UC Berkeley Research Team Tests Device which Acts as Sponge for Absorbing Excess Chemotherapy Drugs in the Bloodstream

A new device developed by University of California Berkeley, can be potentially used for absorbing excess chemotherapy drugs before they circulate in the bloodstream. This has shown potential to significantly reduce side effects of the chemo drugs for patients undergoing the treatment.

Chemotherapy is a part of the standard treatment procedure for diagnosed cancers. While it attacks the tumor and stops its further growth, but it also causes a great collateral damage to healthy tissues in the body as well. Oncologists and radiologists agree that chemotherapy is not exactly the most effective therapy in cancer treatment but lack of alternatives has made it the only viable option right now. Chemotherapy is riddled with massive side effects including anaemia, dysfunctional immune system, hair loss, nausea and vomiting. Although it manages to kill cancerous cells but studies have suggested that 50-80 % of chemo drugs don’t even reach the tumor and instead circulates in the bloodstream causing damage to healthy cells.

The new device developed by a team of researchers at UC Berkeley, will act as ‘sponge’ which will absorb excess chemo drugs from the bloodstream. Professor Nitash Balsara, the head of UCB’s team, said that the device is inspired by absorbers used in petroleum refining, which regularly uses absorbers to remove unwanted chemicals like sulphur. The team created 3D printed tiny cylinders, 3mm long made from poly diacrylate (ethylene glycol), with a square lattice structure inside which allows blood vessels to pass through it. But the lattice structure is coated with copolymer which attaches itself to the chemo dug and stops its passage. The device shows promises to bring down side effects of chemotherapy and opens doors for increased chemo dosage for the patients in need of it.

Doxorubicin, with brand name Adriamycin is a chemotherapy drug used for many types of cancer. The team used this drug for testing on three pigs and found that when the drug was injected in a particular vein, it flew through the bloodstream and was detected by the device. 64% of the drug was captured by the device. Prof. Balsara said that the team considered all the risk factors like thrombosis or blood clotting while developing the device and issues related to vein wall dissection and blood clots were not observed.

Cancer researchers have long been looking for good alternatives for chemotherapy, while some breakthroughs in targeted medicine which selectively kills only cancerous cells excluding the healthy ones has made much headway. But chemotherapy is going to hang around for a while. The new device offers hope for 650,000 cancer patients in USA and millions worldwide who undergo chemotherapy every year. Although much work remains to be done before the device’s roll out in hospitals the study has shown hope to reduce side effects of drugs and scope for regionally targeted high dose chemotherapy.

Lack of Deep Sleep Linked to Early Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

In a new study, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may have uncovered important explanation on how and why poor sleep is linked to early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Older people who have reduced slow-wave sleep – the deep sleep required to accumulate memories and wake up feeling refreshed – tend to have higher percentage of the brain protein tau, according to the researchers. Elevated tau has not only been associated with memory loss, confusion, and brain damage but also been considered as a sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

Findings of the study, appeared recently in Science Transitional Medicine, suggest that poor-quality sleep in later life could a warning sign of deteriorating brain health.

Most interestingly, the team observed an inverse relationship between reduced slow-wave sleep and increased tau protein in people who were cognitively normal or mildly impaired, indicating that decreased slow-wave sleep could be a marker for the transition from normal cognition to impaired one.

According to Brendan Lucey, MD, first author and assistant professor of neurology, measuring the way people sleep would be a noninvasive method to check for Alzheimer’s disease before and as the people start to have issues with memory and thinking.

Changes in the brain that lead to Alzheimer’s disease, affecting an estimated 5.7 million US population, begin slowly and silently. Up to two decades, amyloid beta proteins begin to consolidate into plaques in the brain, before the distinctive symptoms of confusion and memory loss appear. Tau proteins tangled up much later, followed by deterioration of key brain regions. Only then do people start showing the critical symptoms of cognitive decline.

It has been a challenge detect people who are likely to develop Alzheimer’s, prior to changes in the brain that limits the ability to think clearly.

For better understanding of the relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease, the team examined 119 study participants 60 years of age or above. Of which, around 80% were cognitively normal, while the remaining ones were very mildly impaired.

The researchers monitored the volunteers’ sleep at home over the course of a normal week. To measure the brain waves, the participants were provided a portable EEG monitor strapped on their foreheads and for wristwatch-like sensor for tracking the body movement. Additionally, they kept a sleep log, noting down nighttime sleep sessions as well as daytime napping.

