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How computers will soon
get under our skin New clue to prostate cancer treatment Prof Yash Pal THIS UNIVERSE Trends
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How computers will soon
get under our skin IT may soon be possible to wear your computer or mobile phone under your sleeve, with the invention of an ultra-thin and flexible electronic circuit that can be stuck to the skin like a temporary tattoo. The devices, which are almost invisible, can perform just as well as more conventional electronic machines but without the need for wires or bulky power supplies, scientists
said. The development could mark a new era in consumer electronics. The technology could be used for applications ranging from medical diagnosis to covert military operations.
The “epidermal electronic system” relies on a highly flexible electrical circuit composed of snake-like conducting channels that can bend and stretch without affecting performance. The circuit is about the size of a postage stamp, is thinner than a human hair and sticks to the skin by natural electrostatic forces rather than glue.
“We think this could be an important conceptual advance in wearable electronics, to achieve something that is almost unnoticeable to the wearer. The technology can connect you to the physical world and the cyberworld in a very natural way that feels comfortable,” said Professor Todd Coleman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the research
team. A simple stick-on circuit can monitor a person’s heart rate and muscle movements as well as conventional medical monitors, but with the benefit of being weightless and almost completely undetectable. Scientists said it may also be possible to build a circuit for detecting throat movements around the larynx in order to transmit the information wirelessly as a way of recording a person’s speech, even if they are not making any discernible
sounds. Tests have already shown that such a system can be used to control a voice-activated computer game, and one suggestion is that a stick-on voicebox circuit could be used in covert police operations where it might be too dangerous to speak into a radio transmitter.
“The blurring of electronics and biology is really the key point here,” said Yonggang Huang, Professor of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. “All established forms of electronics are hard, rigid. Biology is soft, elastic. It’s two different worlds. This is a way to truly integrate them.”
Engineers have built test circuits mounted on a thin, rubbery substrate that adheres to the skin. The circuits have included sensors, light-emitting diodes, transistors, radio frequency capacitors, wireless antennas, conductive coils and solar cells.
“We threw everything in our bag of tricks on to that platform, and then added a few other new ideas on top of those, to show that we could make it work,” said John Rogers, Professor of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a lead author of the study, published in the journal
Science. — The Independent
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New clue to prostate cancer treatment A blood test that can distinguish between the benign and dangerous forms of prostate cancer could soon be developed following a breakthrough in understanding the complex genetics behind the most common type of cancer in
men. Scientists believe they have identified a key difference between a “metastatic” prostate tumour that spreads to other parts of the body and a slow-growing tumour that does not. The finding could lead to a test for dangerous metastatic prostate cancer as well as new drugs that could prevent such tumours from
spreading. About 250,000 men in Britain live with prostate cancer but only a tiny fraction of these tumours will turn metastatic, which usually leads to death. One man in Britain dies of prostate cancer every hour, whereas 100 men per day will have the disease
diagnosed. Being able to distinguish between relatively benign, slow-growing tumours and aggressive cancers that are more likely to spread to other organs is one of the research priorities of cancer-funding organisations. Now a research team at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York believes it may have found a vital clue that could lead to such a
test. “The ideal scenario is to be able to detect what we are looking for by taking blood samples, although that may prove to be too late. It might be better to pick up metastatic tumours by taking small biopsies from the prostate gland,” said Professor Lloyd Trotman, who led the research
team. The study, published in the journal Cancer Cell, describes the relationship between three genes that all play a role in determining whether a prostate cell becomes cancerous and whether the resulting tumour is likely to spread.
The scientists found that a gene called PHLPP1 works in concert with another gene known as PTEN, which is mutated in about half of all prostate cancer sufferers. Normally both genes act as “tumour suppressors”, which mean they prevent cancers from developing, but when they are both mutated, the result can lead to
cancer. A third gene, known a p53, also acts as a tumour suppressor and works like a “water sprinkler” when the two other genes are damaged to prevent the cancer “fire” from spreading further. However, when p53 is also mutated, a metastatic cancer is likely to develop, Professor Trotman
said. “This discovery led us to ask whether there are specific rules for prostate cancers to become lethal,” he said. “In terms of diagnostic tests, having lost the three genes is a hallmark feature of many metastatic cancers. We could envisage a test that looks at the activity levels of these genes and whether they are en route to metastatic disease,” he
added. It also opens the way to using drugs known to influence the metabolic pathways of these genes, which would have the effect of overriding damaged genes that would normally suppress tumours, Professor Trotman said.
— The Independent
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THIS UNIVERSE Why do we dream? Please explain. This is a question to which I am not able to give a detailed answer, though I have attempted to answer a similar question in these columns earlier. I am not sure any one knows it fully, but a difference can be easily demarcated. When we are asleep, our brain is given rest, but only part of its functions are given a holiday. It is still on a guard duty, should a major need arise. Our pain and temperature sensing circuits are not shut down. If we are cold, we snuggle deeper into the blanket; if we are warm, we throw off the covers. Metabolism goes on; the food is digested. The memories and images are still stored in the brain but the manner in which they connect up and serialise is not under the conscious control. This is the reason psychologists believe that analysis of dreams, when the control of the conscious is weakened, is a good way to understand the normally suppressed subconscious. However, when we are unconscious the control of senses is almost completely stopped. We still metabolise and breath, but we cannot be woken up by a loud noise, a pinch or sprinkling of water on our face. Perhaps we do not dream either. There is a major circuit block in the brain. Unconsciousness follows a major trauma or metabolic malfunction. I feel that this is also designed to protect us from extreme pain and discomfort.
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Manned space flights no longer priority for Russia
ZHUKOVSKY, Russia: Moscow no longer sees manned spaceflight as its top priority but remains committed to its International Space Station obligations, the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday. Russia holds a monopoly on flights to and from the 16-nation station. Soyuz launches from its Baikonur cosmodrome are now the only way to space since the US retired its 30-year shuttle programme in July. Experts redesign common microbe to fight drug-resistant
bacteria HONG KONG: Researchers in Singapore have re-engineered a harmless strain of bacteria to fight another common, drug-resistant microbe that spreads in hospitals and is deadly to patients with weak immune systems. To fight the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium, the scientists used a strain of the E.coli bacteria that is normally present in the human gut.
— Reuters
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IT may soon be possible to wear your computer or mobile phone under your sleeve, with the invention of an ultra-thin and flexible electronic circuit that can be stuck to the skin like a temporary tattoo. The devices, which are almost invisible, can perform just as well as more conventional electronic machines but without the need for wires or bulky power supplies, scientists
said.
