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Biotech

Injecting Liquid Metal Into Blood Vessels Could Help Kill Tumors 111

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the accidentally-colossus dept.
KentuckyFC (1144503) writes One of the most interesting emerging treatments for certain types of cancer aims to starve the tumor to death. The strategy involves destroying or blocking the blood vessels that supply a tumor with oxygen and nutrients. Without its lifeblood, the unwanted growth shrivels up and dies. This can be done by physically blocking the vessels with blood clots, gels, balloons, glue, nanoparticles and so on. However, these techniques have never been entirely successful because the blockages can be washed away by the blood flow and the materials do not always fill blood vessels entirely, allowing blood to flow round them. Now Chinese researchers say they've solved the problem by filling blood vessels with an indium-gallium alloy that is liquid at body temperature. They've tested the idea in the lab on mice and rabbits. Their experiments show that the alloy is relatively benign but really does fill the vessels, blocks the blood flow entirely and starves the surrounding tissue of oxygen and nutrients. The team has also identified some problems such as the possibility of blobs of metal being washed into the heart and lungs. Nevertheless, they say their approach is a promising injectable tumor treatment.

Comment Re:No, school should not be year-round. (Score 1) 421

by Shadow of Eternity (#47644523) Attached to: Slashdot Asks: Should Schooling Be Year-Round?

American schools brag about how they assign more hours of homework than there are hours in the day, start so early that at some schools (like my own highschool) students need to start getting up as early as 4-5am, see recess as optional, and serve such terrible food in such small quantities that hunger alone hurts kids grades.
Biotech

DNA Project 'to Make UK World Genetic Research Leader' 65

Posted by timothy from the looking-for-the-true-descendants-of-arthur dept.
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes A project aiming to revolutionise medicine by unlocking the secrets of DNA is under way in centres across England. Prime Minister David Cameron has said it "will see the UK lead the world in genetic research within years". The first genetic codes of people with cancer or rare diseases, out of a target of 100,000, have been sequenced. Experts believe it will lead to targeted therapies and could make chemotherapy "a thing of the past". Just one human genome contains more than three billion base pairs — the building blocks of DNA. Prof Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "I can see a future where genetics is going to come into every bit of medicine from cardiology to oncology to infectious diseases." "Twenty years from now there's going to be a plethora of those, we will have a series of mutations which academics and industry will have developed therapies for, which will be targeted at you and specific for that cancer." He said chemotherapy, which attacks all dividing cells in the body, would be replaced with such therapies. "We will look back in 20 years' time and think of blockbuster chemotherapy [as] a thing of the past and we'll think 'Gosh, what an era that was'." David Cameron has announced a series of investments across government, industry and charities totalling £300m ($500m).

Comment Re:How do investors react to such info? (Score 3, Interesting) 234

by Shadow of Eternity (#47564877) Attached to: Comcast Confessions

They'll fall over themselves for it. Current tax laws reward reckless short-term profiteering, that's why you see shit like Hostess and RMoney where executives flat out vampire a company into bankruptcy and then take a golden parachute to the next one. Just a few decades ago tax rates were such that it was much better to develop a stable long-term profit at a lower level and consistently reinvest the rest back into your employees and customers.

Comment Re:Or maybe you're not so good at math (Score 1) 512

The UN is so ridiculously and blatantly anti-Israel that they sanctioned israel 22 times in a single year but completely ignored genocide in Africa. Top level UN officials have repeatedly admitted the UN is biased, and a majority of the "sanctions" and "statistics" put out are directly from arab nations and representatives within the UN.

http://www.theguardian.com/com...
http://www.americanthinker.com...
http://www.unwatch.org/site/c....

Comment Re:Or maybe you're not so good at math (Score 1) 512

Hamas instructions to lie about casualties and claim all militants are civilians
http://www.memri.org/report/en...

Hamas faking casualty reports and claims
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...
http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...
http://honestreporting.com/sha...

Debunking claims about civilian deaths
http://www.camera.org/index.as...

Hamas using human shields
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://honestreporting.com/for...
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014...

Comment Re:Or maybe you're not so good at math (Score 1) 512

Israel already offered a complete capitulation to virtually all demands and a two state solution in the Camp David accords. The Saudi Royal Family flat out said it would be a crime against the palestinian people if Arafat refused. Guess who walked out without even making a counter-offer?

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