball handling exercise that requires robots to move “nanoballs” (spheres with the diameter of a human hair) into the goal. One team even plans to conduct its runs underwater to lessen friction.
RoboCup and NIST are jointly organizing the upcoming U.S. Open nanosoccer demonstration as the final step toward the first official Nanogram League competition for soccer nanobots at the 2009 international RoboCup event in Austria.
Full story: Public Invited to See Nanosoccer Robots in Action in Pittsburgh…
The FDA has given approval to Advanced Medical Optics to market the company’s new iFS™ Advanced Femtosecond Laser system, a 5th generation device, for IntraLASIK procedures.
Features of the device from the press release:
Capable of creating a corneal flap during the LASIK procedure in less than 10 seconds, the iFS(TM) Advanced Femtosecond Laser’s unique inverted bevel-in side cut angle is designed to provide a virtually effortless flap lift, increase post-operative flap adhesion and enhance the biomechanical stability of the post-LASIK cornea. With full customization capabilities, it also produces an elliptical flap to enhance surgical options and includes IntraLase-Enabled Keratoplasty (IEK).
Additional features of the 5th generation IntraLase femtosecond technology include:Higher repetition rate Tighter spot separation; lower energy High-resolution digital video microscope New contemporary user interface, keyboard and touch screen Ergonomic design for maximum surgeon comfort
Press release: Advanced Medical Optics Receives FDA Clearance For iFS(TM) Advanced Femtosecond Laser …
The title seems to speak enough for itself. This thing could also be used orally or underarm.
More on the craze at Cartoon Brew…
Product page: Musical SpongeBob™ Digital Thermometer …
Argonne Laboratory researchers have developed a method to align molecules using lasers, which may eliminate the need to crystallize large groups of molecules for synchrotron X-ray diffraction.
Crystallization allows scientists to create a periodic structure that will strongly diffract in specific directions when bombarded with X-rays. From the resulting diffraction pattern, scientists can construct a real-space image of the crystal. However, without crystallization, when X-rays collide with multiple, randomly oriented molecules, they diffract in different directions, making it impossible to create a composite diffraction image, said Argonne Physicist Robin Santra.
Some molecules, such as many involved with drug interaction, cannot be crystallized, and imaging would require numerous samples to bombard in order to get a full composite picture. Young’s laser technique allows for millions of molecules suspended in a gaseous state to be aligned so that, when bombarded with X-rays, they all diffract in the same way. The resulting images are at atomic level resolution and do not require crystallization.
“Understanding the structure of the approximately 1 million human proteins that cannot be crystallized is perhaps the most important challenge facing structural biology,” Young said. “A method for structure determination at atomic resolution without the need to crystallize would be revolutionary.”
Young and her team have successfully aligned molecules using a laser, probed the aligned ensemble with X-rays and shown theoretically that the technique could be used for X-ray imaging – see E. R. Peterson et al., Applied Physics Letters 92, 094106 (2008) – but they require a proposed upgrade to the Advanced Photon Source facility located at Argonne before X-ray diffraction can be done experimentally.
Press release: Argonne scientists use lasers to align molecules …
St. Jude Medical is giddy with excitement about the results of four studies presented at Heart Rhythm Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Sessions in San Francisco this week. The multicenter studies have shown that the company’s Riata ST Optim leads, designed for implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) devices, perform extremely well in clinical settings. The company describes these leads as “highly advanced tachycardia pacing leads, with an overlay of St. Jude Medical’s innovative Optim insulation and a design intended to ease implant, and promote reliability.”
The studies analyzed the experience of 7,498 patients who were implanted with Riata leads as part of their implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) systems. All sites participating in the four studies (ACT, OPTIMUM, RHYTHM and PAS; see below for a description of the studies) were monitored. To ensure the data were as accurate as possible, each patient’s source records were individually reviewed to be certain that all lead-related complications (further sub-categorized as fracture, insulation damage, perforation or dislodgment) were reported.
The data showed that adverse event rates for all categories of lead-related complications were very low. Overall, the Riata leads’ fracture rates were 0.09 percent (9 in 10,000), insulation damage rates were 0.13 percent (13 in 10,000, with no insulation failures exhibited in Riata leads utilizing Optim(R) insulation), perforation rates were 0.31 percent (31 in 10,000), and dislodgement rates were 0.88 percent (88 in 10,000). These adverse events rates are significantly lower than many previously reported rates in the medical literature on ICD leads.
The results are believed to be the largest and broadest analysis of lead-related complications ever to be presented, especially with complete data monitoring, and unlike reports of single-center experiences or case reports, should best represent real-world experience in a wide range of implanter’s hands.
The results from these studies are particularly significant given the duration of follow-up, which was a median of 22 months for the four studies.
Press release: Results from Studies Evaluating High-Voltage Lead Performance Presented at Heart Rhythm Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Sessions …
Product page: Riata® ST OptimTM Defibrillation Lead …
