RESEARCH: LED lighting could have major impact on wildlife.

RESEARCH: LED lighting could have major impact on wildlife. New research by the University of Exeter and published in global change biology shows that LED street lighting can be tailored to reduce its impacts on the environment. The UK-based study found predatory spiders and beetles were drawn to grassland patches lit by LED lighting at night, but the number of species affected was markedly reduced when the lights were dimmed by 50% and switched off between midnight and 4am. LEDs made up just 9% of the global lighting market in 2011, but forecasts suggest they will account for 69% by 2020. RESEARCH: LED lighting could have major impact on wildlife. The growth of LED lighting is an issue of global concern, and the number of documented impacts on the environment is growing rapidly. The research shows that local authorities might be able to manage LED lighting in a way that reduces its environmental impacts. There is a need to establish whether this is the case for a greater variety of species. The results suggest that the growing use of LED lighting will have impacts on the abundance of predatory invertebrates, potentially leading to knock on effects for other species in grassland food-webs.

Scientists develop 'lab on a chip' that costs 1 cent to make.

Scientists develop 'lab on a chip' that costs 1 cent to make. Microfluidics, electronics and inkjet technology underlie a newly developed all-in-one biochip that can analyze cells for research and clinical applications. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a way to produce a cheap and reusable diagnostic "lab on a chip" with the help of an ordinary inkjet printer.A study describing the technology will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The inexpensive lab-on-a-chip technology has the potential to enhance diagnostic capabilities around the world, especially in developing countries. Where due to inferior access to early diagnostics, the survival rate of breast cancer patients is only 40% in low-income nations which is half the rate of such patients in developed nations. There are other diseases plaguing these nations such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, which also have high incidence and bad patient outcomes in developing countries. A better and easy access to cheap diagnostics could help turn this around, especially as most such equipment costs thousands of dollars. The chip is designed as a multifunctional platform, one of its applications is that it allows users to analyze different cell types without using fluorescent or magnetic labels that are typically required to track cells. The chip separates cells based on their intrinsic electrical properties: When an electric potential is applied across the inkjet-printed strip, cells loaded into the microfluidic chamber get pulled in different directions depending on their "polarizability" in a process called dielectrophoresis. This label-free method to analyze cells greatly improves precision and cuts lengthy labeling processes.

Artificial intelligence can spot skin cancer.

Computers can classify skin cancers as successfully as human experts, according to the latest research attempting to apply artificial intelligence to health. The US-based researchers say the new system, which is based on image recognition, could be developed for smartphones, increasing access to screening and providing a low-cost way to check whether skin lesions are cause for concern. According to the World Health Organisation, skin cancer accounts for one in every three cancers diagnosed worldwide, with global incidence on the rise. In the UK alone, 131,772 cases of non-melanoma skin cancer were recorded in 2014. In the same year there were 15,419 new cases of the deadliest skin cancer, melanoma, making it the fifth most common cancer, according to Cancer Research UK. As the disease is often initially spotted by a visual examination, Esteva teamed up with colleagues in fields ranging from dermatology to artificial intelligence to create a computer system that would aid screening. Their approach, described in the journal Nature, is based on deep learning – a class of algorithms used for artificial intelligence. When fed with a large set of ready-sorted data these algorithms pick out and “learn” patterns and relationships. Once trained, the algorithms can then be used to categorize new, unsorted data. To create the system, the team harnessed a deep learning algorithm built by Google that had already been presented with 1.28 million images of objects such as cats, dogs and cups.The researchers then fed the system more than 127,000 clinical images of skin lesions, each already labelled, encompassing many different skin diseases. Once trained, the team then tested the system’s ability to classify skin cancer by presenting it with just under 2,000 previously unseen images of skin lesions, whose nature had previously been determined by biopsy, and further compared the results for nearly 400 of the images against the judgement of at least 21 dermatologists. The results reveal that the system predicted the outcomes like the experts in telling apart carcinomas from common benign skin growths and melanomas from moles.

Reprogrammed skin cells shrink brain tumors in mice.

