Drug delivery in blood stream using 3D printed microfish.

The "microfish" created by a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego, who claimed they can print hundreds of the tiny robots in seconds. This 3D-printed robots in the shape of small fish may one day be able to swim through bloodstreams, delivering drugs to the human body and removing toxins. The study, published in Advanced Materials, shows the robots measure just 120 microns long by 30 microns thick -- making them smaller than the width of a human hair. The microfish are made with platinum nanoparticles in their tails which, when they come into contact with hydrogen peroxide, causes their tails to move. Tiny iron oxide particles in their heads also allow the robot shoal to magnetically steer themselves. The research showed the microfish could both sense toxins and work as detoxifying robots. Their bodies glowed a fluorescent red color when placed in contaminated liquid as a result of toxic-neutralizing particles reacting to the poison.more

Nanovaccines and cancer immunity.

Yvette van Kooyk is making a cancer vaccine at the nano scale. "By using nanotechnology to deliver vaccines into the body, we can create more powerful cancer treatments," says van Kooyk, an immunologist at the VU University Medical Centerin Amsterdam. She's building nanovaccines out of glycans, sugar molecules that naturally bind to receptors on immune cells in the body. "The glycan is used for specifically targeting the cells that you need," van Kooyk explains. She exploits this trait by attaching the glycans to cancer-fighting antigens, relying on the sugar molecules to transport those antigens directly into the target immune cells, where they trigger an immune response, telling the body to attack its cancerous cells. The vaccine can target immune cells so precisely, "you don't lose your vaccine to other cells," van Kooyk says. That enables the vaccine to launch a targeted and particularly powerful immune response that may be capable of destroying tumours. Now, she is tailoring the nanovaccine to work on diseases including melanoma, pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma, a brain tumor. The goal is to give patients lifelong immunity from certain cancers so that they don't develop again, she says. In three years, she estimates, they will start trial the vaccines on humans. Read

Cancer therapy using nanoparticle drug delivery in dogs with osteosarcoma.

An engineer teamed up with a veterinarian to test a bone cancer drug delivery system in the dogs because they are closer in size and biology to humans . Dogs also have naturally occurring bone cancers, which also are a lot like human bone tumors. The researchers report their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the clinical trials, the dogs tolerated the highest planned doses of cancer-drug-laden nanoparticles with no signs of toxicity. As in mice, the particles homed in on tumor sites, thanks to a coating of the drug pamidronate, which preferentially binds to degraded sites in bone. The nanoparticles also showed anti-cancer activity in mice and dogs. These findings are a proof-of-concept that nanoparticles can be used to target bone cancers in large mammals, the researchers said. The approach may one day be used to treat metastatic skeletal cancers. The aim of the research was to evaluate these drug-delivery strategies, not only in a mouse model, but also at a scale that would mimic what a person would get. The amount of nanoparticle that was administered to these dogs was a thousand-fold greater in quantity than would typically be given to a mouse and result was satisfactory.

Protect yourself from malaria sleep with a chicken next to your bed.

Scientists have shown that malaria-transmitting mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species such as chickens, using their sense of smell. Odors emitted by species such as chickens could provide protection for humans at risk of mosquito-transmitted diseases, according to a study in the open access Malaria Journal. Researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia found that Anopheles arabiensis, one of the predominant species transmitting malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, avoids chickens when looking for hosts to feed on. This indicates that, unlike humans, cattle, goats and sheep, chickens are a non-host species for An. arabiensis and that the mosquitoes have developed ways of distinguishing them from host species. A corresponding author, explained they were surprised to find that malaria mosquitoes are repelled by the odors emitted by chickens. This study shows for the first time that malaria mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species, and that this behavior is regulated through odor cues. The research team collected data on the population of human and domestic animals in three Ethiopian villages. They also collected blood-fed mosquitoes to test for the source of the blood that the mosquitoes had fed on. People living in the areas in which the research was conducted share their living quarters with their livestock. The researchers found that while An. arabiensis strongly prefers human over animal blood when seeking hosts indoors, it randomly feeds on cattle, goats and sheep when outdoors, but avoids chickens in both settings, despite their relatively high abundance. Since mosquitoes select and discriminate between their hosts mainly based on their sense of smell, the researchers collected hair, wool and feathers from potential host and non-host species to analyze the odor compounds present in them. Identifying certain compounds that were only present in chicken feathers, the researchers used these and other compounds obtained from all species to test their ability to repel mosquitoes from mosquito traps. The traps were set up in 11 thatched houses in one of the villages for a total of 11 days. In each of the houses, a single volunteer aged between 27 and 36 years slept under an untreated bed net. The researchers found that significantly fewer mosquitoes were caught in traps baited with chicken compounds than in control traps. Suspending a living chicken in a cage next to a trap had a similar repellent effect. An. arabiensis is difficult to control with existing methods, according to previous research. The results of this study suggest that, in combination with established control methods, the odors emitted by chickens and other non-host species could prove useful in controlling An. arabiensis.