The researchers also measured levels of tau protein and amyloid beta in the brain and in the cerebrospinal fluid. Of all the participants, 38 underwent brain PET scan for the two proteins, 104 underwent spinal taps, and 27 did both.

After controlling for different factors such as age, sex, and sleep movements, the researchers discovered that reduced slow-wave sleep associated with elevated tau in the brain and a high ratio of tau-to-amyloid in the cerebrospinal fluid.

Lucey said that the important observation is that the total amount of sleep was not linked to tau, but rather the slow-wave sleep, reflecting the quality of sleep. If future research confirms their results, sleep monitoring may contribute as a simple and affordable way to screen earlier of Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers said.

Plant-based-meat and Gluten Free Burger Impossible Burger 2.0 Backed by Bill Gates Debuts at CES 2019 Las Vegas

Bill Gates backed food startup Impossible Foods have debuted the upgraded version of their plant based healthy burger named Impossible Burger 2.0 at the Burger Grill at Las Vegas CES 2019.

The updated Impossible Burger 2.0 contains zero milligrams cholesterol, 14 grams fat and 250 calories in quarter pound patty. The company said that the fans of the previous version of Impossible Burger wanted a wheat or gluten free burger. The updated version of the burger has instead used soya based protein for its burger instead of wheat protein. The new burger is a significant improvement from the previous burger as it was only meant for cooking in restaurants while the 2.0 version can be cooked at home by sizzling on open flame, steaming and searing. The burger makes no compromise with nutrition or taste as it tastes the same like meat burger while at the same time containing the same nutritional content that you get from a beef burger. The burger has strange component called leghemoglobin or heme which gives the burger a bleeding attribute along with adding to the flavor of the final product.

The burger prides at being environmentally sustainable with 87% less greenhouse gas emissions, 75% lesser water and 95% lesser land than the regular ground beef burger. Food sector has seen some groundbreaking sustainable innovations in the recent decades. As plant based diet and vegan movements have propelled the demand for healthy food, food companies are left with no choice but to innovate in creating eco-friendly food recipes. Owner of Border Grill, the restaurant chosen for the debut, Sue Milliken said that using animals to meet human protein needs is going to be thing of the past with many healthy and delicious plant based alternatives arriving in the market. Finally technology has given solutions to meat lovers to satiate their taste buds without any harm to biodiversity.

White Castle has bagged the status of being the first fast-food burger chain to debut the Impossible Burger 2.0 at its restaurant starting with Border Grill, Las Vegas. The burger apart from being covered in stories by all major newspapers has become a latest Twitter sensation with a trending hashtag and also taken Instagram by a whirlwind. Whalburger and Umami Burgers are next in line to launch the new burger on their menu in next couple of weeks. The company will initially launch the burger only in handful of private burger chains with plans to a nationwide launch soon.

Impossible Foods production unit in Oakland, Caliph is spread over 68,000 Sq. ft. The company is facing tough competition from other health food startups like Tyson Food backed Beyond Burger. Many large food companies are launching new plant based food products. Nestle has recently launched its Incredible Burger under Garden Gourmet brand name with recent news reporting that Unilever’s acquisition of a Dutch plant based meat company Vegetarian Butcher.

TrAPs, a New Material Developed by British Scientists Paves Way for Accelerated Tissue Regeneration

A team of scientists from Imperial College London has developed a bio-inspired material which will help in accelerating healing process in human body. The rate of wound self-healing itself plays critical role in certain situations as a speedier recovery could help save lives. Dr. Ben Almquest heading the team of scientist at Imperial College is working towards accelerating the healing process through use of biomaterials.

The new material called Traction force Activated Payloads or TrAPs is specially developed to interact with and augment the healing process in the human body.  The team is currently looking to adopt this material in traditionally used materials which help with healing and tissue regeneration. In case of chronic wounds, in addition to body’s natural ability to self-heal, an accelerated healing rate is needed. TrAPs precisely helps in this by adopting to the body’s needs.

Whenever the body experiences a wound, there occurs a formation of thin layer of collagen. The cells pass through this thin layer of collagen and bring with them a thread of proteins. These healthy proteins are responsible for cell regeneration and activation of the healing process. But these proteins are not enough for accelerated growth of tissues. Scientists found that if they could somehow manage a long thread of proteins at this stage, there would be rapid healing.

