Laboratory Equipment

Paper-Thin Flexible ‘Skin’ Monitors Heart Health

Most of us don’t ponder our pulses outside of the gym. But doctors use the human pulse as a diagnostic tool to monitor heart health.

Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, has developed a heart monitor thinner than a dollar bill and no wider than a postage stamp. The flexible skin-like monitor, worn under an adhesive bandage on the wrist, is sensitive enough to help doctors detect stiff arteries and cardiovascular problems.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/paper-thin-flexible-skin-monitors-heart-health

FDA Calls for Cancer Warnings on Tanning Beds

Indoor tanning beds would come with new warnings about the risk of cancer and be subject to more stringent federal oversight under a proposal unveiled by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA has regulated tanning beds and sun lamps for over 30 years, but for the first time ever the agency says those devices should not be used by people under age 18. The agency wants that warning on pamphlets, catalogues and websites that promote indoor tanning. And regulators are also proposing that manufacturers meet certain safety and design requirements, including timers and limits on radiation emitted.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/fda-calls-cancer-warnings-tanning-beds

Food, Skin Allergies on the Rise in Children

Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big government survey found.

Experts aren’t sure what’s behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that it leaves them more sensitive to things that can trigger allergies? Or are mom and dad paying closer attention to rashes and reactions, and more likely to call it an allergy?

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/food-skin-allergies-rise-children

‘Spider Skin’ Captures Grand Prize in Image Contest

FEI is proud to announce that María Carbajo of the Electron Microscopy Unit in the Research Support Services of the Univ. of Extremadura has been awarded the grand prize in the 2012 FEI Owner Image Contest for her entry “Spider Skin.”

FEI.com visitors were asked to vote for their favorite image among the monthly winners. A total of nearly 1,000 votes were received and María Carbajo’s image, Spider Skin, narrowly beat out other worthy images.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/spider-skin-captures-grand-prize-image-contest

Research Sheds Light on Skin’s Reaction to UVA Rays

Last year, a team of researchers at Brown Univ. discovered that certain skin cells use a light-sensitive receptor found outside of the eye to sense ultraviolet light and quickly begin pumping out melanin to protect against DNA damage. In a new study, lab members identify a key player in that biomolecular chain of events that could someday become a pharmacological target for improving this protective response.

The new discovery, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that human melaoncyte skin cells rely on an ion channel called TRPA1 to allow a flood of calcium ions into the cells when they are exposed to UVA light. The resulting abundance of calcium ions signals the cell to begin making melanin, the pigment responsible for the tanning response in people.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/research-sheds-light-skin%E2%80%99s-reaction-uva-rays

Pink is the Color of Love

Red-faced men are feeling flush with the revelation that women find rosy cheeks attractive. The new study, by researchers at the Univ. of St Andrews, suggests that women prefer men with a brightly colored skin tone because it indicates a strong alpha-male with dominant genes. However, too much redness can be off-putting as it signals aggression. The research was carried out by Prof. David Perrett of the university’s Perception Lab in collaboration with colleagues at the universities of Nottingham and Durham.

In the study, women were asked to manipulate pictures of men’s faces to make them more attractive. In each case, they changed the skin color to make it redder. The researchers say women display this preference because a rosy glow is a sign of good circulation and therefore an indication of good health in a potential mate.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/10/pink-color-love

Despite Claims, Nanoparticles Can’t Penetrate Skin

Research by scientists at the Univ. of Bath is challenging claims that nanoparticles in medicated and cosmetic creams are able to transport and deliver active ingredients deep inside the skin.

Nanoparticles, which are tiny particles that are less than one hundredth of the thickness of a human hair, are used in sunscreens and some cosmetic and pharmaceutical creams. The Bath study discovered that even the tiniest of nanoparticles did not penetrate the skin’s surface.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/10/despite-claims-nanoparticles-can%E2%80%99t-penetrate-skin

Topical Virus Improves Skin, is Key to Acne Treatment

Watch out, acne. Doctors soon may have a new weapon against zits: a harmless virus living on skin that naturally seeks out and kills the bacteria that cause pimples. The new findings by scientists at UCLA and the Univ. of Pittsburgh are published in the online edition of the American Society for Microbiology’s journal mBio.