Scientists have created personalized tumor-homing cells from adult skin cells that can shrink brain tumors to 2% to 5% of their original size. Although the strategy has yet to be fully tested in people, the new method could one day give doctors a quick way to develop a custom treatment for aggressive cancers like glioblastoma, which kills most human patients in 12–15 months. It only took 4 days to create the tumor-homing cells for the mice. Glioblastomas are nasty because they spread roots and tendrils of cancerous cells through the brain, making them impossible to remove surgically. They, and other cancers, also exude a chemical signal that attracts stem cells—specialized cells that can produce multiple cell types in the body. Scientists think stem cells might detect tumors as a wound that needs healing and migrate to help fix the damage. But that gives scientists a secret weapon—if they can harness stem cells’ natural ability to “home” toward tumor cells, the stem cells could be manipulated to deliver cancer-killing drugs precisely where they are needed.continue

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Why large dogs live fast—and die young.

VETERINARY MEDICINE : Why large dogs live fast—and die young. For most mammals, size is a significant factor as Large ones, such as elephants and whales, live far longer than small ones like rodents. This rule is reversed in the dog kingdom as the tiny Chihuahuas, for example, can live up to 15 years which is 8 years longer than their much larger cousins, Great Danes. Now, a team of undergraduates may be closer to figuring out why this is so and the most likely reason is the more harmful oxygen free radicals in fast-growing, fuel-burning puppies. When an organism grows, its cells break down food to make the molecular fuel they need. But generating this energy can also generate an unwelcome visitor: renegade molecules called oxygen free radicals. VETERINARY MEDICINE : Why large dogs live fast—and die young. These molecules are missing electrons, and as they try to poach them from other cells in the body, they can quickly damage cell membranes and eventually contribute to cancer and other diseases. Molecules known as antioxidants neutralize these free radicals. But ultimately, the more energy a body produces, the more free radicals it makes, and consequently, the more antioxidants it needs. Some scientists think that escaped free radicals contribute to aging, although this is hotly debated. VETERINARY MEDICINE : Why large dogs live fast—and die young. To find out whether that might be true in canines, undergraduates Josh Winward and Alex Ionescu from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, asked veterinarians for the ear clips, dewclaws, and cut-off tails of puppies and the ear clips from old dogs that had recently died. Altogether, they collected about 80 samples from large and small breeds. Working with Colgate animal physiologist Ana Jimenez, the students isolated cells from those tissues, grew the cells in a lab dish for a few weeks, and then analyzed them. continue

Pet medication is sending kids to the emergency unit.

The flea medications and heartworm pills that millions of pet lovers give to their beloved pets pose poisoning risks to any children in the home, new research warns.The report was published online in the journal Pediatrics. The study authors said just one poison center in Ohio received more than 1,400 calls for poisoning from pet medications over the course of 15 years, with 87 percent of those calls involving children under the age of 5. Poisoning occurs in several ways, the researchers explained. Toddlers can pick up pills spit out by a pet or eat food containing medications left uneaten in a food bowl. Also, kids who pet an animal being treated with a lotion or cream can get it on their hands and then put their hands into their mouths. The drugs associated with poisoning included veterinary products that have no human equivalent (17 percent), antimicrobials to kill germs (15 percent), antiparasitics to kill parasites (15 percent) and analgesics to relieve pain (11 percent). Although most poisonings were among toddlers, teenagers were also exposed to medications intended for pets, many teens mistakenly took pet medication instead of human medication. Pet medications can be very dangerous,as some pets are on chemotherapy and other drugs that can be toxic to a child.

Easy techniques for handling dogs.

Dogs are cute and cuddly but when you need to handle them for a bath,a visit to the vet or just trying to clip nails or even groom them ,then the nasty nature springs out making a mess of your efforts. Here are some tips to help handle your pets better such as When its time for a bath; to begin with coax her to the tub with treats and praise instead of chasing her down the hallway and intercepting her attempt to hide under a bed. Do your best to avoid things that can create negative associations with bathing, like getting shampoo in your dog's eyes, pouring water over her face or tugging on matted fur in the tub. Instead, use warm water, speak to her in a calming voice, brush her fur gently before and after the bath and reward her cooperation with high-value treats. Just be sure that no more than 10 percent of your dog's daily calorie intake comes from treats. Reducing the negative elements of bath-time can help turn what was once a stressful experience into a sweet bonding activity for you and your pup. continue