Implanted chip could monitor cancer tumors
MUNICH, Germany, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Researchers in Germany say an implantable electronic chip may soon be able to monitor tumors that are difficult to operate on or growing slowly.
Medical engineers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen have developed an electronic sensor chip that can determine the oxygen content in a patient's tissue fluid and wirelessly transmit that data to the patient's doctor to monitor a course of therapy.
A drop in oxygen content in tissue surrounding a tumor can indicate the tumor might be growing faster and becoming aggressive.
This ongoing monitoring of the tumor means the patient does not have to visit the doctor or hospital as frequently for check-ups, a TUM release said Friday.
The thumbnail-sized sensor chip has already passed laboratory tests with cell and tissue cultures, the researchers said.
Britain has world's most accurate clock
LONDON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- An atomic clock that keeps time for Britain has been declared the most accurate long-term timekeeper in the world in an evaluation by international physicists.
The so-called cesium fountain clock is one of an elite group of clocks built by the timing labs in Europe, the United States and Japan as their national "primary frequency standard" for the measurement of time.
These national standards are averaged to produce International Atomic Time and Universal Coordinated Time, used worldwide for time-critical critical processes such as global communications, satellite navigation and surveying, and time stamping for the computerized transactions of financial and stock markets.
Methods that have been used to improve the U.K. clock also can be used to evaluate the cesium fountain clocks of other countries and substantially improve the world's most accurate methods of keeping time, U.S. and British scientists said in an article published in the online version of the journal Metrologia.
Birth of nearby supernova observed
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. and European astronomers say a supernova has been observed within hours of the beginning of the cosmic explosion, a rare feat for events of this type.
The discovery of a supernova so early in its life and so close to Earth -- around 21 million light-years away -- has astronomers around the world hustling to observe the phenomenon with as many telescopes as possible, said one of the leaders of the team that discovered it.
"We caught this supernova earlier than we've ever discovered a supernova of this type," physics Professor Andy Howell at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said.
"On Tuesday, it wasn't there. Then, on Wednesday, boom! There it was -- caught within hours of the explosion. As soon as I saw the discovery image I knew we were onto something big," Howell said in a UCSB release Friday.
Images of the supernova, classified as a Type Ia, from Wednesday night showed the supernova had brightened by more than a factor of 20 less than a day after discovery.
"Type Ia supernovae are the kind we use to measure the expansion of the universe," said Mark Sullivan of Britain's Oxford University, who was among the first to follow up on the detection. "Seeing one explode so close by allows us to study these events in unprecedented detail."
Amphibian disease research yields weapon
CORVALLIS, Ore., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've found a freshwater species of zooplankton that can consume a fungal pathogen devastating amphibian populations around the world.
Zoologists at Oregon State University say the tiny zooplankton, called Daphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of the deadly fungus, whose impact one researcher has called "the most spectacular loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history."
The fungus B. dendrobatidis, dubbed a "chytrid" fungus, can disrupt electrolyte balance and lead to death from cardiac arrest in its amphibian hosts if it reaches high levels, an OSU release said Friday.
"There was evidence that zooplankton would eat some other types of fungi, so we wanted to find out if Daphnia would consume the chytrid fungus," lead researcher Julia Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology, said. "Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus.
"We feel that biological control offers the best chance to control this fungal disease, and now we have a good candidate for that," she said. "Efforts to eradicate this disease have been unsuccessful, but so far no one has attempted biocontrol of the chytrid fungus. That may be the way to go."
