Newts’ new hearts
Heart attacks in humans can be fatal and always leave the heart scarred. Newts, on the other hand, can regenerate organs with no damage to mark the incident. In a newt heart after organ damage, cells de-differentiate, or lose the properties that make them heart cells. Over a two-week regeneration process, the cells divide rapidly to build up new muscle and differentiate again to make the entire, working organ. This process does not utilize stem cells, but the heart cells themselves. In newt limbs, a similar regeneration occurs but scar tissue, called a blastema, forms in the process. Blastema cells share stem cells’ ability to become other kinds of cells, facilitating newt limb regeneration. Researchers hope that uncovering the molecular mechanisms of newt heart regeneration will open up new possibilities for treating the damage done to human hearts during heart attacks.
Source: Journal of Cell Science
-Sandy Huen
Little lunch for big black hole
For the first time in astronomical history, scientists at NASA witnessed a supermassive black hole consume a star that ventured too close. Over two years, telescopes on earth and in space have been monitoring the ultraviolet flare that resulted from the black hole’s messy meal and the decay of that flare. In an unnamed galaxy four billion light-years away, the black hole tore apart the stellar passer-by with its strong gravitational force as the star neared the giant entity. As the shredded remnants of the star were sucked into the black hole, an ultraviolet flare was emitted and continues to fade as the black hole finishes off the star. Only three other resting black holes were reported to have consumed stars, all data of which waited a decade before NASA confirmed the ultraviolet backlash. This latest meal will provide information on how large and powerful black holes are and where they came from.
Source: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory news service
-S.H.
Just Google it-really!
Hypochondriacs may no longer be the only ones Googling disease symptoms in search of diagnoses. Recent findings from the British Medical Journal suggest that the popular search engine may in fact be a good diagnostic aid for clinicians. Without initially looking at the correct diagnoses, researchers selected 26 cases from case records and identified salient features to use as search terms. In 15 of these cases, researchers were able to reach the correct diagnosis through Google search results (though some correct “Google diagnoses” were rejected for not being specific enough). While patients have long used internet search engines to self-diagnose, these results show that physicians can also turn to the internet for quick and inexpensive clinical decision support.
Source: BMJ
-Mayce Al-Sukhni