“Acne affects millions of people, yet we have few treatments that are both safe and effective,” says principal investigator Robert Modlin, chief of dermatology and a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Harnessing a virus that naturally preys on the bacteria that cause pimples could offer a promising new tool against the physical and emotional scars of severe acne.”

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/09/topical-virus-improves-skin-key-acne-treatment

Optical Technique Finds Cancer by Looking Through Skin

The trained eye of a dermatologist can identify many types of skin lesions, but human sight only goes so far. Now an international team of researchers has developed an advanced optics system to noninvasively map out the network of tiny blood vessels beneath the outer layer of patients’ skin, potentially revealing telltale signs of disease. Such high resolution 3D images could one day help doctors better diagnose, monitor and treat skin cancer and other skin conditions. The research was published today in the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express.

Researchers from Medical Univ. Vienna (MUW) and the Ludwig-Maximilians Univ. used a technique called optical coherence tomography (OCT) to “see” beneath the surface of skin. The researchers tested their system on a range of different skin conditions, including a healthy human palm, allergy-induced eczema on the forearm, dermatitis on the forehead and two cases of basal cell carcinoma – the most common type of skin cancer – on the face.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/09/optical-technique-finds-cancer-looking-through-skin

Nerves Control Squids’ Electric Skin

Squid’s colorful, changeable skin enables the animal—and their close relatives, cuttlefish and octopus—to display extraordinary camouflage, the speed and diversity of which is unmatched in the animal kingdom. But how squid control their skin’s iridescence, or light-reflecting property, which is responsible for the animal’s sparkly rainbow of color, has been unknown.

In a new study, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) researchers Paloma Gonzalez Bellido and Trevor Wardill and their colleagues report that nerves in squid skin control the animal’s spectrum of shimmering hues — from red to blue — as well as their speed of change. The work marks the first time neural control of iridescence in an invertebrate species has been demonstrated.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2012/08/nerves-control-squids%E2%80%99-electric-skin

Researchers Show How Anti-Aging Cosmetics Work

A team of investigators from UC Davis and Peking Univ. discovered a mechanism that may explain how alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) ― the key ingredient in cosmetic chemical peels and wrinkle-reducing creams ― work to enhance skin appearance. An understanding of the underlying process may lead to better cosmetic formulations as well as have medical applications.

In a series of experiments that involved recording electrical currents across cultured cells exposed to AHAs, the investigators developed a model that describes how glycolic acid (the smallest and most biologically available AHA) enters into keratinocytes and generates free protons, creating acidic conditions within the cell. The low pH strongly activates the TRPV3 ion channel, opening it and allowing calcium ions to flow into the cell. Because more protons also enter through the open TRPV3 channel, the process feeds on itself. The resulting calcium ion overload in the cell leads to its death and skin exfoliation.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/researchers-show-how-anti-aging-cosmetics-work

Method Simulates, Designs, Fabricates Synthetic Skin

Animatronics aims at creating physical robots that move and look like real humans. Many impressive characters have been created in this spirit, like those in the Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World. Until now, creating animatronic copies of real human individuals is a difficult and labor-intensive process requiring the manual work of skilled animators, material designers and mechanical engineers. Researchers at Disney Research, ETH Zürich and Walt Disney Imagineering R&D have developed a new computational design process for cloning human faces that could greatly simplify the creation of synthetic skin for animatronic characters.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2012/08/method-simulates-designs-fabricates-synthetic-skin

Study Proves There is No Healthy Tan

A new study conducted by GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) researchers has been published in the journal Nature Communications on the myth that there is such a thing as a healthy tan.

“This is the first time that UV-induced melanin formation (tanning), traditionally thought to protect against skin cancer, is shown to be directly involved in melanoma formation in mammals,” says De Fabo, who is a professor at SMHS. “Skin melanoma is the most lethal of the skin cancers. Our study shows that we were able to discover this new role for melanin by cleanly separating UVA from UVB and exposing our experimental melanoma animal model with these separated wavebands using our unique UV light system designed and set up at GW. Dermatologists have been warning for years there is no such thing as a safe tan and this new data appears to confirm this.”

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Healthy-Tan-Proven-to-be-a-Myth-072412.aspx