Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Health Research: Stretchy hydrogel 'Band-Aid' senses, lights up, delivers medicine ♦ Modified mosquitoes could help fight malaria ♦ Unique muscle fibers of upper airway in humans

Stretchy hydrogel 'Band-Aid' senses, lights up, delivers medicine Engineers have designed what may be the Band-Aid of the future: a sticky, stretchy, gel-like material that can incorporate temperature sensors, LED lights, and other electronics, as well as tiny, drug-delivering reservoirs and channels. The 'smart wound dressing' releases medicine in response to changes in skin temperature and can be designed to light up if, say, medicine is running low
Modified mosquitoes could help fight against malaria For the first time, malarial mosquitoes have been modified to be infertile and pass on the trait rapidly -- raising the possibility of reducing the spread of disease.
Skin cells play 'dice games' How to maintain healthy skin and heal wounds is an intricate problem. Latest research shows all dividing skin cells can flip between two probability games to either maintain or heal skin, challenging the view that only rare stem cells matter. Understanding the rules of the games not only explains how skin maintains itself and heals wounds, but also shows how skin grafts work and suggests how changes to the rules could lead to cancer.

Discovery of unique muscle fibers of upper airway in humans Unique muscle fibers in the soft palate of the mouth in both infants and adults have been recently discovered. The fibers seem to be present in greater number in snorers and sleep apnea patients.

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