Dogs and autism spectrum disorder.

New research shows that dogs de-stress families with autistic children ,Owning a pet dog reduces stress and significantly improves functioning in families who have a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder .The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Lincoln and published in the American Journal of Veterinary Behavior UK, and funded by the US-based Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) Foundation, also found a reduction in the number of dysfunctional interactions between parent and child among families which owned a dog. Professor Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, led the research. He said: "While there‭ ‬is‭ ‬growing‭ ‬evidence ‬that ‬animal-assisted‭ -‬therapy‭ ‬can aid in ‬the‭ ‬treatment‭ ‬of‭ children with ‬autism‭ ‬spectrum‭ ‬disorders, this study is one of the first to examine how‭ ‬pet‭ ‬dog‭ ‬ownership‭ ‬can also ‬improve‭ ‬the‭ ‬lives‭ ‬of‭ ‬those‭ ‬more widely affected‭ ‬by‭ ‬autism. Researchers have previously focused on the positive effects that assistance dogs can have on the child's well-being and have passed over the impact they might also have on close relatives, but our results show that owning a pet dog (rather than a specifically trained assistance dog) can considerably improve the function of the whole family unit.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ He

Aerial agriculture launches drone to help reduce farming cost.

Aerial Agriculture LLC, a startup company launched by Purdue University students, aims to revolutionize the agricultural industry by building drones in-house to capture multi-spectral images of entire crop fields. This technology could allow farmers to reduce excess fertilizer and input costs while simultaneously increasing yields. Aerial Agriculture uses specialized cameras to convert images into valuable vegetation indices that represent crop health and allow agronomists to determine the amount of nitrogen and fertilizer that needs to be applied in specific locations throughout the field. "Our technology can pinpoint crop areas that need more attention, which allows farmers to then apply more inputs and address potential crop issues immediately, as opposed to after the fact," said Austin Deardorff, Aerial Agriculture co-founder and a student in Purdue's College of Engineering. The drones make it easy so we are able to stitch images together in maps to show the crops' health in a precise and easy-to-read manner. Our products and services also increase environmental sustainability because we are implementing autonomous technology and use less harmful inputs," Deardorff said. "We want to become the only agriculture drone service company in Indiana and begin expanding to multiple states with longer growing seasons." See

How Big Data is Disrupting Agriculture from Biological Discovery to Farming Practices.

Innovation and disruption that’s occurring in real time all around us and the field of agriculture has also dived in with data driven technologies to ensure food safety,food security and prevention of resources.. This need to produce more food for the ever increasing poopulation using fewer inputs, has seen agriculture seeking new products, practices and technologies. Big data is causing the disruption to meet these needs because of the need to use fewer chemicals and less water, subsistence farmers need to close the yield gap. Production farmers want yield boosts and cost savings. Consumers are demanding healthier, clean food and ingredients ,big data is providing all necessary information about food production,processing and distribution. This allow consumers to track,trace and know the source of what they purchase. The accessibility of information everywhere from the plant genome to water management, fertilization, climate, soil, machinery, and crop protection systems makes a great impact on agriculture. The various ways to get and use data both in both farming practices and advances in crop genetics and also on the production level, this is changing the value chain in agriculture as access to big data is transferring power to the farmer and smaller companies, while the big companies consolidate and struggle to innovate. Disruption will take big ideas, new business models and bold people. A new generation of independent companies are harnessing big data to generate new insights, practices and products. Traditional agribusiness companies and supply chains will have to adapt if they want to keep up. There are four main areas where big data is used in the food chain:1)– Development of new seed traits: Discoveries and access to the plant genome with new ways to measure, map, and drive information into better products, faster. 2)– Precision Farming: Although sometimes confused, big data and precision agriculture are not synonymous. Big data takes advantage of information derived through precision farming in aggregate over many farms. The resulting analytics, insights, and better decisions can then be deployed through precision farming techniques. 3) Food Tracking: Use of sensors and analytics to prevent spoilage and food borne illnesses. – 4) Effect on Supply Chains :shifts in the supply chains of seed, crop inputs, and food driven by the democratization of technology and information. more