(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON, D.C., November 23, 2010 -- Magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) is a promising new cancer treatment that essentially "fries" cells inside tumors. The procedure has been used successfully in prostate, liver, and breast tumors. Magnetic nanoparticles (each billionths of a meter in size) are injected into the body intravenously and diffuse selectively into cancerous tissues. Add a high-frequency magnetic field, and the particles heat up, raising the temperature of the tumor cells.
"The entire tumor volume is heated above a threshold treatment temperature -- typically 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) -- for generally 30 minutes," explains engineering graduate student Monrudee Liangruksa of Virginia Tech.
The outcome? As described today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA, when the nanoparticles are heated, cancer cells die with no adverse effects to the surrounding healthy tissue.
To further perfect the technique, Liangruksa and her colleagues explored the effects of different types of magnetic nanoparticles. The most promising varieties, they found, were iron–platinum, magnetite, and maghemite, all of which generate therapeutically useful heating. "However, we wish to use MFH in humans," she says, and "the most biocompatible agents are magnetite and maghemite. Iron–platinum is toxic and vulnerable to oxidation."
###
The presentation, "The Effects of Magnetic Nanoparticles on Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia" is at 2:08 PM on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 in the Long Beach Convention Center Room: 202A. ABSTRACT: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD10/Event/134121
MORE MEETING INFORMATION
The 63rd Annual DFD Meeting is hosted this year by the University of Southern California, California State University Long Beach, California Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
It will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center, located in downtown Long Beach, California. All meeting information, including directions to the Convention Center is at: http://www.dfd2010.caltech.edu/
USEFUL LINKS
Main meeting Web site:
http://www.dfd2010.caltech.edu/
Search Abstracts:
http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD10/SearchAbstract
Directions to Convention Center:
http://www.longbeachcc.com/
PRESS REGISTRATION
Credentialed full-time journalist and professional freelance journalists working on assignment for major publications or media outlets are invited to attend the conference free of charge. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, please contact Jason Bardi (jbardi@aip.org, 301-209-3091).
ONSITE WORKSPACE FOR REPORTERS
A reserved workspace with wireless internet connections will be available for use by reporters in the Promenade Ballroom of the Long Beach Convention Center on Sunday, Nov. 21 and Monday, Nov. 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, Nov. 23 from 8:00 a.m. to noon. Press announcements and other news will be available in the Virtual Press Room (see below).
VIRTUAL PRESS ROOM
The APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Virtual Press Room will be launched in mid-November and will contain dozens of story tips on some of the most interesting results at the meeting as well as stunning graphics and videos. The Virtual Press Room will serve as starting points for journalists who are interested in covering the meeting but cannot attend in person. See: http://www.aps.org/units/dfd/pressroom/index.cfm
GALLERY OF FLUID MOTION
Every year, the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics hosts posters and videos that show stunning images and graphics from either computational or experimental studies of flow phenomena. The outstanding entries, selected by a panel of referees for artistic content, originality and ability to convey information, will be honored during the meeting, placed on display at the Annual APS Meeting in March of 2011, and will appear in the annual Gallery of Fluid Motion article in the September 2011 issue of the American Institute of Physics' journal, Physics of Fluids.
This year, selected entries from the 28th Annual Gallery of Fluid Motion will be hosted as part of the Fluid Dynamics Virtual Press Room. In mid-November, when the Virtual Press Room is launched, another announcement will be sent out.
ABOUT THE APS DIVISION OF FLUID DYNAMICS
The Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society (APS) exists for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of the physics of fluids with special emphasis on the dynamical theories of the liquid, plastic and gaseous states of matter under all conditions of temperature and pressure. See: http://www.aps.org/units/dfd/
END
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 23, 2010 -- New research from the University of South Florida suggests that one of the evolutionary secrets of the shark's success hides in one of its tiniest traits -- flexible scales on the bodies of these peerless predators that make them better hunters by allowing them to change directions while moving at full speed.