What the new material promises to do is mimic this healing action accelerating the natural process exponentially. The technique used by this material uses Aptamers. Aptamers are folded DNA segments, researchers used these aptamers so that proteins could be attached throughout its many folds. A handle is attached to one side the DNA string while a collagen layer is attached to the other end. When the cells thorough the natural process of cell regeneration, moves through the thin collagen layer on top of the wound, they bring TrAPs with them which unravels the Aptamers and huge number of proteins along with it on the wound. The process thus augments cell regeneration.

The technique has unraveled new potential to deliver tailored for specific types of cells. Doctors can now select a particular aptamer for a particular cell type along with ability to pull different aptamer at different stage of cell repair. This ability of using cell movement to trigger healing process is observed in many creatures including humans and sea sponges. The new approach mimics this process which offers flexibility to interact with different types of cells in the damaged tissue.

The applications of this approach is fascinating with potential adoptions in repairing nerve damage, scar tissue which occurs after heart attack and also fractured bones. The key feature is that TrAPs are easy to create in laboratories and can be produced on an industrial scale. Its dynamic and intelligent healing which actively communicates with the wound has shown hope for healing many chronic wounds including diabetic foot ulcers which is a leading cause of leg amputations.

Ford Motor Company to Lay off Thousands of Workers as Part of Major Restructuring and Shift to Electric Vehicles

Ford is reportedly laying of thousands of workers from its payroll in Europe as it kick starts a major restructuring in the company to evolve better and profitable model in an industry increasingly leaning towards e-mobility. The company in the recent statement said that surplus labor will be reduced to undertake structural cost adjustments. It is also planning to close some plants in near future.

The company based in Dearborn, Michigan employees over 53,000 workers in its European production facility located at Cologne, Germany. The company in the statement did not disclose the exact number of job cuts but said that the company will negotiate with employee representatives and unions to ensure that voluntary departures occur.  The move comes after the company announced in 2018 to reduce white collar jobs across the global expanse of the company.

The company is shifting to electric vehicles and is working out a more profitable business model. Every model form now onwards will have a battery version, with some dual models having both battery and internal combustion. Steven Armstrong, the company’s vice president of Europe, Africa and Middle East said that as Ford continues transition to e-mobility based model, it will optimize its human resources to look for more profitable models and by exiting from the less profitable ones.

Global automotive giants are facing challenges from a move towards autonomous and battery powered vehicles as well as transportation service providers like car-sharing and ride-hailing smartphone apps. Consumers are also leaning towards sport utility vehicles from the earlier preferences like hatchbacks and sedans. Ford has also remodeled its global operations buy exiting from sedan business in USA. Traditional automakers are forced to grapple with ground breaking technology changes, trade tensions and stricter environmental regulations.

The trend is not just limited to Ford Motor Company. The global slowdown in car sales is also seen in China which historically is a major contributor in fueling the industry’s growth. Auto sales in China fell for the first time in last two decades, this has raised concerns in the industry as well as markets.

General Motors in November 2018 announced that it would cut 14,000 white collar and factory jobs from its North American business, and has put five plant closures in waiting. Volkswagen reported an unspecified number of cuts in jobs as it moves towards electric car production. BBC reported that 5000 job reductions are expected by Tata Motors Ltd.

Pfizer Plans to Shut down Two Manufacturing Plants in India

American drugmaker Pfizer announced on Wednesday it will soon be shutting down two of its manufacturing plants in India that make generic injectable drugs, in response to falling demand.

As reported in Reuters, the two sites in the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu employ nearly 1,700 workers, contributing around 6 percent to Pfizer’s global manufacturing workforce.

After conducting a thorough evaluation of both the plant, Pfizer has come into conclusion that manufacturing at these sites is not viable because of significant long term loss of product, the company wrote in an emailed statement.

Both the sites are export-oriented and came under the company’s ownership when it purchased Hospira Inc in a $15 billion deal in February 2015, with an objective to boost its portfolio of generic injectables as well as copies of biotech medicines.

Pfizer is also reportedly shutting down a Hospira research and development lab in Chennai, India. However, Steven Danehy, Pfizer spokesman said that it was concerned with the shutdown of its two big sites. Nearly 150 workers at that facility were informed about the shutdown in the last quarter of 2018, he added.

Pfizer’s Chennai site manufactures generic injectable drugs of penicillin, penems, and cephalosporin, while the plant in Maharashtra supplied the Chennai unit with various products.

The company said that these plants do not manufacture products for the Indian market, adding an expansion to its operations in Visakhapatnam unit in South India, to bring it up as global terminally sterilized manufacturing center of excellence.

Pfizer had suspended manufacturing at the Chennai facility as it received several observations from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), the latest being 11 observations in March-April last year.

