Health and Wellbeing

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have claimed a first by successfully using a single session of gene therapy to cure dogs of type 1 diabetes. The work has shown that it is possible to cure the disease in large animals with a minimally-invasive procedure – potentially leading the way to further developments in studies for human treatment of the disease.  Read More

Gold nanoparticles have already shown promise in precisely highlighting brain tumors, “blowing up” individual diseased cells, and developing a lung cancer breath test. Now researchers have created gold nanoparticles that allow an alpha particle-emitting element to be directed to small cancer tumors. The researchers say the gold coating keeps the powerful radioactive particles in place at the cancer site so they do negligible damage to healthy organs and tissue.  Read More

We’ve recently been seeing a lot of wearable fitness devices aimed at monitoring our activity levels and diet – devices such as the Jawbone UP and eButton, for example. According to some new studies, however, Microsoft’s “life-logging” SenseCam might be better-suited to the job.  Read More

We are familiar with the tobacco plant being harvested to create products that damage our health, but a new study from the Hotung Molecular Immunology Unit at St George’s University in London has shown that tobacco plants can be genetically modified to produce rabies antibodies. It's hoped that the research will deliver a safe, inexpensive way of treating rabies in developing countries.  Read More

There are already plenty of devices that allow people to measure factors such as their caloric intake and physical activity levels. While such data can be a vital part of achieving your fitness goals, its usefulness is limited without an understanding of your specific metabolism – if you don’t know how fast you burn calories, for instance, then you won’t know how many you should be consuming and/or burning. That’s why researchers at Arizona State University developed the Breezing portable metabolism tracker.  Read More

One of the biggest problems in treating HIV patients is the amount of daily individual medications it takes to keep the virus at bay. In a new study, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have engineered a new approach to tailored gene therapy that they say makes key cells of the immune system resistant to attack from the HIV virus, which may eventually lead to the removal of life-long dependencies on drugs for patients living with HIV.  Read More

With the notable exception of the Wii Balance Board introduced with Wii Fit in 2007, balance and wobble boards generally aren’t the most technological pieces of equipment. Dr Jonathan Williams, a physiotherapy lecturer at Bournemouth University in the U.K. has added sensors and wireless technology to the humble wobbleboard to objectively measure improvements in patients’ balance.  Read More

According to the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO), there are some 32 million amputees in the world today, around 80 percent (25 million) of whom live in developing countries where only five percent have been fitted with an artificial limb. It is estimated that 200,000 people lost a limb as a result of the 2010 Haiti earthquake alone. Two low-cost, printable prostheses highlight the potential impact 3D printing could have on the quality of life for millions as the technology becomes more accessible around the world.  Read More

Researchers at Scandinavia’s largest research organization, SINTEFF, have been trialling a prototype GPS application to track dementia sufferers living at home, in institutions, and in other forms of shared accommodation facilities. The project has seen more than 50 dementia sufferers using the system for periods of up to a year and according to the researchers, people equipped with it felt safer, had more freedom to move around and enjoyed better quality of life.  Read More