The key to this ability lies in the fact that the scales control water flow separation across the creatures' bodies, says Amy Lang of the University of Alabama who will present work she performed with her colleagues at the University ...
Pity the poor female fruit fly. Being a looker is simply not enough, it seems. If you're to get a date, much less a proposal, you must also smell and act like a girl. Otherwise, you might just have a fight on your hands. Read more in next week's issue of the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.
As with most animals, Drosophila face the problem of distinguishing between a potential mate and a potential competitor. If, when meeting a second fruit fly, a male fly thinks "female," he'll begin courting her. But if he senses another male, he'll fight. What triggers these ...
###
El Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible, A.C. (the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry, known as CCMSS) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that encourages and promotes conservation of forest ecosystems that are managed by the forest communities themselves. Known as Manejo Forestal Comunitario, or MFC, this system is supported by CCMSS members, who work in collaboration with communities and ejidos to put in place sustainable practices in forest management and improve the development, conservation, industrialization and commercialization ...
Performing a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training was associated with improved glycemic levels among patients with type 2 diabetes, compared to patients who did not exercise, according to a study in the November 24 issue of JAMA. The level of improvement was not seen among patients who performed either aerobic exercise or resistance training alone.
Although it is generally accepted that regular exercise provides substantial health benefits for individuals with type 2 diabetes, the exact exercise type (aerobic vs. resistance vs. both) has been unclear. ...
A comparison of two strategies to determine the stage of suspected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) finds that the less invasive method is more effective at identifying a type of lung cancer that has spread, and may result in a reduction of unnecessary surgical procedures and associated adverse effects for certain patients, according to a study in the November 24 issue of JAMA.
Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide (1.35 million/year) and also the most frequent cause of cancer death (1.2 million/year). Determining the stage of cancer is an important ...
Annual screening by fecal immunochemical testing—a test that detects blood in the stool, has high sensitivity and specificity, and might improve participation rates through increased patient acceptability—reduces the risk of colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer related deaths, and reduces healthcare costs in comparison to all other screening strategies and to no screening. These are the conclusions of a complete economic evaluation performed by Braden Manns and colleagues from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine.
Clinical ...
China had an estimated 1.3 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) in 2008, of which 112,000 were multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB). Over the period 2001, TB was the second largest cause of death among China's 39 notifiable communicable diseases. In a Policy Forum, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Zhong-wei Jia (Peking University) and colleagues from Beijing, China, report on how a combination of increased domestic funding, supplemented by foreign loans and donations, led to a dramatic increase in TB case finding. The authors also highlight the way in which changes in ...
Every magnetic material is divided into such magnetic domains. Scientists call them "Weiss domains" after physicist Pierre-Ernest Weiss, who predicted their existence theoretically more than a hundred years ago. In 1907, he recognized that the magnetic moments of atoms within a bounded domain are equally aligned.
All pursuit of this theory has so far been limited to two-dimensional images and material surfaces. Accordingly, researchers have only ever been able to see a domain in cross section. Together with colleagues from the German Federal Institute for Materials Research ...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – So, why are we fat? And getting fatter? Most people would say it's simple: We eat too much and exercise too little. But University of Alabama at Birmingham obesity researcher David B. Allison, Ph.D., says that answer, while valid, may be a little too simple. Allison and colleagues think the more relevant question is this: Why do we eat too much and expend too little energy? And like good detectives, they've set out to identify a suspect, or suspects, that may be contributing to the obesity epidemic. The game, as they say, is afoot.
Allison, a professor ...
Giant pterosaurs – ancient reptiles that flew over the heads of dinosaurs – were at their best in gentle tropical breezes, soaring over hillsides and coastlines or floating over land and sea on thermally driven air currents, according to new research from the University of Bristol.
Pterosaurs (also referred to as pterodactyls) were too slow and flexible to use the stormy winds and waves of the southern ocean like the albatrosses of today, the research by Colin Palmer, an engineer turned paleontology PhD student in Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, found.
Their slow ...
