Content about Health

  Feature - ViroLab: a grid-based decision support system for HIV infections According to UNAIDS reports, 38.6 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, up from 36.2 million in 2003.Image courtesy of ViroLab Medical doctors and researchers have more information at their fingertips than ever before. They can now study diseases from the DNA level all the way up to medical responses, thanks to the increasing availability of genetic information, extensive patient records, and large, high quality clinical and pharmacological databases.  To coordinate this wealth of information medical doctors and researchers must have integrative technology that bridges existing gaps in multi-scale models, data fusion and cross-disciplinary collaboration. It is here that distributed computing—and grid technology in particular—can play a crucial role in helping researchers to understand the processes involved in new biomedical e-science, from bioinformatics to heath informatics.Virtualized tools; personalized treatment Vi

  Feature - Thailand goes tera: scientists connect to the power of ThaiGrid ThaiGrid powers this tsunami simulation, run by a team from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and focusing on the potential effects of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.Image courtesy of ThaiGrid Scientists across the globe are cranking up their computing requirements: they want more processing power to tackle ever more challenging problems. The wishes of Thai scientists recently came true when their first teraflop computing system went online as part of the Thai National Grid Project.“Our demand for computational power and storage is increasing rapidly,” says Putchong Uthayopas, director of the Thai National Grid Project. “We had a need for a national computational infrastructure that would allow researchers to discover and explore more challenging problems,” he says. “The Thai government decided that now was the right time to explore grids as a key infrastructure enabler.”80 systems across 15 sites Comprising 1

  Feature - Bloody great science: Parallel Blood Flow Simulation using grids The Parallel Blood Flow Simulation package can automatically calculate blood flow and use medical images to generate a 3D computer model of your arteries. Customized visualization techniques then show the artery areas that are risky and critical to disease development.Image courtesy of the University of Karagujevac For more than a decade, surgeons have been able to insert video cameras into your arteries and scan your “intra-artery” footage for signs of weakness or clogging. If your doctor spots a problem, it can often be fixed using a tiny device called a stent: a ring of wire mesh inserted at a crucial point inside your artery. If positioned correctly, a stent can support a weak section of artery wall from the inside, or keep a clogged artery sufficiently open for business. Thanks to grid-enabled e-science, this life-saving technology is set to get even more high-tech. Inside your virtual arteriesA team at the University of Krag

Image of the Week - Studying the Process of Learning   A simulation by the Virtual Cell project of a membrane reaction in a neuronal dentritic spine, one of the key aspects of learning and memory.Image courtesy of Virtual CellWant to learn more about how you learn? Our neuronal system lies at the root of learning and thought. Neurons communicate among themselves and with rest of our bodies using electrical and chemical signals. The points of communication between neurons are synapses. At a synapse, a signal received from outside the cell may or may not trigger a chain reaction that propagates the signal to other cells. After a time, synapses, on tiny protrusions called spines, can become sensitized or desensitized to certain chemical signals, known as neurotransmitters. The next time that synapse receives that neurotransmitter it may be extra responsive, or it may ignore it completely. This helps our brain organize itself in to neuronal circuits—paths of often-used neurons. Currently, researchers

Feature - New Weapons Identified in the Battle Against Hospital Superbugs Each point represents a protein expressed in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa; each line represents known interactions between these proteins. This network shows the structure of interactions the cell depends upon, giving researchers a head start in the search for anti-bacterial drugs. Image courtesy of e-TherapeuticsFor the first time in decades researchers have announced the discovery of new antibiotics that use a truly novel approach in attacking bacteria. The grid-powered drug searches were conducted by a spin-out company from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. E-Therapeutics found three new drugs that are effective against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, such as that scourge of hospitals, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.The drugs entered clinical trials in February and should be available for use within two to three years. The techniques that enabled this discovery were developed by the UK e-Science Programme,