Following the closure of these two sites, Pfizer will be left with manufacturing plants in Visakhapatnam, Goa, and a joint venture site – Zydus Hospira Oncology Pvt Ltd (ZHOPL) – formed to make injectable cytotoxic drugs in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

While exact timing of the shutdown of the two sites is not yet determined, Pfizer said that the announcement does not directly impact operations at other sites.

China’s Huawei Launches New ARM-based Chipset to Explore New Growth Channels amidst US-China Trade Tensions

China’s chip maker Huawei has launched a new chip set series as China’s efforts to boost its domestic chip production is being thwarted by US-China trade war. The Asian giant being heavily dependent on USA, in a bid to achieve self-sufficiency has started several projects including Fujian Jinhua.

Huawei derives most of its revenues by selling smartphone and telecommunications equipment’s is looking to expand its reach in enterprise services and cloud computing. The shift comes in the wake of growing suspicions in the Western countries about the nature of Huawei’s equipment and Chinese Government’s influence on the company. Huawei’s CFO was recently arrested in Canada when the company refused to stop trade relations with Iran amid USA’s sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.

Chinese firms are trying to insulate themselves from the US-China trade war which has seen USA and China impose trade tariffs on each other’s imports.

Huawei’s subsidiary HiSilicon has designed the chipset called Kunpeng920 recently launched by the company. The chipset has raised the company’s status as a premier in semiconductor business. The chip is a 7 nanometer with a central processing unit (CPU) of 64 core. The chips architecture is inspired by British firm ARM’s design owned by Japan’s Softbank Group which is seeking to challenge the American dominance in sever-CPUs.

Huawei’s aim will harness the development of ARM ecosystem. The chip has unique advantage in power consumption and performance, according to the company. The company also clarified that the ARM CPU based server will not compromise its long-term strategic relationship with Intel Corp.  Taishan Series of servers based on the chipset were also launched on Monday, which are built for ARM native applications, distributed storage and big data.

The firm’s subsidiary HiSilicon was founded in 2004 to reduce its heavy reliance on imports. The firm uses 54% of internally sourced chips while 22% comes from Qualcomm, says evidence placed in antitrust trial against Qualcomm.

 The semiconductor Chip industry is facing a lot of turmoil in both USA and China. Reports claim that 13 Canadians were detained in China after the arrest and awaited extradition of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada. The business rivalry has turned into a diplomatic and political muscle-flexing. US-State department has also notified a travel advisory warning American citizens travelling to China about arbitrary enforcement of local laws in the country.

Venezuela’s PDVSA inks Deal with an Obscure US Oil Company Erepla to Boost Oil Production amid USA’s Sanctions on Country

Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has signed deal with American firm Erepla partly owned by a Florida Republican and oil billionaire Harry Sargeant III. The firm Erepla is a little known obscure firm deal comes in background of American sanctions against the socialist country which prohibits American companies to finance projects as well as to form partnership agreements in Venezuela. 

The stagnation in oil output continued from 2 million barrels per day in November to 1.46 million barrels per day according to OPEC figures which has indicated to country’s ongoing struggle to find viable and experienced partners to explore its oil fields under Nicolas Maduro’s military rule. The Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo in August 2018 announced joint agreements with 14 obscure companies with little experience in operating oilfields; however the PDVSA’s deal with Erepla makes it the first such agreement with a private firm.

The agreement is expected see many impediments on route to completion as it will have to gain an exemption from Trump Administration’s sanctions against the country. Venezuela is engaging with inexperienced companies established oil companies are looking to stay away from engaging with the military-ruled country and avoid angering those in the White House.

Erepla said in the agreement that the proposed collaboration will enhance oil production to renewed levels in Rosa Mediano fields, Ayacucho 5 Bloc and Tia Juana Lago. Erepla will be responsible for the entire $500 million investment and with full managerial participation. This is in contrast with the previous such agreements of PDVSA with Chevron, where it reserved complete operational control of the project. The Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has a history of clashes with Sargeant. The company was compensated for $52 million after Sargeant owned company failed to pay for oil shipments between 2002 and 2003.

The investment is enormous as the PDVSA owing to the stagnant output in recent years is a cash-strapped. The deal invoked opposition from within Venezuela as the critics say that the deal cedes too much power to the foreign companies. After the country was at the receiving end of several rounds of US sanctions, Maduro has deepened his ties to USA’s strategic rivals like China and Russia. Maduro have several times publicly denounced and accused United States of plotting to overthrow him. The bitter state of diplomatic relationship between both the countries will be hurdle in the successful execution of the deal.

