Stomach cancer will be detected in a jiffy

IANS | Jun 25, 2015, 03.15 PM IST
READ MORE stomach cancer|Oesophagual cancer|health|gastric cancer|breath test
Stomach cancer will be detected in a jiffy
 Stomach cancer will be detected in a jiffy
(Getty Images)
British researchers have developed a breath test that can detect oesophageal and gastric (stomach) cancer in minutes with 90 percent accuracy.

The test has produced encouraging results in a clinical study of 210 patients, and will now be tested in a larger trial involving three hospitals in London.

Oesophageal and gastric malignancies account for 15 percent of cancer-related deaths globally.

Doctors diagnose oesophageal and gastric cancers by carrying out an endoscopy. This is a procedure where the inside of the body is examined using a probe with a light source and video camera at the end via the mouth and down the gullet.

However, the procedure is invasive and expensive. Moreover, only two percent of patients who are referred for an endoscopy by GPs are diagnosed with oesophageal or gastric cancer.

"Our breath test could address these problems because it can help diagnose patients with early non-specific symptoms as well as reduce the number of invasive endoscopies carried out on patients, which often lead to negative results," said lead author of the study George Hanna from Imperial College London.

"Diagnosis at an early stage could give patients more treatment options and ultimately save more lives," Hanna noted.

The test looks for chemical compounds in exhaled breath that are unique to patients with oesophageal and gastric cancer.

The cancers produce a distinctive smell of volatile organic compounds (VOC), chemicals that contain carbon and are found in all living things, which can help doctors detect early signs of the disease.

To take the test, patients breathe into a device similar to a breathalyzer which is connected to a bag.

The compounds in their exhaled breath are analyzed by a selected ion flow tube mass spectrometer.

The researchers used breath samples of patients with oesophageal and gastric cancer from 2011 to 2013.

The study was published in the journal Annals of Surgery.
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This is what high heels do to your feet


This is what high heels do to your feet

ANI | Jun 23, 2015, 12.00 AM IST

READ MORE Women|shoes|neuroma|High heels|health
This is what high heels do to your feet
This is what your high heels are doing to your feet (Getty Images)
Did you know that high heels are the culprit behind the rise in the number of middle aged women experiencing an agonizing foot condition that is compared to "walking on razors blades?"

 Researchers claim that the number of people experience Morton's neuroma, which is a condition that disturbs the nerves running between the toes, has doubled in the past 10 years, reported the Independent.

 Moreover, this condition occurs when fibrous tissue develops around a specific nerve in the foot which becomes irritated and compressed and high heels have been blamed for the agonizing foot pain with the largest group of suffers being women aged between 40 and 69.

 It is being said that this condition is thought to be brought on from years of wearing high heeled or ill-fitting shoes which push the foot bone against the nerve.

 Orthopaedic Andrew Craig said that they have known for a long time that the condition seems to predominantly affect females of a middling age, with speculation that high heels and other such tightly fitting and unnatural footwear.

 He added that increasing awareness of Morton's neuroma can only be a good thing, not least because numbness in the foot could be a sign of other, potentially life-altering conditions, such as diabetes.

 Craig's research explored how well various treatments for the condition work including, insoles and steroid injections usage.
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Plant inspired solar cells to revolutionise energy storage

IANS | Jun 21, 2015, 05.31 PM IST

READ MORE solar cell|Plant inspired solar cells|photosynthesis|energy storage
Plant inspired solar cells to revolutionise energy storage
(Representative image)
NEW YORK: A new technology developed by scientists at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) can store solar energy for up to several weeks; an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.

The materials in most of today's residential rooftop solar panels can store energy from the sun for only a few microseconds at a time.

The new design is inspired by the way that plants generate energy through photosynthesis.

"In photosynthesis, plants that are exposed to sunlight use carefully organised nanoscale structures within their cells to rapidly separate charges, pulling electrons away from the positively charged molecule that is left behind, and keeping positive and negative charges separated," said senior study author Sarah Tolbert.

"That separation is the key to making the process so efficient," Tolbert said.

To capture energy from sunlight, conventional rooftop solar cells use silicon, a fairly expensive material.

On the other hand, plastic solar cells which are cheaper - are relatively inefficient, because the separated positive and negative electric charges often recombine before they can become electrical energy.

"Modern plastic solar cells don't have well-defined structures like plants do. But this new system pulls charges apart and keeps them separated for days, or even weeks," Tolbert said.

"Once you make the right structure, you can vastly improve the retention of energy," she added.

The two components that make the UCLA developed system work are a polymer donor and a nano-scale fullerene acceptor.

The polymer donor absorbs sunlight and passes electrons to the fullerene acceptor. The process generates electrical energy.

The plastic materials, called organic photovoltaics, are typically organised like a plate of cooked pasta a disorganised mass of long, skinny polymer 'spaghetti' with random fullerene 'meatballs.'

But this arrangement makes it difficult to get current out of the cell because the electrons sometimes hop back to the polymer spaghetti and are lost.

The UCLA technology arranges the elements more neatly like small bundles of uncooked spaghetti with precisely placed meatballs.

Some fullerene meatballs are designed to sit inside the spaghetti bundles, but others are forced to stay on the outside.

The fullerenes inside the structure take electrons from the polymers and toss them to the outside fullerene, which can effectively keep the electrons away from the polymer for weeks.

"When the charges never come back together, the system works far better," another senior author Benjamin Schwartz said.

In the new system, the materials self-assemble just by being placed in close proximity.

The new design is also more environment-friendly than current technology, because the materials can assemble in water instead of more toxic organic solutions that are widely used today, the researchers said.

The findings were published in the journal Science.
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