Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune have successfully developed a novel cancer drug-delivery system using graphene oxide nanoparticles. In a serendipitous discovery, a team led by Dr. Sudipta Basu and Dr. Nirmalya Ballav from the Department of Chemistry found that when a FDA-approved anticancer drug cisplatin was added, the... Continue Reading →
Flat lying posture doesn’t do much for stroke treatment
There is no significant difference in the disability outcomes for patients who have suffered acute stroke, whether they received treatment lying flat on the back with the face upwards or in a sitting-up position with the head elevated to at least 30 degrees. This is the conclusion of a major trial that involved over 11,000... Continue Reading →
Did LIGO really detect Gravitational Wave signals or was it just noise?
After the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) first observed Gravitational Waves in September 2015 and then again in December 2015 and for the third time in January 2017, a team of researchers from Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, calls into question whether the LIGO observatory had actually detected the gravitational wave signals. “The detection... Continue Reading →
Hyderabad researchers grow miniature eyes using stem cells
Researchers at the Hyderabad-based L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) have successfully grown miniature eye-like organs that closely resemble the developing eyes of an early-stage embryo. The miniature eyes were produced using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The iPS cells are produced by genetically manipulating human skin cells to produce embryonic-like stem cells that are capable... Continue Reading →
Cabell’s: ‘Our predatory journal Blacklist differs from Jeffrey Beall’s’
Five months after Jeffrey Beall, librarian at the University of Colorado, Denver, shut down his widely consulted blog (Scholarly Open Access) that listed predatory journals and publishers, Cabell’s International based in Beaumont, Texas launched the Cabell’s Blacklist of predatory journals on June 15. Predatory journals cheat researchers by charging fees to publish papers but without carrying... Continue Reading →
At last, Jeffrey Beall reveals the reasons for shutting down his blog on predatory journals
Unlike what most people had guessed, it was not a lawsuit from any of the predatory journal publishers that forced Jeffrey Beall, Librarian at the University of Colorado Denver and publisher of the famous Scholarly Open Access blog, to shut down the blog one fine day in January 2017, five years after he started it... Continue Reading →
Probability of dying due to heat waves increases in India
The mean temperature across India has risen by 0.5 degree C during the period 1960 and 2009 and this has led to a significant increase in heat waves in the country. Based on modelling studies, researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and the University of California, Irvine... Continue Reading →
IISc’s blood cancer drug shows early promise
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru have synthesised a small molecule that shows a degree of promise as an anticancer agent. In particular, the inhibitor was effective against leukaemia. The work was done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Mysore. The molecule (benzothiazole derivative), codenamed 5g, was found to be effective... Continue Reading →
CCMB develops a novel drug-delivery system for treating keratitis eye infection
Scientists at the Hyderabad-based CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) have developed a novel drug-delivery system for treating fungal keratitis. Keratitis is the inflammation of the eye, which starts with redness and itching and might eventually lead to blindness. Keratitis is caused by both bacteria and fungi. Fungi attach themselves to the cornea and... Continue Reading →
