Monday 3 June 2019

'Organs in a dish' pave the way for personalized medicine in gut and liver disease

One of the most exciting advancements in stem cell research has been the development of organoid systems, which are organ-like three-dimensional structures that mimic their corresponding organ in vivo. In this important review in Digestive and Liver Disease, published by Elsevier, scientists highlight some of the established and exciting novel uses for organoids or "organs in a dish" in gastroenterology and hepatology and look towards the future in this exciting field.

* This article was originally published here

Pop-up parks deliver big benefits in small spaces

Pop-up stores, restaurants, and theaters are an increasingly common sight in cities around the world, where they add to the diversity of commercial options available to city dwellers. But while the pop-up phenomenon is normally associated with urban activities like shopping and dining, it has also caught the attention of city planners, ecologists, and conservation scientists striving to find new ways to integrate natural features into rapidly urbanizing areas.

* This article was originally published here

Say cheers to lighter summer drinks

(HealthDay)—Want to celebrate longer days and warmer nights with fewer calories? Try these smart ways to cut the calories from favorite cocktails.

* This article was originally published here

Phosphorylation of Regnase-1 lets IL-17 run amok

When considering the role of the key immune molecule interleukin (IL)-17, the phrase "too much of a good thing" springs to mind. Because unlike some of its more sedate cytokine cousins which studiously direct the immune response to destroy invading pathogens, IL-17 can get a little carried away. So much so that excess inflammation caused by IL-17 has been implicated in autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis.

* This article was originally published here

Younger gout patients have higher odds for blood clots

Older age raises the odds of many ills, but for adults with gout, it's the younger ones who have the highest risk for developing a serious blood clot, new research indicates.

* This article was originally published here

Amazon digital assistant Alexa gets new skill: amnesia

Amazon on Wednesday added the ability to tell its Alexa digital assistant to forget what it has heard in a move that could assuage concerns about Echo devices remembering conversations.

* This article was originally published here

Trap-and-release accelerates study of swimming ciliated cells

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have been studying cilia for years to determine how their dysfunction leads to infertility and other conditions associated with cilia-related diseases. Now, they will be able to perform these studies more rapidly through a new method that uses sound waves to momentarily trap cells propelled by cilia, then releases them to measure their movement as they swim away.

* This article was originally published here

2-D crystals conforming to 3-D curves create strain for engineering quantum devices

A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored how atomically thin two-dimensional (2-D) crystals can grow over 3-D objects and how the curvature of those objects can stretch and strain the crystals. The findings, published in Science Advances, point to a strategy for engineering strain directly during the growth of atomically thin crystals to fabricate single photon emitters for quantum information processing.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers try to recreate human-like thinking in machines

Researchers at Oxford University have recently tried to recreate human thinking patterns in machines, using a language guided imagination (LGI) network. Their method, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, could inform the development of artificial intelligence that is capable of human-like thinking, which entails a goal-directed flow of mental ideas guided by language.

* This article was originally published here

Is 'clean eating' just dirty rhetoric?

New research published today in the Journal of Eating Disorders finds "clean eating" is perceived as overwhelmingly positive by young people, but those optimistic impressions of "clean diets" may signal a risk for eating disorders. Scientists are also calling for additional research to better understand the nature of the "clean eating" diet fad.

* This article was originally published here