Erepla said that the company will apply to the US Treasury Department’s Office for Assets Control for a specific license exemption from the imposed sanctions.US Treasury Department said about the status of application that it doesn’t comment on timeline and review of individual applications.

T-Mobile successfully Tests 5G Video Call Using Multiple Spectrum Bands

Consumer Electronics Show 2019 marked a major step towards adoption to 5G technology with successful testing of 5G video call by T-Mobile with its partners Intel and Ericson. The 5G video call was tested by using a diverse array of wireless spectrum bands from low frequency, mid-frequency to high frequency.

The call was tested by using three spectrum bands of 28Hz, 39Hz and 60Hz. T-Mobile managed to cover 1000 miles of distance by using 600Hz spectrum band.

Signals transmitted at higher frequencies can transfer more data at faster speed while those transmitted at low frequencies travel longer distances but at reduced data speed. Telecom companies face the challenge of combining different frequency bands to cover huge distances to offer seamless data services.  High frequency wavelengths is key to offer 5G high speeds.

The 5G term derives from the fifth generation of advancements in cellular technology which promises to greatly enhance the coverage, speed and responsiveness to the wireless data transmission technology. The technology has potential to provide 10 to 100 times speedier transmission than regular data networks. This will easily outstrip whatever a physical fiber optic cable speeds.

The company stated that the 5G video call demonstration is a decisive milestone in the evolution of 5G technology. The test involved multiple spectrum bands of low, mid and millimeter wavelengths. The 5G technology domain has seen rapid strides by competitors of T-Mobile like Verizon and AT&T. Verizon wants to launch its 5G services in 2019 and has already launched its home based 5G broadband service in selected cities. AT&T is planning a similar launch date by using commercial launch of its hotspot device.

T-Mobile has already participated in spectrum band auction and owns some low frequency bands. While it waiting to gain new millimeter frequency bands through its acquisition of Sprint. The 5G technology industry is witnessed significant developments in recent months as more and more companies announce plans to enter the business. At CES 2019, Ford Motor Company has also announced that all its automobiles from 2022 onwards will be equipped with 5G technology. Verizon has also demonstrated its first 5G enabled smartphone device. Qualcomm Inc. The largest chip maker in the world has announced that its chips will be used to enable 30 new 5G enabled smartphones waiting to be launched by the end of 2019.

UMC Shrinking it’s Chip Making Project amid US China Trade Tensions

World’s third largest chipmaker, Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp. is scaling down its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) project Fujian Jinhua. The company recently moved 140 employees of 300 staffer DRAM project internally to other departments. The move is significant when the project is in a suspension mode since November 2018 when USA banned all supplies to the company accusing it of stealing Micron’s Intellectual property and for indulging in economic espionage activities in collaboration with the Chinese government.

Fujian Jinhua project is backed by the Chinese government in a bid to achieve self-sufficiency in chip making business heavily monopolized by South Korea based companies including Samsung Electronics, S K Hynix and USA’s Micron. The three companies control around 96% of chip making business. The project was aimed at achieving self-reliance funded only by central and state government funds. UMC in late 2016 announced a technology partnership with Fujian Jinhua to help develop DRAM technology.

The project with massive investment of $5.6 billion is based Jinjiang, a city in Southern China. The project was due to enter production trial in December 2018, but ban by USA threatened UMC’s chip making business which relies heavily on American supplies for semiconductor equipments such as Lam Research and Applied Materials. The supplies to the semiconductor chip making company was halted by USA on the charge of intellectual property rights violations of Micron. The crackdown is aimed to smother China’s technology ambitions and punish the Asian giant for IPR appropriation which is major bone of contention between the two economic superpowers.

UMC although has refused to declare the winding up of the project explicitly in fear of angering the Chinese government. The internal transfers is regular exercise and had nothing to do with the project claimed the chief financial officer of UMC Liu Chi-Tung. He declined to comment further on the matter.

Equipments worth US$980 million purchased by Fujian Jinhua lie at UMC’s Tainan site after the project was temporarily halted by USA block.

Employees of the DRAM team have already started looking for new jobs as they feel UMC is planning to ditch memory chip development business altogether. The company is stuck between the US China trade war. Although the prospects for the business were good, the tensions between the two giant economies is harming the company.

UMC is in mainly in the business of making chips for graphics processors, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, mobile processors and automotive chips. The company serves clients such as MediaTek, Qualcomm, AMD, Novatek, Infineon, Realtek and Rockchip and Allwinner Technology.