US Scientists Clone Human Embryos

Scientists have made a long-awaited breakthrough in human cloning, by using human skin cells to create early-stage embryos. The breakthrough marks the first time human stem cells have been produced via nuclear transfer and follows several unsuccessful attempts by research groups worldwide

In what is being described as a “significant milestone” for medicine, the team from Oregon Health and Science University successfully used a technique which utilised a human skin cell and a woman’s egg to produce an embryo which was a genetic copy of the original skin cell.

The resulting embryos were then used as a source of stem cells, which can be used to create specialised tissue cells for transplant operations. However scientists say they do not think the technique could be used to clone humans for reproductive purposes :: Read the full article »»»»

Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Improves Survival Rates

Researchers in Melbourne have used a new targeted treatment technique to achieve the highest-ever long-term survival rates for patients with some forms of lung cancer.

The team from Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute used PET/CT - Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography - scans to determine the location and stage of tumours in 76 patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The patients were treated with a combination of radical radiation therapy and chemotherapy, leading to a four year survival rate of 32 per cent, the highest ever published.

Research team leader, Associate Professor Michael MacManus, says that is dramatically higher than the historic average of between 10 and 20 per cent.

PET/CT scanning uses a device which combines both PET and an x-ray Computed Tomography, so that the produced images – taken by both devices sequentially – combine into a single superposed image, a 3D map. The image shows the spatial distribution of metabolic activity in the body can be more precisely :: Read the full article »»»»

Tow Me To The Moon

That last bastion of US ingenuity, NASA will apparently launch a new space mission that intends to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space.

US Senator Bill Nelson says to get the project off the ground, president Barack Obama will propose around $US100 million for the space agency in his 2014 budget, which he submits to Congress this week.

The proposed plan calls for a robotic-spacecraft to capture an asteroid and tow it back towards Earth, ultimately leaving it in a stable orbit around the moon.

Once there there could be mining activities, research into ways of deflecting an asteroid from striking Earth, and testing to develop technology for a trip to deep space and Mars, Senator Nelson said in his statement :: Read the full article »»»»

Extinct Gastric Brooding Frog Brought Back From Extinction

A frog that can swallow its eggs, brood its young in its gut and give birth through its mouth. The gastric Brooding Frog has been extinct for more than 30 years ago, but the extraordinary amphibian is about to be un-extinct.

In a world first, a team of Australian scientists has taken the first major step in bringing it back to life. They have successfully reactivated its DNA and produced a viable embryo.

The scientists located a frozen carcasses and have been able to recover tissue from the Gastric Brooding Frog. Using a technique known as SCNT, somatic cell nuclear transfer – creating a clone embryo with a donor nucleus – they implanted the long-dead cell nucleus from the extinct species into a fresh egg from related frog :: Read the full article »»»»

Australian Health Authorities on the Lookout for SARS Like Virus

Australian authorities are watching a virus, which has killed almost half of the people who have contracted it, as it spreads across the Middle East and Europe. The World Health Organisation first identified novel coronaviris (NCoV) in September, but experts say there is no signs of it in Australia.

The virus is part of the same disease family as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – SARS –  A total of 11 people have contracted NCoV in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Jordon. Five sufferers have died.

Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong came close to being classified a pandemic, with 8,273 cases and 775 deaths worldwide – 9.5 per cent fatality – according to the World Health Organization. Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries.

University of Queensland virology professor Paul Young says local health authorities are on alert because there is evidence of person-to-person transmission :: Read the full article »»»»

Queensland Dinosaur Stampede Site Might Have Been a River Crossing

Findings at a world renowned fossil site in central-west Queensland suggests the area is not the world’s only recorded dinosaur stampede, but a river crossing. Lark Quarry Conservation Park, Opalton near Winton in outback Queensland has always been known as the site of a dinosaur stampede from around 95 million years ago.

After two years of research, University of Queensland PhD candidate Anthony Romilio says the footprints were not made all together, but some over a few days or weeks. He believes the site is an ancient riverbed where the dinosaurs could wade through.

For the past 30 years, the dinosaur tracks at Lark Quarry have be known as the world’s only record of a ‘dinosaur stampede’.

Researchers have interpreted the large spacing between the many tracks as indicating that dinosaurs were moving downstream, the dinosaurs seemed to be using the area as a highway :: Read the full article »»»»

Garvin Institute Discover Critical Breast Cancer Protien

Australian researchers have discovered a key factor explaining the lack of effectiveness of some breast cancer treatments. Associate Professor Chris Ormandy from Sydney’s Garvan Institute says a protein he has been studying for a decade plays a critical role in the development of breast cancer.

The researchers have shown how a ‘transcription factor’ causes breast cancer to develop an aggressive subtype that lacks sensitivity to oestrogen and does not respond to anti-oestrogen therapies such as Tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.

Transcription factors are molecules that switch genes on or off. In this case, the transcription factor known as ‘ELF5’ inhibits sensitivity to oestrogen very early in the life of a breast cancer cell :: Read the full article »»»»